Return on time investment: Writing resources

ABSTRACT Numerical simulation based on finite element analysis is now widely used during the design optimization of tires, thereby drastically reducing the time investment in the design process and improving tire performance because it is obtained from the optimized solution. Rubber material models that are used in numerical calculations of stress–strain distributions are nonlinear and may include several parameters. The relations of these parameters with rubber formulations are usually unknown, so the designer has no information on whether the optimal set of parameters is reachable by the rubber technological possibilities. The aim of this work was to develop such relations. The most common approach to derive the equation of the state of rubber is based on the expansion of the strain energy in a series of invariants of the strain tensor. Here, we show that this approach has several drawbacks, one of which is problems that arise when trying to build on its basis the quantitative relations between the rubber composition and its properties. An alternative is to use a series expansion in orthogonal functions, thereby ensuring the linear independence of the coefficients of elasticity in evaluation of the experimental data and the possibility of constructing continuous maps of “the composition to the property.” In the case of orthogonal Legendre polynomials, the technique for constructing such maps is considered, and a set of empirical functions is proposed to adequately describe the dependence of the parameters of nonlinear elastic properties of general-purpose rubbers on the content of the main ingredients. The calculated sets of parameters were used in numerical tire simulations including static loading, footprint analysis, braking/acceleration, and cornering and also in design optimization procedures.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Rational time investment during collective decision making in Temnothorax ants.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.736763910.793575286 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ben Hayden

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Collective Decision ◽

Collective Decision Making ◽

Time Investment

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The Food, Feelings, and Family Study: comparison of the efficacy of traditional methods, social media, and broadcast email to recruit pregnant women to an observational, longitudinal nutrition study

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth ◽

10.1186/s12884-021-03680-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Smith ◽

Crystal Alvarez ◽

Sylvia Crixell ◽

Michelle A. Lane

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Pregnant Women ◽

Family Study ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Recruitment Method ◽

Traditional Methods ◽

Chi Square ◽

Recruitment Methods ◽

Health Care Intervention ◽

Time Investment

Abstract Background It is well known that recruitment is a challenging aspect of any study involving human subjects. This challenge is exacerbated when the population sought is reticent to participate in research as is the case with pregnant women and individuals with depression. This paper compares recruitment methods used for the Food, Feelings, and Family Study, an observational, longitudinal pilot study concerning how diet and bisphenol A exposure affect maternal mood and cognitive function during and after pregnancy. Methods Pregnant women were recruited to this study over a period of 15 months using traditional methods, social media including paid and unpaid posts, and emails broadcast to the university community. Contingency analysis using the Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to determine if recruitment method was associated with likelihood of participation. T-tests were used to analyze Facebook advertisement success. ANOVAs and Fisher exact tests were used to determine if recruitment method was related to continuous and categorical demographics, respectively. Results Social media resulted in the largest number of recruits, followed by traditional methods and broadcast email. Women recruited through social media were less likely to participate. In contrast, use of broadcast email resulted in a smaller pool of recruits but these recruits were more likely to be eligible for and complete the study. Most women recruited via social media were the result of unpaid posts to the study’s Facebook page. Paid posts lasting at least 4 days were the most successful. Recruitment method was not associated with participant demographics. Conclusions Social media has the potential to recruit a large pool of potential subjects; however, when studies require a large time investment such as the case here, women recruited through social media are less likely to participate and complete the study than women recruited through other means. Trial registration N/A. This study does not describe a health care intervention.

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Patterns of use and perceived value of social media for population health among population health stakeholders: a cross-sectional web-based survey

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-11370-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sungwon Yoon ◽

Sharon Wee ◽

Vivian S. Y. Lee ◽

Jing Lin ◽

Julian Thumboo

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Community Engagement ◽

Population Health ◽

Preventive Care ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Web Based ◽

Healthy Behaviors ◽

Time Investment ◽

Patterns Of Use

Abstract Background Although existing studies have described patterns of social media use in healthcare, most are focused on health professionals in one discipline. Population health requires a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure diversity and to include diverse stakeholders. To date, what is known about using social media in population health is focused on its potential as a communication tool. This study aims to investigate patterns of use and perceived value of social media usage among stakeholders in population health practice, policy, or research. Methods We conducted a web-based survey of delegates attending the Singapore Population Health Conversations and Workshop. We designed a 24-item questionnaire to assess 1) social media use in terms of type of platform and frequency of use; 2) perceptions of social media relevance and impact on population health; and 3) top three areas in population health that would benefit from social media. We used descriptive and logistic regression analyses to assess the relationships between variables. Results Of the 308 survey respondents, 97.7% reported that they use social media in some form. Messaging (96.8%) was the most dominant activity when using social media. Challenges in implementing social media for population health were time investment by health care professionals (56.2%) and patient adoption (52.9%). The top three population health areas that would benefit most from using social media were the promotion of healthy behaviors (60.7%), community engagement (47.7%), and preventive care (40.6%). Older respondents (> = 40 years) were less likely to view social media as useful for the promotion of healthy behaviors (OR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.19–0.60). Non-social/healthcare professionals were more likely to consider social media to be useful for community engagement (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.10–2.76). For preventive care, older respondents (OR = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.32–0.82) and non-social/healthcare professionals were less likely to view social media as useful (OR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.38–0.97). Conclusions Our findings suggest that it may be important to select the specific care areas that would benefit most from using social media. The time investment needed by population health professionals should be fully addressed in planning to maximize the application and potential value of social media.

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Costly children: the motivations for parental investment in children in a low fertility context

Genus ◽

10.1186/s41118-020-00111-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Anne H. Gauthier ◽

Petra W. de Jong

Keyword(s):

Parental Investment ◽

Low Fertility ◽

Middle Income ◽

Time Investment ◽

Investment In Children ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Self Development ◽

The Usa ◽

Human And Social Capital ◽

Large Investment

AbstractWhile the literature has documented a general increase in parental investment in children, both in terms of financial and time investment, the motives for this increase remain unclear. This paper aims at shedding light on these motives by examining parents’ own narratives of their parenting experiences from the vantage point of three theoretical perspectives. In doing so, the paper brings side-by-side the goal of providing children with human and social capital to improve their future labour market prospects, the pressures on parents to conform to new societal standards of good and intensive parenting, and the experience of parenting as part of self-development. The data come from a qualitative study of middle-income parents in Canada and the USA. The results provide some support for each of these perspectives, while also revealing how they jointly help explain parents’ large investment in their children as well as the tensions and contradictions that come with it.

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Climate Change and Internet of Things Technologies—Sustainable Premises of Extending the Culture of the Amurg Cultivar in Transylvania—A Use Case for Târnave Vineyard

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8170

Author(s):

Veronica Sanda Chedea ◽

Ana-Maria Drăgulinescu ◽

Liliana Lucia Tomoiagă ◽

Cristina Bălăceanu ◽

Maria Lucia Iliescu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

White Wine ◽

Time Investment ◽

Protected Designation Of Origin ◽

Average Annual Temperature ◽

Insect Infestations ◽

Long Time ◽

The Stability ◽

Red Grape

Known for its dry and semi-dry white wine, the Târnave vineyard located in central Transylvania is challenged by the current climate change, which has resulted in an increase of the period of active vegetation by approximately 15–20 days, the average annual temperature by 1–1.5 °C and also the amount of useful temperatures (useful thermal balance for the grapevine). Furthermore, the frost periods have been reduced. Transylvania is an important Romanian region for grapevine cultivation. In this context, one can use the climatic changes to expand their wine assortment by cultivating an autochthonous grapevine variety called Amurg. Amurg is a red grape cultivar homologated at SCDVV Blaj, which also homologated 7 cultivars and 11 clones. Because viticulture depends on the stability of meteorological and hydrological parameters of the growing area, its foundations are challenged by climate change. Grapevine production is a long time investment, taking at least five years before the freshly planted vines produce the desired quality berries. We propose the implementation of a climate change-based precision viticulture turn-key solution for environmental monitoring in the Târnave vineyard. This solution aims to evaluate the grapevine’s micro-climate to extend the sustainable cultivation of the Amurg red grapes cultivar in Transylvania with the final goal of obtaining Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) rosé and red wines from this region. Worldwide, the changing conditions from the existing climate (a 30-year average), used in the past hundred years to dictate local standards, such as new and erratic trends of temperature and humidity regimes, late spring freezes, early fall frosts, storms, heatwaves, droughts, area wildfires, and insect infestations, would create dynamic problems for all farmers to thrive. These conditions will make it challenging to predict shifts in each of the components of seasonal weather conditions. Our proposed system also aims to give a solution that can be adapted to other vineyards as well.

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The Delphi method as an alternative to standard committee meetings to identify ecological issues for forest ecosystem-based management: A case study

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc2016-081 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 92 (04) ◽

pp. 453-464 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

K. Waldron ◽

J.-M Lussier ◽

N. Thiffault ◽

F. Bujold ◽

J.-C. Ruel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Ecosystem ◽

Delphi Method ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Expert Consultation ◽

Committee Meeting ◽

Eastern Canada ◽

Face To Face ◽

Time Investment ◽

Second Growth ◽

The Face

The face-to-face committee meeting is one of the most common expert consultation methods used in forest management. However, it is also laden with disadvantages, such as potential inequity in its consideration of participant opinion and the time involvement required. This led us to evaluate another expert consultation method, the Delphi method, namely by implementing it to identify ecological issues associated with second-growth boreal forests in eastern Canada. We compared this method to the committee meeting method with regard to the time investment required and the efficiency of the consultations. In all, 21 experts participated in three rounds of our implementation of the Delphi method. Subsequently, we administered an appreciation survey comparing the participants’ attitudes vis-à-vis the two methods. These comparisons showed that Delphi was less time-consuming compared to a committee meeting consultation of comparable scope. Participants also considered the Delphi method to be fair and impartial, as all opinions were considered, which is frequently not the case in committee meetings. That said, participants believed that committee meetings allowed for a greater understanding of others’ opinions. Overall, the application of the Delphi method was shown to be a promising way of determining forest ecosystem management issues.

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