NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING ANALYSIS FOR MCDONALDS USA, LLC

As a leader in the global quick service restaurant market, McDonald’s USA, LLC aims to push the limits of their energy efficiency and tasked the Duke team with exploring the possibility of a ‘net zero energy’ restaurant. This exploration includes researching and proposing design aspects and technologies for a restaurant in the Chicago, IL area to achieve net zero energy (NZE) consumption onsite utilizing the LEED Volume Prototype restaurant as a baseline comparison. The project focused on improving current technologies and building design aspects including, but not limited to, the following areas: the building envelope, including roof and wall insulation and window design; the service hot water system (SHW); lighting fixtures and systems; and ventilation system. Due to the heavy influence of McDonald’s operational design on its brand, the recommendations included in the analysis account for the restaurant’s operational constraints. The final deliverable presents maximum energy savings possible without violating most of these constraints and estimates the amount of renewable energy necessary to meet the resulting decreased energy demand of the proposed ‘Net Zero Restaurant’ to meet the goal of a net zero energy site

Monitoring and Alert System for the Mabee Organic Waste Solution Final Project Repory

Mabee Dining Hall at Trinity University has tasked the Mabee Organic Waste Solution team with the design and implementation of an in-vessel monitoring and alert device to monitor and report on the status of compost. This device is intended to provide running updates on important parameters - temperature, relative humidity, and oxygen concentration - in order to ensure production of successful, aerobic compost. If action must be taken by Mabee employees as a result of the values of these parameters falling out of an acceptable range, our device is capable of alerting the user and providing instruction to keep the compost viable. The project requirements state that our device must be able to monitor up to 100 pounds of food waste while mitigating additional labor and unnecessary contact with the compost. It must be durable and reliable enough to withstand a full composting cycle, and intuitive enough that a user with minimal knowledge of compost care will be able to follow the given instructions with the help of a training manual provided by the team. Design constraints include the given $1200 budget, portability, ease of use, and the versatility to be implemented in any in-vessel composting unit supplied with ~100 lbs. of food waste daily. The design constraints are detailed in Sections 3.1-3.4. The full design requirements can be found in Sections 3.5-3.9. Our final design consists of three main subsystems: the sensor capsule, which rests inside the compost to house and protect the sensor, the communications system which interprets sensor readings and transmits instructions via Bluetooth to the interface, and the interface which displays any necessary corrective actions that must be taken. Our team was able to complete preliminary testing to ensure that each subsystem is functional within the constraints of our project. In the future, we recommend fully testing the system by placing it within a compost vessel for a complete compost cycle. Additionally, as conditions across the compost are generally not homogenous, use of multiple sensor capsules throughout the vessel to provide a more comprehensive observation of the state of the compost may be beneficial. The central microcontroller of the partially working prototype failed to display the data from its peripheral counterpart, but the devices were still able to communicate with each other and send the sensor data. Due to a short in the wiring, the working prototype’s sensors were damaged and the microcontroller in the peripheral likely to be replaced. We are mostly confident that our current prototype meets the power requirements to last a full composting cycle with our chosen battery. The corrective actions written by our team to be prescribed by measurements of the compost conditions have demonstrably improved the state of the compost in our test environment. At the time of the presentation we intend to have resolved the hardware issues with the interface subsystem, and have a fully functional working prototype ready for delivery to our sponsor

Attentional biases for food stimuli in external eaters: Possible mechanism for stress-induced eating?

External eaters reportedly increase snack intake when stressed, which could be due to an attentional shift towards food stimuli. Attentional biases for food stimuli were tested in high and low external eaters in stress and control conditions, using a computerised Stroop. A significant interaction was observed between external eating group and condition for snack word bias. This suggested that low external eaters have a greater bias for snack words when unstressed and that stressed, high external eaters have a greater bias for snack words than stressed, low external eaters, which could contribute to stress-induced snack intake in high external eaters

Roundabout Maintenance Manual

In recent years, roundabouts have been rapidly growing in popularity. As a result, many communities are installing them in their roadways; however, they are encountering difficulties in maintaining them. Uneducated workers can cause damage to roundabouts and to themselves, costing cities time and money. This project aims to create a guide for communities new to roundabouts in order to reduce damages and unnecessary maintenance costs. Data was gathered by determining the most common maintenance questions and problems along with what information was already available on roundabout maintenance. Next, agencies most experienced with roundabouts were surveyed on the best maintenance practices. The responses from interview subjects gave detailed information on winter maintenance, summer maintenance, pavement maintenance, and vehicle and pedestrian access during maintenance activities. The data was compiled to create the roundabout maintenance manual. The guide created from the data collection will be helpful for communities new to roundabouts and serve as a reference for agencies in Indiana and surrounding states. In future years, the methods established in this guide should be re-evaluated and updated

