Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) A Possible Aid for Pain Relief in Developing Countries?

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) refers to the delivery of electrical currents through the skin to activate peripheral nerves. The technique is widely used in developed countries to relieve a wide range of acute and chronic pain conditions, including pain resulting from cancer and its treatment. There are many systematic reviews on TENS although evidence is often inconclusive because of shortcomings in randomised control trials methodology. In this overview the basic science behind TENS will be discussed, the evidence of its effectiveness in specific clinical conditions analysed and a case for its use in pain management in developing countries will be made

Design of a compliant wheel for a miniature rover to be used on Mars

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has identified the need for a compliant wheel for a miniature martian rover vehicle. This wheel must meet requirements of minimum mass, linear radial deflection, and reliability in cryogenic conditions over a five year lifespan. Additionally, axial and tangential deflections must be no more than 10 percent of the radial value. The team designed a wheel by use of finite element and dimensionless parameter analysis. Due to the complex geometry of the wheel, a finite element model describing its behavior was constructed to investigate different wheel configurations. Axial and tangential deflections were greatly reduced but did not meet design criteria. A composite material was selected for its high strength, toughness, fatigue resistance, and damping characteristics. The team chose a Kevlar fiber filled thermoplastic composite. This report is divided into four primary sections. First, the introduction section gives background information, defines the task, and discusses the scope and limitations of the project. Second, the alternative designs section introduces alternative design solutions, addresses advantages and disadvantages of each, and identifies the parameters used to determine the best design. Third, the design solution section introduces the methods used to evaluate the alternates, and gives a description of the design process used. Finally, the conclusion and recommendations section evaluates the wheel design, and offers recommendations pertaining to improvement of the design solution

Replacing the hierarchy of engineering qualifications and roles

Abstract: There are generally three types of engineering qualification offered around the world, corresponding to the three commonly recognized engineering roles: engineer, technologist, and technician. This paper examines how the definitions and standards applied to the different engineering roles and qualifications implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) suggest a hierarchy, with engineer identified as superior to the other two roles. This hierarchical thinking undervalues the technologist and technician roles, and gives the false impression that the engineering role (and the corresponding qualification) incorporates the knowledge and abilities of the technologist, which in turn simply builds on the technician. In fact, as explored here, the roles are complementary and should be considered equally important and valuable in an engineering endeavor. A new model based on the CDIO framework is presented which highlights the superiority of each engineering role in a different aspect of an engineering process. This framework will guide the development of the corresponding qualifications in preparing students appropriately, and will hopefully help discredit the hierarchy of engineering roles

The Conditional Effects of Emotion Regulation on the Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Suicidal Behaviors in Veterinary Students

Suicide is an area of increasing concern in the field of veterinary medicine. As veterinary students prepare to enter the profession and take on the unique stressors associated with this line of work, there is a need for models that identify protective factors for suicidal behaviors. Specifically, research is needed to identify factors that offset the relationship between occupational stress and suicidal behaviors. To better inform interventions designed to prevent suicidal behaviors in veterinary students, emotion upregulation and downregulation strategies were evaluated as potential moderators in the relationship between occupational stress and suicidal behaviors in a sample of veterinary students. Data were collected from 171 doctor of veterinary medicine students recruited from a large university. Participants were asked to complete a series of self-report surveys online via Qualtrics. Using the collected data, a series of mean differences, correlations, and moderated models were analyzed. Results indicated participants engaged in high rates of suicidal behaviors, which is consistent with previous literature. In addition, emotion upregulation strategies (savoring) were inversely associated with measures for occupational stress and suicidal behaviors. Alternatively, difficulties with downregulation strategies were positively associated with measures for occupational stress and suicidal behaviors. With regard to buffering effects, savoring strategies did not moderate the relationship between occupational stress and suicidal behaviors. A different pattern was revealed for difficulties with emotion regulation strategies. Specifically, low levels of difficulties with non-acceptance of emotions, goal-directed behavior, impulse control, and limited emotion regulation strategies offset the relationship between occupational stress and suicidal behaviors. As a result, these emotion regulation domains are likely to serve as focal points for any suicide prevention program designed for veterinary students. Other clinical implications and future directions are discussed

Requisitioned: American War Art of the Second World War

The United States requisitioned artists to assist with military objectives and servicemen requisitioned art as a form of rhetoric. This research reexamines the role of “official artists” and thereby extends its definition to include the multitude of art they produced during the Second World War. The underpinnings of this thesis reside during the economic crises of the 1930s that brought about American emergency relief initiatives for artists under the direction of Holger Cahill and, by extension, Edward Bruce. For the first time in history, the American public engaged with state-sponsored art. Due to a symbiotic relationship that formed between the State and the art community between the interwar years, 1933 and 1941, the United States witnessed a proliferation of art programs during the Second World War. The genesis of American war art of the Second World War began prior to the declaration of war in December of 1941. By the start of the war in 1941, members of the Armed Forces were already working with artists to formulate art programs. The production of practical art for training purposes burgeoned, and artist-correspondent initiatives reemerged to secure pictorial historical records of the war. Through a study of both practical and creative forms of “official” and “unofficial” art, this thesis reveals art was not merely employed during the Second World War for propaganda. During the Second World War, art was a valuable and malleable tool for both the State that required it to accomplish military objectives and for servicemen who relied on it to articulate their experiences to loved ones and one another. This narrative reshapes current assumptions of war art and encourages readers to reconceptualize art and its capacity to operate both as a State and social function

Outcomes of an Evidence-Based, Data Driven-Model Fieldwork Experience for Occupational Therapy Students

Over the past decade, there has been an increased emphasis on evidence-based practice (EBP) and the use of outcome measurement in clinical practice, however, the implementation of evidence into practice remains challenging and irregular. During fieldwork, students often experience a disconnect between the emphasis on EBP in the classroom and lack of use in the clinic. Recognizing the need to develop high-quality, evidence-based and data-driven models of practice for student training, we partnered with local fieldwork educators to develop an innovative program that guides students and simultaneously trains fieldwork educators (FWE) in the use of a systematic data driven decision making (DDDM) process to infuse evidence into practice. Using a pre-post quasi-experimental design, we evaluated the impact of this program on students’ perceived knowledge and skills in use of EBP and DDDM. A focus group with participating fieldwork educators captured their knowledge and attitudes in the use of EBP and DDDM in their clinical sites. Eleven FWEs and twenty four students participated. Results revealed significant change in students’ knowledge and skill in use of EBP and DDDM. FWEs reported the program clarified the role of occupational therapy, enhanced communication, and validated the value of occupational therapy in their clinical site. This program serves as a model for training students to implement evidence and data driven approaches in clinical practice, thus bridging the gap between classroom and clinic

Uniform positive recurrence and long term behavior of Markov decision processes, with applications in sensor scheduling

In this dissertation, we show a number of new results relating to stability, optimal control, and value iteration algorithms for discrete-time Markov decision processes (MDPs). First, we adapt two recent results in controlled diffusion processes to suit countable state MDPs by making assumptions that approximate continuous behavior. We show that if the MDP is stable under any stationary policy, then it must be uniformly so under all policies. This abstract result is very useful in the analysis of optimal control problems, and extends the characterization of uniform stability properties for MDPs. Then we derive two useful local bounds on the discounted value functions for a large class of MDPs, facilitating analysis of the ergodic cost problem via the Arzela-Ascoli theorem. We also examine and exploit the previously underutilized Harnack inequality for discrete Markov chains; one aim of this work was to discover how much can be accomplished for models with this property. Convergence of the value iteration algorithm is typically treated in the literature under blanket stability assumptions. We show two new sufficient conditions for the convergence of the value iteration algorithm without blanket stability, requiring only geometric ergodicity under the optimal policy. These results form the theoretical basis to apply the value iteration to classes of problems previously unavailable. We then consider a discrete-time linear system with Gaussian white noise and quadratic costs, observed via multiple sensors that communicate over a congested network. Observations are lost or received according to a Bernoulli random variable with a loss rate determined by the state of the network and the choice of sensor. We completely analyze the finite horizon, discounted, and long-term average optimal control problems. Assuming that the system is stabilizable, we use a partial separation principle to transform the problem into an MDP on the set of symmetric, positive definite matrices. A special case of these results generalizes a known result for Kalman filters with intermittent observations to the multiple-sensor case, with powerful implications. Finally, we show that the value iteration algorithm converges without additional assumptions, as the structure of the problem guarantees geometric ergodicity under the optimal policy. The results allow the incorporation of adaptive schemes to determine unknown system parameters without affecting stability or long-term average cost. We also show that after only a few steps of the value iteration algorithm, the generated policy is geometrically ergodic and near-optimal.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Expression of active human sialyltransferase ST6GalNAcI in Escherichia coli

