Damage Avoidance Research Articles

The role of video games in enhancing managers' strategic thinking and cognitive abilities: An experiential survey

Using gamification and video games is one of the modern approaches to cognitive enhancement and improving the abilities and competencies of managers, including strategic thinking skills. Many organizations use video games in the fields of education, marketing, business, and entrepreneurship. This research aimed to investigate the role of video games in enhancing managers' strategic thinking and their potential contribution to developing cognitive capabilities. The sample included 30 students actively involved in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. To measure the strategic thinking of the participants, Pisapia’s strategic thinking questionnaire was used, and the CANTAB test was employed to measure their cognitive capabilities. To identify the individuals’ game-playing styles, indicators of micro-management, planning, plan recognition, predictions, gathering resources, partial observability, and damage avoidance were designed. The findings indicated that 53.3 percent of the participants had reflective thinking, 30 percent had systems thinking, and the rest had a reframing thinking style as their strategic thinking dominant dimension. On the other hand, given the identified correlation between the damage avoidance criteria with the thinking and reflective style, as well as the inverse and significant correlation of the gathering resources criteria with the results of the PRM test, it seems that strategic games have the potential to change and even develop some cognitive functions such as attention, reaction, and memory, and can be considered as tools to improve cognitive ability. These games can be used to design tasks to enhance managers' cognitive abilities and subsequently promote their strategic thinking and decision-making skills.

Exploring the complexity of commonly held attitudes and beliefs of low back pain-a network analysis.

The current study used a network analysis approach to explore the complexity of attitudes and beliefs held in people with and without low back pain (LBP). The study aimed to (1) quantify the adjusted associations between individual items of the Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back-PAQ), and (2) identify the items with the strongest connectivity within the network. This is a secondary data analysis of a previously published survey using the Back-PAQ (n = 602). A nonparametric Spearman's rank correlation matrix was used as input to the network analysis. We estimated an unregularised graphical Gaussian model (GGM). Edges were added or removed in a stepwise manner until the extended Bayesian information criterion (EBIC) did not improve. We assessed three measures of centrality measures of betweenness, closeness, and strength. The two pairwise associations with the greatest magnitude of correlation were between Q30-Q31 [0.54 (95% CI 0.44 to 0.60)] and Q15-Q16 [0.52 (95% CI 0.43 to 0.61)]. These two relationships related to the association between items exploring the influence of attentional focus and expectations (Q30-Q31), and feelings and stress (Q15-Q16). The three items with the greatest average centrality values, were Q22, Q25, and Q10. These items reflect beliefs about damaging the back, exercise, and activity avoidance, respectively. Beliefs about back damage, exercise, and activity avoidance are factors most connected to all other beliefs within the network. These three factors may represent candidate targets that clinicians can focus their counseling efforts on to manage unhelpful attitudes and beliefs in people experiencing LBP.

3'dNTP Binding Is Modulated during Primer Synthesis and Translesion by Human PrimPol.

PrimPol is a DNA primase/polymerase from the Archaeo-Eukaryotic Primase (AEP) superfamily that enables the progression of stalled replication forks by synthesizing DNA primers ahead of blocking lesions or abnormal structures in the ssDNA template. PrimPol's active site is formed by three AEP-conserved motifs: A, B and C. Motifs A and C of human PrimPol (HsPrimPol) harbor the catalytic residues (Asp114, Glu116, Asp280) acting as metal ligands, whereas motif B includes highly conserved residues (Lys165, Ser167 and His169), which are postulated to stabilize 3' incoming deoxynucleotides (dNTPs). Additionally, other putative nucleotide ligands are situated close to motif C: Lys297, almost invariant in the whole AEP superfamily, and Lys300, specifically conserved in eukaryotic PrimPols. Here, we demonstrate that His169 is absolutely essential for 3'dNTP binding and, hence, for both primase and polymerase activities of HsPrimPol, whereas Ser167 and Lys297 are crucial for the dimer synthesis initiation step during priming, but dispensable for subsequent dNTP incorporation on growing primers. Conversely, the elimination of Lys165 does not affect the overall primase function; however, it is required for damage avoidance via primer-template realignments. Finally, Lys300 is identified as an extra anchor residue to stabilize the 3' incoming dNTP. Collectively, these results demonstrate that individual ligands modulate the stabilization of 3' incoming dNTPs to optimize DNA primer synthesis efficiency during initiation and primer maturation.

