Key to the terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda) of Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada

Three species of terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda) are native to Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada. At least twelve additional species have been accidentally introduced from Europe. Many of the introduced species are now widespread throughout the region; some are commonly found in natural forested habitats. Because of the complexity of the systematics of some of the introduced species, dissection of internal anatomical structures and DNA and other biochemical analyses may be required to distinguish cryptic species. Although this key to the terrestrial slugs of the Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada was developed in 1973, it remains the best tool in identifying the terrestrial slug species of the region. Because it was published in a relatively obscure journal that is not readily available, we are placing it on this web site where it can be readily accessed.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Accurate estimation of homologue-specific DNA concentration-ratios in cancer samples allows long-range haplotyping

Interpretation of allelic copy measurements at polymorphic markers in cancer samples presents distinctive challenges and opportunities. Due to frequent gross chromosomal alterations occurring in cancer (aneuploidy), many genomic regions are present at homologous-allele imbalance. Within such regions, the unequal contribution of alleles at heterozygous markers allows for direct phasing of the haplotype derived from each individual parent. In addition, genome-wide estimates of homologue specific copy- ratios (HSCRs) are important for interpretation of the cancer genome in terms of fixed integral copy-numbers. We describe HAPSEG, a probabilistic method to interpret bi- allelic marker data in cancer samples. HAPSEG operates by partitioning the genome into segments of distinct copy number and modeling the four distinct genotypes in each segment. We describe general methods for fitting these models to data which are suit- able for both SNP microarrays and massively parallel sequencing data. In addition, we demonstrate a specially tailored error-model for interpretation of systematic variations arising in microarray platforms. The ability to directly determine haplotypes from cancer samples represents an opportunity to expand reference panels of phased chromosomes, which may have general interest in various population genetic applications. In addition, this property may be exploited to interrogate the relationship between germline risk and cancer phenotype with greater sensitivity than is possible using unphased genotype. Finally, we exploit the statistical dependency of phased genotypes to enable the fitting of more elaborate sample-level error-model parameters, allowing more accurate estimation of HSCRs in cancer samples

The“Memphis Belle”: One Came Home Stories of Those Left Behind

On 17 May 1943, B-17 No. 41-24485, “Memphis Belle”, of the 91st Bomb group, stationed at Bassingbourn Air Base, completed her 25th combat mission over the continent. Two days earlier, her regular crew, that of Cpt Robert K. Morgan, had successfully completed its own 25th mission. At the time, it was assumed these were the first bomber and crew to have completed 25 missions. In anticipation of this event, the Oscar winning movie director, Maj William Wyler, had been stationed at Bassingbourn to film a documentary film, “The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress”, as a means to publicize contributions of the 8th Air Force to the war effort. Following her last mission, Cpt Morgan and his crew flew her back to the states for a nation-wide tour. Because of the documentary, “Memphis Belle” has become a legend, the most recognized B-17 of World War II. [After the War, it was discovered that B-17 No 41-24577, “Hell’s Angels” and Cpt Irl E. Baldwin’s crew of the 303rd Bomb Group had completed their 25thmission on 17 May]. The“Belle”and Cpt Morgan’s crew therefore survived the war. There were 20 other B-17s and their crews that accompanied the “Memphis Belle” on her final mission. This account documents the fate of these planes and crews as they continued their combat missions over the continent.Ope

Social Workers\u27 Perceptions of a Rural Emergency Mental Health Trauma Service

Studies have shown that emergency mental health trauma (EMHT) services can significantly reduce the long-term effects of trauma after a disaster. However, rural municipalities may find they do not have the capacity to create such a service, or may not realize that their disaster planning includes no provision for emergency mental health care. Such was the case in a rural island community in the state of Washington, where, in 2014, several residents initiated a discussion that helped to identify the community\u27s lack of EMHT services. This project, framed by action research and based on collaboration theory, sought to advance the potential for the community\u27s 21 resident social workers to address this issue collaboratively. Accordingly, the project\u27s research question asked how social workers on south Whidbey Island perceived the issue of a rural EMHT service in their community. Data consisted of responses from 8 participants who completed mailed questionnaires and participated in brief telephone interviews. Descriptive coding analysis of the data confirmed a nearly universal lack of knowledge about an EMHT service, a clear perception of the need for such a service, and a unanimous commitment from the respondents to participate in addressing this problem. Such collaborative activity is expected to have a positive impact on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice in south Whidbey, as well as on the community itself, not only in spearheading a dialogue about EMHT but also in activating a group of social workers who had no prior association

Mesoscale movement and recursion behaviors of Namibian black rhinos.

