Inspiring and Advancing the Many-Disciplined Study of Institutional Trust

The purpose of this volume is to consider how trust research, particularly trust in institutions, might benefit from increased inter- or transdisciplinarity. In this introductory chapter, we first give some background on prior disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary work relating to trust. Next, we describe how this manydisciplined volume on institutional trust emerged from the joint activities of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation and a National Science Foundation-funded Workshop on institutional trust. This chapter describes some of the themes that emerged, while also providing an overview of the rest of the volume, which includes chapters that discuss conceptualizations, definitions, and measurement of trust; institutional trust across domains and contexts; and theoretical advances regarding the “dark” and “light” sides of institutional trust. Finally, we conclude with some thoughts about the future of and potential promises and pitfalls of trust as a focus of interdisciplinary study

Sharing behavior in emergencies: An instantiation of a utility-focused prototype of a secure mobile near-real-time content device in pre-hospital and hospital settings

The implementation of healthcare information technology largely exhibits a ‘lack of fit’ with medical practice workflow, especially when data collection devices interfere with care during emergencies. Employing the design science paradigm and interpretive theory building, we examine the credibility, utility, and sharing of near-auto generated, near-real-time content regarding motor vehicle accidents. We began constructing a mobile security information model and building a mobile prototype to study the dynamics of contents sharing in the pre-hospital and hospital settings. From our focus group interviews, we learned that the most valuable feature of the prototype was the ability to capture and transmit data, audio, photo, and video contents prior to the arrival of the patient to the hospital: contents that inform clinical decisions regarding diagnostic preparedness, triaging, and therapeutic activities. We theorize that a credible content incentivizes sharing attitude and instrumental use which influence sharing behavior. We plan further observations to refine the proposition

Integrating Environmental Science into Information Technology Content to Generate Student Interest

In an effort to increase female student interest in computing we applied and evaluated an interdisciplinary approach at a suburban high school in eastern Los Angeles County, California. Three classes, an IB Environmental Science class, an AP Environmental Science class, and a Computer Science were surveyed to assess attitude changes toward information technology. Results indicated gender differences between the participating classes, and differences before and after the project. Although the project did not uniformly impact the attitude of female high school students, it impacted teachers who are adjusting their teaching methods, an outcome that has a long-term positive influence

Virtual Reality & Pilot Training: Existing Technologies, Challenges & Opportunities

The introduction of virtual reality (VR) to flying training has recently gained much attention, with numerous VR companies, such as Loft Dynamics and VRpilot, looking to enhance the training process. Such a considerable change to how pilots are trained is a subject that warrants careful consideration. Examining the effect that VR has on learning in other areas gives us an idea of how VR can be suitably applied to flying training. Some of the benefits offered by VR include increased safety, decreased costs, and increased environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, some challenges ahead for developers to consider are negative transfer of learning, cybersickness, and failure for users to adopt the technology. In addition to this discussion, existing technologies are presented and compared across a number of areas. Future directions for research and development in VR flying training are considered, highlighting the importance of thorough testing procedures and shifting research focus to the considerate integration of VR into flying training procedures

Invadolysin: a novel, conserved metalloprotease links mitotic structural rearrangements with cell migration

The cell cycle is widely known to be regulated by networks of phosphorylation and ubiquitin-directed proteolysis. Here, we describe IX-14/invadolysin, a novel metalloprotease present only in metazoa, whose activity appears to be essential for mitotic progression. Mitotic neuroblasts of Drosophila melanogaster IX-14 mutant larvae exhibit increased levels of nuclear envelope proteins, monopolar and asymmetric spindles, and chromosomes that appear hypercondensed in length with a surrounding halo of loosely condensed chromatin. Zymography reveals that a protease activity, present in wild-type larval brains, is missing from homozygous tissue, and we show that IX-14/invadolysin cleaves lamin in vitro. The IX-14/invadolysin protein is predominantly found in cytoplasmic structures resembling invadopodia in fly and human cells, but is dramatically relocalized to the leading edge of migrating cells. Strikingly, we find that the directed migration of germ cells is affected in Drosophila IX-14 mutant embryos. Thus, invadolysin identifies a new family of conserved metalloproteases whose activity appears to be essential for the coordination of mitotic progression, but which also plays an unexpected role in cell migration

