Utilizing Comics in Arts-Informed Appreciative Inquiry: Untapped Potential When Conducting Research with Children

This paper demonstrates the potential of combining an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodological framework with arts-informed research methods, particularly in applying comics to the AI process where children are active participants in research. Included in this article is a review of each methodological framework and a critical exploration of the literature. It is the position of the authors that arts-informed methods applied within an AI framework offers unexplored potential for generating new ways of knowing by valuing and relying on the voices of child participants to gain different perspectives. These perspectives are crucial for research that directly impacts the child population

Standardizing design performance comparison in microfluidic manufacturing

Microfluidic devices published in literature today lack sufficient information for automating the physical design process. Moreover, the constantly changing landscape of manufacturing and technological requirements poses a large problem in the physical design automation space. In this talk, we discuss some of the methodologies and standards formulated by CIDAR at BU and CARES at UC Riverside that allow not only allow the researchers in the physical design automation space to share and compare their results but also provide means for capturing the Specify, Design and Build lifecycle in microfluidic design

Correcting Transients in Unchopped PACS/Herschel Spectroscopy

We present a technique to correct long-term transients in the signal from unchopped spectroscopy with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. This kind of transients affects the response of the detector after every big variation of the incident flux and lasts up to 6 minutes. The effect is particularly pronounced in the case of the red array whose response can vary up to 20%, while is less important in the case of the blue array. Correcting these transients is critical especially in the case of short observations since they can affect a large fraction of the observation. A module to correct long-term transients has been developed in Jython and it is part of the data reduction software for Herschel, HIPE, since version 7.0

Using all of your CPU's in HIPE

Modern computer architectures increasingly feature multi-core CPU's. For example, the MacbookPro features the Intel quad-core i7 processors. Through the use of hyper-threading, where each core can execute two threads simultaneously, the quad-core i7 can support eight simultaneous processing threads. All this on your laptop! This CPU power can now be put into service by scientists to perform data reduction tasks, but only if the software has been designed to take advantage of the multiple processor architectures. Up to now, software written for Herschel data reduction (HIPE), written in Jython and JAVA, is single-threaded and can only utilize a single processor. Users of HIPE do not get any advantage from the additional processors. Why not put all of the CPU resources to work reducing your data? We present a multi-threaded software application that corrects long-term transients in the signal from the PACS unchopped spectroscopy line scan mode. In this poster, we present a multi-threaded software framework to achieve performance improvements from parallel execution. We will show how a task to correct transients in the PACS Spectroscopy Pipeline for the un-chopped line scan mode, has been threaded. This computation-intensive task uses either a one-parameter or a three parameter exponential function, to characterize the transient. The task uses a JAVA implementation of Minpack, translated from the C (Moshier) and IDL (Markwardt) by the authors, to optimize the correction parameters. We also explain how to determine if a task can benefit from threading (Amdahl's Law), and if it is safe to thread. The design and implementation, using the JAVA concurrency package completions service is described. Pitfalls, timing bugs, thread safety, resource control, testing and performance improvements are described and plotted

Plant pathology: Many roads lead to resistance

Recent studies suggest that plant disease-resistance responses use multiple signaling pathways acting subsequent to pathogen recognition, and that phosphorylation cascades play a prominent role in the recognition and execution of foreign invaders

Dalfampridine sustained-release for symptomatic improvement of walking speed in patients with multiple sclerosis

Dalfampridine sustained-release (SR) is a time-release formulation of 4-aminopyridine, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In Phase II trials, walking speed and lower extremity muscle strength was increased in patients with MS, but the increase in walking speed did not reach statistical significance. A responder analysis revealed that approximately 35% of treated patients had a statistically significant and clinically meaningful increase in walking speed. When treated responders were compared with treated nonresponders, walking speed significantly increased in the responder group, but not in the nonresponder or placebo groups. This result was duplicated in two larger Phase III trials. The optimal dose to maximize the risk–benefit ratio was 10 mg twice daily. Higher doses were associated with a greater risk of seizure, but no further improvement in walking speed or in the proportion of responders. Dalfampridine SR is eliminated by renal clearance and undergoes only limited metabolism (<10%). It is contraindicated in patients with moderate or severe renal insufficiency and in those with a history of seizures or epileptiform activity on electroencephalography. The development of time-released 4-aminopyridine represents a major advance in symptomatic therapy for MS

The effects of population size on agathosma collina (rutaceae) and its conservation implications

