FAMILY MATTERS: The Effects of Filipino U.S. Air Force Membership Across Generations

In my thesis, I explore the effects of Filipino U.S. Air Force membership on the family by analyzing the experiences of Filipino enlisted parents and their children. Through the lens of Filipino psychology terms utang na loob (“debt of gratitude”) and kapwa (interconnectedness, sharing an identity) and studies on “demilitarized domesticity” (Suarez, 2015) and “emotional transnationalism” (Wolf, 1997), I discuss the dissonant perspectives of Filipino parents and children regarding military membership. While Filipino parents willingly embraced the Air Force because it “took care” of them and their families, their children experienced more negative side effects, including parental absence and increased responsibility. My research presents a situation in which Filipino parents perceived the Air Force as the best option now and for their children in the future despite the real and significant cost on the family and children’s attempts to demilitarize their lives as young adults

Non-invasive Diabetes Detection using Gabor Filter: A Comparative Analysis of Different Cameras

This paper compares and explores the performance of both mobile device camera and laptop camera as convenient tool for capturing images for non-invasive detection of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) using facial block texture features. Participants within age bracket 20 to 79 years old were chosen for the dataset. 12mp and 7mp mobile cameras, and a laptop camera were used to take the photo under normal lighting condition. Extracted facial blocks were classified using k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). 100 images were captured, preprocessed, filtered using Gabor, and iterated. Performance of the system was measured in terms of accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity. Best performance of 96.7% accuracy, 100% sensitivity, and 93% specificity were achieved from 12mp back camera using SVM with 100 images.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, conferenc

Mars Aquarius Mission and Titan Explorer

The Mars Aquarius Mission is designed to carry out several scientific studies of the surface and subsurface of Mars with an emphasis on locating subterranean water. This mission is a precursor to a manned mission to Mars. A manned mission will require an extended stay on the planet's surface, and an accessible source of water will greatly simplify life support requirements. Using data from previous Mars observations, four sites were selected as possible locations of subsurface water. The Aquarius spacecraft carries one penetrator for each of these sites

S-glutathionylation of buccal cell proteins as biomarkers of exposure to hydrogen peroxide

AbstractBackgroundExogenous or endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can lead to oxidation of cellular nucleophiles, particularly cysteines in proteins. Commercial mouthwashes containing H2O2 provide the opportunity to determine clinically whether changes in S-glutathionylation of susceptible proteins in buccal mucosa cells can be used as biomarkers of ROS exposure.MethodsUsing an exploratory clinical protocol, 18 disease-free volunteers rinsed with a mouthwash containing 1.5% H2O2 (442mM) over four consecutive days. Exfoliated buccal cell samples were collected prior and post-treatment and proteomics were used to identify S-glutathionylated proteins.ResultsFour consecutive daily treatments with the H2O2-containing mouthwash induced significant dose and time-dependent increases in S-glutathionylation of buccal cell proteins, stable for at least 30min following treatments. Elevated levels of S-glutathionylation were maintained with subsequent daily exposure. Increased S-glutathionylation preceded and correlated with transcriptional activation of ROS sensitive genes, such as ATF3, and with the presence of 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine. Data from a human buccal cell line TR146 were consistent with the trial results. We identified twelve proteins that were S-glutathionylated following H2O2 exposure.ConclusionsBuccal cells can predict exposure to ROS through increased levels of S-glutathionylation of proteins. These post-translationally modified proteins serve as biomarkers for the effects of H2O2 in the oral cavity and in the future, may be adaptable as extrapolated pharmacodynamic biomarkers for assessing the impact of other systemic drugs that cause ROS and/or impact redox homeostasis.General significanceS-glutathionylation of buccal cell proteins can be used as a quantitative measure of exposure to ROS

Early Adolescents’ Food Selection After Evaluating the Healthiness of Remote Peers’ Food Choices

This study investigates whether asking early adolescents to evaluate the food choices of remote peers improves their own food selection. Participants were students from fifth (N = 219, Mage = 9.30 years) and sixth grades (N = 248, Mage = 10.28 years) of varying nationalities living in the United Arab Emirates (race and ethnicity were not collected). Students saw peers\u27 healthy or unhealthy food choices before picking their own food. In some conditions, students also critically evaluated the healthiness of the peers\u27 choices. Evaluation of peer choices led to healthier decisions (d = .53) to the point that it offsets the negative impact of observing unhealthy peer choices. This effect is larger for sixth graders compared to fifth graders

Space Debris: The prevention and removal of orbital debris

The ever increasing popularity of space travel brings about important innovative discoveries, however the expanding presence of debris in space poses a threat to the security of Low Earth Orbits. This project aims to address the orbital debris problem through a multifaceted approach. The project will consider unique solutions for debris mitigation and removal, describe current policies that address de-orbiting satellites after their useful life and space traffic management. In addition, it addresses the problem from a technical standpoint including categorizing existing debris and current removal solutions, both successful and not. Through this project, we hope to enact positive change in local and national space law by proposing orbital debris mitigation and satellite removal policies to governing officials. On the technical side, we will brainstorm ideas for a debris removal concept based on our research of existing solutions, which will eventually lead to a working prototype of our design. Another product of this research is to provide an educational resource on the topic of space debris, bringing light to the problem. The collection of information is ongoing as we continue to learn about existing debris in space

The white matter connectome as an individualized biomarker of language impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy.

