Evaluation of the Missouri Adult Farming Cooperative Programs and their Influence on Those Enrolled

Agricultural Educatio

Interacting with a gaze-aware virtual character

In this paper, we present the user’s attentive state interpreted through eye gaze while interacting with a virtual character. The underlying narrative in which the approach was tested is based on a classical XIX th century psychological novel: Madame Bovary, by Flaubert. We connected a remote eye tracker with a dynamic 3D world. An empirical study revealed individual user experiences and behavioral patterns. In particular, we identified two different groups of users: one that was showing natural eye gaze behaviors with rhythmic eye gaze shifts between the characters ’ eyes, face and the scene and another one permanently staring at the character. Interestingly, the group with more natural behaviors towards the character also rated the experience with the system more positively

Affective interactive narrative in the CALLAS Project

This full text version, available on TeesRep, is the post-print (final version prior to publication) of

Planning and Design Workbook for Community Participation

The Planning and Design Workbook for Community Participation is an in depth manual for the design of communities and multiple dwelling unit housing in the urban context. It was originally written to help nonprofessionals participate in the design of their communities and housing and has since become a valuable tool for practicing design professionals. It has for parts. PART I: Planning and Design Aids includes Using the Workbook, Selecting a Site, Economics, Glossary, References. PART II: Community Design Guidelines includes a list of sample issues (questions), alternative answers (policies), and results (consequences) of the choices made when designing a community; a CATALOGUE of community arrangements and instructions on how to build an analogue a planning tool. PART III: includes instructions for site design, a list of sample issues (questions) alternative answers (policies) and results (consequences) of the choices made; A list of STANDARDS suggested for designing a housing site; a typological CATALOGUE of of housing site designs based on decisions about density, open space, circulation, building height, etc.; and instructions on how to build an analogue housing site design tool. PART IV: includes instructions for dwelling unit (apartment) design, a list of sample issues (questions) alternative answers (policies) and results (consequences) of the unit design choices made; a list of dwelling unit STANDARDS suggested for designing a dwelling unit; a typological CATALOGUE of dwelling unit designs; and instructions on how to build an analogue housing site design tool. Information delivered in Parts I,II, and III is cross referenced to avoid silo decision making

Gaze behavior during interaction with a virtual character in interactive storytelling

Y a-t-il une spécificité de l’archéologie des pays du Nord de l’Europe ? C’est à un archéologue danois, conservateur de l’Oldnordisk Museum de Copenhague, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, que nous devons depuis 1836 le « système des trois âges », c’est-à-dire la distinction, fondatrice de la préhistoire européenne et au-delà, entre un âge de la pierre, un âge du bronze et un âge du fer. Dès le xviie siècle, le royaume de Suède avait institué un service archéologique national – il faut attendre le..

Advancing Post Mission Data Collection and Analysis Using a Sociotechnical System Design Approach

NPS NRP Executive SummaryProject Summary: Using a sociotechnical system (STS) approach, this research evaluated various aspects of post mission data collection and analysis for F/18 flight training events. The project principal investigator (PI) initially conducted in-person interviews with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on this process. Using the interview responses, an initial STS process and variance analysis was performed, resulting in a set of system capability requirements. These requirements and an initial process model were provided to a seven- member team of Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) systems engineering distance learning students. For their capstone project, the team conducted their own stakeholder and pilot representative interviews and created additional process models and entity relationship diagrams. The capability requirements provided by the PI were included in their feasibility assessment of design alternatives they created. After ranking the design alternatives with a Pugh matrix, task completion times for the highest scoring alternatives were further evaluated using simulation software and statistical analysis, resulting in a recommended automated event detection configuration. The PI also interviewed four F/A-18 pilot instructors, and incorporated the data into updated variance, function allocation, and requirements analyses that integrated the previous results completed by the PI and the capstone team. The PI proposed a set of system performance requirements that reflected proposed training site workspaces containing recommended hardware, software, and personnel configurations. These results are expected to be revisited in the planned FY19 Naval Research Program (NRP) study to further explore the policy, environmental, and organizational impacts on the conduct of F/18 flight training events.NPS-18-N142-AApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The helminth product, ES-62, protects against airway inflammation by resetting the Th cell phenotype

