Sunday, August 9, 2020

MIT (Maker) Women Rock

MIT (Maker) Women Rock As many of you know I am a FIRST Robotics nut and Kool-Aid drinking member of the Kult of Kamen. One of the (many) things Dean Kamen has said that has always resonated with me is that we are what we celebrate. Celebrity is fundamentally heroic; even our most tragic celebrity narratives (#winning) still construct the archetypes we pattern ourselves after. This is an issue Ive written about before in other venues on the subject of gridiron football amidst a growing body of evidence that football causes traumatic brain injury, the NFL continues to sell photos of big hits and stupid sportswriters continue to laud players who play through injury. What we celebrate, and whom we praise as heroes, becomes what we want to become. Deans point was that we spend too much time celebrating athletes, musicians, and movie stars and not enough time celebrating technologists and engineers. I agree with him. And I agree especially in the case of women. Ive posted blog entries before about women at MIT, because we have great women here studying in fields especially STEM in which women have been historically underrepresented. Why have women been underrepresented? Well, there are many reasons, reasons too complex to discuss in a PhD dissertation, let alone a blog post. But one of them is best summed up by this SMBC cartoon: And another, related reason is that public role models for women have rarely been scientists and engineers. This isnt to say that there havent been terrific women in STEM just that, as with Rosalind Franklin, they often havent been as recognized as they should have been. They havent been celebrated. As one blogger pointed out, look at any magazine rack and you can see what popular culture celebrates in women: Wait, hang onwhats that on the cover of WIRED? From Makezine: Engineer, kit maker, entrepreneur, MAKE advisory board member, open source hardware pioneer Limor Ladyada Fried is on April’s WIRED cover. This is the first female engineer to appear WIRED’s cover (as well as the first female engineer to appear on such a high-profile tech publication that I can recall). Ladyada owns. Shes credited by many with being responsible for driving the arduino revolution. She also runs her own business, creates elaborate engineering tutorials and epic electronics projects. And oh yeah, she got her undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, with a totally kickass thesis project on Social Defense Mechanisms: In contemporary Western society, electronic devices are becoming so prevalent that many people find themselves surrounded by technologies they find frustrating or annoying. The electronics industry has little incentive to address this complaint; I designed two counter-technologies to help people defend their personal space from unwanted electronic intrusion. Both devices were designed and prototyped with reference to the culture-jamming “Design Noir” philosophy. The first is a pair of glasses that darken whenever a television is in view. The second is low- power RF jammer capable of preventing cell phones or similarly intrusive wireless devices from operating within a user’s personal space. By building functional prototypes that reflect equal consideration of technical and social issues, I identify three attributes of Noir products: Personal empowerment, participation in a critical discourse, and subversion. Congrats, Ladyada, for being on the cover of WIRED. You own. And, more importantly, you give me cause to believe that perhaps we are celebrating the right things. For the first time in a long time, Deans axiom is itself cause for celebration.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Benefits Of A Transplant Or A Kidney Transplant - 1646 Words

