The Ruins of Memory: A Dream of Grief

My presentation for the UMW 2022 Research and Creativity Day is a creative short story The Ruins of Memory: A Dream of Grief. The story, which equals a little less than 6500 words, is a rumination on grief and the complicated feelings experienced by a young man named Holly Meadowlark, who has returned to his hometown after the death of his twin sister. Holly finds companionship in an old schoolmate named Valerian, who helps him learn to cope with his grief and honor his sister’s memory

Retentores intrarradiculares personalizados pelo sistema CAD CAM em fibra de quartzo : resistência a fratura e fadiga

Orientador: Marcio José Fraxino BindoMonografia (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências da Saúde, Curso de Especialização em Prótese Dentária.Inclui referência

Availability of healthier options in traditional and nontraditional rural fast-food outlets

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Food prepared away from home has become increasingly popular to U.S. families, and may contribute to obesity. Sales have been dominated by fast food outlets, where meals are purchased for dining away from home or in the home. Although national chain affiliated fast-food outlets are considered the main source for fast food, fast foods are increasingly available in convenience stores and supermarkets/grocery stores. In rural areas, these nontraditional fast-food outlets may provide most of the opportunities for procurement of fast foods.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using all traditional and nontraditio nal fast-food outlets identified in six counties in rural Texas, the type and number of regular and healthiermenu options were surveyed using on-site observation in all food venues that were primarily fast food, supermarket/grocery store, and convenience store and compared with 2005 Dietary Guidelines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Traditional fast-food outlets represented 84 (41%) of the 205 opportunities for procurement of fast food; 109 (53.2%) were convenience stores and 12 (5.8%) supermarkets/grocery stores. Although a s imilar variety of regular breakfast and lunch/dinner entrées were available in traditional fast-food outlets and convenience stores, the variety of healthier breakfast and lunch/dinner entrées was significantly greater in fast food outlets. Compared with convenience stores, supermarkets/grocery stores provided a greater variety of regular and healthier entrées and lunch/dinner side dishes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Convenience stores and supermarkets/grocery stores more than double the potential access to fast foods in this rural area than traditional fast-food outlets alone; however, traditional fast food outlets offer greater opportunity for healthier fast food options than convenience stores. A complete picture of fast food environment and the availability of healthier fast food options are essential to understand environmental influences on diet and health outcomes, and identify potential targets for intervention.</p

Acousto-ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of materials using laser beam generation and detection

Presented in viewgraph format, the possibility of using laser generation and detection of ultrasound to replace piezoelectric transducers for the acousto-ultrasonic technique is advanced. The advantages and disadvantages of laser acousto-ultrasonics are outlined. Laser acousto-ultrasonics complements standard piezoelectric acousto-ultrasonics and offers non-contact nondestructive evaluation

Flexibility in Problem Solving and Tool Use of Kea and New Caledonian Crows in a Multi Access Box Paradigm

Parrots and corvids show outstanding innovative and flexible behaviour. In particular, kea and New Caledonian crows are often singled out as being exceptionally sophisticated in physical cognition, so that comparing them in this respect is particularly interesting. However, comparing cognitive mechanisms among species requires consideration of non-cognitive behavioural propensities and morphological characteristics evolved from different ancestry and adapted to fit different ecological niches. We used a novel experimental approach based on a Multi-Access-Box (MAB). Food could be extracted by four different techniques, two of them involving tools. Initially all four options were available to the subjects. Once they reached criterion for mastering one option, this task was blocked, until the subjects became proficient in another solution. The exploratory behaviour differed considerably. Only one (of six) kea and one (of five) NCC mastered all four options, including a first report of innovative stick tool use in kea. The crows were more efficient in using the stick tool, the kea the ball tool. The kea were haptically more explorative than the NCC, discovered two or three solutions within the first ten trials (against a mean of 0.75 discoveries by the crows) and switched more quickly to new solutions when the previous one was blocked. Differences in exploration technique, neophobia and object manipulation are likely to explain differential performance across the set of tasks. Our study further underlines the need to use a diversity of tasks when comparing cognitive traits between members of different species. Extension of a similar method to other taxa could help developing a comparative cognition research program

Caveolin-1 Expression and Hemodynamics in COPD Patients

Caveolin-1 is a regulator of both intracellular calcium homeostasis and endothelial nitric oxide synthase and may play a pathogenetic role in pulmonary hypertension. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the correlations between pulmonary hemodynamics and vessel morphology including the expression of Caveolin-1 in pulmonary arterioles from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who underwent lung-volume reduction surgery. Staining and subsequent analysis was performed on paraffin-embedded lung tissue from COPD patients (n = 12). Pulmonary arteries with an external diameter of 100-500µm were analysed. Immunhistochemistry with antibodies against caveolin-1 was performed and intensity was assessed. Morphometric data were obtained by using computer-assisted imaging software. The findings were quantified and correlated to hemodynamic data obtained by right-heart catheterization. In COPD patients with pulmonary hypertension (n = 5), the expression of caveolin-1 within the medial smooth muscle cell layer was found to be increased, whereas the intimal caveolin-1 was more prominently expressed in COPD patients with normal pulmonary pressures (n = 7). The ratio between these expression patterns was positively correlated to the mean pulmonary artery pressure. Similar findings were observed for the ratio between intimal and medial thickness as well as for the expression of smooth muscle actin (SMA)

A common reference model for environmental science research infrastructures

Independent development of research infrastructures leads to unnecessary replication of technologies and solutions whilst the lack of standard definitions makes it difficult to relate experiences in one infrastructure with those of oth-ers. The ENVRI Reference Model, www.envri.eu/rm, uses the Open Distributed Processing standard framework in order to model the "archetypical" environmental research infrastructure. The use of the ENVRI-RM to illustrate common characteristics of European ESFRI environmental infrastructures from a number of different perspectives provides a common language for and understanding of environmental research infrastructures, promote technology and solution sharing between infrastructures, and improve interoperability between implemented services