Female Connector Research Articles

Estimation of the contribution to intraoperative pathogen transmission from bacterial contamination of patient nose, patient groin and axilla, anesthesia practitioners' hands, anesthesia machine, and intravenous lumen

BackgroundEarlier studies showed net cost saving from anesthesia practitioners' use of a bundle of infection prevention products, with feedback on monitored Staphylococcus aureus intraoperative transmission. ESKAPE pathogens also include Enterococcus and gram-negative pathogens: Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Enterobacter. We evaluated whether bacterial contamination of patient nose, patient groin and axilla, anesthesia practitioners' hands, anesthesia machine, and intravenous lumen all contribute meaningfully to ESKAPE pathogen transmission within anesthesia work areas. MethodsThe retrospective cohort study used bacterial count data from nine hospitals, 43 months, and 448 ESKAPE pathogen transmission events within anesthesia areas of 86 operating rooms. Transmission was measured within and between pairs of successive surgical cases performed in the same operating room on the same day. ResultsThere were 203 transmission events with S. aureus, 72 with Enterococcus, and 173 with gram negatives. ESKAPE pathogens in the nose contributed to transmission for 50% (99% confidence limit ≥45%) of case pairs, on the groin or axilla for 54% (≥49%), on the hands for 53% (≥47%), on the anesthesia machine for 21% (≥17%), and in the intravenous lumen for 24% (≥20%). ESKAPE pathogens in the nose started a transmission pathway for 27% (≥22%) of case pairs, on the groin or axilla for 24% (≥19%), on the hands for 38% (≥33%), on the anesthesia machine for 11% (≥7.6%), and in the intravenous lumen for 8.0% (≥5.3%). All P ≤ 0.0022 compared with 5%. ConclusionsTo prevent intraoperative ESKAPE pathogen transmission, anesthesia practitioners would need to address all five categories of infection control approaches: nasal antisepsis (e.g., povidone-iodine applied the morning of surgery), skin antisepsis (e.g., chlorhexidine wipes), hand antisepsis with dispensers next to the patient, decontamination of the anesthesia machine before and during anesthetics, and disinfecting caps for needleless connectors, disinfecting port protectors, and disinfecting caps for open female Luer type connectors.

Critical Study on the Tube-to-Chip Luer Slip Connectors.

Luer slip is one of the gold standards for chip-to-world interface in microfluidics. They have outstanding mechanical and operational robustness in a broad range of applications using water and solvent-based liquids. Still, their main drawbacks are related to their size: they have relatively large dead volumes and require a significant footprint to assure a leak-free performance. Such aspects make their integration in systems with high microchannel density challenging. To date, there has been no geometrical optimization of the Luer slips to provide a solution to the mentioned drawbacks. This work aims to provide the rules toward downscaling the Luer slips. To this effect, seven variations of the Luer slip male connectors and five variations of Luer slip female connectors have been designed and manufactured focusing on the reduction of the size of connectors and minimization of the dead volumes. In all cases, female connectors have been developed to pair with the corresponding male connector. Characterization has been performed with a tailor-made test bench in which the closure force between male and female connectors has been varied between 7.9 and 55 N. For each applied closure force, the test bench allows liquid pressures to be tested between 0.5 and 2.0 bar. Finally, the analysis of a useful life determines the number of cycles that the connectors can withstand before leakage.

Female Connectors in Social Networks: Catharine Minnich (Died 1843, Pennsylvania)

The thesis of the article is that taking a social network approach to genealogical problems of origin and parentage can, where applicable, result in two noteworthy benefits. The first benefit is that it may more quickly and effectively lead to matrilateral kin by helping to reconstruct a kinship network. The second benefit is that it will lead to a deeper understanding of social circles in which a husband and/or wife participate. This approach turns the usual genealogical practice of unravelling a female’s position in a cluster in relation to her husband on its head—the male’s position in a social network is reconstructed by backtracking one of his significant females (wife, mother, or sister). As background, the article briefly discusses networks, the importance of women as connectors in kinship networks, and cultural practices of kinship, in this case, eighteenth-century Germany/United States. It then presents a case study of Catharine Minnich, a Pennsylvania woman of German descent. In addition to analyzing relations by blood and marriage, it recognizes the important role of baptismal sponsors in aligning a multi-family network.