Imagine yourself in a situation where your best friend got in a car accident and needs a kidney transplant. When the doctor receives the news that you’re the only applicable person because of blood type, all eyes are on you. What would you do? Would you give or keep? Savings lives can be something that is dreaded or heroic. In fact, each day, an average of 79 people receive organ transplants because of the generous. However, an average of 21 people die each day waiting for transplants that can t take place because of the shortage of donated organs (Organdonor.gov). How can we fix this? Are you the friend that will give a helping hand or one that will run away? Currently, more than 120 million people in the U.S. are signed up to be a donor. But statistics can be hard to come by and something that can change the outlook on the way one looks at life is to recognize every number as a person. That person could be in need of a lifesaving transplant or a person who has legacy in bein g an active organ donor to many hoping for a favor in return. Not matter what, each number could be a mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparent, child or a best friend. What matters most is that number equals a life lost or lived by a transplant. Being a donor myself, there are many stigmas and false accusations about this topic and in becoming an organ donor after death it is not only an important decision for oneself to know the truth about this opportunity, but it is also one step closer to simplyShow MoreRelatedThe Benefits Of Live Kidney Transplants1111 Words   |  5 PagesDuring my first clinical rotation I was assigned a patient who, down to his last kidney, was living with end stage renal disease. I noticed quickly that this man, one of ethnical minority, relied on his family members to give him information and advice pertaining to his treatment, as he himself seemed ignorant to his own medical problems. I found his case fascinating, as he not only had one kidney, but he was also suffering many other debilitating medical crisis’, all brought on by his failing renalRead MoreMedical Services : A New Sector Of The Overall Tourism Industry1732 Words   |  7 PagesTransplant tourism is a new sector of the overall tourism industry. It focuses on an individual’s ability to travel to a place where they have no permanent residence in order to receive medical services, specifically organ transplants. This paper will seek to give some of that foundational knowledge and explore those ethical and moral considerations to further explain the ways in which this field is growing and how/why so many more Canadians appear to be in support of it. Transplant tourism in someRead MoreThe Treatment Of Pancreatic Transplants1251 Words   |  6 PagesPancreatic transplants have had a lot of advancements over the last several years to help patients with Type 1 DM and the complications that arise from the disease. The increasing numbers of people with diabetes is cause for concern. In some cases diabetes can be prevented but in others its more about genetics; but with many medical advances patients have a better chance for survival. With advancements in surgical procedures pancreatic transplants are improving as well as the increased odds ofRead MoreOrgan Donation and Transplantation 982 Words   |  4 Pagestransforming medical process wherein organs and tissues were removed from a donor and transplant them to a recipient who is very ill from organ failure. It is said that one organ can save up to 10 people and may improve the lives of thousands more (Australian Red Cross Blood Service, 2011). Most of the donated organs and ti ssues came from people who already died but in some cases, a living person can donate organs such as kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs and some tissues such as skin, boneRead MoreShould The Sale Of Organs Become Legalized?1494 Words   |  6 Pageswaiting for transplants due to shortages of donated organs according to the Government run website Organdoner.gov. It s not as though the others will eventually get kidneys if they just wait, sustained in the meantime by dialysis. In the next year, nearly four thousand of those patients will die waiting. At least twelve hundred others will eventually end up off the list because they develop complications that make them too sick to withstand a transplant. Unfortunately for transplant patients thatRead MoreApplying Best Practices To Designing Patient Education : Article Analysis888 Words   |  4 PagesEnd-Stage Renal Disease Pursuing Kidney Transplant† Davis, Fish, Peipert, Skelton Waterman (2015). Despite the kno wn benefits of kidney transplants, less than thirty percent of the six hundred and fifteen thousand patients’ are living with end-stage renal disease in the United States have received a transplant. More than One hundred thousand people are presently on the transplant waiting list. The significant barrier to kidney transplants is the shortage of donated kidneys. The purpose of this articleRead MorePaper771 Words   |  4 Pagesof non-adherence in kidney transplant patients, specifically, to compare switching from a twice-daily dose of tacrolimus to a once-daily dose of tacrolimus, to improve medication adherence and prevent or reduce transplant rejection and graft loss in kidney transplant recipients. Clinicians play a vital role in helping patients make treatment decisions that are most beneficial for their health and values, making adjustments of medication dosages and educating patients on benefits, side effects, andRead MoreThe And Its Effect On Human Life921 Words   |  4 PagesWith recent advances organ transplants have advances dew hope for the treatment of kidney, Liver diseases. However, this promise has been accompanied by several issues. The most common issue has raised its ethical implications in the culture like Muslim world, because in 1983, the Muslim Religious Council disallowed organ donations by supporters of Islam, but it has overturned its position, as long the donor s consent in writing before death.. Transplanted Islam powerfully believes in the principleRead MoreEssay about Organ Transplantation978 Words   |  4 PagesOrganization (WHO), around 21,000 liver transplants, 66,000 kidney transplants, and 6000 heart transplantation were performed globally in 2005.1 In addition, data showed that living kidney, liver, and lung donations declined, going from 7,004 in 2004 to 6,219 in 2008 making it a challenge for patients who are in need of organ transplant1. According to the WHO; an estimated 46,000 people in Egypt are in need of transplants, most of them liver and kidney transplants. Egypt’s population of around 80,471Read MoreOrgan Allocation Case Study : Correctional Healthcare1147 Words   |  5 Pagesare used to decide which patient should receive the transplant. The purpose of this paper is to not look at the personal history of the transplant candidate but to evaluate the medical history provided to determine which recipient would have a higher quality of life upon receiving the organ transplant. There is a critical shortage of organ donations nationwide. Healthcare providers must strictly evaluate who should receive a heart transplant (Eisen, 2017). The goal of any organ transplantation

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Thoreau On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience Rhetorical Analysis

