Electrochemical carbon dioxide concentrator subsystem development

The most promising concept for a regenerative CO2 removal system for long duration manned space flight is the Electrochemical CO2 Concentrator (EDC), which allows for the continuous, efficient removal of CO2 from the spacecraft cabin. This study addresses the advancement of the EDC system by generating subsystem and ancillary component reliability data through extensive endurance testing and developing related hardware components such as electrochemical module lightweight end plates, electrochemical module improved isolation valves, an improved air/liquid heat exchanger and a triple redundant relative humidity sensor. Efforts included fabrication and testing the EDC with a Sabatier CO2 Reduction Reactor and generation of data necessary for integration of the EDC into a space station air revitalization system. The results verified the high level of performance, reliability and durability of the EDC subsystem and ancillary hardware, verified the high efficiency of the Sabatier CO2 Reduction Reactor, and increased the overall EDC technology engineering data base. The study concluded that the EDC system is approaching the hardware maturity levels required for space station deployment

MRI and Neuropsychological Correlates of Carbon Monoxide Exposure: A Case Report

A 45-year-old woman experienced long-term, chronic exposure to carbon monoxide in the restaurant kitchen where she was employed as a cook. After returning to the restaurant after 5 days off work, she noticed that her symptoms returned immediately; she then aired out the room and called the gas company. Approximately 6 hr after a leak was detected, the patient went to the hospital, where her carboxyhemoglobin was found to be within normal limits and results of a neurologic examination were described as normal. Based on her symptoms, the patient believed she had been exposed to CO for at least 1 year before the leak was discovered. Initially, she experienced flu-like symptoms, which eventually resolved. At the time of her first neuropsychological evaluation (17 months after the exposure was identified), her persisting complaints included difficulties in reading, writing, speaking and word retrieval. The test results were consistent with secondary frontal lobe dysfunction associated with subcortical disorders such as those seen after CO exposure. Results of a subsequent neuropsychological examination (29 months postexposure) showed slight improvement in performance, but her performance was still consistent with mild frontal/subcortical dysfunction. Although the initial screening of a brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) performed 15 months after the exposure was interpreted as being within normal limits, two subsequent blind reviews of the same scans identified multiple bilateral lesions in the basal ganglia, which were consistent with chronic CO exposure. We present this case as an example of the utility of MRI and neuropsychological examinations in detecting central nervous system dysfunction secondary to CO exposure

Comparative Recruitment Dynamics of Alewife and Bloater in Lakes Michigan and Huron

The predictive power of recruitment models often relies on the identification and quantification of external variables, in addition to stock size. In theory, the identification of climatic, biotic, or demographic influences on reproductive success assists fisheries management by identifying factors that have a direct and reproducible influence on the population dynamics of a target species. More often, models are constructed as one‐time studies of a single population whose results are not revisited when further data become available. Here, we present results from stock recruitment models for Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Bloater Coregonus hoyi in Lakes Michigan and Huron. The factors that explain variation in Bloater recruitment were remarkably consistent across populations and with previous studies that found Bloater recruitment to be linked to population demographic patterns in Lake Michigan. Conversely, our models were poor predictors of Alewife recruitment in Lake Huron but did show some agreement with previously published models from Lake Michigan. Overall, our results suggest that external predictors of fish recruitment are difficult to discern using traditional fisheries models, and reproducing the results from previous studies may be difficult particularly at low population sizes.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141414/1/tafs0294.pd

Plans for Crash-Tested Bridge Railings for Longitudinal Wood Decks on Low-Volume Roads

The plans for crashworthy bridge railings for low-volume roads were developed through a cooperative research program involving the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL); the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MwRSF); and the Forest Service, National Forest System, Engineering. Three railings were developed and successfully tested in accordance with National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 Test Level-1 requirements. The fourth system was developed for a lower test level based on criteria developed by the Forest Service for single-lane bridges on very low-volume roads. For the convenience of the user, full drawing sets are provided in customary U.S. and S.I. units

Testing for Evidence of Maternal Effects among Individuals and Populations of White Crappie

For an increasing number of species, maternal characteristics have been correlated with the characteristics of their eggs or larvae at the individual level. Documenting these maternal effects at the population level, however, is uncommon. For white crappies Pomoxis annularis, we evaluated whether individual maternal effects on eggs existed and then explored whether incorporating maternal effects explained additional variation in recruitment, a population-level response. Individual egg quality (measured as ovary energy density) increased with maternal length among individuals from seven Ohio reservoirs in 1999 and three in 2000. Among these same individuals, egg quality increased with maternal condition factor (measured as residual wet mass for a given length) in 1999 but not in 2000. In 2000 we estimated somatic energy density, an improved measure of condition; egg quality increased with somatic energy density, but somatic energy density was also strongly correlated with maternal length. Hence, we could not determine whether maternal length or condition was the primary factor influencing white crappie egg quality. Across seven populations, the relative population fecundity (i.e., stock size) of the 1999 year-class was unable to explain the variation in recruitment to age 2 (Ricker model r^2 = 0.04 and Beverton and Holt model r^2 = 0.02). Mean ovary energy density (i.e., egg quality), however, was unable to explain additional recruitment variability in either model. Hence, we documented evidence of maternal effects on individual ovaries but not on population-level recruitment. Nonetheless, we recommend that future studies seeking to understand white crappie recruitment continue to consider maternal effects as a potential factor, especially those studies that may have greater sample sizes at the population level and, in turn, a greater probability of documenting a population-level effect.This research was funded by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-69-P, administered jointly by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife and the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at Ohio State University

Factors Associated with HIV Infection in Married or Cohabitating Couples in Kenya: Results from a Nationally Representative Study

BACKGROUND: In order to inform prevention programming, we analyzed HIV discordance and concordance within couples in the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS) 2007. METHODS: KAIS was a nationally representative population-based sero-survey that examined demographic and behavioral indicators and serologic testing for HIV, HSV-2, syphilis, and CD4 cell counts in 15,853 consenting adults aged 15-64 years. We analyzed interview and blood testing data at the sexual partnership level from married or cohabitating couples. Multivariable regression models were used to identify factors independently associated with HIV discordant and concordant status. RESULTS: Of 3256 couples identified in the survey, 2748 (84.4%) had interview and blood testing data. Overall, 3.8% of couples were concordantly infected with HIV, and in 5.8% one partner was infected, translating to 338,000 discordant couples in Kenya. In 83.6% of HIV-infected Kenyans living in married or cohabitating couples neither partner knew their HIV status. Factors independently associated with HIV-discordance included young age in women (AOR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-1.8; p<0.0001), increasing number of lifetime sexual partners in women (AOR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.3-1.8; p<0.0001), HSV-2 infection in either or both partners (AOR 4.1, 95% CI: 2.3-7.2; p<0.0001), and lack of male circumcision (AOR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.0-2.5; p = 0.032). Independent factors for HIV-concordance included HSV-2 infection in both partners (AOR 6.5, 95% CI: 2.3-18.7; p = 0.001) and lack of male circumcision (AOR 1.8, 95% CI: 1.0-3.3; p = 0.043). CONCLUSIONS: Couple prevention interventions should begin early in relationships and include mutual knowledge of HIV status, reduction of outside sexual partners, and promotion of male circumcision among HIV-uninfected men. Mechanisms for effective prevention or suppression of HSV-2 infection are also needed

Accurate Determination of Comet and Asteroid Orbits Leading to Collision With Earth

