A Stroke of Shear Genius: The Development of the Blade Bandit

This thesis will document and analyze the experience of two members of the Shear Genius team, Mr. Abdulrahman Hamid and Mr. Colin Wattigney, as they worked to complete the CME Senior Capstone Project. This team, under the leadership of CEO Ethan Veazey, developed the Blade Bandit, a lawn mower blade sharpening system conceptualized by Mr. Jacob Moorhead. Ms. Kristen Gaddis, Mr. Nick Rocco, and Ms. Allie Winters were also members of Shear Genius. The team members had educational backgrounds in the realms of engineering, business and accountancy. The combination of these disciplines allowed for the simulation of a real business group and helped prepare the team members for the situations that they would face as members of industry. After months of planning, designing, and redesigning, the Shear Genius team was able to develop a process in which a functional Blade Bandit could be produced quickly and consistently. The team gained vast amounts of experience and worked together as a cohesive unit to overcome the many obstacles that were faced. This thesis will describe iterations of the Blade Bandit, the business model used, and the changes made along the way. It will also provide insight into all decisions made over the course of the project

Applications of Modular Synthesis in Music & Sound Design for Video Games

Project Objective: Score one minute of gameplay footage and produce fifteen sound effects for a video game solely utilizing the virtual modular synthesizer Reaktor Blocks

School Siting Near Industrial Chemical Facilities: Findings from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board\u27s Investigation of the West Fertilizer Explosion.

BACKGROUND: The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigated the April 17, 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company (WFC) that resulted in 15 fatalities, more than 260 injuries and damage to more than 150 buildings. Among these structures were four nearby school buildings cumulatively housing children in grades K-12, a nursing care facility and an apartment complex. The incident occurred during the evening when school was not in session, which reduced the number of injuries. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this paper is to illustrate the consequences of siting schools near facilities that store or use hazardous chemicals, and highlight the need for additional regulations to prevent future siting of schools near these facilities. DISCUSSION: This paper summarizes the findings of the CSB\u27s investigation related to the damaged school buildings and the lack of regulation surrounding the siting of schools near facilities that store hazardous chemicals. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the current lack of federal authority for oversight of land use near educational institutions, state and local governments should take a proactive role in promulgating state regulations that prohibit the siting of public receptors, such as buildings occupied by children, near facilities that store hazardous chemicals

Altered Breast Development in Young Girls from an Agricultural Environment

In several human populations, the age at which female breast development begins is reported to have declined over the last five decades. Much debate has occurred over whether this reported decline has actually occurred and what factors contribute to it. However, geographical patterns reflecting earlier developmental onset in some human populations suggest environmental factors influence this phenomenon. These factors include interactions between genetic makeup, nutrition, and possible cumulative exposure to estrogens, both endogenous as well as environmental beginning during in utero development. We examined the onset of breast development in a group of peripubertal girls from the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, Mexico. We observed that girls from valley towns, areas using modern agricultural practices, exhibited larger breast fields than those of girls living in the foothills who exhibited similar stature [e.g., weight, height, body mass index (BMI)], and genetic background. Further, girls from valley towns displayed a poorly defined relationship between breast size and mammary gland development, whereas girls from the Yaqui foothills, where traditional ranching occurs, show a robust positive relationship between breast size and mammary size. The differences noted were obtained by a medically based exam involving morphometric analysis and palpation of tissues, in contrast to visual staging alone. In fact, use of the Tanner scale, involving visual staging of breast development for puberty, detected no differences between the study populations. Mammary tissue, determined by palpation, was absent in 18.5% of the girls living in agricultural areas, although palpable breast adipose tissue was present. No relationship was seen between mammary diameter and weight or BMI in either population. These data suggest that future in-depth studies examining mammary tissue growth and fat deposition in breast tissue are required if we are to understand environmental influences on these phenomena

Risk factors for acute chemical releases with public health consequences: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance in the U.S., 1996–2001

BACKGROUND: Releases of hazardous materials can cause substantial morbidity and mortality. To reduce and prevent the public health consequences (victims or evacuations) from uncontrolled or illegally released hazardous substances, a more comprehensive analysis is needed to determine risk factors for hazardous materials incidents. METHODS: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) data from 1996 through 2001 were analyzed using bivariate and multiple logistic regression. Fixed-facility and transportation-related events were analyzed separately. RESULTS: For fixed-facility events, 2,327 (8%) resulted in at least one victim and 2,844 (10%) involved ordered evacuations. For transportation-related events, 759 (8%) resulted in at least one victim, and 405 (4%) caused evacuation orders. Fire and/or explosion were the strongest risk factors for events involving either victims or evacuations. Stratified analysis of fixed-facility events involving victims showed a strong association for acid releases in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry. Chlorine releases in fixed-facility events resulted in victims and evacuations in more industry categories than any other substance. CONCLUSIONS: Outreach efforts should focus on preventing and preparing for fires and explosions, acid releases in the agricultural industry, and chlorine releases in fixed facilities

Inter-rater reliability of data elements from a prototype of the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry (PCNASR) is a U.S. based national registry designed to monitor and improve the quality of acute stroke care delivered by hospitals. The registry monitors care through specific performance measures, the accuracy of which depends in part on the reliability of the individual data elements used to construct them. This study describes the inter-rater reliability of data elements collected in Michigan's state-based prototype of the PCNASR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Over a 6-month period, 15 hospitals participating in the Michigan PCNASR prototype submitted data on 2566 acute stroke admissions. Trained hospital staff prospectively identified acute stroke admissions, abstracted chart information, and submitted data to the registry. At each hospital 8 randomly selected cases were re-abstracted by an experienced research nurse. Inter-rater reliability was estimated by the kappa statistic for nominal variables, and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for ordinal and continuous variables. Factors that can negatively impact the kappa statistic (i.e., trait prevalence and rater bias) were also evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 104 charts were available for re-abstraction. Excellent reliability (kappa or ICC > 0.75) was observed for many registry variables including age, gender, black race, hemorrhagic stroke, discharge medications, and modified Rankin Score. Agreement was at least moderate (i.e., 0.75 > kappa ≥; 0.40) for ischemic stroke, TIA, white race, non-ambulance arrival, hospital transfer and direct admit. However, several variables had poor reliability (kappa < 0.40) including stroke onset time, stroke team consultation, time of initial brain imaging, and discharge destination. There were marked systematic differences between hospital abstractors and the audit abstractor (i.e., rater bias) for many of the data elements recorded in the emergency department.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The excellent reliability of many of the data elements supports the use of the PCNASR to monitor and improve care. However, the poor reliability for several variables, particularly time-related events in the emergency department, indicates the need for concerted efforts to improve the quality of data collection. Specific recommendations include improvements to data definitions, abstractor training, and the development of ED-based real-time data collection systems.</p

The comparison in daily intake of nutrients, dietary habits and body composition of female college students by body mass index

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the body composition, dietary habits, daily intake of nutrients and clinical blood indices in female college students by body mass index of normal weight, overweight and obese. The subjects of this research were 141 respondents of a survey carried out on students, and subjects were given 60 minutes to answer questionnaires, by recording their own answers. The average heights and weights of subjects by BMI were 162.17 cm, 52.73 kg in normal weight group, 162.35 cm, 62.22 kg in overweight group and 161.72 cm, 69.82 kg in obesity group, respectively. As for the survey daily of meals, starving breakfast and kind of snacks of subjects were significantly different among the groups by BMI. In animal protein food intakes, meat intake was the highest 'every day' food consumed by subjects, and there was a significant difference in distribution of BMI among subjects. Fruits, and greenish and yellow vegetables intakes were the highest 'every day' foods indicated by the normal weight group. Consumption of carbonated beverages and juices showed a significant difference among groups by BMI. The average of total-cholesterol was the overweight group was the higher value. There was a significant difference in diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure among the groups by BMI. Average daily calories intake levels were insufficient and the intake ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fat was the normal weight group 68:17:15, the overweight group 64:18:18 and the obese group 73:14:13. Results of the daily vitamin intake analyses displayed riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C, and folic acid levels lower than the RI levels. Fe intake was the normal weight group 81%, overweight group 76%, obese group 59% of the RI level. Therefore, it is necessary for college students to establish regular meals, good quality snacks and consuming more vitamin and mineral nutritions for optimal health conditions

Age at menarche in Canada: results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children & Youth

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Given the downward trend in age at menarche and its implications for the reproductive health and wellbeing of women, little is known about menarcheal age in Canada. Most Canadian studies are only representative of specific populations. The present study, therefore, aims to assess the distribution of age at menarche for Canadian girls and explore its variation across socio-economic and demographic factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The analysis of the study was based on all female respondents aged 14 to 17 years during Cycle 4 (2000/2001) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children & Youth (NLSCY). The main outcome was age at menarche assessed as the month and year of the occurrence of the first menstrual cycle. Kaplan Meier was used to estimate the mean and median of age at menarche. Chi-square test was used to assess the differences in early, average and later maturers across the different levels of socio-economic and demographic variables. Bootstrapping was performed to account for the complex sampling design.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total number of girls analyzed in this study was 1,403 weighted to represent 601,911 Canadian girls. The estimated mean and median of age at menarche was 12.72 years (standard deviation = 1.05) and 12.67 years, respectively. The proportions of early (< 11.53 years), average (≥11.53 years and ≤13.91 years) and late maturers (> 13.91 years) were 14.6% (95% confidence interval (CI): 11.92-17.35), 68.0% (95% CI: 63.82-72.17) and 17.4% (95% CI: 14.10-20.63), respectively. Variations across the menarcheal groups were statistically significant for the province of residence, household income and family type.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings of the study pave the way for future Canadian research. More studies are warranted to understand menarcheal age in terms of its variation across the provinces, the secular trend over time and its potential predictors.</p

The Registry of the German Competence NETwork on Atrial Fibrillation: patient characteristics and initial management

The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) enrolled in the Central Registry of the German Competence NETwork on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) and to assess current medical practice in patients treated at various levels of medical care in Germany. Methods From February 2004 to March 2006, 9582 ambulatory and hospitalized patients with ECG-documented AF were and results enrolled by 194 participating study centres from all levels of medical care in Germany. Clinical type of AF was reported as paroxysmal in 2893, persistent in 1873, and permanent in 3134 patients or classified as a first episode in 1035 patients. Predisposing conditions were common and present in 87.6 % of the patients. Most patients were symptomatic with AF (75.1%). Rhythm control in persistent AF was provided to 53.4 % of the symptomati