Breed(ing) Narratives: Visualizing Values in Industrial Farming

In this study, we consider how farmed animals, specifically pigs and chickens, are visualised in literature designed for circulation within animal production industries. The way breeding companies create and circulate images of industrial animals tells us a lot about their visions of what industrial animals are and how they believe animals should be treated. Drawing upon a wide range of material designed for circulation within animal production industries, from the 1880s to the 2010s, this paper examines how representations of pigs and chickens contribute to stories of perfection and advance ideals of power, race, gender, and progress. We demonstrate that visual representations of industrial animals have remained remarkably stable over time, testifying to the deep roots of human desires and assumptions about animals in capitalist societies. We argue that breed-standard images of pigs and chickens uphold complex and deeply imbricated value systems that extend beyond discourses centred on the animal body

Status of water, sanitation, and hygiene access in schools in six African countries

Adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) infrastructure can prevent contamination of drinking water and thus reduces disease and death. Attention has been focused on recommendations and monitoring of household WaSH, but less emphasis has been placed on school settings, a place where children spend much of their day. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include schools in the WaSH targets for universal access, however the current level of school WaSH access is understudied. To gauge current levels of WaSH access, quality, quantity, and continuity of service in schools, 2270 schools were randomly sampled in regions of six Sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Using surveys developed from internationally established indicators and fieldand lab-based microbiological water quality testing, we found a majority of schools had access to safe water: 78% of schools sampled reported access to an improved water source and 74% had stored water with low risk water quality. Improved sanitation facilities3 were reported in 80% of schools, but access was largely inadequate: fewer than 25% of schools met the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended student-to-latrine ratio. Hygiene indicators reflected fewer than 10% of schools had hand-washing facilities on the day of the survey. All six countries reported fewer than 20% of schools with at least 4 of the 5 recommended menstrual hygiene facilities. These results along with additional indicators reflect low access to sanitation and hygiene in schools, especially compared to the level of access to safe water. Linear regression models testing factors associated with water quality by country provide evidence that improved water sources within 30 minutes for collection significantly improved water quality in Mozambique. Results from Kenya suggest water treatment practices may be improper and inadequate to improve water quality. Given the associations between poor sanitation and hygiene access and adverse health outcomes, development organizations and governments should emphasize these areas in developing WaSH infrastructure in schools to meet the targets for universal access.Bachelor of Science in Public Healt

Proportional Ventilatory Support: A Comparison of Proportional Assist Ventilation, Proportional Pressure Support and Proportional Pressure Ventilation

Background: Proportional ventilatory support (PVS) refers to modes of ventilation that provide support that is proportional to the patient\u27s inspiratory effort. Research has shown that PVS improves patient ventilator synchrony. Several ventilators are now available that provide a type of PVS. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Proportional Assist Ventilation (PAV+) on the PB 840 and PB 980, Proportional Pressure Ventilation (PPV) on the Respironics V60, and Proportional Pressure Support (PPS) on the Drager V500, using the IngMar Medical ASL 5000 (ASL) at three different inspiratory efforts (Pmus). Methods: The ASL was set to simulate a COPD lung model: compliance 59 mL/cmH2O; resistance in 22 cmH2O/L/s; resistance out 18 cmH2O/L/s; respiratory rate 14 bpm; Pmus 12 cmH2O. Ventilator settings: PAV+ % Supp 25%, 45%, and 65%, Esens 3 LPM; PPV 25%, 45%, and 65%, Max E 17 cmH2O/L, Max R 20 cmH2O/L/s; PPS flow assist 25%, 45%, and 65% of the averaged resistance, volume assist 25%, 45% and 65% of the elastance, inspiratory termination 25%; PEEP 7 cmH2O. Each ventilator was connected to the ASL using a 7.5 mm ETT. After the ventilator was connected, the mode was run at ventilator support (VS) 25%. The ventilator was given one minute after the change had been made to stabilize; data was gathered for an additional minute using the automated ASL software. Next VS was increased to 45% and 65%, following the same procedure. Then, Pmus was increased to 18 and 24 cmH2O, gathering data as described, at each level of VS. Results: As VS increased, tidal volume (VT) and peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) increased on all ventilators. As VS increased, time to trigger (TT) decreased on all ventilators. As Pmus increased, TT increased. On the PB 840, PB 980 and V500, as VS increased, inspiratory time (Ti) increased; conversely, on the V60 as VS increased, Ti decreased. The PB 980 had the highest average Ti, VT, PIP, and TT. Ti on the PB 980 increased due to multiple inspiratory pauses, which resulted in AutoPEEP. The V60 had the shortest TT. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that PAV+, PPV, and PPS each provide an increase in VT and PIP as patient effort or VS increases. Using PPV and PPS requires the clinician to know the resistance and elastance of the lung. Clinicians need to be careful to input the value for elastance, not compliance. Further research needs to compare PVS in patients to determine the clinical benefit of each mode