RAD54L2-mediated DNA damage avoidance pathway specifically preserves genome integrity in response to topoisomerase 2 poisons.

Type II topoisomerases (TOP2) form transient TOP2 cleavage complexes (TOP2ccs) during their catalytic cycle to relieve topological stress. TOP2ccs are covalently linked TOP2-DNA intermediates that are reversible but can be trapped by TOP2 poisons. Trapped TOP2ccs block transactions on DNA and generate genotoxic stress, which are the mechanisms of action of TOP2 poisons. How cells avoid TOP2cc accumulation remains largely unknown. In this study, we uncovered RAD54 like 2 (RAD54L2) as a key factor that mediates a TOP2-specific DNA damage avoidance pathway. RAD54L2 deficiency conferred unique sensitivity to treatment with TOP2 poisons. RAD54L2 interacted with TOP2A/TOP2B and ZATT/ZNF451 and promoted the turnover of TOP2 from DNA with or without TOP2 poisons. Additionally, inhibition of proteasome activity enhanced the chromatin binding of RAD54L2, which in turn led to the removal of TOP2 from chromatin. In conclusion, we propose that RAD54L2-mediated TOP2 turnover is critically important for the avoidance of potential TOP2-linked DNA damage under physiological conditions and in response to TOP2 poisons.

GoComfort: Comfortable Navigation for Autonomous Vehicles Leveraging High-Precision Road Damage Crowdsensing

Recent years have witnessed rapid advances in autonomous driving technologies. Autonomous vehicles are more likely to be accepted if they drive comfortably to avoid potholes, bumps, and other road damage conditions, especially when there are elderly and disabled passengers on board. Traditionally, sensing road damage conditions is either labor-intensive by field investigation and reporting, or inaccurate by surveillance cameras and driving recorders due to limited perspective. In this paper, we propose GoComfort, a crowdsensing-based framework to provide low-cost and fine-grained comfortable navigation for autonomous vehicles with road damage identification leveraging high-precision road sensing data. First, we propose to exploit city-wide autonomous vehicle fleets as crowdsensing participants, and employ an edge-cloud-hybrid computing paradigm to efficiently collect high-precision road damage-related data, including 3D LiDAR point clouds and street view images. Second, we design an accurate road damage identification model fusing spatial structures of point clouds and texture features of street view images, and use an active learning-based method to address the sparse labels issue. Finally, we devise two comfortable navigation scenarios, i.e., fine-grained road damage avoidance and coarse-grained city-wide navigation, and propose a hierarchical road damage assessment diagram for comfortable route planning. Experiments using real-world road sensing data in Xiamen, China show that our approach identifies road damage conditions with an accuracy of 87.5%, and achieves a user acceptance rate of 93.8% in riding comfort evaluation, outperforming the state-of-the-art baselines.

Emerging Research Advancements to Overcome the Peach Spring Frost

The phenomena of global warming has led to an increase in the average air temperature in temperate climates. Springtime frost damage is becoming more common, and after a period of dormancy, damage to buds, blooms, and developing fruits is greater significant than damage from low winter temperatures. Peaches are a crucial crop among moderate fruits. Spring frost damage in peaches can have a negative effect on crop growth, yield, and quality. It is noteworthy that these plants have evolved defenses against spring frost damage while being exposed to a variety of low temperatures in the early spring. In this current review, recent research advancements on spring frost damage avoidance in peaches were deliberated. Additionally, adaptive mechanisms of peach, such as deacclimation and reacclimation, were emphasized. Moreover, the emerging advancements using various omics approaches revealed the peach physiology and molecular mechanisms comprehensively. Furthermore, the use of chemical products and understanding the spring frost mechanisms through the use of environmental chamber temperature stimulation and infrared thermography studies were also discussed. This review is essential groundwork and paves the way to derive and design future research for agronomists and horticulturalists to overcome the challenges of spring frost damage avoidance and crop management in these circumstances.

