Meyer Werft (Germany)

This paper presents, for the first-time, measurement results of frequency-dependent impedances of ship electrical systems, obtained during three measurement campaigns. The introduction covers shipboard networks, the trend towards DC networks and explains the measurement procedure. The results from an AC secondary ship grid on an AC-ship, a fixed DC system, and a floating DC system installed on a ferry are presented, compared and discussed. The three shipboard power networks all show resonances in various degrees and different characteristic curves of the magnitudes and phase curves of the impedance. The frequency-dependent behaviour of on-board power systems, especially DC systems, has not been scientifically explored before. However, such exploration is crucial for the stable and safe operation of future ships equipped with numerous power electronic systems

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Kerstin Hinterndorfer and Felix Mikus are co-first authors on ‘ Ultrastructure expansion microscopy reveals the cellular architecture of budding and fission yeast’, published in JCS. Kerstin is a PhD student in the lab of Robbie Loewith at University of Geneva, Switzerland, working on TOR signaling and expansion microscopy in yeast. Felix is a predoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr Gautam Dey in Heidelberg, Germany, investigating how nuclear pore complex dynamics regulate nuclear remodeling and proteostasis in closed and semi-closed mitosis.

Against the background of using the Index of Subdivision as a reference to address the safety level of ships when damaged, following primarily collision accidents, the EC-funded FLARE project is making inroads towards a direct assessment of the flooding risk, which is ship specific and considers the operating conditions and all accident-types leading to hull breach and flooding, namely collisions, bottom and side groundings. This is enabled by using a newly developed two-level approach Potential Loss of Life (PLL) of People On Board (POB); level 1 is a semi-empirical approach with the risk models formulated by use of data from a newly composed accident database, while level 2 is determining the flooding risk by a first principles approach, using time-domain flooding and evacuation analyses simulation tools in pertinent emergencies. Level 2 is considered in two sub-levels (Level 2.1 and Level 2.2), the former involving some simplifying assumptions in the risk calculation. In addition to addressing all accident types and modes of loss of ship and of POB, the FLARE framework and methodology considers active and passive measures of risk prevention and control, hence with application potential to both newbuildings and existing ships. It also facilitates real-time flooding risk evaluation for risk monitoring and effective control in emergencies. Key objectives of the FLARE project are to provide the technical basis for the rational determination and assessment of flooding risk and to prepare a proposal for the revision of relevant IMO SOLAS regulations towards a risk-based approach to contain and control flooding emergencies. The paper briefly describes the FLARE flooding risk assessment framework and provides risk estimation results at all three levels for one cruise ship and one RoPax, including comparisons with available IMO societal criteria, as well as a summary of results for a further 7 ships at levels 2.1 and 2.2. In the light of the results presented, the paper draws conclusions on the progress made and offers recommendations for the way forward.

Catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia (VT) reduces the recurrence of VT in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). The appropriate timing of VT ablation and its effects on mortality and heart failure progression remain a matter of debate. In patients with life-threatening arrhythmias necessitating ICD implantation, we compared outcomes of preventive VT ablation (undertaken before ICD implantation to prevent ICD shocks for VT) and deferred ablation after 3 ICD shocks for VT. The BERLIN VT study (Preventive Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia in Patients With Myocardial Infarction) was a prospective, open, parallel, randomized trial performed at 26 centers. Patients with stable ischemic cardiomyopathy, a left ventricular ejection fraction between 30% and 50%, and documented VT were randomly assigned 1:1 to a preventive or deferred ablation strategy. The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause death and unplanned hospitalization for either symptomatic ventricular arrhythmia or worsening heart failure. Secondary outcomes included sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmia and appropriate ICD therapy. We hypothesized that preventive ablation strategy would be superior to deferred ablation strategy in the intention-to-treat population. During a mean follow-up of 396±284 days, the primary end point occurred in 25 (32.9%) of 76 patients in the preventive ablation group and 23 (27.7%) of 83 patients in the deferred ablation group (hazard ratio, 1.09 [95% CI, 0.62-1.92]; P=0.77). On the basis of prespecified criteria for interim analyses, the study was terminated early for futility. In the preventive versus deferred ablation group, 6 versus 2 patients died (7.9% versus 2.4%; P=0.18), 8 versus 2 patients were admitted for worsening heart failure (10.4% versus 2.3%; P=0.062), and 15 versus 21 patients were hospitalized for symptomatic ventricular arrhythmia (19.5% versus 25.3%; P=0.27). Among secondary outcomes, the proportions of patients with sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmia (39.7% versus 48.2%; P=0.050) and appropriate ICD therapy (34.2% versus 47.0%; P=0.020) were numerically reduced in the preventive ablation group. Preventive VT ablation before ICD implantation did not reduce mortality or hospitalization for arrhythmia or worsening heart failure during 1 year of follow-up compared with the deferred ablation strategy. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT02501005.

