COVID-19 pandemic and suicides in Nepal: Way forward for prevention

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has firmly rooted itself within our countries, communities, homes and now everyday lives. The impact of this global pandemic is immeasurable as it is catastrophic in nature and involves both a human and financial loss. Suicide and self-harm (SH) are both a serious public health and social issue. It is however preventable via the use of timely, evidence-based and many times low-cost interventions and therapies. The current situation depicted Nepal shows a true indicator of the mental health of the nation, as a precipitating factor (i.e., the extreme stress of COVID-19 and the lockdown) has exposed the submerged “ice-berg” phenomenon of disease. It is evident that COVID-19 and the lockdown had a massively negative effect on the mental health of the population in Nepal. The increased rates of suicide and self-harm also simultaneously exposed the great pre-existing fragility of the mental health of the nation. It is therefore vital that both Nepal and other countries alike take cognizance of the fact that extra support and preventative measures need to be introduced during this difficult period and that further national programs must be employed to best aid the mental health of their fellow countrymen.

Open-Circuit Fault Detection in a Multilevel Inverter Using Sub-Band Wavelet Energy

Recent research has focused on sustainable development and renewable energy resources, thus motivating nonconventional cutting-edge technology development. Multilevel inverters are cost-efficient devices with IGBT switches that can be used in ac power applications with reduced harmonics. They are widely used in the power electronics industry. However, under extreme stress, the IGBT switches can experience a fault, which can lead to undesirable operation. There is a need for a reliable system for detecting switch faults. This paper proposes a signal processing method to detect open-circuit problems in IGBT switches. Relative wavelet energy has been used as a feature for a machine learning algorithm to diagnose and classify the faulted switches. The switching sequence can be altered to restore a healthy output voltage. Inverter faults have been diagnosed by using support vector machine (SVM) and decision tree (DT), and an ensemble model based on decision tree (DT) and XG boost algorithm was developed, which yielded 92%, 88%, and 94.12% accuracy, respectively.

Sensitivity to Mn content mechanical properties of phase composition of ADI

The effect of manganese content on the phase composition and mechanical properties was studied on ADI materials that are isothermally quenchеd at different temperatures. ADI samples with Mn content of 0.78% and 0.24% were analyzed. The final structure of the cast iron was created by austenitizing heating at 900 ° C for 30 minutes. and subsequent isothermal quenching in liquid tin at temperatures of 310, 330, 350, 380 ° C for samples with high manganese content and at 350, 370 ° C for samples with low content. It is shown that increasing the manganese content increases the amount of residual austenite under the same quenching conditions. This enhances the positive role of the TRIP effect on the hardening processes. In particular, ADI with a high content of Mn show a higher rate of strengthening at the initial region of loading diagram, higher hardness and increased damping capacity. Instead, due to the embrittlement action of manganese, such materials have lower mechanical characteristics, which determined fracture moment. It was found that for the same quenching conditions, deformation to fracture and toughness are reduced by half on samples with higher manganese content. The negative effect of manganese on the fatigue is less significant, because the embrittlement action is compensated by phase transformations in the crack head, which inhibits its spread under cyclic loading. Due to the fact that manganese enhances the positive role of the TRIP effect but decrease fracture résistance, it is proposed to use ADI materials with high Mn content in products that operate in conditions of wear but are not subject to extreme stress. Keywords: ADI materials, manganese alloying, isothermal hardening, TRIP effect, retained austenite, strengthening, hardness. damping capacity.

A new method to specify the mitigated acoustic test conditions from flight telemetry based on the equivalence of vibro-acoustic response

Ground acoustic tests using stationary sound pressure level spectrum have been conducted to verify the spacecraft survivability against acoustic environment acting on a spacecraft during launch, which is a non-stationary and random dynamic load. In general, a stationary spectrum used in ground acoustic test is traditionally determined by a method called maximax spectrum, which is the enveloped spectrum of time varying non-stationary short-time Fourier transform. However, the maximax spectrum is more or less an excessively conservative test condition because this spectrum focuses on processing of a time-varying acoustic signal itself to extract maximum value, rather than on how the vibro-acoustic response of an excited structure is. In this paper, a new method is proposed to specify a stationary spectrum equivalent to a structural vibro-acoustic response under a non-stationary and random acoustic environment based on extreme response spectrum and fatigue damage spectrum. This proposed method was applied to flight telemetry of both liquid- and solid-propellant launch vehicles developed by JAXA, to show its effect to mitigate the acoustic test conditions compared to the maximax spectrum while maintaining the equivalence of the structural vibro-acoustic response. Furthermore, the maximum predicted environment, which is the statistical upper percentiles of the flight telemetry of eight liquid-propellant launch vehicles, by the proposed method achieved a mitigation of about 2.5 and 6.8 dB in the extreme stress and cumulative fatigue, respectively, compared to the that which is calculated by the conventional maximax spectrum.

Translation rescue by targeting Ppp1r15a upstream open reading frame in vivo

The eIF2 initiation complex is central to maintaining a functional translation machinery. Extreme stress such as life-threatening sepsis exposes vulnerabilities in this tightly regulated system, resulting in an imbalance between the opposing actions of kinases and phosphatases on the main regulatory subunit eIF2α. Here, we report that translation shutdown is a hallmark of established sepsis-induced kidney injury brought about by excessive eIF2α phosphorylation and sustained by blunted expression of the counterregulatory phosphatase subunit Ppp1r15a. We determined that the blunted Ppp1r15a expression persists because of the presence of an upstream open reading frame (uORF). Overcoming this barrier with genetic approaches enabled the derepression of Ppp1r15a, salvaged translation and improved kidney function in an endotoxemia model. We also found that the loss of this uORF has broad effects on the composition and phosphorylation status of the immunopeptidome that extended beyond the eIF2α axis. Collectively, our findings define the breath and potency of the highly conserved Ppp1r15a uORF and provide a paradigm for the design of uORF-based translation rheostat strategies. The ability to accurately control the dynamics of translation during sepsis will open new paths for the development of therapies at codon level precision.

Sailing too close to the wind in 1880s Wellington

The 1880s and early 1890s have been widely recognised as a time of depression in New Zealand. While well-known architects with substantial clienteles were generally able to survive the downturn in business, others struggled to make ends meet, showed signs of extreme stress, or occasionally resorted to sharp practices. Few in-depth studies have been able to show the broad spectrum of architects working in Wellington at a particular time as, until recently, it has been extremely difficult to accumulate the necessary data. The introduction of Papers Past has considerably simplified this task. We can now find and assess almost all the architects who made the news in different ways. Although more than 30 men claimed to be Wellington architects in the 1880s, not all of them were working. Some, such as Frank Mitchell, produced relatively large numbers of plans throughout the decade; many others appear to have been less successful, and to have turned their hands to other activities, for better or worse. In this paper we select a few of the more colourful "architects" residing in Wellington in the 1880s. Our candidates range from the aforementioned Frank Mitchell, through to Christopher Walter Worger, who being bankrupted in Christchurch, moved to Wellington in 1889. Leaving no record of any building designs, he had gone to Dunedin by 1906. Another enigmatic character was James Henry Schwabe, who escaped Dunedin and a rather public humiliation for Wellington in the late 1870s. Similarly, we discuss the erratic behaviour of W.J.W. Robinson, also escaping scandal in Dunedin to practise in the capital. Charles Zahl we find making a fleeting visit in early 1887, before absconding with a large sum of investors' money en route to Rio de Janeiro or Britain. We finish with the case of Ernest Wagner, released into the community after a year's hard labour in 1880. He never practised as an architect again - preferring, or being forced, to live as a farmer in the country south of Auckland. The examples we discuss are the exception rather than the rule. Of the bankruptcies recorded at the time, few came from the upper echelons of society. Some architects who were later prominent in Wellington moved offshore to better conditions in Australia (such as Joshua Charlesworth), whereas others such as William Turnbull were protected to some extent in successful partnerships in which they had a junior role.

Individual factors in the relationship between stress and resilience in mental health psychology practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic

Utilising an online survey, this study aimed to investigate the concurrent effects of pre-pandemic and COVID-19 stress on resilience in Mental Health Psychology Practitioners (MHPPs) ( n = 325), focussing on the mediation effects of specific individual factors. Optimism, burnout and secondary traumatic stress, but not coping strategies, self-efficacy, compassion satisfaction, or self-compassion, mediated both the relationship between pre-pandemic stress and resilience and COVID-19 stress and resilience. Increased job demands caused by the pandemic, the nature and duration of COVID-19 stress may explain this finding. Training and supervision practices can help MHPPs deal with job demands under circumstances of general and extreme stress.

Investigations on Structural Integrity of Piping Compensators Under Angular Rotational Deformation

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of angular rotational misalignment in pipe structure on the deflection based convolution stresses. Such stresses are generated in the thin walled unreinforced bellows compensators during the expansion-contraction function. On the convolution geometry, the most vulnerable stress type is meridional deflection stresses under the internal pressure. Therefore, it’s critical to check the structural integrity of pipe systems with bellows expansion joints, which typically connected to the process equipment’s including boilers, pressure vessels, reactors, heat exchangers, refineries, and so on. The findings of theoretical and experimental investigations of thin-walled unreinforced conditioned bellows subjected to different angular rotations are presented in this paper. The meridional deflection stresses are investigated for the different operating pressures when bellows subjected to angular rotations of 1°, 1.5° and 2° in the flexural plane. In addition, the testing is performed along various longitudinal lines across the periphery of the bellows to determine the maximum induced stress points on the convolution profile. The higher meridional stress is seen to be the bending stress at the bottom curved toroidal section of the convolution, which approaches towards the elastoplastic regime at 1° to 2° of angular deviation in flexural plane. These extreme stress points may prove the risky areas at the root of the convolution for the fatigue failures. Further, the results of the maximal convolution stress assessment are useful in predicting the structural integrity of bellows in elastic regime, when prone to the angular shift.

Procalcitonin metabolomics in the critically ill reveal relationships between inflammation intensity and energy utilization pathways

Procalcitonin is a biomarker of systemic inflammation and may have importance in the immune response. The metabolic response to elevated procalcitonin in critical illness is not known. The response to inflammation is vitally important to understanding metabolism alterations during extreme stress. Our aim was to determine if patients with elevated procalcitonin have differences in the metabolomic response to early critical illness. We performed a metabolomics study of the VITdAL-ICU trial where subjects received high dose vitamin D3 or placebo. Mixed-effects modeling was used to study changes in metabolites over time relative to procalcitonin levels adjusted for age, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, admission diagnosis, day 0 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, and the 25-hydroxyvitamin D response to intervention. With elevated procalcitonin, multiple members of the short and medium chain acylcarnitine, dicarboxylate fatty acid, branched-chain amino acid, and pentose phosphate pathway metabolite classes had significantly positive false discovery rate corrected associations. Further, multiple long chain acylcarnitines and lysophosphatidylcholines had significantly negative false discovery rate corrected associations with elevated procalcitonin. Gaussian graphical model analysis revealed functional modules specific to elevated procalcitonin. Our findings show that metabolite differences exist with increased procalcitonin indicating activation of branched chain amino acid dehydrogenase and a metabolic shift.