Geogenic arsenic (As) contamination of groundwater is a major ecological and human health problem in southwestern and northeastern coastal areas of Taiwan. Here, we present a probabilistic framework for assessing the human health risks from consuming raw and cooked fish that were cultured in groundwater As-contaminated ponds in Taiwan by linking a physiologically based pharmacokinetics model an...

LEGOsheets was created. LEGOsheets is an educational environment implemented in Agentsheets, a grid-based tool for creating visual programming languages [5]. Programming can serve as a vehicle to create learning opportunities in the constructionist sense [3]. The LEGO1 Programmable Brick gives children the ability to create physical artifacts, such as vehicles and robots, and program them with ...

In this paper, we discuss the applicat[ons ant! implications of the Programmable Brick-s-s tiny, portable computer embecfded ~nside a LE~Q'J brick, capable of interacting with the phys!cal world in a large variety of ways. We describe how Programmable Bricks make possible a wide range of new design activities for children, and we discuss experiences in using Programmable Bricks in three types o...

During a medical entomology course in Boa Vista, Roraima, colonies of Triatoma maculata closely associated with pigeon nests were observed in concrete air-conditioner box located on the external plastered and cemented walls of a modern brick-built apartment block. In only one eight-hole ceramic brick, located inside one air-conditioner box, 127 specimens of T. maculata were collected. T. macula...

As in the case of two-dimensional topology design optimization, numerical instability problems similar to the formation of two-dimensional checkerboard patterns occur if the standard eight-node conforming brick element is used. Motivated by the recent success of the two-dimensional non-conforming elements in completely eliminating checkerboard patterns, we aim at investigating the performance o...

Balancing business strategy and operations between electronic commerce and brick and mortar channels (‘clicks and mortar’) is an ongoing challenge for many businesses. A group of traditional ‘brick and mortar’ firms were examined in order to understand how they balance strategy and operations between electronic commerce and traditional (brick and mortar) business channels. Results of the study ...

Dissections of polytopes are a well-studied subject by geometers as well as recreational mathematicians. A recent application in coding theory arises from the problem of parameterizing binary vectors of constant Hamming weight [TVS09], [SV09], which is shown to be equivalent to the problem of dissecting a tetrahedron to a brick. An application of dissections to a problem related to the construc...