Teaching audience analysis to the technical student

Teaching audience analysis, as practiced in a technical writing course for engineering students, is discussed. Audience analysis is described as the task of defining the audience for a particular piece of writing and determining those characteristics of the audience which constrain the writer and effect reception of the message. A mature technical writing style that shows the tension produced when a text is written to be read and understood is considered in terms of audience analysis. Techniques include: (1) conveying to students the concept that a reader with certain expectations exist, (2) team teaching to preserve the context of a given technical discipline, and (3) assigning a technical report that addresses a variety of readers, thus establishing the complexity of audience oriented writing

Scaled penalization of Brownian motion with drift and the Brownian ascent

We study a scaled version of a two-parameter Brownian penalization model introduced by Roynette-Vallois-Yor in arXiv:math/0511102. The original model penalizes Brownian motion with drift $h\in\mathbb{R}$ by the weight process ${\big(\exp(\nu S_t):t\geq 0\big)}$ where $\nu\in\mathbb{R}$ and $\big(S_t:t\geq 0\big)$ is the running maximum of the Brownian motion. It was shown there that the resulting penalized process exhibits three distinct phases corresponding to different regions of the $(\nu,h)$-plane. In this paper, we investigate the effect of penalizing the Brownian motion concurrently with scaling and identify the limit process. This extends a result of Roynette-Yor for the ${\nu<0,~h=0}$ case to the whole parameter plane and reveals two additional "critical" phases occurring at the boundaries between the parameter regions. One of these novel phases is Brownian motion conditioned to end at its maximum, a process we call the Brownian ascent. We then relate the Brownian ascent to some well-known Brownian path fragments and to a random scaling transformation of Brownian motion recently studied by Rosenbaum-Yor.Comment: 32 pages; made additions to Section

Bionanocompósito à base de resíduo de levedura e magnetita : síntese, caracterização e aplicação na sorção de Cu(II) em meio aquoso

Um biossorvente preparado com resíduos de levedura impregnados com nanopartículas de magnetita foi sintetizado, caraterizado e aplicado na sorção de íons Cu(II) em meio aquoso. Este subproduto da indústria sucroalcooleira foi utilizado devido à sua abundância, baixo valor agregado, e à presença de diversos sítios ativos em sua superfície, tornando-o uma alternativa viável para descontaminação de efluentes. O material nanomodificado (NPM) foi obtido pelo método de coprecipitação, no qual sais de Fe(II) e Fe(III) foram titulados com NH4OH. Após a síntese, a impregnação de magnetita sobre a levedura (BL) foi conduzida adicionando-se esta biomassa na suspensão de NPMs, sob aquecimento e agitação constantes, para formação do bionanocompósito, BL-NPM. Este, assim como BL e NPM puros, foram caracterizados pelas técnicas DRX, FTIR e MEV. Os testes de sorção de Cu(II) com BL, NPM e BL-NPM foram conduzidos em batelada. Nestes, após agitação, houve a separação de fases da mistura Cu(II)-biossorvente para análise do sobrenadante e determinação de Cu por FAAS. Os modelos isotérmicos de Langmuir, Freundlich e Dubinin-Radushkevich foram ajustados aos dados experimentais, e mostraram que a sorção entre biossorvente e Cu(II) foi favorável para todos os materiais, onde NPM e BL apresentaram afinidades semelhantes por Cu(II), e BL-NPM melhor adsorveu o analito. A caracterização por DRX permitiu a determinação das estruturas cristalinas dos nanomateriais, em contraste com a estrutura amorfa de BL. Os espectros de FTIR entre 4000 e 400 cm−1, indicaram a presença de bandas de N–H, C–H, C=O, N–O, O–H, C–C, e Fe-O (para os nanomateriais). Através das imagens de MEV, 7000X, foi possível verificar a eficiência de síntese de BL-NPM por impregnação de NPM em BL.Fil: José, Julia C. . Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (Brasil).Fil: Debs, Karina. B.. Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (Brasil).Fil: Labuto, Geórgia. Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (Brasil).Fil: Carrilho, Elma. N. V. M.. Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (Brasil)

Dielectric Properties and Numerical Modelling of Microwave Heating of Portland Cement/Fly Ash Blends

Due to its volumetric heating mechanism, microwave is increasingly being recognized as a potential alternative low-energy heating technique for curing cementitious products. However, its heating capacity, among other factors, heavily relies on the dielectric properties of the raw materials, which, in turn, can be affected by moisture content, temperature and the degree of hydration. Unfortunately, current understanding on these issues is still very limited. Consequently, it is difficult to predict the heating profile of the cementitious products heated in microwave, even though a good knowledge of this is essential to optimize the microwave operation condition in order to ensure the quality of cementitious products. In this paper, the dielectric properties of Portland cement/fly ash blends were investigated during a 24-hour hydration period under 25oC, 40oC and 60oC at a frequency of 2.45GHz. The Portland cement was replaced by fly ash at the levels of 0% and 55% by weight at water-to-binder ratios of 0.25 and 0.35, respectively. Setting times were also measured in order to interpret the changes of the dielectric properties at different stages of hydration. Based on the obtained dielectric properties data, heating models were developed using two different software packages, namely, ANSYS and COMSOL, which were then validated by the heating profiles obtained in a tailored microwave system using FBG sensor and thermal imaging techniques. It showed that both simulated results overestimated the real temperature within the sample. However, COMSOL can give a better prediction of the overall temperature profile, whilst ANSYS is more reliable in predicting single temperature. Further investigation is still needed in order to identify which modelling technique is the best option for predicting both the temperature profile and the temperature within cementitious materials cured under microwave

