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The early design phase of deep-drawn structural components involves time-consuming iterative development. Traditional drawability assessments rely on finite element simulations, which are computationally expensive and slow the design process. Alternative machine learning (ML) approaches show promise in accelerating this process but face challenges with existing methods. Existing low-dimensional ML models only provide global predictions without identifying specific geometric regions prone to failure. High-dimensional models provide local predictions but require significant amounts of training data. We propose a data-driven approach leveraging graph neural networks (GNNs) for face-wise drawability prediction of sheet metal components in their computer-aided design (CAD) representation. Our method aims to bridge the gap between the computational efficiency of ML and the spatial resolution of simulation by providing face-wise insight into potential failure regions. This study utilises a dataset of parametric U-channel geometries with variability in both geometry and topology. Ground-truth labels are generated using inverse analysis simulations. Geometric entities are represented through the use of UV parameterisations, whereby 3D surfaces are mapped into 2D space to facilitate geometric encoding. Concurrently, the topological relationships are captured using a face adjacency graph. To address data scarcity, we evaluate how different amounts of training data affect model performance and perform ablation studies to analyse the impact of different CAD representation features. Our results show that the proposed approach achieves high accuracy even with limited training data. In addition, the ablation studies provide insights into the most critical CAD features, guiding future research. These results highlight the potential of our GNN to predict face-wise drawability in the early design phase.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a signature wound of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, can result from blunt head trauma or exposure to a blast/explosion. While TBI affects sleep, the neurobiological underpinnings between TBI and sleep are largely unknown. To examine the neurobiological underpinnings of this relationship in military veterans, [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) was used to compare mTBI-related changes in relative cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglc) during wakefulness, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM (NREM) sleep, after adjusting for the effects of posttraumatic stress (PTS). Fourteen veterans with a history of blast exposure and/or mTBI (B/mTBI) (age 27.5±3.9) and eleven veterans with no history (No B/mTBI) (age 28.1±4.3) completed FDG PET studies during wakefulness, REM sleep, and NREM sleep. Whole-brain analyses were conducted using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8). Between group comparisons revealed that B/mTBI was associated with significantly lower rCMRglc during wakefulness and REM sleep in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, insula, uncus, culmen, visual association cortices, and midline medial frontal cortices. These results suggest that alterations in neurobiological networks during wakefulness and REM sleep subsequent to B/mTBI exposure may contribute to chronic sleep disturbances and differ in individuals with acute symptoms. •Results showed decreased rCMRglc during wakefulness and REM sleep in blast and/or mTBI exposure.•Hypometabolism in right basal ganglia and limbic system.•Hypometabolism in culmen, associative visual cortices, and frontal cortices.•These effects are beyond concurrent PTSD symptoms, combat, and sleep quality.•Hypometabolic profile may reflect long-term neural effects of blast/TBI exposure.

The fruits of two plants from Algeria (Quercus and Pistacia lentiscus) were investigated. The paper reports the chemical characteristics and the fatty acid composition of the oil extracts from the fruits. The black fruits of P. lentiscus has the highest crude fat of 32.8%, followed by the red fruits with 11.7%, and the lowest value of 9% in Quercus (acorn). The acid value was highest in red fruits of P. lentiscus oil (24.0 mg KOH/g), followed by the black fruits oil and lowest in acorn oil. The relatively high iodine value in the oils indicates the presence of many unsaturated bonds. Saponification value was highest in the Quercus ilex oil (166.7 mg KOH/g), while the lowest value was in the black fruits of P. lentiscus oil. Gas-liquid chromatography revealed that the three dominant fatty acids found are: palmitic C16:0 (16.3-19.5%), oleic C18:1 (55.3-64.9%), linoleic C18:2 (17.6-28.4%). The oils contain an appreciable amount of unsaturated fatty acids (78.8-83.5%).

Ostracods are tiny bivalved crustaceans with a fossil record extending into rocks of the Lower Ordovician. They occupy almost all aquatic environments today, from the ocean abyssal planes to damp forest leaf litter. Their stratigraphical record suggests they had diversified into a wide range of marine and non-marine habitats already during the Palaeozoic. Through the Ordovician, ostracods are mostly known from marine shelf depositional settings. These are mostly podocope ostracods that appear to have had a benthic mode of life like their modern counterparts; myodocope ostracods, though known from the Ordovician, likely became pelagic only in the Silurian. As they are considered benthic, and possessed no pelagic larval stage, Ordovician podocope ostracods have been widely used as key biogeographical index species for much of the early Palaeozoic. A fundamental question in the oceanographic evolution of ostracods is: when did a psychrosphere evolve (a fauna inhabiting cool waters below the thermocline)? A psychrospheric ostracod fauna in the Ordovician would question some of their biogeographic utility, given that such taxa might have a much wider dispersal capability than more shallow shelf faunas. Here we describe a new ostracod fauna from a palaeotropical South China plate setting, preserved in Upper Ordovician mudstones and siltstones from northern Vietnam. The fauna contains taxa endemic to the South China palaeoplate, but also yields several taxa at the generic level that are known from European and North American Ordovician settings. We discuss whether these latter taxa might be indicative of a more widely dispersed deeper marine psychrospheric Ordovician ostracod fauna, and the implications this would have on traditional biogeographic models. We also discuss other possibilities for these apparently more cosmopolitan taxa, including homeomorphy, previously unknown palaeogeographical connections, and the possibility of pelagic podocope taxa.

Silicified beyrichiocopid and podocopid ostracods from limestone nodules derived from the middle part of the Ichinotani Formation within the Hida Gaien Terrane of central Honshu Island, Japan, are associated with fusulinid foraminifera that indicate strata of the middle Moscovian (Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous). This is a rare record of ostracods from the Palaeozoic of Japan and the first systematic description of ostracods from the Carboniferous of the Hida Gaien Terrane. The fauna comprises six ostracod species (two new) assigned to the genera Amphissites, Kirkbya, Bairdia, Aechmina and Healdia, and additional material of possible cavellinids. The numerical dominance of ornamented beyrichiocopids such as Kirkbya and Amphissites, along with smaller numbers of smooth podocopids such as Bairdia, indicates an ‘Eifelian mega-assemblage’ ecotype (sensu G. Becker), that is typical of mid Palaeozoic shallow marine, high-energy environments in a fore-reef ecosystem.

We have developed metallized, cross-shaped microrotors driven by scanning a low-power laser beam. The metallized microrotors were fabricated by the combination of two-photon microfabrication, electroless plating and laser ablation. It is demonstrated that a cross-shaped, metallized microrotor can be driven at a laser power of 3 mW. We also analyze the radiation pressure exerted on the blade to investigate the driving mechanism of the metallized micorotor. As a result, it was confirmed that a tilted blade could generate larger torque than a horizontal blade due to the reflection of an incident Gaussian laser beam. Such optically driven metallized micromachines will be useful for low-cost, functional lab-on-a-chip devices. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Since recent times, there is a growing interest in the food industry and in preventive health care for the development and evaluation of natural antioxidants from medicinal plant materials. In the present work we have investigated the antioxidant potency of phenolic compounds of 11 indigenous wild plant species from the Algerian Atlas commonly used in Arab folk medicine for a wide range of conditions. The antioxidant activity of each phenolic extracts has been assessed by using the Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) as a chemical test, and in a dynamic way by a biological assay based on whole blood resistance to free radical aggression. Of the 11 tested plants, 2 showed prominent antioxidant activity: Anthemis arvensis and Artemisia campestris. These plants had a very high level of Trolox equivalents and induced a strong delay of free radical-induced red blood cells hemolysis compared to antioxidant references. Artemisia campestris was the best inhibitor, its effect was far stronger than that of caffeic acid and was more than three times as high as ascorbic acid and two times higher than α-tocopherol efficiency. HPLC analysis showed a good correlation between the antioxidant activity and hydroxycinnamic derivatives. These preliminary results on the in vitro protection of blood against oxidative stress emphasized the benefit of the phenolic compounds of these medicinal plants. Our results enable us to proceed towards more detailed chemical and pharmacological understanding of these plant materials and show the interest of natural antioxidant in medicinal plants for the prevention of much free radical-mediated pathology.

Recent advances in materials science have made it possible to perform photolithography at the nanoscale using visible light. One approach to visible-light nanolithography (resolution augmentation through photo-induced deactivation) uses a negative-tone photoresist incorporating a radical photoinitiator that can be excited by two-photon absorption. With subsequent absorption of light, the photoinitiator can also be deactivated before polymerization occurs. This deactivation step can therefore be used for spatial limitation of photopatterning. In previous work, continuous-wave light was used for the deactivation step in such photoresists. Here we identify three broad classes of photoinitiators for which deactivation is efficient enough to be accomplished by the ultrafast excitation pulses themselves. The remarkable properties of these initiators result in the inverse scaling of lithographic feature size with exposure time. By combining different photoinitiators it is further possible to create a photoresist for which the resolution is independent of exposure over a broad range of fabrication speeds. A broad new class of commercially available multiphoton photoinitiators is identified, the properties of which result in the inverse scaling of photolithographic feature size with exposure time, rather than the usual proportional scaling. On combination with a conventional initiator, photoresists can be created for which the feature size is independent of exposure.

Study Objectives: This study examined the extent to which self-reported exposure to blast during deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan affects subjective and objective sleep measures in service members and veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods: Seventy-one medication-free service members and veterans (mean age = 29.47 ± 5.76 years old; 85% men) completed self-report sleep measures and overnight polysomnographic studies. Four multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to examine the impact of blast exposure and PTSD on subjective sleep measures, measures of sleep continuity, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep parameters, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep parameters. Results: There was no significant Blast × PTSD interaction on subjective sleep measures. Rather, PTSD had a main effect on insomnia severity, sleep quality, and disruptive nocturnal behaviors. There was no significant Blast × PTSD interaction, nor were there main effects of PTSD or Blast on measures of sleep continuity and NREM sleep. A significant PTSD × Blast interaction effect was found for REM fragmentation. Conclusions: The results suggest that, although persistent concussive symptoms following blast exposure are associated with sleep disturbances, self-reported blast exposure without concurrent symptoms does not appear to contribute to poor sleep quality, insomnia, and disruptive nocturnal disturbances beyond the effects of PTSD. Reduced REM sleep fragmentation may be a sensitive index of the synergetic effects of both psychological and physical insults. Citation: Stocker RP, Paul BT, Mammen O, Khan H, Cieply MA, Germain A. Effects of blast exposure on subjective and objective sleep measures in combat veterans with and without PTSD. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(1):49–56.