All Signs Point South: A Canadian’s Journey Through an American Student Affairs Program

The path to a career in student affairs is rarely a simple one. Aspiring professionals come into this field from many different institutional and educational backgrounds and for a myriad of reasons, but as unique as each of these individuals are, they share some similarities. Framed by literature on both general career decisions and those specific to student affairs and higher education, this article tracks the path of a Canadian student on his journey through an American graduate program. As the author approaches graduation, he reflects on the choices that led him to where he is today, the choices that will guide his next steps in the profession, and the implications those choices have for other Canadian students who wish to enter the field

Mechanical strain induces growth of vascular smooth muscle cells via autocrine action of PDGF.

The effect of cyclic mechanical strain on growth of neonatal rat vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells were examined. Cells were grown on silicone elastomer plates subjected to cyclic strain (60 cycle/min) by application of a vacuum under the plates. A 48 h exposure to mechanical strain increased the basal rate of thymidine incorporation by threefold and increased cell number by 40% compared with cells grown on stationary rubber plates. Strain also increased the rate of thymidine incorporation in response to alpha-thrombin (from 15- to 33-fold), but not to PDGF. As determined by thymidine autoradiography, strain alone induced a fourfold increase in labeled nuclei at the periphery of dishes, where strain is maximal, and a 2-3-fold increase at the center of dishes. Strain appeared to induce the production of an autocrine growth factor(s), since conditioned medium from cells subjected to strain induced a fourfold increase in DNA synthesis in control cells. Western blots of medium conditioned on the cells subjected to strain indicate that the cells secrete both AA and BB forms of PDGF in response to strain. Northern blots of total cell RNA from cells exposed to strain for 24 h show increased steady-state level of mRNA for PDGF-A. Lastly, polyclonal antibodies to the AA form of PDGF reduced by 75% the mitogenic effect of strain and polyclonal antibodies to AB-PDGF reduced mitogenicity by 50%. Antibodies to bFGF did not significantly reduce the strain-induced thymidine incorporation. Thus, the mechanism of strain-induced growth appears to involve the intermediary action of secreted PDGF

Evaluation of automated cell disruptor methods for oomycetous and ascomycetous model organisms

Two automated cell disruptor-based methods for RNA extraction, disruption of thawed cells submerged in TRIzol Reagent (method QP), and direct disruption of frozen cells on dry ice (method CP), were optimized for a model oomycete, Phytophthora capsici, and a model filamentous ascomycete, Neurospora crassa. The results were compared with more conventional methods of manual grinding in a mortar and pestle under liquid nitrogen (method M&P) and those using lyophilized samples. A chip-based electrophoresis system showed that methods CP and M&P yielded high integrity RNA from both P. capsici and N. crassa. In contrast, method QP and lyophilized sample-based methods resulted in inconsistent RNA integrity between the two organisms, indicating they are not safe alternatives for method M&P. Microarray mRNA profiling for P. capsici revealed alterations in global mRNA profiles in those samples that the chip-based electrophoresis detected slight decreases in RNA integrity. Despite this, RNA integrity of these samples could still be high enough to pass conventional stringent quality control measures. This demonstrated the necessity of global mRNA profiling for the evaluation of RNA extraction protocols

Fundamental Limits of Low-Density Spreading NOMA with Fading

Spectral efficiency of low-density spreading non-orthogonal multiple access channels in the presence of fading is derived for linear detection with independent decoding as well as optimum decoding. The large system limit, where both the number of users and number of signal dimensions grow with fixed ratio, called load, is considered. In the case of optimum decoding, it is found that low-density spreading underperforms dense spreading for all loads. Conversely, linear detection is characterized by different behaviors in the underloaded vs. overloaded regimes. In particular, it is shown that spectral efficiency changes smoothly as load increases. However, in the overloaded regime, the spectral efficiency of low- density spreading is higher than that of dense spreading

EMaP: Explainable AI with Manifold-based Perturbations

In the last few years, many explanation methods based on the perturbations of input data have been introduced to improve our understanding of decisions made by black-box models. The goal of this work is to introduce a novel perturbation scheme so that more faithful and robust explanations can be obtained. Our study focuses on the impact of perturbing directions on the data topology. We show that perturbing along the orthogonal directions of the input manifold better preserves the data topology, both in the worst-case analysis of the discrete Gromov-Hausdorff distance and in the average-case analysis via persistent homology. From those results, we introduce EMaP algorithm, realizing the orthogonal perturbation scheme. Our experiments show that EMaP not only improves the explainers' performance but also helps them overcome a recently-developed attack against perturbation-based methods.Comment: 29 page

3D Quantification of Ultrasound Images: Application to Mouse Embryo Imaging In Vivo

International audienceHigh frequency ultrasound imaging has become an effective tool for anatomical mice studies. This work is focused on 3D quantification of mouse embryo development to extract pertinent information of its evolution. A series of B-Scan ultrasound images was acquired at different spatial positions along the embryo. A 3D deformable model was used to segment the images. A pregnant female mouse at embryonic day 14.5 was imaged with an ATL HDI 5000, 7-15MHz linear array. The probe was moved by a step by step motor along the abdomen of the mouse. 3D segmentation results are presented including volume quantification of the embryo

Methane emission factors from vietnamese rice production: Pooling data of 36 field sites for meta-analysis

Rice production is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the national budget of many Asian countries, but the extent of emissions varies strongly across agro-environmental zones. It is important to understand these differences in order to improve the national GHG inventory and effectively target mitigation options. This study presents a meta-analysis of CH4 database emission factors (EFs) from 36 field sites across the rice growing areas of Vietnam and covering 73 cropping seasons. The EFs were developed from field measurements using the closed chamber technique. The analysis for calculating baseline EFs in North, Central and South Vietnam in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 2 methodology was specified for the three cropping seasons being early-(E), mid-(M) and late-year (L) seasons. Calculated average CH$_{4}$ EFs are given in kg ha$^{-1}$ d$^{-1}$ and reflect the distinct seasons in North (E: 2.21; L: 3.89), Central (E: 2.84; M+L: 3.13) and South Vietnam (E: 1.72; M: 2.80; L: 3.58). Derived from the available data of the edapho-hydrological zones of the Mekong River Delta, season-based EFs are more useful than zone-based EFs. In totality, these average EFs indicate an enormous variability of GHG emissions in Vietnamese rice production and represent much higher values than the IPCC default. Seasonal EFs from Vietnam exceeded IPCC defaults given for Southeast Asia corresponding to 160% (E), 240% (M) and 290% (L) of the medium value, respectively