Re-Engineering a Trash/Recycling Collection Vehicle Based on Challenging Customer Requirements

Engineering design starts with the definition of design requirements. These requirements define the design problem and must be satisfied for a solution to be acceptable. While many design methodologies exist for defining design requirements, none presently provides a systematic approach for designers to challenge requirements. Yet, Pahl and Beitz, Hazelrigg, and Suh all argue that a designer should continually question the need for each requirement and refine them as the product evolves. Thus, there exists a need to develop a comprehensive method that enables a designer to verify, review/question, and revise requirements throughout the design process. This research uses the design of a combined trash and recycling collection vehicle for Environmental America Inc. (EAI) as a case study to illustrate the positive impact of challenging customer requirements, offer examples of why requirements should be challenged, and describe the successful process used. Two unique design concepts are compared and the catalyst for challenging requirements is created when the seemingly superior concept does not satisfy one of the design requirements. The process of challenging requirements results in the development of three guiding principles. Three concepts, physical testing, defining more customers and refining their needs, and tracing a requirement to its original design decision, form the basis for the development of a systematic design method. Ultimately, this thesis provides the foundation for the development of a formal design method to challenge requirements that can be adopted to different types of design problems and accepted by both academia and industry

The LSST DESC data challenge 1: Generation and analysis of synthetic images for next-generation surveys

Data Challenge 1 (DC1) is the first synthetic data set produced by the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC). DC1 is designed to develop and validate data reduction and analysis and to study the impact of systematic effects that will affect the LSST data set. DC1 is comprised of r-band observations of 40 deg2 to 10 yr LSST depth. We present each stage of the simulation and analysis process: (a) generation, by synthesizing sources from cosmological N-body simulations in individual sensor-visit images with different observing conditions; (b) reduction using a development version of the LSST Science Pipelines; and (c) matching to the input cosmological catalogue for validation and testing. We verify that testable LSST requirements pass within the fidelity of DC1. We establish a selection procedure that produces a sufficiently clean extragalactic sample for clustering analyses and we discuss residual sample contamination, including contributions from inefficiency in star-galaxy separation and imperfect deblending. We compute the galaxy power spectrum on the simulated field and conclude that: (i) survey properties have an impact of 50 per cent of the statistical uncertainty for the scales and models used in DC1; (ii) a selection to eliminate artefacts in the catalogues is necessary to avoid biases in the measured clustering; and (iii) the presence of bright objects has a significant impact (2-6) in the estimated power spectra at small scales (> 1200), highlighting the impact of blending in studies at small angular scales in LSST

A sustainable complex fenestration system using recycled plastics

Daylighting in built spaces has several benefits. It helps in reaching satisfactory levels of energy consumption by reducing the usage of artificial lighting. Furthermore, daylighting is also a major contributor in altering the visual comfort of occupants. Consequently, it boosts occupants’ concentration and productivity, which affects their performance in work tasks. However, an inadequately designed daylighting scheme leads to excessive solar heat gain, especially in hot and arid climates, increasing the temperature of interior spaces. In addition, due to the high solar altitudes in summer, the direct sunlight may fall right beneath the fenestration system and will not reach the depth of the space this phenomena is known as the “cave effect”. Many proposed designs of blinds, louvers, shades and low emitting glass panels, tackled the side effects of the summer sun; on the other hand, a few of the proposed solutions incorporated the use of recycled materials, for an added sustainable value. The aim of this thesis is to achieve a sustainable complex fenestration system (CFS) design that can diffuse and redirect the direct daylight component through an optimized pattern on its translucent layer. The CFS will comprise recycled plastic waste, which results from the conventional household waste. The recycled plastic waste will be used as a translucent material, with an optimized prismatic array design, to ensure adequate daylighting in hot climate desert areas. An optimization model for designing a prismatic panel is developed to meet the objective of minimizing sun light near the window and redistributing the sunlight to the depth of the space, while a ray tracing program is used to validate the developed model’s results. Furthermore, Radiance, a validated ray tracing simulation program, is used to produce accurate analysis with detailed hourly illuminance measurements throughout the year for the proposed CFS design using the five-phase method. Finally, a physical small scale model is developed to prove the viability of the CFS using three different recycled plastics, polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC) polypropylene (PP). The proposed design succeeded to improve the daylight performance by redirecting an average of 50% of the direct light to an upward direction, thus levelling the daylight within the room depth. The physical prototype exhibits great performance in the redirection of daylight into deep areas of the room especially at high solar altitudes. Polycarbonate proved to be the best of the three tested recycled plastic followed by the polystyrene, while polypropylene needs further research to develop a more feasible product