A life in progress: motion and emotion in the autobiography of Robert M. La Follette

This article is a study of a La Follette’s Autobiography, the autobiography of the leading Wisconsin progressive Robert M. La Follette, which was published serially in 1911 and, in book form, in 1913. Rather than focusing, as have other historians, on which parts of La Follette’s account are accurate and can therefore be trusted, it explains instead why and how this major autobiography was conceived and written. The article shows that the autobiography was the product of a sustained, complex, and often fraught series of collaborations among La Follette’s family, friends, and political allies, and in the process illuminates the importance of affective ties as well as political ambition and commitment in bringing the project to fruition. In the world of progressive reform, it argues, personal and political experiences were inseparable

Modern Electronic Techniques Applied to Physics and Engineering

Contains reports on five research projects

Effect of surfactant replacement on Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in rats

The effect of intratracheal surfactant instillation on pulmonary function in rats with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was investigated. In those animals which developed PCP with severe respiratory failure after administration of cortisone acetate s. c. over 8-12 weeks, pulmonary function was improved by surfactant instillation. PaO2 values 30 min after surfactant instillation were significantly higher compared to pretreatment values and also compared to PaO2 values of rats 30 min after receiving saline (482.9 mmHg±44.7, 170.7 mmHg ±39.3 and 67.2 mmHg±17.4, respectively). Histological examination showed that alveoli of rats with PCP which received no exogenous surfactant are filled with foamy edema, whereas after exogenous surfactant alveoli are stabilized and well-aerated. These results indicate that exogenous surfactant may help patients with severe PCP to overcome an acute stage of respiratory distress

Cardiac magnetic resonance stress perfusion imaging for evaluation of patients with chest pain

Background: Stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has demonstrated excellent diagnostic and prognostic value in single-center studies. Objectives: This study sought to investigate the prognostic value of stress CMR and downstream costs from subsequent cardiac testing in a retrospective multicenter study in the United States. Methods: In this retrospective study, consecutive patients from 13 centers across 11 states who presented with a chest pain syndrome and were referred for stress CMR were followed for a target period of 4 years. The authors associated CMR findings with a primary outcome of cardiovascular death or nonfatal myocardial infarction using competing risk-adjusted regression models and downstream costs of ischemia testing using published Medicare national payment rates. Results: In this study, 2,349 patients (63 ± 11 years of age, 47% female) were followed for a median of 5.4 years. Patients with no ischemia or late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) by CMR, observed in 1,583 patients (67%), experienced low annualized rates of primary outcome (4-fold higher annual primary outcome rate and a >10-fold higher rate of coronary revascularization during the first year after CMR. Patients with ischemia and LGE both negative had low average annual cost spent on ischemia testing across all years of follow-up, and this pattern was similar across the 4 practice environments of the participating centers. Conclusions: In a multicenter U.S. cohort with stable chest pain syndromes, stress CMR performed at experienced centers offers effective cardiac prognostication. Patients without CMR ischemia or LGE experienced a low incidence of cardiac events, little need for coronary revascularization, and low spending on subsequent ischemia testing. (Stress CMR Perfusion Imaging in the United States [SPINS]: A Society for Cardiovascular Resonance Registry Study; NCT03192891)

Sequence Defined Disulfide-Linked Shuttle for Strongly Enhanced Intracellular Protein Delivery

Intracellular protein transduction technology is opening the door for a promising alternative to gene therapy. Techniques have to address all critical steps, like efficient cell uptake, endolysosomal escape, low toxicity, while maintaining full functional activity of the delivered protein. Here, we present the use of a chemically precise, structure defined three-arm cationic oligomer carrier molecule for protein delivery. This carrier of exact and low molecular weight combines good cellular uptake with efficient endosomal escape and low toxicity. The protein cargo is covalently attached by a bioreversible disulfide linkage. Murine 3T3 fibroblasts could be transduced very efficiently with cargo nlsEGFP, which was tagged with a nuclear localization signal. We could show subcellular delivery of the nlsEGFP to the nucleus, confirming cytosolic delivery and expected subsequent subcellular trafficking. Transfection efficiency was concentration-dependent in a directly linear mode and 20-fold higher in comparison with HIV-TAT-nlsEGFP containing a functional TAT transduction domain. Furthermore, β-galactosidase as a model enzyme cargo, modified with the carrier oligomer, was transduced into neuroblastoma cells in enzymatically active form