Hybrid Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing of Ti–6Al–4V: Processing, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties

Processing, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the hybrid electron beam powder bed fusion (E-PBF) additive manufacturing of Ti–6Al–4V have been investigated. We explore the possibility of integrating the substrate as a part of the final component as a repair, integrated, or consolidated part. Various starting plate surface conditions are used to understand the joining behavior and their microstructural properties in the bonding region between the plate and initial deposited layers. It is found that mechanical failures mainly occur within the substrate region due to the dominant plastic strains localized in the weaker Ti–6Al–4V substrate. The hybrid concept is successfully proven with satisfactory bonding performance between the E-PBF build and substrate. This investigation improves the practice of using the hybrid E-PBF additive manufacturing technique and provides basic understanding to this approach.

Internal Migration, Ethnicity, and Acculturation Strategies in Peru 2020

The objective of this study was to explore the acculturation strategies present in the ethnic groups in the internal migration process in Peru, from the self-perception of social well-being and psychological acculturation, as conflict prevention factors. The study methodology was non-experimental and cross-sectional, comprising a non-probabilistic sample of 214 migrants of Quechua ethnic origin residing in Lima and Callao. The results indicated that just over half of the participants perceive themselves as integrated or assimilated to the host society. The results of the research show the prevalence of acculturation strategies linked to social welfare, where internal immigrants of Quechua origin and language seek integration into the environment that enables the performance of roles in the public and private spheres that facilitate adaptation processes and minimization of conflicts.

RF and microwave diagnostics for compact plasma traps and possible perspectives for fusion devices

Plasma diagnostics is a topic having a great impact on R&D in compact ion sources as well as in large fusion reactors. Towards this aim, non-invasive microwave diagnostics approaches, such as interferometric, polarimetric and microwave imaging profilometric techniques can allow obtaining volumetric, line-integrated or even space-resolved information about plasma electron density. Special probes can be also designed and implemented in order to characterize external and/or self-generated radio-waves in the plasmas. In particular, the design, construction and operation of a K-band microwave interferometry/polarimetry setup based on the Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) method at INFN-LNS will be described: this tool provides reliable measurements of the plasma density even in the extreme unfavorable wavelength-to-plasma scale ratio in plasma-based ion sources. A “frequency sweep” and a post-processing filtering method (for interferometry and polarimetry, respectively) were used to filter out the multipath contributions or cavity induced depolarizations in the detected signals. Besides this, the use of the aforementioned RF plasma-immersed probes will also be discussed, which allow measuring local E-fields and fast temporal response in order to characterize turbulent (through kinetic instabilities, cyclotron maser emission, etc.) vs. stable plasma regimes. An analysis based on wavelet transform applied to measurements of plasma radio self-emission in B-minimum and simple mirror traps will be presented. These tools and methods have the potential to be applied to plasma machines both in compact traps and large-size reactors with a proper scaling.

Integrated or Independent Actions of Metformin in Target Tissues Underlying Its Current Use and New Possible Applications in the Endocrine and Metabolic Disorder Area

Metformin is considered the first-choice drug for type 2 diabetes treatment. Actually, pleiotropic effects of metformin have been recognized, and there is evidence that this drug may have a favorable impact on health beyond its glucose-lowering activity. In summary, despite its long history, metformin is still an attractive research opportunity in the field of endocrine and metabolic diseases, age-related diseases, and cancer. To this end, its mode of action in distinct cell types is still in dispute. The aim of this work was to review the current knowledge and recent findings on the molecular mechanisms underlying the pharmacological effects of metformin in the field of metabolic and endocrine pathologies, including some endocrine tumors. Metformin is believed to act through multiple pathways that can be interconnected or work independently. Moreover, metformin effects on target tissues may be either direct or indirect, which means secondary to the actions on other tissues and consequent alterations at systemic level. Finally, as to the direct actions of metformin at cellular level, the intracellular milieu cooperates to cause differential responses to the drug between distinct cell types, despite the primary molecular targets may be the same within cells. Cellular bioenergetics can be regarded as the primary target of metformin action. Metformin can perturb the cytosolic and mitochondrial NAD/NADH ratio and the ATP/AMP ratio within cells, thus affecting enzymatic activities and metabolic and signaling pathways which depend on redox- and energy balance. In this context, the possible link between pyruvate metabolism and metformin actions is extensively discussed.

Missio hominum for social justice in South Africa: From missio Dei to missio hominum

Decades after the fall of apartheid, South Africa continues to face problems such as racism, heterosexism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, and gender-based violence leading to feminicide, which undermines all efforts being made to achieve social justice. Every Christian mission begins or flows out from missio Dei and has a common endeavour to achieve its goal. This article examines missio hominum as the new fundamental paradigm from the perspective of Nico Smith. It believes that when Smith saw the need for missio hominum, social justice was thought of as a prerequisite for the accomplishment of missio Dei’s goal. It examines how he developed the missio hominum paradigm with the aim of advocating for social justice in South Africa. It perceives a potential and a fundamental element for social justice in this new paradigm. Significantly, missio hominum represents a fundamental theological paradigm by which human action is integrated or linked with divine action in order to achieve the goal of the missio Dei. It provides an overview of the literature relating to the featured works on Christian mission and social justice. To the best of the author’s knowledge, little or no work has been published on missio hominum as a missiological paradigm on the way to social justice.Contribution: Missio hominum from the perspective of Nico Smith is described here as a new fundamental missiological paradigm aimed at bringing social justice to South Africa. This paradigm integrates the active participation of all people in the broader discourse of the missio Dei and its fulfilment. Adoption of this paradigm will enrich the field of theology in general and missiology in particular as it expands human participation in missio Dei.

Training gender: Discursive analysis

<p>The aim of this thesis is to examine the discursive practices that have arisen from gender training in peace operations with the following research questions: “how is the discourse of ‘gender-awareness’ constructed through UN gender-training material for peacekeepers? How does this discourse contribute to further shaping representations of gender, violence and security?” To help answer my research questions, I proceed to a discourse analysis of the gender-training package created in 2001 by the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO) called Gender and Peacekeeping In-Mission Training. The analytical frameworks chosen for this research paper are Michel Foucault’s notion of discourse and Laura Shepherd’s ‘analytical strategies’. Using Foucault’s understanding of discourse, this paper examines the social practices of gender in the military field (peace and security): how are these social practices embedded in knowledge (in what ways are the notions of gender approached? Do they form a universal truth?)? How does this discourse act through and upon subjects (male and female peacekeepers)? Building on Shepherd’s work, this thesis seeks to interrogate and deconstruct the concept of ‘gender-awareness’ in the UN training material around three dominant discursive sites (called Shepherd’s ‘nodal points’): [1] ‘how the relations between women and men are structured’ (gender), [2] ‘how they are affected by violent conflict’ (gender and violence), and [3] ‘how the mere presence of peacekeepers further impacts on those relations’ (gender, violence and security). The literature review first addresses the construction of feminities and masculinities in war and peace. It demonstrates that women are constructed as being ‘peacemakers’ and that their feminity is shaped as being ‘peaceful’ and as ‘mother of the nation’ whilst masculinities are shaped through war. Secondly, it looks at the ways in which gender has been integrated (or mainstreamed) into UN policies: showing gender as a synonym for women. The research discovers that ‘gender-awareness’ as a discourse in the UN gender-training material is composed of: [1] gender that equates ‘sex’ and ‘women’, [2] the dichotomy between women positioned as ‘victims’ and men as ‘heroes’ (expected normal behaviour) and [3] universals such as women’s rights, which ignore cultural contexts in their approach to gender. The paper also further investigates the discourse of ‘gender-awareness training’, which I argue has been established as a ‘tool’ in the military field, but not as a critical concept. This tool seeks to produce understanding (knowledge, i.e. what is produced as truth) of gender, violence and security and to regulate the agents’ (i.e. male peacekeepers’) behaviours. These findings are important as they add to the literature which demonstrates how gender is de-politicised while sex is politicised and how women are excluded from both the realm of peace (security) and the realm of war (violence). It reinforces the idea that discourse is repeated and that for the UN to (re-)think gender in meaningful and creative ways, it becomes necessary to deconstruct the way power structures are shared.</p>