The New Public Domain

In 1998, Congress extended the term of copyright protection, giving existing copyrighted works an additional 20 years of protection. The practical result was to freeze copyright’s public domain for a period of 20 years. Unless Congress extends the copyright term again, copyrighted works will start passing into the public domain in 2019, after a 20 year hiatus. This Article takes a look at some of the issues that will arise when this happens. It argues that the works passing into the public domain post 2018 differ dramatically, and in ways not yet fully appreciated, from the works that comprised the public domain prior to 1998. In addition, dramatic economic, technological, and cultural changes in the past 10 years mean that these new works will enter a vastly changed environment, one poised to make even greater and more immediate use of these works. Together, these developments hold out the possibility that this “new public domain” will in the future play a more vital and important role in our cultural landscape than ever before. At the same time, this Article highlights a number of legal issues that may keep the new public domain from fulfilling this promise. Owners of expiring copyrights will attempt to use a number of doctrines in trademark and copyright law to limit the free use of these works even after they have passed into the public domain. This Article concludes by proposing a number of concrete steps that can be taken to ensure that the public domain lives up to its promise

‘the personal clutter… the painterly mess…’ Tracing a History of Carolee Schneemann's Interior Scroll

Carolee Schneemann's performance Interior Scroll has become iconic in twentieth‐century art history, yet little attention has been directed towards the artist's uncommonly active management of her work's reception and historicization. Schneemann seized the opportunities created by contemporary art's expanding publishing culture to document and disseminate her work as a professional artist, and communicated with a coterie of writers, curators and historians to generate a space for her work in the art‐historical archive. This point of agential labour was essential for a woman artist working prior to, and alongside, the emergence of second‐wave feminism. In this essay Schneemann's insistence on ‘clutter’ and ‘mess’ is adopted as a means of conceptualizing the artist's passionate and persistent incursions within art history. It proposes Interior Scroll as a keystone for understanding Schneemann's extensive multimedia outputs, by reading the performance and its reception in relation to the framework of écriture féminine, a popular notion in poststructuralist feminist philosophy at the time of the work's production

Friends of Musselman Library Newsletter Fall 2019

From the Dean (Robin Wagner) Library News Cite and Bite Workshops Open Access Week (Janelle Wertzberger, Alecea Standlee, Hana Huskic) Notes at Noon Friends Sponsor Guild Participation (Mary Wootton) Stop the Bleed The Wall Must Go Story Time Table to Farm Pop-up Library Take the Reading Challenge 1,000,000 Grant to Digitize Asian Art Vietnam Oral Histories (Ron Bailey \u2767, Sue Hill \u2767, Michael Birkner, Devin McKinney) Alexander von Humboldt\u27s Secretary (William Bowman) Focus on Philanthropy: Walter Miller Trust A Gift in 3 Dimensions (Richard C. Ryder \u2770) Remembering Richard Ryder \u2770 (Michael Birkner) New Externship - Careers in Library and Information Science (Camille Minns \u2720, Jivan Kharel \u2720) Textbook Affordability is a Workshop Topic (Janelle Wertzberger) Candid Camera (Dwight Eisenhower, Willard Paul, William C. Darrah) GettDigital: Rooted in Memory Uncovering Shakespeare\u27s Sisters (Suzanne Flynn) Touchdown: First Year Athletes Trade Field for Library (Betsy Bein, John Dettinger) Recent Additions: World War II - Photographs and Memorabilia (William Millar \u2754, Walter Lane, Gerald Royals \u2752, Donald Gallion \u2748, Ralph Edgar Peters, Burdette J. Marker) Alumnus Donates Trade Cards (Gary Thompson \u2769