Movements of the celestial bodies in our solar system inspired Isaac Newton to work out his profound laws of gravitation and motion; with one or two notable exceptions, all of those objects move as Newton said they would. But normally harmonious orbital motion is accompanied by the risk of collision, which can be cataclysmic. The Earth s moon is thought to have been produced by such an event, and we recently witnessed magnificent bombardments of Jupiter by several pieces of what was once Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Other comets or asteroids may have met the Earth with such violence that dinosaurs and other forms of life became extinct; it is this possibility that causes us to ask how the human species might avoid a similar catastrophe, and the answer requires a thorough understanding of orbital motion. The two red square flags with black square centers displayed are internationally recognized as a warning of an impending hurricane. Mariners and coastal residents who know the meaning of this symbol and the signs evident in the sky and ocean can act in advance to try to protect lives and property; someone who is unfamiliar with the warning signs or chooses to ignore them is in much greater jeopardy. Although collisions between Earth and large comets or asteroids occur much less frequently than landfall of a hurricane, it is imperative that we learn to identify the harbingers of such collisions by careful examination of an object s path. An accurate determination of the orbit of a comet or asteroid is necessary in order to know if, when, and where on the Earth s surface a collision will occur. Generally speaking, the longer the warning time, the better the chance of being able to plan and execute action to prevent a collision. The more accurate the determination of an orbit, the less likely such action will be wasted effort or, what is worse, an effort that increases rather than decreases the probability of a collision. Conditions necessary for a collision to occur are discussed, and warning times for long-period comets and near-Earth asteroids are presented

17 ways to say yes:Toward nuanced tone of voice in AAC and speech technology

People with complex communication needs who use speech-generating devices have very little expressive control over their tone of voice. Despite its importance in human interaction, the issue of tone of voice remains all but absent from AAC research and development however. In this paper, we describe three interdisciplinary projects, past, present and future: The critical design collection Six Speaking Chairs has provoked deeper discussion and inspired a social model of tone of voice; the speculative concept Speech Hedge illustrates challenges and opportunities in designing more expressive user interfaces; the pilot project Tonetable could enable participatory research and seed a research network around tone of voice. We speculate that more radical interactions might expand frontiers of AAC and disrupt speech technology as a whole

Evaluating consumptive and nonconsumptive predator effects on prey density using field time‐series data

Determining the degree to which predation affects prey abundance in natural communities constitutes a key goal of ecological research. Predators can affect prey through both consumptive effects (CEs) and nonconsumptive effects (NCEs), although the contributions of each mechanism to the density of prey populations remain largely hypothetical in most systems. Common statistical methods applied to time‐series data cannot elucidate the mechanisms responsible for hypothesized predator effects on prey density (e.g., differentiate CEs from NCEs), nor can they provide parameters for predictive models. State‐space models (SSMs) applied to time‐series data offer a way to meet these goals. Here, we employ SSMs to assess effects of an invasive predatory zooplankter, Bythotrephes longimanus, on an important prey species, Daphnia mendotae, in Lake Michigan. We fit mechanistic models in an SSM framework to seasonal time series (1994–2012) using a recently developed, maximum‐likelihood–based optimization method, iterated filtering, which can overcome challenges in ecological data (e.g., nonlinearities, measurement error, and irregular sampling intervals). Our results indicate that B. longimanus strongly influences D. mendotae dynamics, with mean annual peak densities of B. longimanus observed in Lake Michigan estimated to cause a 61% reduction in D. mendotae population growth rate and a 59% reduction in peak biomass density. Further, the observed B. longimanus effect is most consistent with an NCE via reduced birth rates. The SSM approach also provided estimates for key biological parameters (e.g., demographic rates) and the contribution of dynamic stochasticity and measurement error. Our study therefore provides evidence derived directly from survey data that the invasive zooplankter B. longimanus is affecting zooplankton demographics and offer parameter estimates needed to inform predictive models that explore the effect of B. longimanus under different scenarios, such as climate change.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148243/1/ecy2583-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148243/2/ecy2583_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148243/3/ecy2583.pd

Identifying Effects and Applications of Fixed and Variable Speed Limits

In Indiana, distracted driving and unexpected queues have led to an increase in the amount of back-of-queue crashes, particularly on approach to work zones. This report presents new strategies for the assessment of both transportation safety and traffic operations using crowd-sourced probe vehicle data and a speed laser vehicle re-identification scheme. This report concludes by recommending strategies for the placement of variable speed limits (VSL) adjacent to work zones and suggestions for future research