Examining Associations of Coping Strategies with Stress, Alcohol, and Substance use among College Athletes: Implications for Improving Athlete Coping

Mental health challenges and substance use are common among college athletes, yet few studies have been conducted to understand substance use as a coping strategy. The pressures of collegiate athletics - including commitments to training, travel, and competition - can contribute to maladaptive coping among college athletes, including alcohol and other substance use. An online survey was completed by 188 college athletes competing across NCAA/NJCAA divisions at six institutions in the United States to examine factors associated with substance use coping and whether specific strategies of coping were associated with risk of substance use. Alcohol and drug use were assessed using the CRAFFT Screening Test, NIDA-Modified ASSIST, and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Coping was assessed with the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory, stress was assessed using an adapted Graduate Stress Inventory, athletics-related anxiety was assessed with the Sport Anxiety Scale, and perceived control of stress was assessed using the Perceived Control Questionnaire. Older athletes, men, and those with higher stress were more likely to use substances to cope. Higher behavioral disengagement, higher substance use coping, and lower religious coping were associated with increased likelihood of binge drinking and substance-related risk behaviors. These findings point to the importance of developing targeted interventions aimed at addressing stress and facilitating healthy coping to reduce problematic drinking and substance use among college athletes

COVID-19 Impacts on Vermont Farms and Food Businesses: Pivots, Needs and Opportunities for the Future

This report highlights results from a survey of Vermont farm and food businesses conducted during August and September 2020, with a total of 223 respondents. The survey was distributed via a number of non-profit, business, and state agencies in Vermont. Respondents included farms, food and farm product retail, agritourism operators, on-farm food processors, food and beverage manufacturers, nurseries/greenhouses/garden centers, and food hubs/aggregators. Overall, we find the majority of respondents experienced a COVID-19 business impact, especially in market and financial ways. We also find that the majority of respondents had business changes they wanted to make, but couldn\u27t because of a lack of financial resources, inadequate equipment, or personal challenges. While the majority of respondents didn\u27t apply for COVID-19 grants and programs, those that did were significantly more likely to agree they had the financial resources to make necessary business changes. We also identify help recovery strategies including the need for market assistance to shift to online platforms. Finally, we identify that the majority of respondents indicated perceived stress at the time of the survey, further highlighting the need for mental health resources related to COVID-19. We discuss future opportunities for recovery efforts and resilience in the Vermont food system

Modeling Recovery Housing Retention and Program Outcomes by Justice Involvement among Residents in Virginia, USA:An Observational Study

Living in recovery housing can improve addiction recovery and desistance outcomes. This study examined whether retention in recovery housing and types of discharge outcomes (completed, “neutral,” and “negative” outcomes) differed for clients with recent criminal legal system (CLS) involvement. Using data from 101 recovery residences certified by the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences based on 1,978 individuals completing the REC-CAP assessment, competing risk analyses (cumulative incidence function, restricted mean survival time, and restricted mean time lost) followed by the marginalization of effects were implemented to examine program outcomes at final discharge. Residents with recent CLS involvement were more likely to be discharged for positive reasons (successful completion of their goals) and premature/negative reasons (e.g., disciplinary releases) than for neutral reasons. Findings indicate that retention for 6–18 months is essential to establish and maintain positive discharge outcomes, and interventions should be developed to enhance retention in recovery residents with recent justice involvement.</p

First Dark Matter Search Results from a 4-kg CF3I Bubble Chamber Operated in a Deep Underground Site

New data are reported from the operation of a 4.0 kg CF3I bubble chamber in the 6800 foot deep SNOLAB underground laboratory. The effectiveness of ultrasound analysis in discriminating alpha decay background events from single nuclear recoils has been confirmed, with a lower bound of >99.3% rejection of alpha decay events. Twenty single nuclear recoil event candidates and three multiple bubble events were observed during a total exposure of 553 kg-days distributed over three different bubble nucleation thresholds. The effective exposure for single bubble recoil-like events was 437.4 kg-days. A neutron background internal to the apparatus, of known origin, is estimated to account for five single nuclear recoil events and is consistent with the observed rate of multiple bubble events. The remaining excess of single bubble events exhibits characteristics indicating the presence of an additional background. These data provide new direct detection constraints on WIMP-proton spin-dependent scattering for WIMP masses >20 GeV/c2 and demonstrate significant sensitivity for spin-independent interactions