Wet Reagent Profile Sensor Visualization Tool

Indiana University Purdue University IndianapolisThe Wet Reagent Profile Sensor is a system that Roche Diabetes Care Indy uses in its diabetes test strip manufacturing process. The current system they are using involves a laser sensor that projects onto a wet reagent material after it is coated onto a substrate. The machine that applies the reagent uses averages of 800 measurement points taken by the laser sensor to determine whether or not the reagent is within acceptable limits. If the reagent applied to a given section of the material is not within acceptable limits, then that section is marked for rejection and later taken out of the roll. The current system does not store the data that is collected, display it in an easily accessible manner, nor provide direct access to the 800-point profiles. No variable option currently exists for the data collection rate and the sponsor would prefer a variable option, if possible. The objective of this project is to store and display all 800 points of data in a profile, change the frequency at which data is collected, and display a 3-D visual of the profiles. These changes and additions should be accomplished while avoiding interference with the normal production process. During the first phase of this project, the student engineers have begun analyzing the system, making design decisions and choosing between different components, planning hardware and software connections, and designing an interface for the system. In the second phase of this process, students began working with Excel, which is the software that was chosen at the end of the first phase, as well as working with the controller in order to communicate serially to a computer. Due to the change of circumstances that occurred in the middle of the second phase, students could no longer test communication options with the controller. The testing and verifying stages of the project were concluded at this point and students were asked to focus on documentation. Students created a new document that discussed all of the decisions that were made throughout the project, if the decision was used, and why or why not. Test plans were revised and updated as well.Electrical Engineering Technolog

Lobbyists as Imperfect Agents: Implications for Public Policy in a Pluralist System

Interest group pluralism presumes that public policy outcomes are determined principally through a contest for influence among organized pressure groups. Most interest groups, however, do not represent themselves in this process. Rather, they rely on professional lobbyists for representation, information, and advice. These lobbyists are agents with their own interests, and these interests may not align perfectly with those of their clients. This essay outlines this principal-agent problem and sketches its possible implications for policy outcomes. In particular, we hypothesize that the lobbyist-client agency problem may bias policy in favor of small homogeneous groups, may exacerbate status quo bias and lead to excessive attention to symbolic issues, may promote expansive delegations to administrative agencies, and may impede systematic reforms to the policy-making process

MSEEL Project Context: State of the Region (2001-2014)

The Marcellus Shale Energy and Environmental Laboratory, or MSEEL is the nation’s first integrated research initiative on shale gas drilling. An experimental hydraulic fracturing gas well is the centerpiece of the MSEEL project, which West Virginia University launched in fall 2014 in partnership with Northeast Natural Energy, the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy and Ohio State University. The five-year, $11 million project is the first-ever long-term, comprehensive field study of shale gas resources in which scientists will study the process from beginning-to-end.1 ” Because one dimension of the MSEEL analysis is the economic impacts and implications of well-drilling activity, this report has been prepared to provide a statistical overview and description of the local and regional economies leading up to the initiation of the MSEEL project, and to set the stage generally for subsequent socioeconomic analyses. The report includes various graphs and tables that describe the local economy during the 2001 to 2014 period, providing a context within which to view the role of gas extraction activities in the economy

INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC TENDER REQUIREMENT ON YOUTHS ACCESSIBILITY TO GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES NAKURU COUNTY

Youth in accessing Government Tenders opportunity has proven successful around the world. However poor implementation of policies has ensured that the vulnerable populations are more likely to be overlooked by the government, and less likely to receive skills and training. Young people are among the distraught or vested parties in many creating economies. Various studies carried out globally and locally indicate Youths are among the disadvantaged or special interest groups in many developing economies. Globally, the World Bank (2010) indicates that many countries are yet to develop procedural frameworks that ensure: Government tender procedures are transparent and promote equity.  The purpose of this study, therefore, was to assess the influence of public tenders requirements on youth accessibility to government procurement opportunities in Nakuru county. The study specifically attempted to establish the influence of financial capacity, legal requirements, and technical capability on youth accessibility to government procurement opportunities in Nakuru County. The study was anchored on three theories, namely: Resource-based view theory, Institutional Theory, and skill-based theory. The study employed a descriptive survey research design using quantitative approaches. The research targeted 110 youths in Nakuru County. The study used a closed-ended questionnaire in collecting primary data. The questionnaires were pretested to ensure validity and reliability. The collected data were summarized and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and then presented in tables. The study concluded that financial capacity and legal requirements have a statistically significant influence on the youth's accessibility to government procurement opportunities in Nakuru County. In the context of technical capability, the study concluded that although they have a positive influence on youth’s access to the government tendering process in Nakuru County on their own, the influence is not statistically significant. The study recommends a deeper look into the influence of the various metrics used to examine the influence of financial capacity, legal requirements, and technical capacity on youth accessibility to government procurement opportunities in Nakuru County

Age and Growth of Sand Seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) in the Estuarine Waters of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

