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MEDFORD: A HUMAN AND MACHINE READABLE METADATA MARKUP LANGUAGE
Get PDFReproducibility of research is essential for science. However, in the way modern computational biology research is done, it is easy to lose track of small, but extremely critical, details. Key details, such as the specific version of a software used or iteration of a genome can easily be lost in the shuffle, or perhaps not noted at all. Much work is being done on the database and storage side of things, ensuring that there exists a space to store experiment-specific details, but current mechanisms for recording details are cumbersome for scientists to use. We propose a new metadata description language, named MEDFORD, in which scientists can record all details relevant to their research. Human-readable, easily-editable, and templatable, MEDFORD serves as a collection point for all notes that a researcher could find relevant to their research, be it for internal use or for future replication. MEDFORD has been applied to coral research, documenting research from RNA-seq analyses to photo collections
Mammals adjust diel activity across gradients of urbanization
Get PDFTime is a fundamental component of ecological processes. How animal behavior changes over time has been explored through well-known ecological theories like niche partitioning and predator–prey dynamics. Yet, changes in animal behavior within the shorter 24-hr light–dark cycle have largely gone unstudied. Understanding if an animal can adjust their temporal activity to mitigate or adapt to environmental change has become a recent topic of discussion and is important for effective wildlife management and conservation. While spatial habitat is a fundamental consideration in wildlife management and conservation, temporal habitat is often ignored. We formulated a temporal resource selection model to quantify the diel behavior of 8 mammal species across 10 US cities. We found high variability in diel activity patterns within and among species and species-specific correlations between diel activity and human population density, impervious land cover, available greenspace, vegetation cover, and mean daily temperature. We also found that some species may modulate temporal behaviors to manage both natural and anthropogenic risks. Our results highlight the complexity with which temporal activity patterns interact with local environmental characteristics, and suggest that urban mammals may use time along the 24-hr cycle to reduce risk, adapt, and therefore persist, and in some cases thrive, in human-dominated ecosystems
Plasmon-Tuned Particles for the Amplification of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering from Analytes
No full textInelastic scattering from molecules because of vibrational modes produces unique Raman shifts, allowing these analytes to be detected with high specificity. Because Raman scattering is weak, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been used as a label-free technique for the detection of a variety of analytes at low concentrations. Using simple solution-based colloidal processing techniques, we have fabricated gold-coated carbon-black nanoparticles that show enhanced Raman activity. By varying the fabrication conditions, we create particles of different surface morphologies, allowing control over the peak wavelength for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). By matching the LSPR wavelength to the incident laser wavelength, we get the highest signal from two model analytes, 4-nitrobenzenethiol (4-NBT) and Congo Red (CR). Our straightforward room-temperature-solution-based approach for making tunable SERS-active particles expands the range of incident radiation wavelengths that can be used for the detection of analytes using Raman scattering
Methodology for the Deployment of Small Payloads from a Host Underwater Vehicle
Get PDFIn this report, Team 4’s research, work completion, and development of the project is recorded. The goal of the project is to develop a methodology for the deployment of small payloads from a host underwater vehicle. This report shows the design, production, and testing of a system of deploying payloads that utilizes a central rotating assembly that actuates a spring-loaded door. The system utilizes the buoyancy of the payloads to deploy vertically, either upwards or downwards.
After many hours of research, brainstorming and sorting, the team decided on a promising concept with the assistance of the team’s mentor from NUWC. In the report, the methodologies, decisions, and research completed is described in depth. The deployment method must reach a few major design criteria. It must be able to fit into a section 10 inches wide and 36 inches long to deploy at least three payloads of three inches in diameter and that are up to 27 inches long. The system must also require minimal maintenance while using mostly off the shelf parts.
With that being said, using Pugh charts, competitive analysis, engineering analysis and testing the believes that the concept chosen has the potential to fully meet all requirements laid out by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. After producing a scale prototype of the deployment mechanism, the system was refined during above water testing, as the system was designed to be minimally impacted by water. After the system was reliably deploying on land, underwater testing was conducted, with the system functioning as designed with minimal issues.
As the year comes to an end, the team can reflect on all of the accomplishments that have been achieved. The mechanism produced was able to reliably deploy all of its payloads in both submerged and unsubmerged environments, while keeping its simplistic design
Ambient Temperature Phase Change Launcher
Get PDFDeployment of payloads stored in water tight cylindrical bodies in underwater environmental conditions are of interest to the marine and naval community. The proposed work will investigate the possibility of using inert carbon dioxide gas compressed into its liquid state and stored under pressure to launch payloads by means of expansion from a cylindrical tube.
The purpose of the phase change payload launcher concept is to eject payloads from a submerged submarine by expansion of gas rather than combustion. Testing will include a gas that is found in earth’s atmosphere, carbon dioxide, stored in its liquid phase under high pressure. A valve will open, releasing the pressurized liquid. The liquid will expand into its gaseous phase ejecting the payload from the cylinder.
