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How is the United States Addressing Furniture Industry Waste?
No full textThe textile industry continues to pose a growing concern in today’s world as the second most polluting industry. However, it is not just the textile creation process that is harmful to the environment. Furniture items are some of the least recycled products in the world. The EPA estimates 19.6 trillion pounds of furniture is buried in landfills each year (EPA, 2018). This literature review examines the data collected by the EPA and explores the current programs with the specific mission to combat furniture waste. The gap in knowledge exists between the American consumer and landfill waste management. During the 1970s in the United Kingdom, the reuse rate grew from 2-3% to approximately 40% after the installation of 400 third sector organizations that enhanced the partnership between landfills and recycling centers (Curran & Williams, 2010). Sweden currently offers a tax break for all recycled furniture to provide an incentive for larger corporations, such as hotels and corporate offices. This research explores whether existing programs and procedures being implemented in other countries, specifically targeted towards reducing furniture industry waste, would be accepted by the American consumer. It is imperative that action take place toward reducing the amount of furniture waste in landfills, and the data suggests moving toward a more circular design process, as well as a circular mindset
Obesity Interventions Among Adolescents and Children
Get PDFThe purpose of this review of literature was to examine the effectiveness of both school and home-based interventions in preventing obesity among the children and adolescent population. Childhood obesity has become a serious health concern in this population. In the United States, the percentage of children and adolescents who have been affected by obesity has more than tripled since the 1970’s. Many children and adolescents are at risk for poor health throughout their lifetime, due to developing obesity at a young age. The research examined in this literature review focused on the effectiveness of interventions that took place in the home and school settings. It has been shown that including parents in an intervention is vital for childhood obesity treatment because parental obesity has been linked to adolescent obesity. While interventions that take place in the home are important, it is may also be beneficial for children and adolescents to receive proper interventions at school. It is vitally important for children and adolescents to receive the appropriate intervention for obesity at this time in their lives. Whether it be in the child’s home, if the resources are available to them, or if the individual lacks proper assistance from the home, being able to receive the intervention in a school setting can help prevent adult obesity-related morbidity and decrease the risk of future chronic health conditions
Astrometric Measurements of Double Star WDS 06047-4505
Get PDFMeasurements of the position angle and separation of the double star system WDS 06047-4505 were made on images taken by telescopes from the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) equipped with CCD cameras. The position angle was measured to be 5.77″ and the separation to be 213.52°. Analysis of the data when compared to previous measurements as well as parallax and proper motion data from Gaia strongly suggests this is a binary star. More observations are required in order to confirm the true nature of the double star
Advanced Access to Unsymmetric Tridentate Complexants for Utilization in Spent Nuclear Fuel Remediation
Get PDFRadioactive waste mitigation is a critical component of the nuclear fuel cycle, but largely remains inefficient and expensive. To combat this reality, developments in separations techniques that decrease the amount and toxicity of generated waste are highly sought after. Contemporary techniques are rooted in liquid-liquid extractions via a chelating agent and a radioactive ion such as Americium. This lab focuses on synthesizing nitrogen-containing, Lewis-basic, chelating scaffolds for use in separation processes. Such compounds need to be resistant to acidic environments and soluble in nonpolar organic solvents. Previous synthons in the lab have consisted of durable pyridine and triazine derivatives, but solubility assays in process relevant solvents highlight the need for additional exploration. Current strategies focus on improving solubility through unsymmetric functionalization that leads to topographical changes of the ligand and solvent interaction, in situ. One avenue for investigation involves Kornblum type oxidation of an MTP derivative followed by oxime formation, tosylation and elimination to afford a carbonitrile that can then form a 1,2,4-triazine through previously established methods. An alternative route for exploration involves oxidative cyclization with benzamidines to afford terpy-like complexants which offer another type of bonding array for ions not previously explored. Preliminary optimization and substrate screening for these reaction pathways towards unsymmetric compounds, or previously unreported compounds will be presented
Virtual Screening of Hamigomycin B Natural Product Derivatives in 26 Kinase Proteins
Get PDFHamigeromycin B and its analogs are synthetic natural product derivatives that may be useful at mediating signal transduction activity in human kinases. To study this potential activity, 11 Hamigomycin analogs were constructed using MOE 2019 and subjected to energy minimization using the AMBER14:EHT force field. Each analog was also compared against the parameters of Lipinski’s Rules of Five to determine druggability. The compounds were docked into twenty-six human kinase structures obtained from the Protein Data Bank (www.rcsb.org) to obtain relative binding free energy scores using the Docking module of MOE 2019. The binding sites for these kinase proteins were analyzed using the Evolutionary Trace server (http://lichtargelab.org/software/ETserver; Lichtarge Laboratory; Baylor University; Houston, TX USA) and the Protein Frustratometer (http://frustratometer.qb.fcen.uba.ar/; EMBNet Argentina; Buenos Aires, Argentina) to characterize the energetics and evolutionary information of the amino acid residues for likely contributions to binding. The lowest docking scores were used to determine the best binding and orientation of each analog to each protein. Docking data suggest good binding of these analogs with five out of twenty-six human kinase proteins. Functional group modifications were done to the original compounds in an effort to enhance binding to these five kinases. Future in vitro studies are being planned to confirm the computational docking results. Preliminary computational results will be disseminated
Improvements to the Bradford protein assay
