The public health engineer\u27s part on a health program

In this work the Public Health Engineer should not be confused with the Sanitary Engineer as the term is commonly used today. The Sanitary Engineer is primarily a designer or builder. He is, in fact, a civil and hydraulic engineer specializing in a rather restricted field, confined for the most part to works relating to municipal water supply and sewage. The Public Health Engineer on the other hand is primarily a student and worker in the field of public health. The range of his activities is wider, and his training and knowledge are of essentially different character. It is not so important that he know how to build a sewer as that he know why sewers are necessary and what results may be anticipated from the discharge of their contents without treatment into a body of water. Trained to think with the clearness and acuracy [sic] of an engineer, he employs as his material the data of physics, chemistry, and biology which underlie the present-day practice of public health --Introduction, page 7-8

Cooperative Gating and Spatial Organization of Membrane Proteins through Elastic Interactions

Biological membranes are elastic media in which the presence of a transmembrane protein leads to local bilayer deformation. The energetics of deformation allow two membrane proteins in close proximity to influence each other's equilibrium conformation via their local deformations, and spatially organize the proteins based on their geometry. We use the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) as a case study to examine the implications of bilayer-mediated elastic interactions on protein conformational statistics and clustering. The deformations around MscL cost energy on the order of 10 kT and extend ~3nm from the protein edge, as such elastic forces induce cooperative gating and we propose experiments to measure these effects. Additionally, since elastic interactions are coupled to protein conformation, we find that conformational changes can severely alter the average separation between two proteins. This has important implications for how conformational changes organize membrane proteins into functional groups within membranes.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 63 references, submitted to PLoS Computational Biolog

Applied Industrial Augmented Reality

The goal of our project was to create an application that demonstrates the usefulness of augmented reality within an industrial context. In order to align our project goals with those of our sponsor, Newport News Shipbuilding, we created an augmented reality application to supplement a chainsaw’s instruction manual. Using an instruction manual for a Stihl MS361 chainsaw, we adapted the material into a digital context. In the application, we included step-by-step instructions for starting the chainsaw and changing the chain. In addition, we included an augmented part identification mode, where the user can identify parts of the chainsaw by touching them on the screen. Through the use of a mobile device’s camera and fiducial markers, the user is able to see the functionality of the instruction manual superimposed directly over the chainsaw. We created the application using Unity, a cross-platform game engine. We used a set of Unity plugins from Vuforia, an Augmented Reality Software Development Kit (SDK) for mobile devices. Vuforia provided us the tools for image target identification and tracking, allowing us to easily show augmented content on a digital device. Our application aims to maximize safe and proper chainsaw use, demonstrates the potential of augmented reality for future industrial applications and exemplifies a paperless and eco-friendly guide.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1180/thumbnail.jp

Cal Poly Dining: The Avenue Redesign

Executive Summary Campus Dining is planning to close VG’s Cafe during the 2015-2016 school year; as a result, the remaining restaurants on campus need to accommodate the additional student demand. The student team consisting of Eric Calbonero, Derek Nollsch, and Casey Reilly met with Campus Dining’s Director of Operations, Greg Yeo, about this issue—he directed the team toward a redesign of The Avenue Food Court. To redesign The Avenue, the project team focused on several key deliverables as follows: Study current customer trends in The Avenue Develop a proposed facilities layout and design Perform a capacity analysis of The Avenue Technical Report of Findings First, the project team needed to define key stakeholders and communicate their goals. After this, the team observed the Avenue and performed the following time studies: customer inter-arrival time, register processing time, and the processing times of each of the restaurants in The Avenue. These observations were done to create a current state 2D and 3D model of the restaurant. Next, the project team created a simulation model of The Avenue to test each of four different experiments on the system. The first experiment was to test the result of the projected 10% increase in customer demand. The second experiment was to test the result of equal demand across all restaurants. The third experiment was to test the result of an equal processing time across all restaurants. Finally, the fourth experiment was to test the result of increasing the number of register queues from three to four. After performing the experiments on the simulation model, the project team was able to create a 2D and 3D model of the proposed changes to The Avenue. The proposed changes were as follows: Replace the salad bar with a smaller, tiered design Add an additional restaurant with the necessary equipment Simplify menus to reduce processing time Add two additional POS stations with an associated queue As a result of the projected 10% increase in sales, The Avenue is projected to earn an additional $1,663 in revenues per day. However, the proposed changes are expected to cost a total of$33,500—resulting in a payback period of 20.14 business days

Interlaminar Tensile Properties of Unidirectional and Woven Carbon Fiber Reinforced Toughened Epoxy Laminates