Human pluripotent stem cell expansion in vertical-wheel bioreactors

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) have been regarded as an enormous breakthrough for medicine, since they can be derived from patients and be used to generate virtually all types of cells in the human body. One of the great bottlenecks in the usage of these cells for regenerative medicine or drug discovery applications is their expansion to relevant quantities. The Vertical-Wheel Bioreactors (PBS Biotech) present a novel scalable bioreactor configuration, whose agitation mechanism allows for homogeneous mixing conditions inside the single-use vessel, while conveying less shear stress to the cells when compared to traditional alternatives. These characteristics are advantageous for hiPSC expansion and thus, in this work, hiPSC were expanded in the Vertical-Wheel Bioreactor using different strategies, namely culturing the cells 1) on microcarriers and 2) as floating aggregates. In the first approach, cells were cultured under xeno-free conditions, using the Essential 8 medium together with microcarriers and coatings devoid of any animal-derived products [1]. The culture conditions were optimized in terms of initial cell/microcarrier ratio, inoculation method and agitation rate, in the PBS 0.1 vessel (working volume: 80 mL). The cells were successfully expanded, maintaining a normal karyotype, up to a 6.7-fold increase in cell number, after 6 days. These optimized culture conditions were successfully repeated in a larger vessel, the PBS 0.5 (300 mL working volume) demonstrating the scalability of the Vertical-Wheel system. In the second approach, hiPSC were expanded as floating aggregates, a methodology which does not require a separation step at the end of culture, to remove microcarriers, facilitating the downstream processing and Good Manufacturing Practice-compliance of the process. Cells were cultured in the PBS 0.1 (working volume: 60 mL), using mTeSR1, a serum-free medium and were monitored throughout culture regarding growth kinetics, aggregate size distribution and expression of pluripotency markers. The Vertical-Wheel Bioreactors were shown to efficiently keep the cell aggregates in suspension, under lower linear agitation speeds than an equivalent volume spinner flask (7 cm/s vs. 13 cm/s). Following 7 days of culture, cells were expanded up to a 5.2 ± 0.6-fold increase in cell number. The hiPSC aggregates increased in size over time, from an average diameter of 135 ± 61 µm to 397 ± 119 µm after 7 days. Pluripotency was maintained throughout time, as assessed by sustained high (\u3e 80%) expression of pluripotency markers OCT4, SOX2 and TRA-1-60, and low (\u3c 10%) expression of early differentiation marker SSEA-1. The results were validated using a second hiPSC line. This study revealed that the Vertical-Wheel Bioreactor allows hiPSC growth either on microcarriers and as aggregates and suggested it to have advantages versus other configurations. These results make the Vertical-Wheel Bioreactor a promising platform for hiPSC expansion and, prospectively, differentiation approaches, contributing for the generation of bona fide cells for various biomedical applications, namely drug screening, disease modelling, and, ultimately, for Regenerative Medicine. [1] Rodrigues CAV, Silva TP, Nogueira DES, Fernandes TG, Hashimura Y, Wesselschmidt R, Diogo MM, Lee B, Cabral JMS (2018), “Scalable Culture Of Human Induced Pluripotent Cells On Microcarriers Under Xeno‐Free Conditions Using Single‐Use Vertical‐Wheel™ Bioreactors”, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1002/jctb.573

Thyroid Doses and Risk of Thyroid Cancer from Exposure to I-131 from the Nevada Test Site

This report provides a set of look-up tables of representative thyroid doses and risks of thyroid cancer for individuals exposed to I-131 in fallout from nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. These tables are intended to be used by people who do not have access to a computer. The look-up tables contain estimates of doses and risks for eight representative birth cohorts and sixty-seven locations in eight regions around the continental United States. They were obtained using a slightly modified version of the NCI’s online dose and risk calculator for exposures to I-131 in NTS fallout. The look-up tables provided here do not cover all possible exposure situations, but they can be used to estimate the general magnitude of a person’s thyroid dose and risk of thyroid cancer from NTS fallout according to birth cohort, gender, given residence history, and given amount and type of milk consumed. This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/radiochem/1000/thumbnail.jp

