Twenty-Five Years of Christian Engineering: A Literature Survey

This paper surveys the complete set of over one hundred published papers that have appeared in the previous proceedings of this Christian engineering conference, identifying the themes, questions, and issues that have been explored thus far. Major themes include Biblical principles and virtues, design norms, the great Biblical directives, vocation/calling, and attributes of God. Next, a taxonomy is proposed to organize the concepts into an overall structure. Finally, the paper identifies open questions and topics that deserve further discussion

Analysis of protein secondary structure via the discrete wavelet transform

This project develops a secondary structure prediction approach that uses the discrete wavelet transform. In order to use the wavelet technique, we convert the primary amino acid sequence of the protein to a numerical signal using the hydrophobic tendencies associated with the amino acids. The data used in this project consists of both a + B and a/B proteins coming from the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) protein database. This data provides both protein primary sequences and secondary structure locations. In total, 13,435 individual proteins and nearly 15,511 unique protein subunits are analyzed. We use three different experimentally determined hydrophobicity scales for comparison. A control data set is formed by creating 200 realizations of each protein, each realization being a random permutation of the proteins amino acid sequence. The realizations are subjected to the same analysis as the parent protein. Our analysis involves examinining the correlation between locations of significant hydrophobicity fluctuations and secondary structure, where significance is determinded by comparison to the control data set. Our focus is on using the first and second scales of the wavelet detail but we also construct a scale-scale measure that combines these scales to detect secondary structure. Using standard performance measures, like the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) and the accuracy(Q), we find that our method does show promise at being a useful tool for predicting the locations of secondary structures in protein given just the amino acid sequence

Traffic Scene Related Change Blindness in Older Drivers

The study investigated if a driver’s age affects the detection of change in driving-related images. A touch screen computer presented the images for a maximum duration of 10 seconds. Half of the images presented included a gradually changing element, and half remained static. Participants were instructed to identify manually the change on the screen, or to depress the spacebar if no change had occurred. We found that older drivers (N = 13, 54% male, mean age 68.5 years) were less accurate (t36 = 5.445, p < .001), displayed greater response times (t36 = -2.67, p < .05), and produced more false positive responses (t36 = -2.754, p < .01) than younger drivers (N = 25, 68% female, mean age 22.3 years)

Exploring Perceptions of Collaboration Between Two Federal Nutrition Programs Serving Low-Income Families: Formative Evaluation Using Mixed Methods

A formative evaluation, this paper explores the perceptions of Coordinators from EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) on collaboration with WIC (The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). This formative evaluation seeks to identify barriers and benefits to collaboration through the lens of EFNEP Coordinators. Using qualitative analysis to examine interviews with these Coordinators and quantitative analysis to review surveys, themes were coded and compiled. The larger theme of complexity was derived from this data, and implications for moving forward are discussed.Master of Public Healt

Traffic Scene Related Change Blindness in Older Drivers

The study investigated if a driver’s age affects the detection of change in driving-related images. A touch screen computer presented the images for a maximum duration of 10 seconds. Half of the images presented included a gradually changing element, and half remained static. Participants were instructed to identify manually the change on the screen, or to depress the spacebar if no change had occurred. We found that older drivers (N = 13, 54% male, mean age 68.5 years) were less accurate (t36 = 5.445, p \u3c .001), displayed greater response times (t36 = -2.67, p \u3c .05), and produced more false positive responses (t36 = -2.754, p \u3c .01) than younger drivers (N = 25, 68% female, mean age 22.3 years)