A Controlled Study of the Flipped Classroom With Numerical Methods for Engineers

Recent advances in technology and ideology have unlocked entirely new directions for education research. Mounting pressure from increasing tuition costs and free, online course offerings are opening discussion and catalyzing change in the physical classroom. The flipped classroom is at the center of this discussion. The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical method, which employs asynchronous video lectures, practice problems as homework, and active, group-based problem-solving activities in the classroom. It represents a unique combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible—active, problem-based learning activities founded upon constructivist schema and instructional lectures derived from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles. The primary reason for examining this teaching method is that it holds the promise of delivering the best from both worlds. A controlled study of a sophomore-level numerical methods course was conducted using video lectures and model-eliciting activities (MEAs) in one section (treatment) and traditional group lecture-based teaching in the other (comparison). This study compared knowledge-based outcomes on two dimensions: conceptual understanding and conventional problem-solving ability. Homework and unit exams were used to assess conventional problem-solving ability, while quizzes and a conceptual test were used to measure conceptual understanding. There was no difference between sections on conceptual under- standing as measured by quizzes and concept test scores. The difference between average exam scores was also not significant. However, homework scores were significantly lower by 15.5 percentage points (out of 100), which was equivalent to an effect size of 0.70. This difference appears to be due to the fact that students in the MEA/video lecture section had a higher workload than students in the comparison section and consequently neglected to do some of the homework because it was not heavily weighted in the final course grade. A comparison of student evaluations across the sections of this course revealed that perceptions were significantly lower for the MEA/video lecture section on 3 items (out of 18). Based on student feedback, it is recommended that future implementations ensure tighter integration between MEAs and other required course assignments. This could involve using a higher number of shorter MEAs and more focus on the early introduction of MEAs to students

Confronting the Genericism Conundrum

Recent lawsuits and articles have drawn attention to a growing issue in intellectual property law, the aggressive and arguably abusive tactics of intellectual property (“IP”) rights holders. In the trademark context, some maintain and there are arguments to support the idea that trademark holders bring these actions as a means of manipulating the public through direct control of the public’s ability to use language. Nonetheless, assuming trademark holders and their counsel are acting at some level of good faith and are rational, something else in the law itself may be driving this otherwise questionable behavior. This paper argues that the doctrine of genericism—under which a court may determine a previously valuable mark is or has become generic, thus losing all trademark status and value—as it is currently applied forces the trademark holder to police her rights in this extreme manner for fear of losing her mark. Specifically, this paper investigates the theoretical and historical evolution of the doctrine and posits that current genericism doctrine has strayed far from its roots, which are in consumer understanding in the marketplace and enhancing competition, and now concerns itself with an inappropriate property type of analysis that places great weight on non-commercial and/or non-competitive trademark use contexts (e.g., dictionary entries, newspapers, noncompetitive third-party uses). This focus leads to inefficient results, i.e., trademark holders engaging in extensive advertising, letter campaigns, and litigation to try to protect the mark and prevent it from being deemed generic. As such this paper argues that the doctrine should be re-anchored to focus on the mark’s ability to act as a source identifier for the consumer in commercial contexts. Re-focusing genericism on consumer contexts rather than non-consumer, expressive contexts will allow the analysis to embrace a more sophisticated, broad understanding of trademarks. This approach recognizes a term’s ability to perform more than one function in language depending on the user of the term and the context of the term’s use. In addition, this revised understanding of genericism would undermine trademark holders’ ability to claim the need to engage in what would otherwise be frivolous and/or abusive enforcement strategies, because they could no longer hang their collective hat on the excuse that they were required to do so to avoid falling victim to genericism. In short, this retooling of the doctrine would allow trademark owners to enjoy the full benefits of the source identifying functions of their marks while at the same time creating a space in which the public may enjoy full use of the terms without fear of reprisal by mark owners

Listeria monocytogenes in the ready-to-eat meat-based food chain : characterization and preventive control measures assessment

