Trapping bacteria and fungi using microfluidic design

Escherichia coli and Candida auris are not easy to identify in laboratories without special technology. In this study, we have presented microfluidic designs for trapping bacteria and fungi. Two trapping chambers are designed using AutoCAD and the fluid dynamics of the bacteria and fungi are simulated using D. Schroeder’s Fluid Dynamics Simulation software. The designs are modified versions of a device that is constructed and simulated with numerical predictions, which include sizes and apertures in consideration of the specified microbe. The current designs take into account the exact dimensions of E. coli and C. auris under fluid flow and passive microfluidic technique, where actuation is based on geometry, is considered. The measurements of the design ensure that the species are to be trapped due to diffusion and ¬¬fluid dynamics. From the simulation, the stagnation is to be shown with its default setting, and approximation is done in its motion which is simulated in the two-dimensional space of the bacteria and fungi. The microfluidic designs will be useful during experiments in deciphering necessary information of the bacteria and fungi and will be a platform in modeling numerous biomedical assays and in the optimization of biophysical tools.

Curriculum Models from Educational Theory

This chapter presents a range of models from educational theory. Some are thoughtless habits that protect the status quo of practices for transmission of past knowledge, while others are more productive of transformation of schools, students, and society. First discussed is basic studies/essentialism, the dysfunctional default setting of many schools and educators. Especially problematic for music educators is perennialism, a commitment to the supposed “Great Works” and “great ideas” of Western civilization. More helpfully, progressivism is then addressed as based in Dewey’s pragmatic theory of “learning by doing.” Finally, reconstructionism and critical theory share an emphasis on overcoming social status quo class divisions that the traditional approaches to schooling were transmitting.

The interpretation of disjunction in VP ellipsis: The case of Mandarin Chinese

It has long been noted that verb phrase (VP) ellipsis cancels the polarity sensitivity of the English Positive Polarity Items (PPIs). In recent work, it has been proposed that words for disjunction are governed by a parameter. On one value of the parameter, disjunction is a PPI for adult speakers of many languages including Mandarin Chinese. On the other value, disjunction is interpreted in situ. It has also been proposed that child language learners, across languages, initially interpret disjunction in situ, not as a PPI. Taken together, these proposals predict that child and adult speakers of Mandarin will assign the same interpretation to disjunction in sentences with VP ellipsis, but will assign a different interpretation in sentences without VP ellipsis. This study assessed these predictions. In sentences with a full VP, the adult participants analyzed disjunction as a PPI, but they interpreted disjunction in situ in sentences with VP ellipsis. The child participants interpreted disjunction in situ in sentences of both kinds. Together, the findings support the recent proposal that disjunction is governed by a lexical parameter, with a default setting.

Rationalism, Universalism, and Relativism

People seem to regard some norms (e.g., about the wrongness of armed robbery) as universally true, and other norms (e.g., about which side of the road to drive on) as true relativized to some context or group. This chapter considers whether such meta-evaluative beliefs are rational. There are reasons to doubt that the belief in universalism about norms is evidentially rational. Nonetheless, universalism seems to be a default setting in normative cognition. That is, when we acquire norms, we tend to presuppose that they hold universally. This chapter argues that even though the default assumption of universalism might not be evidentially rational, it is ecologically rational to have a bias in favor of universalism. However, people are not completely locked into universalism. Under conditions of low consensus regarding some norm, people do move away from universalism and adopt some form of relativism, at least at a reflective level. And this is plausibly an evidentially rational response to low consensus.

Diagnostic performance evaluation of different TI-RADS using ultrasound computer-aided diagnosis of thyroid nodules: An experience with adjusted settings

Background Thyroid cancer diagnosis has evolved to include computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) approaches to overcome the limitations of human ultrasound feature assessment. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a CAD system in thyroid nodule differentiation using varied settings. Methods Ultrasound images of 205 thyroid nodules from 198 patients were analysed in this retrospective study. AmCAD-UT software was used at default settings and 3 adjusted settings to diagnose the nodules. Six risk-stratification systems in the software were used to classify the thyroid nodules: The American Thyroid Association (ATA), American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging, Reporting, and Data System (ACR-TIRADS), British Thyroid Association (BTA), European Union (EU-TIRADS), Kwak (2011) and the Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology (KSThR). The diagnostic performance of CAD was determined relative to the histopathology and/or cytology diagnosis of each nodule. Results At the default setting, EU-TIRADS yielded the highest sensitivity, 82.6% and lowest specificity, 42.1% while the ATA-TIRADS yielded the highest specificity, 66.4%. Kwak had the highest AUROC (0.74) which was comparable to that of ACR, ATA, and KSThR TIRADS (0.72, 0.73, and 0.70 respectively). At a hyperechoic foci setting of 3.5 with other settings at median values; ATA had the best-balanced sensitivity, specificity and good AUROC (70.4%; 67.3% and 0.71 respectively). Conclusion The default setting achieved the best diagnostic performance with all TIRADS and was best for maximizing the sensitivity of EU-TIRADS. Adjusting the settings by only reducing the sensitivity to echogenic foci may be most helpful for improving specificity with minimal change in sensitivity.

Constitutional Adjudication and Constitutional Politics in the United Kingdom: The Miller II Case in Legal and Political Context

For a number of years there has been nothing at all unusual about the United Kingdom finding itself in a state of constitutional upheaval; indeed, for some time, this has been the UK constitution’s default setting. This has sometimes been as a result of long-anticipated and carefully planned reforms, such as the enactment, in the late 1990s, of legislation to give domestic effect to the European Convention on Human Rights and to introduce devolved systems of government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In contrast, more recent upheaval is attributable to often unexpected reactions to often unexpected events. For example, legislation making substantial changes to the devolution scheme in Scotland – providing, among other things, for the constitutional permanence of the Scottish Parliament and Government – was enacted to implement panicked promises made by UK politicians in the dying days of the Scottish independence referendum campaign, at which point a vote in favour of independence seemed a distinct possibility. And then, needless to say, there is Brexit – about which it is almost impossible to be guilty of hyperbole when describing its constitutional implications, so numerous and potentially far-reaching are they.

Frequency Modulation System and Bone Conduction Hearing Aid: Electroacoustic Verification

Introduction A protocol has not yet been developed to perform electroacoustic measurements and behavioral tests to fit the frequency modulation (FM) system in bone conduction hearing aid (BCHA) users. Electroacoustic verification, with “FM transparency” achieved, ensures user audibility of FM transmitter and hearing aid signals. Objective To propose and validate a protocol for electroacoustic verification of the FM system coupled to the BCHA. Method Twenty-four sets of FM system and BCHA were submitted to electroacoustic verification, using a receiver and a plastic adapter to connect the BCHA to a 2cc coupler in the hearing instrument analyzer. The measurements were performed in the acoustic box, at 65 dB sound pressure level (SPL), with International Speech Test Signal (ISTS), first to the BCHA microphone and then to the FM system microphone, to determine the transparency, in which equivalent inputs for both microphones result in equivalent outputs. The FM gain or volume has been adjusted to try to gain transparency for the outputs of the two input devices. Results Transparency was achieved for all sets evaluated, but in some combinations, adjustments to the FM receiver gain over the manufacturer's default setting were required. Conclusion The proposed protocol proved to be effective for the electroacoustic verification of the FM system coupled to the BCHA.

An improved mode of running PASTA

PASTA is a method for estimating alignments and trees that has been able to provide excellent accuracy on large sequence datasets. By design, PASTA operates using iteration, in which the tree from the previous iteration is used to inform a divide-and-conquer strategy during which a new alignment is computed on the sequence dataset, and then a new maximum likelihood tree is estimated on the new alignment. In its default setting, PASTA runs for three iterations and returns that alignment/tree pair from the last iteration. Here we use both biological and simulated nucleotide datasets to show that returning the alignment/tree pair that has the best maximum likelihood score improves on the default usage.