Two fault tolerant toggle-hook release

A coupling device is disclosed which is mechanically two fault tolerant for release. The device comprises a fastener plate and fastener body, each of which is attachable to a different one of a pair of structures to be joined. The fastener plate and body are coupled by an elongate toggle mounted at one end in a socket on the fastener plate for universal pivotal movement thereon. The other end of the toggle is received in an opening in the fastener body and adapted for limited pivotal movement therein. The toggle is adapted to be restrained by three latch hooks arranged in symmetrical equiangular spacing about the axis of the toggle, each hook being mounted on the fastener body for pivotal movement between an unlatching non-contact position with respect to the toggle and a latching position in engagement with a latching surface of the toggle. The device includes releasable lock means for locking each latch hook in its latching position whereby the toggle couples the fastener plate to the fastener body and means for releasing the lock means to unlock each said latch hook from the latch position whereby the unlocking of at least one of the latch hooks from its latching position results in the decoupling of the fastener plate from the fastener body

Relationship of the IBM Writing to Read Program to Lower Elementary Academic Achievement

iv, 103 leaves. Advisor: Hilda WilliamsThe problem. This study measures kindergarten and first grade Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading, language, and composite scores for student cohorts. One group received kindergarten reading instruction through IBM's Writing to Read program while the other group received kindergarten reading instruction through traditional methods. Procedure. The ITBS scores were collected from 112 students and grouped into Writing to Read students and traditional instruction students. An analytical covariance was performed on first grade scores for each subtest, with compensations for group difference through kindergarten scores. Non-statistical post hoc comparisons were also made on second the third grade scores through graphic trendlines. Findings. Significant differences between the groups were found at the kindergarten level. This prompted the need for the analysis of covariance. At the first grade level, significant differences between the groups were found in the Language subtests only. In the post hoc comparisons, all differences, significant or not, disappeared by third grade. Conclusions. l. Practically significant increases in first grade language, and composite scores were recorded by who had been taught through IBM's Writing to Read program. Statistically significant increases were recorded only for composite scores. 2. By the third grade, scores recorded by students taught via Writing to Read as kindergartners were not significantly different from similar students taught through traditional methods in the experimental or baseline groups. 3. It is unlikely that the computer-assisted component of the Writing to Read program had even the short-term effects demonstrated in the early grades. 4. Third grade score means the experimental group were slightly lower than could have been expected by historical averages! but not significantly lower. Recommendations. 1. The IBM Writing to Read program was an effective method increasing student test scores in the early elementary grades in the short term. 2. Further research is needed on the specific skills taught by Writing to read. 3. Further longitudinal research is needed on the possibility of student burn-out in third grade and beyond as a result of increased kindergarten reading instruction through Writing to Read

Paradigmatic Status and Reform Potential of Iowa Superintendents

[vi], 283 leaves. Advisor: S. Pike HallThe problem: Because it is difficult for the educational practitioner to ascertain the direction of educational reform, this study surveyed a sample of superintendents on their views, suggested by Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigms, on the classical schools of education, perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism, and on the three state-offered reform initiatives in Iowa, The Iowa Initiative for World-class Schools, the New State Standards for lowa Schools, and the views of William Lepley, director of the state Department of Education. Procedures: From the 376 superintendents in lowa, thirty were chosen, representing those with little, moderate, and high tenure. Each subject was given the Educational Ideologies Inventory (O'Neill, 1981), which produced a score for each subject for each of the four classical schools, and asked a series of questions designed to reveal their opinions on the components of the Iowa reform initiatives. Chi Square, Analysis of Variance, and qualitative analyses were performed on the data. Because of the nature of these data collection instruments, each subject was personally visited by the researcher. Findings: 1. While no educational paradigm was found to exist among Iowa superintendents, progressivism was the educational school voiced by the great majority of the subjects. 2. Tenure in office bore no statistically significant relationship to educational school held by the superintendents. 3. The superintendents did not express preference for any of the three reform initatives over the other two. 4. A relationship, though not demonstrated statistically, between tenure in office and support for specific reform proposals, did exist. Recommendations: 1. Further research should be conducted on educational stakeholders' views on the individual components of the classical education schools and on the changes in stakeholder's view over time. 2. Increasing support for specific reform proposals, among the ten offered in the three reform initatives, is possible through state action aimed at removing obstacles perceived by school district superintendents. 3. A synthesis of these three reform initiatives will assist the Iowa educational community in implementing the offered proposals rather than advocating specific reports without requisite attention to their similarities and differences in content