Training gender: Discursive analysis

<p>The aim of this thesis is to examine the discursive practices that have arisen from gender training in peace operations with the following research questions: “how is the discourse of ‘gender-awareness’ constructed through UN gender-training material for peacekeepers? How does this discourse contribute to further shaping representations of gender, violence and security?” To help answer my research questions, I proceed to a discourse analysis of the gender-training package created in 2001 by the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO) called Gender and Peacekeeping In-Mission Training. The analytical frameworks chosen for this research paper are Michel Foucault’s notion of discourse and Laura Shepherd’s ‘analytical strategies’. Using Foucault’s understanding of discourse, this paper examines the social practices of gender in the military field (peace and security): how are these social practices embedded in knowledge (in what ways are the notions of gender approached? Do they form a universal truth?)? How does this discourse act through and upon subjects (male and female peacekeepers)? Building on Shepherd’s work, this thesis seeks to interrogate and deconstruct the concept of ‘gender-awareness’ in the UN training material around three dominant discursive sites (called Shepherd’s ‘nodal points’): [1] ‘how the relations between women and men are structured’ (gender), [2] ‘how they are affected by violent conflict’ (gender and violence), and [3] ‘how the mere presence of peacekeepers further impacts on those relations’ (gender, violence and security). The literature review first addresses the construction of feminities and masculinities in war and peace. It demonstrates that women are constructed as being ‘peacemakers’ and that their feminity is shaped as being ‘peaceful’ and as ‘mother of the nation’ whilst masculinities are shaped through war. Secondly, it looks at the ways in which gender has been integrated (or mainstreamed) into UN policies: showing gender as a synonym for women. The research discovers that ‘gender-awareness’ as a discourse in the UN gender-training material is composed of: [1] gender that equates ‘sex’ and ‘women’, [2] the dichotomy between women positioned as ‘victims’ and men as ‘heroes’ (expected normal behaviour) and [3] universals such as women’s rights, which ignore cultural contexts in their approach to gender. The paper also further investigates the discourse of ‘gender-awareness training’, which I argue has been established as a ‘tool’ in the military field, but not as a critical concept. This tool seeks to produce understanding (knowledge, i.e. what is produced as truth) of gender, violence and security and to regulate the agents’ (i.e. male peacekeepers’) behaviours. These findings are important as they add to the literature which demonstrates how gender is de-politicised while sex is politicised and how women are excluded from both the realm of peace (security) and the realm of war (violence). It reinforces the idea that discourse is repeated and that for the UN to (re-)think gender in meaningful and creative ways, it becomes necessary to deconstruct the way power structures are shared.</p>

CoDEC: Connected Data For Road Infrastructure Asset Management

Road infrastructure asset management is rapidly transforming into a digital environment where data accessibility, effective integration and collaboration and accessibility from different sources and assets are key. However, current asset management processes are not yet fully integrated or linked, and there are incompatibilities between various systems and platforms that limit the ability to integrate asset management with BIM. The CoDEC project has sought to understand the current status of information management for assets, including inventory, condition and new data sources such as sensors and scanning systems, to identify the challenges and needs for linking and integrating different data sets to support effective asset management. As a result, CoDEC has developed a data dictionary framework to help link/integrate static and dynamic data for the “key” infrastructure assets (road pavements, bridges, tunnels). This will enable BIM and Asset Management Systems (AMS) to exchange data and help optimise and integrate data management across systems and throughout the different asset lifecycle phases, from build to operation. This work will be followed up with three pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating asset data from various sources through linked data/semantic web technology to build the connection between AMS and BIM platforms.

Bibliographic References to Publications from Online Resources. Normalization Requirements

The article discusses the rules for compiling bibliographic references to cited or mentioned electronic documents placed in information and telecommunications networks of the following categories: all types of electronic documents placed in information and telecommunications networks, regardless of the primary source of their publication (including republications, integrated and multimedia electronic documents, software and databases), groups of homogeneous and heterogeneous electronic documents, components of an electronic document (the fragment of a text, part of a work or a publication, a block of information in an integrated or multimedia document). The authors specify the bibliographic record for making a reference to electronic documents that have analogies in the system of traditional scholarly communications (books, articles, conference materials, etc.). Alternative requirements for making a bibliographic record when referring to documents that are not included in other bibliographic standards are proposed: research data; an integrated electronic document and its component part (messages and responses to them in social networks, chats and forums, on news feeds and on information resources; a fragment of a document, including a multimedia one; an information resource (website, portal); computer programs.