Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

About: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a education organization based out in Troy, New York, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Terahertz radiation & Finite element method. The organization has 19024 authors who have published 39922 publications receiving 1414699 citations. The organization is also known as: RPI & Rensselaer Institute.

Light in the built environment: potential role of circadian disruption in endocrine disruption and breast cancer

Abstract: Life in industrialized societies is primarily life inside buildings. Illumination from electric lighting in the built environment is quite different from solar radiation in intensity, spectral content, and timing during the 24-hour daily period. Humans evolved over millions of years with the day-night pattern of solar radiation as the primary circadian cue. This pattern maintained a 24-hour rhythm of melatonin release, as well as a host of other physiological rhythms including the sleep-wake cycle. Electric lighting in the built environment is generally more than sufficient for visual performance, but may be inappropriate for the maintenance of normal neuroendocrine rhythms in humans; e.g., insufficient during the day and too much at night. Lighting standards and engineering stress visual performance, whereas circadian function is not currently emphasized. The molecular biological research on the circadian clock and on mechanisms of phototransduction makes it clear that light for vision and light for circadian function are not identical systems. In particular, if electric lighting as currently employed contributes to 'circadian disruption' it may be an important cause of 'endocrine disruption' and thereby contribute to a high risk of breast cancer in industrialized societies.

Robust Hydroxide Ion Conducting Poly(biphenyl alkylene)s for Alkaline Fuel Cell Membranes

Abstract: High molecular weight, quaternary ammonium-tethered poly(biphenyl alkylene)s without alkaline labile C–O bonds were synthesized via acid-catalyzed polycondensation reactions for the first time. Ion-exchange capacity was conveniently controlled by adjusting the feed ratio of two ketone monomers in the polymerization. The resultant anion exchange membranes showed high hydroxide ion conductivity up to 120 mS/cm and excellent alkaline stability at 80 °C. This study provides a new synthetic strategy for the preparation of anion exchange membranes with robust fuel cell performance and excellent stability.

Nurse Scheduling Using Mathematical Programming

Abstract: This paper formulates the nurse-scheduling problem as one of selecting a configuration of nurse schedules that minimize an objective function that balances the trade-off between staffing coverage and schedule preferences of individual nurses, subject to certain feasibility constraints on the nurse schedules. The problem is solved by a cyclic coordinate descent algorithm. We present results pertaining to a six-month application to a particular hospital unit and draw comparisons between the algorithm and hospital-generated schedules.