Agricultural Byproducts as Amendments in Bioretention Soils for Metal and Nutrient Removal

This study investigated the effectiveness of metal and nutrient removal from stormwater in bioretention systems amended with agricultural byproducts. Both batch and column studies were conducted to evaluate three amendments: hazelnut shells, pecan shells, and spent grain from the brewing process. Batch studies using buffered synthetic water containing copper and zinc evaluated adsorptive properties of the three amendments. Of the three amendments, hazelnut shells had the highest sorption coefficient based on Kd ranges of 19,200–106,000 L=kg and 8,610–18,900 L=kg for zinc and copper, respectively. Both pecan shells and spent grain had significantly lower Kd values for zinc (2,160–6,030 L=kg and 1,702–55,932 L=kg for pecan shells and spent grain, respectively) and copper (1,090–1,760 L=kg and 1,270–2,030 L=kg for pecan shells and spent grain, respectively). However, the spent grain contained zinc that potentially could add to zinc concentrations in the stormwater. Column studies using stormwater collected from an industrial site evaluated metal and nutrient removal from stormwater. Six columns were packed with 90% bioretention soil mix and 10% hazelnut shells, pecan shells, or spent grain, and two columns were packed with 100% bioretention soil mix as a control. Five tests were conducted with stormwater collected from a nearby industrial site. Influent and effluent samples were analyzed for copper, zinc, nitrate, ammonia, total nitrogen, phosphate, and total phosphorus. The columns with pecan shells had the highest removal, with 53% removal of copper and 87% removal of zinc. Removal in the columns with hazelnut shells and spent grain was 47% and 19% for copper and 83% and 65% for zinc, respectively. All columns exported nutrients. Although hazelnut shells had the highest sorption coefficient, the pecan shells removed more metals from the stormwater. This study indicates both hazelnut and pecan shells improve metals removal potential of bioretention systems. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0001697. © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers

Port of Portland Pump Station

This project focused on the preliminary design of a pump station.https://pilotscholars.up.edu/egr_project/1024/thumbnail.jp

Biogeography and ecological diversification of a mayfly clade in New Guinea

Understanding processes that have driven the extraordinary high level of biodiversity in the tropics is a long-standing question in biology. Here we try to assess whether the large lineage richness found in a New Guinean clade of mayflies (Ephemeroptera), namely the Thraulus group (Leptophlebiidae) could be associated with the recent orogenic processes, by applying a combination of phylogenetic, biogeographic and ecological shift analyses. New Guinean representatives of the Thraulus group appear monophyletic, with the possible exception of a weakly-supported early-diverging clade from the Sunda Islands. Dating analyses suggest an Eocene origin of the Thraulus group, predating by several million years current knowledge on the origin of other New Guinean aquatic organisms. Biogeographic inferences indicate that 27 of the 28 inferred dispersals (96.4%) occurred during the Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene, while only one dispersal (3.6%) took place during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. This result contrasts with the higher number of altitudinal shifts (15 of 22; 68.2%) inferred during the Pliocene-Pleistocene time slice. Our study illustrates the role played by – potentially ecological - diversification along the elevation gradient in a time period concomitant with the establishment of high-altitude ecological niches, i.e., during orogenesis of the central New Guinean mountain range. This process might have taken over the previous main mode of diversification at work, characterized by dispersal and vicariance, by driving lineage divergence of New Guinean Leptophlebiidae across a wide array of habitats along the elevation gradient. Additional studies on organisms spanning the same elevation range as Thraulus mayflies in the tropics are needed to evaluate the potential role of the ecological opportunity or taxon cycles hypotheses in partly explaining the latitudinal diversity gradient