Seismic Performance of Precast Concrete Special Moment Frames with Hybrid Connection System in Five and Ten Story Buildings

Precast concrete has been widely implemented in various construction projects due to shorter construction duration and consistent quality. In a previous study, Solberg et al. (2008) conducted an experiment on hybrid beam-column connections with Damage Avoidance Design concept to improve the seismic performance of precast concrete special moment frames. The objective of this study is to further evaluate the seismic performance of precast concrete special moment frames with the hybrid beam-column connections in five and ten story buildings. The evaluation was done through non-linear dynamic time history analysis using OpenSees. The analysis results show that precast concrete frame buildings exhibit insignificant difference in maximum interstory drift ratios and roof displacements as compared to conventional concrete frame buildings. However, with significantly smaller residual displacements which indicates less structural damage, precast concrete frame buildings could be preferred in the long run as they require less structural repairs after a strong earthquake event.

Linking Subsidies for Agriculture and Food to Dietary Styles: Estimates for Switzerland

Agriculture contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. Current agricultural policies tolerate these impacts and sometimes even aggravate them through subsidies for unsustainable production systems and products. Against this background, we explore the resulting transfers to agriculture and food associated with different dietary styles. Using data from Switzerland, we consider both direct transfers through government subsidies and indirect transfers through toleration of environmental impacts and costs. Gross transfers were quantified based on existing studies that (i) define eight dietary styles in terms of the quantity of the different product groups, (ii) allocate subsidies for agriculture to product groups, (iii) allocate environmental impacts to product groups using life cycle assessment (LCA) methods, and (iv) estimate external costs of agriculture using politically endorsed expenditures for damage avoidance. To quantify net transfers associated with the dietary styles, we subtracted individual tax contributions from the subsidies received and average external costs individually suffered from external costs caused. We found that the gross transfers from government to agriculture range from about CHF 500 to about CHF 2000 annually per taxpayer/consumer depending on dietary styles. Net transfers per taxpayer/consumer range from about CHF −1000 to about CHF 1000 depending on dietary style and income. The estimates highlight that current policies strongly privilege and thereby also endorse environmentally problematic dietary styles over more environmentally friendly ones, contradicting official strategies and targets in the domains of environment and public health.

Cyclic Response of Buckling-Restrained Stainless Steel Energy Dissipating Bars. I: Experimental Investigations

The seismic performance of structures could be enhanced by the inclusion of supplemental components that dissipate the earthquake-induced energy. This is especially crucial for rocking structures that possess low energy dissipation properties due to their damage avoidance mechanism. Amongst variously developed yielding-type energy dissipaters (EDs), buckling-restrained energy dissipating carbon steel bars have received considerable attention as they make the most use of the inherent energy dissipation of steel and are easy to fabricate. However, maintenance, repair costs, and performance disruptions owing to corrosive environments have been mostly disregarded in past investigations. Employing stainless steel can be a viable solution to overcome such issues. The work described in this two-part study sheds light on various aspects of the buckling-restrained stainless steel EDs through experimental and finite element (FE) investigations. The mechanical properties of type 304L stainless steel including uniaxial monotonic response, strain sensitivity, and cyclic hardening are characterized. It is shown that the material possesses high ductility along with substantial hardening characteristics. In the first phase of testing, energy dissipating bars with different fuse diameters and lengths are designed. Load and strain capacities and bar-tube interactions of the buckling-restrained energy dissipation device are studied through quasi-static tests. In the second phase of testing, various EDs are designed, fabricated with stainless and mild steel, and tested under quasi-static loading to validate the findings of the FE investigations. The test results demonstrate a stable hysteresis response of the buckling-restrained stainless steel EDs with a cyclic average strain capacity of 10%. The FE modelling procedure, calibration, and parametric studies are presented in the companion paper as Part II.

