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This paper aims to provide an overview of the current manufacturing methods for three-dimensional textile preforms while providing experimental data on the emerging techniques of combining yarn interlocking with yarn interlooping.

The paper describes the key textile technologies used for composite manufacture: braiding, weaving and knitting. The various textile preforming methods are suited to different applications; their capabilities and end performance characteristics are analysed.

Such preforms are used in composites in a wide range of industries, from aerospace to medical and automotive to civil engineering. The paper highlights how the use of knitting technology for preform manufacture has gained wider acceptance due to its flexibility in design and shaping capabilities. The tensile properties of glass fibre knit structures containing inlay yarns interlocked between knitted loops are given, highlighting the importance of reinforcement yarns.

The future trends of reinforcement yarns in knitted structures for improved tensile properties are discussed, with initial experimental data.

This case study aims to shed light on what went wrong with the introduction of new surgical suture in a Dutch hospital operating theatre following a tender. Transition to working with new surgical suture was organized in accordance with legal and contractual provisions, and basic principles of change management were applied, but resistance from surgeons led to cancellation of supplies of the new suture.

Researchers had access to all documents relevant to the tendering procedure and crucial correspondence between stakeholders. Seventeen in-depth, 1 h interviews were conducted with key informants who were targeted through maximum variation sampling. Patients were not interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed by discourse analysis. A trial session and workshop were participatively observed. A cultural psychological perspective was adopted to gain an understanding of why certain practices appear to be resistant to change.

For the cardiothoracic surgeons, suture was more than just stitching material. Suture as a tactile element in their day-to-day work environment is embedded within a social arrangement that ties elements of professional accountability, risk avoidance and direct patient care together in a way that makes sense and feels secure. This arrangement is not to be fumbled with by outsiders.

By understanding the practical and emotional stakes that medical professionals have in their work, lessons can be learned to prevent failure of future change initiatives.

The cultural psychological perspective adopted in this study has never been applied to understanding failed change in a hospital setting.

The operating wagon records were produced from distinct railway information systems, which resulted in the wagon routing record with the same oriental destination (OD) was different. This phenomenon has brought considerable difficulties to the railway wagon flow forecast. Some were because of poor data quality, which misled the actual prediction, while others were because of the existence of another actual wagon routings. This paper aims at finding all the wagon routing locus patterns from the history records, and thus puts forward an intelligent recognition method for the actual routing locus pattern of railway wagon flow based on SST algorithm.

Based on the big data of railway wagon flow records, the routing metadata model is constructed, and the historical data and real-time data are fused to improve the reliability of the path forecast results in the work of railway wagon flow forecast. Based on the division of spatial characteristics and the reduction of dimension in the distributary station, the improved Simhash algorithm is used to calculate the routing fingerprint. Combined with Squared Error Adjacency Matrix Clustering algorithm and Tarjan algorithm, the fingerprint similarity is calculated, the spatial characteristics are clustering and identified, the routing locus mode is formed and then the intelligent recognition of the actual wagon flow routing locus is realized.

This paper puts forward a more realistic method of railway wagon routing pattern recognition algorithm. The problem of traditional railway wagon routing planning is converted into the routing locus pattern recognition problem, and the wagon routing pattern of all OD streams is excavated from the historical data results. The analysis is carried out from three aspects: routing metadata, routing locus fingerprint and routing locus pattern. Then, the intelligent recognition SST-based algorithm of railway wagon routing locus pattern is proposed, which combines the history data and instant data to improve the reliability of the wagon routing selection result. Finally, railway wagon routing locus could be found out accurately, and the case study tests the validity of the algorithm.

Before the forecasting work of railway wagon flow, it needs to know how many kinds of wagon routing locus exist in a certain OD. Mining all the OD routing locus patterns from the railway wagon operating records is helpful to forecast the future routing combined with the wagon characteristics. The work of this paper is the basis of the railway wagon routing forecast.

As the basis of the railway wagon routing forecast, this research not only improves the accuracy and efficiency for the railway wagon routing forecast but also provides the further support of decision-making for the railway freight transportation organization.

This study examines handmade clothing consumption as a means of self-expression by exploring the interrelationships between consumers' self-expression, brand love and word of mouth.

Using a descriptive research design, data were collected from 295 respondents in South Africa who posted about fashion on social media and who had bought handmade clothing in the 6 months prior to data collection. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the interrelationships between consumers' self-expression, brand love and word of mouth.

