Influence of Humidity State on Dynamic Resilient Modulus of Subgrade Soils: Considering Repeated Wetting-Drying Cycles

The service performance of subgrade depends on the dynamic resilient modulus (MR) of subgrade soils. Meanwhile, due to complicated conditions such as rainfall infiltration, high temperature evaporation, and groundwater level fluctuations, it can be safely said that the humidity state and repeated wetting-drying (WD) cycles affect the MR of subgrade soils. The object of this study is to conduct a series of dynamic triaxial tests after WD cycles to investigate the characteristics of the MR under various factors. The main results are as follows: (i) the MR decreased with the increase of deviator stress and rose with the growth of confining pressure; (ii) the humidification effect caused by the increase in moisture content attenuated the MR; (iii) the accumulation of WD cycles damaged the MR; however the decline rate was gradually retarded until it was stable with WD cycles 5 times; (iv) the satisfactory prediction model for the MR of subgrade soils considering WD cycles was proposed and verified. It is expected that the findings can provide valuable contributions for road engineering.

The Resilience of Single Mothers with Special Needs Children in Supporting Their Education and Fulfilling Their Needs During The COVID-19 Pandemic

A single mother has to face quite complicated conditions, especially for children with special needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many activities have changed due to large-scale social restrictions in Jakarta and its surroundings, including studying and teaching. All educational activities are conducted online. Single mothers have to consider fulfilling their children’s needs while dealing with their children doing online school. This qualitative research uses a phenomenological study of four single mothers as participants with special needs children aged 15-22 years who struggle to raise them. This study shows that mothers have strong resilience because they adapt to conditions and need support from family, friends, and the environment.

Utterance Clustering Using Stereo Audio Channels

Utterance clustering is one of the actively researched topics in audio signal processing and machine learning. This study aims to improve the performance of utterance clustering by processing multichannel (stereo) audio signals. Processed audio signals were generated by combining left- and right-channel audio signals in a few different ways and then by extracting the embedded features (also called d-vectors) from those processed audio signals. This study applied the Gaussian mixture model for supervised utterance clustering. In the training phase, a parameter-sharing Gaussian mixture model was obtained to train the model for each speaker. In the testing phase, the speaker with the maximum likelihood was selected as the detected speaker. Results of experiments with real audio recordings of multiperson discussion sessions showed that the proposed method that used multichannel audio signals achieved significantly better performance than a conventional method with mono-audio signals in more complicated conditions.

Effect of Aerodynamic Moment on High-Speed Maglev Train Under Complicated Conditions

As the next generation of high-speed rail transportation, the high-speed maglev train has a design speed of 600km/h, whose Mach number is about 0.49. The severe aerodynamic effect caused by this high speed has a substantial impact on the train’s stability and safety. In this paper, the aerodynamic moments of two three-carriage maglev trains passing by each other in open air are investigated by numerical simulation. To get transient moments acting on the train, this study adopted the sliding mesh method and the k-ε turbulent model, and a user-defined function was compiled to define the motion of maglev. The results show that the pitching moment is the most important factor for the steady of maglev trains running in the open air. The oscillation of the total aerodynamic moment mainly comes from the moment acting on the lower part. The coupling of the pitching moment acting on the upper and lower part of carriages make the peak of the total pitching moment behind the total yawing moment.

FORMATION OF THE NURSES’ PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDES FOR WORK IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

While the transformation of the medical education in general is competence-oriented and practice based, the article focuses on the role of the attitudes for the development of the nurses’ education and profession. Covid-19 critical conditions created new complicated cognitive, professional and psycho-emotional challenges for health care specialists. Nurses’ work ability and professional attitudes have become the central factor to solve clinical and personal problems in order to provide patient-centered and effective medical care. However, it shows that nurses do not have all the necessary competences to quickly adapt, react and keep psycho-emotional balance, working in critical situations. Theoretical analyses and empirical investigations are aimed at finding out what skills and attitudes are essential for medical specialists in Covid-19 pandemic conditions and how students feel about their readiness to use necessary skills and attitudes in practice in unexpected and complicated conditions The article discusses how to transform the organisation of the medical college study process and content to give students opportunities to acquire experience and develop necessary attitudes for the complicated practice. The focus is on studying the nurses’ attitudes necessary for the Covid 19 situation and possibility to promote them in the authentic work-based study process. The study of theoretical sources and survey results give evidence that practice-based studies can promote medical students’ professional attitudes and psycho-emotional capacity, if medical studies are aimed at forming emergency oriented skills and structured in the practice-based environment. Implementation of attitudes as outcome into programmes and effective transition of attitudes into practice can promote higher quality of nurses’ professional and responsibility level.

Repair Exposure of the Postauricular Tissue Expander Using the Modified Brent Method: A 7-Year Experience

Objectives: Ear reconstruction is a challenging surgery for the complicated conditions in patients with microtia. The tissue expansion techniques were necessary and relatively safe for patients with insufficient soft tissue. However, complications such as necrosis of expanded flap and exposure of tissue expander limited the popularization of this method. This study described the use of modified Brent method to handle the exposure of the postauricular tissue expander. Methods: From January 2013 to December 2019, 27 ear reconstruction patients with trauma or necrosis on an expanded skin flap and subsequent exposure of tissue expander were treated with modified Brent method, which consisted of 3 stages: removal of the expander, tension-free closure of wound, and framework fabrication; elevation of reconstructed ear; lobule rotation; and minor modification. Results: Fifty-six percent of exposures occurred in the lower pole of the tissue expander. Exposure usually occurred 54.5 days after implantation. The majority of reconstructed ears had a satisfactory appearance and showed relatively stable outcomes. Only one case of cartilage exposure required revision surgery and was repaired by the temporoparietal fascia. Conclusion: With reasonable distribution of expanded flap, prolonged interval, and sutures under tension-free conditions, complications like the occurrence of trauma or necrosis-induced exposure of tissue expander can be repaired efficiently by a staging modified Brent method.