3 research outputs found
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City Science and Sound: A Digital Exhibit Interface for use by the Patrons of the EcoTarium Museum
Our team designed an interactive exhibit to allow children and families to explore the concept of soundscapes for the EcoTarium, an environmental museum located in Worcester. We designed and thoroughly tested a Java-based digital interface for the museum. Our exhibit will become a part of the larger City Science and Sound exhibition, with the eventual goal of giving children and families a better appreciation for and understanding of the urban environment. We provided the EcoTarium with the interface itself and supplementary information concerning the use of the interface to allow them to expand upon or replicate the design
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Design and Construction of a Micro Aerial Vehicle for the 2014 SAE Aero Design East Competition
This project involved the analysis, design, and fabrication of an aircraft meeting the requirements of the 2014 SAE Aero Design Competition, Micro-Class. Best competition scoring favored an aircraft of maximum payload that could be loaded into a 24”x18”x8” box. The team used various tools including wind tunnel and mathematical modeling to determine the Micro’s aerodynamics and power characteristics. Final design used a combination of conventional and high performance materials, balsa, carbon fiber, and UltraCote wing covering. Configuration was conventional with 4 wing panels totaling 90” span using an 1100 W motor. Outer wing panels were given +8 degrees of dihedral to permit two-axis control. The Micro is expected to carry 5-10 pounds of payload at speeds of 25-35 ft. /sec
Soybean aphid biotype 1 genome: insights into the invasive biology and adaptive evolution of a major agricultural pest
The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a serious pest of the soybean plant, Glycine max, a major world-wide agricultural crop. We assembled a de novo genome sequence of Ap. glycines Biotype 1, from a culture established shortly after this species invaded North America. 20.4% of the Ap. glycines proteome is duplicated. These in-paralogs are enriched with Gene Ontology (GO) categories mostly related to apoptosis, a possible adaptation to plant chemistry and other environmental stressors. Approximately one-third of these genes show parallel duplication in other aphids. But Ap. gossypii, its closest related species, has the lowest number of these duplicated genes. An Illumina GoldenGate assay of 2,380 SNPs was used to determine the world-wide population structure of Ap. Glycines. China and South Korean aphids are the closest to those in North America. China is the likely origin of other Asian aphid populations. The most distantly related aphids to those in North America are from Australia. The diversity of Ap. glycines in North America has decreased over time since its arrival. The genetic diversity of Ap. glycines North American population sampled shortly after its first detection in 2001 up to 2012 does not appear to correlate with geography. However, aphids collected on soybean Rag experimental varieties in Minnesota (MN), Iowa (IA), and Wisconsin (WI), closer to high density Rhamnus cathartica stands, appear to have higher capacity to colonize resistant soybean plants than aphids sampled in Ohio (OH), North Dakota (ND), and South Dakota (SD). Samples from the former states have SNP alleles with high FST values and frequencies, that overlap with genes involved in iron metabolism, a crucial metabolic pathway that may be affected by the Rag-associated soybean plant response. The Ap. glycines Biotype 1 genome will provide needed information for future analyses of mechanisms of aphid virulence and pesticide resistance as well as facilitate comparative analyses between aphids with differing natural history and host plant range