Anecdoche

Utilizing various visual and aural mediums, Anecdoche tells a story that allows the audience to examine modern American/global culture from a third person perspective. Each artistic medium adds their own voice or opinion to the story and thus further colors and clutters the stage. This represents the extremes of communication that humans have risen to in the 21st Century. The term Anecdoche means a conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening. In the same way, for much of the work, the different elements of the production aim to make their voice heard, while simultaneously cluttering the visual and aural performance space. As the music progresses, the audience is taken on a journey to escape the stasis of Anecdoche to achieve a status of more legitimate, wholistic connection with humanity. Advisor: Gregory Simo

Interactive Multi-Instrument Database of Solar Flares

The fundamental motivation of the project is that the scientific output of solar research can be greatly enhanced by better exploitation of the existing solar/heliosphere space-data products jointly with ground-based observations. Our primary focus is on developing a specific innovative methodology based on recent advances in "big data" intelligent databases applied to the growing amount of high-spatial and multi-wavelength resolution, high-cadence data from NASA's missions and supporting ground-based observatories. Our flare database is not simply a manually searchable time-based catalog of events or list of web links pointing to data. It is a preprocessed metadata repository enabling fast search and automatic identification of all recorded flares sharing a specifiable set of characteristics, features, and parameters. The result is a new and unique database of solar flares and data search and classification tools for the Heliophysics community, enabling multi-instrument/multi-wavelength investigations of flare physics and supporting further development of flare-prediction methodologies

HIV/AIDS among Inmates of and Releasees from US Correctional Facilities, 2006: Declining Share of Epidemic but Persistent Public Health Opportunity

Because certain groups at high risk for HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) come together in correctional facilities, seroprevalence was high early in the epidemic. The share of the HIV/AIDS epidemic borne by inmates of and persons released from jails and prisons in the United States (US) in 1997 was estimated in a previous paper. While the number of inmates and releasees has risen, their HIV seroprevalence rates have fallen. We sought to determine if the share of HIV/AIDS borne by inmates and releasees in the US decreased between 1997 and 2006. We created a new model of population flow in and out of correctional facilities to estimate the number of persons released in 1997 and 2006. In 1997, approximately one in five of all HIV-infected Americans was among the 7.3 million who left a correctional facility that year. Nine years later, only one in seven (14%) of infected Americans was among the 9.1 million leaving, a 29.3% decline in the share. For black and Hispanic males, two demographic groups with heightened incarceration rates, recently released inmates comprise roughly one in five of those groups' total HIV-infected persons, a figure similar to the proportion borne by the correctional population as a whole in 1997. Decreasing HIV seroprevalence among those admitted to jails and prisons, prolonged survival and aging of the US population with HIV/AIDS beyond the crime-prone years, and success with discharge planning programs targeting HIV-infected prisoners could explain the declining concentration of the epidemic among correctional populations. Meanwhile, the number of persons with HIV/AIDS leaving correctional facilities remains virtually identical. Jails and prisons continue to be potent targets for public health interventions. The fluid nature of incarcerated populations ensures that effective interventions will be felt not only in correctional facilities but also in communities to which releasees return

Harford County Department of Parks & Recreation Turf Management Program

The purpose of this document is to provide an agronomic plan for the Harford County Department of Parks & Recreation that establishes a minimum/recreational level turf grass standard for a variety of activities and that uses the most cost-effective treatment options available. The department maintains 91 multi-purpose fields and 58 baseball and softball diamonds. All of these sites consist of native soil and standard grass (mostly fescue and some bluegrass) playing surfaces. Fields are generally used from 5pm to dark on weekdays and games are played on weekends typically from sun-up to sun-down. Prior data collection indicates fields are used approximately 20-30 hours a week. There are instances where fields are used up to 35 hours a week. The current mowing schedule is a seven-day mowing cycle. Current mowing heights are between 2.5” - 3” (which can be adjusted) with a rotating cross-cut direction each week. Mowing occurs from early April until early November. Based on the current budget, we recommend maintaining the mowing schedule at once per week and rotating the direction of cut. Currently, the recreation councils are treating their fields with fertilizer treatment, weed inhibitor, seeding and sodding when needed. The goal is to determine the most cost-effective treatment option for these playing surfaces. Equally important is to create a uniform maintenance regime among all fields.Harford Count

Predictive modelling of a novel anti-adhesion therapy to combat bacterial colonisation of burn wounds

As the development of new classes of antibiotics slows, bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics is becoming an increasing problem. A potential solution is to develop treatment strategies with an alternative mode of action. We consider one such strategy: anti-adhesion therapy. Whereas antibiotics act directly upon bacteria, either killing them or inhibiting their growth, anti-adhesion therapy impedes the binding of bacteria to host cells. This prevents bacteria from deploying their arsenal of virulence mechanisms, while simultaneously rendering them more susceptible to natural and artificial clearance. In this paper, we consider a particular form of anti-adhesion therapy, involving biomimetic multivalent adhesion molecule 7 coupled polystyrene microbeads, which competitively inhibit the binding of bacteria to host cells. We develop a mathematical model, formulated as a system of ordinary differential equations, to describe inhibitor treatment of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa burn wound infection in the rat. Benchmarking our model against in vivo data from an ongoing experimental programme, we use the model to explain bacteria population dynamics and to predict the efficacy of a range of treatment strategies, with the aim of improving treatment outcome. The model consists of two physical compartments: the host cells and the exudate. It is found that, when effective in reducing the bacterial burden, inhibitor treatment operates both by preventing bacteria from binding to the host cells and by reducing the flux of daughter cells from the host cells into the exudate. Our model predicts that inhibitor treatment cannot eliminate the bacterial burden when used in isolation; however, when combined with regular or continuous debridement of the exudate, elimination is theoretically possible. Lastly, we present ways to improve therapeutic efficacy, as predicted by our mathematical model

Anecdoche

Utilizing various visual and aural mediums, Anecdoche tells a story that allows the audience to examine modern American/global culture from a third person perspective. Each artistic medium adds their own voice or opinion to the story and thus further colors and clutters the stage. This represents the extremes of communication that humans have risen to in the 21st Century. The term Anecdoche means a conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening. In the same way, for much of the work, the different elements of the production aim to make their voice heard, while simultaneously cluttering the visual and aural performance space. As the music progresses, the audience is taken on a journey to escape the stasis of Anecdoche to achieve a status of more legitimate, wholistic connection with humanity. Advisor: Gregory Simo

Project ECHO, Communities of Practice, and a Successful Opioid Reduction Outcome

Introduction: Project ECHO offers a virtual, interactive sessions to connect health care providers with specialists. Evaluation efforts have focused on quantitatively identifying the implementation process and provider’s perspectives. This case demonstrates that patient success stories are able to provide a wealth of information that can be used as part of evaluation efforts.&nbsp;Background: Through presenting a patient case to the expert panel of a Pain Prescribing ECHO, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse was able to assist a desperate patient who suffered from negative effects of opioid use for many years. This paper explores the experiences of the care provider during the ECHO sessions as well as afterwards when recommendations from the ECHO team were used by the provider.&nbsp;Patient success story: The provider used the guidance from the ECHO to develop several new strategies to reduce the patient’s opioid use. After pursuing multiple options, the patient has enjoyed a vast improvement in quality of life and a decrease in the amount of pain experienced.&nbsp;Discussion: Using patient stories as qualitative outcome measures may assist ECHO programs in gaining insight into program effectiveness and demonstrate the value of the ECHO model.&nbsp;</p