Developing Global Sociotechnical Competency Through Humanitarian Engineering: A Comparison of In-Person and Virtual International Project Experiences

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of engineering educators in the United States and Colombia designed and led a two-week virtual “field session” for engineering undergraduate students that aimed at achieving the same educational outcomes as those from the previous in-country field session. Our NSF PIRE funded Responsible Mining, Resilient Communities (RMRC) project uses multi-country, interinstitutional, and interdisciplinary collaboration to train U.S. engineering students to co-design socially responsible and sustainable artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) systems with mining communities and engineers in Latin America. Drawing from pre- and post-field session student interviews, essays, and survey responses, this article analyzes how the virtual 2020 field session and the in-person 2019 session influenced students’ global sociotechnical competency. We offer a conceptualization of global sociotechnical competency that synthesizes notions of global engineering competency with theories of socially responsible engineering that emphasize problem definition and solution with underserved communities. Our research suggests that whereas many educators raised concerns about the efficacy of virtual formats for student learning and professional development, the 2020 session was effective for enhancing students’ abilities to identify stakeholders and methods to engage them, as well as for using sociotechnical coordination while engaging in problem definition. While the small number of student participants cautions against making broad generalizations, the virtual (2020) and in-person (2019) students experienced similar increases in self-reported empathizing practices with the intended users of their designs; a desire and ability to integrate social concerns into their design; a desire and ability to work with people from different backgrounds; and self-efficacy in engineering. The virtual students were less likely, however, than their in-person counterparts to desire a humanitarian engineering career. While the small number of students raises questions for extrapolating the results of our findings, our research does signal fruitful areas of future research for making humanitarian engineering projects more equitable and effective, even in virtual settings

Red Harvester Ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus F. Smith; Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Preference for Cover Crop Seeds in South Texas

Harvester ants often selectively forage seeds, causing these ants to be viewed as pests in agricultural areas where they may forage on crop seeds. While little research has been done on harvester ant preferences for cover crop seeds, grower observations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) suggest that ants may remove these seeds before germination. We examined red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus F. Smith) preferences for cover crop seeds (fescue, oat, sunn hemp, radish, vetch, and wheatgrass) and the effects of a commonly used bacterial seed inoculant. We evaluated relative preferences using seed depots presented to colonies with no prior exposure to the selected seeds or inoculants. After 24 h, ants had removed oat and radish seeds at the same rate as the preferred wheatgrass control. Fescue, sunn hemp, and vetch seeds were less preferred. The bacterial inoculation of wheatgrass and radish seeds did not alter the removal rates. Further, ant removal of seeds in both trials was dependent on the month and temperature, indicating potential interactions of colony activity levels, availability of seeds in the seed bank, and the intensity of cover crop seed removal. Together, these data indicate that harvester ant foraging preferences and seasonal activity should be considered to help mitigate potential ant predation of cover crops via planting less preferred seeds and at times of lower ant foraging intensity

Evaluación y rediseño de la infraestructura de riego del sector El Ingenio, Distrito de Buenos Aires, Provincia Morropón - Piura

El presente proyecto tiene como finalidad Evaluar y rediseñar la infraestructura de riego del sector El Ingenio, Distrito de Buenos Aires, Provincia Morropón – Piura y para ello se ha seguido distintas pautas y métodos para determinar el diagnostico, realizar estudios básicos como topografía, mecánica de suelos, hidrología, etc. Todo esto ha servido para desarrollar la ingeniería del proyecto como los cálculos hidráulicos, estructurales y presupuesto del proyecto. Los resultados que se han obtenido son los siguientes: El Proyecto consiste en el revestimiento de 3442.97 m de canal de conducción y la construcción de 45 obras de arte necesarias para el correcto funcionamiento del sistema de riego. Cabe indicar que la longitud total del canal es 5,642.97 m. de los cuales 2,200m se encuentran en buen estado al igual que la bocatoma. Actualmente existen 3 partidores en toda la longitud del canal: La Pilca, El Tamarindo y El Guayabo y debido a su estado se ha considerado demolerlos y construirlos nuevamente. El inicio del canal se encuentra en las coordenadas (Datum WGS 84) inicio: 9423156.5158(N), 616644.3382(E) con una cota 142 m.s.n.m. y las coordenadas del punto final tiene las coordenadas 9420320.753(N), 615416.621(E) con una cota de 133.593 m.s.n.m. Con respecto a la pendiente de la rasante del canal, esta varía entre los valores de 0.1 % y 0.4% a lo largo de los 3.443 km de canal. Los suelos encontrados en la zona del proyecto están clasificados según el sistema SUCS como. GC, gravas arcillosas, SC, arenas arcillosas, ML, limos y arenas muy finas o arcilla de baja plasticidad y SM, arenas limosas, mezcla de arena y limo. La sección hidráulica del canal es rectangular con medidas de1.20m x 1.20m. En las progresivas 0+463.94 – 0+500.68 se ha considerado colocar una rápida debido a la fuerte pendiente en ese tramo. En lo que respecta a las características del flujo, este es del tipo subcrítico a lo largo del recorrido de todo el canal. El caudal de diseño es de 2 m3/s. El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a la suma de S/.5’871,438.72 soles

