Ciidae of Michigan (Insecta: Coleoptera)

The family Ciidae Leach, 1819, occurs worldwide with approximately 720 species. In the United States there are 84 species in 13 genera. Given their relatively small size (~0.5 to 6 mm) and cryptic habitats, feeding in decaying fungi, recent regional fauna studies are lacking including the northeastern United States. To alleviate this gap in knowledge, in part, we review and identify 2,123 undetermined specimens collected in Michigan. We provide new state records for four species: Ceracis pecki Lawrence 1971, Cis americanus Mannerheim, 1852, Cis submicans Abeille de Perrin, 1874, Dolicocis manitoba Dury, 1919 which increases the total for Michigan to 25 species and update records for Michigan counties. In addition, we provide a modified key to Michigan species

Factors Affecting Success in International Collaborative Forestry Research Projects

Collaborative research projects are an important component of research for development programs globally, but there is little consensus regarding what constitutes project ‘success’, and little understanding of factors that contribute to or constrain success. This thesis explores the principle research question: What constitutes success, and what factors influence it, in forestry research for development projects? In doing so, it presents a new approach for evaluating the relative success of projects, and applies it to case studies of forestry research for development projects implemented by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in Vietnam, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). While ACIAR evaluates individual projects regularly, it has no methodology to compare levels of success across large numbers of projects. The first part of the thesis reviews ACIAR’s forestry program and evaluation methodologies, and presents a new methodology for evaluating the relative success of research projects using existing project records. It places projects into four categories of success based on scores for achievements and impacts, which aids understanding of differential success between projects. In the second part of the thesis, this methodology is applied to country-based case studies in Vietnam, Indonesia and PNG. Ten completed ACIAR forestry projects were evaluated in each country to identify relative success. There was considerable variation in the relative success of the projects, in terms of both achievements and impacts. Interviews with Australian and partner country project participants were then used to investigate the factors that affected project success. The number of project success factors identified varied, with 22, 30, and 37 factors identified in Vietnam, Indonesia and PNG respectively. In each country the frequency of identification of these factors and their apparent relationships with the relative success evaluation scores of selected projects was investigated. The third part of the thesis synthesised results from the three country case studies, and considered how this knowledge could be used by ACIAR and other international development agencies. Overall, ACIAR’s forestry programs in Vietnam and Indonesia have been more successful than its program in PNG. Project success had little relation to research theme, and successor projects were not necessarily more successful than their precursors. Of the 37 success factors identified, seven were considered to be beyond the control of a project, and a further 15 factors would only apply in some situations. The remaining 15 factors, which relate to aspects of project design and implementation, and for which there appear to be relationships with the evaluated level of project success, are therefore considered to be ‘key success factors’. This research has made two key contributions to understanding how to improve research for development projects. The first is a low-cost method for evaluating relative success between projects. The second is the identification of 15 widely applicable success factors that are subject to decisions made by research program managers and project teams. These insights will help inform research for development funders and managers about factors influencing, and strategies for enhancing, project success

Ciidae of Michigan (Insecta: Coleoptera)

The family Ciidae Leach, 1819, occurs worldwide with approximately 720 species. In the United States there are 84 species in 13 genera. Given their relatively small size (~0.5 to 6 mm) and cryptic habitats, feeding in decaying fungi, recent regional fauna studies are lacking including the northeastern United States. To alleviate this gap in knowledge, in part, we review and identify 2,123 undetermined specimens collected in Michigan. We provide new state records for four species: Ceracis pecki Lawrence 1971, Cis americanus Mannerheim, 1852, Cis submicans Abeille de Perrin, 1874, Dolicocis manitoba Dury, 1919 which increases the total for Michigan to 25 species and update records for Michigan counties. In addition, we provide a modified key to Michigan species

Trauma Innovations: MDMA as a Treatment Intervention for PTSD

Aims: To examine the evidence displayed across 3 distinct communities (popular, scientific, & clinical) in conjunction with the use of MDMA-AP as an intervention for PTSD. Method: A mixed method synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research. Data Sources: Four databases were searched [1980-Present] for MDMA & PTSD and/or Mithoefer, et al. 2010 specific scientific literature providing forty-two randomly selected articles; YouTube was searched specifically targeting the same criteria to provide forty-two randomly selected videos; 201 LICSW\u27s from Minnesota were also surveyed. Results: From the three datasets, three common themes emerged: (1) attitudes specifically geared toward MDMA-AP; (2) effusive or willful language; and (3) gaps in the research. Conclusions: Scientific literature is neutral to somewhat supportive of more study of MDMA-AP; primary source videos consider the topic highly newsworthy and are generally supportive of more study; LICSWs are supportive of the idea of further study of MDMA-AP