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências Veterinárias – Especialidade de Segurança AlimentarIn some studies, ready-to-eat meat-based food products (RTEMP) are considered the food vehicle with the highest risk of being contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. One of the aims of this work was to assess L. monocytogenes presence in Portuguese ready-to-eat meat processing industries and retail establishments. Environment and final product samples were analyzed and an audit was performed in ten industrial facilities to determine the level of implementation of good hygiene and manufacturing practices. To identify likely sources of final products contamination, as well as to assess virulence-associated traits, phenotypic and genotypic characterization of L. monocytogenes isolates was performed. Selected isolates were also characterized for their biofilm-forming ability and subsequently tested for their biocide susceptibility using benzalkonium chloride, sodium hypochlorite and nisin. Finally, the genetic relation of L. monocytogenes strains isolated from RTEMP (at industrial and retail level) and from human listeriosis cases was assessed. L. monocytogenes frequency was high in industrial RTEMP and its occurrence was linked to high scored industries in the hygienic audit, being specifically related to inadequate hygiene and manufacturing practices. L. monocytogenes isolates were genetically diverse and serogroups IIa, IIb and IVb were frequent among them. The isolates also displayed a similar profile of major virulence-associated genes profile and a low level of antibiotic resistance. Most of the selected L. monocytogenes strains demonstrated to be moderate and strong biofilm-formers, particularly those from serogroups IIc and IVb. When treated with benzalkonium chloride and sodium hypochlorite, most of the strains in biofilm exhibited a reduction in cell counts, however it was not possible to determine the minimal bactericidal concentration within the tested range for nisin. Three resistant strains to commercially recommended concentrations for benzalkonium chloride and sodium hypochlorite were identified. Some particular RTEMP strains presented high similarity with clinical strains, suggesting their potential for human infection. Overall, the findings in this work provide valuable information on L. monocytogenes in RTEMP and RTEMP-related environments, also highlighting RTEMP as potential vehicles for human listeriosis.RESUMO - Caracterização de Listeria monocytogenes na fileira dos alimentos prontos-a-consumir à base de carne e avaliação das medidas preventivas de controlo - Listeria monocytogenes é uma bactéria patogénica de distribuição ubiquitária. L. monocytogenes encontra-se normalmente em ambientes naturais como na água, solo e vegetação, mas também em géneros alimentícios e alimentos para animais. O género Listeria engloba várias espécies, contudo apenas L. monocytogenes é considerada patogénica para o Homem. Apesar de relativamente rara, a listeriose humana apresenta a mais alta taxa de fatalidade das doenças infecciosas de origem alimentar. O quadro clínico é variável, com sinais inespecíficos que podem evoluir para meningite e encefalite, septicémia, morte fetal e aborto. Nos últimos anos, a incidência de listeriose na Europa tem apresentado uma taxa significativamente crescente. Os grupos de risco da listeriose estão bem identificados e incluem indivíduos com idade superior a 65 anos, imunocomprometidos, mulheres grávidas, fetos e recém-nascidos. A listeriose é quase exclusivamente transmitida pela ingestão de alimentos contaminados por L. monocytogenes, sendo apontados como veículo principal os alimentos prontos-a-consumir. Graças à facilidade e conveniência de consumo, por não requererem um tratamento térmico prévio, os alimentos prontos-a-consumir à base de carne são dos mais procurados a nível global. O facto destes alimentos possuírem uma vida útil refrigerada relativamente longa faz com que sejam frequentemente associados a L. monocytogenes, sendo referidos nalguns estudos como os alimentos com a maior probabilidade de estarem contaminados por esta bactéria. L. monocytogenes possui a capacidade de se desenvolver em refrigeração e de produzir biofilmes, permanecendo viável durante longos períodos em ambientes de processamento alimentar. Os equipamentos de fatiagem, pesagem e embalamento constituem vetores de L. monocytogenes para os alimentos, geralmente através de contaminação cruzada posterior ao tratamento listericida. Um dos objetivos deste trabalho foi avaliar a presença de L. monocytogenes em alimentos prontos-a-consumir à base de carne recolhidos em indústrias produtoras e em estabelecimentos de venda a retalho em Portugal. Para tal, nas unidades industriais procedeu-se à colheita de amostras para análise microbiológica do produto final e das superfícies de equipamentos de contacto directo com alimentos, antes e após a lavagem e desinfeção de rotina. Com o objectivo de relacionar a classificação de auditoria com a ocorrência de L. monocytogenes e analisar as potenciais causas implicadas, efetuaram-se auditorias higio-sanitárias nas unidades industriais. Nestas auditorias, avaliou-se o nível de implementação do sistema de gestão de segurança dos alimentos, com base nos requisitos do Codex Alimentarius e da legislação em vigor nos Estados-Membros europeus. Nos estabelecimentos de venda a retalho, procedeu-se à colheita de amostras pré-embaladas e também de amostras que foram fatiadas nos equipamentos existentes na secção de charcutaria desses retalhistas. A caracterização fenotípica e genotípica dos isolados de