Throughout the duration of the Mexican American war, beginning in 1846, many attempts were made to gather support for the conflict. One citizen, who resided in Connecticut, showed much more drastic distest to this war than many others. Henry David Thoreau took both passive and active efforts to voice his antagonism to the conflict by refusing to pay a tax that he believed supported the ideology behind the war that the United States was partaking in at the time. Later, he contrived an essay that outlined his philosophies of resistance, and created a basis for his means of protest that he believed should be placed in the mindset of the general public. Throughout Thoreaus essay, he illustrates his vast opposition to the involvement in the†¦show more content†¦In Thoreau’s continuing effort to describe the context for citizen rebellion, he beseeches how irrelevant public opinion is if it is not acted on. â€Å"How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, an d enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved?† (Thoreau). This question develops a sense of urgency that unless an opinion is acted on, first, there will be a complete absence of realistic results, but second, it simply exacerbates the issue that citizen opinion is against. To an extent, opinions are worthless if there is no motivation behind them, and Thoreau makes this very clear within his essay to assist the exigence behind his straightforward tone. Thoreau also addresses the idea of citizen integrity when he asks the question, â€Å"What is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?† (Thoreau). This concludes that a failure to rebel against an unjust principle consequently impairs one’s integrity. Additionally, he contends that tradition is an influential motivator that removes the idea of rebellion from the mind of many citizens. Tradition in a community creates a cycle that manages to persuade people to not rebel against an unjust cause due to conformity that becomes

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Final Reflection Free Essays

The most important lesson I feel I have learned from this course was in Week 1, when we discussed the value of keeping an open mind and viewing all aspects of a problem or situation from multiple perspectives versus limiting myself to my own perspective. Being able to apply what I have learned about creating strong arguments will make me more confident in writing research and persuasive papers for college. It will also undoubtedly assist me in any future career. We will write a custom essay sample on Final Reflection or any similar topic only for you Order Now I will be more able to confidently defend or argue my points of views and opinions in an unbiased way. This will, in turn, make me an overall better communicator. From the beginning of this course I have applied what I learned to the way I approached life in general and it has allowed me to better understand other people. Since Week 1, I have tried to implement what I learned from the â€Å"This Is Water† video ND I am happy to say it has already started to change my life for the better. Although I have always known it was best to view life In this way, PHI 103 has pushed me to be more aware of my thought processes. There Is a huge different between knowing or understanding something and putting it to practice. My goals are to keep increasing my awareness of other perspectives and to continue being objective upon approaching any argument. How to cite Final Reflection, Papers

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Ma Case free essay sample

Operations and management were not successfully integrated as â€Å"equals† because of the entirely different ways in which the Germans and Americans operated: while Daimler-Benz’s culture stressed a more formal and structured management style, Chrysler favored a more relaxed, freewheeling style (to which it owed a large part of its premerger ? nancial success). In addition, the two units traditionally held entirely different views on important things like pay scales and travel expenses. As a result of these differences and the German unit’s increasing dominance, performance and employee satisfaction at Chrysler took a steep downturn. There were large numbers of departures among key Chrysler executives and engineers, while the German unit became increasingly dissatis? ed with the performance of the Chrysler division. Chrysler employees, meanwhile, became extremely dissatis? ed with what they perceived as the source of their division’s problems: Daimler’s attempts to take over the entire organization and impose their culture on the whole ? rm. We will write a custom essay sample on Ma Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3 While cultural con? ict often plays a large role in producing merger failure, it is often neglected when the bene? ts of a potential merger are examined. For instance, following the announcement of the AOLTimeWarner deal, a front-page Wall Street Journal article (Murray et al. 2000) discussed possible determinants of success or failure for the merger (such as synergies, costs, competitor reaction, and so forth). The only clear discussion of possible cultural con? ict is a single paragraph (out of a 60-column-inch article) revealing how the â€Å"different personalities† of AOL’s For instance, one joke told at Chrysler is: â€Å"How do you pronounce DaimlerChrysler? ‘Daimler’ the ‘Chrysler’ is silent. † Steve Case and TimeWarner’s Gerald Levin re? ect cultural differences between the two ? rms. A similar article (Jubak 2000) included a single paragraph entitled â€Å"What could go wrong with the synergy strategy. † Moreover, in these sorts of short, cursory, obligatory discussions of possible cultural con? ict, there is rarely discussion of what steps might be taken if there is dramatic con? ict. While culture may seem like a â€Å"small thing† when evaluating mergers, compared to product-market and resource synergies, we think the opposite is true because culture is pervasive.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Amygdalas Location and Function