ModuLand plug-in for Cytoscape: determination of hierarchical layers of overlapping network modules and community centrality

Summary: The ModuLand plug-in provides Cytoscape users an algorithm for determining extensively overlapping network modules. Moreover, it identifies several hierarchical layers of modules, where meta-nodes of the higher hierarchical layer represent modules of the lower layer. The tool assigns module cores, which predict the function of the whole module, and determines key nodes bridging two or multiple modules. The plug-in has a detailed JAVA-based graphical interface with various colouring options. The ModuLand tool can run on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS. We demonstrate its use on protein structure and metabolic networks. Availability: The plug-in and its user guide can be downloaded freely from: http://www.linkgroup.hu/modules.php. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary information is available at Bioinformatics online.Comment: 39 pages, 1 figure and a Supplement with 9 figures and 10 table

Electronic structure of liquid water from polarization-dependent two-photon absorption spectroscopy

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jcp/130/8/10.1063/1.3078336.Two-photon absorption (2PA) spectroscopy in the range from 7 to 10 eV provides new insight on the electronic structure of liquid water. Continuous 2PA spectra are obtained via the pump-probe technique, using broadband probe pulses to record the absorption at many wavelengths simultaneously. A preresonance enhancement of the absolute 2PA cross section is observed when the pump-photon energy increases from 4.6 to 6.2 eV. The absorption cross section also depends on the relative polarization of the pump and probe photons. The variation of the polarization ratio across the spectrum reveals a detailed picture of the 2PA and indicates that at least four different transitions play a role below 10 eV. Theoretical polarization ratios for the isolated molecule illustrate the value of the experimental polarization measurement in deciphering the 2PA spectrum and provide the framework for a simple simulation of the liquid spectrum. A more comprehensive model goes beyond the isolated molecule picture and connects the 2PA spectrum with previous one-photon absorption, photoelectron, and x-ray absorptionspectroscopy measurements of liquid water. Previously unresolved, overlapping transitions are assigned for the first time. Finally, the electronic character of the vertical excited states is related to the energy-dependent ionization mechanism of liquid water

Inflammatory capacity of exosomes released in the early stages of acute pancreatitis predicts the severity of the disease

As acute pancreatitis progresses to the severe form, a life-threatening systemic inflammation is triggered. Although the mechanisms involved in this process are not yet well understood, it has been proposed that circulating exosomes may be involved in the progression of inflammation from the pancreas to distant organs. Here, the inflammatory capacity and protein profile of plasma exosomes obtained during the first 24 h of hospitalization of patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis were characterized and compared with the final severity of the disease. We found that the final severity of the disease strongly correlates with the inflammatory capacity of exosomes in the early stages of acute pancreatitis. Exosomes isolated from patients with mild pancreatitis had no effect on macrophages, while exosomes isolated from patients with severe pancreatitis triggered NFκB activation, TNFα and IL1β expression, and free radical generation. To delve deeper into the mechanism involved, we performed a proteomic analysis of the different exosomes that allowed us to identify different groups of proteins whose concentration was also correlated with the clinical classification of pancreatitis. In particular, an increase in the amount of S100A8 and S100A9 carried by exosomes of severe pancreatitis suggests that the mechanism of action of exosomes is mediated by the effect of these proteins on NADPH oxidase. This enzyme is activated by S100A8/S100A9, thus generating free radicals and promoting an inflammatory response. Along these lines, we observed that inhibition of this enzyme abolished all the pro-inflammatory effects of exosomes from severe pancreatitis. All this suggests that the systemic effects, and therefore the final severity of acute pancreatitis, are determined by the content of circulating exosomes generated in the early hours of the process. © 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.This work was supported by the projects PI16/00060 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 2019AEP057 CVSCI, and a grant ‘Gonzalo Miño’ from the Asociación Española de Gastroenterología. The Biologial and Environmental Proteomics group is a member of Proteored-PRB3 and is supported by Grant PT17/0019/0008 of the PE I+D+I 2013–2016, funded by ISCIII and FEDER

Contribución del vapor de agua troposférico al desarrollo de tormentas severas en Mendoza

El incremento en la ocurrencia de eventos extremos de precipitación se atribuye al cambio climático antropogénico, generando condiciones con mayor temperatura y disponibilidad de humedad para el desarrollo de tormentas severas. En los últimos años en la provincia de Mendoza se ha observado un incremento en las precipitaciones, principalmente asociado a las lluvias durante el trimestre de otoño. No obstante, durante el semestre cálido (octubre a marzo), la ocurrencia de celdas convectivas que originan importan-tes lluvias en cortos períodos de tiempo han generado fuertes impactos en la economía y la sociedad. En este contexto, resulta sumamente relevante un estudio del nexo entre el vapor de agua troposférico y la ocurrencia de lluvias intensas en la región. Objetivos: cuantificar la contribución del vapor de agua troposférico en el desarrollo de tormentas severas en la provincia de Mendoza, a fin de contribuir al monitoreo y el desarrollo de sistemas de alerta temprana. Identificar la variabilidad espacio-temporal de estos fenómenos

Neutrophil Extracellular Trap–Derived Enzymes Oxidize High‐Density Lipoprotein: An Additional Proatherogenic Mechanism in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108351/1/art38703.pd