Georgios Skretas, Sean Carroll, and George Georgiou are with the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA -- George Georgiou is with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin and the Section of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA -- Georgios Skretas and George Georgiou are with the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA -- Shawn DeFrees, Karl F. Johnson, and Marc F. Schwartz are with Neose Technologies Inc, 102 Rock Road, Horsham, PA, 19044, USABackground: The presence of terminal, surface-exposed sialic acid moieties can greatly enhance the in vivo half-life of glycosylated biopharmaceuticals and improve their therapeutic efficacy. Complete and homogeneous sialylation of glycoproteins can be efficiently performed enzymically in vitro but this process requires large amounts of catalytically active sialyltransferases. Furthermore, standard microbial hosts used for large-scale production of recombinant enzymes can only produce small quantities of glycosyltransferases of animal origin, which lack catalytic activity. Results and conclusion: In this work, we have expressed the human sialyltransferase ST6GalNAc I (ST6), an enzyme that sialylates O-linked glycoproteins, in Escherichia coli cells. We observed that wild-type bacterial cells are able to produce only very small amounts of soluble ST6 enzyme. We have found, however, that engineered bacterial strains which possess certain types of oxidative cytoplasm or which co-express the molecular chaperones/co-chaperones trigger factor, DnaK/DnaJ, GroEL/GroES, and Skp, can produce greatly enhanced amounts of soluble ST6. Furthermore, we have developed a novel high-throughput assay for the detection of sialyltransferase activity and used it to demonstrate that the bacterially expressed ST6 enzyme is active and able to transfer sialic acid onto a desialylated O-glycoprotein, bovine submaxillary mucin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of expression of active human sialyltransferase in bacteria. This system may be used as a starting point for the evolution of sialyltransferases with better expression characteristics or altered donor/acceptor specificities.Chemical EngineeringBiomedical EngineeringInstitute for Cellular and Molecular [email protected]

Ethics assessment via game play?

Abstract: In a previous paper the ethical nature of academic staff at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) was evaluated. Since engineering education research is flourishing world-wide a serious question was raised about staff adherence to basic ethical standards. An internal research programme was launched to evaluate staff’s ethical orientation using a survey based methodology. The results indicated that a significant percentage acted in ethically problematic ways. As a consequence the idea of using a role playing game (RPG) was mooted to further investigate academic staff’s situational ethics. This paper discusses the proposed game playing device that was designed as a manner of investigating the staff’s understanding of engineering education research ethics. This paper reviews basic material on nature of play and in particular ethical role play in RPGs and analyses the manner in which an RPG would have to be designed to ensure reliable data collection of the staff’s ethical standards when applied to educational research. From the basic review of game playing ethics and the necessary design elements it was clear that it would not be possible to develop such a measurement device. It is an open question whether any form of situated ethics can be evaluated or taught using a closed form RPG

An online learning platform for teaching, learning, and assessment of programming

Abstract: In this paper the use of an open-source online learning platform to aid in teaching and assessment of computer programming in large classes is discussed. The pedagogical philosophy of how the subject of computer programming is taught is presented. Based on the skills and learning processes that are identified for effective teaching of computer programming, a strategy for employing modern web technology coupled with an automated assessment capability to meet these goals is discussed. The paper describes the technology and implementation of the learning platform and new methods for automated assessment of programming assignments and exams. Finally, the application of the system to achieve the pedagogical goals and the benefits of using the system for teaching large classes is reported