Pushing Sustainability with Green Building Rating Systems
Since the introduction of green building, nations have been working on developing methods to successfully integrate this idea into society. Overtime, green building systems have emerged to encourage sustainable building. These systems reward buildings who meet their definition of sustainable with green certification. Obtaining green certification is a desired achievement for many owners since green buildings are highly regarded. Governments hope make green building widespread through green building rating systems.
The past two decades have seen a rise in green building rating systems. Figure 1 shows a few of the most prevalent rating systems. Currently, there are over 25 different home-rating systems in North America and England, each with their own set of guidelines to evaluate the greenness of buildings. Despite their differences, green rating systems tend to include the same five fundamental categories. They include site and location, energy, water, resources, indoor-air quality, and a category about process such as innovation. For a building to get site and location points, it must be located in an area with access to transportation options and/or close proximity to other locations. Points for energy and water are given depending on how efficiently these resources are utilized. Indoor-air quality points are granted based on how well the building provides a healthy and comfortable environment (Jackson, 2010).
Figure 1: Green Building Rating Systems, Source: Sustainability Forestry Initiative. (n.d.). Green Building – SFI. Retrieved from http://www.sfiprogram.org/markets/green-building/
Of all the categories, energy is the one which green rating systems place most emphasis on. In one particular study, it was found that energy efficiency consists of 32% of all points available on average for the seven rating systems studied (Jackson, 2010). As a result, it can be said that energy efficiency is the most important aspect of green building. Figure 2 illustrates the breakdown of the total possible points in LEED v4 by category. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning, or simply known as ASHRAE, Standard 90.1 is the benchmark standard for building energy performance in the United States. This standard limits the power consumption of lighting and mandates that lights be shut by lighting controls when not in use (Gelfo, 2013). Energy building codes act as an incentive for owners to participate in the green movement.
Figure 2: Breakdown of the Available Points in LEED v4 by Category, Source: Cast Stone Institute. (2014, August). Cast Stone and LEED® v4: Design Tips – Technical Bulletin #53. Retrieved from http://www.caststone.org/bulletins/53.html
Having been around for only a short period of time, green building rating systems still have room for improvement. LEED, the most recognized green rating system in the United States, is continually being updated. This system was founded in 1993 by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to spread green building knowledge and promote its integration (Chance, 2012). In the 2009 v3 revision, LEED suggests or requires control systems for the building, specifically for its lighting and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). By incorporating control systems, energy usage is reduced, lighting is controlled and indoor environment is improved (Cooperman, Dieckmann, and Brodrick, 2012). Along with green rating systems, building codes are also being upgraded. It was not until recently that states are enforcing green building laws. In 2012, the International Code Council released the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) which aims to reduce the carbon footprints for commercial buildings. As for residential buildings, the 2008 National Green Building Standard was approved to define sustainability for single and multi-family homes. By passing national codes, the government hopes to further encourage green building in all states.
Green building rating systems play a key role in the integration process for green building. Not only do they encourage green building, but they also educate the public on the subject. As rating systems are further studied, they will develop even more effective standards that will change building construction and design for the better.
References
Chance, S. (2012). Planning for environmental sustainability: learning from LEED and the USGBC. Planning for Higher Education, 41(1), 194+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/
Cooperman, A., Dieckmann, J., & Brodrick, J. (2012). Control systems & LEED. ASHRAE Journal, 54(6), 96+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/
Gelfo, M. A. (2013). Energy codes and lighting design. Consulting Specifying Engineer, 50(3), 21+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/
Hupp, E. E. B. (2010). Refining Green Building Regulations and Funding Green Buildings in Order to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Reductions. /43 Urb. Law., 42, 639.
Jackson, M. (2010). Green Home-Rating Systems: A Preservation Perspective. APT Bulletin, 41(1), 13-18. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25652698
Vision Zero and Cycling Safety: What is the Solution?
Ever since the British Parliament passed the laws regarding road safety work, the desire to eliminate traffic fatalities and achieve the goal of “zero” has spread over many countries, including the United States. One of the aspects of the transportation system that is not usually associated with “Vision Zero” is cycling (Johansson, 2009). However, cycling safety is one of the paramount concerns of the lawmakers and street designers that are trying to make zero appear in every column and every row of the “fatal crash rate” tables and charts. Every single year more than 700 bicyclists die in traffic accidents in the United States, and more than 45,000 are injured, which makes cycling safety a necessary step on Vision Zero’s path to success (Cushing et al., 2016).