Amygdala's Location and Function The amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of nuclei (mass of cells) located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain. There are two amygdalae, one situated in each brain hemisphere. The amygdala is a limbic system structure that is involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. It is involved in the processing of emotions such as fear, anger, and pleasure. The amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event evokes. Amygdala and Fear The amygdala is involved in autonomic responses associated with fear and hormonal secretions. Scientific studies of the amygdala have led to the discovery of the location of neurons in the amygdala that are responsible for fear conditioning. Fear conditioning is an associative learning process by which we learn through repeated experiences to fear something. Our experiences can cause brain circuits to change and form new memories. For example, when we hear an unpleasant sound, the amygdala heightens our perception of the sound. This heightened perception is deemed distressing and memories are formed associating the sound with unpleasantness. If the noise startles us, we have an automatic flight or fight response. This response involves the activation of the sympathetic division of the peripheral nervous system. Activation of the nerves of the sympathetic division results in accelerated heart rate, dilated pupils, increase in metabolic rate, and increase in blood flow to the muscles. This activity is coordinated by the amygdala and allows us to respond appropriately to danger. Anatomy The amygdala is composed of a large cluster of around 13 nuclei. These nuclei are subdivided into smaller complexes. The basolateral complex is the largest of these subdivisions and is composed of the lateral nucleus, basolateral nucleus, and accessory basal nucleus. This nuclei complex has connections with the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. Information from the olfactory system is received by two separate groups of amygdaloid nuclei, the cortical nuclei, and medial nucleus. Nuclei of the amygdala also make connections with the  hypothalamus and brainstem. The hypothalamus is involved in emotional responses and helps to regulate the endocrine system. The brainstem relays information between the cerebrum and spinal cord. Connections to these areas of the brain allow amygdaloid nuclei to process information from sensory areas (cortex and thalamus) and areas associated with behavior and autonomic function (hypothalamus and brainstem). Function The amygdala is involved in several functions of the body including: ArousalAutonomic responses associated with fearEmotional responsesHormonal secretionsMemory Sensory Information The amygdala receives sensory information from the thalamus and from the cerebral cortex. The thalamus is also a limbic system structure and it connects areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved in sensory perception and movement with other parts of the brain and spinal cord that also have a role in sensation and movement. The cerebral cortex processes sensory information obtained from vision, hearing, and other senses and is involved in decision-making, problem-solving, and planning. Location Directionally, the amygdala is located deep within the temporal lobes, medial to the hypothalamus and adjacent to the hippocampus. Amygdala Disorders Hyperactivity of the amygdala or having one amygdala that is smaller than the other has been associated with fear and anxiety disorders. Fear is an emotional and physical response to danger. Anxiety is a psychological response to something that is perceived as dangerous. Anxiety can lead to panic attacks that occur when the amygdala sends signals that a person is in danger, even when there is no real threat. Anxiety disorders that are associated with the amygdala include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and social anxiety disorder. Sources Sah, P., Faber, E., Lopez De Armentia, L., Power, J. (2003). The Amygdaloid Complex: Anatomy and Physiology. Physiological Reviews, 83(3), 803-834. doi:10.1152/physrev.00002.2003

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Understanding of electrical properties The WritePass Journal

