Radio as an Apparatus of Transformation: Adaptation of Existing Literary Forms in Twentieth-Century German Hörspiele

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Spring 2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Caroline Kit

A Proposed Learner-Centered Mechatronics Engineering Instructional Program

This paper examines the need and requirements for a mechatronics degree program. The results of a survey of the few existing programs in this field are provided. Then, using a case study example for Virginia Tech, a proposed mechatronics curriculum based on a learner-centered paradigm is described. The curriculum combines existing courses in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering with new, hands-on courses to provide students with a chance to practice and explore the subject matter in ways consistent with the demands of both industry and accreditation. This program, if implemented, could provide a university with a unique offering to attract top students by better preparing them for the types of problems they will encounter in the modern world

Hydrogel microparticles for biosensing

Due to their hydrophilic, biocompatible, and highly tunable nature, hydrogel materials have attracted strong interest in the recent years for numerous biotechnological applications. In particular, their solution-like environment and non-fouling nature in complex biological samples render hydrogels as ideal substrates for biosensing applications. Hydrogel coatings, and later, gel dot surface microarrays, were successfully used in sensitive nucleic acid assays and immunoassays. More recently, new microfabrication techniques for synthesizing encoded particles from hydrogel materials have enabled the development of hydrogel-based suspension arrays. Lithography processes and droplet-based microfluidic techniques enable generation of libraries of particles with unique spectral or graphical codes, for multiplexed sensing in biological samples. In this review, we discuss the key questions arising when designing hydrogel particles dedicated to biosensing. How can the hydrogel material be engineered in order to tune its properties and immobilize bioprobes inside? What are the strategies to fabricate and encode gel particles, and how can particles be processed and decoded after the assay? Finally, we review the bioassays reported so far in the literature that have used hydrogel particle arrays and give an outlook of further developments of the field. Keywords: Hydrogel; Biosensor; Microparticle; Multiplex assayNovartis Institutes of Biomedical Research (Presidential Fellowship)Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research (Education Office)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Grant 5R21CA177393-02)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant CMMI-1120724)Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (Grant W911NF-09-0001)United States. Army Research Offic

The influence of Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft System design on spray drift

Es wurden Feldversuche durchgeführt, um den Einfluss der Bauart von unbemannten Luftfahrzeugen (Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft Systems, UAAS) auf das Bodense­diment der Abdrift im Ackerbau festzustellen. Zudem wurde die Verteilung der Spritzflüssigkeit auf der Behand­lungsfläche ermittelt. Zusätzlich wurde als mögliche Alternative zur Messung des Bodensediments auch das luftgetragene Abdriftpotenzial am Rand der Behandlungsfläche bestimmt.Vier verschiedene UAAS dreier unterschiedlicher Bauarten, ein 1-Rotor-, ein 6-Rotor- und zwei 8-Rotor-UAAS wurden untersucht. Alle UAAS hatten unterschiedliche Spritzgestänge, wurden aber jeweils mit gleichen Düsen bestückt: Lechler TR 80–0067 und Lechler IDK 120–015, mit denen jeweils 40 l ha–1 bzw. 75 l ha–1 appliziert wurden.Weder für die UAAS-Bauart noch für die Düse konnte ein Einfluss auf die Verteilung der Spritzflüssigkeit auf der Behandlungsfläche festgestellt werden; der Variationskoeffizient der Querverteilung lag generell zwischen 40% und 50%.Die Untersuchungsergebnisse zeigen, dass der Einfluss der UAAS-Bauart gegenüber dem Einfluss der Düse vernachlässigbar ist. Wie bei anderen Pflanzenschutzgeräten verursachte die Hohlkegeldüse TR 80–0067 wesentlich mehr Abdrift als die Luftinjektor-Flachstrahldüse IDK 120–015. Bei beiden Düsentypen lag das Bodensediment wesentlich über den in Deutschland für die Risikobewertung im Ackerbau verwendeten Abdrifteckwerten.Zwischen dem Bodensediment und dem am Rand der Behandlungsfläche ermittelten luftgetragenen Abdriftpotenzial wurde eine enge Korrelation gefunden. Somit scheint das Abdriftpotenzial eine brauchbare Alternative, zumindest für den Vergleich unterschiedlicher Appli­kationstechniken, darzustellen. Für gesicherte Aussagen hierzu sind jedoch weitere Untersuchungen notwendig.Field experiments were conducted to determine the influence of the Unmanned Agricultural Aircraft Systems (UAAS) design on spray drift sediment during a common arable field application in consideration of the spray deposit distribution. In addition, airborne drift collectors were used to determine the initial drift potential as a possible alternative for characterising the spray drift.Four models of UAAS representing three different designs, one single rotor, one 6-rotor and two 8-rotor designs, were involved in the study. All UAASs where equipped with individual spraying systems but the same nozzles were used: Lechler TR 80–0067 and Lechler IDK 120–015, providing nominal application rates of 40 l ha–1 and 75 l ha–1, respectively.There was no influence of the UAAS design or the nozzle type on the spray distribution quality on the treated area. In general, the coefficient of spray deposit variation was 40% to 50%.The results of the study show that the effect of the UAAS design on spray drift was relatively low compared to the influence of the type of nozzles used. As for other application techniques, the conventional hollow cone nozzle TR 80–0067 produced much more spray drift compared to the air induction flat fan nozzle IDK 120–015. With both types of nozzles, the ground sediment of spray drift was much higher than the standard drift values used by German authorities for drift risk assessments for boom sprayers in arable crops.A good correlation was found between drift sediment and airborne drift potential. As the latter seems to be a suitable alternative, at least for comparing different spraying systems, further studies should be conducted also for other application techniques

