Returned Peace Corps Volunteers' Perception Of Impact: On Their Community And The Volunteer

Peace Corps is fondly referred to as “the hardest job you’ll ever love”. Peace Corps volunteers live and work alongside members of a community for two years in a third world country. During their service they do many things, including, but not limited to: learning the local language and culture; empowering their community to start health, education, agriculture, or economic projects; and sharing their American culture. Volunteers serve in many different countries around the world and each Peace Corps service experience is inherently different. A total of fifteen returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) were interviewed for this study. Volunteers served at various intervals between the years 1964 through 2015. Each volunteer interviewed served in a different country and there was at least one volunteer representing each of the six Peace Corps sectors (Education, Community Economic Development, Agriculture, Environment, Youth in Development, and Health). Those interviewed were asked about how they perceived their impact on the community and how their service affected them. In the volunteerism literature, volunteers who feel as though their service made a valuable contribution are more likely to be satisfied with their experience. By analyzing the data collected from the interviews, we will better be able to understand the various perceptions of impact. Additionally, in this thesis, cross-national volunteering and how Peace Corps and its volunteers fit into that conversation will be addressed by focusing on the experiences of Peace Corps volunteers and their role in their communitie

Flow correlated percolation during vascular network formation in tumors

A theoretical model based on the molecular interactions between a growing tumor and a dynamically evolving blood vessel network describes the transformation of the regular vasculature in normal tissues into a highly inhomogeneous tumor specific capillary network. The emerging morphology, characterized by the compartmentalization of the tumor into several regions differing in vessel density, diameter and necrosis, is in accordance with experimental data for human melanoma. Vessel collapse due to a combination of severely reduced blood flow and solid stress exerted by the tumor, leads to a correlated percolation process that is driven towards criticality by the mechanism of hydrodynamic vessel stabilization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (higher resolution at http://www.uni-saarland.de/fak7/rieger/HOMEPAGE/flow.eps

AALL Statement in Support of the U.S. Government Printing Office, May 1, 2007

A statement from Mary Baish, Associate Washington Affairs Representative for the American Association of Law Libraries, on a FY 2008 appropriations request from the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). This statement was organized with materials from SEAALL\u27s Government Relations Committee

Deriving the Jarzynski Relation From Doi-Peliti Field Theory

Recently, a number of strict equalities have been developed for far from equilibrium statistical mechanical systems that relate work done on a system and its change in free energy. We develop a field-theoretic description of non-equilibrium work relations using Doi-Peliti field theory. Specifically, we create the Doi-Peliti field theory for thermal systems and use it to derive the well-known Jarzynski equality. Our resulting framework can be extended to other non-equilibrium relations. We consider classical particles on a lattice that experience pair-wise interactions and a local potential. These particles hop with rates determined by coupling to a thermal bath. Work protocols are imposed by varying the local potential, which drives the system out of equilibrium. In this framework, work relations appear simply as the result of a gauge-like transformation combined with a time-reversal. We present the derivation with a one-dimensional system on a lattice and conclude with the generalization to multiple dimensions and the continuum limit

Neuronic sonic

The production, Neuronic Sonic, partially fulfills the requirements for the degree of Masters of Fine Arts in Imaging Arts/ Computer Animation from the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The completed work is a high-definition digital movie file that was created with custom coded software designed specifically for the purpose of this project, as well as off-the-shelf, industry standard, visual hardware and computer software technology. The following paper details the development of the work starting with the initial concept, and it explores areas such as pre-production experiments and production phases, as well as my personal reflections on the completion of the project and the community’s reaction. I also highlight the process taken to produce this algorithmic animation, which attempts to interpret and connect the idea of sound as a medium of transport of neurologic information as well as the visual exploration to represent that information. Included in the document appendices are the original propos-al for project, stills from the final project, a document image index and a bibliography/reference list. Images used throughout this document illustrate snapshots of the pathway to the final work and they also represent examples of trial studies to clarify certain aspects of the creative process undertaken to produce Neuronic Sonic

An Introductory Module in Medical Image Segmentation for BME Students

To support recent trends toward the use of patient-specific anatomical models from medical imaging data, we present a learning module for use in the undergraduate BME curriculum that introduces image segmentation, the process of partitioning digital images to isolate specific anatomical features. Five commercially available software packages were evaluated based on their perceived learning curve, ease of use, tools for segmentation and rendering, special tools, and cost: ITK-SNAP, 3D Slicer, OsiriX, Mimics, and Amira. After selecting the package best suited for a stand-alone course module on medical image segmentation, instructional materials were developed that included a general introduction to imaging, a tutorial guiding students through a step-by-step process to extract a skull from a provided stack of CT images, and a culminating assignment where students extract a different body part from clinical imaging data. This module was implemented in three different engineering courses, impacting more than 150 students, and student achievement of learning goals was assessed. ITK-SNAP was identified as the best software package for this application because it is free, easiest to learn, and includes a powerful, semi-automated segmentation tool. After completing the developed module based on ITK-SNAP, all students attained sufficient mastery of the image segmentation process to independently apply the technique to extract a new body part from clinical imaging data. This stand-alone module provides a low-cost, flexible way to bring the clinical and industry trends combining medical image segmentation, CAD, and 3D printing into the undergraduate BME curriculum

National Plan for Access to U.S. Government Information: A user-centric service approach to permanent public access

Presentation for the 2015 Open Access Symposium discussing a national plan for access to U.S. government information and a user-centric service approach to permanent public access

Computational simulations of the effects of gravity on lymphatic transport

Physical forces, including mechanical stretch, fluid pressure and shear forces alter lymphatic vessel contractions and lymph flow. Gravitational forces can affect these forces, resulting in altered lymphatic transport, but the mechanisms involved have not been studied in detail. Here, we combine a lattice Boltzmann-based fluid dynamics computational model with known lymphatic mechanobiological mechanisms to investigate the movement of fluid through a lymphatic vessel under the effects of gravity that may either oppose or assist flow. Regularly spaced, mechanical bi-leaflet valves in the vessel enforce net positive flow as the vessel walls contract autonomously in response to calcium and nitric oxide (NO) levels regulated by vessel stretch and shear stress levels. We find that large gravitational forces opposing flow can stall the contractions, leading to no net flow, but transient mechanical perturbations can reestablish pumping. In the case of gravity strongly assisting flow, the contractions also cease due to high shear stress and NO production, which dilates the vessel to allow gravity-driven flow. In the intermediate range of oppositional gravity forces, the vessel actively contracts to offset nominal gravity levels or to modestly assist the favorable hydrostatic pressure gradients