Generic implementation of CAD models for nuclear simulation

The goal of this project is to utilize the preexisting framework of GADRAS to simulate the radiation leakage from arbitrary CAD models without sacrificing speed or accuracy. The proposed solution is to use STL files to define models. Then, a three-dimension binning structure is created to contain all the elements of the file. This results in preservation of speed, without adding higher performance hardware requirements. Finally, the discretization is performed using a three-dimension framework to utilize GADRAS’ refinement algorithm. The combination of these two enhancements results in an absolute error within 10% for standard conditions, and 20% for edge case conditions. The addition of arbitrary models will simplify the modeling process for complex shapes, allow for more flexible models, and allow for creation of models that are simply impossible in the current framework.Mechanical Engineerin

2022 Fitness Trends from Around the Globe

From this article, the reader should be able to Identify top 20 fitness trends for Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. Recognize individual and unique fitness trends represented within Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Mexico, Spain, and the United State

Multilevel needs assessment of physical activity, sport, psychological needs, and nutrition in rural children and adults

IntroductionPhysical activity yields significant benefits, yet fewer than 1 in 4 youth meet federal guidelines. Children in rural areas from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds face unique physical activity contextual challenges. In line with Stage 0 with the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development, the objective of the present study was to conduct a community-engaged needs assessment survey with middle school children and adults to identify perceptions, barriers, and facilitators of physical activity, sport, psychological needs, and nutrition from a multi-level lens.MethodsA cross-sectional survey data collection was conducted with children (n = 39) and adults (n = 63) from one middle school community in the Midwestern United States. The child sample was 33% 6th grade; 51% 7th grade and was 49% female. The adult sample was primarily between 30 and 39 years old (70%) and comprised predominantly of females (85%). Multi-level survey design was guided by the psychological needs mini-theory within self-determination theory and aimed to identify individual perceptions, barriers, and facilitators in line with the unique context of the community.ResultsAt the individual level, 71.8% of children and 82.2% of the overall sample (children and adults) were interested in new physical activity/sport programming for their school. Likewise, 89.7% of children and 96.8% of adults agree that PA is good for physical health. For basic psychological needs in the overall sample, relatedness was significantly greater than the autonomy and competence subscales. Children’s fruit and vegetable intake were below recommended levels, yet only 43.6% of children were interested in nutritional programming. Conversely, 61.5% indicated interest at increasing leadership skills. At the policy-systems-environmental level, the respondents’ feedback indicated that the condition and availability of equipment are areas in need of improvement to encourage more physical activity. Qualitative responses are presented within for physical activity-related school policy changes.DiscussionInterventions addressing children’s physical activity lack sustainability, scalability, and impact due to limited stakeholder involvement and often neglect early behavioral intervention stages. The present study identified perspectives, barriers, and facilitators of physical activity, sport, psychological needs, and nutrition in a multi-level context and forms the initial campus-community partnership between scientists and community stakeholders

Association Between Proteomic Blood Biomarkers and DTI/NODDI Metrics in Adolescent Football Players: A Pilot Study

While neuroimaging and blood biomarker have been two of the most active areas of research in the neurotrauma community, these fields rarely intersect to delineate subconcussive brain injury. The aim of the study was to examine the association between diffusion MRI techniques [diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation/dispersion density imaging (NODDI)] and brain-injury blood biomarker levels [tau, neurofilament-light (NfL), glial-fibrillary-acidic-protein (GFAP)] in high-school football players at their baseline, aiming to detect cumulative neuronal damage from prior seasons. Twenty-five football players were enrolled in the study. MRI measures and blood samples were obtained during preseason data collection. The whole-brain, tract-based spatial statistics was conducted for six diffusion metrics: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial/radial diffusivity (AD, RD), neurite density index (NDI), and orientation dispersion index (ODI). Five players were ineligible for MRIs, and three serum samples were excluded due to hemolysis, resulting in 17 completed set of diffusion metrics and blood biomarker levels for association analysis. Our permutation-based regression model revealed that serum tau levels were significantly associated with MD and NDI in various axonal tracts; specifically, elevated serum tau levels correlated to elevated MD (p = 0.0044) and reduced NDI (p = 0.016) in the corpus callosum and surrounding white matter tracts (e.g., longitudinal fasciculus). Additionally, there was a negative association between NfL and ODI in the focal area of the longitudinal fasciculus. Our data suggest that high school football players may develop axonal microstructural abnormality in the corpus callosum and surrounding white matter tracts, such as longitudinal fasciculus. A future study is warranted to determine the longitudinal multimodal relationship in response to repetitive exposure to sports-related head impacts

Doctoral Chamber Recital

List of performers and performances

Modeling and Predicting Serious CWBs Using Improved Analytic Methods

Research seeking to study and prevent serious forms of employee misbehaviors has been stymied by low incident rates and non-normal responses. Polychoric (cf., Pearson) correlation -based analytic methods offer solutions to these kinds of data. This 2-study (N = 172; N = 454) research provides support for these analytic methods in building models that distinguish serious and minor CWBs

Subconcussive head impact exposure between drill intensities in U.S. high school football

USA Football established five levels-of-contact to guide the intensity of high school football practices. The objective of this study was to examine head impact frequency and magnitude by levels-of-contact to determine which drills had the greatest head impact exposure. Our primary hypothesis was that there would be an incremental increase in season-long head impact exposure between levels-of-contact: air100g) head impacts were more frequently observed during live and thud drills. Level-of-contact influences cumulative head impact frequency and magnitude in high-school football, with players incurring frequent, high magnitude head impacts during live, thud, and control. It is important to consider level-of-contact to refine clinical exposure guidelines to minimize head impact burden in high-school football

Fitness Trends from around the Globe

Apply It! From this article, the reader should be able to do the following: • Identify top 20 fitness trends for Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Mexico, Spain, and the United States • Recognize individual and unique fitness trends represented within Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Mexico, Spain, and the United State

XANES measurements of sulfur chemistry during asphalt oxidation

Sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy is used to measure how the speciation of sulfur compounds evolves within a warm-mix asphalt as a consequence of the Rolling Thin-Film Oven (RTFO) and Pressure Aging Vessel (PAV) oxidative aging procedures. Identifying the types of sulfur compounds present is important for quantifying the growth in polar sulfur-containing species that can alter the asphalt\u27s mechanical properties over time. Elemental analysis indicates that the sulfur content of the asphalt holds constant at 5 wt% during aging. XANES analysis indicates that thiophenic sulfur compounds are most prevalent (62%), followed by sulfide and elemental sulfur compounds. RTFO and PAV aging cause smaller and larger shifts, respectively, from sulfide to sulfoxide. The amount of unreacted sulfide remains larger than the amount of sulfoxide, even with PAV aging. The XANES spectra lack features that would be expected if engine oil additives indicative of recycled engine oil bottoms were present. The results indicate the importance of including thiophene, sulfide, and sulfoxide chemistries within molecular asphalt models

Longitudinal associations of clinical and biochemical head injury biomarkers with head impact exposure in adolescent football players

Consequences of subconcussive head impacts have been recognized, yet most studies to date have included small samples from a single site, used a unimodal approach, and lacked repeated testing.Published versionThis study was supported by grant R01NS113950 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Prof Kawata) and SCTBIRF 00055049 from the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund, Indiana State Department of Health (Prof Kawata). Computational simulations were supported by CAREER award 1846059 from the National Science Foundation (Dr Kraft)