Distinct cycling infrastructure can be found only in some parts of large cities in the United States, the majority of which are college towns. Furthermore, even existing roads designed to fit cyclists are, in most cases, poorly designed and maintained, which makes “safety” a wrong word to describe the effect of those few existing street redesign projects. One of the crucial steps towards eliminating crashes involving cyclists is the physical separation of bicycle traffic from motor vehicles (Schepers et al., 2014). This separation is especially important at high speeds and intersections, since cyclists often remain “invisible” to big trucks, buses, and turning vehicles.
Some of the large cities have recently been working on the so-called “cycle superhighways,” which are express bicycle routes that increase the speed and safety of long-distance bicycle commuting (Pucher et al., 2016). These “highways” are separated from the major roads but are parallel to them. The number of crossings is minimized, and the traffic lights are designed to provide a green wave of synchronized signaling, which means that the signals are carefully timed to allow higher cycling speeds.
Figure 1: The East-West Cycle Superhighway (Runs From Parliament to Tower Bridge)
Source: London Cycling Campaign Website
The most unique and interesting ways of ensuring the safety of cyclists are being practiced in Dutch, German, and Danish cities (Cushing et al., 2016). Low speeds and respect towards cyclists are enforced mentally – using the fear factor, legally – enforcing laws like speed limits, and physically – by limiting space on the roads thus limiting the types of vehicles that can be operated on those roads. First of all, granting cyclists the right of way over motorists on narrow streets both improves safety of cyclists and reduces the speeds with which motor vehicles travel on those roads (Johansson, 2009). The motion on most streets is limited to the speed of around 20 miles per hour (Pucher et al., 2016). In addition, speed-reducing fear-related forcing factors include speed bumps, raised intersections, parked cars on both sides of the road, and road narrowing (Pucher et al., 2016). Also, most of the dead-end streets limit the motion of motor vehicles, but have convenient pathways for cyclists. Education is an important safety factor as well, since traffic safety education provided by schools helps students become safe walkers, cyclists, and drivers (Sicinska et al., 2015).
Ten of the American cities have accomplished outstanding results in terms of accomplishing the goal of cycling safety (Table 1 below). In all of those cities the numbers of cyclist crashes were significantly reduced (Cushing et al., 2016).
Table 1: Better Bicycle Infrastructure, Improved Cyclist Safety, and Increased Cycling
Source: American Journal of Public Health
According to the research, separation between cycling lanes and motor vehicles plays a crucial role in maintaining cycling safety (Johansson, 2009); therefore, it is critical to identify the best way to accomplish that task. The best solution that was agreed on are cycling tracks – cycling lanes that are physically separated from motor vehicles by raised curbs, or any other type of concrete barriers (Schepers, 2014). Cycle tracks without parked cars are 89% safer than streets with parked cars and no bicycle facilities (338). At the moment, the best direction to take for improving cycling safety is to remove car parking and replace it with cycle tracks, as well as keep enforcing speed limits and other regulations. Montreal, Canada is known for the most advanced system of cycle tracks, with injury rates 28% lower than on parallel roads without cycle tracks (340), which attracts much more bicycle trips and reassures street designers that they are moving in the right direction.
Works Cited (MLA Format)
Cushing, Matthew, Jonathan Hooshmand, Bryan Pomares, and Gillan Hotz. “Vision Zero in the United States Versus Sweden: Infrastructure Improvement for Cycling Safety.” American Journal of Public Health 106.12 (2016): 2178-181.
Johansson, Roger. “Vision Zero – Implementing a Policy for Traffic Safety.” Safety Science 47.1 (2009): 826-31.
Pucher, John, Ralph Buehler. “Safer Cycling Through Improved Infrastructure.” American Journal of Public Health 106.12 (2016): 2089-2091.
Schepers, Paul, Marjan Hagenzieker, Rob Methorst, Bert Van Wee, and Fred Wegman. “A Conceptual Framework for Road Safety and Mobility Applied to Cycling Safety.” Accident Analysis & Prevention 62 (2014): 331-40.
Sicinska, Katarzyna, and Maria Dabrowska-Loranc. “Centre of Road Traffic Safety Education for Children and Youths – Modern Educational Center in Road Traffic Safety.” Transport Problems 10.1 (2015): 137-48.
The Art of Restoration
Art Restoration versus Art Conservation
Art restorers and art conservators work closely together to maintain the integrity of artwork, combining fields of art history and science in their overall work. However, their tasks differ in that art restorers are involved in the physical cleaning and retouching of art, while art conservators are mainly concerned with the examination and documentation of artwork, which includes minimal treatment and determining the next steps towards preventative care and slowing down degradation effects.
Art Restoration and Conservation from the 1920s to the Present
The field of art restoration is constantly changing, as new restoration methods are being constantly discovered and technology is rapidly advancing. In the United States, art conservation saw a big push during the years 1925 – 1975, during which most major museums established conservation departments and laboratories, art journals relating to conservation were being written and published, and professional training programs and degrees were established (Stoner). From then on and continuing into the present, art conservation and restoration has only expanded and improved in terms of techniques and process refinements. Restorers, conservators, and museum scientists work together to take steps towards the overall study and maintenance of artwork, using noninvasive methods as well as minimal sampling methods, of which I have described in previous posts. Results and evidence made by conservators through preliminary studies of paintings, as shown in the figure below, can reveal what surface work must be done to restore a piece, whether it is applying varnish or actual paint.
Theories and Applications of Art Restoration
The field of art restoration revolves around the material form of the artwork itself (Brandi). Art restorers must fully understand the medium of the work as well as what it is applied on, i.e. an oil painting on canvas deteriorates differently than an oil painting on a wooden panel. In the case of the latter, wood paneling may deteriorate and become porous and can therefore no longer provide proper support for the painting. A simple solution would be to just replace the wood, but doing so will change the way the painting looks – losing its readability and artistic intentions (Beck). Art restorers must keep unity in mind when approaching restoration methods for any type of artwork, especially unity of material and medium, structure and appearance (Brandi).
A section of an oil painting photographed in normal light and raking light, respectively.
Source: http://www.williamstownart.org/techbulletins/images/WACC%20Imaging%20of%20Paintings.pdf
Works Cited
Beck, James. “RESTORATION AND THE MYTH OF READABILITY.” Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 21, no. 1, 2001, pp. 1–3. www.jstor.org/stable/23206968.
Beck, James. “REVERSIBILITY, FACT OR FICTION?: THE DANGERS OF ART RESTORATION.” Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 18, no. 3, 1999, pp. 1–8. www.jstor.org/stable/23205061.
Brandi, Cesare. “Theory of Restoration, I.” The Emergence of Modern Conservation Theory, pp. 230–235.
Frances Starn. “Restoration.” The Threepenny Review, no. 28, 1987, pp. 23–25. www.jstor.org/stable/4383531.
Stoner, Joyce Hill. “Changing Approaches in Art Conservation: 1925 to the Present.” Scientific Examination of Art: Modern Techniques in Conservation and Analysis, 2005, pp. 40–57.
Learned Recommendations on Yelp
Recommendations are suggestions that may direct the target toward something that they may like. In Yelp, data analysis is required in order to make satisfactory recommendations to users. Recommendations should thereby be supervised when they are being made so that each can be specific to their user. There are many proposed ways to receive recommendations on Yelp. The challenge here is that there is an abundance of information and it is hard to determine the importance of each relationship a user has (Yu, et al.). Therefore, there are many ways to give suggestions for which places to eat or go to.
One possible system for recommendations involves using a social network. By looking at what users like most frequently, we can create a list of recommendations just from that. This can be particularly helpful for new users as they will not have much history that Yelp can train recommendations from (Qian, et al.). Furthermore, if there is data and social networking data, a personalized system using location can also be implemented to generate a more accurate reading of a user’s inclinations (Savage, et al.). Another method involves a Spatial Topic which compares location and interests and see if there are functions of interest at those locations (Hu and Ester). It’s interesting to note that those who live near each other are likely to have similar movement behaviors. For example, students at the New York University may go to the same restaurants and grocery stores due to equal relative proximity.
Figure 1: Finding number of contextual variables from a number of words (Bauman, et al.)
An interesting method for a recommendation system uses the text that a user writes for their reviews and distinguishes any contextual variables in the text (Bauman, et al.). Furthermore, it is important to discern which of the reviews in the data set are specific and which are generic. By mining variables from the specific reviews, we have more reliable results to work with. Then, using the word-based method will give us contextual variables that basically give the context for a review. This works by analyzing which words have high frequency in a specific review. This will also give insight into the user and allow for better recommendations to be made.
Works Cited
Bauman, Konstantin, and Alexander Tuzhilin. “Discovering Contextual Information from User Reviews for Recommendation Purposes.” CBRecSys@ RecSys. 2014.
Hu, Bo, and Martin Ester. “Spatial topic modeling in online social media for location recommendation.” Proceedings of the 7th ACM conference on Recommender systems. ACM, 2013.
Qian, Xueming, et al. “Personalized recommendation combining user interest and social circle.” IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering26.7 (2014): 1763-1777.
Savage, Norma Saiph, et al. “I’m feeling loco: A location based context aware recommendation system.” Advances in Location-Based Services. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. 37-54.
Yu, Xiao, et al. “Recommendation in heterogeneous information networks with implicit user feedback.” Proceedings of the 7th ACM conference on Recommender systems. ACM, 2013.
Future Directions in Healthcare : Writing Assignment 8
Throughout my series of writing assignments, I have explored one main theme: communication in a healthcare setting. I began researching head and neck cancer survivorship and the misconception that life after cancer is not as difficult as with cancer; clinicians should provide support to relieve survivors of psychological side effects of their treatment (Nund, 2015). This topic was of interest to me because this was the focus of my psychology research project at Memorial Sloan Kettering this past summer. However, I quickly realized that I did not feel that I would be able to create a video using this topic, so I broadened my horizons to look at quality of life measures.
Figure 1.Question 1 on SF-36 shows how survivors subjectively quantify their health
I found that overall quality of life was generally measured with questionnaires. However, there were several “standard” surveys that physicians were using (Hammerlid, 2001, Campbell et al., 2004). The search for a standard quality of life measure led me to narrow down my research to encompass pain and how it is measured by physicians. Pain itself is very difficult to communicate because it is language resistant; when one is in pain, they do not speak, but rather shirek or shout (Scarry, 1985). Moreover, the original felt experience of pain is often lost in translation because it is put through the filter of language. There are also a myriad of social factors that play into how someone may express pain to a physician. Differences in class, gender, race are crucial to consider to provide a comprehensive analysis on the topic (Weinick, 2011).
My research pointed me in the direction of narrative medicine. Although it does allow for subjectivity by both the patient and the physician (Herxheimer & Ziebland 2004), it also introduces a new depth to a physician-patient relationship (Meldrum et al., 2009). In my video project, I am aiming to direct the future of clinical medicine towards holistic narrative medicine.
Citations:
Campbell, B. H., Spinelli, K., Marbella, A. M., Myers, K. B., Kuhn, J. C., & Layde, P. M.
(2004). Aspiration, weight loss, and quality of life in head and neck cancer survivors.
Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery,130(9), 1100-1103.
Hammerlid, E., & Taft, C. (2001). Health-related quality of life in long-term head and neck
cancer survivors: a comparison with general population norms. British journal of cancer,
Herxheimer, A., & Ziebland, S. (2004). The DIPEx project: collecting personal experiences of illness and health care. Narrative research in health and illness, 115-131.
Meldrum, M. L., Tsao, J. C. I., & Zeltzer, L. K. (2009). “I can’t be what I want to be”: Children’s Narratives of Chronic Pain Experiences and Treatment Outcomes. Pain Medicine, 10(6), 1018-1034.
Nund, R. L., Rumbach, A. F., Debattista, B. C., Goodrow, M. N., Johnson, K. A., Tupling, L. N., … & Porceddu, S. V. (2015). Communication changes following non-glottic head and neck cancer management: The perspectives of survivors and carers. International journal of speech-language pathology,17(3), 263-272.
Scarry, E. (1985). The body in pain: The making and unmaking of the world. Oxford University Press, USA.
Weinick, R. M., Elliott, M. N., Volandes, A. E., Lopez, L., Burkhart, Q., & Schlesinger, M.
(2011). Using standardized encounters to understand reported racial/ethnic disparities in patient experiences with care. Health services research, 46(2), 491-509.
Dark Matter Presenting A Possible Link To Black Holes
Based on the sheer size and intense mass of black holes, black holes occupy an incredible amount of space in the universe. In a similar fashion, the part of the universe that we do know, much of it is occupied by an incredible amount of dark matter. While there isn’t any known direct link, one can speculate a connection, and there happen to be some explanations proposed by many scientists that link the two.
Regular primordial black holes become candidates for heavy dark matter, based on their remnants and “gravitational vacuum solitons G-lumps” (Dymnikova & Khlopov, 2015). The also provide signatures for inhomogeneity of the early universe. Furthermore, primordial black holes have been considered as a reliable source for dark matter for more than two decades. These primordial black holes take rise from heavy unstable particles, and “are a very sensitive cosmological probe for physical phenomena occurring in the early universe” (Belotsky et al., 2014).
Another link between them that arises is the formation of density spikes from dark matter particles around primordial black holes, shortly if not immediately, after their formation where there is much radiation in this stage. Thus primordial dark holes are able to present themselves as dark matter if they formed in sufficiently large quantities, however, they can also instead act as “seeds for the formation of dark matter clumps” (Eroshenko, 2015).
Figure 1: Dark matter density around a primordial black hole (Eroshenko, 2015).
Another articles formally proposes a new dark matter particle candidate as the black hole atom, having an atom with the charged black hole as an atomic nucleus with electrons bound in internal quantum states. The article further this discussion by explaining how “the remnants of the evaporated black holes can be stable and also can serve as the dark matter candidates” (Dokushaev & Eroshenko, 2014). Further linkage can be seen by this article, which again shows a connection, and perhaps a basis of dark matter lying in black holes. The near critical density of compact bodies shows that most lines of sight are gravitationally microlensed. These compact bodies being stellar mass primordial black holes making up the dark matter component of the universe (Hawkins, 2011).
As one can see, there is much speculation surrounding this topic and there is no definite evidence that completely ties black holes to dark matter. There have been a few instances, such as with the spikes in density of dark matter particles around primordial black holes, but all of this information isn’t completely measured to the best degree, and most of it is purely theoretical.
Works Cited
Belotsky, K. M., et al. “Signatures Of Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter.” Modern Physics Letters A 29.37 (2014): 1440005-1-1440005-15.
Dokuchaev, V. I., and Yu. N. Eroshenko. “Black Hole Atom As A Dark Matter Particle Candidate.” Advances In High Energy Physics (2014): 1-5.
Dymnikova, Irina, and Maxim Khlopov. “Regular Black Hole Remnants And Graviatoms With De Sitter Interior As Heavy Dark Matter Candidates Probing Inhomogeneity Of Early Universe.” International Journal Of Modern Physics D: Gravitation, Astrophysics & Cosmology 24.13 (2015): -1.
Eroshenko, Yu. “Dark Matter Density Spikes Around Primordial Black Holes.” Astronomy Letters 42.6 (2016): 347-356.
Hawkins, M. R. S. “The Case For Primordial Black Holes As Dark Matter.” Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society 415.3 (2011): 2744-2757.
Sustainable Living Aboard Spacecraft
Modern spacecraft utilize complex recycling systems to maintain proper levels of atmospheric gases inside astronaut living spaces. Since we cannot reuse 100% of our waste, this is not a completely sustainable process. Longer expeditions would require bringing containers of oxygen or similar life support systems to ensure that the recycling process could go on as long as possible. Food is also a very important aspect of space travel, yet food cannot be recycled. Travelers must either bring all necessary food with them or grow it on board (Satyapal et al. 2001, Wieland 1998).
The only surefire way to fully maintain food and oxygen levels aboard a spaceship is via plants and their photosynthesis. The two types of plants typically considered for life support use are algae and higher plants. The benefits and drawbacks of these two types of plant life as detailed by Salisbury et al. are shown below in Figure 1 below
Figure 1. Benefits and drawbacks of algae and higher plants aboard spaceships, information retrieved from Salisbury et al.
The point that algae leads to nutrient deficiency over time is a very compelling component for the (primary) usage of higher plants. These plants can be grown by using xenon lamps roughly as powerful as sunlight. Although successful experimental trials have taken place in remote locations on Earth, there has not yet been an entirely successful attempt to grow a higher plant in outer space (Salisbury et al. 1997).
A more fully encompassing dietary recycling loop titled MELiSSA has been proposed. MELiSSA utilizes varied types of bacteria and plant life in four separate compartments to create a highly sustainable system of interactions (Hendrickx et al. 2005). The interaction diagram for the MELiSSA design as created by Hendrickx et al. is shown in Figure 2
Figure 2. “Scheme of the MELiSSA loop” retrieved from Hendrickx et al. 2005
It is important to note that life support systems go beyond the role of providing food, water, and comfortable living conditions for astronauts. These support systems must be able to decisively combat any sudden on-board emergency such as a fire. Fires rob the closed habitat of its precious oxygen and can throw sophisticated systems such as the MELiSSA loop into chaos. It is highly important to have fallback systems in place in case of emergency situations (Wieland 1994).
Future spacecraft may be extremely large, maybe the size of small cities. These spacecraft will be able to have complex sustainable life support systems of both plant and animal life. With a spaceship large enough, life on board can fully simulate life on Earth and provide thousands of travelers with an entirely stable habitat.
References:
Salisbury FB, Gitelson JI, Lisovsky GM. 1997. Bios-3: Siberian Experiments in Bioregenerative Life Support 575:585
Hendrickx L, De Wever H, Hermans V, Mastroleo F, Morin N, Wilmotte A, Janssen P, Mergeay M. 2005. Microbial ecology of the closed artificial ecosystem MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative): Reinventing and compartmentalizing the Earth’s food and oxygen regeneration system for long-haul space exploration missions 77:86
Wieland P. 1994. Designing for human presence in space: An introduction to environmental control and life support systems Abstract
Satyapal S, Filburn T, Trela J, Strange J. 2001. Performance and Properties of a Solid Amine Sorbent for Carbon Dioxide Removal in Space Life Support Applications 250:255
Wieland PO. 1998. Living Together in Space: The Design and Operation of the
Life Support Systems on the International Space Station 1:59
Is it More Helpful or Harmful? Evaluating the Impact of Cyberknife Radiosurgery on Pain Elimination
One important area of research for the Cyberknife system is the study of its impact on improving pain after treatment. As previous assignments have suggested, the Cyberknife holistically shows promise as a precise and effective alternative treatment method for people suffering from various types of cancer. What has not been explored as in depth is the impact of the Cyberknife system on pain post-treatment. Though the device may be able to shrink tumors and kill off cancer very precisely, a person’s quality of life (QOL) may not be very good if he or she is still experiencing pain after treatment. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the impact of the Cyberknife on pain elimination for cancer patients.
Past literature has indicated that the Cyberknife is capable of maintaining quality of life post-treatment. But within the realm of QOL exists the experience of pain. Research related to pain treatment has predominantly been conducted for patients battling cancers of the nervous system. Few articles have been published exploring this. For example, two research articles have been reported stating that although QOL was not significantly effected for cancer patients with spinal lesions, the Cyberknife system did significantly improve patient pain post-treatment (Degan et al., 2005; Gagnon et al., 2009). Additional research has reported similar findings. For example, in a 10 patient sample undergoing Cyberknife treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, 7 of the patients experienced pain relief (Romanelli et al., 2003). In a study evaluating Cyberknife treatment for 41 patients with trigeminal neuralgia, 36 patients (~88%) reported excellent pain control, 2 reported moderate, and 3 reported no change in pain at a median of 1week post treatment (Lim et al., 2005). Recurrence of pain was experienced in 6 patients 6 months post treatment (Lim et al., 2005), suggesting that the pain relief for this patient sample was immediate but then returned shortly after treatment (Lim et al., 2005). Similar findings were reported in research conducted by Singh on trigeminal neuralgia treatment; a majority of patients experienced immediate pain relief (Singh et al., 2016). Lastly, in research evaluating the treatment of the Cyberknife on atypical trigeminal neuralgia, 4 out of 7 patients experienced immediate pain relief, 2 had minimal relief, and 1 reported no change (Patil et al., 2007).
