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Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have been a vital source of funds for the global South in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the healthcare sector. Prior to the pandemic, the big MDBs' approach to healthcare reflected the post-Washington Consensus, that is a largely neoliberal agenda perpetuating the expansion of private healthcare markets through financialization mechanisms, though with some emphasis on a minimal level of universal healthcare. We studied the MDBs' approaches to healthcare in India to evaluate whether the pandemic resulted in: (a) a re-evaluation of their healthcare models to ensure they were fit for a pandemic; (b) a business-as-usual approach; or (c) a disaster capitalism response exploiting the current socio-economic milieu to further neoliberalization processes. We found that the MDBs adopted an inadequate business-as-usual approach that is intensifying the financialization of healthcare in projects using interventions at the micro through to the macro level. This path dependent approach emphasizing multi-scalar financialization has long-term implications for human well-being. Further, we contend that MDB lending is deepening 'debtfare' through its healthcare and other support, a term Susanne Soederberg (2014, p. 3) conceived to describe the way neoliberal states 'mediate, normalise and discipline the monetised relations that inhabit the poverty industry.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ co-axial meltpool monitoring has become a popular tool for digitising the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process, providing baseline data for certification. Each layer produces an image where the pixel position represents the laser coordinates and the pixel intensity denotes the sensor response. The 3D image stacks represent the infrared emission during the manufacturing of the physical component. However, interpreting monitoring data remains a challenge. To address this issue, this study evaluates the performance of a near-infrared photodiode in detecting typical geometrical features such as porosity and overhanging structures ranging from the micro-to-meso scale. Monitoring data is highly sensitive to heat accumulation around overhanging structures and can quantify dross formation based on hotspots. Cold spots, which represent a lack of fusion porosity at scan track intersections, can indicate a probability of defect formation. However, the sensitivity and predictive value of monitoring data for porosity are low due to the healing of defects in subsequent layers. Local process variables, such as the scan strategy and part orientation, significantly influence dross and hot spot formation. This study shows the potential of NIR photodiodes in deriving metrics for in-line certification of L-PBF components, leading to improved process control and quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model that simulates the non-isothermal flow of a viscoelastic fluid through the hot-end in filament-based Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (MEX). The hot-end is an essential part of the printhead, as it melts and extrudes the polymeric material. Thus, robust modelling tools are necessary for optimising its operation. In this study, a viscoelastic CFD model is used to predict the filament feeding force and the results are validated against the experimental measurements at different filament feeding rates, liquefier temperatures, nozzle diameters and liquefier lengths. It is found that the viscoelastic model is more accurate than the commonly used Generalised Newtonian Fluid approximation and it captures the influence of process conditions on the feeding force. Finally, the model is used to optimise the hot-end channel. Among others, it is shown that the feeding force can be minimised by selecting an optimal liquefier diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model United Nations (MUN) simulations are an increasingly popular approach to teaching international relations, in both secondary and tertiary education. There is some evidence, however, that these simulations disadvantage female participants. Studies by Rosenthal et al. and Coughlin found that female students participate less in simulations than their male classmates. This may limit the value of simulations, which have otherwise been recognized as an effective active learning technique. This study investigates the impact of gender, and an intervention designed to address gender disparities in participation, on a MUN simulation conducted in a second-year undergraduate course. The study confirmed previous findings that women participate less than men, relative to their representation, and that this impacted their resulting grades. Participation was lowest on traditionally masculine topics. Furthermore, women enjoyed the simulation less than men, felt less included, and were less likely to report an increase in their confidence as negotiators following the simulation. The intervention we conducted, designed to ameliorate gender disparities in participation, was unsuccessful and may have inadvertently created a stereotype threat. This highlights that students come to the classroom with strongly gendered expectations, and that a short-term, explicit approach to addressing such expectations is insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A delta-type parallel kinematics system for Additive Manufacturing has been created, which through a probing system can recognise its geometrical deviations from nominal and compensate for these in the driving inverse kinematic model of the machine. Novelty is that this model is derived from a virtual machine of the kinematics system, built on principles from geometrical metrology. Relevant mathematically non-trivial deviations to the ideal machine are identified and decomposed into elemental deviations. From these deviations, a routine is added to a physical machine tool, which allows it to recognise its own geometry by probing the vertical offset from tool point to the machine table, at positions in the horizontal plane. After automatic calibration the positioning error of the machine tool was reduced from an initial error after its assembly of ±170 µm to a calibrated error of ±3 µm. Excelling by speed, the calibration was executed in less than 3 min. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the often overlooked parallels between the critical theory of the German Frankfurt School and Science and Technology Studies in Britain, as an attempt to articulate a critique of science as a social phenomenon. The cultural aspect of the German and British arguments is in focus, especially the role attributed to the humanities in balancing cultural and techno-scientific values in society. Here, we draw parallels between the German argument and the Two Cultures debate in Britain. The third and final purpose of the paper is to explain why these efforts in support of the humanities would in the end prove fruitless, even somewhat self-defeating. The key factor is the instrumentalist analysis of science adopted in both arguments, which played into the hands of the emergent “entrepreneurial university” with its strengthened emphasis upon the economico-technological aspect of science and consequent neglect of the humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures the changes in industrial safety and health activity in the United States between 1972 to 74 and 1981 to 83 using survey data on the industrial provision of occupational safety and health services in the manufacturing sector. Command-and-control regulatory activities and changes in industrial behavior; Reaction of the industry to the regulations set by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

In response to congressional concerns, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) initiated a multistate agricultural surveillance effort in 1990. The Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance (FFHHS) program involved separate population-based surveillance efforts by six state agencies or universities which gathered health and hazard data on farm operators and farm families. The results of the Ohio program are presented as an example of the data collection capabilities developed during the course of this project, which include the application of these data in documenting the prevalence of specific agricultural occupational hazards as well as the current attitudes of agricultural operators toward control and elimination of safety and health hazards. Specifically, three operationally defined areas of hazard audit (Structures, Landscape, and Mobile Equipment) are examined for the prevalence of such safety hazards as potential electrical shock, slippery or badly maintained walkways, inadequate chemical and fuel storage, and missing farm equipment moving-part guards. Questionnaire survey response examples are presented as an indication of farm operator attitudes toward safety and health training, on-site professional service access, and use of personal protective equipment. Current plans for data use and distribution, and the potential applications of the data as an occupational safety and health tool are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]