Nashua School District

Management of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is reliant on conventional insecticides that can negatively affect non-target arthropods. Calantha™ (active ingredient: ledprona) is a sprayable double-stranded RNA biopesticide specific for L decemlineata proteasome subunit beta 5 gene that triggers the RNA-interference pathway and is designed to have limited non-target effects. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two years of field trials in Idaho, Wisconsin, and Maine comparing arthropod responses to different insecticide regimes, with and without Calantha, targeting the Colorado potato beetle. Comparisons of arthropod abundance among treatments showed no evidence of effects of Calantha on non-target arthropods, including beneficials (predators, parasitoids), “neutrals” (i.e., non-pests), and other beetle species. Conventional insecticides generally showed more non-target effects, and responses were always stronger for arthropods from vacuum samples than pitfall samples. Insecticide programs featuring Calantha, especially in rotation with other biorational products, may reduce pests while preserving beneficial arthropods and contribute to biological control of arthropod pests in potato fields.

Introduction: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a leading cause of death in the US. More than 800,000 adults experience an AMI each year, and up to 20% of the patients are rehospitalized within 30 days. Predicting 30-day readmission accurately could help clinicians identify high-risk patients and tailor treatment accordingly. Hypothesis: The neural network will generate the best performing model for predicting 30-day readmissions following an AMI. Methods: The cohort included adults hospitalized with incident AMI (6,506) at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center between 2011-2016. Patients who died before discharge (236) were excluded, leaving 6,270 patients. Our outcome was 30-day hospital readmissions. Candidate features were selected using an Extra Tree Classifier. Selected features included demographics and clinical characteristics. Multiple imputation using K-Nearest Neighbors was performed. Five machine learning models were implemented: logistic regression, LASSO, neural network, random forest, and XGBoost. Models were evaluated on a hold-out test-set, using AUROC. Results: Among the cohort, about 36% were female, the majority were white and non-Hispanic, and the 30-day readmission rate was 6.2%. Neural network was the best performing model with an AUROC of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.84). However, the XGBoost and random forest models performed similarly with AUROCs of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.85) and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.84), respectively. The logistic regression and LASSO models performed poorly, with AUROCs below 0.5, respectively. Important predictor variables were major depression, race, and antidepressant at discharge. Conclusions: Neural network, random forest, and XGBoost models predicted 30-day readmission following an AMI with good performance. Across these models, depression was an important feature for predicting 30-day readmissions. Results reinforce the importance of mental health among patients hospitalized for AMI.

Long wavelengths for 7.5-12μm and particularly above the upper limit of 12μm applies a huge challenge for LWIR (long wavelength infrared) optics. Of the known materials, sulfides and particularly selenides can work up to these wave lengths, but they are high index materials. For HL(High-Low) optical designs low index materials with low absorption remain a challenge. Fluorides have low index with bandgaps and outperforms other known LWIR materials, but absorption exists with traditional conditions at the upper limits of LWIR. Some fluorides can be better but because of the toxicity and durability their applications are restricted. In this research we successfully improved LWIR optics transmissions in wavelengths of 7.5-13.6μm and above by optimizing fluorides IAD (Ion assisted deposition) processing conditions. This study clearly shows that fluorides, for example YbF₃, there is ion energy threshold for the absorption edge above which the material absorption can be greatly reduced regardless the approach of the evaporation methods, such as e-beam or thermal evaporation. This threshold is also closely related to stress and microstructure of the coating layer, above which the layer tends to be a dense and low defect microstructure by TEM and low tensile by stress analysis. With optimized ion energy in the IAD process, LWIR optics can increase transmission by 3.5%, 2.0% and 7.5%, at wavelength of 7.5, 10.5, and 13.5μm respectively. Compared to the traditional approach, single layer absorptions at the same wavelength from the optimized IAD process drop about 3%, 6% and 14%, respectively.

This work provides an overview of avionic systems, which can be used as an entry point to learn about their architecture and components, and as a guide for studying the recent development of unmanned aerial systems avionics. The development trend of avionics for unmanned aerial systems tends toward the one used for a large aircraft both in the structure of the architecture and in design and implementation processes. However, due to the differences in the operational environment, challenges remain in specifying the proper requirements, and proving their safety and security. The paper reviews the functionalities and importance of avionic systems, especially in unmanned aerial systems. It also provides the historical background and the future trend of system development in terms of safety, security, and certification for the purpose of integrating these unmanned aerial systems into an urban airspace.

Quasi-Monte Carlo integration uses deterministic, low discrepancy sequences, such as the Halton or the Sobol sequence, to carry out numerical integration or search. These quasi random sequences are defined over the unit interval, or its multidimensional analogues, i.e. the unit square, cube, or hypercube. However, there are applications where we need quasi random sequences that are defined over a circular, spherical, or ellipsoidal domains. We study the performance of quasi random sequences for integration on a unit disk by generating quasi-random sequences defined over the unit square and transforming them to sequences defined on the unit disk by using coordinate transformations. We evaluate integrals defined over a circular disk and find that quasi-Monte Carlo integration using Sobol sequences outperforms Monte Carlo integration using pseudorandom sequences.

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session Number 2530 Timelines and Student Project Planning in Middle School Technology /Engineering Education Exercises Timothy Harrah1, Bradford George2 and Martha Cyr1 1 Tufts University Center for Engineering Education Outreach Tufts University, Medford, MA 02460 / 2 Hale Middle School Nashoba Regional School District, Stow, MA 01775 Abstract In the practice of professional engineering design, nearly all work is ultimately completed in a team format and under a deadline. It is therefore relevant to reflect, on some level, the demands of these real world constraints in instructional problem solving activities as well. It is our belief and experience that the integration of these concepts may be made successfully as early as grades seven and eight. While team based interactive learning has consistently been a focus of the Tufts University/Nashoba Regional School District NSF GK-12 program, over the past academic year, the concept of student directed project planning has also been implemented. This primarily involves the creation of a project specific Gantt chart, which is a common tool in industrial project management. This has similar benefit to students as to working professionals in that advanced planning allows for the broad survey of project scope and for the allocation of time and personnel resources to various tasks that are component to its efficient and timely completion. As the planned tasks mirror the steps of the engineering design process, this exercise also becomes a pedagogical tool to review and reinforce this material. In addition, the usefulness of the graphical representation of information is also emphasized. It is our experience that students respond well to this exercise and in the periodic charting of actual progress against initial goals, experience the reinforcement of planning skills which are broadly applicable to many types of team based problems. It is the objective of this paper to discuss in detail the motivations, instructional methods and impacts of implementing engineering timelines into middle school technology/engineering design exercises. Introduction to the Classroom The Tufts University/Nashoba Regional School District NSF GK-12 program supports the inclusion of Engineering content into the curriculum of schools within that district at the 4th through 12th grade levels. Graduate student fellows with undergraduate degrees in engineering and computer science are typically placed within a classroom in order to develop activities that support the analysis of problems from an engineering perspective. The subject classroom for this paper is a Technology/Engineering program at Hale Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2002, American Society for Engineering Education Main Menu