Promoting Skin Cancer Awareness

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the nation and the cost to treat it is around 8 billion dollars a year. Sun exposure is linked to all three types of skin cancer and incidence of melanoma is highest in Caucasians compared to other races. In Brookfield, CT which is comprised of a predominantly Caucasian population, there is a lack of awareness of skin cancer detection and prevention. One of the best ways to promote skin cancer awareness is through education about the different types of skin cancers and sun safety behaviors. The idea is to start the conversation about skin cancer by capturing people’s attention with a visual poster. A poster is multifaceted in that patients can spend time reading it while in the waiting or exam room, can be used as instructional aide by the physician and can be transformed into a miniature handout made available for patients to take home with them. The goal is to promote skin cancer awareness so skin cancer can be detected and treated in a timely manner and patients are equipped with tips on how to minimize sun exposure.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1307/thumbnail.jp

Studies on spectral analysis of randomly sampled signals: Application to laser velocimetry data

Spectral analysis is very useful in determining the frequency characteristics of many turbulent flows, for example, vortex flows, tail buffeting, and other pulsating flows. It is also used for obtaining turbulence spectra from which the time and length scales associated with the turbulence structure can be estimated. These estimates, in turn, can be helpful for validation of theoretical/numerical flow turbulence models. Laser velocimetry (LV) is being extensively used in the experimental investigation of different types of flows, because of its inherent advantages; nonintrusive probing, high frequency response, no calibration requirements, etc. Typically, the output of an individual realization laser velocimeter is a set of randomly sampled velocity data. Spectral analysis of such data requires special techniques to obtain reliable estimates of correlation and power spectral density functions that describe the flow characteristics. FORTRAN codes for obtaining the autocorrelation and power spectral density estimates using the correlation-based slotting technique were developed. Extensive studies have been conducted on simulated first-order spectrum and sine signals to improve the spectral estimates. A first-order spectrum was chosen because it represents the characteristics of a typical one-dimensional turbulence spectrum. Digital prefiltering techniques, to improve the spectral estimates from randomly sampled data were applied. Studies show that the spectral estimates can be increased up to about five times the mean sampling rate

PI-controlled bioreactor as a generalized Lienard system

It is shown that periodic orbits can occur in Cholette's bioreactor model working under the influence of a PI-controller. We find a diffeomorphic coordinate transformation that turns this controlled enzymatic reaction system into a generalized Lienard form. Furthermore, we give sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of limit cycles in the new coordinates. We also perform numerical simulations illustrating the possibility of the existence of a local center (period annulus). A result with possible practical applications is that the oscillation frequency is a function of the integral control gain parameterComment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted version at Computers & Chem. En

Distortions in infrastructure development in urban transport in India: How to remedy it?

National Urban Transport Policy, the guiding document for urban transport in India, emphasis movement of people and goods and not vehicles. The paper establishes that investment on walking and cycling facilities, and surface rail projects give maximum benefit compared to high cost motorised transport and metro rail. From past studies the paper also brings out that share of cycling and walking is very high – varying between 58 and 30 % in different cities. The paper identifies that contrary to benefits accrued and usage patterns, analysis of investment - both past and future projections, shows that metro rail and road development projects are preferred crowding out the other investment. The paper also identifies the reasons for distortion by identifying various groups working in the policy and their distorted perception on urban transport development. Finally the paper recommends increased investment in non motorised facilities by retrieving road space. To facilitate investment in surface rail it is necessary that Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Urban Development and Planning Commission should jointly work out the strategies. The study also recommends recasting of academic programs in urban transport to make them multi disciplinary and policy oriented