Quantitative Aspects of Interface Remodeling During Germband Extension

Oriented cell intercalation is an essential developmental process that shapes tissue morphologies through the directional insertion of cells between their neighbors. Intercalary behaviors in the early Drosophila embryo occur through a remodeling of cell topologies, with cells contracting shared AP interfaces to a single point, followed by newly juxtaposed DV cells constructing horizontally-oriented interfaces between them. Previous research has focused on properties of cell-cell interfaces, and led to a model in which actomyosin networks mediate higher line tensions at AP interfaces to direct contraction. However, the contribution of tricellular vertices to tissue elongation remains unclear. This study shows that cell intercalation uses a novel sliding vertex mechanism that physically couples vertices to radially-oriented forces. Through live imaging and quantitative analysis it was observed that the motion of vertices at contracting interfaces is not coupled, but instead vertices demonstrate strong radial coupling across the area of cells. The vertices of AP junctions show independent sliding behaviors along the cell periphery to produce the topological deformations responsible for intercalation. AP junctions undergo ratcheted length changes that are coordinated with cell area oscillations. These results suggest a model in which oscillations in cell area direct the progressive, ratcheted motion of individual vertices to drive oriented cell intercalation and tissue extension in the Drosophila epithelium. In a second study, analysis of germband extension in 4D revealed that interface contraction and T2 formation can initiate from any point along on the apical-basal axis, including basolateral regions microns away from the apical caps that host major Myosin II populations. Intriguingly, interface contractions transition smoothly into elongations without systematic T2 waiting times and at similar contraction and elongation speeds, suggesting that a common mechanism may underlie both phases of intercalation. This study also showed that the major component of tissue elongation arises from the growth of new interfaces. In a third study, the focus was on the role of membrane trafficking during germband extension. The results of this study showed that Rab35 compartments are enriched at contractile interfaces of intercalating cells. When Rab35 function is disrupted, apical area oscillations still occur and contractile steps are observed. However, contractions are followed by reversals and interfaces fail to shorten, demonstrating that Rab35 functions as a ratchet ensuring unidirectional movement. Finally, Rab35 represents a common contractile cell-shaping mechanism, as mesoderm invagination fails in Rab35 compromised embryos and Rab35 localizes to constricting surfaces. In a fourth and final study, the functional requirements for exocyst complex function during cell division in vivo was investigated, and a common mechanism that directs anaphase cell elongation and cleavage furrow progression during cell division was demonstrated. The results of this study show that onion rings (onr) and funnel cakes (fun) encode the Drosophila homologs of the Exo84 and Sec8 exocyst subunits, respectively. In onr and fun mutant cells, cytokinesis is disrupted early in furrow ingression, leading to cytokinesis failure. Computational analysis was used to quantitatively compare wild-type versus onr and fun mutant cells. The results demonstrate that anaphase cell elongation is grossly disrupted in cells that are compromised in exocyst complex function. Additionally, compared to wild-type, onr and fun mutant cells have a greatly reduced rate of surface area growth specifically during cell division

Revised timing of cenozoic atlantic incursions and changing hinterland sediment sources during southern patagonian orogenesis

New detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology data from the Cenozoic Magallanes-Austral Basin in Argentina and Chile ~51° S establish a revised chronostratigraphy of Paleocene-Miocene foreland synorogenic strata and document the rise and subsequent isolation of hinterland sources in the Patagonian Andes from the continental margin. The upsection loss of zircons derived from the hinterland Paleozoic and Late Jurassic sources between ca. 60 and 44Ma documents a major shift in sediment routing due to Paleogene orogenesis in the greater Patagonian-Fuegian Andes. Changes in the proportion of grains from hinterland thrust sheets, comprised of Jurassic volcanics and Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks, provide a trackable signal of long-term shifts in orogenic drainage divide and topographic isolation due to widening of the retroarc fold-thrust belt. The youngest detrital zircon U-Pb ages confirm timing of Maastrichtian-Eocene strata but require substantial age revisions for part of the overlying Cenozoic basinfill during the late Eocene and Oligocene. The upper Río Turbio Formation, previously mapped as middle to late Eocene in the published literature, records a newly recognized latest Eocene-Oligocene (37-27Ma) marine incursion along the basin margin. We suggest that these deposits could be genetically linked to the distally placed units along the Atlantic coast, including the El Huemul Formation and the younger San Julián Formation, via an eastward deepening within the foreland basin system that culminated in a basin-wide Oligocene marine incursion in the Southern Andes. The overlying Río Guillermo Formation records onset of tectonically generated coarse-grained detritus ca. 24.3Ma and a transition to the first fully nonmarine conditions on the proximal Patagonian platform since Late Cretaceous time, perhaps signaling a Cordilleran-scale upper plate response to increased plate convergence and tectonic plate reorganization.Fil: Fosdick, Julie C.. University of Connecticut; Estados UnidosFil: VanderLeest, R. A.. University of Connecticut; Estados UnidosFil: Bostelmann, J. E.. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Leonard, J. S.. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Ugalde, R.. Universidad Mayor; ChileFil: Oyarzún, J. L.. Parque Geo-paleontológico la Cumbre-baguales; ChileFil: Griffin, Miguel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Fractal Patterns of Neural Activity Exist within the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus and Require Extrinsic Network Interactions

The mammalian central circadian pacemaker (the suprachiasmatic nucleus, SCN) contains thousands of neurons that are coupled through a complex network of interactions. In addition to the established role of the SCN in generating rhythms of ∼24 hours in many physiological functions, the SCN was recently shown to be necessary for normal self-similar/fractal organization of motor activity and heart rate over a wide range of time scales—from minutes to 24 hours. To test whether the neural network within the SCN is sufficient to generate such fractal patterns, we studied multi-unit neural activity of in vivo and in vitro SCNs in rodents. In vivo SCN-neural activity exhibited fractal patterns that are virtually identical in mice and rats and are similar to those in motor activity at time scales from minutes up to 10 hours. In addition, these patterns remained unchanged when the main afferent signal to the SCN, namely light, was removed. However, the fractal patterns of SCN-neural activity are not autonomous within the SCN as these patterns completely broke down in the isolated in vitro SCN despite persistence of circadian rhythmicity. Thus, SCN-neural activity is fractal in the intact organism and these fractal patterns require network interactions between the SCN and extra-SCN nodes. Such a fractal control network could underlie the fractal regulation observed in many physiological functions that involve the SCN, including motor control and heart rate regulation