Detection of Ly\beta auto-correlations and Ly\alpha-Ly\beta cross-correlations in BOSS Data Release 9

The Lyman-$\beta$ forest refers to a region in the spectra of distant quasars that lies between the rest-frame Lyman-$\beta$ and Lyman-$\gamma$ emissions. The forest in this region is dominated by a combination of absorption due to resonant Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ scattering. When considering the 1D Ly$\beta$ forest in addition to the 1D Ly$\alpha$ forest, the full statistical description of the data requires four 1D power spectra: Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ auto-power spectra and the Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ real and imaginary cross-power spectra. We describe how these can be measured using an optimal quadratic estimator that naturally disentangles Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ contributions. Using a sample of approximately 60,000 quasar sight-lines from the BOSS Data Release 9, we make the measurement of the one-dimensional power spectrum of fluctuations due to the Ly$\beta$ resonant scattering. While we have not corrected our measurements for resolution damping of the power and other systematic effects carefully enough to use them for cosmological constraints, we can robustly conclude the following: i) Ly$\beta$ power spectrum and Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ cross spectra are detected with high statistical significance; ii) the cross-correlation coefficient is $\approx 1$ on large scales; iii) the Ly$\beta$ measurements are contaminated by the associated OVI absorption, which is analogous to the SiIII contamination of the Ly$\alpha$ forest. Measurements of the Ly$\beta$ forest will allow extension of the usable path-length for the Ly$\alpha$ measurements while allowing a better understanding of the physics of intergalactic medium and thus more robust cosmological constraints.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures; matches version accepted by JCA

Radiation-induced Assembly of Rad51 and Rad52 Recombination Complex Requires ATM and c-Abl

