Learning to Get Real and Get Better: A Conversation with Learning Leaders

The article of record as published may be found at https://cimsec.org/learning-to-get-real-and-get-better-a-conversation-with-learning-leaders/Art Valeri, Paul Nickell, Daniel G. Betancourt and Jay Yelon are student authors

Criterios para el desarrollo de campañas institucionales en el contexto de la universidad venezolana. Caso estudio: UPEL El Mácaro Luis Fermín

El propósito de la presente investigación giró en torno al diseño de una guía de criterios para el desarrollo de campañas Institucionales en el contexto de la Universidad venezolana. Caso estudio: UPEL El Mácaro. En este sentido, la investigación estuvo enmarcada metodológicamente en el paradigma cuantitativo en su modalidad de proyecto factible, con apoyo en una investigación de campo de carácter descriptivo. En este orden, la población objeto de este estudio estuvo constituida por mil setecientos (1700) estudiantes, adscritos al IPR El Mácaro, a nivel nacional entre pre y postgrado. Así mismo cinco (5) integrantes del personal directivo. La muestra para estudiantes fue del diez por ciento (10%) y para el personal directivo fue de carácter censal. Las técnicas de recolección de datos fueron: la entrevista y la encuesta. Los Instrumentos fueron: el Guión de entrevista y el cuestionario. Estos últimos se validaron con la técnica de juicio de expertos y el cálculo del índice de confiabilidad de Alpha de Cronbach.  Entre los resultados se reportan que existe la necesidad de criterios complementarios que operacionalice lo establecido en el reglamento, es decir, unos criterios, lo cual se constituye en el propósito fundamental de esta investigación

Multiyear Maize management dataset collected in Chiapas, Mexico

For several decades, maize (Zea mays L.) management decisions in smallholder farming in tropical regions have been a puzzle. To best balance alternative management practices' environmental and economic outcomes, an extensive dataset was gathered through CIMMYT's knowledge hub in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico. In a knowledge hub, farmers, with the support of farm advisors, compare conventional and improved agronomic practices side-by-side and install demonstration fields where they implement improved practices. In all these fields data on on-farm operations and results is collected. The dataset was assembled using field variables (yield, cultivars, fertilization and tillage practice), as well as environment variables from soil mapping (slope, elevation, soil texture, pH and organic matter concentration) and gridded weather datasets (precipitation, temperature, radiation and evapotranspiration). The dataset contains observations from 4585 fields and comprises a period of 7 years between 2012 and 2018. This dataset will facilitate analytical approaches to represent spatial and temporal variability of alternative crop management decisions based on observational data and explain model-generated predictions for maize in Chiapas, Mexico. In addition, this data can serve as an example for similar efforts in Big Data in Agriculture

Implementing efficient concerted rotations using Mathematica and C code

In this article we demonstrate a general and efficient metaprogramming implementation of concerted rotations using Mathematica. Concerted rotations allow the movement of a fixed portion of a polymer backbone with fixed bending angles, like a protein, while maintaining the correct geometry of the backbone and the initial and final points of the portion fixed. Our implementation uses Mathematica to generate a C code which is then wrapped in a library by a Python script. The user can modify the Mathematica notebook to generate a set of concerted rotations suited for a particular backbone geometry, without having to write the C code himself. The resulting code is highly optimized, performing on the order of thousands of operations per second

Challenging the heterogeneity of disease presentation in malignant melanoma-impact on patient treatment

There is an increasing global interest to support research areas that can assist in understanding disease and improving patient care. The National Cancer Institute (NIH) has identified precision medicine-based approaches as key research strategies to expedite advances in cancer research. The Cancer Moonshot program ( https://www.cancer.gov/research/key-initiatives/moonshot-cancer-initiative ) is the largest cancer program of all time, and has been launched to accelerate cancer research that aims to increase the availability of therapies to more patients and, ultimately, to eradicate cancer. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics has been extensively used to study the molecular mechanisms of cancer, to define molecular subtypes of tumors, to map cancer-associated protein interaction networks and post-translational modifications, and to aid in the development of new therapeutics and new diagnostic and prognostic tests. To establish the basis for our melanoma studies, we have established the Southern Sweden Malignant Melanoma Biobank. Tissues collected over many years have been accurately characterized with respect to the tumor and patient information. The extreme variability displayed in the protein profiles and the detection of missense mutations has confirmed the complexity and heterogeneity of the disease. It is envisaged that the combined analysis of clinical, histological, and proteomic data will provide patients with a more personalized medical treatment. With respect to disease presentation, targeted treatment and medical mass spectrometry analysis and imaging, this overview report will outline and summarize the current achievements and status within malignant melanoma. We present data generated by our cancer research center in Lund, Sweden, where we have built extensive capabilities in biobanking, proteogenomics, and patient treatments over an extensive time period

Genomic and biological characterization of chiltepin yellow mosaic virus, a new tymovirus infecting Capsicum annuum var. aviculare in Mexico.