Sand seatrout, Cynoscion arenarius, support a large recreational fishery in Florida, but information on the population characteristics of the species is lacking. Sand seatrout were collected incidentally during random sampling conducted by a fisheries-independent monitoring program in three Florida estuaries from Oct. 2001 through Sept. 2003. The collection gear included a 183-m haul seine (38- mm stretch mesh), a 183-m purse seine (51-mm stretch mesh), and a 6.1-m otter trawl (3-mm mesh liner). The sample was supplemented in one estuary with fish captured by hook and line. For aging, otoliths were extracted and sectioned from specimens greater than 90 mm standard length. This is the first comprehensive study of this species\u27 age and growth characteristics derived from otoliths. A total of 1,080 sand seatrout were captured from the estuarine areas of Cedar Key, Tampa Bay, and Charlotte Harbor. Annulus counts had a high level of agreement between readers. Most disagreements between readers on the number of annuli present were whether zero or one annulus was present. Marginal-increment analysis indicated that annuli had been formed in most individuals by March. Otoliths had up to five annuli and estimated ages extended to nearly 6 yr. Observed mean length-at-age for fish of a given sex was similar across all estuaries. Length-at-age of females was greater than that of males in all estuaries. Von Bertalanffy growth models were significantly different for females and males (P \u3c 0.01). Length: weight and length:length relationships are provided

PEak: A Single Source of Truth for Hardware Design and Verification

Domain-specific languages for hardware can significantly enhance designer productivity, but sometimes at the cost of ease of verification. On the other hand, ISA specification languages are too static to be used during early stage design space exploration. We present PEak, an open-source hardware design and specification language, which aims to improve both design productivity and verification capability. PEak does this by providing a single source of truth for functional models, formal specifications, and RTL. PEak has been used in several academic projects, and PEak-generated RTL has been included in three fabricated hardware accelerators. In these projects, the formal capabilities of PEak were crucial for enabling both novel design space exploration techniques and automated compiler synthesis

The Effect of Varied Recumbent Stepping Conditions on Lower Extremity Muscle Activity

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 3: Issue 1, Article 9, 2022. The purpose of this study was to measure lower extremity muscle activity during recumbent stepping under varied conditions. We hypothesized that different stepping conditions would lead to significant changes in muscle activity. Fifteen healthy adults (4 men, 11 women; mean age 24.5 ± 7.7 yrs) provided informed consent to participate. During a single session, electromyography (EMG) was used to measure muscle activity of the tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastroc (MG), rectus femoris (RF), and biceps femoris (BF) muscles as a percent of maximal voluntary contraction (%MVC) during five different stepping conditions: 1) Stepping with no foot strap (SnS), 2) Stepping with a strap (SS), 3) Pulling with toes with a strap (PullTS), 4) Pushing with heel with a strap (PushHS) and, 5) Pushing with toes with a strap (PushTS). There were significant differences (p \u3c 0.05) in muscle activity between stepping conditions for the TA, MG and RF muscles. TA muscle activity was greatest (21.3 ± 13.7%MVC) during the PullTS condition, MG activity was greatest (7.4 ± 3.4%MVC) during the PushTS condition, and RF activity was greatest (12.9 ± 6.1%MVC) during the PullTS condition. There were no significant differences for the BF between conditions. Different recumbent stepping conditions can significantly alter lower extremity muscle activity with the largest changes observed in the ankle muscles. Therefore, when prescribing recumbent stepping exercise, clinicians should be aware of how factors such as stepping direction, the use of a foot strap, and verbal cueing can alter lower extremity muscle recruitment to optimize therapeutic benefit

The Spectral Ocean Color Imager (SPOC) – An Adjustable Multispectral Imager

SPOC (SPectral Ocean Color) is a 3U small satellite mission that will use an adjustable multispectral imager to map sensitive coastal regions and off coast water quality of Georgia and beyond. SPOC is being developed by the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL) through NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP). UGA is working with Cloudland Instruments to develop a small scale (\u3c 1000 \u3ecm3) multispectral imager, ranging from 400-850nm, for Earth science applications which will fly as part of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. The project is UGA’s first satellite mission and is built by a team of undergraduates from a wide range of backgrounds and supervised by a multidisciplinary team of graduate students and faculty. Development, assembly, testing, and validation of the multispectral imager, as well integrating it into the satellite are all being done in house. At an orbit of 400 km the resulting images will be 90 km x 100 km in size, with a default spatial resolution and spectral resolution of 130 m and 4 nm, respectively

Rating and Ranking the Role of Bibliometrics and Webometrics in Nursing and Midwifery

Background. Bibliometrics are an essential aspect of measuring academic and organizational performance. Aim. This review seeks to describe methods for measuring bibliometrics, identify the strengths and limitations of methodologies, outline strategies for interpretation, summarise evaluation of nursing and midwifery performance, identify implications for metric of evaluation, and specify the implications for nursing and midwifery and implications of social networking for bibliometrics and measures of individual performance. Method. A review of electronic databases CINAHL, Medline, and Scopus was undertaken using search terms such as bibliometrics, nursing, and midwifery. The reference lists of retrieved articles and Internet sources and social media platforms were also examined. Results. A number of well-established, formal ways of assessment have been identified, including h- and c-indices. Changes in publication practices and the use of the Internet have challenged traditional metrics of influence. Moreover, measuring impact beyond citation metrics is an increasing focus, with social media representing newer ways of establishing performance and impact. Conclusions. Even though a number of measures exist, no single bibliometric measure is perfect. Therefore, multiple approaches to evaluation are recommended. However, bibliometric approaches should not be the only measures upon which academic and scholarly performance are evaluated