In the Pursuit of Assistance: A Team\u27s Desire to Not Let a Congenital Amputation Get in a Young Boy\u27s Way

EPICS is a service-learning design program run through Purdue University. It strives to teach students design skills through providing for individuals, communities, and organizations in the surrounding area while mirroring engineering industry standards. BME (Biomedical Engineering) is a team within EPICS that strives to serve community partners through biomedical applications. William Sevick is an elementary school student with a congenital arm amputation. William and his family have been working with the BME team for the past three years designing assistive devices with the purpose of improving his actions in daily life such as eating, playing games, and riding his bike

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

The role of sensory dysfunction in the development of voice disorders, chronic cough and paradoxical vocal fold movement

Sensory function may be important in the pathogenesis of Chronic Cough (CC) and Paradoxical Vocal Fold Movement (PVFM). This paper aims to explore sensory issues related to the pathogenesis, classification, assessment and management of these conditions. Sensory disruption of the vagus nerve can occur through neural plasticity whereby a change occurs in the way a central neuron reacts to an incoming stimulus. Such disruption can be demonstrated through assessment of cough reflex sensitivity and extrathoracic airway hyperresponsiveness both of which may be increased in CC and PVFM. In addition, sensory function may be determined by measuring the laryngeal adductor reflex, however this phenomenon is yet to be explored in CC and PVFM. The similarity in sensory dysfunction between CC and PVFM provides support for a link between the two conditions. There are also similarities in underlying medical conditions and symptom profiles between CC/PVFM and voice disorders such as muscle tension dysphonia. Although coughing and throat clearing may be contributing factors in the development and maintenance of voice disorders, they may occur in response to extrathoracic airway hyperresponsiveness. Dysphonia can occur in CC/PVFM and may improve following behavioural treatment of CC