Richmond Mural Tour

In the past years Richmond has been growing in popularity in the world of street art. This popularity is due in part to the many projects that brought in artists from around the world to create beautiful artwork. There is so much art outside in Richmond as a result of these projects, but no great way to navigate the streets of the city in an efficient manner to see all of it. Richmond Mural Tour is a mobile cross-platform application that allows users to explore all of the amazing outdoor artwork around the city. This application is built on ionic 2, a cross-platform framework that allows developers to write code in one language, Javascript. The project can then be built into a native iOS, Android, and Windows phone applications. The app utilizes the Google Maps Javascript API to display a map of all the murals in Richmond. It then allows users to build and customize “Tours” or routes with any number of murals that have been selected. It also takes advantage of the Mapquest Web API to find the most optimal route between a list of waypoints. To serve all of this data to mobile phones this application uses a simple ASP.NET Core web API to transmit the data to devices via the internet.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1159/thumbnail.jp

High prices for rare species can drive large populations extinct: the anthropogenic Allee effect revisited

Consumer demand for plant and animal products threatens many populations with extinction. The anthropogenic Allee effect (AAE) proposes that such extinctions can be caused by prices for wildlife products increasing with species rarity. This price-rarity relationship creates financial incentives to extract the last remaining individuals of a population, despite higher search and harvest costs. The AAE has become a standard approach for conceptualizing the threat of economic markets on endangered species. Despite its potential importance for conservation, AAE theory is based on a simple graphical model with limited analysis of possible population trajectories. By specifying a general class of functions for price-rarity relationships, we show that the classic theory can understate the risk of species extinction. AAE theory proposes that only populations below a critical Allee threshold will go extinct due to increasing price-rarity relationships. Our analysis shows that this threshold can be much higher than the original theory suggests, depending on initial harvest effort. More alarmingly, even species with population sizes above this Allee threshold, for which AAE predicts persistence, can be destined to extinction. Introducing even a minimum price for harvested individuals, close to zero, can cause large populations to cross the classic anthropogenic Allee threshold on a trajectory towards extinction. These results suggest that traditional AAE theory may give a false sense of security when managing large harvested populations

Investigation into the limitation of measuring to 360 Degree prisms using automatic target recognition technology

This dissertation outlines the limitations of reading to a 360 degree prism using Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) technology, covering the 360 degree prism attributes that affect the accuracy of the readings obtained and possible ways to reduce these effects to obtain more precise readings. The methods designed to measure these effects are outlined along with the design considerations and reasons behind the selection of these methods. The designed methods were tested on three selected instruments with their accompanying 360 degree prism. The instruments selected for testing had different manufacturers and their date of release was spread over the years which ATR evolved. This provided various 360 degree prism designs, the use of different ATR technology and different electronic distance measurement devices for testing. Using the field testing data gathered from the three instruments, software formulae for each instrument were calculated to predict the vertical height and horizontal distance corrections. These formulas could be applied in the reduction process of the observation to reduce these effects. By understanding the causes of these errors and how they occur, recommendations for ways to minimise these effects on accuracy of the readings were outlined. The measured limitations for each instrument was determined and presented with the discussion of their accuracy and possible effects that may have hindered the results. The benefits of identifying the significance of these errors and their causes means that when new technology is developed, they can be considered and reduced through prism design or reduction, which will improve the accuracy of this method of survey used by machine guidance and instrument operators

Predicting Distal Radius Failure Load during a Fall using Mechanical Testing and Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography

Distal radius fractures are the most common form of osteoporotic fracture in women and play an important role in predicting other osteoporotic fractures. Colles’ fracture, a type of DRF, result from a fall from standing height or less. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) imaging is commonly used to estimate distal radius strength (resistance to failure) via bone strength indices such as BSIc (related to compressive axial loading resistance). BSIc has been validated in experimental compressive testing. However, during a fall, the distal radius is subjected to a combination of dorsal-directed forces (which result in bending) and axial compression. The primary objective of this study was to validate new pQCT-based bone strength indices combining resistance to bending and compression using optimized and clinically-applied image resolutions. The secondary objective was to validate these new indices against reported bone strength indices and bone properties for predicting the failure load in a mechanical testing scenario representing a fall on the extended hand. Fourteen cadaveric forearms, with the hand intact, were scanned using pQCT at 4% of the length of the radius away from the distal end. Bone was defined as pixels with density > 100 mg/cm3 and cortical bone as pixels with density > 480 mg/cm3 using BoneJ, a tool designed to be used with ImageJ, an open source image analysis tool. This thresholding provided the basis for various measures which have been used in existing literature to predict failure load. Novel bone strength indices were calculated using composite beam theory based on the density of each pixel using total bone area, total volumetric bone mineral density and a density weighted modulus. Each of the novel measures examined the point of maximum stress in a single direction; this combined the uniform axial load applied over the cross-section and the bending resulting from an off-axis load, like that experienced during a fall. After scanning, potted samples were placed in a material testing system (MTS Bionix) with 15° of dorsal inclination and 3-6° of radial inclination, corresponding with the hand positon during a fall. Testing was performed at 3mm/s (180 mm/min) until fracture occurred and ultimate failure load was recorded. Linear regression models were used to assess imaged-based bone strength indices and bone properties predicting variance (coefficient of determination, R2) in the experimentally derived failure load. A new bone strength index BSIM , bone strength index in medial direction - which considered axial loading and bending stresses at the farther medial point on the radius, explained up to 90% of variance in the experimental failure load. The highest coefficient of determination from metrics used previously in the literature was total bone mineral content (R2 = 0.88). Two other novel bone strength indices, BSIV (farthest point in the volar direction) and BSID (farthest point in the dorsal direction) predicted 88% of variance. Additionally, BSIL (farthest point in the lateral direction) explained 86% of variance. This validates the use of these new measures as predictors of failure load in the distal radius during a fall. This work also found the existing measure of bone strength index in compression, BSIc, predicted up to 83% of variance in the experimental failure load, which validates its use on the radius instead of remaining as a tibia specific tool

‘A Different Ball Game’: Engaging Men from Rural and Lower Socioeconomic Areas in Behavioural Weight Management Interventions

Men in lower socioeconomic rural areas are at higher risk of ill-health but less likely to participate in preventative health interventions than rural women. This thesis highlights that a greater consideration of socioeconomic factors in weight management interventions for men is required. Then, provides a case example for how a metropolitan program can be adapted with rural stakeholders, and offers insights into how popular local sports can help engage rural men in health interventions

The Cardiovascular Benefits of Regular Exercise in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and the Risk of Exercise-induced Hypoglycemia

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is associated with compromised glycemic control and a heightened risk for cardiovascular disease. The common treatment of T1DM with strict glycemic control through intensive insulin therapy can be problematic (weight gain, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia). Regular exercise is known to improve cardiovascular health, yet most individuals with T1DM remain sedentary, and identify the risk of exercise-induced hypoglycemia as a significant barrier. The investigation into the use of different forms of exercise (higher intensity, resistance) for preventing exercise-induced hypoglycemia in populations with T1DM has been promising, however, little work has investigated their cardiovascular benefit or whether the risk of exercise-induced hypoglycemia changes over the course of exercise training. As such, using a novel insulin-treated rat model of T1DM the objectives of this dissertation were: (1) to determine whether the risk of hypoglycemia in response to different exercise modalities changes over the course of training in T1DM, (2) to characterize which exercise modality provides the largest amount of cardiovascular protection (as determined by recovery from an ischemia-reperfusion injury and fine-wire vascular myography), while assessing risk for exercise-induced hypoglycemia, and (3) to explore whether exercise training, when paired with modest glycemic control, results in larger cardiovascular protection than stringent glycemic control alone. The main findings of these collective studies were as follows; (1) the magnitude of the abrupt decline in blood glucose in response to different exercise modalities remains consistent after exercise training and infrequently reaches hypoglycemic concentrations if blood glucose concentrations are elevated prior to exercise in T1DM rats, (2) both exercise-induced fluctuations in blood glucose and the amount of cardiovascular protection obtained from regular exercise training appears to be modality-specific; however, results suggest that high intensity aerobic exercise provides the largest amount of cardiovascular protection (increased recovery from ischemia-reperfusion injury, vascular insulin sensitivity, and glycemic control), and (3) maintaining more modest glycemic control may provide similar cardiovascular benefits as stricter glycemic control when combined with regular exercise. Overall, less of a reliance on strict glycemic could allow for exercise to be performed safely (and providing cardiovascular benefits), while preventing complications associated with intensive insulin therapy

Electricity Network Scenarios for Great Britain in 2050

The next fifty years are likely to see great developments in the technologies deployed in electricity systems, with consequent changes in the structure and operation of power networks. This paper, which forms a chapter in the forthcoming book Future Electricity Technologies and Systems, develops and presents six possible future electricity industry scenarios for Great Britain, focussed on the year 2050. The paper draws upon discussions of important technologies presented by expert authors in other chapters of the book to consider the impact of different combinations of key influences on the nature of the power system in 2050. For each scenario there is a discussion of the effects of the key parameters, with a description and pictorial illustration. Summary tables identify the role of the technologies presented in other chapters of the book, and list important figures of interest, such as the capacity and energy production of renewable generation technologies