The Transformation of Energy by Lucifer chacei (Crustacea, Decapoda)

A laboratory study of energy transformations by the pelagic decapod crustacean Lucifer chacei was made. Three combined stages were cultured and studied: the protozoea-zoea stages, the combined early and late schizopod stages, and the combined adult stages. Growth rates, dry weight, ash content, and calorific values were determined for each. Number of calories per hour ingested, assimilated, and respired were also determined for each of the combined stages. An energy flow diagram was constructed from the data. Growth from egg to adult took slightly more than 3 weeks. Protozoea-zoea and schizopod stages assimilated 10.1 percent and 10.4 percent of ingested Dunaliella tertiolecta. Adults assimilated 7.7 percent of ingested Dunaliella tertiolecta and approximately 22 percent of ingested Artemia salina nauplii. The data indicate that a change from herbivorous larvae to omnivorous adults may have to occur in the natural environment because the older stages cannot obtain enough energy for growth from phytoplankton alone. When data for all stages were combined, gross growth efficiency and net growth efficiency for Lucifer were approximately 10 percent and 81 percent, respectively

The impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program on adverse selection : first year case study.

In 2014 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) implemented a risk adjustment program to stabilize premiums and neutralize premiums in the individual health insurance marketplace. This dissertation will examine the impact of the ACA risk adjustment program on adverse selection for one insurer during 2014. This study utilized enrollment and claims data for one insurer and employs graphical analysis to test for adverse selection. Previous studies have been unable to utilize actual insurer data to test for adverse selection in under the ACA risk adjustment program. Until the implementation of the ACA, insurers relied on underwriting methods to avoid being adversely selected. The ACA has removed the underwriting model by requiring insurers to move to a community rated model for pricing plans. This approach, along with risk adjustment was intended, by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to attract insurers to participate in the individual health insurance marketplaces. Unfortunately, not all states enjoyed a large contingent of participating insurers which consequently had a dramatic financial impact on certain insurers being adversely selected. This dissertation discusses the potential drivers of adverse selection. In addition, the study examines potential improvements to help balance the risk pool and move toward the intended goal of risk adjustment

The Effects of Vestibular Stimulation Rate and Magnitude of Acceleration on Central Pattern Generation for Chest Wall Kinematics in Preterm Infants

Objective—To examine the role of vestibular inputs on respiratory and oromotor systems in healthy preterm infants. Study Design—27 preterm infants were quasi-randomly assigned to either the VestibuGlide treatment or control groups. VestibuGlide infants were held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier and received a series of vestibular stimuli, counterbalanced across rate and acceleration conditions, 15 minutes 3x/day for 10 days. The control infants were also held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier for 15 minutes 3x/day for 10 days but did not receive the VestibuGlide stimulation. Result—A multi-level regression model revealed that treatment infants increased their respiratory rate in response to vestibular stimulus and that the highest level of vestibular acceleration delivered to the infants (0.51 m/s2) resulted in a significant increase in breaths per minute. Conclusion—Vestibular stimulation delivered to preterm infants prior to scheduled feeds effectively modulates respiratory rate and resets the respiratory central pattern generator

Identification of Novel Meiotic Genes Via a Genetic Screen

Proper segregation of chromosomes in Meiosis I requires proper function of the Synaptonemal Complex (SC), a zipper-like protein structure that facilitates recombination events and segregation of homologous chromosomes. Candidates which suppress the phenotype show sporulation and fluorescence on media, and have higher spore viabilities compared to our Zip1C1 control.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2012/1048/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of Vestibular Stimulation Rate and Magnitude of Acceleration on Central Pattern Generation for Chest Wall Kinematics in Preterm Infants

