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The retrospective diagnosis of concussion is often missed by clinicians. We present a brief scale for retrospective assessment of the immediate concussion symptoms (ICS) to facilitate the diagnosis of patients without visible head injury or full loss of consciousness. We administered the scale to 90 survivors of car accidents (mean age 42.0, SD=13.6; 33 males, 57 females) at 2 to 33 months after their accident. Our scale consists of 6 items and these were endorsed by the following % of our respondents: feeling dazed (64.4% of our 90 respondents), stunned (73.3%), confused (70.0%), disoriented (62.2%), dizzy (57.8%), and loss of consciousness (22.2%). The statistical properties of the scale are satisfactory (Cronbach alpha = 0.74). The scale correlates with post-accident insomnia (r=0.28), depression (r=0.29), and also with Rivermead measure of the chronic post-concussion syndrome (r=0.34). The ICS scale could be used as a starting point in longitudinal research with brain imaging procedures to evaluate the stages of recovery from the initial concussion. Attached are the English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Czech versions of our scale.

This paper aims to utilize a mixed-embeddedness approach to examine how state welfare policies, employment conditions and gender norms shape orientations to divisions of business and domestic labor among Czech copreneurs, i.e. romantic couples involved in businesses together.

Twelve copreneur couples were interviewed; male and female partners were interviewed separately. Women’s narratives are centered in analyzing motivations for business, divisions of labor, orientation to business/family and state policies. After detailing women’s orientations, correspondence with male partner orientations is considered.

Analysis reveals how state policies, employment conditions and gender norms inform copreneur narratives about business and family life in the Czech Republic. Female respondents expressed three orientations: business as opportunity, business for family and business/home as teamwork. Women tended both business and family, whereas most male partners focused exclusively on business.

Although the small, purposive sample was not representative of all Czech copreneurs, findings detail how social context frames business/family dynamics.

This mixed-embeddedness perspective demonstrates how gender norms, state taxation and welfare shape the organization of Czech copreneurships and can support or discourage women’s entrepreneurship.

Mechanisms producing gender inequality in copreneur businesses are revealed.

Findings identify connections between female copreneur business/family orientations and the context of gender regimes, state policy and employment practices in a post-socialist country. Also revealed are changing orientations across family and business stages.

To ensure that more people will benefit from integrated care initiatives, scaling-up of successful initiatives is the way forward. However, new challenges present themselves as knowledge on how to achieve successful large-scale implementation is scarce. The EU-funded project SCIROCCO uses a step-based scaling-up strategy to explore what to scale-up, and how to scale-up integrated care initiatives by matching the complementary strengths and weaknesses of five European regions involved in integrated care. The purpose of this paper is to describe a multi-method evaluation protocol designed to understand what factors influence the implementation of the SCIROCCO strategy to support the scaling-up of integrated care.

The first part of the protocol focuses on the assessment of the implementation fidelity of the SCIROCCO step-based strategy. The objective is to gain insight in whether the step-based strategy is implemented as it was designed to explore what works and does not work when implementing the scaling-up strategy. The second part concerns a realist evaluation to examine what it is about the SCIROCCO’s strategy that works for whom, why, how and in which circumstances when scaling-up integrated care.

The intended study will provide valuable information on the implementation of the scaling-up strategy which will help to explain for what specific reasons the implementation succeeds and will facilitate further improvement of project outcomes.

The expected insights could be useful to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of future scaling-up strategies to advance the change towards more sustainable health and care systems.

This paper aims to present a state-of-the-art review in various fields of interest, leading to a new concept of bio-inspired control of small aircraft. The main goal is to improve controllability and safety in flying at low speeds.

The review part of the paper gives an overview of artificial and natural flow sensors and haptic feedback actuators and applications. This background leads to a discussion part where the topics are synthesized and the trend in control of small aircraft is estimated.

The gap in recent aircraft control is identified in the pilot–aircraft interaction. A pilot’s sensory load is discussed and several recommendations for improved control system architecture are laid out in the paper.

The paper points out an opportunity for a following research of suggested bio-inspired aircraft control. The control is based on the artificial feeling of aerodynamic forces acting on a wing by means of haptic feedback.

The paper merges two research fields – aircraft control and human–machine interaction. This combination reveals new possibilities of aircraft control.