Willingness-to-Pay of Converting a Centralized Power Generation to a Distributed Power Generation: Estimating the Avoidance Benefits from Electric Power Transmission

Centralized power generation has been widely used for power generation due to its high efficiency, but its transmission and distribution facilities have caused a lot of economic and social costs. The distributed power generation, which produces electricity distributed around consumers without large transmission facilities, has emerged as an alternative. This study aims to derive the social costs and damage avoidance benefits of converting centralized into distributed power generation through willingness-to-pay (WTP) and find determinants that affect them. The economic and social damage caused by centralized power generation facilities is categorized into four types of damage, and the WTP for each type of damage is elicited using various types of quantitative, machine-learning models. Results show that people perceive health damage relief as the greatest benefit of the avoidance of centralized power generation facilities, and it accounted for 29~51% of the total WTP.

Kiwifruit Harvesting Damage Analysis and Verification

In order to reduce the mechanical damage during the kiwifruit picking process, the fruit rate of the picked fruit should be improved. The mechanical properties of the epidermis and interior of the fruit during the harvesting process were studied, so as to analyze the damage principle of the fruit. Firstly, a three-dimensional model of kiwifruit was constructed by point cloud scanning, and the flesh and placenta were filled in order to become a complete kiwifruit model. The elastic modulus, failure stress, and density of the kiwifruit skin, flesh, and placenta were obtained experimentally, and the material properties of the kiwifruit model were endowed with properties. Secondly, the finite element method was used to analyze the epidermis and internal stress of the kiwifruit by simulating the two processes of grabbing kiwifruit and picking to fruit boxes. The results show that the relative error of the simulation and test of the simulated grasping of kiwifruit was 6.42%, and the simulation and test of picking to fruit box confirmed the existence of damage, and the reflectivity of the damaged point in the detection was 6.18% on average, and the hardness value decreased to 8.30 kg/cm2 on average. The results from this study can provide a reference for control strategies and damage avoidance during grasping.

Novel friction stabilization technology for surface damage conditions using machine learning

The surface damage is a serious cause of failure in tribosystems. In the present paper, we propose a new damage avoidance method that combines a contact position control system (e.g., morphing surface) and artificial-intelligence-based control (e.g., genetic algorithm: GA) to achieve stable friction and long life of sliding surfaces. In the case of the single-damage condition, the GA sequentially avoided contact with the damaged position, and finally complete damage avoidance was achieved. In the multiple-damage condition, we confirmed that learning by GA effectively stabilized friction, although the learning time was longer. In summary, the contact-position control method should provide new capabilities on real machine surfaces where unexpected damage occurs.

Development and experimental verification of self-centering disc slit damper for buildings

The damage avoidance design (DAD) philosophy is oriented towards the low-damage design of building structures compared to the previous conventional ductile design. Low-damage structures with supplemental damping and self-centering ability are one of the main aspects of the DAD philosophy to decrease irreparable damage and enhance the seismic performance of structures. This research proposes an efficient, double-acting self-centering hysteretic damper by combining the widely used steel slit dampers and prestressed disc springs for building structures. The proposed seismic protection device is called Self-Centering Disc Slit Damper (SC-DSD), which consists of two square standard hollow steel sections, nested together with an assembly of prestressed disc springs within the steel sections. The performance of SC-DSD is assessed experimentally through a static cyclic loading test to evaluate the global system's dissipation capacity, self-centering ability, and hysteresis loop. A simplified numerical model is developed to predict the self-centering force-displacement relationship of the proposed device. Finally, the seismic force bearing capacity of the proposed damper is compared with the conventional slit damper.

Analytical Study on Seismic Behavior of Rectangular Shear Wall Connected to Floor Slabs

For construction of reinforced concrete buildings over four stories, structural walls are the predominant form for lateral load resistance under earthquakes. Current Indian seismic code for design of frame shear wall buildings (FSWB) do not explicitly consider the forces transferred from the floor slabs to the shear wall for seismic design. To assess stress concentration at the wall-slab junction region of the building and to observe the extent of possible damages in wall, slab and their junction region, nonlinear static analyses is carried out using ABAQUS program. Further, a wall-slab sub-assemblage is also analyzed to stimulate the observed behavior of the walls in the multistoried buildings and the behavior is compared with the isolated cantilever shear wall. The main intention of the study carried out is to study the behavior of the junction region between the shear wall and the floor slab and to develop a simplified but efficient analytical model to analyse a shear wall - floor slab junction. It is observed that the presence of floor slab at different levels along the height of slender shear wall tends to partition the wall into squat wall panels between two consecutive floors. Thus, an overall seismic design methodology for damage avoidance behavior of floor slabs in multistoried RC frame-wall building needs to be evolved.