Objective—To examine the role of vestibular inputs on respiratory and oromotor systems in healthy preterm infants. Study Design—27 preterm infants were quasi-randomly assigned to either the VestibuGlide treatment or control groups. VestibuGlide infants were held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier and received a series of vestibular stimuli, counterbalanced across rate and acceleration conditions, 15 minutes 3x/day for 10 days. The control infants were also held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier for 15 minutes 3x/day for 10 days but did not receive the VestibuGlide stimulation. Result—A multi-level regression model revealed that treatment infants increased their respiratory rate in response to vestibular stimulus and that the highest level of vestibular acceleration delivered to the infants (0.51 m/s2) resulted in a significant increase in breaths per minute. Conclusion—Vestibular stimulation delivered to preterm infants prior to scheduled feeds effectively modulates respiratory rate and resets the respiratory central pattern generator

Exploring Strategies to Prevent Harm from Web Search

Web search, the process of seeking and finding information online, is an ubiquitous activity engrained in the lives of many individuals and much of broader society. This activity, which has brought many benefits to individuals and society, has also opened the door to many harms, such as echo chambers, loss of privacy and exposure to misinformation. Members of the information retrieval (IR) community now recognize the dangers of the search technologies commonplace in our daily lives. The upshot of this recognition are growing efforts to address these dangers by the IR community. These efforts focus heavily on system oriented solutions, but give limited focus on behavioural and cognitive biases and behaviours of the search and even less attention to interventions designed to address these biases and behaviours. As such, a theoretical framework is proposed, with behavioural and cognitive strategies as a core component of interactive Web search environments designed to minimize harm. Using the framework as the foundation, this thesis presents a number of offline and online studies to evaluate nudging, a popular intervention strategy rooted in the field of behavioural economics, and boosting, a successful intervention strategy from the cognitive sciences, as strategies to reduce risk of harm in Web search. Overall the studies produce findings in line with the theories underlying the behavioural and cognitive strategies considered. The key takeaway from these studies being that both boosting and nudging should be considered as viable approaches for harm prevention in Web search environments, in addition to pure system and algorithmic solutions. Additional contributions of this thesis include methods of study design for the comparison of multiple paradigms that promote improved decision making, along with a set of evaluation metrics to measure the success of the IR system and user performance as they relate to the harms being prevented. Future research is needed to confirm the effectiveness of these strategies for other types of harms

Changing Trends in the Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority Experience: An Evaluative and Analytical Literature Review

Fraternal organizations in American institutions of higher education have a significant influence on student life and campus culture. Historically, research has shown that fraternities and sororities provide environments that support negative and often illegal activities that can be detrimental to individuals and communities at large. However, recent research has identified new trends that suggest this may be changing. This article identifies these trends and implications

Pitting of Space Shuttle's Inconel Honeycomb Conical Seal Panel

This paper describes the approach, findings, conclusions and recommendations associated with the investigation of the conical seal pitting. It documents the cause and contributing factors of the pitting, the means used to isolate each contributor, and the supporting evidence for the primary cause of the pitting. Finally, the selection, development and verification of the repair procedure used to restore the conical seal panel is described with supporting process and metallurgical rationale for selection

Frequency Modulation and Spatiotemporal Stability of the sCPG in Preterm Infants with RDS

The nonnutritive suck (NNS) is an observable and accessible motor behavior which is often used to make inference about brain development and pre-feeding skill in preterm and term infants. The purpose of this study was to model NNS burst compression pressure dynamics in the frequency and time domain among two groups of preterm infants, including those with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS, N = 15) and 17 healthy controls. Digitized samples of NNS compression pressure waveforms recorded at a 1-week interval were collected 15 minutes prior to a scheduled feed. Regression analysis and ANOVA revealed that healthy preterm infants produced longer NNS bursts and the mean burst initiation cycle frequencies were higher when compared to the RDS group. Moreover, the initial 5 cycles of the NNS burst manifest a frequency modulated (FM) segment which is a significant feature of the suck central pattern generator (sCPG), and differentially expressed in healthy and RDS infants. The NNS burst structure revealed significantly lower spatiotemporal index values for control versus RDS preterminfants during FM, and provides additional information on the microstructure of the sCPG which may be used to gauge the developmental status and progression of oromotor control systems among these fragile infants