This paper presents a comparison of various models for strain‐softening due to damage such as cracking or void growth, as proposed recently in the literature. Continuum‐based models expressed in terms of softening stress—strain relations, and fracture‐type models expressed in terms of softening stress—displacement relations are distinguished. From one‐dimensional wave propagation calculations, it is shown that strain‐localization into regions of finite size cannot be achieved. The previously well‐documented spurious convergence is obtained with continuum models, while stress—displacement relations cannot model well smeared‐crack situations. Continuum models may, however, be used in general if a localization limiter is implemented. Gradient‐type localization limiters appear to be rather complicated; they require solving higher‐order differential equations of equilibrium with additional bourdary conditions. Non‐local localization limiters, especially the non‐local continuum with local strain, in which only the energy dissipating variables are non‐local, is found to be very effective, and also seems to be physically realistic. This formulation can correctly model the transition between homogeneous damage states and situations in which damage localizes into small regions that can be viewed as cracks. The size effect observed in the experimental and numerical response of specimens in tension or compression is shown to be a consequence of this progressive transition from continuum‐type to fracture‐type formulations.

Polymeric particulate composites with thermoplastics, especially polypropylene (PP) matrix with mineral fillers, are of great practical importance due to their simple possibility of modifying mechanical properties and reducing the price/volume ratio of the resulting material. Both filler properties and interface properties have a great effect on the mechanical properties, primarily on stiffness and toughness, of the resulting composite material. Good final dispersion of the filler particles also plays a very important role. To reach the best adhesion and distribution of the particles, various procedures are carried out for activation of the particles. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss the effect of using plasma as a tool for treating commercially available CaCO₃ nanoparticles in PP matrix.

The effect of the composite structure on its mechanical properties was studied from an experimental as well as a theoretical point of view. For an experimental study, four PP matrix were chosen. For use as filler, the commercially available precipitated surface-treated calcium carbonate was chosen. The composites were prepared with 5, 10, and 15 wt% of fillers. The sequence of expositions of plasma was chosen to verify the optimal treatment duration. The filler particles were characterized by several structure analytical methods. The composite mechanical properties were characterized by tensile, bending, impact, and creep tests. The deformation behavior of the three-phase composite with homogeneously distributed coated particles was numerically simulated on a microscopic scale.

The main conclusions of this work can be summarized as follows: with the use of plasma to the precipitated calcium carbonate, composites with well-dispersed particles can be prepared; the surface modification using plasma is done mainly by grafting –OH groups onto the particles’ surface; a synergetic effect of modifier enhancing the performance was observed; performance modifier increases the resistance against viscoelastic strain; and the size of the particles and their volume content generally lead to increase in the macro modulus of the composite.

Plasma, as a tool for treating the inorganic fillers, enables to destroy the agglomerates in composite, which is the basic way on how to optimally utilize the synergetic effect of composite with PP matrix.

There are structural elements on the aircraft that may be exposed to high-intensity sound levels. One of them is an air inlet duct of the jet engine. To prepare data for the air duct damage tolerance analysis, flat panels were tested under acoustic loading. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The acoustic fatigue test equipment for grazing wave’s incidence was designed based on the FE analyses. Flat composite panels were designed and manufactured using the Hexply 8552/AGP193-PW prepreg with the simulation of production imperfections or operational damage. The dynamic behaviour of panels has been tested using three regimes of acoustic loading: white noise spectrum, engine noise spectrum and discrete harmonic frequencies. The panel deflection was monitored along its longitudinal axis, and the ultrasonic NDT instruments were used for the monitoring of relevant delamination increments. The FE model of the panel was created in Abaqus to study panel dynamic characteristics.

No delamination progress was observed by NDT testing even if dynamic characteristics, especially modal frequency, of the panel changed during the fatigue test. Rayleigh damping coefficients were evaluated for their use in FE models. Significant differences were found between the measured and computed panel deflection curves near the edge of the panel.

The research results underscored the signification of the FE model boundary conditions and the element type selections when the panel works like a membrane rather than a plate because of their low bending stiffness.

The purpose of this study is to verify how the carbon doping of the WC-Co cemented carbide (CC) affected their structure before their processing by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) technology.

The samples for this experiment were fabricated by selective laser melting technology (SLM) using a YAG fiber laser with a power of P = 40 W and a scanning speed of 83 mm/s. The subsequent carbon doping process was performed in a chamber furnace at 900 0 C for 1, 4 and 12 h. The HIP was performed at 1,390°C and pressures of 40 MPa, 80 MPa and 120 MPa. The changes induced in the structures were evaluated using X-ray diffraction and various microscopic methods.

X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the structure of the samples after SLM consisted of WC, W₂C, Co₄W₂C and Co phases. As a result of the increase in the carbon content in the structure of the samples, the transition carbide W₂C and structural phase Co₄W₂C decayed. Their decay was manifested by the coarsening of the minor alpha phase (WC), which occurred both during the carburizing process and during the subsequent processing using HIP. In the samples in which the structure was carburized prior to HIP, only the structural phases WC and Co were observed in most cases.

The results confirm that it is possible to increase the homogeneity of the CC structure and thus its applicability in practice by additional carburization of the sample structure with subsequent processing by HIP technology.