56593 research outputs found
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The Waste Picking Initiative
No full textabstract: Waste pickers are the victims of harsh economic and social factors that have hurt many developing countries and billions of people around the world. Due to the rise of industrialization since the 19th century, waste and disposable resources have been discarded around the world to provide more resources, products, and services to wealthy countries. This has put developing countries in a precarious position where people have had very few economic opportunities besides taking on the role of waste pickers, who not only face physical health consequences due to the work they do but also face exclusion from society due to the negative views of waste pickers. Many people view waste pickers as scavengers and people who survive off of doing dirty work, which creates tensions between waste pickers and others in society. This even leads to many countries outlawing waste picking and has led to the brutal treatment of waste pickers throughout the world and has even led to thousands of waste pickers being killed by anti-waste picker groups and law enforcement organizations in many countries.
Waste pickers are often at the bottom of supply-chains as they take resources that have been used and discarded, and provide them to recyclers, waste management organizations, and others who are able to turn these resources into usable materials again. Waste pickers do not have many opportunities to rise above the situation they are in as waste picking has become the only option for many people who need to provide for themselves and their families. They are not compensated very well for the work they do, which also contributes to the situation where waste pickers are forced into a position of severe health risks, backlash from society and governments, not being able to seek better opportunities due to a lack of earning potential, and not being connected with end-users. Now is the time to create new business models that solve these large problems in our global society and create a sustainable way to ensure that waste pickers are treated properly around the world. (abstract
Quantifying the Evolution of Fluconazole Resistance in S. Cerevisiae Using Molecular Barcodes
No full textabstract: One of the largest problems facing modern medicine is drug resistance. Many classes of drugs can be rendered ineffective if their target is able to acquire beneficial mutations. While this is an excellent showcase of the power of evolution, it necessitates the development of increasingly stronger drugs to combat resistant pathogens. Not only is this strategy costly and time consuming, it is also unsustainable. To contend with this problem, many multi-drug treatment strategies are being explored. Previous studies have shown that resistance to some drug combinations is not possible, for example, resistance to a common antifungal drug, fluconazole, seems impossible in the presence of radicicol. We believe that in order to understand the viability of multi-drug strategies in combating drug resistance, we must understand the full spectrum of resistance mutations that an organism can develop, not just the most common ones. It is possible that rare mutations exist that are resistant to both drugs. Knowing the frequency of such mutations is important for making predictions about how problematic they will be when multi-drug strategies are used to treat human disease. This experiment aims to expand on previous research on the evolution of drug resistance in S. cerevisiae by using molecular barcodes to track ~100,000 evolving lineages simultaneously. The barcoded cells were evolved with serial transfers for seven weeks (200 generations) in three concentrations of the antifungal Fluconazole, three concentrations of the Hsp90 inhibitor Radicicol, and in four combinations of Fluconazole and Radicicol. Sequencing data was used to track barcode frequencies over the course of the evolution, allowing us to observe resistant lineages as they rise and quantify differences in resistance evolution across the different conditions. We were able to successfully observe over 100,000 replicates simultaneously, revealing many adaptive lineages in all conditions. Our results also show clear differences across drug concentrations and combinations, with the highest drug concentrations exhibiting distinct behaviors. (abstract
Creating Reliable Software Systems for the DORA CubeSat
No full textabstract: CubeSats can encounter a myriad of difficulties in space like cosmic rays, temperature issues, and loss of control. By creating better, more reliable software, these problems can be mitigated and increase the chance of success for the mission. This research sets out to answer the question: how do we create reliable flight software for CubeSats? by providing a concentrated list of the best flight software development practices. The CubeSat used in this research is the Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture (DORA) CubeSat, which is a 3U CubeSat that seeks to demonstrate optical communication data rates of 1 Gbps over long distances. We present an analysis over many of the flight software development practices currently in use in the industry, from industry leads NASA, and identify three key flight software development areas of focus: memory, concurrency, and error handling. Within each of these areas, the best practices were defined for how to approach the area. These practices were also developed using experience from the creation of flight software for the DORA CubeSat in order to drive the design and testing of the system. We analyze DORA’s effectiveness in the three areas of focus, as well as discuss how following the best practices identified helped to create a more reliable flight software system for the DORA CubeSat. (abstract
Relationships Between the Inflammatory Responses of the Immune System and Periods of Critical Hormonal Shifts in Females Across the Lifespan: A Pregnancy Review
No full textabstract: In females, critical hormonal shifts occur during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. The fluctuating ovarian hormone levels across a woman’s lifespan likely contribute to inflammatory responses driven by the immune system, which is regulated by a variety of physiological pathways and microbiological cues. Pregnancy in particular results in drastic changes in circulating hormone profiles, and involves a variety of physiological changes, including inflammatory responses of the immune system. There is evidence that these effects are mediated, in part, by the significant hormone fluctuations that characterize pregnancy and postpartum periods. This thesis highlights and synthesizes important physiological changes associated with pregnancy, and their potential implications on cognitive and brain aging in women. A tertiary model of cognition is presented depicting interactions between hormonal history, reproductive history, and immune functions. This research is important to create a better understanding of women’s health and enhance medical care for women throughout pregnancy and across reproductive hormone shifts across the lifespan. (abstract
Bluetooth Singing Tesla Coil
No full textabstract: The purpose of this creative project was to create a stereo sound system in a unique medium. As a team, we decided to integrate a Tesla Coil with a bluetooth audio source. These high frequency, high voltage systems can be configured to emit their electrical discharge in a manner that resembles playing tunes. Originally the idea was to split the audio into left and right, then to further segregate the signals to have a treble, mid, and base emitter for each side. Due to time, budget, and scope constraints, we decided to complete the project with only two coils.
