Splintered and a Great Silence : The Production of Return to the Upright Position by Caridad Svich

Like the Tribute in Light that grew phoenix-like from the ashes of the broken hearts of the artists who created it, Return to the Upright Position is a beautiful on-line collaboration amongst fourteen artists in the six months following 9/11. Conceived and edited by Caridad Svich, the play is moving and delicate and instantly brings us back to those moments when American history and sentiment were forever changed. Demoralized, terrorized, afraid, and alone, our country dragged its shocked and weary carcass from the ash, and pulled itself back up again. That is after all the American way, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, continuing to believe in a better, brighter future, in hope and possibility; returning to the upright position

Plus-Minus-Interesting Exercises To Encourage Student Reflection

It can be difficult to include time for reflection in a problem-solving course, and even more difficult to ensure that students reflect on their problem-solving strategy in a meaningful way. We have found the “plus-minus-interesting’’ or PMI scheme, to be a quick and effective framework for structuring brief, in-class reflection exercises that are completed by teams of students

Potential of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) for paired phytoremediation and bioenergy production

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a multi-use crop that has been investigated for its potential use in phytoremediation of heavy metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants, and as a feedstock for bioenergy production. A review of research literature indicates that hemp is a suitable crop for phytoremediation, and a competitive option for bioenergy. Coupling phytoremediation and bioenergy production from a single hemp crop is a potential solution to overcoming the economic constraints of phytoremediation projects. The current challenge is ensuring that the extracted contaminants are not introduced into the consumer marketplace. After several decades of limited research on hemp in the United States, the purpose of this review is to identify the knowledge available for hemp applications in phytoremediation or in production of bioenergy, and if and how those two purposes have been combined. The literature shows that hemp growth has been demonstrated successfully at the field scale for phytoremediation and in several bioenergy conversion technologies. Little is known about the fate of contaminants during hemp growth or during post-harvest processing, especially the relationships between hemp genetics, metabolomics, and contaminant partitioning. Complicating the understanding is the expectation that contaminant fate will be dependent on the contaminant type, the concentration in the material, and the processing methods. Before hemp from phytoremediation applications can be used for bioenergy, the fractionation of heavy metals, radionuclides, and/or organic compounds during transesterification, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and/or combustion of hemp must be evaluated

Song production by the North Pacific right whale, \u3ci\u3eEubalaena japonica\u3c/i\u3e

This paper describes song production by the eastern North Pacific right whale (NPRW, Eubalaena japonica) in the southeastern Bering Sea. Songs were localized in real-time to individuals using sonobuoys. Singers whose sex could be determined were all males. Autonomous recorder data from 17 year-long deployments were analyzed to document and characterize song types. Four distinct song types were documented over eight years (2009–2017) at five distinct locations. Each song type consists of a hierarchical structure of 1–3 different repeating phrases comprised predominantly of gunshot sounds; three of the four songs contained additional sound types (downsweep, moan, and low-frequency pulsive call). Songs were detected annually (July–January); all song types remained consistent over eight years. Two different songs often occurred simultaneously, produced by different individuals; the same song was never detected simultaneously at the same location. The same song type was detected on the same day and time at two distant locations, indicating multiple individuals can produce the same song. These findings provide support that males produce song; it remains unknown if females also sing. NPRW is the first right whale species documented to produce song. Based on current knowledge about song in mysticetes, it is hypothesized that these songs are reproductive displays

Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report

Neurophenomenological studies seek to utilize first-person self-report to elucidate cognitive processes related to physiological data. Grounded theory offers an approach to the qualitative analysis of self-report, whereby theoretical constructs are derived from empirical data. Here we used grounded theory methodology to assess how the first-person experience of meditation relates to neural activity in a core region of the default mode network –the posterior cingulate cortex. We analyzed first-person data consisting of meditators’ accounts of their subjective experience during runs of a real-time fMRI neurofeedback study of meditation, and third-person data consisting of corresponding feedback graphs of posterior cingulate cortex activity during the same runs. We found that for meditators, the subjective experiences of ‘undistracted awareness’ such as ‘concentration’ and ‘observing sensory experience’, and ‘effortless doing’ such as ‘observing sensory experience’, ‘not efforting’, and ‘contentment’, correspond with posterior cingulate cortex deactivation. Further, the subjective experiences of ‘distracted awareness’ such as ‘distraction’ and ‘interpreting’, and ‘controlling’ such as ‘efforting’ and ‘discontentment’, correspond with posterior cingulate cortex activation. Moreover, we derived several novel hypotheses about how specific qualities of cognitive processes during meditation relate to posterior cingulate cortex activity, such as the difference between meditation and ‘trying to meditate’. These findings offer novel insights into the relationship between meditation and self-related thinking and neural activity in the default mode network, driven by the first-person experience

