Improved Lower-Arm Prosthesis

Over the past few decades, innovations in myoelectric sensing in upper limb prostheses have given systems the ability to read, detect, and emulate fine motor control in an increasingly realistic manner. However, the practical impact that these scientific accomplishments yield is significantly limited by the lack of adoption witnessed by patients who are given such prosthetics. Some people see the device as a burden rather than an improvement. To address this issue, we propose the development of an improved lower arm prosthesis. This prosthesis is intended to encourage patient adoption and retention by emphasizing simplicity and comfort over technical precision. Our project has the ability to change one’s lifestyle. It’s significance can change a person’s life from living with one hand to now being able to use both. The importance to us as a group is not only to build a successful hand and learn something from it but also to make it successful, i.e. comfortable, reliable and low cost. We believe that we can positively impact an amputees life. The design of this prosthetic will be centered around: less weight, comfort, and low cost. An electromyographic (EMG) sensing system will be incorporated into our design. This system measures the electric signals emitted from the muscles of the user’s upper¬limb during attempted movement. Based on these read¬in micro¬voltages, a ZYBO Zynq¬7000 development board will be used to electrically control motors that manipulate string¬based tendons which control the hand. The comfort of the prosthesis will be optimized through the use of an adjustable elbow brace¬like attachment outfitted with breathable materials. We plan to construct a functioning hand that has an easy adaptability learning curve for the user.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1046/thumbnail.jp

Municipal Finances in West Virginia

West Virginia’s municipalities are part of the lifeblood of our state. From the smallest incorporated towns and villages to our larger cities like Charleston, Wheeling, and Morgantown, our state’s cities and towns often act as hubs for civic, social, cultural, and economic activity. We associate these municipalities and their surrounding communities as places to shop, work, worship, and receive services like healthcare and education. This report seeks to place West Virginia’s cities and towns in this broader context of change, challenge, and opportunity by providing an in-depth study of major features, trends, and factors in municipal finance

Analyzing the determinant characteristics for a good performance at enade brazilian exam stratified by teaching modality: face-to-face versus online

The National Student Performance Exam (ENADE) annually evaluates different Brazilian higher education courses. This exam considers both face-to-face and distance learning courses. Distance learning is growing increasingly, especially during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This study applies different techniques for selecting ENADE 2018 database characteristics, like information gain, gain rate, symmetric uncertainty, Pearson correlation, and relief F. The objective of the work is to discover which personal and socioeconomic characteristics are decisive for the student's performance at ENADE, whether the student is in the context of Distance Education or face-to-face. It can be concluded, among other results, that: the father's level of education directly influences performance; the higher the income, the better the performance; and white students have better performance than black and brown-skinned ones. Thus, the results obtained in this study may initiate analyzes of public policies towards improving performance at ENADE.This study was supported by CNPq (305805/2021-5) and PNPD/CAPES (464880/2019-00)

Activation of the Innate Immune Checkpoint CLEC5A on Myeloid Cells in the Absence of Danger Signals Modulates Macrophages' Function but Does Not Trigger the Adaptive T Cell Immune Response

C-Type lectin receptor 5A (CLEC5A) is a spleen tyrosine kinase- (Syk-) coupled pattern recognition receptor expressed on myeloid cells and involved in the innate immune response to viral and bacterial infections. Activation of the CLEC5A receptor with pathogen-derived antigens leads to a secretion of proinflammatory mediators such as TNF-α and IL-6 that may provoke a systemic cytokine storm, and CLEC5A gene polymorphisms are associated with the severity of DV infection. In addition, the CLEC5A receptor was mentioned in the context of noninfectious disorders like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or arthritis. Altogether, CLEC5A may be considered as an innate immune checkpoint capable to amplify proinflammatory signals, and this way contributes to infection or to aseptic inflammation. In this study, we determined CLEC5A receptor expression on different macrophage subsets (in vitro and ex vivo) and the functional consequences of its activation in aseptic conditions. The CLEC5A surface expression appeared the highest on proinflammatory M1 macrophages while intermediate on tumor-associated phenotypes (M2c or TAM). In contrast, the CLEC5A expression on ex vivo-derived alveolar macrophages from healthy donors or macrophages from ovarian cancer patients was hardly detectable. Targeting CLEC5A on noninflammatory macrophages with an agonistic α-CLEC5A antibody triggered a release of proinflammatory cytokines, resembling a response to dengue virus, and led to phenotypic changes in myeloid cells that may suggest their reprogramming towards a proinflammatory phenotype, e.g., upregulation of CD80 and downregulation of CD163. Interestingly, the CLEC5A agonist upregulated immune-regulatory molecules like CD206, PD-L1, and cytokines like IL-10, macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC/CCL22), and thymus and activation chemokine (TARC/CCL17) which are associated with an anti-inflammatory or a protumorigenic macrophage phenotype. In the absence of concomitant pathogenic or endogenous danger signals, the CLEC5A receptor activation did not amplify an autologous T cell response, which may represent a protective innate mechanism to avoid an undesirable autoimmune adaptive response