Wenn Sie mich fragen, wie ein typischer Millionar aussieht, dann zogere ich, antworte Ihnen, dass es auserlich keine Merkmale gibt und schon gar keine Stereotype. Weder tragt ein Millionar per se teure Kleidung, noch golft er im besten Country Club der Gegend. Er bevorzugt fur seine Kinder nicht unbedingt Privatschulen, auch jettet er nicht zweimal jahrlich in eines der letzten Steuerparadiese dieser Erde, um seine Kontoauszuge in geheimer Mission zu uberprufen. Um es vorwegzunehmen: Von den mehr als 1.365.000 Millionaren, die in Deutschland leben, geniest die Mehrzahl ihr Gluck sehr leise.

Abstract Herrn Prof. Dr.‐Ing. Peter Schaumann zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmetDichtgeschweißte Stahlhohlkästen sind eine effiziente und erprobte Bauweise im Stahl‐ und Stahlverbundbrückenbau. Die Prüfung und Inspektion innen liegender Schweißnähte ist jedoch nur bedingt oder gar nicht möglich, sodass eine robuste Ausführung innen liegender Schweißnähte geboten ist. Nun haben Messungen bestätigt, dass es in dichtgeschweißten Stahlhohlkästen zu nennenswerten Veränderungen des Innendrucks in Abhängigkeit von der Temperatur kommt. Die daraus resultierenden Druckunterschiede zwischen Innen‐ und Umgebungsluftdruck stellen eine nicht zu vernachlässigende – bisher aber nicht berücksichtigte – zusätzliche Belastung der Halsnähte dar. Es wird ein ingenieurpraktischer Ansatz zur Dimensionierung ebendieser Halsnähte dichtgeschweißter Hohlkästen unter sowohl Schubbelastung aus der Haupttragwerkswirkung als auch Biegebelastung aus temperaturinduziertem Innendruck hergeleitet. Verschiedene Einflussgrößen werden untersucht und die Ergebnisse werden in vereinfachten Berechnungsansätzen zusammengefasst, deren Anwendung kurz dargestellt wird.

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a marker of cardiac end-organ damage and a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although electrocardiogram (ECG) is the most common tool for LVH assessment in contemporary clinical trials and cohort studies, the repeatability of ECG-LVH criteria has not been sufficiently examined. Objectives: Characterize the repeatability and minimal detectable change of ECG-LVH criteria. Methods: A total of 63 participants (mean age 50 years; 31 females) underwent two visits one week apart. At each visit, two digital ECGs were obtained following a standardized protocol. The ECG data were processed centrally to automatically obtain waveform measurements needed to calculate Cornell voltage (CV) LVH (SV3 + RaVL >2800 μV for men and >2000 μV for women), Cornell voltage product (CVP) LVH ((RaVL + SV3) X QRS duration ≥244 mV sec; for both Cornell criteria, 0.8 mV was added to the voltage sum for women), and Sokolow-Lyon (SL) LVH (SV1 +RV5/V6 ≥3500 μV). In addition to using these criteria as dichotomous LVH variables, we also used the waveforms measurements composing them as continuous variables, referred to here as CV-index, CVP-index, and SL-index. We used random-effects, mixed models to parse the variance of the variables into their between-participant, between-visit, and within-visit components, and calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), minimal detectable change (95% confidence), and Kappas. Results: Between-participant variation accounted for 93% to 97% of the total variation in CV-index, CVP-index, and log of SL-index. The ICCs (95% confidence intervals) were 0.97 (0.96, 0.98) for CV-index, 0.97 (0.95, 0.98) for CVP-index, and 0.93 (0.90, 0.96) for log of SL-index. Minimal detectable change between repeat measures of CV-index, CVP-index, and log of SL-index were ≥236.7 μV, ≥26.7 mV, and ≥0.09 μV, respectively. The within-visit Kappa (95% confidence limits) was 0.73 (0.38, 1.00) for SL LVH and 1 for the other two LVH criteria. The between-visit Kappa was 1 for CV LVH, 0.66 (0.04, 1.00) for CVP LVH, and 0.40 (-0.03, 0.83) and 0.64 (0.26, 1.00) for the SL LVH first and second measurements of each visit, respectively. When defining ECG-LVH as presence of ≥1 ECG-LVH criteria, the within visit Kappa became 0.78 (0.49, 1.00) for the first visit and 1 for the second visit; the between visit Kappa values became 0.50 (0.12, 0.88) and 0.70 (0.38, 1.00) for the first and second measurements of each visit. Conclusion: CV, CVP, SL indices as continuous variables have excellent repeatability. The dichotomous ECG-LVH criteria have excellent within visit agreement, but between visit agreement ranges from fair to poor, which improved by combining multiple criteria. These results alleviate concerns about the repeatability the ECG LVH use in clinical trials and epidemiologic studies.