Cells from individuals with the recessive cancer-prone disorder ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) are hypersensitive to ionizing radiation (I-R). ATM (mutated in A-T) is a protein kinase whose activity is stimulated by I-R. c-Abl, a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase, interacts with ATM and is activated by ATM following I-R. Rad51 is a homologue of bacterial RecA protein required for DNA recombination and repair. Here we demonstrate that there is an I-R-induced Rad51 tyrosine phosphorylation, and this induction is dependent on both ATM and c-Abl. ATM, c-Abl, and Rad51 can be co-immunoprecipitated from cell extracts. Consistent with the physical interaction, c-Abl phosphorylates Rad51 in vitro and in vivo. In assays using purified components, phosphorylation of Rad51 by c-Abl enhances complex formation between Rad51 and Rad52, which cooperates with Rad51 in recombination and repair. After I-R, an increase in association between Rad51 and Rad52 occurs in wild-type cells but not in cells with mutations that compromise ATM or c-Abl. Our data suggest signaling mediated through ATM, and c-Abl is required for the correct post-translational modification of Rad51, which is critical for the assembly of Rad51 repair protein complex following I-R

Immediate Return to Ambulation and Improved Functional Capacity for Rehabilition in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome following Early Implantation of a Spinal Cord Stimulation System

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a neuropathic pain condition that is characterized by vasomotor, sensory, sudomotor, and motor symptoms. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been successfully utilized for the treatment of pain refractory to conventional therapies. We present a case of a previously highly functioning 54-year-old female who developed a rarely reported case of idiopathic CRPS of the right ankle which spontaneously occurred four months after an uncomplicated anterior cervical disc fusion. This condition resulted in severe pain and functional impairment that was unresponsive to pharmacological management. The patient\u27s rehabilitation was severely stymied by her excruciating pain. However, with the initiation of spinal cord stimulation, her pain was adequately controlled allowing for progression to full unassisted ambulation, advancing functional capacity, and improving quality of life. This case report supports the concept that rapid progression to neuromodulation, rather than delays that occur due to attempts at serial sympathetic blocks, may better control symptoms leading allowing for a more meaningful recover

High-Throughput Contact Flow Lithography

High-throughput fabrication of graphically encoded hydrogel microparticles is achieved by combining flow contact lithography in a multichannel microfluidic device and a high capacity 25 mm LED UV source. Production rates of chemically homogeneous particles are improved by two orders of magnitude. Additionally, the custom-built contact lithography instrument provides an affordable solution for patterning complex microstructures on surfaces.clos

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Ly{\alpha} forest of BOSS DR11 quasars

We report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the flux-correlation function of the Ly{\alpha} forest of high-redshift quasars with a statistical significance of five standard deviations. The study uses 137,562 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Data Release 11 (DR11) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of SDSS-III. This sample contains three times the number of quasars used in previous studies. The measured position of the BAO peak determines the angular distance, $D_A(z=2.34)$ and expansion rate, $H(z=2.34)$, both on a scale set by the sound horizon at the drag epoch, $r_d$. We find $D_A/r_d=11.28\pm0.65(1\sigma)^{+2.8}_{-1.2}(2\sigma)$ and $D_H/r_d=9.18\pm0.28(1\sigma)\pm0.6(2\sigma)$ where $D_H=c/H$. The optimal combination, $\sim D_H^{0.7}D_A^{0.3}/r_d$ is determined with a precision of $\sim2\%$. For the value $r_d=147.4~{\rm Mpc}$, consistent with the CMB power spectrum measured by Planck, we find $D_A(z=2.34)=1662\pm96(1\sigma)~{\rm Mpc}$ and $H(z=2.34)=222\pm7(1\sigma)~{\rm km\,s^{-1}Mpc^{-1}}$. Tests with mock catalogs and variations of our analysis procedure have revealed no systematic uncertainties comparable to our statistical errors. Our results agree with the previously reported BAO measurement at the same redshift using the quasar-Ly{\alpha} forest cross-correlation. The auto-correlation and cross-correlation approaches are complementary because of the quite different impact of redshift-space distortion on the two measurements. The combined constraints from the two correlation functions imply values of $D_A/r_d$ and $D_H/r_d$ that are, respectively, 7% low and 7% high compared to the predictions of a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model with the best-fit Planck parameters. With our estimated statistical errors, the significance of this discrepancy is $\approx 2.5\sigma$.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 17 pages, 18 figure