Assessing dosing errors in legacy and low dose tip ENFit® syringes.

To avoid misconnections between different medical devices, a unique standardized design of connectors (ENFit® ) for enteral medical devices has been developed. It was expected that the syringes with these connectors will replace the pre-existing syringes, henceforth referred to as legacy syringes. However, the changes in the connector's design led to concerns regarding dosing errors for low volume syringes (≤2ml). Therefore, novel low dose tip (LDT) syringes were designed to address these concerns. These LDT syringes can connect with the standardized ENFit® male connectors. Only a few studies have investigated dosing errors, and findings have largely been mixed. The objective of this report was to calculate the contributions of unavoidable dosing errors for LDT syringes, compare with legacy syringes and to suggest strategies to optimize dose accuracy for enteral applications. Studies performed with a limited number of syringes to date may not reflect the actual diversity of dosing error that can occur across syringe orientations, batches, manufacturers, medications, etc. A computer-aided design software SolidWorks® was used to calculate the dosing errors in 0.5 and 1.0ml legacy syringe connectors and were compared with dosing errors in LDT syringe connectors with the same nominal volume. Influence of orientation during delivery, spillage and flushing on dosing error was also investigated. For 0.5 and 1.0ml LDT syringes, in absence of medication in the moat area, the maximum dosing error will be ±5% when delivering 100% of nominal volume, which is also equal to the dosing error in 0.5 and 1.0ml slip tip legacy syringes. However, with medication present in moat area, and with syringe reused during flushing, the LDT dosing error can range from 1% to 18% and 28% to 35% for 1.0 and 0.5ml syringes, respectively. The corresponding dosing error for legacy syringes would be when the same syringe is used for flushing or when syringe disengages pointing vertically up. The corresponding dosing errors for legacy syringes could range from -7 to 12% and -9% to 19% for 1.0 and 0.5ml syringes, respectively. Dosing errors for legacy and LDT syringes increase as the nominal capacity of syringe reduces, or when the dose delivered is lower than the nominal capacity of the syringe. For LDT syringes, dosing errors can be reduced by clearing the moat area of the syringe and by using a new syringe for flushing post-delivery of medication. For legacy syringes, dosing errors can be minimized by ensuring the female connector points up during disengagement from the syringe post-medication administration, and by using a new syringe for flushing.

INNOVATIVE PRE-FABRICATED CONNECTORS FOR BAMBOO ARCHITECTURE

Bamboo is the natural construction material that has become the trend for the sustainable architecture, due to its renewability. Bamboo connections are considered the most difficult process that consumes construction time. This study is the design experiment how innovative connections can expedite the fabrication and their performance. The study deals with the design of connection prototypes for bamboo framing and tests their performance in actual construction. Connectors are designed into the receivers and the nozzles. Receivers act like the female connector. They are receptors at foundation to transfer loads to ground. The nozzles are the male connector that looks like an extruder attached to the end of structural members to connect to the receivers. Nozzles are offered in both a single culm and split bundles. The experiment also designed the straps for bamboo splits, to wrap the split together into one bundle. Steel connectors are introduced to initiate the bamboo construction as pre-fabrication process, yet the strength of connections is maintained. These prototypes are also applied to actual construction to verify the constructability, performance, and architectural applications. It is found that connectors are effective to minimize construction time, but still have other limitation. The study took lesson learned to design more permanent connectors to solve all restricted issues. Finally, innovative connectors were created into many variety forms for fabrication. They can also perform greatly in strength and attractive look. These findings can motivate architects to explore possibility for bamboo architecture in pre-fabrication process, and to be more innovatively and effectively.

Facial Rejuvenation with Concentrated Lipograft-A 12 Month Follow-Up Study.