The characterization of viruses infecting wild plants is a key step towards understanding the ecology of plant viruses. In this work, the complete genomic nucleotide sequence of a new tymovirus species infecting chiltepin, the wild ancestor of Capsicum annuum pepper crops, in Mexico was determined, and its host range has been explored. The genome of 6,517 nucleotides has the three open reading frames described for tymoviruses, putatively encoding an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a movement protein and a coat protein. The 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions have structures with typical signatures of the tymoviruses. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that this new virus is closely related to the other tymoviruses isolated from solanaceous plants. Its host range is mainly limited to solanaceous species, which notably include cultivated Capsicum species. In the latter, infection resulted in a severe reduction of growth, indicating the potential of this virus to be a significant crop pathogen. The name of chiltepin yellow mosaic virus (ChiYMV) is proposed for this new tymovirus

Novel Genetic Variants for Cartilage Thickness and Hip Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is one of the most frequent and disabling diseases of the elderly. Only few genetic variants have been identified for osteoarthritis, which is partly due to large phenotype heterogeneity. To reduce heterogeneity, we here examined cartilage thickness, one of the structural components of joint health. We conducted a genome-wide association study of minimal joint space width (mJSW), a proxy for cartilage thickness, in a discovery set of 13,013 participants from five different cohorts and replication in 8,227 individuals from seven independent cohorts. We identified five genome-wide significant (GWS, P≤5·0×10−8) SNPs annotated to four distinct loci. In addition, we found two additional loci that were significantly replicated, but results of combined meta-analysis fell just below the genome wide significance threshold. The four novel associated genetic loci were located in/near TGFA (rs2862851), PIK3R1 (rs10471753), SLBP/FGFR3 (rs2236995), and TREH/DDX6 (rs49654

Inward and Outward FDI Country Profiles, Second Edition

This second edition contains a series of 77 standardized country profiles dealing with the inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) performance of 40 economies. The profiles have been peer-reviewed by a global network of experts. The publication is intended to contribute to the analysis of trends in foreign direct investment and policy issues related to them. More specifically, the individual profiles discuss FDI trends and developments (country-level developments, the corporate players); effects of the recent global crises; and the policy scene. Each profile contains a standard set of tables, including on FDI stocks and flows, sectoral and geographical FDI distributions, the largest M&As and greenfield investments, the principal foreign affiliates (for inward FDI), and the principal multinational enterprises (for outward FDI). The standardized template used to produce the profiles allows cross-country comparisons. The volume is meant to be a reference tool for anyone interested in foreign direct investment

Population Genomic Inferences from Sparse High-Throughput Sequencing of Two Populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Short-read sequencing techniques provide the opportunity to capture genome-wide sequence data in a single experiment. A current challenge is to identify questions that shallow-depth genomic data can address successfully and to develop corresponding analytical methods that are statistically sound. Here, we apply the Roche/454 platform to survey natural variation in strains of Drosophila melanogaster from an African (n = 3) and a North American (n = 6) population. Reads were aligned to the reference D. melanogaster genomic assembly, single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified, and nucleotide variation was quantified genome wide. Simulations and empirical results suggest that nucleotide diversity can be accurately estimated from sparse data with as little as 0.2× coverage per line. The unbiased genomic sampling provided by random short-read sequencing also allows insight into distributions of transposable elements and copy number polymorphisms found within populations and demonstrates that short-read sequencing methods provide an efficient means to quantify variation in genome organization and content. Continued development of methods for statistical inference of shallow-depth genome-wide sequencing data will allow such sparse, partial data sets to become the norm in the emerging field of population genomics

Limits to the Rate of Adaptive Substitution in Sexual Populations

In large populations, many beneficial mutations may be simultaneously available and may compete with one another, slowing adaptation. By finding the probability of fixation of a favorable allele in a simple model of a haploid sexual population, we find limits to the rate of adaptive substitution, , that depend on simple parameter combinations. When variance in fitness is low and linkage is loose, the baseline rate of substitution is , where is the population size, is the rate of beneficial mutations per genome, and is their mean selective advantage. Heritable variance in log fitness due to unlinked loci reduces by under polygamy and under monogamy. With a linear genetic map of length Morgans, interference is yet stronger. We use a scaling argument to show that the density of adaptive substitutions depends on , , , and only through the baseline density: . Under the approximation that the interference due to different sweeps adds up, we show that , implying that interference prevents the rate of adaptive substitution from exceeding one per centimorgan per 200 generations. Simulations and numerical calculations confirm the scaling argument and confirm the additive approximation for ; for higher , the rate of adaptation grows above , but only very slowly. We also consider the effect of sweeps on neutral diversity and show that, while even occasional sweeps can greatly reduce neutral diversity, this effect saturates as sweeps become more common—diversity can be maintained even in populations experiencing very strong interference. Our results indicate that for some organisms the rate of adaptive substitution may be primarily recombination-limited, depending only weakly on the mutation supply and the strength of selection