Understanding of electrical properties 1. Introdution Understanding of electrical properties 1. Introdution1.1 Permeabilty 1.2 Porosity1.3 Electrical resistivity of concrete and its role in corrosion1.4 Test of Conductivity and Resistivity1.5 The electrical properties of cement and concreteRelated 1. Introdution The corrosion of steel in concrete is an electro-chemical process which creates a current flow causing rebars to dissolve therefore it could be assess the probability of corrosion of steel by evaluating the electrical resistance of the concrete. The factor is measured in terms of resistivity and expressed in Ohm. The electric resistivity of concrete is one of the major parameters which are controlled the propagation of reinforcement corrosion. Electrical properties are of concern in some specific applications such as railway ties or in structure in which concrete is used for protection from stray currents. Electrical resistance of concrete also influences progress of corrosion of embedded steel. Electrical properties are also of interest in studies of the properties of both fresh and hardened concrete and effective of admixture on it. Admixture generally do not reduce the resistivity of concrete, however, special addition can be use to vary the resistivity. For instance the addition to concrete of finally divided bituminous material, with subsequent heat treatment increase the resistivity, especially under wet conditions. It is common knowledge that there is a strong relationship between resistivity and permeability of concrete because basically we are interest in measuring the (pore connectivity which is function of resistivity) therefore it is Useful to clarify the permeability and the porosity. 1.1 Permeabilty Permeability is the ease with liquid or gases can travel through concrete. This property is of interest in relation to the water-tightness of liquid retaining structure and to chemical attack. Although there is no prescribed test by BS and ASTM, the permeability of concrete can be measured by means of a simple laboratory test but the results are mainly comparative and also it can related to electric resistivity measuring. In such test the sides of a concrete specimen are sealed and water under pressure is applied to the top surface only. When steady state condition has been reached the quantity of water flowing through the concrete sample in given time is measured. The permeability is not a simple function of its porosity, but depends also on size, distribution, shape, tortuosity, and continuity of the pores. .(Neville, 1995) 1.2 Porosity Strictly speaking, strength of concrete is fundamentally a function of volume void in it.  And it influence by entrapped air, capillary pores, gel pores and entrained air, if present. Fresh cement paste is a plastic network of particles of cement in water but, once the paste has set, it’s apparent or gross volume remains approximately constant. The paste consists of hydrates of the various cement compounds and of   Ca(OH)2, and the gross volume available for all these products of hydration consists of the sum of the absolute volume of the   dry cement and the volume of the mix water. In consequence of hydration, the mix water takes one of three forms: combined water, gel water and capillary water. 1.3 Electrical resistivity of concrete and its role in corrosion The electrical resistivity of concrete plays a major role in the steel rebar corrosion. If   the concrete has low resistivity (high conductivity), there is a high chance for corrosion cells to develop due to high ions concentrations   at the rebar level as opposed to low conductivity concrete. Corrosion of steel occurs because of electro-chemical action which is usually encountered when two dissimilar metal are in electro contact in presence of moisture and oxygen. However the same process takes place in steel alone because of the electrical-chemical potential on the surface which forms anode and cathodic regions.   When chlorides are present and with low resistivity of concrete, more ions are present for this process to mobilize and spread corrosion. The corrosion that take place is manifested as the formation of corrosion, which when it is constituted has an expansive reaction. When the corrosion expands, the concrete is no longer able to withstand the cracks and tensile forc es. Cracking and spalling fetches more water, air, and the ions entering very quickly when cracks are exists, and thus propagate the corrosion. Conversely, with a concrete has low permeability there are less chloride ions present, therefore the reaction is much slower if it develops at all. This induces a sustainable structure caused by the reduction of corrosion in the reinforcement.   The strongly alkaline nature of Ca (OH)2, of pH13 prevent the corrosion of the rebar by formation of a thin protective film of iron oxide on the metal surface, this protection is known as passivity. However, if the concrete is permeable to the extent that carbonation reaches the concrete in contact with steel or soluble chlorides can penetrate right up to the reinforcement, and water and oxygen are present, then corrosion of reinforcement will take place. The passive iron oxide layer is destroyed when pH falls bellow about 11 and carbonation lowers the pH to about 9. These reasons are why we are me asuring the resistivity of concrete is crucial in concrete building  Ã‚   containing steel rebar.Hammond (2010) 1.4 Test of Conductivity and Resistivity The 4-point electrical measurement testing method (Wenner linear array), figure (1.1) was used by geologists to measuring the resistivity of soil; it has since been revised for use in testing some materials such as concrete. This method is one of the most commonly technique is used for measuring concrete resistivity, by using AC current. This method contains a 4-poin probe device (as shown in fig1.1) used to measure the electrical resistivity of a concrete, a small AC current, passes between the outer contacts, the result is difference of potential  Ã‚   between the two inner contacts. The resistivity of concrete is calculating by equation (1.1). This technique for this purpose is relatively new, about 11 years ago has been used for measuring the resistivity of concrete. Ï  = 2aÃŽ   Where, Ï  is resistivity, a is spacing between probes, V is Potential difference between inner contacts, I is current passed between outer contacts. Figure 1.1 wenner 4-point resistivity meter 1.5 The electrical properties of cement and concrete The electrical properties of concrete and cement are extremely variable and it depend on the size and shape of the particle, the mix proportions including the type and grading of aggregate, the age and curing conditions and the moisture content as determined by water/cement ratio and subsequent drying or moisture absorption. The most important electric properties of concretes and cements are their resistance to both direct and alternating current and their dielectric strength. The resistance can be of two form, volume resistance and surface resistance and it is through a failure to separate those two that much of the early work on the subject exhibits such inconsistence. (Orchard,)   It is difficult to generalise on the resistance of cement paste and concrete as it is so variable and depends on many factors. As very rough guide, however, the volume resistivity of a freshly made cement paste may be 1/5000 of a megohm centimetre and may rise to 1/20 of a megohm centimetre after storing in air for long time.