Lipofilling is a popular technique to treat volume loss in aging patients. The isolated adipose tissue is composed of adipocytes and stromal vascular fraction cells, which include adipose-derived stem cells (ASC). We hypothesize that the patient’s wrinkle severity scale (WSS) and patient’s satisfaction on the global aesthetic improvement scale (GAIS) can be improved after using concentrated lipoaspirate. Fourteen patients (54 years ± 11.09 years) with volume loss in the midface area underwent waterjet-assisted liposuction (Human Med AG, Schwerin, Germany). Fat was centrifuged in an ACP Double Syringe (Arthrex GmbH, Munich, Germany) using Rotofix 32A centrifuge (Andreas Hettich, GmbH & Co.KG, Tuttlingen, Germany). Homogenization was performed using the double syringe and a 1.4 mm female–female luerlock connector. After a second centrifugation, patients received periorbital (PO) and nasolabial (NL) lipografting. ASC count was performed after enzymatical digestion. Vitality of cells was assessed using a resazurin assay. During long-term follow up (12 months, n = 10), we found a high patient’s satisfaction (GAIS 1+/−0.52) and a good improvement of the WSS during short- and long-term follow-up. The ASC count of processed lipoaspirate was 2.1-fold higher than of unprocessed lipoaspirate (p < 0.001). The difference of ASC in sedimented and simply centrifuged lipoaspirate was also significant (p < 0.05). Facial rejuvenation with concentrated fat graft offers good results concerning objective aesthetic outcome and patient’s satisfaction.

Passive Aligning of Ribbon Cable in Sliding Surface Gripper for Assembly Task

Abstract A passive aligning strategy for the assembly task of a ribbon cable is presented using a sliding surface gripper. Once the gripper grasps the ribbon cable, the sliding surface of the gripper pulls the cable in one direction, and at the end of the pulling process, the box-shaped structure of the fingertip of the gripper passively aligns the cable to a predictable pose. The relationship between the alignment speed of the cable on the sliding surface and the grasping force was modeled and verified by experiments. The maximum position error of the ribbon cable connector aligned by the proposed method was 0.7 mm, which was smaller than the mating tolerance between typical male and female connectors. The mating of the connectors was successfully conducted with an industrial robot whose repeatability is less than a millimeter. The entire assembly process of ribbon cable connectors, including visual recognition of the ribbon cable pose, grasping and aligning of the ribbon cable, and mating a pair of cable connectors, was successfully implemented.

Failure prediction in electrical connector assembly: a case in automotive assembly process

Purpose Electrical defects cover an important part of assembly defects and strongly affect the vehicle system performance. Almost 40% of assembly defects are classified as human errors and electrical connection failures represent a significant part of them. Humans still remain a cost-effective solution for the flexible manufacturing systems with increasing product complexity. So, understanding human behaviors is still a challenging task. The purpose of this study is to define, prioritize and validate the critical factors for the complexity of electrical connector plugin process. Design/methodology/approach The critical variables were defined by the expert team members. The required number of measurements and variables were revised resulting preliminary analysis of binary logistic regression. After the revision of measurement plan, the list of critical input variables and the mathematical model were defined. The model has been validated by the fitted values of the residuals (FITS analysis). Findings To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the limited studies, which defines the critical factors for electrical connection process complexity. Female connector harness length, connector width/height/length differences, operator sense of correct connector matching and ergonomy were defined as the factors with the highest impact on the failure occurrence. The obtained regression equation strongly correlates the failure probability. Practical implications The obtained mathematical model can be used in new model development processes both for the product and assembly process design (ergonomy, accessibility and lay-out). Originality/value The obtained risk factors demonstrated a strong correlation with assembly process complexity and failure rates. The output of this study would be used as an important guide for process (assembly line ergonomy, accessibility and lay-out) and product design in new model development and assembly ramp-up phases.

Combined processes of environmentally friendly technology for magnetic-pulse welding

Various techniques for producing fixed joints in solid using electromagnetic fields are considered; basic diagrams, physics, features, and technical capabilities of each method are described. It is shown that thin-walled tubular irregular structures can be obtained under the magnetic-pulse moulding welding that joins the combined actions of induced currents passing through the overlap zone and magnetic pressure for apposing the weldable edges and for shaping in accordance with the matrix configuration. Obtaining joints from dissimilar materials and structures of different thicknesses is implemented due to shock pulse capacitor welding with magnetic pulse drive. The series connection of the weldable parts enables to synchronize the current flow and force impact on the weld junction. Depending on the combination of the weldable products, three techniques of shock pulse capacitor welding with magnetic pulse drive are proposed. To intensify the quality improvement of the female connectors obtained, it is proposed to use the magnetic-pulse welding in vacuum instead of the diffusion welding. Preheating of the complete unit in vacuum allows for the pre-activation of the connectable surfaces. A unique feature of the implemented diagram is a remote action on the telescopic joints of dissimilar alloys heated in vacuum to the pre-melting temperatures through a quartz glass.

