The Design and Implementation of a PCIe-based LESS Label Switch

With the explosion of the Internet of Things, the number of smart, embedded devices has grown exponentially in the last decade, with growth projected at a commiserate rate. These devices create strain on the existing infrastructure of the Internet, creating challenges with scalability of routing tables and reliability of packet delivery. Various schemes based on Location-Based Forwarding and ID-based routing have been proposed to solve the aforementioned problems, but thus far, no solution has completely been achieved. This thesis seeks to improve current proposed LORIF routers by designing, implementing, and testing and a PCIe-based LESS switch to process unrouteable packets under the current LESS forwarding engine

Suicide Screening in Primary Care: Use of an Electronic Screener to Assess Suicidality and Improve Provider Follow-Up for Adolescents

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of using an existing computer decision support system to screen adolescent patients for suicidality and provide follow-up guidance to clinicians in a primary care setting. Predictors of patient endorsement of suicidality and provider documentation of follow-up were examined. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted to examine the implementation of a CDSS that screened adolescent patients for suicidality and provided follow-up recommendations to providers. The intervention was implemented for patients aged 12–20 years in two primary care clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. Results The sample included 2,134 adolescent patients (51% female; 60% black; mean age = 14.6 years [standard deviation = 2.1]). Just over 6% of patients screened positive for suicidality. A positive endorsement of suicidality was more common among patients who were female, depressed, and seen by an adolescent−medicine board-certified provider as opposed to general pediatric provider. Providers documented follow-up action for 83% of patients who screened positive for suicidality. Documentation of follow-up action was correlated with clinic site and Hispanic race. The majority of patients who endorsed suicidality (71%) were deemed not actively suicidal after assessment by their provider. Conclusions Incorporating adolescent suicide screening and provider follow-up guidance into an existing computer decision support system in primary care is feasible and well utilized by providers. Female gender and depressive symptoms are consistently associated with suicidality among adolescents, although not all suicidal adolescents are depressed. Universal use of a multi-item suicide screener that assesses recency might more effectively identify suicidal adolescents

Detection and persistence of environmental DNA from an invasive, terrestrial mammal

Invasive Sus scrofa, a species commonly referred to as wild pig or feral swine, is a destructive invasive species with a rapidly expanding distribution across the United States. We used artificial wallows and small waterers to determine the minimum amount of time needed for pig eDNA to accumulate in the water source to a detectable level. We removed water from the artificial wallows and tested eDNA detection over the course of 2 weeks to understand eDNA persistence. We show that our method is sensitive enough to detect very low quantities of eDNA shed by a terrestrial mammal that has limited interaction with water. Our experiments suggest that the number of individuals shedding into a water system can affect persistence of eDNA. Use of an eDNA detection technique can benefit management efforts by providing a sensitive method for finding even small numbers of individuals that may be elusive using other methods

Cis‐acting allele specific expression (ASE) differences induced by alcohol and impacted by sex as well as parental genotype of origin

Background Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are influenced by complex interactions between the genetics of the individual and their environment. We have previously identified hundreds of polygenic genetic variants between the selectively bred high and low alcohol drinking (HAD and LAD) rat lines. Here we report allele specific expression (ASE) differences, between the HAD2 and LAD2 rat lines. Methods The HAD2 and LAD2 rats which have been sequenced were reciprocally crossed to generate 10 litters of F1 progeny. For 5 of these litters, the sire was HAD2; and, for the other 5 litters, the sire was a LAD2. From these 10 litters, two males and two females were picked from each F1 litter (N = 40 total). The F1‐pups were divided, with balancing for sex and direction of cross, into an alcohol (15%) vs a water control group. Alcohol‐drinking started in the middle of adolescence (~PND 35) and lasted 9 weeks. At the end of these treatments, rats were euthanized, the nucleus accumbens was dissected, and RNA was processed for RNA‐sequencing and ASE analyses. Results Analyses revealed that adolescent ethanol drinking, individual ethanol drinking levels, parentage, and sex‐of‐animal affected ASEs of about 300 genes. The identified genes included those associated with ethanol metabolism (e.g., Aldh2); neuromodulatory function [e.g., Cckbr, Slc6a7, and Slc1a1]; ion channel activity (e.g., Kcnc3); as well as other synaptic and epigenetic function. Conclusion These data indicate that ethanol drinking differentially amplified paternal vs maternal allelic contribution to the transcriptome. We hypothesize that this was due, at least in part, to ethanol‐induced changes in cis‐regulation of polymorphisms previously identified between the HAD2 and LAD2 rat lines. This report highlights the complexity of gene‐by‐environment interactions mediating a genetic predisposition for, and/or the active development of, alcohol use disorders

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: Cognition, Mood, Daily Functioning, and Imaging Findings from a Small Pilot Sample

Cerebral small vessel disease, a leading cause of cognitive decline, is considered a relatively homogeneous disease process, and it can co-occur with Alzheimer's disease. Clinical reports of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/computed tomography and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging and neuropsychology testing for a small pilot sample of 14 patients are presented to illustrate disease characteristics through findings from structural and functional imaging and cognitive assessment. Participants showed some decreases in executive functioning, attention, processing speed, and memory retrieval, consistent with previous literature. An older subgroup showed lower age-corrected scores at a single time point compared to younger participants. Performance on a computer-administered cognitive measure showed a slight overall decline over a period of 8–28 months. For a case study with mild neuropsychology findings, the MRI report was normal while the SPECT report identified perfusion abnormalities. Future research can test whether advances in imaging analysis allow for identification of cerebral small vessel disease before changes are detected in cognition

High-resolution microwave frequency dissemination on an 86-km urban optical link

We report the first demonstration of a long-distance ultra stable frequency dissemination in the microwave range. A 9.15 GHz signal is transferred through a 86-km urban optical link with a fractional frequency stability of 1.3x10-15 at 1 s integration time and below 10-18 at one day. The optical link phase noise compensation is performed with a round-trip method. To achieve such a result we implement light polarisation scrambling and dispersion compensation. This link outperforms all the previous radiofrequency links and compares well with recently demonstrated full optical links.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure