Role of Technological Innovations in Improving Manufacturing Resilience in the Post-Covid Era

Technological progress is critical for improving manufacturing resilience and achieving self-sufficiency in any nation. The COVID-19 crisis has shown the importance of, as well as the threats associated with, our new industrial processes. Manufacturing's critical position in both industrialized and emerging economies has been shown by shortages of medical supplies and disruptions in basic goods. These delays and market fluctuations have also highlighted the pitfalls of focusing solely on a globalized distribution system characterized by fragmented supply chains, the separation of engineering and manufacturing, and just-in-time production. Although globalisation was the trend before the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries realized the dangers and began to look inward, focusing on developing local manufacturing capacities. In addition, the automotive sector has established itself as a cornerstone of post-COVID-19 recovery strategies.

A MAC Layer Protocol For Smart Indoor Inventory Management System

The indoor inventory system is gaining more research attention and commercial value with the development of IoT. In this thesis, we presented the design of a MAC protocol that allows synchronized transmission of location and sensing data in a wireless positioning and sensor network for an indoor inventory system. The network supports real-life industrial applications and provides a highly specific positioning method.<div>In the network, mobile sensing tags are connected to smart readers that performs localization of tags and gathers sensing data from the tags. The readers are connected to the back-end cloud. The proposed MAC serves multiple classes of mobile tags with different priorities and latency requirements. These tags transmit critical, position and sensing data with different QoS requirements. The proposed MAC is a hybrid MAC that offers contention-based period for tag discovery and scheduled period for the transmission of sensing data with guaranteed latency. We conducted simulation to evaluate the performance of different methods of discovery process and their impact on latency assurance. We also developed a queuing model to analyze the relationship between parameters, acquiring parameters through experiment, and calculation of boundary values.<br></div><div>Simulation using MatLabTM software suggests that the joining period in design can increase the transmission success rate of high priority messages at the cost of a slight increment in the delay of low priority messages. Preliminary analysis suggests that by adaptively allocating the channel resources of the network to three types of tags, service efficiency can be improved. This result also guides the direction for further improvement.<br></div><div>We explored the performance of two options considered currently, which is selecting the discovery process according to modulo result of unique 16-bit tag ID and random select of an available discovery process. In the current environment where each tag does not have any information about other tags inside the network, the two methods have the same effect on avoiding collisions that could happen in a single discovery cycle.<br></div><div>The proposed MAC layer protocol can provide the best service when the available discovery process in the discovery cycle is for initialization and resetting. For an emergency, the joining period designs can still ensure a success rate for critical messages to be over 90%. Hence, the simulation results indicate the joining period method is able to improve MAC-layer performance.</div><div> <br></div>

Evolution of NLR Resistance Genes in Magnoliids: Dramatic Expansions of CNLs and Multiple Losses of TNLs

Magnoliids are the third-largest group of angiosperms and occupy a critical position in angiosperm evolution. In the past years, due to the lack of sequenced genomes, the disease resistance gene (R gene) profile of magnoliids remains poorly understood. By the genome-wide identification of 1,832 NLR genes from seven magnoliid genomes, we built a framework for the evolution of magnoliid R genes. TNL genes were completely absent from five magnoliids, presumably due to immune pathway deficiencies. A total of 74 ancestral R genes (70 CNLs, 3 TNLs, and 1 RNL) were recovered in a common ancestor of magnoliids, from which all current NLR gene repertoires were derived. Tandem duplication served as the major drive for NLR genes expansion in seven magnoliid genomes, as most surveyed angiosperms. Due to recent rapid expansions, most magnoliids exhibited “a first expansion followed by a slight contraction and a further stronger expansion” evolutionary pattern, while both Litsea cubeba and Persea americana showed a two-times-repeated pattern of “expansion followed by contraction.” The transcriptome analysis of seven different tissues of Saururus chinensis revealed a low expression of most NLR genes, with some R genes displaying a relatively higher expression in roots and fruits. Overall, our study sheds light on the evolution of NLR genes in magnoliids, compensates for insufficiency in major angiosperm lineages, and provides an important reference for a better understanding of angiosperm NLR genes.

A MAC Layer Protocol For Smart Indoor Inventory Management System

The indoor inventory system is gaining more research attention and commercial value with the development of IoT. In this thesis, we presented the design of a MAC protocol that allows synchronized transmission of location and sensing data in a wireless positioning and sensor network for an indoor inventory system. The network supports real-life industrial applications and provides a highly specific positioning method.<div>In the network, mobile sensing tags are connected to smart readers that performs localization of tags and gathers sensing data from the tags. The readers are connected to the back-end cloud. The proposed MAC serves multiple classes of mobile tags with different priorities and latency requirements. These tags transmit critical, position and sensing data with different QoS requirements. The proposed MAC is a hybrid MAC that offers contention-based period for tag discovery and scheduled period for the transmission of sensing data with guaranteed latency. We conducted simulation to evaluate the performance of different methods of discovery process and their impact on latency assurance. We also developed a queuing model to analyze the relationship between parameters, acquiring parameters through experiment, and calculation of boundary values.<br></div><div>Simulation using MatLabTM software suggests that the joining period in design can increase the transmission success rate of high priority messages at the cost of a slight increment in the delay of low priority messages. Preliminary analysis suggests that by adaptively allocating the channel resources of the network to three types of tags, service efficiency can be improved. This result also guides the direction for further improvement.<br></div><div>We explored the performance of two options considered currently, which is selecting the discovery process according to modulo result of unique 16-bit tag ID and random select of an available discovery process. In the current environment where each tag does not have any information about other tags inside the network, the two methods have the same effect on avoiding collisions that could happen in a single discovery cycle.<br></div><div>The proposed MAC layer protocol can provide the best service when the available discovery process in the discovery cycle is for initialization and resetting. For an emergency, the joining period designs can still ensure a success rate for critical messages to be over 90%. Hence, the simulation results indicate the joining period method is able to improve MAC-layer performance.</div><div> <br></div>

Direito e mídia: influências no direito penal, o direito penal do inimigo e suas implicações no sentenciar

O presente artigo intenta analisar como os veículos de comunicação podem influenciar no processo penal por meio da formação de valores e juízos. Em seu caráter qualitativo e por seu cunho bibliográfico, constatará a conflitualidade existente entre direitos e garantias fundamentais. Nessa toada, se verifica para a indústria midiática a presença de proteção especial, e igualmente para o agente infrator o respeito como pessoa humana. Ocorre que, de maneira intervencionista e ao contrário do que se espera dos meios informativos, a mídia tem se aproveitado equivocadamente desses resguardos legais e do sentimento de curiosidade do público para persuadir e manipular opiniões. Logo, temos uma sociedade que termina por desconsiderar no mais das vezes os direitos e garantias inerentes à pessoa do criminoso. Assim, na intenção de remediar violência com violência, fica estatuído para esses indivíduos o rótulo de inimigo a ser arduamente combatido e penalizado pelo jus puniendi estatal. Este trabalho, num experimento ilustrativo buscará teoricamente, através do caso Richthofen, explorar tal influência. Utilizará para tanto o método fenomenológico pontyano de análise do objeto em sua essência, buscando demonstrar o incentivo necessário para que o indivíduo observador se posicione de maneira crítica diante dos fatos para apreciar criticamente e não mais sob o ponto de vista do senso comum. This article aims to analyze how the media can influence the criminal procedure through the formation of values and judgments. In its qualitative and bibliographical nature, it will verify the conflict between fundamental rights and guarantees. In this sense, it is verified for the media industry the presence of special protection, and equally for the offender the respect as a human being. It happens that, in an interventionist way and contrary to what is expected from the media, the media has mistakenly taken advantage of these legal safeguards and of the public's sense of curiosity to persuade and manipulate opinions. Thus, we have a society that ends up disregarding, more often than not, the rights and guarantees inherent to the criminal's person. Thus, in the intention of remedying violence with violence, these individuals are labeled as enemies to be arduously fought and punished by the jus puniendi of the state. This paper, in an illustrative experiment, will seek to explore theoretically, through the Richthofen case, such influence. It will use the Pontian phenomenological method of analyzing the object in its essence, seeking to demonstrate the necessary incentive for the individual observer to take a critical position in front of the facts in order to appreciate them critically and no longer from a common sense point of view.

Modeling and analysis of a prestressed girder bridge prior to diagnostic load testing

Progressive deterioration is a problem that affects road infrastructure, especially bridges. This requires the development of methods for its adequate detection and revision, one of them being load testing. Within load testing, finite element analysis (FEA) models provide initial information to understand the behavior of a structure and plan accordingly, which represents a fundamental step towards a precise structural evaluation of a bridge. This study focused on the modeling and analysis of the static response of the bridge over the river Lili in Cali, Colombia, a prestressed girder bridge programmed to undergo a diagnostic load test. A linear FEA model was created with information from a manual survey and from other bridges’ plans designed and built under the regulations in force at the time. Due to the absence of plans and design specifications for the bridge, variations were applied to certain model parameters (stiffness of diaphragms and elastomeric bearings), to quantify their effect on the overall behavior of the bridge. The analysis included obtaining the critical position for the design vehicles, the transversal distribution of stresses and determining the influence of the variation parameters in the response of the structure. Results showed that the critical combinations for bending moment and shear were when the loads were the closest to the exterior girders, being these elements the most affected. The variation on the modulus of elasticity for the diaphragms and the stiffness of the elastomeric bearings did not significantly influence the results for bending moment and shear, nor the critical position. Girder distribution factors (GDF) from the model were compared to previous research, finding similarities in shape and value with other FEA models and experimental results. Finally, an instrumentation plan focused on the girders of the bridge was proposed based on the zones where the maximum effects are expected. The findings in this study show how linear FEA models provide initial but relevant information regarding the critical position of design vehicles, the distribution of stresses and the expected values for bending moment and shear under design loads.