ObjectiveThe distributed white matter network underlying language leads to difficulties in extracting clinically meaningful summaries of neural alterations leading to language impairment. Here we determine the predictive ability of the structural connectome (SC), compared with global measures of white matter tract microstructure and clinical data, to discriminate language impaired patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) from TLE patients without language impairment.MethodsT1- and diffusion-MRI, clinical variables (CVs), and neuropsychological measures of naming and verbal fluency were available for 82 TLE patients. Prediction of language impairment was performed using a robust tree-based classifier (XGBoost) for three models: (1) a CV-model which included demographic and epilepsy-related clinical features, (2) an atlas-based tract-model, including four frontotemporal white matter association tracts implicated in language (i.e., the bilateral arcuate fasciculus, inferior frontal occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus), and (3) a SC-model based on diffusion MRI. For the association tracts, mean fractional anisotropy was calculated as a measure of white matter microstructure for each tract using a diffusion tensor atlas (i.e., AtlasTrack). The SC-model used measurement of cortical-cortical connections arising from a temporal lobe subnetwork derived using probabilistic tractography. Dimensionality reduction of the SC was performed with principal components analysis (PCA). Each model was trained on 49 patients from one epilepsy center and tested on 33 patients from a different center (i.e., an independent dataset). Randomization was performed to test the stability of the results.ResultsThe SC-model yielded a greater area under the curve (AUC; .73) and accuracy (79%) compared to both the tract-model (AUC: .54, p < .001; accuracy: 70%, p < .001) and the CV-model (AUC: .59, p < .001; accuracy: 64%, p < .001). Within the SC-model, lateral temporal connections had the highest importance to model performance, including connections similar to language association tracts such as links between the superior temporal gyrus to pars opercularis. However, in addition to these connections many additional connections that were widely distributed, bilateral and interhemispheric in nature were identified as contributing to SC-model performance.ConclusionThe SC revealed a white matter network contributing to language impairment that was widely distributed, bilateral, and lateral temporal in nature. The distributed network underlying language may be why the SC-model has an advantage in identifying sub-components of the complex fiber networks most relevant for aspects of language performance

Project ASTERIA (Advanced Satellite Technology Exploring Radiation in Aerospace)

Long duration spaceflight and manned missions to other planets are in humanity’s foreseeable future. For scientists and engineers, this means finding better methods at protecting everything on board and preserving human life. The purpose of Project ASTERIA (Advanced Satellite Technology Exploring Radiation in Aerospace) is to find ways to mitigate radiation exposure to living organisms. Research has shown that the use of inflatable layering is an effective way of reducing radiation damage by diminishing the particles in each layer. Another mitigation technique is a water wall. The properties of water (H20) has proved to be effective in deflecting radiation molecules. We will implement the use of water walls and inflatable layers to test radiation absorption and deflection. Through this project, we hope to find supporting evidence that technologies such as these could be used for long duration spaceflight. The use of inflatables and water housing to encapsulate the habitat could provide adequate radiation protection to living organisms. Our end goal is to create a CubeSat that will house a living organism with our protection techniques to measure the amount of radiation it receives. Until then, we will simulate the mission in a software system that is capable in managing the orbit and radiation to the spacecraft

The Out-of-Box Experience of LEGO’s Hidden Side: Augmented Reality (AR)

Out-of-box experience (OOBE) is a method that assesses the first impression of a product and includes the time from when a product is first purchased to unboxing, to setup and usage. A positive OOBE can be facilitated with logical instructions for the end user with the goal of creating a product that is easy to use. Negative first experiences can lead to user frustration and never wanting to use the product again. This study will report on the OOBE of the LEGO® Hidden Side Universe. This LEGO® set is unique because of the augmented reality (AR) game associated with it. AR is a technology that shows digital information over the user’s physical environment to enhance the user’s experience using a device like a smartphone. The interactive game lets users fight off virtual ghosts while interacting with the physical set of LEGOS. This project will discuss the overall experience of unpacking, setting up/configuring, and first use of this LEGO® AR application and suggest improvements in order to further improve this experience

Phonological Facilitation of Object Naming in Agrammatic and Logopenic Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA): Evidence for a Phonological Processing Deficit

Naming is a pervasive deficit in primary progressive aphasia. However, the source of such deficits across PPA variants is little understood. In this study, individuals with agrammatic (PPA-G) and logopenic (PPA-L) PPA, along with age-matched controls, performed a picture-word interference task to test for online phonological processing deficits during naming. All groups exhibited phonological facilitation (PF) effects, i.e., speeded picture naming in the presence of phonologically-related words. However, the PPA participants exhibited abnormally large PF effects that also were protracted, compared to the control group. These results suggest that impaired phonological processing may contribute to anomia in PPA-G and PPA-L