The scope of this project includes creating the design, building a prototype, and validating its usefulness as a solution. The team has designed a prototype capable of housing pressurized carbon dioxide, and firing a payload with no more than 8g of acceleration. This prototype meets all of the design specifications set forth by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC). Specific dimensions of the separate components, the pressurization of the gas, and the actuations of the operator are included. This process will be completed on a smaller scale to what will be used in industry. The concept will allow a simulation of this gas expansion powered underwater launch from a cylindrical body, with a nearly identical phase change process facilitating the energy required as would be used in a submarine application
MagSeal Design and Build of Seal Testing Device
Get PDFMAGSEAL has entrusted team 18 “The Challengers” with creating a new system for tribology testing of seals with a 1.5” inner diameter. The device is also expected to work with Team 17’s seal design. Obtaining understanding of seals and tribology testing was vital for a well-designed machine. This knowledge was obtained through literary research and a patent search. After touring the MAGSEAL facility to get an even better understanding of how they currently run tests the team was ready to begin. Each member generated 30 preliminary design concepts for a total of 150. The best designs were selected through QFD and Pugh analysis. After compiling the best aspects of the design, it was crucial to make sure it met every design specification set by our sponsor. A weighted pressure system would be used to evenly distribute a pressure of 15psi to the seal face. 300℉ heat generation would be accomplished through a induction band heater. The seal face temperature will be recorded by thermocouples embedded in the stator side of the seal. All of this would be attached to a 1.5” shaft using an electric motor and gearbox to rotate at speeds of up to 7500 RPM. The electronics would be run by a PLC to set the inputs and allow for real time data acquisition from the tests.
When the general design was thought through it was demonstrated in a working prototype that was constructed. The prototype would forgo the heat elements of the design so it could be made of 3D printed parts and wood with no risk of fire. However, it still demonstrated the efficiency of the gearbox and motor working to achieve a reliable rotation. It also proved the seal would stay in place on the rotating shaft while carrying the required load to achieve the required seal face pressure. The extremely successful prototype has validated our design and will allow us to complete the final design while meeting all the design specifications and budget restrictions. Moving forward, the team focused on the true tribometer. The spring semester brought many challenges with supply chain issues, financial costs, and being able to organize multiple systems into one designated space. Through these challenges, many positives shined. These positives were the team being able to design a fully functional apparatus with planned resolutions for all issues that arose. The tribometer will help MAGSEAL gain market value and bring the company to a whole new venture. The venture of the eVTOL market will bring new ideas to MAGSEAL and encompass what the tribometer stands for. This tribometer will help shape new business capabilities for MAGSEAL for years to come
Narratives of Gendered and Racialized Carework: Feminist Faculty of Color Organizing During the Pandemic
Get PDFInspired by feminist narrative and the Latin American tradition of testimonio, this paper is grounded in the lived experiences of the four authors as academics, mothers, and organizers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on women of color feminisms and theorizing anti-racist feminist understandings of motherhood as a political identity, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated challenges faced by parenting and caregiving faculty, especially those positioned at the intersection of multiple structural vulnerabilities. The COVID-19 tipping point presented both unsustainable challenges for parenting and caregiving faculty and opportunities for collective support and organizing as parents and caregivers. We participated in collective organizing with other academic parents and caregivers, most of whom are mothers, as we shared our struggles and organized to respond to changing conditions. We examine the ways in which undervalued, gendered, and racialized labor in the workplace merged with unpaid gendered labor in the home, highlighting how the pandemic brought caregivers—those providing care through their undervalued paid labor and unpaid household labor—to a crisis point. We also highlight the ways in which the organizing that began around parenting and caregiving faculty, who have been disproportionately overburdened during the pandemic, was in addition to and in the context of ongoing activism around other forms of structural violence. Finally, we conclude with a call for structural change at the institutional level to address the exacerbated racialized and gendered equity gap caused by the pandemic. More broadly, we argue that the pandemic laid bare the ways in which the university, as an institution, remains based in the white, heteropatriarchal assumptions of a labor force of faculty who are not also parents and caregivers. We provide recommendations for policy change and implementation that will help create more just and equitable working conditions for parenting and caregiving faculty and call for the recognition that the end of the pandemic will not eradicate the dire needs of parenting and caregiving faculty members within a society that offers little support for carework
Grassland tenure reform and grassland quality in China
No full textThis paper investigates the impact of land tenure reform on grassland quality in pastoral areas of China. Using nearly 40 years of remote sensing combined with survey data in the pastoral area of China, we find that the privatization of land use rights without physical (i.e., fences) or legal (i.e., certificates) protection has little impact on improving grassland quality measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The enhanced privatization of grassland use rights with physical or legal security significantly increases grassland quality. We show that after the privatization of land use rights with security protection, grassland quality experienced about a 3% increase. Our results suggest that switching to privatized use rights without security protection from previously cooperatively managed land may undermine the positive environmental effects of land tenure reform