Design of an Automated Multiposition Dynamic Wheelchair

This work presents a design for an automatized multiposition dynamic wheelchair used to transport quadriplegic patients by reconfiguring a manual wheelchair structure. An electric actuator is attached to a four-bar mechanism fixed to each side of a wheelchair’s backrest to reach multiposition. The entire device is actuated through a PID controller. An experimental test is carried out in a simplified wheelchair structure. Finally, the structure of the wheelchair is evaluated through the Dynamic analysis and Finite Element Method under the payload computed with the most critical position reached by the mechanism.

Research on double-faced jacquard fabric with compound full-backed structure of three wefts

Weft-backed structures with compound weft colours can express the mixed colour effect. However, this structure is not suitable for jacquard fabrics with a double-faced shading effect in the traditional single layer design mode. Taking twenty-thread sateen with a step number (S) of 7 as an example, this paper investigates a design method for compound full-backed structure with three shaded-weave databases (SWDs) by selecting the primary weaves (PWs), designing the compound full-backed technical points and establishing the compound structure database with three SWDs. With this design method, a double-faced shading effect in combination with non-backed and full-backed effects on different sides of the jacquard fabric at the same position is generated. The fabric colour card was produced with three SWDs and three sets of different coloured wefts, and their colour values were measured, followed by an analysis of the compound structures on the reverse side, lightness, colour purity and colour difference (DE*ab) of the specimens. The results showed that the three covering effects on the reverse side, partly covered, critical position and totally covered, could be adjusted by controlling the step number and the transition direction of PW-C. For the specimens on the edges of the fabric colour card, their lightness and colour purity values showed a uniform transition effect along with the shading process; their colour differences ranged from 1.23 to 3.69, both in the range of 2–5, and showed a trace or slight colour difference between two adjacent fabric specimens, indicating that the colour shading effect with the three SWDs is stable.

Mesodiencephalic junction Gabaergic inputs are processed separately from motor cortical inputs in the basilar pons

The basilar pontine nuclei (bPN) receive inputs from the entire neocortex and constitute the main source of mossy fibers to the cerebellum. Despite their critical position in the cortico-cerebellar pathway, it remains unclear if and how the bPN process inputs. An important unresolved question is whether the bPN strictly receives excitatory inputs or also receives inhibitory inputs. In the present study, we identified the mesodiencephalic junction as a prominent source of GABAergic afferents to the bPN. We combined optogenetics and whole-cell patch clamp recordings and confirmed that the bPN indeed receives monosynaptic GABA inputs from this region. Furthermore, we found no evidence that these inhibitory inputs converge with motor cortex (M1) inputs at the single neuron level. We also found no evidence of any connectivity between bPN neurons, suggesting the absence of a local circuit. Finally, rabies tracings revealed that GABAergic MDJ neurons themselves receive prominent inputs from neocortical output neurons. Our data indicates that inhibition from the MDJ, and excitation from the neocortex remain separate streams of information through the bPN. It is therefore unlikely that inhibition in the bPN has a gating function, but rather shapes an appropriate output of the bPN during behavior.

Concept Generation

Concept Generation is an event where participants create new innovations from market led criteria and trade this intellectual property for beer and peanuts. This critical and comedic project engages participants with a design process appropriated from surrealist techniques, in order to glibly mine the depths of product and service niches, where creative industries have not yet ventured. This workshop investigates the spectrum between creative industries and aesthetic art practice and asks participants to form their own critical position. The social contract between the host and the participant is transparent – the event is free, but participants must create marketable ideas to pitch to the artist, in order to exchange their concept for a beer. The artist has sole right over the intellectual property. This exchange mirrors the exploitation of precarious creative workers, for whom work and lifestyle blend, where a workshop can also become a party. Concept Generation presents the mutability of work and leisure, of consumption and production, of art practice and creative industry, and of creative thinking and marketing. In a satire of ideation, participants are asked to sell their ridiculous idea, and many get carried away with the farce. Production is the only imperative, and the more ridiculous the ideas are, the more we believe they might actually succeed.