Agathosma collina is a relatively typical widespread, outcrossing shrub species, endemic to the coastal vegetation between the Agulhas Plain and Heidelberg in the Southern Cape. Although not a rare species, its endemism makes it a suitable candidate for a study of population size effects and the conservation implications for similar outbreeding species. Theory predicts that we should expect demographic problems to arise, for ecological or genetic reasons, when population size becomes too small. Initially, therefore, a study was carried out to assess if there was any discernible effect of population size on the population structure. As predicted by theory, the demographic status of small populations was worse than larger ones, measured in terms of seedling recruitment with small populations having relatively fewer seedlings than large. This effect was quite small and far from dramatic. Demographic aspects such as length of flowering, predation and seed set per capsule in different sized populations were studied. Inflorescence predation rates were found to increase to a peak during the peak flowering time of A. collina and medium sized populations showed the highest predation rate while lower predation percentages in large and small populations were probably a result of predator satiation (large populations) and crypsis (small populations). Seed set per capsule varied from mostly one seed per capsule in small and medium populations to two seeds per capsule in large populations in 1988. However, 1989 data showed an almost identical spread in the numbers of seeds per capsule in the different sized populations. None of the above results seemed sufficiently consistent over time or population size to be of importance regarding population structure differences between different sized populations. In order to obtain an indication of the amount of genetic exchange between populations, gene flow studies were carried out using pollen dispersal and seed dispersal. Although direct estimates of gene flow proved difficult to obtain, these studies indicated that gene flow was limited. Neighbourhood area resulting from estimates of pollen dispersal distances was only 2.12m² compared to ballistic seed dispersal neighbourhood area of 3.05m2, while that resulting from possible myrrnecochorous seed dispersal was 41.97m². Neighbourhood size proved to be heavily dependent on population density and was very specific to a population and care should be taken when extrapolating results to different populations or plant species. Cross pollination experiments were carried out to attempt to identify an optimal outbreeding distance. Although pollen from 7km away produced the highest capsule set of all the treatments this could have resulted from heterosis. The species is self-compatible but geitonogamous matings produced lower capsule set than outcrossed matings. Of the pollination distances which could be expected under natural circumstances the nearest neighbour crosses produced the most capsules. This corroborates the results of the gene flow studies which indicate that gene flow may be over very short distances. Inbreeding depression in small populations of A. collina seems likely since neighbourhood size is very small resulting in a low probability of pollen transfer from any great distance and since A. collina is self-compatible allowing geitonogamous matings in very small populations. Electrophoresis was then attempted to confirm the above results from a genetic aspect. Unfortunately this was not successful. This study provided some empirical support for theoretical predictions of the effects of population size on plants but suggests that the main problems may be genetic rather than ecological. The magnitude of the population size effects were small and then only in very small populations and are therefore probably only of concern under rare circumstances. Bibliography: pages 100-111

Extending Holding Time for Hot Foods

Humidifying the air inside a hot holding cabinet can greatly extend the holding time for hot foods by retarding the quality degradation of the food due to moisture loss. Not all cabinets are equally effective in maintaining temperature and humidity. A rudimentary understanding of how heat and moisture are transferred to the food will help operators select the cabinet that best meets operation’s needs. The authors address what works and why

Relative Emergence of Weeds and Corn and Soybean

The success of integrated weed management relies on matching control strategies to the specific weed problem in a field. This requires information not only on what weed species and how many of these weeds are present in a field, but also knowledge of the distribution of the weeds throughout the field and the stage of development of these weeds. Weed control recommendations typically provide information on appropriate tillage methods and herbicide selection. The information concerning weed infestations used to base these recommendations typically is not of sufficient detail to optimize the efficiency of these strategies. Information on weed populations can be improved by increasing the time spent scouting fields. However, time restraints during the busy spring season restrict this opportunity. This problem could be alleviated with an improved understanding of the environmental influences on weed emergence and growth, therefore allowing us to predict when best to invest time in scouting. Armed with greater knowledge of weed development and populations, a person could determine the optimum time for tillage and crop planting to reduce weed populations, maximizing the effectiveness of mechanical weed control operations, and for timing of burndown and postemergence herbicide applications. Although there has been considerable research and modeling of weed emergence in recent years, little effort has been directed toward development of emergence information for persons involved in weed management. This paper provides information on how weed emergence timing influences weed management systems. Included are preliminary rankings of relative emergence for important weed species in the Midwest. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture is supporting efforts to develop more precise emergence indices that will be of greater benefit in aiding the development of more efficient weed management systems