Preliminary study of rodents from the Golliher B assemblage of Meade County, Kansas, USA indicates an intense cold period near the end of the Pleistocene

Submission: 15 June 2007. Acceptance: 18 May 2011An assemblage of rodents recovered from a thin layer of sediments along Sand Creek on the Golliher Ranch in Meade County, Kansas, indicates that cold steppe conditions likely prevailed for a brief time near the close of the Pleistocene around 12,500 radiocarbon years ago. This environment is suggested by the northern disjunct rodents Zapus princeps, Microtus pennsylvanicus, Thomomys cf. talpoides and the presumed cold steppe vole Microtus (Pedomys) parmaleei, n. sp., plus the absence of cotton rats. Comparison of meadow vole m1 crown morphology diversity through the late Pleistocene in Kansas shows that the modern pattern of diversity developed in a brief period of 1500 years, possibly during the Younger Dryas interval. A cement-filled prism fold, a feature commonly encountered in extinct species of Mimomys with rooted molars, appears in three rootless first lower molars of Microtus pennsylvanicus. The Golliher B assemblage helps to fill in the late Pleistocene history of rodents in the ongoing Meade Basin Rodent Project.Peer reviewe

Hybrid Thermal Lance

The Hybrid Thermal Lance (HTL) is a device used to burn through landmines to destroy them safely. Designed for the team’s client, The HALO Trust, the HTL has proven to work well in destroying explosives, which has been demonstrated by field trials conducted in a number of countries including but not limited to Afghanistan and the Republic of Georgia. The HTL works by igniting acrylic burn tubes, which act as a fuel source and also focus the flame on a specific location on an explosive device. The system is controlled via a user-friendly, rugged control box that can run the HTL automatically and allow the device to burn for different lengths of time upon user command. The team was asked by HALO to make the HTL as user-friendly as possible. In order to do this, the team has been researching ways to make the ignition system as reliable as possible so the device works every time. The team plans to move forward in testing and refining the ignition system and the control circuit in order to give the client a trouble-free device. Future plans include designing a fixture that can be fitted over the end of the HTL burn tube which can focus the heat of the flame for a more concentrated burn.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2020/1022/thumbnail.jp

Attractor Metadynamics in Adapting Neural Networks

Slow adaption processes, like synaptic and intrinsic plasticity, abound in the brain and shape the landscape for the neural dynamics occurring on substantially faster timescales. At any given time the network is characterized by a set of internal parameters, which are adapting continuously, albeit slowly. This set of parameters defines the number and the location of the respective adiabatic attractors. The slow evolution of network parameters hence induces an evolving attractor landscape, a process which we term attractor metadynamics. We study the nature of the metadynamics of the attractor landscape for several continuous-time autonomous model networks. We find both first- and second-order changes in the location of adiabatic attractors and argue that the study of the continuously evolving attractor landscape constitutes a powerful tool for understanding the overall development of the neural dynamics

The Role of the PAX8/PPARγ Fusion Oncogene in Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer is uncommon and exhibits relatively low mortality rates. However, a subset of patients experience inexorable growth, metastatic spread, and mortality. Unfortunately, for these patients, there have been few significant advances in treatment during the last 50 years. While substantial advances have been made in recent years about the molecular genetic events underlying papillary thyroid cancer, the more aggressive follicular thyroid cancer remains poorly understood. The recent discovery of the PAX8/PPARγ translocation in follicular thyroid carcinoma has promoted progress in the role of PPARγ as a tumor suppressor and potential therapeutic target. The PAX8/PPARγ fusion gene appears to be an oncogene. It is most often expressed in follicular carcinomas and exerts a dominant-negative effect on wild-type PPARγ, and stimulates transcription of PAX8-responsive promoters. PPARγ agonists have shown promising results in vitro, although very few studies have been conducted to assess the clinical impact of these agents

Cerebral blood flow predicts differential neurotransmitter activity

Application of metabolic magnetic resonance imaging measures such as cerebral blood flow in translational medicine is limited by the unknown link of observed alterations to specific neurophysiological processes. In particular, the sensitivity of cerebral blood flow to activity changes in specific neurotransmitter systems remains unclear. We address this question by probing cerebral blood flow in healthy volunteers using seven established drugs with known dopaminergic, serotonergic, glutamatergic and GABAergic mechanisms of action. We use a novel framework aimed at disentangling the observed effects to contribution from underlying neurotransmitter systems. We find for all evaluated compounds a reliable spatial link of respective cerebral blood flow changes with underlying neurotransmitter receptor densities corresponding to their primary mechanisms of action. The strength of these associations with receptor density is mediated by respective drug affinities. These findings suggest that cerebral blood flow is a sensitive brain-wide in-vivo assay of metabolic demands across a variety of neurotransmitter systems in humans