UR-409 Enhancing Aircraft Electronic Warfare Testing with Automated RF Spectrum Analysis

Military test ranges utilize a variety of Radio Frequency (RF) threat systems, to assess the effectiveness of Electronic Warfare (EW) systems during flight tests. A component of this process involves monitoring RF transmissions. Traditionally, system engineers at Robins Airforce Base have manually analyzed video from spectrum analyzers to confirm properties of specific threat systems. To streamline this analysis, our team\u27s aim was to develop an automated solution for RF spectrum analysis. We employed a custom YOLO V8 model to isolate the analyzer screen and used a novel combination of frame differencing, summing, and agglomerative clustering techniques to extract relevant properties of measured signals. Our resulting application significantly reduces human interaction, enhances accuracy, and allows for the transformation of video data into a digitally manipulatable numeric format

Changing spatial patterns and increasing rurality of HIV prevalence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2007 and 2013

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has one of the lowest HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at 1.1% [0.9-1.3] of adults aged 15-49 in 2013 (UNAIDS). Within the 2 million km2 country, however, there exists spatial variation in HIV prevalence, with the highest HIV prevalence observed in the large cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. Globally, HIV is an increasingly rural disease, diffusing outwards from urban centers of high HIV prevalence to places where HIV was previously absent or present at very low levels. Utilizing data collected during Demographic and Health Surveillance (DHS) in 2007 and 2013 in the DRC, we sought to update the map of HIV prevalence in the DRC as well as to explore whether HIV in the DRC is an increasingly rural disease or remains confined to urban areas. Bayesian kriging and regression indicate that HIV prevalence in rural areas of the DRC is higher in 2013 than in 2007 and that increased distance to an urban area is no longer protective against HIV as it was in 2007. These findings suggest that HIV education, testing and prevention efforts need to diffuse from urban to rural areas just as HIV is doing

Investıgatıon of Removal of Dye from Aqueous Solutıon by Advanced Treatment

The textile dyeing and finishing industry use a significant amount of water and produce water pollution. Conventional biological treatment processes have some difficulties for degradation of nonbiodegradable compounds. Dye-bearing wastewaters have high COD and colour. In this study, a photo reactor process was used to remove color from aqueous solution.Effects of pH on Reactive Red 4 and cationic dye removal using 1g/L TiO2, as catalyst were studied at constant inital dye concentration (25 mg/l). Cationic dye removal efficiency is better than Reactive dye removal efficiency for photocatalytic oxidation in this stud

Potential Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutics Among Weak Cysteine Protease Inhibitors Exhibit Mechanistic Differences Regarding Extent of Cathepsin B Up-Regulation and Ability to Block Calpain

Cysteine protease inhibitors have long been part of drug discovery programs for Alzheimer's disease (AD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and other disorders. Select inhibitors reduce accumulating proteins and AD pathology in mouse models. One such compound, Z-Phe-Aladiazomethylketone (PADK), exhibits a very weak IC50 (9-11 μM) towards cathepsin B (CatB), but curiously PADK causes marked up-regulation of the Aβ-degrading CatB and improves spatial memory. Potential therapeutic and weak inhibitor E64d (14 μM IC50) also up-regulates CatB. PADK and E64d were compared regarding the blockage of calcium-induced cytoskeletal deterioration in brain samples, monitoring the 150-kDa spectrin breakdown product (SBDP) known to be produced by calpain. PADK had little to no effect on SBDP production at 10-100 μM. In contrast, E64d caused a dosedependent decline in SBDP levels with an IC50 of 3-6 μM, closely matching its reported potency for inhibiting μ-calpain. Calpain also cleaves the cytoskeletal organizing protein gephyrin, producing 49-kDa (GnBDP49) and 18-kDa (GnBDP18) breakdown products. PADK had no apparent effect on calcium-induced gephyrin fragments whereas E64d blocked their production. E64d also protected the parent gephyrin in correspondence with reduced BDP levels. The findings of this study indicate that PADK’s positive and selective effects on CatB are consistent with human studies showing exercise elevates CatB and such elevation correlates with improved memory. On the other hand, E64d exhibits both marginal CatB enhancement and potent calpain inhibition. This dual effect may be beneficial for treating AD. Alternatively, the potent action on calpain-related pathology may explain E64d’s protection in AD and TBI models