Foodi - Automated Ordering System

We worked for BeSprout Technology to create an automated ordering system called Foodi. The Foodi system uses a combination of Java, IBM Watson, and MySQL to gather all the necessary information needed for the conversation, and is dynamic so it can be used in multiple restaurants. Many people still place orders via a phone call, so in an effort to streamline the ordering process, this project was created to enable automatic order placing so employees can focus on other tasks within the restaurant. When a customer calls a restaurant, Foodi will take care of any orders and answer questions the customer may have. The input from the user is sent to Watson, and is filtered through a conversation tree created with IBM’s Bluemix. Bluemix uses the user input to navigate to certain nodes. When a node in the conversation tree is hit, the user input is passed into Java code and parsed appropriately. After the input has been parsed in Java, Watson is told which node in the conversation tree to travel to next and how to respond to the user. This process is repeated until the user is finished ordering and the final order is repeated back to the customer. The restaurant receives the final order and begins preparing the food.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1181/thumbnail.jp

2,2\u27,6,6\u27-Tetrasubstituted Diarylethynes: Models to Test Proximity and Position in Catalysis.

Enzymes exhibit extraordinary efficiency and specificity in catalysis. A source of the catalytic power observed in enzymes has been attributed to the ability of the enzyme-substrate complex to bring the substrate into close proximity to the catalytic groups with proper orientation for reaction. However, the contributions of proximity and of orientation to the origin of catalytic power have not been quantified. A series of tethered and untethered 2,2\sp\prime,6,6\sp\prime-tetrasubstituted diarylethynes have been proposed to study the effect of proximity of the catalytic group to the substrate on catalysis. The syntheses of the diarylethyne models require efficient procedures for the synthesis of 2,6-disubstituted arylethynes and unsymmetrical 2,2\sp\prime,6,6\sp\prime-tetrasubstituted diarylethynes. A literature search for the preparation of mono- and diarylethynes has revealed no examples of 2,6-disubstituted arylethynes with oxygen substituents or unsymmetrical 2,2\sp\prime,6,6\sp\prime-tetrasubstituted diarylethynes. The methodology developed for synthesizing these mono- and diarylethynes serves as a basis for synthesizing the models. Two procedures have been developed for the synthesis of arylethynes. The first method involves a modification of a classic procedure for synthesizing arylethynes from acetophenones. The second procedure involves a palladium-mediated coupling of aryl iodides with trimethyl ((trimethylsilyl)ethynyl) stannane, followed by cleaving the trimethylsilyl group. The advantages and disadvantages of these procedures are discussed. Six new arylethynes have been synthesized by these methods. Unsymmetrical diaryl- and arylnaphthylethynes have been synthesized by palladium-mediated coupling of arylethynes with aryl triflates or halides. The arylnaphthylethynes serve as precursors to another series of models, which have different distances and orientations between the functional groups, to test proximity on catalysis. A close precursor to the untethered diarylethyne, 2- (2-methoxy-6-(methoxymethoxy)-phenylethynyl) -3-methoxybenzoate, was synthesized. One pathway for the synthesis of the tethered models has been eliminated; however, three additional pathways are proposed. The ortho-substituted functional groups of the 2,2\sp\prime,6,6\sp\prime-tetrasubstituted diarylethynes react with ethyne to form three heterocycles. The robust chemistry of the demethylation and lactonization of the diarylethynes provides an easy entry to unusual and highly substituted 2-arylbenzofurans, 3-arylbenzopyranones, and 3-benzylideneisobenzofuranones

Relative contribution of abundant and rare species to species–energy relationships

A major goal of ecology is to understand spatial variation in species richness. The latter is markedly influenced by energy availability and appears to be influenced more by common species than rare ones; species–energy relationships should thus be stronger for common species. Species–energy relationships may arise because high-energy areas support more individuals, and these larger populations may buffer species from extinction. As extinction risk is a negative decelerating function of population size, this more-individuals hypothesis (MIH) predicts that rare species should respond more strongly to energy. We investigate these opposing predictions using British breeding bird data and find that, contrary to the MIH, common species contribute more to species–energy relationships than rare ones

Sleep Environment Recommendations for Future Spaceflight Vehicles

Current evidence demonstrates that astronauts experience sleep loss and circadian desynchronization during spaceflight. Ground-based evidence demonstrates that these conditions lead to reduced performance, increased risk of injuries and accidents, and short and long-term health consequences. Many of the factors contributing to these conditions relate to the habitability of the sleep environment. Noise, inadequate temperature and airflow, and inappropriate lighting and light pollution have each been associated with sleep loss and circadian misalignment during spaceflight operations and on Earth. As NASA prepares to send astronauts on long-duration, deep space missions, it is critical that the habitability of the sleep environment provide adequate mitigations for potential sleep disruptors. We conducted a comprehensive literature review summarizing optimal sleep hygiene parameters for lighting, temperature, airflow, humidity, comfort, intermittent and erratic sounds, and privacy and security in the sleep environment. We reviewed the design and use of sleep environments in a wide range of cohorts including among aquanauts, expeditioners, pilots, military personnel and ship operators. We also reviewed the specifications and sleep quality data arising from every NASA spaceflight mission, beginning with Gemini. Finally, we conducted structured interviews with individuals experienced sleeping in non-traditional spaces including oil rig workers, Navy personnel, astronauts, and expeditioners. We also interviewed the engineers responsible for the design of the sleeping quarters presently deployed on the International Space Station. We found that the optimal sleep environment is cool, dark, quiet, and is perceived as safe and private. There are wide individual differences in the preferred sleep environment; therefore modifiable sleeping compartments are necessary to ensure all crewmembers are able to select personalized configurations for optimal sleep. A sub-optimal sleep environment is tolerable for only a limited time, therefore individual sleeping quarters should be designed for long-duration missions. In a confined space, the sleep environment serves a dual purpose as a place to sleep, but also as a place for storing personal items and as a place for privacy during non-sleep times. This need for privacy during sleep and wake appears to be critically important to the psychological well-being of crewmembers on long-duration missions

Dr. Right : Elderly Women in Pursuit of Negotiated Health Care and Mutual Decision Making

This study explores a group of elderly women who were searching for physicians that were interested in providing negotiated health care options with particular interest in mutual decision making. The grounded theory approach was used to explore the health care interactions between the physicians and the elderly women (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Qualitative interviews were conducted with eleven women, 75 years and older. The categorical working title of Looking for Dr. Right helped to focus our discovery of the reasons for these women\u27s search for a new physician. Grounded in the data, a proposed hypothesis was developed regarding the need for a two-way dialogue addressing specific health care concerns between an elderly woman and her physician