Rad5 participates in lesion bypass through its Rev1-binding and ubiquitin ligase domains, but not through its helicase function.

DNA Damage Tolerance (DDT) functions to bypass replication-blocking lesions and is divided into two distinct pathways: error-prone Translesion Synthesis (TLS) and error-free Damage Avoidance (DA). Rad5 is a multifunctional protein that is involved in these DDT processes. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad5 contains three well defined domains: a RING domain that promotes PCNA polyubiquitination, a ssDNA-dependent ATPase/helicase domain, and a Rev1-binding domain. Both the RING domain and the ATPase/helicase domain are conserved in human Rad5 ortholog HLTF. In this study we used domain-specific mutants to address the contribution of each of the Rad5 domains to the lesion tolerance. We demonstrate that the two critical functions of Rad5 during DNA damage tolerance are the activation of template switching through polyubiquitination of PCNA and the recruitment of TLS polymerases, and that loss of one of those functions can be compensated by increased usage of the other. We also show that, unlike previously suggested, the helicase activity does not play any role in lesion tolerance.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Disc-Spring Damage Avoidance Device in Self-Centering Slotted Beam Connections

ABSTRACT During the past decade damage avoidance initiatives have attracted considerable attention among researchers and earthquake engineers. The paper proposes a Disc Spring Damage Avoidance Device which can practically be implemented in slotted beam connections. It comprises two distinct components for self-centering and energy dissipation. The components are tested under cyclic loading and the device performance in slotted concrete joints is validated using previous experimental and analytical results. Variation in system parameters is investigated using an improved analytical model. The results show that the device can mitigate the residual displacements down to zero while maintaining a reasonable level of energy dissipation.

Risk factors associated with indicators of dairy cow welfare during the housing period in Irish, spring-calving, hybrid pasture-based systems

In a dairy production system where cows are grazing for a large portion of their lactation, little attention has been afforded to investigating multiple indicators of welfare for risk factors associated with the housing period. Yet regardless of the length of the housing period, cows still experience the positive and negative welfare impacts of both indoor and outdoor environments in a hybrid system. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify risk factors for indicators of dairy cow welfare during the housing period in a spring-calving, hybrid pasture-based system. Herd-level scores for seven indicators of welfare (locomotion, body condition, ocular and nasal discharge, integument damage, tail injury and human avoidance response) were collected from 82 Irish dairy farms during the housing period (October – February). Data were analysed using multiple beta regression or zero-inflated beta regression to identify associations between these welfare indicators and measured herd-level housing, resource and management factors. Thirty-six unique risk factors were associated with one or more welfare indicators (P < 0.05). Analyses identified two risk factors for body condition < 3.0 and four for body condition > 3.5, the target range during the housing period. Four risk factors were identified for each of ocular discharge, nasal discharge and avoidance response of > 1 m from human approach. Six risk factors each were associated with the proportion of lame cows and integument damage to the head-neck-back or hindquarter regions. The greatest number of risk factors, 12, were associated with tail injury (broken, lacerated or incomplete tails). Risk factors associated with multiple indicators of welfare were cow comfort index (tail lacerations and hindquarter integument damage), cubicle width (broken and incomplete tails), shed floor slipperiness (lameness and head-neck-back integument damage), shed light-level (tail lacerations, avoidance response and below target body condition), shed passage width (broken tails and head-neck-back integument damage) and presence (incomplete tails) or absence (broken tails) of a collecting yard backing gate. With the large number of risk factors associated with tail injury, continued research is necessary to identify causes and determine prevention methods to contribute to improved overall welfare of dairy cows. Housing features meeting recommended guidelines from the literature were frequently associated with greater negative indicators of welfare. In light of this, housing guidelines may benefit from regular re-evaluation to ensure facilities meet the welfare needs of cows during the housing period.