Effect of Substrate Scaling on Microstrip Patch Antenna Performance

The Maxwell field equations (MFEs), as ecumenical model of electromagnetic phenomena, are scale-invariant under Lorentz Transformation (LT). To apply LT, some considerations are required which are not all practically available or technologically attainable; hence, the scale-invariant feature may not be reached effectively. Paving the way to focus on this issue, the effect of substrate thickness scaling as an uncontrollable parameter, is explored on eight identical patch antennas with different substrate thicknesses. In this way, the resonant frequency and complex value of return loss are measured. The effect of manufacturing tolerances of dielectric thickness on resonant frequency deviation and return loss magnitude are carefully studied, too. Also the unwanted distortive effect of selected electrical connection, say as a female SMA connector, is investigated at higher frequencies. The obtained results are comparatively analyzed which confirm the practical bottlenecks in meeting the antenna parameters scaling.

Modeling, Evaluation and Optimization of Interlocking Shell Pieces

AbstractWhile the 3D printing technology has become increasingly popular in recent years, it suffers from two critical limitations: expensive printing material and long printing time. An effective solution is to hollow the 3D model into a shell and print the shell by parts. Unfortunately, making shell pieces tightly assembled and easy to disassemble seem to be two contradictory conditions, and there exists no easy way to satisfy them at the same time yet. In this paper, we present a computational system to design an interlocking structure of a partitioned shell model, which uses only male and female connectors to lock shell pieces in the assembled configuration. Given a mesh segmentation input, our system automatically finds an optimal installation plan specifying both the installation order and the installation directions of the pieces, and then builds the models of the shell pieces using optimized shell thickness and connector sizes. To find the optimal installation plan, we develop simulation‐based and data‐driven metrics, and we incorporate them into an optimal plan search algorithm with fast pruning and local optimization strategies. The whole system is automatic, except for the shape design of the key piece. The interlocking structure does not introduce new gaps on the outer surface, which would become noticeable inevitably due to limited printer precision. Our experiment shows that the assembled object is strong against separation, yet still easy to disassemble.

A New Compact Small Circular Patch Antenna for UWB Communication

A new small circular patch antenna for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications is presented. By studying this structure, it is shown that the insertion of a slot with the desired length and width in the ground plane, can lead to a large bandwidth. Our antenna, whose dimensions are 18×12×1.58 mm3, was fed by an SMA female connector with characteristic impedance of 50Ω in order to measure the return loss and VSWR and to compare them with the simulation results. The bandwidth obtained from measurements ranges from 3.52 to 13.67 GHz for VSWR &lt; 2 and from 3.26 GHzto14.23GHz for VSWR &lt; 3. The radiation pattern is omnidirectional on most of the operating band. High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) was used for simulation whose results are in good agreement with the measured parameters.

A modified perturbation/correlation method for force-guided assembly

The present study proposes the Modified perturbation/correlation method (MPCM) as a way of performing assembly tasks and an algorithm by which assembly task can be performed automatically, without human intervention. The MPCM is a method where position/ orientation perturbation is generated when the female connector and the male connector are connected and the correlation value of the resulting reaction force/moment is used to calculate and to correct the position and orientation errors between the connectors. The successful performance of assembly task within a limited error range can be confirmed by applying the MPCM to DRC-HUBO. When there are errors between the connector, the correlation value can be confirmed to converge to 0 as errors are corrected even though it takes on certain directionality.

Rectangular Patch Antenna for Dual-Band RFID and WLAN Applications

In this paper, a simple microstrip antenna for the radio frequency identification (RFID) applications and wireless local area network (WLAN) is presented. The antenna has two operating bands at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, which are reserved for RFID applications and WLAN applications. The studied antenna design, analysis and characterization have been performed using CST electromagnetic simulation software. The antenna was analyzed with FR4 substrate. Reflection coefficient, VSWR and directivity results were simulated, presented and discussed. The designed antenna was fabricated on ArlonAD320 dielectric with relative permittivity of 3.2. SMA female connector is used for feeding with characteristic impedance of 50 Ω. The measured reflection coefficient of the proposed antenna is compared with the simulated one, good agreement is observed. The proposed antenna is simple in design and compact in size, providing broadband impedance matching, consistent omnidirectional radiation patterns and appropriate gain characteristics (>1.5 dBi) in the RFID frequencies regions.