A novel algorithm for dynamic student profile adaptation based on learning styles

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.E-learning recommendation systems are used to enhance student performance and knowledge by providing tailor- made services based on the students’ preferences and learning styles, which are typically stored in student profiles. For such systems to remain effective, the profiles need to be able to adapt and reflect the students’ changing behaviour. In this paper, we introduce new algorithms that are designed to track student learning behaviour patterns, capture their learning styles, and maintain dynamic student profiles within a recommendation system (RS). This paper also proposes a new method to extract features that characterise student behaviour to identify students’ learning styles with respect to the Felder-Silverman learning style model (FSLSM). In order to test the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, we present a series of experiments that use a dataset of real students to demonstrate how our proposed algorithm can effectively model a dynamic student profile and adapt to different student learning behaviour. The results revealed that the students could effectively increase their learning efficiency and quality for the courses when the learning styles are identified, and proper recommendations are made by using our method

Maximising Social Interactions and Effectiveness within Distance Learning Courses: Cases from Construction

Advanced Internet technologies have revolutionised the delivery of distance learning education. As a result, the physical proximity between learners and the learning providers has become less important. However, whilst the pervasiveness of these technological developments has reached unprecedented levels, critics argue that the student learning experience is still not as effective as conventional face-to-face delivery. In this regard, surveys of distance learning courses reveal that there is often a lack of social interaction attributed to this method of delivery, which tends to leave learners feeling isolated due to a lack of engagement, direction, guidance and support by the tutor. This paper defines and conceptualises this phenomenon by investigating the extent to which distance-learning programmes provide the social interactions of an equivalent traditional classroom setting. In this respect, two distance learning case studies were investigated, covering the UK and Slovenian markets respectively. Research findings identified that delivery success is strongly dependent on the particular context to which the specific distance learning course is designed, structured and augmented. It is therefore recommended that designers of distance learning courses should balance the tensions and nuances associated with commercial viability and pedagogic effectiveness

Activated Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes and 2D Nanostructured MoS2 Hybrid Electrode Material for High‐Performance Supercapacitor Applications

Alkali-activated functionalized carbon nanotubes (AFCNTs) and 2D nanostructured MoS2 are investigated as a novel hybrid material for energy-storage applications. The nanoflower-like 2D MoS2 is grown on the surface of AFCNT using the controlled one-step hydrothermal technique. The activation of functionalized carbon nanotubes results in greater performance due to the improved surface area. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of the AFCNTs is found to be 594.7 m2 g−1 which is almost 30 times of the as-prepared carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The improved surface area with attached hydroxyl and carboxylic functional groups helps in the attachment of MoS2 nanoflowers onto the AFCNT, thus reducing the interfacial resistance and providing an easy path for electron transfer. The electrochemical analysis shows a high specific capacitance of 516 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 with a corresponding energy density of 71.76 Wh kg−1, which is an encouraging reported value from AFCNT and MoS2 hybrid material. To the best of our knowledge, herein, the first report on AFCNTs and 2D MoS2 nanostructured hybrid electrode material for supercapacitor applications is provided, and promising results in terms of specific capacitance, energy density, and power density by boosting the properties of individual material are explained

Multiple dynamical time-scales in networks with hierarchically nested modular organization

Many natural and engineered complex networks have intricate mesoscopic organization, e.g., the clustering of the constituent nodes into several communities or modules. Often, such modularity is manifested at several different hierarchical levels, where the clusters defined at one level appear as elementary entities at the next higher level. Using a simple model of a hierarchical modular network, we show that such a topological structure gives rise to characteristic time-scale separation between dynamics occurring at different levels of the hierarchy. This generalizes our earlier result for simple modular networks, where fast intra-modular and slow inter-modular processes were clearly distinguished. Investigating the process of synchronization of oscillators in a hierarchical modular network, we show the existence of as many distinct time-scales as there are hierarchical levels in the system. This suggests a possible functional role of such mesoscopic organization principle in natural systems, viz., in the dynamical separation of events occurring at different spatial scales.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Doing nothing? An ethnography of patients' (In)activity on an acute stroke unit.

Health research has begun to pay increasing attention to inactivity in its broadest sense as lack of meaningful activity and boredom. Few studies however have taken a critical look at this phenomenon. We explore (in)activity drawing on ethnographic data from observations in an acute stroke unit and post-discharge interviews with stroke survivors and their families. Four themes emerged that explain patients' (in)activity: (i) planned activities; (ii) 'doing nothing', (iii) the material environment of the unit; (iv) interactions with staff. Considering these themes, we seek to problematise received conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding (in)activity. We argue that (in)activity is best conceived not as lack of action or meaning, but as a situated practice encompassing both bodily and mental activities that reflect and reproduce the way in which life is collectively organised within a specific healthcare setting