L. monocytogenes foi efetuada com o objetivo de identificar características associadas à virulência e de estabelecer possíveis fontes de contaminação para o produto final. Posteriormente, avaliou-se a potencial relação genética dos isolados de L. monocytogenes obtidos a partir de alimentos (de origem industrial e de retalho) com isolados de casos de listeriose humana. Após selecção de isolados de L. monocytogenes representativos dos vários serogrupos e pulsotipos, e também de diferentes tipos de amostras recolhidas na indústria e retalho alimentar, avaliou-se a sua capacidade para formar biofilmes. A suscetibilidade a biocidas dos isolados de L. monocytogenes em biofilme foi também estudada. Para tal, foram selecionados os biocidas mais frequentemente utilizados nas indústrias auditadas para a desinfeção de superfícies de contacto directo com o produto final, nomeadamente, cloreto de benzalcónio e hipoclorito de sódio. A suscetibilidade à nisina, uma bacteriocina produzida por Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, com atividade bactericida contra L. monocytogenes e considerada uma alternativa natural a biocidas sintéticos, foi também avaliada. Os biofilmes de L. monocytogenes foram tratados com uma gama de concentrações dos biocidas em estudo durante 5 minutos a 20°C. A frequência de L. monocytogenes em alimentos prontos-a-consumir à base de carne recolhidos na indústria foi elevada (25%). A sua ocorrência foi associada a unidades com elevada classificação na auditoria higio-sanitária, estando particularmente relacionada com práticas inadequadas de higienização e de manipulação de alimentos. Nos alimentos recolhidos na venda a retalho, a frequência de L. monocytogenes foi ligeiramente inferior (10%). Contudo, nalguns alimentos a bactéria encontrava-se acima do limiar de enumeração estabelecido nos critérios microbiológicos europeus de segurança dos alimentos. A subtipagem por eletroforese em campos pulsáteis dos isolados de L. monocytogenes revelou a diversidade genética da população estudada. Os isolados apresentaram um perfil de genes de virulência semelhante e os serogrupos IIa, IIb e IVb foram os mais frequentes. Foi observada uma reduzida frequência de resistência aos antibióticos testados, que incluíram os mais frequentemente utilizados em medicina humana e veterinária. Considerando os resultados obtidos na caracterização genética, a contaminação dos produtos finais não parece estar relacionada exclusivamente com as superfícies de contacto directo analisadas, sugerindo outras possíveis fontes. Os sistemas de gestão da segurança dos alimentos das indústrias avaliadas revelaram necessitar de melhoria e optimização, nomeadamente na conceção e manutenção dos equipamentos, na prevenção da contaminação após o tratamento listericida, na validação dos procedimentos de higiene, na análise de causas de não conformidades microbiológicas e também nas atitudes dos manipuladores de alimentos em prol da higiene. A presença de L. monocytogenes foi relacionada com indústrias com classificação elevada na auditoria higio-sanitária. Apesar da aparente contradição, tal facto parece resultar de uma prévia identificação da bactéria na unidade, sem uma adequada análise de causas, não permitindo que a verdadeira fonte de contaminação por L. monocytogenes fosse identificada, perpetuando a sua presença nessas instalações. Reforça-se, assim, a importância da realização de um diagnóstico conjunto, baseado em evidências de auditoria e avaliação microbiológica, o que proporciona uma visão mais fidedigna do sistema de gestão da segurança dos alimentos implementado. Todos os isolados de L. monocytogenes apresentaram capacidade para formar biofilme, tendo a maioria revelado aptidão moderada e forte, particularmente os isolados pertencentes aos serogrupos IIc e IVb. O método de enumeração de células viáveis não conseguiu refletir a classificação obtida pelo método da quantificação da densidade ótica do cristal de violeta, utilizados para a avaliação da capacidade de formação de biofilmes. Na maioria dos biofilmes de isolados de L. monocytogenes, foi possível medir uma redução nas contagens de células viáveis quando aqueles foram tratados com diferentes concentrações de cloreto de benzalcónio e hipoclorito de sódio. No entanto, o mesmo não foi possível observar quando os biofilmes foram submetidos a diferentes concentrações de nisina. Com os dados obtidos estabeleceram-se curvas de morte bacteriana, estimando-se a LD90. Verificou-se uma associação positiva entre os parâmetros de avaliação da formação de biofilme e os valores estimados de LD90. Três isolados de L. monocytogenes foram considerados resistentes, apresentando valores de LD90 significativamente mais elevados do que os obtidos pelos restantes isolados. Os isolados considerados resistentes necessitariam de concentrações de cloreto de benzalcónio e hipoclorito de sódio bastante superiores às recomendadas comercialmente pelos fabricantes desses desinfetantes. Este ensaio reforça a necessidade de minimização de todos os fatores que permitem a instalação e o desenvolvimento de biofilmes de L. monocytogenes, pois apesar da aplicação de biocidas garantir algum grau de controlo, este não é eficaz em todos os isolados. Por isso, a utilização de novas estratégias de controlo, isoladamente ou de acordo com o preconizado na tecnologia de barreiras, considerando os biofilmes de L. monocytogenes, é fundamental. Por fim, alguns isolados alimentares apresentaram elevada semelhança genética com isolados clínicos, sugerindo o consumo de alimentos prontos-a-consumir à base de carne como potencial factor de risco para a infeção humana.N/