Primary Carcinoid Tumour of the Kidney: A Review of the Literature

Context. Primary renal carcinoid tumours are rare. Their pathogenesis is unknown and the clinical presentation is similar to other renal tumours thus posing diagnostic dilemmas for clinicians. Objectives. To review the literature for case reports of primary renal carcinoids. Methods. Literature was extensively searched for case reports for primary renal carcinoids. Reports of metastatic carcinoids to the kidneys were excluded. Results. Approximately less than 90 cases of primary carcinoid tumours of the kidney have been reported in the literature. A total of 29 cases of primary renal carcinoids were reviewed. The mean age of presentation was 48 years (range 29–75) with both right kidney (48.3%) and left kidney (44.8%) being equally affected. 28.6% of the cases reviewed were diagnosed as an incidental finding. The mean followup time was 20 months with 73.1% of patients without evidence of disease after surgical treatment (radical or partial nephrectomy). Primary carcinoid tumours of the kidney are often well differentiated tumours. They are often misdiagnosed because of their rarity and similar presentation with other renal tumours. Conclusions. Primary carcinoid tumours of the kidney are rare tumours with an indolent course with frequent metastasis. Metastatic work up and followup is required in their management

Trauma Innovations: MDMA as a Treatment Intervention for PTSD

Aims: To examine the evidence displayed across 3 distinct communities (popular, scientific, & clinical) in conjunction with the use of MDMA-AP as an intervention for PTSD. Method: A mixed method synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research. Data Sources: Four databases were searched [1980-Present] for MDMA & PTSD and/or Mithoefer, et al. 2010 specific scientific literature providing forty-two randomly selected articles; YouTube was searched specifically targeting the same criteria to provide forty-two randomly selected videos; 201 LICSW’s from Minnesota were also surveyed. Results: From the three datasets, three common themes emerged: (1) attitudes specifically geared toward MDMA-AP; (2) effusive or willful language; and (3) gaps in the research. Conclusions: Scientific literature is neutral to somewhat supportive of more study of MDMA-AP; primary source videos consider the topic highly newsworthy and are generally supportive of more study; LICSWs are supportive of the idea of further study of MDMA-AP

A Review of the Literature on Primary Leiomyosarcoma of the Prostate Gland

Primary leiomyosarcoma of the prostate (PLSOP) is rare, with less than 200 cases reported so far. PLSOPs present with lower urinary tract symptoms, haematuria, and perineal pain; may or may not be associated with a history of previous treatment for adenocarcinoma of prostate by means of radiotherapy and or hormonal treatment; may afflict children and adult male. Examination may reveal benign enlarged prostate and hard enlarged mass. PLSOPs may be diagnosed by histological examination findings of spindle-shaped carcinoma cells in prostate specimens. Immunohistochemical staining tends to be positive for vimentin, CD44, smooth muscle actin, and calponin, focally positive for desmin, and at times positive for keratin. They stain negatively for PSA, S-100, CD34, CD117, and cytokeratin. Cytogenetic study on primary leiomyosarcoma of the prostate gland may show clonal chromosomal rearrangement involving Chromosomes 2, 3, 9, 11, and 19. On the whole the prognosis is poor. Surgery with or without chemotherapy would appear to be the mainstay of treatment for PLSOPs that are operable, but generally there is no consensus opinion on the best therapeutic approach. Most cases of PLSOPs are diagnosed in an advanced stage of the disease. A global multicenter trial is required to find therapies that would improve the prognosis

SERT: A Transfomer Based Model for Spatio-Temporal Sensor Data with Missing Values for Environmental Monitoring

Environmental monitoring is crucial to our understanding of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The availability of large-scale spatio-temporal data from sources such as sensors and satellites allows us to develop sophisticated models for forecasting and understanding key drivers. However, the data collected from sensors often contain missing values due to faulty equipment or maintenance issues. The missing values rarely occur simultaneously leading to data that are multivariate misaligned sparse time series. We propose two models that are capable of performing multivariate spatio-temporal forecasting while handling missing data naturally without the need for imputation. The first model is a transformer-based model, which we name SERT (Spatio-temporal Encoder Representations from Transformers). The second is a simpler model named SST-ANN (Sparse Spatio-Temporal Artificial Neural Network) which is capable of providing interpretable results. We conduct extensive experiments on two different datasets for multivariate spatio-temporal forecasting and show that our models have competitive or superior performance to those at the state-of-the-art.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure