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1. Characterization of Photo-Crosslinked Methacrylated Type I Collagen as a Platform to Investigate the Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Response

   https://doi.org/10.3390/lymphatics2030015  

   Ruliffson, Brian_N K; Larson, Stephen M; Xhupi, Eleni K; Herrera-Diaz, Diana L; Whittington, Catherine F (September 2024, Lymphatics)

   Despite chronic fibrosis occurring in many pathological conditions, few in vitro studies examine how fibrosis impacts lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) behavior. This study examined stiffening profiles of PhotoCol®—commercially available methacrylated type I collagen—photo-crosslinked with the photoinitiators: Lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP), Irgacure 2959 (IRG), and Ruthenium/Sodium Persulfate (Ru/SPS) prior to evaluating PhotoCol® permeability and LEC response to PhotoCol® at stiffnesses representing normal and fibrotic tissues. Ru/SPS produced the highest stiffness (~6 kilopascal (kPa)) for photo-crosslinked PhotoCol®, but stiffness did not change with burst light exposures (30 and 90 s). The collagen fibril area fraction increased, and dextran permeability (40 kilodalton (kDa)) decreased with photo-crosslinking, showing the impact of photo-crosslinking on microstructure and molecular transport. Human dermal LECs on softer, uncrosslinked PhotoCol® (~0.5 kPa) appeared smaller with less prominent vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin (cell–cell junction) expression compared to LECs on stiffer PhotoCol® (~6 kPa), which had increased cell size, border irregularity, and VE-cadherin thickness (junction zippering) that is consistent with LEC morphology in fibrotic tissues. Our quantitative morphological analysis demonstrates our ability to produce LECs with a fibrotic phenotype, and the overall study shows that PhotoCol® with Ru/SPS provides the necessary physical properties to systematically study LEC responses related to capillary growth and function under fibrotic conditions. 

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2. Elucidating the relationships between two automated handwriting feature quantification systems for multiple pairwise comparisons

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14914  

   Fuglsby, Cami; Saunders, Christopher; Ommen, Danica M.; Buscaglia, JoAnn; Caligiuri, Michael P. (October 2021, Journal of Forensic Sciences)

   Abstract Recent advances in complex automated handwriting identification systems have led to a lack of understandability of these systems’ computational processes and features by the forensic handwriting examiners that they are designed to support. To mitigate this issue, this research studied the relationship between two systems: FLASH ID^®, an automated handwriting/black box system that uses measurements extracted from a static image of handwriting, and MovAlyzeR^®, a system that captures kinematic features from pen strokes. For this study, 33 writers each wrote 60 phrases from the London Letter using cursive writing and handprinting, which led to thousands of sample pairs for analysis. The dissimilarities between pairs of samples were calculated using two score functions (one for each system). The observed results indicate that dissimilarity scores based on kinematic spatial‐geometric pen stroke features (e.g., amplitude and slant) have a statistically significant relationship with dissimilarity scores obtained using static, graph‐based features used by the FLASH ID^®system. Similar relationships were observed for temporal features (e.g., duration and velocity) but not pen pressure, and for both handprinting and cursive samples. These results strongly imply that both the current implementation of FLASH ID^®and MovAlyzeR^®rely on similar features sets when measuring differences in pairs of handwritten samples. These results suggest that studies of biometric discrimination using MovAlyzeR^®, specifically those based on the spatial‐geometric feature set, support the validity of biometric matching algorithms based on FLASH ID^®output. 

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3. High Aspect Ratio Glass Microstructures by Laser Induced Etching

   Cheng, J.; Patel, H.; Hui, E. (December 2022, IEEE EMBS Micro and Nanotechnology in Medicine Conference (MNMC))

   Laser Induced Deep Etching (LIDE®), developed by LPKF, is a maskless laser processing method capable of patterning glass microstructures similar to microfluidics created by PDMS soft lithography. Here, we demonstrate a self-digitized droplet microfluidics chip with high aspect-ratio features and fine resolution via the LIDE® technology. LIDE® provides the means to translate microfluidic designs into glass in a process suitable for low-cost and high-volume manufacturing. 

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4. Two Decades of Industrializing Formal Verification: The Reactis Story

   Cleaveland, W R; Hansel, D; Sims, S; Smolka, S A (April 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66149-5_5)

   Springer (Ed.)

   Reactis® is a suite of tools produced by Reactive Systems, Inc. (RSI), for automated test generation from, and verification of, sys- tems given in either the modeling languages MATLAB® / Simulink® / Stateflow® of The MathWorks, Inc., or ANSI C. RSI was founded by three of the authors of this paper in 1999, with the first release of Reactis coming in 2002; the tools are used in the testing and validation of embed- ded control systems in a variety of industries, including automotive and aerospace / defense. This paper traces the development of the Reactis tool suite from earlier research on model-checking tools undertaken by the authors and others, highlighting the importance of both the foun- dational basis of Reactis and the essential adaptations and extensions needed for a commercially successful product. 

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5. Lean LaunchPad and Customer Discovery as a Form of Qualitative Research

   Hixson, Cory; Ingram, Ella Lee; McCord, Rachel; Williams, Julia M. (June 2018, ASEE annual conference & exposition proceedings)

   In this theoretical paper, we highlight the scholarship of integration by exploring how customer discovery connects to other methodologies in engineering education research and the opportunities for using this methodology in engineering education research. As a result of the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) and I-Corps for Learning initiatives, the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery methodology has grown in popularity within academic institutions, particularly in business and entrepreneurship education. In addition, the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery approach has helped startups, individuals, academics, and students test the potential of an idea, make important decisions about the structure, value, and implementation of their projects, and develop a minimum viable product, service, or offering. While the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery approach is relatively new to the fields of business, engineering education, and entrepreneurship education, its methodological background emerges from well-established qualitative research techniques. We first describe the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery process and give examples of its current use in academia. Next, we explain the connections between the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery approach and specific forms of qualitative research like design-based research, action research, and qualitative interviewing. Finally, we offer a detailed example of how our team used the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery approach to conduct an engineering education action research project. This example serves to clarify how the Lean LaunchPad®/Customer Discovery approach can be successfully applied, validated by funding received after our use of the process to develop a program. We expect that this theoretical work will add value to individuals interested in conducting action-oriented educational research projects for two reasons. First, we show how robust qualitative research methodologies provide the foundation for a popular market research approach. Second, we give an example of using this approach in an educational context. Our motivation is to expand the breadth of methodologies available to researchers and practitioners. 

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