Development of a scale-down approach to the scalable culture of induced Pluripotent Stem Cells on microcarriers using single-use Vertical-Wheel™ bioreactors under xeno-free conditions

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) are capable of extensive self-renewal while retaining the ability to differentiate into virtually all cell types of the body. These cells are the subject of much research and development activity aimed at the development of cell-based tools, which may speed drug discovery, and cell-based medical therapies that are being developed to address unmet medical needs. However, development of these therapies is hampered by manufacturing bottlenecks including production scale up to meet the anticipated demand. PBS Biotech, Inc. has developed a single use bioreactor with an innovative Vertical-Wheel™ design that promotes more homogenous and gentle particle suspension, under lower hydrodynamic shear environment than traditional bioreactor vessel design. Vertical-Wheel bioreactors are available from lab-scale vessels (PBS MINI) to larger production units (up to 500L). This study describes the culture of human iPSCs on microcarriers under xeno-free conditions using Vertical-Wheel bioreactors. Human iPSCs were cultured on microcarriers to provide surface for cell attachment using the chemically defined Essential 8 culture medium, a xeno-free, feeder-free culture medium. The culture conditions were optimized in terms of 1) initial cell/microcarrier ratio, 2) inoculation method and 3) agitation rate, in the PBS-0.1 vessel using 80 mL working volume. The cells were successfully expanded, up to a 7-fold increase in cell number, after 6 days in the bioreactor. Glucose consumption and lactate production were analyzed to prevent glucose starvation or excessive lactate accumulation. These optimized culture conditions were successfully repeated in a larger vessel, the PBS-0.5 using 300 mL working volume, demonstrating the scalability of the Vertical-Wheel system. With this PBS-0.5 bioreactor, 3 x 108 cells were produced after 6 days of operation, and the specific growth rate (0.72 day-1) was similar to the one observed with the PBS-0.1 (0.68 day-1). The applications of iPSC cells and their progeny, especially in clinical settings, will require a guarantee of cell quality. After PBS-MINI bioreactor culture, the expression of pluripotency markers, such as Oct4, Nanog, and SSEA4 was assessed by immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. The directed differentiation into the neural lineage of the expanded cells was performed and the pluripotency of the cells was further tested after embryoid body formation. The robustness of this process method was evaluated by cultivating another iPSC cell line under the same process conditions, resulting in identical growth kinetics in the PBS MINI-0.1. The methodology developed herein, which grows human iPSC on microcarriers in single-use bioreactors using chemically defined xeno-free cultivation reagents provides a foundation upon which further refinement and scale-up of processes can be built for large scale production of iPSCs

A longitudinal and experimental study of the impact of knowledge on the bases of institutional trust

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about a new institution, we expected institutional trust to be a function of generalized trust variables such as dispositional trust and trust in government. The longitudinal experiment involved 185 college students randomly assigned to one of three information conditions. Every 3 months for 15 months, participants read information about water regulatory institutions or a control institution. At each time point, participants reported their trust in and perceptions of the trust- and distrust-worthiness of the water regulatory institutions. Participants also completed measures of knowledge of water regulatory institutions, dispositional trust, and governmental trust. Our manipulation check indicated that, as expected, those in the experimental group increased in subjective knowledge of water regulatory institutions to a greater extent than those in the control condition. Consistent with our hypotheses, there was some evidence that, compared to the control group, the experimental group relied less on their general trust in government as a basis for their trust in water regulatory institutions. However, contrary to our hypotheses, there was no evidence the experimental group relied less on dispositional trust as a basis for institutional trust. There also was some evidence the experimental group\u27s trust in water regulatory institutions was less affected by fluctuations of trustworthiness (but not distrustworthiness) perceptions over time. This suggests that knowledge results in the development of more stable institutional trust attitudes, but that trustworthiness and distrustworthiness perceptions may operate somewhat differently when impacting trust in specific institutions

Prospectus, October 18, 1989

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1989/1024/thumbnail.jp