MEMS 411: T-Shirt Strip Dispenser

For this design project, we worked with Dr. Mary Ruppert-Stroescu from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts to create a device that dispenses t-shirt strips. Dr. Ruppert-Stroescu has a patented process where strips of cloth are laid down on a sticky backing paper and sewn together to be made into new clothing. Our goal was to streamline the strip-laying process, making it less tedious and time consuming

Heterogeneities in leishmania infantum infection : using skin parasite burdens to identify highly infectious dogs

Background: The relationships between heterogeneities in host infection and infectiousness (transmission to arthropod vectors) can provide important insights for disease management. Here, we quantify heterogeneities in Leishmania infantum parasite numbers in reservoir and non-reservoir host populations, and relate this to their infectiousness during natural infection. Tissue parasite number was evaluated as a potential surrogate marker of host transmission potential. Methods: Parasite numbers were measured by qPCR in bone marrow and ear skin biopsies of 82 dogs and 34 crab-eating foxes collected during a longitudinal study in Amazon Brazil, for which previous data was available on infectiousness (by xenodiagnosis) and severity of infection. Results: Parasite numbers were highly aggregated both between samples and between individuals. In dogs, total parasite abundance and relative numbers in ear skin compared to bone marrow increased with the duration and severity of infection. Infectiousness to the sandfly vector was associated with high parasite numbers; parasite number in skin was the best predictor of being infectious. Crab-eating foxes, which typically present asymptomatic infection and are non-infectious, had parasite numbers comparable to those of non-infectious dogs. Conclusions: Skin parasite number provides an indirect marker of infectiousness, and could allow targeted control particularly of highly infectious dogs

The provision of primary and revision elbow replacement surgery in the NHS

(Figure presented.) BESS Surgical Procedure Guidelines (SPGs). Optimising Surgical Outcomes for Shoulder and Elbow patients. The British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) SPGs are a series of evidence and consensus Best Practice Recommendations developed by BESS surgeons and physiotherapists to help drive quality improvement and achieve the best possible surgical outcomes for UK patients. This SPG on primary and revision elbow replacement surgery is supported and endorsed by both the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme.</p

Symbolic complexity and political division : the changing role of religion in Northern Ireland

Religious distinctions, ethnic oppositions and national differences intersect in Northern Ireland. In this article I explore how this symbolic complexity has fed political conflict. I argue the institutional structure of Northern Ireland encouraged the generalisation of religiously-informed values across the fields of ethnicity and politics which in turn feed back to tighten and constrain available religious repertoires. The recent process of institutional reform has interrupted this process. While this is only one factor which contributes to the reproduction of conflict, it allows us to make sense of otherwise paradoxical features of everyday division in Northern Ireland, and to explain the seemingly inchoate processes of change in the post-1998 period.Not applicableHigher Education AuthorityEmbargo until 01/09/2011. Link to publisher version - http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a919780992. DG 15/07/2010 ti, ke, ab, st, en - AL 26/07/2010 MD done - OR 11/8/1