Aboriginal Rock-Mortars

A few notes by the writer, under the above title, were published in the American Anthropologist for October, 1891. These mortars , excavated in rock in situ, are located on the east slope of the Franklin Mountains, about eleven miles north of El Paso, Texas, and near the mouth of the \u27\u27House Canon

Validation of a Predictive Model for Survival in Patients With Advanced Cancer: Secondary Analysis of RTOG 9714.

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to validate a simple predictive model for survival of patients with advanced cancer.MethodsPrevious studies with training and validation datasets developed a model predicting survival of patients referred for palliative radiotherapy using three readily available factors: primary cancer site, site of metastases and Karnofsky performance score (KPS). This predictive model was used in the current study, where each factor was assigned a value proportional to its prognostic weight and the sum of the weighted scores for each patient was survival prediction score (SPS). Patients were also classified according to their number of risk factors (NRF). Three risk groups were established. The Radiation Therapy and Oncology Group (RTOG) 9714 data was used to provide an additional external validation set comprised of patients treated among multiple institutions with appropriate statistical tests.ResultsThe RTOG external validation set comprised of 908 patients treated at 66 different radiation facilities from 1998 to 2002. The SPS method classified all patients into the low-risk group. Based on the NRF, two distinct risk groups with significantly different survival estimates were identified. The ability to predict survival was similar to that of the training and previous validation datasets for both the SPS and NRF methods.ConclusionsThe three variable NRF model is preferred because of its relative simplicity

Rapid soil tests for estimating the fertility needs of Missouri soils

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

Complexity-based learning and teaching: a case study in higher education

This paper presents a learning and teaching strategy based on complexity science and explores its impacts on a higher education game design course. The strategy aimed at generating conditions fostering individual and collective learning in educational complex adaptive systems, and led the design of the course through an iterative and adaptive process informed by evidence emerging from course dynamics. The data collected indicate that collaboration was initially challenging for students, but collective learning emerged as the course developed, positively affecting individual and team performance. Even though challenged, students felt highly motivated and enjoyed working on course activities. Their perception of progress and expertise were always high, and the academic performance was on average very good. The strategy fostered collaboration and allowed students and tutors to deal with complex situations requiring adaptation

Measurement of Intracellular Fluorescence of Human Monocytes Relative to Oxidative Metabolism

Human monocytes (MN) produce O2â and H2O2 when stimulated by agonists. Dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFHâ DA) has been used as a substrate for measuring intracellular oxidant production in neutrophils. DCFHâ DA is hydrolyzed by esterases to dichlorofluorescin (DCFH), which is trapped within the cell. This nonfluorescent molecule is then oxidized to fluorescent dichlorofluorescin (DCF) by action of cellular oxidants. DCFHâ DA can not be appreciably oxidized to a fluorescent state without prior hydrolysis. We have examined the utility of DCFHâ DA for the assessment of monocyte oxidative responses. The levels of intracellular fluorescence measured by flow cytometry were considerably less than expected from reported levels of O2â â production or chemiluminescence assays. Compared with neutrophils, monocytes produced minimal increases in DCF fluorescence after stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate as measured by flow cytometry, but both cell types showed increases in fluorescence when bulk cell suspensions were measured by spectrofluorometry. To determine the intracellular location of the DCFH, bulk fluorescence measurements were made on both whole and sonicated cell preparations. When intact mononuclear cells were preloaded with DCFHâ DA, then sonicated and oxidized with added excess H2O2, the increase in fluorescence was only 30% of the fluorescence of mononuclear cell sonicates to which DCFHâ DA was added and oxidized in a similar manner. These results suggest that a portion of the DCFHâ DA incorporated by intact cells, is not susceptible to oxidation by the added H2O2. Addition of NaOH to induce hydrolysis of any residual DCFHâ DA in the sonicates of DCFHâ DAâ loaded intact mononuclear cells resulted in a further increase in fluorescence upon addition of H2O2, suggesting that a significant portion of the DCFHâ DA was not hydrolyzed despite ample uptake of this dye by these cells. In contrast, no further increase in fluorescence was observed in sonicates of DCFHâ DAâ loaded intact neutrophils, suggesting complete hydrolysis of all incorporated DCFHâ DA to DCFH. When monocytes were allowed to phagocytose DCFHâ DAâ loaded Staphylococcus aureus, intracellular fluorescence was measurable by flow cytometry, indicating intracellular oxidation of the fluorochromes. We therefore propose that in monocytes the mechanism of intracellular processing of these fluorochromes differs from that in neutrophils owing to differences in intracellular localization of fluorochromes, site of oxidant production, and/or accessibility of the DCFHâ DA to esterolysis.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141433/1/jlb0304.pd

Control Humidity With Single-Duct, Single-Zone, Constant Air Volume System

The lecture hall of the Richardson Petroleum Building at Texas A&M University is a large lecture hall, with a total floor area of approximately 2500 ft^2. The lecture hall was served by a constant air volume (CAV) air handling unit (AHU) which had no reheat coil. This resulted in high room humidity levels although the room temperature was satisfied for part load conditions, especially when there was very little sensible load from the room. This paper presents Continuous Commissioning efforts (CC), which turned this inefficient, humid lecture hall into a comfortable learning environment. This case study also explores other possibilities to solve the humidity control problem with single-duct, single-zone constant air volume systems

Emotions and actions associated with altruistic helping and punishment

Evolutionary altruism (defined in terms of fitness effects) exists in the context of punishment in addition to helping. We examine the proximate psychological mechanisms that motivate altruistic helping and punishment, including the effects of genetic relatedness, potential for future interactions, and individual differences in propensity to help and punish. A cheater who is a genetic relative provokes a stronger emotional reaction than a cheater who is a stranger, but the behavioral response is modulated to avoid making the transgression public in the case of cheating relatives. Numerous behavioral differences are not accompanied by emotional differences, suggesting that other psychological mechanisms dictate the specific response to emotion-provoking events. Paradoxically, there is a positive correlation between temptation to cheat and propensity to punish others for cheating, leading to a concept of ?selfish punishment? that has been substantiated by a computer simulation model. This study demonstrates that fictional scenarios can provide an important methodological tool for studying the psychological basis of helping and punishment