Figure 1: Kaplan-Meier curve for TN1 patients. 28 out of the initial 125 TN1 patients performed follow-ups of greater than 1 year post treatment. 82% of patients low pain scores one year after treatment. 11 patients had follow-ups of greater than two years after treatment; 72% reported lower pain scores 2 years post-treatment. Out of 5 patients performing the 3-year post treatment survey, 40% experienced total symptom relief. (Singh et al., 2016).
Overall, the literature in this field suggests that the Cyberknife system has an immediate positive impact on reducing pain, specifically for those suffering from cancers of the nervous system.
References
Degen, J. W., Gagnon, G. J., Voyadzis, J., Mcrae, D. A., Lunsden, M., Dieterich, S., Henderson, F. C. (2005). CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgical treatment of spinal tumors for pain control and quality of life [Abstract]. Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, 2(5), 540-549.
Gagnon, G. J., Nasr, N. M., Liao, J. J., Molzahn, I., Marsh, D., Mcrae, D., & Henderson, F. C. (2009). Treatment Of Spinal Tumors Using Cyberknife Fractionated Stereotactic Radiosurgery [Abstract]. Neurosurgery, 64(2), 297-307.
Lim, M., Villavicencio, A., Burneikiene, S., Chang, S., & Adler, J. (n.d.). CyberKnife radiosurgery for idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. Neurosurg Focus, 18(5), 1-7.
Patil, C. G., Veeravagu, A., Bower, R. S., Li, G., Chang, S. D., Lim, M., & Adler, J. R. (2007). CyberKnife radiosurgical rhizotomy for the treatment of atypical trigeminal nerve pain [Abstract]. Neurosurgical FOCUS, 23(6).
Romanelli, P., Heit, G., Ching, S., Pham, C., & Adler, J. (2003). Cyberknife Radiosurgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia [Abstract]. Karger, 81.
Singh, R., Davis, J., & Sharma, S. (2016). Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Retrospective Multi-Institutional Examination of Treatment Outcomes. Cureus, 8(4).
Who is really flying in the cockpit?
At any given time, there are more than 5,000 airplanes in United States Airspace transporting passengers to one of over 19,000 airports around the country. Tens of thousands of hours are spent in the sky on any given day and accompanied on every flight is the plane’s autopilot system (Awad, Wang).
When air travel was first introduced, flying demanded complete control by the pilot. As air travel became more advanced, longer flight routes became possible making pilots more likely to experience fatigue. Autopilot systems were created to automate some of the tasks and make flying easier (Efimov, Raissi).
Planes are controlled three dimensionally by adjusting the pitch, yaw, and roll. A change in pitch would point the nose of the plane up or down, yaw left or right, and roll would rotate the length of the plane left or right. These adjustments are made by moving the elevators, the rudder, and ailerons respectively. A basic autopilot system works by mechanizing control of pitch, yaw, or roll by the given parameters of the pilot (Damiano, Fatiha).
In the case of commercial aircraft, the autothrottle and autopilot is maneuvered by a highly equipped navigation computer, known as a “Flight Management System” that is installed onboard. The programming of the Flight Management System is done by the pilot himself before flight to control the altitude, cruising speed, and landmarks being entered. The Flight Management System employs radio signals and instrument readings from fixed points on the ground to find out what adjustments need to be made in order to meet the flight plan (Damiano, Fatiha).
Since these advanced autopilot systems are beneficial to the pilot and accurate in maximizing efficiency, they are almost always employed throughout a commercial flight. However, human pilots are still necessary and take control of the aircraft during takeoff and landings and sometimes during mid flight (Zohlgadri).
Automated systems can be very helpful when weather conditions are not ideal or when emergencies are happening. Rather than relying on visual cues that pilots need in order to fly safely, these systems use radar to technology to fly and even land planes. Without these systems, cloudy weather and fog makes commercial aircraft almost impossible to land by pilots themselves (Surnan, Widborne).
Figure 1: Flowchart showing how the autopilot reads and processes information.
Figure 2: Diagram of the mechanical functions of the airplane
References:
Shaoming He, Jiang Wang, Defu Lin. (2016) Robust Missile Autopilots With
Finite-TimeConvergence. Asian Journal of Control 18:3, 1010-1019
- Awad, H. P. Wang. (2016) Integrated Pitch-Yaw Acceleration Autopilot Design for
Varying-Velocity Man Portable Missile. International Journal of Modeling and Optimization 6:1, 11-17 Online publication date: 1-Jan-2016.
- Efimov, T. Raissi, W. Perruquetti, A. Zolghadri. (2015) Design of interval observers
for estimation and stabilization of discrete-time LPV systems. IMA Journal of Mathematical Control and Information Online publication date: 7-Jun-2015.
Damiano Rotondo, Fatiha Nejjari, Vicenç Puig, Joaquim Blesa. (2015) Model reference
FTC for LPV systems using virtual actuators and set-membership fault
estimation. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control 25:5, 735-760
Online publication date: 25-Mar-2015.
Sunan Chumalee, James F. Whidborne. (2015) Gain-Scheduled H ∞ Control for Tensor
Product Type Polytopic Plants. Asian Journal of Control 17:2, 417-431
Online publication date: 1-Mar-2015.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Microwave Irradiation
Medical instruments and chemicals are used to treat diseases, injuries, infections and to improve our long-term well-being. However, it can also be infectious and pose an increasing problem to our health and safety if its wastes are not disposed of using the proper methods. Fortunately, one currently investigated solution to sterilize and treat medical wastes can be easily found in a conventional microwave oven (Gulyurt, 2012). This technology is called microwave irradiation or microwave synthesis, in which heat and moisture are used with radiation to penetrate and sterilize shredded medical wastes (Drake, 1993). However, like other treatment methods, microwave irradiation has both advantages and disadvantages (Veribesi et al., 2007).
Table 1. Comparison of 4 medical waste treatment technologies. Retrieved from Veronesi, 2007.
Microwave irradiation is one of the current sterilization methods being investigated to treat medical instruments and shredded wastes. One advantage of using microwave irradiation is its suitability to the wide variety of materials; both dry and wet wastes can be sterilized by using the microwave technology (Drake, 1993). Microwave irradiation can be used for sharps, such as needles, knives and wastes containing pieces of metal, as well as soft materials containing blood and body fluids, such as gauze, bandages, drapes, gowns and beddings. This process is also known to utilize smaller equipment, sterilize faster, and create the possibility of indoor operation for hospitals. One experiment showed that some medical instruments could be sterilized within 30 seconds by using a microwave (Border, 1999). However, despite all its advantages, microwave irradiation comes with its own set of problems.
The disadvantages of microwave irradiation are from its limitations and preparation. Although it can sterilize just as much and some cases even a wider variety of materials, this procedure can only sterilize a limited amount of materials at a time. To sterilize waste materials, the wastes must be shredded and prepared properly to be completely sterilized. This process can cause pollutants and infectious particles to be released into the atmosphere and spread contagion. Additionally, after the wastes are treated they still need to be transported to a landfill to be incinerated, which may persist to pollute the air and acid rain around the disposal sites (Bridges et al., 1995). In some cases, microwave irradiation does not possess the necessary heat or power to penetrate a large scale boxed medical waste, which could result in a less efficient procedure than other methods. In addition, its capital investment is relatively high (Gulyurt, 2012).
In conclusion, microwave irradiation proposes a mediocre method in sterilizing and treating medical wastes and instruments. It can sterilize equipment at faster speeds and in a reduced space. However, it is limited to process a small amount of wastes at a time. By shredding the wastes, it requires less power and can sterilize the wastes more efficiently. However, the process of shredding the wastes can cause pollutants to be airborne and spread diseases. Additionally, after the sterilization the wastes are still needed to transport to landfills to be incinerated, which persists to pollute the air and land once the landfill is incinerated.
Sources:
Border, B.G., Rice-Spearman, L. (1999). Mircrowaves in the laboratory: effective decontamination. Clin Lab Sci.Drake, R.C. (1993). Apparatus for Sterilizing Medical Waste by Microwave Autoclaving. US Patent.
Drake, R.C. (1993). Apparatus for Sterilizing Medical Waste by Microwave Autoclaving. US Patent.