This project aims to develop a dataset on interlaminar tensile strength comparing unidirectional and woven thermoset matrix carbon fiber composites keeping ply count, matrix material, and fiber diameter constant. The interlaminar tensile strength is an important property relating to the delamination failure mode. Interlaminar tensile strength is determined using the ASTM D6415 testing standard. This test is a modified four-point bend test using a 90° curved beam test specimen. Laminates were produced by laying up pre-impregnated carbon fiber sheets onto a curved beam tooling. The unidirectional laminate was produced with 20 plies in a [0,0,90,0,0]4 layup pattern. The woven fiber laminate was produced with 20 plies of a 2x2 twill weave fabric in the 0° orientation. Both laminates were cured in an autoclave. The laminate panels were machined into the test specimens with a width of 1 inch. The ASTM D6415 tests were performed with a crosshead displacement rate of 2.0 mm/min until there was a drop in load indicating initial delamination. The unidirectional specimens had an average interlaminar tensile strength of 8.72 Ksi. The woven fabric specimens had an average interlaminar tensile strength of 9.52 Ksi. After testing, the specimens were sectioned and imaged using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The specimens for SEM were gold sputter coated and imaged under high vacuum mode. Imaging indicated that for unidirectional specimens, delamination started in the matrix then propagated along the ply boundary. Woven specimens appeared to fail in regions of excess matrix material at intersections of fiber orientations. It is recommended for continuing work to use a test fixture that does not need to be offset. It would also be beneficial to have adjustable span lengths for the top and bottom jaws to increase specimen compatibility. Lastly, increasing matrix toughness would increase failure loads where stress concentrations are common in components

A Framework for Bailout Regulation

During the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the government bailed out numerous corporations, including banks, investment banks, and automobile manufacturers. While the bailouts helped end the financial crisis, they were intensely controversial at the time, and were marred by the ad hoc, politicized quality of the government intervention. We examine the bailouts from the financial crisis as well as earlier bailouts to determine what policy considerations best justify them, and how they are best designed. The major considerations in bailing out and structuring the bailout of a firm are the macroeconomic impact of failure; the moral hazard effect of the bailout; the discriminatory effect of the bailout; and procedural fairness. Future bailouts should be guided by principles that ensure that the decisionmaker properly takes into account these factors

Particulate and water-soluble carbon measured in recent snow at Summit, Greenland

Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), waterinsoluble particulate organic carbon (WIOC), and particulate elemental carbon (EC) were measured simultaneously for the first time on the Greenland Ice Sheet in surface snow and in a 3-meter snow pit. Snow pit concentrations reveal that, on average, WSOC makes up the majority (89%) of carbonaceous species, followed by WIOC (10%) and EC (1%). The enhancement of OC relative to EC (ratio 99:1) in Greenland snow suggests that, along with atmospheric particulate matter, gaseous organics contribute to snow-phase OC. Comparison of summer surface snow concentrations in 2006 with past summer snow pit layers (2002 – 2005) found a significant depletion in WSOC (20 – 82%) and WIOC (46 – 65%) relative to EC for 3 of the 4 years. The apparent substantial loss of WSOC and WIOC in aged snow suggests that post-depositional processes, such as photochemical reactions, need to be considered in linking ice core records of organics to atmospheric concentrations. Citation: Hagler, G. S. W., M. H. Bergin, E. A. Smith, J. E. Dibb, C. Anderson, and E. J. Steig (2007), Particulate and water-soluble carbon measured in recent snow at Summit, Greenland, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16505, doi:10.1029/2007GL030110

Dopaminergic innervation at the central nucleus of the amygdala reveals distinct topographically segregated regions

The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is involved in the expression of fear and anxiety disorders. Anatomically, it is divided into medial (CeM), lateral (CeL), and capsular (CeC) divisions. The CeA is densely innervated by dopaminergic projections that originate in the ventral periaqueductal gray/dorsal raphe (vPAG/DR) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). However, whether dopamine (DA) exerts a homogenous control over the CeA or differentially regulates the various CeA subdivisions is still unknown. Here, we performed a neuroanatomical analysis of the mouse CeA and found that DAergic innervations from the PAG/DR and VTA constitute distinct, non-overlapping, pathways differing also in the relative expression of the dopamine transporter. By quantifying the distribution of DAergic fibers and the origin of DA inputs we identified two distinct regions in the CeL: a frontal region innervated by the VTA and vPAG/DR, a caudal region innervated only by the vPAG/DR, and three distinct regions in the CeC: fronto-dorsal innervated only by the VTA, fronto-ventral with sparse DAergic innervation, and a caudal region with low innervation from the vPAG/DR. In addition, we found that each region displays a distinct pattern of c-Fos activation following the administration of various DAeric drugs such as cocaine, SKF 38,393, quinpirole or haloperidol. In summary, we revealed unique properties of the DAergic pathways innervating the CeA, distinguishing six topographically segregated and functionally distinct regions. This unanticipated level of heterogeneity calls for more precise neuroanatomical specificity in future functional studies of the CeA.Fil: Casey, Eric. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Avale, Maria Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Kravitz, Alexxai. Washington University in St. Louis; Estados UnidosFil: Rubinstein, Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentin