The reduction of computational costs in the context of the Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation of a typical medium-range aircraft was investigated through an assessment of active constraints and the use of multi-fidelity models-based estimation of drag and structural stress. The results show that for this problem, from the set of considered constraints that includes flutter boundary, the active constraint is a 2.5g pull up Maximum Take Off Weight. Results show that the multi-fidelity approach reduced the required high-fidelity aerodynamic number of evaluations, for both drag assessment and stress assessment with sufficient level of accuracy for the former and conservatively for the latter. Further computational cost reduction can be achieved using a surrogate model based Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation. The best configuration attained shows an Aspect Ratio increase of 16%, a reduction of 4.5% in fuel consumption and wing structural weight increase of 2.7% relative to a predefined baseline configuration.

We surveyed pediatric antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) site leaders within the Sharing Antimicrobial Reports for Pediatric Stewardship collaborative regarding discharge stewardship practices. Among 67 sites, 13 (19%) reported ASP review of discharge antimicrobial prescriptions. These findings highlight discharge stewardship as a potential opportunity for improvement during the hospital-to-home transition.

In November 2017, eight confirmed measles cases were reported to Public Health England from a hospital in the West Midlands. A multidisciplinary Incident Management Team (IMT) was established to determine the extent of the problem and coordinate an outbreak response. Between 1 November 2017 and 4 June 2018, a total of 116 confirmed and 21 likely measles cases were linked to this outbreak; just under half (43%) were aged over 15 years of age. Fifty-five of the confirmed cases were hospitalised (48%) and no deaths were reported. At the start of the outbreak, cases were mostly individuals of Romanian origin; the outbreak subsequently spread to the wider population. Over the 8-month response, the IMT conducted the following control measures: extensive contact tracing, immediate provision of post-exposure prophylaxis, community engagement amongst specific high-risk groups, MMR awareness raising including catch-up campaigns and enhanced vaccination services at selected GP surgeries. Key challenges to the effective control measures included language difficulties limiting community engagement; delays in diagnosis, notification and appropriate isolation of cases; limited resources for contact tracing across multiple high-risk settings (including GPs and hospitals) and lack of timely data on vaccine coverage in sub-groups of the population to guide public health action.

Through diversity of composition, sequence, and interfacial structure, hybrid materials greatly expand the palette of materials available to access novel functionality. The NSF Division of Materials Research recently supported a workshop (October 17–18, 2019) aiming to (1) identify fundamental questions and potential solutions common to multiple disciplines within the hybrid materials community; (2) initiate interfield collaborations between hybrid materials researchers; and (3) raise awareness in the wider community about experimental toolsets, simulation capabilities, and shared facilities that can accelerate this research. This article reports on the outcomes of the workshop as a basis for cross-community discussion. The interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities are presented, and followed with a discussion of current areas of progress in subdisciplines including hybrid synthesis, functional surfaces, and functional interfaces.

A scalable battery recycling strategy to recover and regenerate solid electrolytes and cathode materials in spent all solid-state batteries, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gases.

With the rapidly increasing ubiquity of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sustainable battery recycling is a matter of growing urgency. The major challenge faced in LIB sustainability lies with the fact that the current LIBs are not designed for recycling, making it difficult to engineer recycling approaches that avoid breaking batteries down into their raw materials. Thus, it is prudent to explore new approaches to both fabricate and recycle next-generation batteries before they enter the market. Here, we developed a sustainable design and scalable recycling strategy for next-generation all solid-state batteries (ASSBs). We use the EverBatt model to analyze the relative energy consumption and environmental impact compared to conventional recycling methods. We demonstrate efficient separation and recovery of spent solid electrolytes and electrodes from a lithium metal ASSB and directly regenerate them into usable formats without damaging their core chemical structure. The recycled materials are then reconstituted to fabricate new batteries, achieving similar performance as pristine ASSBs, completing the cycle. This work demonstrates the first fully recycled ASSB and provides critical design consideration for future sustainable batteries.

Duck production has the potential to play a major role in agricultural economy. Asian countries alone contribute 84.2% of total duck meat produced in the world. Driven by the demand of processed foods among consumers, the global duck meat market is expected to grow at a steady pace, reaching a value of about $11.23 billion in the coming years. Duck meat has higher muscle fibre content in breast meat compared to chicken, and is considered as red meat. Moreover, due to a higher fat content (13.8%) than chicken and a stronger gamey flavour, duck meat can be less appreciated by the consumer. Development and diversification of ready-to-eat duck meat products is expected to increase consumption levels. Hence, the status of duck meat production, physicochemical properties, processing, including traditional products, and development of novel value-added ready-to-eat products from spent duck meat is discussed in detail to explore its importance as an alternative to chicken.

We observed pediatric S. aureus hospitalizations decreased 36% from 26.3 to 16.8 infections per 1,000 admissions from 2009 to 2016, with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) decreasing by 52% and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus decreasing by 17%, among 39 pediatric hospitals. Similar decreases were observed for days of therapy of anti-MRSA antibiotics.

Sitathali is an olivine-bronzite chondrite, consisting largely of olivine (Fa18) and orthopyroxene (Fs19) with minor amounts of a clinopyroxene (Ca36Fe12Mg52), plagioclase (An12), nickel-iron, troilite, chromite, and a phosphate (apatite or merrillite). The chemical analysis of a 4 gm sample gave SiO2 39·85, TiO2 0·10, Al2O3 2·84, Cr2O3 0·35, FeO 13·27, MnO 0·28, MgO 23·01, CaO 1·84, Na2O 0·65, K2O 0·15, H2O+ 0·23, H2O− 0·05, P2O5 0·25, FeS 5·09, Fe 10·22, Ni 1·58, Co tr. total 99·76. The metal displays Neumann bands, some deformed, as well as areas of apparent flowage. Troilite locally exhibits twin lamellae and in places replaces kamacite in the plessite fields. Elsewhere it is in braided veinlets and globules, both reflecting former melting. The varied textures suggest a complex post-formational history encompassing several deformational events presumably due to breakups and possible extraterrestrial impacts.

The optimisation results for composite and metallic versions of a regional aircraft wing are compared using the multidisciplinary optimisation (MDO) program CALFUNOPT. The program has been developed for the conceptual design stage and models the wing using just 11 beam elements. The wing has been optimised for three combinations of the following constraint cases: static strength; aeroelastic roll efficiency (represented by limiting the twist of the wing for an aileron loading) and aeroelastic divergence. As expected, comparison shows that the composite wing designs are significantly lighter than the metallic ones, due to the well-known tailoring of the composite material. However, the simple model reveals some insight that may be useful to the designer, and which could be lost within a more detailed finite element approach.

The upper-skin compression panels produced by the conceptual MDO program, for both versions of the wing, have then been optimised using the more detailed and accurate panel sizing tool VICONOPT, which takes buckling into account. Such optimisation increases the panel mass by 5-10% and also provides a suitable ratio of stiffener to skin area for use in the conceptual MDO model.

A computer program for use in the conceptual stage of aircraft design has been developed. The program obtains minimum mass designs for high aspect ratio, composite wings, subject to constraints on flutter speed, divergence speed and material stress. The wing is modelled as a series of composite beam elements and both flutter speed and divergence speed are calculated using a normal mode approach. Modal analysis is carried out by applying the Wittrick-Williams algorithm to the dynamic stiffness method, whereas unsteady aerodynamic loads are calculated from strip theory, although an option which uses lifting-surface theory is also presented. A previously published example is given to validate the analysis. Single level optimisation is carried out using a sequential quadratic programming strategy combined with the modified methods of feasible directions optimizer, for which flutter sensitivities are obtained by an efficient determinant interpolation technique. Design variables include topological variables such as spar and engine positions as well as layer thicknesses, which are modelled using quadratic functions. The wing of a regional turboprop aircraft is optimized to illustrate the use of the program. The problem was modelled using 10 elements and had 43 design variables, 162 constraints and required just over 20 minutes of CPU time on a workstation. This, coupled with the fact that a full three-dimensional FE model of the same wing would require over 1000 elements, illustrates the suitability of the dynamic stiffness method to the conceptual design stage.

This is a case study concerning the rate at which probabilistic coupling occurs for nilpotent diffusions. We focus on the simplest case of Kolmogorov diffusion (Brownian motion together with its time integral or, more generally, together with a finite number of iterated time integrals). We show that in this case there can be no Markovian maximal coupling. Indeed, there can be no efficient Markovian coupling strategy (efficient for all pairs of distinct starting values), where the notion of efficiency extends the terminology of Burdzy and Kendall (2000). Finally, at least in the classical case of a single time integral, it is not possible to choose a Markovian coupling that is optimal in the sense of simultaneously minimizing the probability of failing to couple by time t for all positive t. In recompense for all these negative results, we exhibit a simple efficient non-Markovian coupling strategy.