Background:Understanding rhino movement behavior, especially their recursive movements, holds significant promise for enhancing rhino conservation efforts, and protecting their habitats and the biodiversity they support. Here we investigate the daily, biweekly, and seasonal recursion behavior of rhinos, to aid conservation applications and increase our foundational knowledge about these important ecosystem engineers. Methods:Using relocation data from 59 rhinos across northern Namibia and 8 years of sampling efforts, we investigated patterns in 24-h displacement at dawn, dusk, midday, and midnight to examine movement behaviors at an intermediate scale and across daily behavioral modes of foraging and resting. To understand recursion patterns across animals' short and long-term ranges, we built T-LoCoH time use grids to estimate recursive movement by each individual. Comparing these grids to contemporaneous MODIS imagery, we investigated productivity's influence on short-term space use and recursion. Finally, we investigated patterns of recursion within a year's home range, measuring the time to return to the most intensively used patches. Results:Twenty four-hour displacements at dawn were frequently smaller than 24-h displacements at dusk or at midday and midnight resting periods. Recursion analyses demonstrated that short-term recursion was most common in areas of median rather than maximum NDVI values. Investigated across a full year, recursion analysis showed rhinos most frequently returned to areas within 8-21 days, though visits were also seen separated by months likely suggesting seasonality in range use. Conclusions:Our results indicate that rhinos may frequently stay within the same area of their home ranges for days at a time, and possibly return to the same general area days in a row especially during morning foraging bouts. Recursion across larger time scales is also evident, and likely a contributing mechanism for maintaining open landscapes and browsing lawns of the savanna

Privileged Computations for Closed-Class Items in Language Acquisition

In natural languages, closed-class items predict open-classitems but not the other way around. For example, in English, ifthere is a determiner there will be a noun, but nouns can occurwith or without determiners. Here, we asked whether languagelearners’ computations are also asymmetrical. In threeexperiments we exposed adults to a miniature language withthe one-way dependency “if X then Y”: if X was present, Ywas also present, but X could occur without Y. We createddifferent versions of the language in order to ask whetherlearning depended on which of these categories was an open orclosed class. In one condition, X was a closed class and Y wasan open class; in a contrasting condition, X was an open classand Y was a closed class. Learning was significantly betterwith closed-class X, even though learners’ exposure wasotherwise identical. Additional experiments demonstrated thatthe perceptual distinctiveness of closed-class items driveslearners to analyze them differently; and, crucially, that theprimary determinant of learning is the mathematicalrelationship between closed- and open-class items and not theirlinear order. These results suggest that learners privilegecomputations in which closed-class items are predictive of,rather than predicted by, open-class items. We suggest that thedistributional asymmetries of closed-class items in naturallanguages may arise in part from this learning bias

Intraspecific and interspecific territoriality in \u3ci\u3eMicrotus ochrogaster\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eM. pennsylvanicus\u3c/i\u3e

Adult female Microtus ochrogaster and M. pennsylvanicus displayed interspecific territorial behavior in a bluegrass site in Illinois. We concluded that within a site, interspecific territorial behavior might be a factor in non-synchronous population fluctuations characteristic of the two species

Clinical measurements versus patient-reported outcomes: analysis of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons physician assessment in patients undergoing reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.

BackgroundThe American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score is composed of a patient-reported portion and a physician assessment. Although the patient-reported score is frequently used to assess postoperative outcomes after shoulder arthroplasty, no previous studies have used the physician-assessment component. This study evaluated the relationship of the ASES physician-assessment measurements with patient-reported shoulder and general health outcomes.MethodsA retrospective review of a prospectively collected multicenter database was used to analyze patients who underwent primary reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) from 2012 to 2015 with a minimum 2-year follow-up. ASES physician-assessment and patient-reported components and 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) general health questionnaires were obtained preoperatively and 2 years postoperatively. The relationship between ASES physician measurements with ASES patient-reported outcome (PRO) scores and SF-12 Physical and Mental domain scores was assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients.ResultsIncluded were 74 patients (32 men; mean age, 69.2 years; body mass index, 29.4 kg/m2). Preoperative physician measurements and PRO scores were not significantly correlated. Postoperatively, only the ASES physician-measured active (R = 0.54, P < .01) and passive forward flexion (R = 0.53, P < .01) demonstrated moderate correlation with ASES patient scores. The remaining clinical measurements had no significant correlations with ASES patient or SF-12 scores. During the 2-year period, only improvements in active forward flexion correlated with improvements in ASES patient scores (R = 0.36, P < .01).ConclusionsLittle correlation exists between clinical measurements from the ASES physician component and PROs, including the ASES patient-reported and SF-12 general health surveys, in RTSA patients. Improvement in active forward flexion is the only clinical measurement correlated with PRO improvement at 2 years