scholarly journals Biomechanical Motion Analysis of Elite Flat Water Kayakers with Special Focus on Footrest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadett Kertészné Német ◽  
Tamás Terebessy ◽  
György Szőke ◽  
Zoltán Bejek
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Surface Electromyography ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Camera System ◽  
Stroke Length ◽  
3D Camera ◽  
Correct Technique ◽  
The Right ◽  
Unique Part

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the importance of footrest use and the symmetry of kayaking motions. Method: Measurements were performed on 11 professional male Hungarian kayakers (n = 11), with a mean age of 24 years (range: 18–30 years), a mean height of 184, 5 cm (range: 172–197 cm), and a mean weight of 84 kg (72–96 kg). Weba sport kayak ergometer, Vicon MXT 3D camera system and surface electromyography were used for the measurements. The unique part of the study was the dynamometer, built into the footrest of the ergometer. The right and left sides differed significantly in terms of range of motion in the joints and activity of the muscles involved. Statistically significant differences were observed in the force applied to the footrest between the right and left sides. There were significant differences between the right and left stroke lengths in most athletes. There was a positive correlation between force applied to the footrest, the stroke length and the kayakers’ power output. Our study identified differences and correlations between the parameters of kayaking motion, highlighting the importance of the footrest. Better and more precise footrest use allows correct technique to be applied with high performance.

scholarly journals Reliability-Oriented Design of Inverter-Fed Low-Voltage Electrical Machines: Potential Solutions

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4144
Author(s):  
Yatai Ji ◽  
Paolo Giangrande ◽  
Vincenzo Madonna ◽  
Weiduo Zhao ◽  
Michael Galea
Keyword(s):  
Power Density ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Electrical Machines ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Switching Frequency ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Electrical Machine ◽  
Engineering Approach

Transportation electrification has kept pushing low-voltage inverter-fed electrical machines to reach a higher power density while guaranteeing appropriate reliability levels. Methods commonly adopted to boost power density (i.e., higher current density, faster switching frequency for high speed, and higher DC link voltage) will unavoidably increase the stress to the insulation system which leads to a decrease in reliability. Thus, a trade-off is required between power density and reliability during the machine design. Currently, it is a challenging task to evaluate reliability during the design stage and the over-engineering approach is applied. To solve this problem, physics of failure (POF) is introduced and its feasibility for electrical machine (EM) design is discussed through reviewing past work on insulation investigation. Then the special focus is given to partial discharge (PD) whose occurrence means the end-of-life of low-voltage EMs. The PD-free design methodology based on understanding the physics of PD is presented to substitute the over-engineering approach. Finally, a comprehensive reliability-oriented design (ROD) approach adopting POF and PD-free design strategy is given as a potential solution for reliable and high-performance inverter-fed low-voltage EM design.

scholarly journals Clostridioides difficile Infection, Still a Long Way to Go

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 389
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Kampouri ◽  
Antony Croxatto ◽  
Guy Prod’hom ◽  
Benoit Guery
Keyword(s):  
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation ◽  
Diagnostic Algorithm ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Clostridioides Difficile ◽  
Clostridioides Difficile Infection ◽  
The Right

Clostridioides difficile is an increasingly common pathogen both within and outside the hospital and is responsible for a large clinical spectrum from asymptomatic carriage to complicated infection associated with a high mortality. While diagnostic methods have considerably progressed over the years, the optimal diagnostic algorithm is still debated and there is no single diagnostic test that can be used as a standalone test. More importantly, the heterogeneity in diagnostic practices between centers along with the lack of robust surveillance systems in all countries and an important degree of underdiagnosis due to lack of clinical suspicion in the community, hinder a more accurate evaluation of the burden of disease. Our improved understanding of the physiopathology of CDI has allowed some significant progress in the treatment of CDI, including a broader use of fidaxomicine, the use of fecal microbiota transplantation for multiples recurrences and newer approaches including antibodies, vaccines and new molecules, already developed or in the pipeline. However, the management of CDI recurrences and severe infections remain challenging and the main question remains: how to best target these often expensive treatments to the right population. In this review we discuss current diagnostic approaches, treatment and potential prevention strategies, with a special focus on recent advances in the field as well as areas of uncertainty and unmet needs and how to address them.

Why are companies still struggling to reach higher continuous improvement maturity levels? Empirical evidence from high performance companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jurburg ◽  
Elisabeth Viles ◽  
Carmen Jaca ◽  
Martin Tanco
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Measurement System ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Performing

Purpose – Continuous improvement (CI) is regarded as a powerful approach to achieve business excellence. However, the implementation is not simple as it involves managing a considerable amount of tangible and intangible factors throughout the whole organization. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by presenting first-hand information about how companies really implement and organize their CI processes. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on semi-structured interviews in ten high performing companies in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain well known for its business quality. The objective was to analyze the state of their CI processes, putting special focus on how the organizational structure integrates with the CI processes and what are the characteristics of the corresponding measurement system. Findings – The study shows a lack of company-wide focus on CI, little written evidence of previous improvement activities, unclear improvement process owner, and poor use of adequate measurement systems to monitor CI. Practical implications – Managers should understand that is not enough to guarantee their own commitment and provide the structure, since in order to become learning organization, a different holistic approach towards the CI process must be adopted. Originality/value – While most previous work on this field have focused primarily on how to implement different techniques in order to achieve better productive performance, this study presents empirical research from a more holistic approach, assessing the characteristics affecting CI by considering strategy, structure, and the measurement system.

Custom templates based heterogeneous resource allocation for data-intensive applications

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ronny Bazan Antequera
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Real Data ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Application Performance ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
Edge Based ◽  
The Right ◽  
Heterogeneous Cloud ◽  
Data Intensive Applications ◽  
Cloud Resources

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The increase of data-intensive applications in science and engineering fields (i.e., bioinformatics, cybermanufacturing) demand the use of high-performance computing resources. However, data-intensive applications' local resources usually present limited capacity and availability due to sizable upfront costs. Moreover, using remote public resources presents constraints at the private edge network domain. Specifically, mis-configured network policies cause bottlenecks due to the other application cross-traffic attempting to use shared networking resources. Additionally, selecting the right remote resources can be cumbersome especially for those users who are interested in the application execution considering nonfunctional requirements such as performance, security and cost. The data-intensive applications have recurrent deployments and similar infrastructure requirements that can be addressed by creating templates. In this thesis, we handle applications requirements through intelligent resource 'abstractions' coupled with 'reusable' approaches that save time and effort in deploying new cloud architectures. Specifically, we design a novel custom template middleware that can retrieve blue prints of resource configuration, technical/policy information, and benchmarks of workflow performance to facilitate repeatable/reusable resource composition. The middleware considers hybrid-recommendation methodology (Online and offline recommendation) to leverage a catalog to rapidly check custom template solution correctness before/during resource consumption. Further, it prescribes application adaptations by fostering effective social interactions during the application's scaling stages. Based on the above approach, we organize the thesis contributions under two main thrusts: (i) Custom Templates for Cloud Networking for Data-intensive Applications: This involves scheduling transit selection, engineering at the campus-edge based upon real-time policy control. Our solution ensures prioritized application performance delivery for multi-tenant traffic profiles from a diverse set of actual data intensive applications in bioinformatics. (ii) Custom Templates for Cloud Computing for Data-intensive Applications: This involves recommending cloud resources for data-intensive applications based on a custom template catalog. We develop a novel expert system approach that is implemented as a middleware to abstracts data-intensive application requirements for custom templates composition. We uniquely consider heterogeneous cloud resources selection for the deployment of cloud architectures for real data-intensive applications in cybermanufacturing.

Investigation of Strip Seal Leakage With Special Focus on Seal Groove Design and Relative Displacement of Sealing Surfaces

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Huber ◽  
Cyrille Bricaud ◽  
Thomas Zierer
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Relative Displacement ◽  
Curvature Radius ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Test Matrix ◽  
Seal Design ◽  
Geometric Relation ◽  
Geometric Deviation

Tight sealing lines are vital in large gas turbines (GT) to achieve high performance and efficiency. Leakage including rim purge air can sum up to 30% of the total cooling and leakage air consumption of a gas turbine. Leakage through static strip seals contributes about 1/3 to all leakage air. Considering the seal design as on drawings, sealing quality is generally influenced by the seal type, sealing groove curvature and the sealing groove roughness. In addition the sealing quality depends strongly on the geometric deviation of the groove compared to ideal design. This is caused by manufacturing deviations or relative movements of the grooves during operation of the parts containing the sealing. In the article at hand, different seal designs and pertinent sealing quality is discussed. More in detail, it is discussed the geometric relation of seal, groove and misalignment to predict the seal position relative to its groove confinements. The risk of seal clamping can be judged and adaptation of seal or groove geometry can be derived. The effect of leakage increase due to misalignment is investigated by a test matrix varying seal length and curvature radius of groove as well as radial misalignment.

scholarly journals The Global Response to Abortion – with Special Focus on India’s Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-24
Author(s):  
Asawari Deshpande ◽  
Shashikala Gurpur ◽  
Sujata Arya ◽  
Shireshi Shambhulinganand
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Termination Of Pregnancy ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Medical Termination Of Pregnancy ◽  
Medical Termination ◽  
Unwanted Pregnancies ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
The Right ◽  
Health Rights

The 2020 Amendment Act, of Medical Termination of Pregnancy has reinvigorated the discussion with regards to bodily autonomy and reproductive rights in India. This comes at a juncture of time, where the discussion regarding reproductive rights is an important part of the global socio-political narrative. The aim of this paper is to study the developmental trajectory of reproductive rights by gauging how the right to abortion has fared in various countries across the world by analysing specific legislations, judicial precedents and statistical data. We examine how one may secure the reproductive health rights of a woman better by analysing the two functional methods adopted thus far - either through liberal legislations that guarantee full autonomy to the woman or more restrictive laws that permit abortions only in certain circumstances - a major. The second half of this paper focuses on India, a country whose culture is traditionally perceived to be deeply rooted in orthodoxy and conservatives. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was enacted in 1971, and the 2020 Amendment has garnered acclaim for its more progressive outlook and direction. Even though the amendment has addressed some of the major concerns voiced out by reproductive rights’ activists, there are still a few systemic and practical dogmas that are still pervasive in the reproductive rights domain. The paper discusses these prevalent lacunae at play at length and emphasizes on the need for comprehensive and quick solutions. These will contribute to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies while simultaneously reducing the physical and psychological harm that is caused to vulnerable women across the country.

scholarly journals MULTIAXIAL INVESTIGATION OF PVC FOAMS AND ANALYSIS OF THE DEFORMATION MECHANISM BY 3D-DIC

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Francesca Concas ◽  
Stefan Diebels ◽  
Anne Jung
Keyword(s):  
Deformation Mechanism ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Deformation Bands ◽  
Pure Torsion ◽  
Camera System ◽  
Strain Fields ◽  
Failure Data ◽  
Closed Cell ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Pure Compression

Closed-cell polyvinylchloride (PVC) foams are widely used as core for sandwich composites for applications, in which multiaxial loads are involved. In the present work a wide range of uniaxial (tension, compression and torsion) and multiaxial experiments (both simultaneous tension-torsion and compression-torsion) were conducted on a high performance PVC foam. Failure data for each experiment were collected and depicted in the invariants plane. The whole cylindrical surface of the specimen was monitored by means of an 8-camera-system, strain fields were obtained by 3D-DIC. Hence, the occurrence and the evolution of deformation bands were inspected. The usage of an 8-camera system was essential for the observation of the deformation mechanism, especially for pure compression, pure torsion and combined axial load-torsion, in which the arising of deformation bands is affected by the occurrence of buckling and the orthotropy of the foam.

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