Brand love intervenes between consumers' self-brand connections and word of mouth about handmade clothing. More specifically, brand love strengthens positive word of mouth online and mitigates negative word-of-mouth intentions following a handmade clothing product failure scenario.

The study enlightens scholarly understanding of consumers' self-expression motivations for using ready-made handmade clothing that results in brand love and positive word of mouth.

Handmade clothing marketers who tap into consumers' self-expression and who can establish brand love among consumers can similarly create beneficial consumer–brand relationships.

Consumers often use handmade clothing for the purpose of self-expression, which provides subsequent spin-offs for brands in the form of brand love and positive word of mouth. Objective self-awareness theory provides a parsimonious lens to reveal the important role that brand love plays as a mechanism to explain the linkage of consumers' self-brand connections to word of mouth about handmade clothing.

The article aims at exploring the challenges and possibilities of cooperation of higher education in a Latin American social, political and cultural context that faces historical difficulties of integration, as well as the potential contribution of academic cooperation for global citizenship.

The paper presents a general overview of networks and international centers of academic cooperation of higher education in Latin America. The analysis comprises objectives, countries, stakeholders, activities, projects and scope. The study is based on literature on internationalization, regional integration and the development of higher education, as well as on empirical gathered with networks/centers and key actors in the field. This study was carried out as a mixed qualitative method design. Firstly, a systematic review of a literature corpus of studies produced by Latin-American scholars was performed. Semi-structured interviews were then carried out with a group of scholars who are members of networks.

The findings include a review of the role of higher education in a politically fragmented reality, a panorama of major networks and international centers of academic cooperation with emphasis on internationalization of higher education, as well as their connections. The are highlighted examples of successful initiatives of cooperation and, based on interviews, there is presented a preliminary view on cooperation and trust building from professionals in higher education in Latin America.

In the last decades, with the growing interest and need for internationalizing higher education, many universities have organized or joined networks and international centers. The article will contribute for mutual knowledge of these spaces, their shortcomings and potentials, thus creating conditions for dialogue among them, as well as with universities in other continents.

The purpose of this study is the introduction and validation of a new technique for process monitoring during electron beam melting (EBM).

In this study, a backscatter electron detector inside the building chamber is used for image acquisition during EBM process. By systematic variation of process parameters, the ability of displaying different topographies, especially pores, is investigated. The results are evaluated in terms of porosity and compared with optical microscopy and X-ray computed tomography.

The method is capable of detecting major flaws (e.g. pores) and gives information about the quality of the resulting component.

Image acquisition by evaluating backscatter electrons during EBM process is a new approach in process monitoring which avoids disadvantages restricting previously investigated techniques.

This is an account of student experiences with the 2020/2021 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design (WiSTEM²D) intervention programme at the University of Limerick (UL).

The WiSTEM²D programme supports female undergraduate students undertaking science, technology, engineering, mathematics, manufacturing and design (STEM²D) courses, helping them develop and grow in their degrees, research and beyond.

During the programme, data were gathered from students in the form of qualitative information, which was used to analyse perceptions of the programme. This analysis revealed that students found the WiSTEM²D programme beneficial to them and that it improved their confidence levels, career knowledge and overall networking abilities.

WiSTEM²D is one of several initiatives globally that are attempting to empower and encourage women to be active in STEM.

Recent years have witnessed an unexpected and astonishing rise of AI-generated (AIGC), thanks to the rapid advancement of technology and the omnipresence of social media. AIGCs created to mislead are more commonly known as DeepFakes, which erode our trust in online information and have already caused real damage. Thus, countermeasures must be developed to limit the negative impacts of AIGC. This position paper aims to provide a conceptual analysis of the impact of DeepFakes considering the production cost and overview counter technologies to fight DeepFakes. We will also discuss future perspectives of AIGC and their counter technology.

We summarize recent developments in generative AI and AIGC, as well as technical developments to mitigate the harmful impacts of DeepFakes. We also provide an analysis of the cost-effect tradeoff of DeepFakes.

The mitigation of DeepFakes call for multi-disciplinary research across the traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Government and business sectors need to work together to provide sustainable solutions to the DeepFake problem.

The research and development in counter-technologies and other mitigation measures of DeepFakes are important components for the health of future information ecosystem and democracy.

Unlike existing reviews in this topic, our position paper focuses on the insights and perspective of this vexing sociotechnical problem of our time, providing a more global picture of the solutions landscape.