Water Poverty in California’s Rural Disadvantaged Communities

California, the eighth largest economy in the world, has nearly one million residents that lack daily access to clean drinking water, yet it recently became the first state in the US to declare water a human right through the passage of 2013 Assembly Bill 685. The majority of water quality violations take place in the rural San Joaquin Valley in unincorporated, low-income communities, which have difficulties accessing clean, drinking water due to issues including quality, affordability, and physical accessibility. The role of community integration in improving water poverty has been studied extensively in developing countries but its impact is infrequently studied in the developed world. This study uses a comparative case study approach to ask the question: How does community integration affect access to drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley? The study finds that local community participation, interaction with non-profits, and public resources can improve the quality of drinking water in rural, disadvantaged communities

Diet uniformity at an early farming community in northwest Anatolia (Turkey) : carbon and nitrogen isotope studies of bone collagen at Aktopraklik

Aktopraklık is a settlement site composed of three areas (A–C) in the Marmara region of northwest Anatolia, with phases of occupation that date to the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods, mid-seventh to mid-sixth millennium bc (ca. 6400–5600 cal. bc). Here, we present 54 human and fauna bone collagen stable isotope results from the site, alongside five modern fish bone collagen isotope results, to examine the nature of human diet. The stable isotope analysis shows that human diet comprised the consumption of select C3 terrestrial resources, with a preference for domestic animal proteins over plant proteins. The evidence to date suggests that animal husbandry was at the forefront of Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic subsistence practices. No isotopic difference in humans is observed between biological sex or between areas B and C at the settlement

Lacrosse Ball Passing Machine

Design and build a lacrosse ball passing machine that utilizes an automated ball sorting mechanism to shoot balls up to 60 mph with 80 percent accuracy at a 1 square yard target

The effect of design variations on stresses in total ankle arthroplasty

The objective of this study was to analyze stresses and strains in the talus and the Ultra-High-Molecular-Polyethylene (UHMWPE) insert with two talar component designs of the Agility® ankle implant. A three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) model of the tibia, fibula, talus and the implant was developed for the study. An analytical solution of two counterformal cylinders was derived and a two-dimensional cross-sectional FEM model was included to investigate how the results of stresses in the UHMWPE correlate to the three-dimensional model. The analysis of the three-dimensional model found stress concentrations in the UHMWPE due to edges of the talar components. The wider talar component decreased stresses in the middle of the sagittal plane below the yield limit, although, the peak stresses at the edges remained unchanged. We showed that it was possible for von Mises stress to increase while contact pressure decreased. This phenomenon was observed for different Poisson?s ratios and thicknesses of the UHMWPE insert. We found that there was a qualitative discrepancy between the results from two-dimensional models and the three-dimensional model for the narrower original talar design which was directly related to the assumption of plane strain condition of the two-dimensional model. The potential subsidence of talar component of the implant into the cancellous bone of the talus was investigated based on strain failure criteria. Results showed that the edges produced localized yielding of cancellous bone in both of the talar component designs. The yielding zone was wider in the narrower implant. A failure of cancellous bone, defined as 1.5% strain, was predicted for both of the talar components on the posterior-medial corner. The strain in this corner reached 1.7% for the wider component and 2.6% for the narrower component. The average strain fell from 0.39% for the standard talar component to 0.3% for the modified component, both below the yield strain of 0.8%. In studying the effect of flexion angle, a full support of the talar component by cortical bone was found to be beneficia

A conceptual design of a Software Base Management System for the Computer Aided Prototyping System

This thesis builds upon work previously done in the development of the Computer Aided Prototyping System (CAPS) and the Prototype System Description Language (PSDL), and presents a conceptual design for the Software Base Management System (SBMS) component of CAPS. The SBMS is the most critical component of CAPS as it will coordinate the retrieval and integration of Ada software modules. A robust SBMS that enables a software system designer to successfully retrieve reusable Ada components will expedite the prototype development process and enhance designer productivity. Implementation of the conceptual design will be the basis for further work in this area. (Ada is a registered trademark of the United States Government, Ada Joint Program Office.)http://archive.org/details/conceptualdesign00galiLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

A Single Dose of Atorvastatin Applied Acutely after Spinal Cord Injury Suppresses Inflammation, Apoptosis, and Promotes Axon Outgrowth, Which Might Be Essential for Favorable Functional Outcome.

The aim of our study was to limit the inflammatory response after a spinal cord injury (SCI) using Atorvastatin (ATR), a potent inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis. Adult Wistar rats were divided into five experimental groups: one control group, two Th9 compression (40 g/15 min) groups, and two Th9 compression + ATR (5 mg/kg, i.p.) groups. The animals survived one day and six weeks. ATR applied in a single dose immediately post-SCI strongly reduced IL-1β release at 4 and 24 h and considerably reduced the activation of resident cells at one day post-injury. Acute ATR treatment effectively prevented the excessive infiltration of destructive M1 macrophages cranially, at the lesion site, and caudally (by 66%, 62%, and 52%, respectively) one day post-injury, whereas the infiltration of beneficial M2 macrophages was less affected (by 27%, 41%, and 16%). In addition, at the same time point, ATR visibly decreased caspase-3 cleavage in neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Six weeks post-SCI, ATR increased the expression of neurofilaments in the dorsolateral columns and Gap43-positive fibers in the lateral columns around the epicenter, and from day 30 to 42, significantly improved the motor activity of the hindlimbs. We suggest that early modulation of the inflammatory response via effects on the M1/M2 macrophages and the inhibition of caspase-3 expression could be crucial for the functional outcome