Kathy Cassity Interview 2017

In this interview, Dr. Cassity discusses how she ended up at Western Oregon University, what she has done in her short time here, and what her plans are for her future here

Connected Women: How Mobile Can Support Women's Economic and Social Empowerment

This report explores how mobile services provided by Vodafone and the Vodafone Foundation are enabling women to seize new opportunities and improve their lives. Accenture Sustainability Services were commissioned to conduct research on the services and to assess their potential social and economic impact if they were widely available across Vodafone's markets by 2020. It showcases the projects and the work of those involved and also poses the question -- what would the benefit to women and to society at large be if projects such as these were taken to scale and achieved an industrialscale of growth? This reflects the Foundation's commitment not solely to the development of pilots but rather the Trustees' ambition to see projects which lead to transformational change. In order to understand this more deeply, the Report looks at the benefits for women and society and providessome financial modelling for how the engagement of commercial players could achieve industrial, sustainable growth in these areas. Accenture has provided the modelling and, given the public benefit and understanding which the report seeks to generate, these are shared openly for all in the mobile industry to understand and share. It is the Trustees' hope that the collaboration with Oxford University and Accenture in the delivery of this Report will stimulate not only the expansion of existing charitable programmes but will also seed other philanthropic, social enterprise or commercial initiatives

Brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) processing remains as ingredient for Litopenaeus vannamei feeds: Biochemical characterisation and digestibility

Processing remains of brown shrimp, Crangon crangon, account for up to 60 % of the catch while only the small muscle fraction is used for human consumption. Incorporation into aquafeeds for high-valued species would reduce waste, create by-product value and promote sustainable aquaculture development. A detailed chemical characterisation of the remains from mechanically peeled brown shrimp was made and apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients in Litopenaeus vannamei were investigated. Brown shrimp processing remains (BSPR) contain substantial amounts of key nutrients (521 g⋅kg-1 crude protein, 74 g⋅kg-1 total lipid, 15 MJ⋅kg-1 gross energy) and valuable functional ingredients were detected (cholesterol, astaxanthin). Apparent energy (82 %) and protein (86 %) digestibility coefficients reveal good bioavailability of these nutrients. Dry matter digestibility was lower (64 %) presumably due to the high ash content (244 g⋅kg-1). The amino acid profile meets dietary requirements of penaeid shrimp with high apparent lysine and methionine digestibility coefficients. Analysis of macro- and micro minerals showed reasonable levels of required dietary minerals (phosphorus, magnesium, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc) and apparent copper digestibility was high (93 %). Contamination levels present in BSPR were below European standards acceptable for human consumption. Processing remains of brown shrimp have a high potential as alternative feed ingredient in sustainable diets for L. vannamei in recirculating aquaculture systems

Melding Wildlife Surveys to Improve Conservation Inference

Integrated models are a popular tool for analyzing species of conservation concern. Species of conservation concern are often monitored by multiple entities that generate several datasets. Individually, these datasets may be insufficient for guiding management due to low spatio-temporal resolution, biased sampling, or large observational uncertainty. Integrated models provide an approach for assimilating multiple datasets in a coherent framework that can compensate for these deficiencies. While conventional integrated models have been used to assimilate count data with surveys of survival, fecundity, and harvest, they can also assimilate ecological surveys that have differing spatio-temporal regions and observational uncertainties. Motivated by independent aerial and ground surveys of lesser prairie-chicken abundance, we developed an integrated modeling approach that assimilates density estimates derived from surveys with distinct sources of observational error into a joint framework that provides shared inference on spatio-temporal trends. For implementation, we model these data using a Bayesian Markov melding approach and apply several data augmentation strategies for efficient sampling. Our integrated model decreased uncertainty in annual density estimates, facilitated prediction at unsampled regions, and quantified the inferential cost associated with reduced survey effort.Comment: 22 pages; 5 figures, 1 table, submitted to Biometric

A Numerical Study on the Pool Boiling with Foam Surface Enhancement Using Different Refrigerants

The pool boiling process can be observed in several energy conversion processes including commercial and industrial refrigeration, industrial air-cooling operations, and power generation. The process becomes more involved when pool boiling in a tube bundle is considered. In the current study, a numerical model is developed to predict the key performance parameters of a flooded evaporator while considering a range of working fluids. A kettle reboiler configuration was considered, and a performance model was developed to account for boiling on individual tubes, merging of vapor bubbles, and movement under gravity. A volume of fluid (VOF) model was used to deal with the different phases in the simulation. Various fluids were considered in this study including HFE-7000, HFE-7300, and water. The trajectories of the bubbles were tracked, and the resulting information has been summarized in physical measurable quantities