O COMBATE À EXPLORAÇÃO DO TRABALHO ESCRAVO NO BRASIL À LUZ DA TEORIA CONTEMPORÂNEA DOS DIREITOS HUMANOS

El artículo proporciona un análisis sistemático del estado y los intentos del tercer sector en eficaz en la erradicación del trabajo esclavo en Brasil, desde los primeros informes de mano de obra esclava en el norte del país hasta la época contemporánea, donde la esclavitud ocurre en régimen de contención en los centros empresariales más importantes. Así que, desde entonces, debido a la importancia temática en el ámbito internacional y el estado nacional, a través de acciones conjuntamente con otros agentes de combate, busca la erradicación del trabajo esclavo, sin embargo, debido a varios factores, políticos económicos y territoriales no para concluir los planes en su totalidad y la oportunidad de ser implementado, hay todavía un margen de error de aplicación del ser humano. Entonces, este artículo aclara algunos problemas actuales redimir formadores de elementos del sistema actual y en última instancia propone algunos mecanismos para mejorar las acciones del estado.O artigo proporciona uma análise sistemática das tentativas Estatais e do Terceiro Setor na efetivação em erradicar o trabalho escravo no Brasil, desde o início dos relatos de trabalho escravo na Região Norte do País até o período contemporâneo, em que a escravidão ocorre em regime de confinamento nos grandes centros empresariais. Assim, desde então, em razão da importância temática no cenário internacional e nacional, o Estado, por intermédio de ações em conjunto com outros agentes de combate, busca a erradicação do trabalho escravo. Entretanto, em razão de vários fatores territoriais, econômicos e políticos, não se concluem os Planos na sua integralidade, e na hipótese de serem implantados, ainda existe a margem de erro de aplicação do ser humano. Assim, o presente artigo elucida algumas problemáticas atuais resgatando os elementos formadores do sistema atual, e, em última análise, propõe alguns mecanismos no intuito de aprimorar as ações estatais. &nbsp

Optimizing communication and computation for multi-UAV information gathering applications

Typical mobile agent networks, such as multi-UAV systems, are constrained by limited resources: energy, computing power, memory and communication bandwidth. In particular, limited energy affects system performance directly, such as system lifetime. Moreover, it has been demonstrated experimentally in the wireless sensor network literature that the total energy consumption is often dominated by the communication cost, i.e. the computational and the sensing energy are small compared to the communication energy consumption. For this reason, the lifetime of the network can be extended significantly by minimizing the communication distance as well as the amount of communication data, at the expense of increasing computational cost. In this work, we aim at attaining an optimal trade-off between the communication and the computational energy. Specifically, we propose a mixed-integer optimization formulation for a multihop hierarchical clustering-based self-organizing UAV network incorporating data aggregation, to obtain an energy-efficient information routing scheme. The proposed framework is tested on two applications, namely target tracking and area mapping. Based on simulation results, our method can significantly save energy compared to a baseline strategy, where there is no data aggregation and clustering scheme

CONTAGEM DE CÉLULAS CONJUNTIVAIS POR CITOLOGIA DE IMPRESSÃO EM BOVINOS E EQUINOS

A citologia por impressão é um método não invasivo útil para avaliar a superfície ocular. Consiste na aplicação de um fragmento de papel filtro sobre a conjuntiva. As amostras obtidas podem ter até três camadas de células e são distendidas em lâminas histológicas. O estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o padrão qualitativo e quantitativo das células da conjuntiva bulbar em bovinos e cavalos clinicamente saudáveis para facilitar o diagnóstico de doenças oculares externas. Para este fim, foram coletadas amostras de células externas da conjuntiva ocular pelo método de citologia de impressão de 15 bovinos e 15 equinos adultos. Para o exame citológico as amostras foram coradas por Giemsa e Shorr. Duas lâminas foram preparadas de cada animal, uma do olho esquerdo e outro do olho direito e foram contadas 800 células em total. Para a análise estatística, o ANOVA foi utilizado, foram considerados significativos os valores de p < 0,05. A análise permitiu estabelecer diferenças no numero de células caliciformes, linfócitos e eritrócitos entre espécies e animais. A citologia por impressão da conjuntiva bulbar foi eficaz na análise celular e foi bem aceita pelos bovinos e equinos