Trichloroethylene, a solvent used in a variety of industrial settings for more than 60 years, has caused adverse health effects on the central and peripheral nervous system, the skin, liver, kidney, and heart. Three men have shown relatively unusual manifestations secondary to exposure to trichloroethylene in degreasing operations in the jewelry industry. Toxic encephalopathy, hepatitis, and ca...

We define the Diverse Action Manipulation (DAMA) problem in which we are given a mobile robot, a set of movable objects, and a set of diverse, possibly non-prehensile manipulation actions, and the objective is to find a sequence of actions that moves each of the objects to a goal configuration. We argue that classic sampling-based techniques cannot solve DAMA problems because of the need to mov...

As colleges and universities become increasingly more diverse, instructors must understand the needs and behaviors of a broad range of students and develop techniques for working effectively with them. The first three links below present general strategies for teaching diverse populations. The succeeding links provide information on specific student populations: women; students of color; studen...

Diversity is an important source of robustness in biological systems. Computers, by contrast, are notable for their lack of diversity. Although homogeneous systems have many advantages, the beneficial effects of diversity in computing systems have been overlooked, specifically in the area of computer security. Several methods of achieving software diversity are discussed based on randomizations...

I t’s often said that if you’re not measuring, you’re not managing, and this includes the world of IT. Software metrics are generally quantitative measures of some property of software or its specifications, and it’s essential that these measurements be objective and reproducible. The metrics we use in IT are as diverse as the activities encompassed within IT, although many practitioners tend t...

The science of lichenology, or the study of lichens, has lagged behind other branches of botany, and many aspects of lichen biology are still shrouded with mystery. In fact, the most mysterious aspect of these plants, and the one basic to understanding them, was not known until the relatively late date of 1867: that although outwardly lichens appear to be discrete organisms, they are in fact ma...