Design and construction of miniaturized UWB microstrip antenna with slots for UWB applications

ABSTRACTIn this article, a miniaturized rectangular printed antenna that meets the ultrawideband (UWB) characteristics in terms of bandwidth and reflection coefficient is proposed. The designed antenna with dimension of 25×16 mm2 (L × W) was fabricated on FR‐4 epoxy dielectric with relative permittivity of 4.4. SMA female connector is used for feeding with characteristic impedance of 50 Ω. The antenna exhibits good UWB characteristics and has the capability of operating between 3.92 to 11.32 GHz. The proposed antenna has omnidirectional radiation pattern on most of the operating band. The measured reflection coefficient of the proposed antenna is compared with the simulated one; good agreement is observed. Also, radiation pattern and gain of the antenna are presented. All simulations are carried out using the EM commercial simulators, HFSS, and CST. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:460–463, 2015

Medication Safety

Medication Safety

Study on Intermittent Faults and Electrical Continuity

Intermittent faults in electrical/electronic interconnections are recognised as one of the major sources of No Fault Found (NFF) events. These can be caused due to surface corrosion (e.g. oxidation of pins or fretting wear), bent pins, debris within the female connector, or incorrect installation during initial manufacture and assembly. Unless such issues are narrowed down to a specific root cause, any corrective actions or troubleshooting will be difficult to carry out, and hence its resolution may not make its way into future designs of the system. This leads to further susceptibility to NFF. Intermittent behaviour is often a clear sign of a partially damaged connector, or a connector undergoing a particular degradation mechanism, with the level of intermittency being further aggravated through process variation of harsh environments and parametric faults. In order to further our understanding of the relationship between degradation, operating conditions, intermittent behaviour within the subject, an experimental investigations have been carried out.This paper is a work in progress paper that illustrates a test regime that has been used to stimulate intermittence in electronic connectors whilst subjected to vibration, using both a traditional oscilloscope and bespoke intermittent fault detection equipment, in order to capture an intermittent signature. The results of these experiments provide an insight into the limitations of test equipment and requirements for future intermittent fault detection techniques.

Floating wetlands at Punggol

Punggol Eco-Town has been positioned as the sustainable waterfront town for the tropics. Housing and Development Board (HDB) plans to introduce floating wetlands along the Punggol Waterway (PWW) as part of its green initiatives to intensify greenery, enrich biodiversity and enhance water quality (Housing Development Board 2011). This paper explores the governing theory, design principle, numerical analysis and field test of the floating modules and their connector systems that together form the floating wetlands. Each configuration of floating wetlands comprises high-density polyethylene (HDPE) modules. Each male–female connector system is held together by stainless steel pins. The floating wetlands are able to carry plant and human loads and yet possess a designed freeboard. Static and hydroelastic analyses performed showed the adequacy of the floating wetland design.

Improvement and Taper Optimal Design of the Hydraulic Fast Connector

Improvement design was carried out to resolve the issue about easily damaged and difficult repaired planar seal for hydraulic fast connector. Through adding a taper on male connector and female regulating part on female connector, the co-planar seal was changed into the taper seal which the seal was more reliable. When the contact surface was worn, it can be resealed by adjusting the female regulating part. Taper seal was key to design the reasonable taper. In order to acquire the best taper, taper optimal design was carried out using finite element technology, the relationship between maximum contact stress and tape was gained. Simulation results showed that the best taper could be gained when the big-endian radius of the taper was 11.82 mm.

A microfluidic D-subminiature connector.

Standardized, affordable, user-friendly world-to-chip interfaces represent one of the major barriers to the adoption of microfluidics. We present a connector system for plug-and-play interfacing of microfluidic devices to multiple input and output lines. The male connectors are based on existing standardized housings from electronics that are inexpensive and widely available. The female connectors are fabricated using familiar replica molding techniques that can easily be adopted by microfluidic developers.