Life Under the Sea

Undergraduate 2-

Design of a Versatile, Teleoperable, Towable Lifting Machine with Robotic Capabilities for Use in Nasa's Lunar Base Operations

The lifting machine will assist in lifting cargo off of landers sent to the Moon and in the construction of a lunar base. Three possible designs were considered for the overall configuration of the lifting machine: the variable angle crane, the tower crane, and the gantry crane. Alternate designs were developed for the major components of the lifting machine. A teleoperable, variable angle crane was chosen as its final design. The design consists of a telescoping boom mounted to a chassis that is supported by two conical wheels for towing and four outriggers for stability. Attached to the end of the boom is a seven degree of freedom robot arm for light, dexterous, lifting operations. A cable and hook suspends from the end of the boom for heavy, gross, lifting operations. Approximate structural sizes were determined for the lifter and its components. However, further analysis is needed to determine the optimum design dimensions. The design team also constructed a model of the design which demonstrates its features and operating principals

A study of the personal and social characteristics of public offenders from three Massachusetts correctional institutions in treatment with the division of legal medicine

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Topical Menthol, Ice, Peripheral Blood Flow, and Perceived Discomfort

Context : Injury management commonly includes decreasing arterial blood flow to the affected site in an attempt to reduce microvascular blood flow and edema and limit the induction of inflammation. Applied separately, ice and menthol gel decrease arterial blood flow, but the combined effects of ice and menthol gel on arterial blood flow are unknown. Objectives : To compare radial artery blood flow, arterial diameter, and perceived discomfort before and after the application of 1 of 4 treatment conditions. Design : Experimental crossover design. Setting : Clinical laboratory. Participants or Other Participants : Ten healthy men, 9 healthy women (mean age = 25.68 years, mean height = 1.73 m, mean weight = 76.73 kg). Intervention(s) : Four treatment conditions were randomly applied for 20 minutes to the right forearm of participants on 4 different days separated by at least 24 hours: (1) 3.5 mL menthol gel, (2) 0.5 kg of crushed ice, (3) 3.5 mL of menthol gel and 0.5 kg of crushed ice, or (4) no treatment (control). Main Outcome Measure(s) : Using high-resolution ultrasound, we measured right radial artery diameter (cm) and blood flow (mL/min) every 5 minutes for 20 minutes after the treatment was applied. Discomfort with the treatment was documented using a 1-to-10 intensity scale. Results : Radial artery blood flow decreased (P \u3c .05) from baseline in the ice (−20% to −24%), menthol (−17% to −24%), and ice and menthol (−36% to −39%) treatments but not in the control (3% to 9%) at 5, 10, and 15 minutes. At 20 minutes after baseline, only the ice (−27%) and combined ice and menthol (−38%) treatments exhibited reductions in blood flow (P \u3c .05). Discomfort was less with menthol than with the ice treatment at 5, 10, and 20 minutes after application (P \u3c .05). Arterial diameter and heart rate did not change. Conclusions : The application of 3.5 mL of menthol was similar to the application of 0.5 kg of crushed ice in reducing peripheral blood flood. Combining crushed ice with menthol appeared to have an additive effect on reducing blood flow

Reward learning as a potential target for pharmacological augmentation of cognitive remediation for schizophrenia: a roadmap for preclinical development.

RationaleImpaired cognitive abilities are a key characteristic of schizophrenia. Although currently approved pharmacological treatments have demonstrated efficacy for positive symptoms, to date no pharmacological treatments successfully reverse cognitive dysfunction in these patients. Cognitively-based interventions such as cognitive remediation (CR) and other psychosocial interventions however, may improve some of the cognitive and functional deficits of schizophrenia. Given that these treatments are time-consuming and labor-intensive, maximizing their effectiveness is a priority. Augmenting psychosocial interventions with pharmacological treatments may be a viable strategy for reducing the impact of cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia.ObjectiveWe propose a strategy to develop pharmacological treatments that can enhance the reward-related learning processes underlying successful skill-learning in psychosocial interventions. Specifically, we review clinical and preclinical evidence and paradigms that can be utilized to develop these pharmacological augmentation strategies. Prototypes for this approach include dopamine D1 receptor and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists as attractive targets to specifically enhance reward-related learning during CR.ConclusionThe approach outlined here could be used broadly to develop pharmacological augmentation strategies across a number of cognitive domains underlying successful psychosocial treatment