Non-Invasive Transcutaneous Spinal DC Stimulation as a Neurorehabilitation ALS Therapy in Awake G93A Mice: The First Step to Clinical Translation.

Spinal direct current stimulation (sDCS) modulates motoneuron (MN) excitability beyond the stimulation period, making it a potential neurorehabilitation therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a MN degenerative disease in which MN excitability dysfunction plays a critical and complex role. Recent evidence confirms induced changes in MN excitability via measured MN electrophysiological properties in the SOD1 ALS mouse during and following invasive subcutaneous sDCS (ssDCS). The first aim of our pilot study was to determine the clinical potential of these excitability changes at symptom onset (P90-P105) in ALS via a novel non-invasive transcutaneous sDCS (tsDCS) treatment paradigm on un-anesthetized SOD1-G93A mice. The primary outcomes were motor function and survival. Unfortunately, skin damage avoidance limited the strength of applied stimulation intensity, likewise limiting measurable primary effects. The second aim of this study was to determine which orientation of stimulation (anodal vs cathodal, which are expected to have opposing effects) is beneficial vs harmful in ALS. Despite the lack of measured primary effects, strong trends in survival of the anodal stimulation group, combined with an analysis of survival variance and correlations among symptoms, suggest anodal stimulation is harmful at symptom onset. Therefore, cathodal stimulation may be beneficial at symptom onset if a higher stimulation intensity can be safely achieved via subcutaneously implanted electrodes or alternative methods. Importantly, the many logistical, physical, and stimulation parameters explored in developing this novel non-invasive treatment paradigm on unanesthetized mice provide insight into an appropriate and feasible methodology for future tsDCS study designs and potential clinical translation.

Mission Aborting inn-Unit Systems With Work Sharing

Mission aborting has recently attracted great attention, where mission abort rules (MARs) have been modeled and optimized for different types of technological systems aiming to effectively mitigate the risk of system losses. However, none of the existing works have considered systems with multiple work-sharing units. This article makes advancements in the state of the art by modeling condition-based MARs for nonrepairable work-sharing systems that must perform a specified amount of work during the primary mission (PM). The MAR considered presumes aborting the PM to prevent considerable damage when the number of available units reduces to a certain number <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> while the amount of work accomplished in the PM is less than <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${L}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ). After the PM abortion, a rescue procedure (RP) is executed by the remaining units to survive the system. Dynamic operating conditions during PM and RP are considered. A probabilistic model-based numerical algorithm is proposed to evaluate several performance metrics, including mission success probability, RP success probability, damage avoidance probability, and expected cost of losses. The MAR optimization problem for minimizing the expected cost of losses is formulated and solved using the genetic algorithm. An example of a chemical reactor system is provided to demonstrate the proposed algorithm as well as the benefit of MARs optimized in comparison to the “no abort” policy and the most conservative abort policy (the PM aborts upon the failure of any unit). Effects of several model parameters on the system performance metrics and optimization solutions are also examined through examples.

Effect of dampers on the seismic performance of masonry walls assessed through fragility and demand hazard curves

In a damage avoidance design perspective, seismic rocking of rigid-like blocks, such as masonry walls, precast r.c./timber panels, art objects, etc., can be controlled through viscous elastic dampers. This paper discusses how to perform a seismic risk assessment of masonry walls undamped and damped by viscous-elastic dampers installed at the top of them. Firstly, a preliminary fragility analysis allows understanding the role of the damper, whose coupling with a recentering component attenuates the motion, increases the rotation frequency and, in some cases, impedes overturning as compared to to the undamped case. Secondly, the risk assessment is made by developing a multiple stripe analysis to compute univariate fragility curves combining uplift, overturning probability and probability of exceedance. Thirdly, seismic demand hazard curves are obtained for two walls representative of buildings and monumental structures in an Italian site of high seismicity. The PSHA results show the remarkable risk reduction of the ultimate limit states, for which the annual exceedance rate is respectively one and two orders of magnitude lower than the undamped case.