No full textThe ability to measure protein concentration in solution is widely used in research and the ability to measure the concentrations accurately is of great importance. The measured absorbance of the Bradford assay is slightly linear up to 2000 µg/mL of protein, and linearity is decreased at lower concentrations. An increase in linearity would allow for more accurate estimations of the amount of protein in an unknown solution. This work is investigating the use of alternative alcohols and acids to determine protein concentration in the range up to 20 µg/mL, which demonstrates the most deviations from linearity. Various short-chain alcohols and citric and ascorbic acids will be studied instead of the ethanol and phosphoric acid traditionally used. The results will either reinforce the standard protocol, or introduce an improved method for the preparation of the Bradford reagent
Predicting the Spread of Dengue Fever in Tropical Cities Using Machine Learning Methods
No full textPredicting the spread of communicable diseases is more important than ever, given the impact of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Despite all the attention that pandemics get, they are not the only health situations that must be handled. There are ongoing endemics in tropical countries where health services and the standard of living are particularly deficient. These endemics are caused by neglected tropical diseases, or NTD’s. Of these, a viral disease called dengue fever is of concern for this project. To combat this debilitating disease, we are predicting future cases and outbreaks in Iquitos, Peru and San Juan, Puerto Rico based on prior dengue statistics in the form of case numbers and the corresponding week of the year. We also have climate variables such as temperature, humidity, precipitation amount, and dew point to draw correlations from. We use machine learning and data science techniques such as value imputation and Random Forest Regression to clean and model the data. The goal is to predict our target variable which corresponds to the number of cases per week, where success is determined by the mean absolute error. By conducting this analysis, drawing conclusions, and evaluating models, we believe we can accurately forecast future outbreaks. Ultimately, our approach would help response teams be assigned more efficiently to the severely affected areas. We validate our approach using DrivenData’s DengAI competition data set
Survey and Analysis of Arctic Fans in Svalbard, Norway as an Analog for Mars
Get PDFThe islands of Svalbard, Norway are located between Scandinavia and the North Pole (78°50’50.36”N 18°19’00.95”E). This region is known for its glacier-filled frozen tundra environment. Along the coastline of Svalbard are fan shaped deposits of unconsolidated sediment that are frozen during winter months (mean low temperature -17°C in January) and fluidized during summer months (mean high temperature 5°C in July). These conditions make Svalbard a good terrestrial analog for Mars, where fan-shaped features suggest evidence of liquid water on the ancient surface. Comparing alluvial fans and fan-deltas on Earth to those on Mars, we can draw conclusions about the paleoclimate and geologic history of each planet.In this study, 302 arctic fans were identified and measured on the islands of Svalbard using high-resolution satellite data (< 5 m/pixel). Images were acquired by NASA Landsat satellites and Digital Globe commercial satellites. With using the historic imaging provided, some remote sections of the islands only had older images available while the majority was more recent, higher quality images. Each fan was marked and measured at its widest diameter and all data and coordinates recorded in Google Earth and Excel. Fans range in size from less than a kilometer to over five kilometers in diameter, and some fans display asymmetrical geometries consistent with alongshore transport. Preliminary results show that fans in Svalbard record interactions between snow, ice, and overland water flow, similar to what climate models predict for fan-shaped features formed early in Mars’ history
*WINNER* The Relationship Between Physical Abuse and Childhood Problem Behaviors, Moderated by Gender and Ethnicity
No full textThis study explored the relationship between physical abuse and problem behaviors among schoolchildren using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Ruffle, 2000) while controlling for age, and moderating for ethnicity and gender. Data for this study were obtained from the National Data Archive of Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN). Participants for this study were between the ages of nine and twelve years old. Participants consisted of 100 physically abused and 100 non-abused children matched based on demographic factors. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used for the analysis, with the dependent variables (defined using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist) of: total scores withdrawn, total scores somatic, total scores anxiety/depression, total scores social problems, total scores thought problems, total scores attention problems, total scores delinquent behavior, and total scores aggressive behavior. Age was used as a covariate. The results of the MANCOVA showed that there were significant differences in each of the Child Behavior Checklist total scores based on the main effect of abuse status. From the univariate test of between subjects effects, (i) abused Hispanic children tended to have higher total scores of delinquent behavior than abused Black children; (ii) abused Hispanic children tended to have higher total scores of aggressive behavior than abused Black children, and (iii) abused males tended to have higher total scores of aggressive behavior than abused females. Based on these findings, improvements can be made to better identify and support adolescents who have experienced childhood physical abuse
*WINNER* Assessing the Impact of Different Inoculum Sources on Specific Methane Yield of Biomethane Potential Tests
No full textA Biomethane Potential (BMP) test is a simple and inexpensive technique that determines the biodegradability of a specific substrate, while also evaluating the potential amount of methane that can be produced within the anaerobic system. It is the first fundamental assessment in determining the amount of biogas generated from an anaerobic digestion system. First proposed in 1979 by Owen et al., inoculum from an established anaerobic digester is mixed with a proposed substrate in an oxygen free environment within a batch reactor. The biogas and methane content are then measured over the course of the testing period to determine methane production potential. Although BMP tests have been conducted for years, due to lack of a standardized method there is often inconsistencies in results between similar BMP studies. The source of the inoculum used in BMP tests is one parameter that remains inconsistent among studies. The microbial communities in different inoculum sources can vary. This can greatly affect the overall methane yield of the BMP test. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate specific methane yield variability in the BMP test using inoculums from wastewater, agricultural, and industrial anaerobic digesters. Results indicated that inoculum source did not have an effect on specific methane yield. However, inoculum sources that had been adapted to similar substrates had a higher rate of reaction. Therefore, if speed of reaction is a necessary requirement during methane production, a well-adapted inoculum source should be considered