Invisible Women: Sex Trafficking in the Context of Post-Soviet Moldova

Over a century after the majority of the globe has abolished slavery, scholars, human rights agencies, and national governments generally agree that there remains about twenty-seven million slaves in the world, with modern slavery taking a contemporary form in human trafficking (“11 Facts About Human Trafficking”). This thesis will focus specifically on sex trafficking, or the exploitation of primarily women and girls through coercion, force, or fraud to engage in sexual acts for the profit of the trafficker. More precisely, this text will concentrate on the underlying causes of sex trafficking in Eastern Europe, particularly in the post-Soviet state of Moldova, where many young girls fall victim to this crime. Research will be conducted in terms of how the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the ensuing Western economic reforms in Moldova worsened poverty, how patriarchal structures contribute to high rates of domestic violence, and how corruption in the financially unstable government of Moldova all tie in together as leading causes of sex trafficking in the region. This thesis will provide a general and relatively recent history of Moldova in order to equip the reader with applicable background information before embarking on a deeper analysis. Discussion of Moldova’s government will include discussions on the possibility of internal corruption, as well as the causes of such, and any legal actions taken to combat the issue of global sex trafficking. Societal characteristics, such as access to education, lucrative careers, and financial progress, will be analyzed through a feminist lens, which explains the systemic oppression and standardized inequality that maintain a lack of opportunity for individuals in the country

A study of the relationship between phonological awareness and phonological processing in four and five year old children

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX187535 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Directed Morphogenesis of Smallpox Vaccine for Enhanced Immunogenicity and Decreased Side Effects

Vaccinia virus (VACV) produces two morphologically distinct mature virions: enveloped virus (EV) and intracellular mature virus (IMV). EV is produced first in the replication cycle and is required for virus dissemination. IMV is thought to be produced by default, when the cellular membranes that wrap EV become exhausted and as the more robust particle, is involved in host-to-host transmission. The aim of this study was to examine the hypothesis that IMV production is not a default, but is an active process mediated by the IMV-specific protein, A26. Two recombinant VACVs were constructed: vldA26L and vldA26L. neo, in which the A26L gene was deleted or inactivated. One-step growth curves demonstrated a reduction in virus yields for these viruses. Examination of the kinetics of EV and IMV production by the A26L deletion mutants did not demonstrate a reduction in IMV as expected, yet the production of single-membraned virus was perturbed when compared to wild-type VACV IHD-J and a revertant virus. Constitutive expression of A26 from a synthetic early/late promoter did not affect virus yields and did not result in increased production of IMV in favour of EV. Treatment of virions with membrane perturbing agents demonstrated increased susceptibility of EV to inactivation when compared to IMV, suggesting that the EV pre-cursor and mature IMV are different particles. Mutant IMV from A26L-VACV cultures demonstrated increased sensitivity to the detergent Tween-20 when compared to wild-type IMV, behaving similarly to stripped EV. This suggests resistance might be attributable to the presence of IMV-specific proteins that are not found on stripped EV. This study provides evidence that IMV is a true end-stage product of VACV morphogenesis, and that OPVs employ a mechanism to actively differentiate particles towards IMV, thus preventing maturation of a subset of virions as EV. This results in two non-interchangeable isoforms of mature infectious virions that are produced to perform their individual functions in the virus life-cycle

Self Perception in the Eyes of a Child: Exploring How the Development of Children as Thinkers Relates to the Ways in Which They Self Define and Ascribe to Social Groups

This thesis explores the social emotional development of children in the preoperational and concrete operational stages of cognitive development and their relationship to themes such as friendship, race, and gender. Through an analysis of the ideas of educational theorists Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, and Erikson and a research study with kindergarteners and third graders in a local school, the development of social concepts is examined. From these findings comes an exploration of how the development of these social and emotional concepts require more exposure in the early childhood education curriculum