We previously demonstrated inhibition of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic airway hyper-responsiveness in the mouse using ES-62, a phosphorylcholine-containing glycoprotein secreted by the filarial nematode, Acanthocheilonema viteae. This inhibition correlated with ES-62-induced mast cell desensitisation, although the degree to which this reflected direct targeting of mast cells remained unclear as suppression of the Th2 phenotype of the inflammatory response, as measured by eosinophilia and IL-4 levels in the lungs, was also observed. We now show that inhibition of the lung Th2 phenotype is reflected in ex vivo analyses of draining lymph node recall cultures and accompanied by a decrease in the serum levels of total and OVA-specific IgE. Moreover, ES-62 also suppresses the lung infiltration by neutrophils that is associated with severe asthma and is generally refractory to conventional anti-inflammatory therapies, including steroids. Protection against Th2-associated airway inflammation does not reflect induction of regulatory T cell (Treg) responses (there is no increased IL-10 or Foxp3 expression) but rather a switch in polarisation towards increased T-bet expression and IFNγ production. This ES-62-driven switch in the Th1/Th2 balance is accompanied by decreased IL-17 responses, a finding in line with reports that IFNγ and IL-17 are counter-regulatory. Consistent with ES-62 mediating its effects via IFNγ-mediated suppression of pathogenic Th2/Th17 responses, we found that neutralising anti-IFNγ antibodies blocked protection against airway inflammation in terms of pro-inflammatory cell infiltration, particularly by neutrophils and lung pathology. Collectively, these studies indicate that ES-62, or more likely small molecule analogues, could have therapeutic potential in asthma, in particular for those subtypes of patients (e.g. smokers, steroid-resistant) who are refractory to current treatments

Definition of the zebrafish genome using flow cytometry and cytogenetic mapping

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The zebrafish (<it>Danio rerio</it>) is an important vertebrate model organism system for biomedical research. The syntenic conservation between the zebrafish and human genome allows one to investigate the function of human genes using the zebrafish model. To facilitate analysis of the zebrafish genome, genetic maps have been constructed and sequence annotation of a reference zebrafish genome is ongoing. However, the duplicative nature of teleost genomes, including the zebrafish, complicates accurate assembly and annotation of a representative genome sequence. Cytogenetic approaches provide "anchors" that can be integrated with accumulating genomic data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we cytogenetically define the zebrafish genome by first estimating the size of each linkage group (LG) chromosome using flow cytometry, followed by the cytogenetic mapping of 575 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones onto metaphase chromosomes. Of the 575 BAC clones, 544 clones localized to apparently unique chromosomal locations. 93.8% of these clones were assigned to a specific LG chromosome location using fluorescence <it>in situ </it>hybridization (FISH) and compared to the LG chromosome assignment reported in the zebrafish genome databases. Thirty-one BAC clones localized to multiple chromosomal locations in several different hybridization patterns. From these data, a refined second generation probe panel for each LG chromosome was also constructed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The chromosomal mapping of the 575 large-insert DNA clones allows for these clones to be integrated into existing zebrafish mapping data. An accurately annotated zebrafish reference genome serves as a valuable resource for investigating the molecular basis of human diseases using zebrafish mutant models.</p

Identification of Class I HLA T Cell Control Epitopes for West Nile Virus

The recent West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak in the United States underscores the importance of understanding human immune responses to this pathogen. Via the presentation of viral peptide ligands at the cell surface, class I HLA mediate the T cell recognition and killing of WNV infected cells. At this time, there are two key unknowns in regards to understanding protective T cell immunity: 1) the number of viral ligands presented by the HLA of infected cells, and 2) the distribution of T cell responses to these available HLA/viral complexes. Here, comparative mass spectroscopy was applied to determine the number of WNV peptides presented by the HLA-A*11:01 of infected cells after which T cell responses to these HLA/WNV complexes were assessed. Six viral peptides derived from capsid, NS3, NS4b, and NS5 were presented. When T cells from infected individuals were tested for reactivity to these six viral ligands, polyfunctional T cells were focused on the GTL9 WNV capsid peptide, ligands from NS3, NS4b, and NS5 were less immunogenic, and two ligands were largely inert, demonstrating that class I HLA reduce the WNV polyprotein to a handful of immune targets and that polyfunctional T cells recognize infections by zeroing in on particular HLA/WNV epitopes. Such dominant HLA/peptide epitopes are poised to drive the development of WNV vaccines that elicit protective T cells as well as providing key antigens for immunoassays that establish correlates of viral immunity. © 2013 Kaabinejadian et al