Development of a Multi-Cut Payload for use in Stratospheric Ballooning Missions

The ability to cut strings (AKA lines) during stratospheric ballooning missions has a wide variety of uses including, but not limited to, (a) flight termination (i.e. cutting payloads away from the main balloon), (b) cutting away excess lift balloon(s) to slow ascent rate (and possibly achieve float), (c) cutting away ballast weights to slow descent rate or increase ascent rate, (d) cutting away burst balloon(s) on descent to avoid parachute entanglement, and (e) cutting away payloads which are intended to return to the ground independently, for experimental purposes. We report on the development of a “multi-cut” payload box that uses an Arduino microcontroller that can control the cutting of multiple strings in arbitrary order at arbitrary points during a mission, expanding our options for stratospheric ballooning operations. For example, this device may be used during the solar eclipse of August 2017 to drop a timed-series of independently-recovered Geiger counter payloads from a stratospheric balloon stack to characterize changes to the Pfotzer maximum as the Moon’s shadow passes

Associations between Area-Level Unemployment, Body Mass Index, and Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in an Urban Area

Introduction: Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) has been linked to "neighbourhood" socioeconomic status (nSES), often operationalized as a composite index of aggregate income, occupation and education within predefined administrative boundaries. The role of specific, non-composite socioeconomic markers has not been clearly explained. It is also unclear whether the relationship between nSES and CVD varies according to sex. We sought to determine whether area-level unemployment (ALU) was associated with CVD risk, and whether this association differed by sex. Methods: 342 individuals from the Montreal Neighbourhood Survey of Lifestyle and Health provided self-reported behavioural and socioeconomic information. A nurse collected biochemical and anthropometric data. ALU, a weighted average of the proportion of persons 15-years and older available for but without work, was measured using a Geographic Information System for a 250 m buffer centred on individual residence. Generalized Estimating Equations were used to estimate the associations between ALU, body mass index (BMI) and a cumulative score for total cardiometabolic risk (TCR). Results: After confounder adjustments, the mean 4th minus 1st quartile difference in BMI was 3.19 kg/m2 (95% CI: 2.39, 3.99), while the prevalence ratio for the 4th relative to 1st quartile for TCR was 2.20 (95 % CI: 1.53, 3.17). Sex interacted with ALU; women relative to men had greater mean 3.97 kg/m2 (95% CI: 2.08, 5.85) BMI and greater mean TCR 1.51 (95% CI: 0.78, 2.90), contrasted at mean ALU. Conclusions: Area-level unemployment is associated with greater CVD risk, and this association is stronger for women

Lifestyle domains as determinants of wheeze prevalence in urban and rural schoolchildren in Ecuador: cross sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND: The acquisition of a modern lifestyle may explain variations in asthma prevalence between urban and rural areas in developing countries. However, the effects of lifestyle on asthma have been investigated as individual factors with little consideration given to the effects of lifestyle as a set of attributes. The aim of the present study was to identify modern lifestyle domains and assess how these domains might explain wheeze prevalence in urban and rural areas. METHODS: We analysed data from cross-sectional studies of urban and rural schoolchildren in Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. Variables were grouped as indicators of socioeconomic factors, sedentarism, agricultural activities and household characteristics to represent the main lifestyle features of the study population. We used multiple correspondence analyses to identify common lifestyle domains and cluster analysis to allocate children to each domain. We evaluated associations between domains and recent wheeze by logistic regression. RESULTS: We identified 2-3 lifestyle domains for each variable group. Although wheeze prevalence was similar in urban (9.4%) and rural (10.3%) schoolchildren, lifestyle domains presented clear associations with wheeze prevalence. Domains relating to home infrastructure (termed transitional, rudimentary, and basic urban) had the strongest overall effect on wheeze prevalence in both urban (rudimentary vs. basic urban, OR = 2.38, 95% CI 1.12-5.05, p = 0.024) and rural areas (transitional vs. basic urban, OR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.1-3.73, p = 0.024; rudimentary vs. basic urban, OR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.02-3.47, p = 0.043). A high level of sedentarism was associated with wheeze in the rural areas only (OR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.23-2.18, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We identified lifestyle domains associated with wheeze prevalence, particularly living in substandard housing and a high level of sedentarism. Such factors could be modified through programmes of improved housing and education. The use of lifestyle domains provides an alternative methodology for the evaluation of variations in wheeze prevalence in populations with different levels of development

Winners and losers over 35 years of dragonfly and damselfly distributional change in Germany

Aim: Recent studies suggest insect declines in parts of Europe; however, the generality of these trends across different taxa and regions remains unclear. Standardized data are not available to assess large-scale, long-term changes for most insect groups but opportunistic citizen science data are widespread for some. Here, we took advantage of citizen science data to investigate distributional changes of Odonata. Location: Germany. Methods: We compiled over 1 million occurrence records from different regional databases. We used occupancy-detection models to account for imperfect detection and estimate annual distributions for each species during 1980–2016 within 5 × 5 km quadrants. We also compiled data on species attributes that were hypothesized to affect species’ sensitivity to different drivers and related them to the changes in species’ distributions. We further developed a novel approach to cluster groups of species with similar patterns of distributional change to represent multispecies indicators. Results: More species increased (45%) than decreased (29%) or remained stable (26%) in their distribution (i.e. number of occupied quadrants). Species showing increases were generally warm-adapted species and/or running water species, while species showing decreases were cold-adapted species using standing water habitats such as bogs. Time series clustering defined five main patterns of change—each associated with a specific combination of species attributes, and confirming the key roles of species’ temperature and habitat preferences. Overall, our analysis predicted that mean quadrant-level species richness has increased over most of the time period. Main conclusions: Trends in Odonata provide mixed news—improved water quality, coupled with positive impacts of climate change, could explain the positive trends of many species. At the same time, declining species point to conservation challenges associated with habitat loss and degradation. Our study demonstrates the great value of citizen science and the work of natural history societies for assessing large-scale distributional change

Design and Fabrication of a Gas Turbine Engine.

The purpose of this MQP was to design and manufacture an internal combustion chamber for a gas turbine. Using SolidWorks and Creo Parametric, we created a working design of the combustion chamber assembly and machined an external combustion chamber for a small-scale turbocharger. The components of the combustion chamber were designed by the team and machined using CNC machining

Re-envisioning the WPI Storying Climate Change Initiative

Current means of portraying information about climate change — such as via statistics or news stories — are socially distanced and therefore unable to emphasize the human perspectives behind this worldwide issue. Contrarily, storytelling has the power to develop intrapersonal connections that can lead to more cognizant thinking and solutions regarding climate change. The goal of this project was to use a social media platform to share the stories and experiences of Czech citizens regarding climate change and enable broader dissemination and sharing of future stories through the WPI Storying Climate Change initiative. Through interviews with Czech citizens, the team collected stories and documented them on an Instagram account to increase the visibility of these stories to a vast audience