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

Making access meaningful: Effects of an early contact program on community college student success

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an early contact program on the achievement, persistence, and satisfaction of new underprepared community college students. While open door admissions policies assure access to higher education, nearly three-fourths of all community college students leave before completing an associate degree. The traditional sink or swim approach to community college student success is at odds with the goal of improved student outcomes. It was hypothesized that first-time underprepared community college students who participate in a program providing personal contact and support exhibit greater achievement, persistence, and satisfaction than their cohorts who are left to seek their own assistance from the institution. Using a posttest-only control group design, 240 college entrants at an urban community college in eastern Virginia, were randomly selected and assigned to two groups. The treatment consisted of college-initiated telephone counseling, academic advising, and peer tutoring with students during their first semester. Using the one-tailed t-test for independent samples and chi square test of association, it was found that at the end of 15 weeks, students (n = 108) who participated an the early contact program achieved significantly higher average GPA (t = 3.7, p {dollar}\u3c{dollar}.05), number of productive grades (t = 3.24), and number of college credits (t = 4.46). Program participants were retained in college at an average rate of 17 percent higher than those who did not participate. However, administration of the ACT Student Opinion Survey to both groups near the end of the first semester, found no significant difference in their satisfaction with the college. It was concluded that the early contact program was more effective in promoting achievement and persistence than the usual passive treatment given entering students at Thomas Nelson Community College

The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis

The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis evaluates the health of the charter public school movement in key states across the country. Following the first report released in October 2014, this second edition measures movement growth, innovation, and quality, while this year doubling the number of quality measures. Due to these quality additions, a total of 18 states with charter school laws met the criteria for inclusion in this year's report

The Transdifferentiation of brain derived neurotrophic factor secreting mesenchymal stem cells for neuroprotection

The ultimate purpose of this project was to create a modified stem cell line which could enhance nerve regeneration following peripheral nerve trauma. Specifically, this work was focused upon answering two questions. First, could we chemically transdifferentiate genetically modified mesenchymal stem cells to resemble a Schwann cell-like state? A protocol for the chemical transdifferentiation of MSCs was validated and well tested in the Sakaguchi lab, but no one had ever attempted to chemically transdifferentiate BDNF hyper-secreting MSCs. Second, if we succeeded in creating BDNF hyper-secreting transdifferentiated MSCs (BDNF tMSCs), would levels of BDNF secretion be affected, and, more importantly, would the secreted BDNF still be biologically active? We hypothesized that BDNF tMSCs would still resemble a Schwann cell like phenotype and be able to produce the same or lower amounts of biologically active BDNF when compared to their undifferentiated and GFP control counterparts. Generated data relied largely on the use of immunocytochemistry to quantify the percentage of cells expressing Schwann cell markers. BDNF secretion was quantified by ELISA and bioactivity was tested using the PC12-trkB assay. This study was an important first step in characterizing these BDNF tMSCs by in vitro assays and was essentially a proof of concept study to show that genetically modified MSCs could still be chemically transdifferentiated. As a next step, we hope to seed these BDNF tMSCs within a polymeric conduit transplant used in a rat sciatic nerve transection model to test the ability of these cells to aid in nerve regeneration in vivo

Multiple-crystal X-ray topographic characterization of periodically domain-inverted KTiOPO4 crystal

A periodically domain-inverted KTiOPO4 crystal has been characterized for the first time by multiple-crystal multiple-reflection x-ray topography. The striation contrast within the domain- inverted regions has been revealed in high strain-sensitivity reflection topographs. The origin of formation of the striation contrast and the mechanism of domain inversion in KTiOPO4 are discussed in terms of the structural characteristics of KTiOPO4

Broadband amplitude squeezing in a periodically poled KTiOPO_4 waveguide

We generated -2.2 dB of broadband amplitude squeezing at 1064 nm in a periodically poled KTiOPO_4 (PPKTP) waveguide, by coupling of the fundamental and second harmonic continuous-wave fields. This is the largest amount of squeezing obtained to date in a KTP waveguide, limited by propagation losses. This result paves the way for further improvements by use of lower-loss buried ion-exchanged waveguides.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, submitted for publicatio