Hero-X: Emerson Air Flow Design Challenge

This report will follow the development cycle as Capstone Team 12 solves the Emerson Airflow Problem. The problem was proposed by Emerson on HeroX: Incentive Competition, Challenges and Prizes forum. This problem is an open competition to any inventors who can solve the dilemma of measuring total air flow in a residential heating, ventilation and cooling system (HVAC). The solutions will be judged against a rubric given by Emerson that includes price-point, accuracy, scalability, ease of installation and ease of use in order of greatest to least importance [5]. The following report outlines the engineering process from interpreting the problem statement up to a proof of concept design. Each section will speak to a critical engineering consideration such as project planning, patent research, cost analysis, evaluation of competition, and design characteristics which lead to the final designs. In the final pages, two carefully designed products which solve the problem statement will be laid out in detail. The first design is a fan matrix which adjusts to fit in any units filter cavity for a non-intrusive reading at the source. The second is small pressure sensor which will traverse a duct and generate a velocity profile for a specific point in the system. Using a simple algorithm, it will determine average velocity in the section. Beyond this report, the team will further prototype and propose the solutions to Emerson by the submission deadline of January 25, 2016

Avian Influenza Virus Glycoproteins Restrict Virus Replication and Spread through Human Airway Epithelium at Temperatures of the Proximal Airways

Transmission of avian influenza viruses from bird to human is a rare event even though avian influenza viruses infect the ciliated epithelium of human airways in vitro and ex vivo. Using an in vitro model of human ciliated airway epithelium (HAE), we demonstrate that while human and avian influenza viruses efficiently infect at temperatures of the human distal airways (37°C), avian, but not human, influenza viruses are restricted for infection at the cooler temperatures of the human proximal airways (32°C). These data support the hypothesis that avian influenza viruses, ordinarily adapted to the temperature of the avian enteric tract (40°C), rarely infect humans, in part due to differences in host airway regional temperatures. Previously, a critical residue at position 627 in the avian influenza virus polymerase subunit, PB2, was identified as conferring temperature-dependency in mammalian cells. Here, we use reverse genetics to show that avianization of residue 627 attenuates a human virus, but does not account for the different infection between 32°C and 37°C. To determine the mechanism of temperature restriction of avian influenza viruses in HAE at 32°C, we generated recombinant human influenza viruses in either the A/Victoria/3/75 (H3N2) or A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) genetic background that contained avian or avian-like glycoproteins. Two of these viruses, A/Victoria/3/75 with L226Q and S228G mutations in hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) from A/Chick/Italy/1347/99 and A/PR/8/34 containing the H7 and N1 from A/Chick/Italy/1347/99, exhibited temperature restriction approaching that of wholly avian influenza viruses. These data suggest that influenza viruses bearing avian or avian-like surface glycoproteins have a reduced capacity to establish productive infection at the temperature of the human proximal airways. This temperature restriction may limit zoonotic transmission of avian influenza viruses and suggests that adaptation of avian influenza viruses to efficient infection at 32°C may represent a critical evolutionary step enabling human-to-human transmission

Basic and applied research: Baculovirus

Baculoviruses are pathogens of many insect species that are major agricultural and forest pests. They have been studied for at least 100 years for their potential as biological control agents and a significant body of knowledge about them has been developed. The taxonomy, morphology, pathology, and ecology of baculoviruses are briefly presented here and their significance for the use of baculoviruses as microbial control agents discussed. The use of baculoviruses for crop protection in specific cropping systems and case studies of the product development are used to illustrate the constraints and opportunities for using baculoviruses in crop protection. Existing barriers to wider use of baculoviruses, such as the relatively slow speed of kill compared with most chemical pesticides, the more limited host range, the shorter environmental persistence, the poorer performance on some crops, and reliability issues are explored, and future research priorities to overcome these concerns as well as the commercial and regulatory landscape around scaling up the use of baculovirus products are presented