For this project, the team decided to use a solid-state coil kit. This kit was purchased from OneTelsa and would help ensure everyone’s safety and the project’s success. The team developed our own interrupting or driving circuit through reverse-engineering the interrupter provided by oneTesla and discussing with other engineers. The custom interpreter was controlled by the PSoC5 LP and communicated with an audio source through the DFRobot Bluetooth module. Utilizing the left and right audio signals it can drive the two Tesla Coils in stereo to play the music. (abstract
A Measure of Engineering Self-Efficacy & Engineering Identity in Undergraduate Students
No full textabstract: Self-efficacy in engineering, engineering identity, and coping in engineering have been shown in previous studies to be highly important in the advancement of one’s development in the field of engineering. Through the creation and deployment of a 17 question survey, undergraduate and first year masters students were asked to provide information on their engagement at their university, their demographic information, and to rank their level of agreement with 22 statements relating to the aforementioned ideas. Using the results from the collected data, exploratory factor analysis was completed to identify the factors that existed and any correlations. No statistically significant correlations between the identified three factors and demographic or engagement information were found. There needs to be a significant increase in the data sample size for statistically significant results to be found. Additionally, there is future work needed in the creation of an engagement measure that successfully reflects the level and impact of participation in engineering activities beyond traditional coursework. (abstract
Company X Digital Education Thesis Project
No full textabstract: This paper goes does a market analysis on Inter Active Flat Panel Displays (IFPDs), and talks about how company X can grow its market share in IFPDs. (abstract
Blow Flies and the American Diet: Effects of Fat Content on Blow Fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Development
No full textabstract: Forensic entomology is an important field of forensic science that utilizes insect evidence in criminal investigations. Blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are among the first colonizers of remains and are therefore frequently used in determining the minimum postmortem interval (mPMI). Blow fly development, however, is influenced by a variety of factors including temperature and feeding substrate type. Unfortunately, dietary fat content remains an understudied factor on the development process, which is problematic given the relatively high rates of obesity in the United States. To study the effects of fat content on blow fly development we investigated the survivorship, adult weight and development of Lucilia sericata (Meigen; Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Phormia regina (Meigen; Diptera: Calliphoridae) on ground beef with a 10%, 20%, or 27% fat content. As fat content increased, survivorship decreased across both species with P. regina being significantly impacted. While P. regina adults were generally larger than L. sericata across all fat levels, only L. sericata demonstrated a significant (P < 0.05) difference in weight by sex. Average total development times for P. regina are comparable to averages published in other literature. Average total development times for L. sericata, however, were nearly 50 hours higher. These findings provide insight on the effect of fat content on blow fly development, a factor that should be considered when estimating a mPMI. By understanding how fat levels affect the survivorship and development of the species studied here, we can begin improving the practice of insect evidence analysis in casework. (abstract
Criminal Profiling's Role in Forensic Science and Our Minds
No full textabstract: Since the inception of what is now known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1970s, criminal profiling has become an increasingly prevalent entity in both forensic science and the popular imagination. The fundamental idea of which profiling is premised – behavior as a reflection of personality – has been the subject of a great deal of misunderstanding, with professionals and nonprofessionals alike questioning whether profiling represents an art or a science and what its function in forensic science should be. To provide a more thorough understanding of criminal profiling’s capabilities and its efficacy as a law enforcement tool, this thesis will examine the application of criminal profiling to investigations, various court rulings concerning profiling’s admissibility, and the role that popular media plays in the perception and function of the practice. It will also discuss how future research and regulatory advancements may strengthen criminal profiling’s scientific merit and legitimacy. (abstract
TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS: Revolutionizing the Automation of Accounting
No full textabstract: Generating an astounding 1.1 trillion valuation in 2020 [2]. This work presents the twin accounting solutions TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS: an unprecedented leap into these murky waters in an attempt to automate and streamline these gigantic accounting tasks once entrusted only to teams of experienced accountants.
A first-to-market approach to a trillion-dollar problem, TurboGAAP and TurboIFRS are the answers for years of demands from the accounting sector that established corporations have never solved. (abstract