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic (March 25 - 27, 2018 -- The University of New Hampshire) paired two of NSF\u27s 10 Big Ideas: Navigating the New Arctic and Growing Convergence Research at NSF. During this event, participants assessed economic, environmental, and social impacts of Arctic change on New England and established convergence research initiatives to prepare for, adapt to, and respond to these effects. Shipping routes through an ice-free Northwest Passage in combination with modifications to ocean circulation and regional climate patterns linked to Arctic ice melt will affect trade, fisheries, tourism, coastal ecology, air and water quality, animal migration, and demographics not only in the Arctic but also in lower latitude coastal regions such as New England. With profound changes on the horizon, this is a critical opportunity for New England to prepare for uncertain yet inevitable economic and environmental impacts of Arctic change

Malaria impairs T cell clustering and immune priming despite normal signal 1 from dendritic cells

Interactions between antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells are essential for the induction of an immune response. However, during malaria infection, DC function is compromised and immune responses against parasite and heterologous antigens are reduced. Here, we demonstrate that malaria infection or the parasite pigment hemozoin inhibits T cell and DC interactions both in vitro and in vivo, while signal 1 intensity remains unaltered. This altered cellular behaviour is associated with the suppression of DC costimulatory activity and functional T cell responses, potentially explaining why immunity is reduced during malaria infection

Impact of genomic testing and patient-reported outcomes on receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy

Practice guidelines incorporate genomic tumor profiling, using results such as the Oncotype DX Recurrence Score (RS), to refine recurrence risk estimates for the large proportion of breast cancer patients with early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive disease. We sought to understand the impact of receiving genomic recurrence risk estimates on breast cancer patients’ well-being and the impact of these patient-reported outcomes on receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy. Participants were 193 women (mean age 57) newly diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Women were interviewed before and 2–3 weeks after receiving the RS result between 2011 and 2015. We assessed subsequent receipt of chemotherapy from chart review. After receiving their RS, perceived pros (t = 4.27, P < .001) and cons (t = 8.54, P <.001) of chemotherapy increased from pre-test to post-test, while perceived risk of breast cancer recurrence decreased (t = 2.90, P = .004). Women with high RS tumors were more likely to receive chemotherapy than women with low RS tumors (88 vs. 5 %, OR 0.01, 0.00–0.02, P < .001). Higher distress (OR 2.19, 95 % CI 1.05–4.57, P < .05) and lower perceived cons of chemotherapy (OR 0.50, 95 % CI 0.26–0.97, P < .05) also predicted receipt of chemotherapy. Distressed patients who saw few downsides of chemotherapy received this treatment. Clinicians should consider these factors when discussing chemotherapy with breast cancer patients

A novel method to allow noninvasive, longitudinal imaging of the murine immune system in vivo

In vivo imaging has revolutionized understanding of the spatiotemporal complexity that subserves the generation of successful effector and regulatory immune responses. Until now, invasive surgery has been required for microscopic access to lymph nodes (LNs), making repeated imaging of the same animal impractical and potentially affecting lymphocyte behavior. To allow longitudinal in vivo imaging, we conceived the novel approach of transplanting LNs into the mouse ear pinna. Transplanted LNs maintain the structural and cellular organization of conventional secondary lymphoid organs. They participate in lymphocyte recirculation and exhibit the capacity to receive and respond to local antigenic challenge. The same LN could be repeatedly imaged through time without the requirement for surgical exposure, and the dynamic behavior of the cells within the transplanted LN could be characterized. Crucially, the use of blood vessels as fiducial markers also allowed precise re-registration of the same regions for longitudinal imaging. Thus, we provide the first demonstration of a method for repeated, noninvasive, in vivo imaging of lymphocyte behavior