Measuring Returns to Hospital Care: Evidence from Ambulance Referral Patterns

We consider whether hospitals that receive higher payments from Medicare improve patient outcomes, using exogenous variation in ambulance company assignment among patients who live near one another. Using Medicare data from 2002–10 on assignment across ambulance companies and New York State data from 2000–6 on assignment across area boundaries, we find that patients who are brought to higher-cost hospitals achieve better outcomes. Our estimates imply that a one standard deviation increase in Medicare reimbursement leads to a 4 percentage point (or 10 percent) reduction in mortality; the implied cost per at least 1 year of life saved is approximately $80,000.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01 AG41794-01

Mechanobiology of Antimicrobial Resistant Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua

A majority of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in the United States are associated with biofilms. Nanoscale biophysical measures are increasingly revealing that adhesive and viscoelastic properties of bacteria play essential roles across multiple stages of biofilm development. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) applied to strains with variation in antimicrobial resistance enables new opportunities for investigating the function of adhesive forces (stickiness) in biofilm formation. AFM force spectroscopy analysis of a field strain of Listeria innocua and the strain Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 revealed differing adhesive forces between antimicrobial resistant and nonresistant strains. Significant increases in stickiness were found at the nanonewton level for strains of Listeria innocua and Escherichia coli in association with benzalkonium chloride and silver nanoparticle resistance respectively. This advancement in the usage of AFM provides for a fast and reliable avenue for analyzing antimicrobial resistant cells and the molecular dynamics of biofilm formation as a protective mechanism

Quantitative Analysis of Supporting Cell Subtype Labeling Among CreER Lines in the Neonatal Mouse Cochlea

Four CreER lines that are commonly used in the auditory field to label cochlear supporting cells (SCs) are expressed in multiple SC subtypes, with some lines also showing reporter expression in hair cells (HCs). We hypothesized that altering the tamoxifen dose would modify CreER expression and target subsets of SCs. We also used two different reporter lines, ROSA26 (tdTomato) and CAG-eGFP, to achieve the same goal. Our results confirm previous reports that Sox2 (CreERT2) and Fgfr3-iCreER (T2) are not only expressed in neonatal SCs but also in HCs. Decreasing the tamoxifen dose did not reduce HC expression for Sox2 (CreERT2) , but changing to the CAG-eGFP reporter decreased reporter-positive HCs sevenfold. However, there was also a significant decrease in the number of reporter-positive SCs. In contrast, there was a large reduction in reporter-positive HCs in Fgfr3-iCreER (T2) mice with the lowest tamoxifen dose tested yet only limited reduction in SC labeling. The targeting of reporter expression to inner phalangeal and border cells was increased when Plp-CreER (T2) was paired with the CAG-eGFP reporter; however, the total number of labeled cells decreased. Changes to the tamoxifen dose or reporter line with Prox1 (CreERT2) caused minimal changes. Our data demonstrate that modifications to the tamoxifen dose or the use of different reporter lines may be successful in narrowing the numbers and/or types of cells labeled, but each CreER line responded differently. When the ROSA26 (tdTomato) reporter was combined with any of the four CreER lines, there was no difference in the number of tdTomato-positive cells after one or two injections of tamoxifen given at birth. Thus, tamoxifen-mediated toxicity could be reduced by only giving one injection. While the CAG-eGFP reporter consistently labeled fewer cells, both reporter lines are valuable depending on the goal of the study