Novel polymer coupling chemistry based upon latent cysteine-like residues and thiazolidine chemistry

Chain end functional polymers were prepared via reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization techniques that were further chain extended with acrylonitrile. Under reducing conditions, latent cysteine-like residues were exposed at the chain ends. A variety of reduction conditions were explored and base polymers were then tethered together via thiazolidine chemistry

Print Grades Prime: A quantitative analysis of producer communication preferences of U.S. beef breed association magazines through the lenses of uses, gratifications, and gatekeeping

The United States beef industry is a major stakeholder in national and international agriculture and is driven by technological innovations and beef producers in all 50 states. Beef cattle breed associations are essential to the success of the industry as they not only maintain breed pedigrees but also disseminate vital information to their members. The magazines of beef cattle breed associations are a primary source of communication for U.S. beef producers. Goals for this study were to determine what information beef producers use from their beef breed association magazines, what information they want to see more of in beef breed association magazines, and if producers prefer the magazines in a print or digital format. Uses and gratifications theory, which focuses on the reasons why individuals choose to use a specific communication medium; the effect the medium has on the individual; and the gratifications received through its use, guided this study, along with gatekeeping theory. We used a descriptive quantitative survey research design to disseminate a survey instrument to members of six U.S. beef breed associations. Results revealed a large percentage of survey respondents prefer their beef breed association magazines in a print format. Additionally, results indicate that respondents use association magazines for a variety of information, and they want to see more information related to breed improvement strategies, genetic selection, and technological advancements. Results revealed insightful uses of magazine topics related to breed associations and can be used as a resource to help guide the editorial content of the magazines. We recommend beef cattle breed associations continue to provide magazine content in both print and digital formats and include editorial topics curated to the needs of the beef producers using their magazines

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 9, Issue 1, Winter 2020

Explicitly established to foreground interdisciplinary teaching and learning, Impact also welcomes evidence and discussion of experiential learning. Often the two – interdisciplinary teaching and experiential learning – co-exist. Yet even when they do not, both practices model how to think in myriad ways and to notice how knowledge is constructed. As our winter 2019 issue makes clear, interdisciplinary teaching and learning and experiential learning often begin with questions. Why does it matter that students grapple directly with archival material? What happens when undergraduates practice psychology by training dogs? Do students understand financial literacy? This issue also asks questions about students’ reading habits and faculty expectations of them as readers

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN INTERACTION: HOW TO KEEP THE HUMAN IN THE LOOP

Army leaders are looking to procure and implement artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to solve a variety of problems and enhance existing capabilities across multiple portfolios. While there are benefits to implementing new technologies, including AI, there is often a major pitfall: the human factor as a user is consistently underrepresented. This disparity between how AI-enabled systems are being acquired and how they should be acquired is often related to a gap in the development of systems not aligning with Human Systems Integration (HSI) best practices. The design of systems that facilitate human-agent learning requires further guidance. We use data from the System for Award Management (SAM) along with discussions from subject-matter experts both in government and industry to capture how AI-enabled systems are currently being procured by the Army. The combined results of the team's methodology revealed that there are varying understandings across the Army of what an AI requirement is, and there are no obvious processes or specific AI acquisition guidelines that are universally followed when developing an AI requirement. It was also apparent that HSI was not always included in requirements as required by Army regulations. This disparity appeared to have three major root causes: immaturity of DOD Army guidance, shortcomings in AI-related training for acquisition personnel, and a negligence surrounding the incorporation of HSI elements into Army requirements.CRUSERCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

What is operative? Conceptualizing neuralgia: Neuroma, compression neuropathy, painful hyperalgesia, and phantom nerve pain

Neuralgia, or nerve pain, is a common presenting complaint for the hand surgeon. When the nerve at play is easily localized, and the cause of the pain is clear (eg, carpal tunnel syndrome), the patient may be easily treated with excellent results. However, in more complex cases, the underlying pathophysiology and cause of neuralgia can be more difficult to interpret; if incorrectly managed, this leads to frustration for both the patient and surgeon. Here we offer a way to conceptualize neuralgia into 4 categories-compression neuropathy, neuroma, painful hyperalgesia, and phantom nerve pain-and offer an illustrative clinical vignette and strategies for optimal management of each. Further, we delineate the reasons why compression neuropathy and neuroma are amenable to surgery, while painful hyperalgesia and phantom nerve pain are not

Quantifying bamboo coral growth rate nonlinearity with the radiocarbon bomb spike : a new model for paleoceanographic chronology development

© The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 125 (2017): 26-39, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2017.04.006.Bamboo corals, long-lived cold water gorgonin octocorals, offer unique paleoceanographic archives of the intermediate ocean. These Isididae corals are characterized by alternating gorgonin nodes and high Mg-calcite internodes, which synchronously extend radially. Bamboo coral calcite internodes have been utilized to obtain geochemical proxy data, however, growth rate uncertainty has made it difficult to construct precise chronologies for these corals. Previous studies have relied upon a tie point from records of the anthropogenic Δ14C bomb spike preserved in the gorgonin nodes of live-collected corals to calculate a mean radial extension rate for the outer ~50 years of skeletal growth. Bamboo coral chronologies are typically constructed by applying this mean extension rate to the entire coral record, assuming constant radial extension with coral age. In this study, we aim to test this underlying assumption by analyzing the organic nodes of six California margin bamboo corals at high enough resolution (<0.5 mm) to identify the Δ14C bomb spike, including two tie points at 1957 and 1970, plus coral collection date (2007.5) for four samples. Radial extension rates between tie points ranged from 10 to 204 μm/year, with a decrease in growth rate evident between the 1957-1970 and 1970- 2007.5 periods for all four corals. A negative correlation between growth rate and coral radius (r = -0.7; p = 0.03) was determined for multiple bamboo coral taxa and individuals from the California margin, demonstrating a decline in radial extension rate with specimen age and size. To provide a mechanistic basis for these observations, a simple mathematical model was developed based on the assumption of a constant increase in circular cross sectional area with time to quantify this decline in radial extension rate with coral size between chronological tie points. Applying the area-based model to our Δ14C bomb spike time series from individual corals improves chronology accuracy for all live-collected corals with complete Δ14C bomb spikes. Hence, this study provides paleoceanographers utilizing bamboo corals with a method for reducing age model uncertainty within the anthropogenic bomb spike era (~1957-present). Chronological uncertainty is larger for the earliest portion of coral growth, particularly for skeleton precipitated prior to bomb spike tie points, meaning age estimations for samples living before 1957 remain uncertain. Combining this technique with additional chronological markers could improve age models for an entire bamboo coral. Finally, the relative consistency in growth rate in similarly-aged corals of the same depth and location supports the hypothesis that skeletal growth may be limited by local environmental conditions.This research was made possible by National Science Foundation Award #1420984 to M. LaVigne and a Clare Boothe Luce Fellowship to M. Frenkel

Multimodal Imaging Nanoparticles Derived from Hyaluronic Acid for Integrated Preoperative and Intraoperative Cancer Imaging

Surgical resection remains the most promising treatment strategy for many types of cancer. Residual malignant tissue after surgery, a consequence in part due to positive margins, contributes to high mortality and disease recurrence. In this study, multimodal contrast agents for integrated preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intraoperative fluorescence image-guided surgery (FIGS) are developed. Self-assembled multimodal imaging nanoparticles (SAMINs) were developed as a mixed micelle formulation using amphiphilic HA polymers functionalized with either GdDTPA for T1 contrast-enhanced MRI or Cy7.5, a near infrared fluorophore. To evaluate the relationship between MR and fluorescence signal from SAMINs, we employed simulated surgical phantoms that are routinely used to evaluate the depth at which near infrared (NIR) imaging agents can be detected by FIGS. Finally, imaging agent efficacy was evaluated in a human breast tumor xenograft model in nude mice, which demonstrated contrast in both fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging

Tuft-cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic mediators of norovirus tropism regulate viral immunity

Murine norovirus (MNoV) is a model for human norovirus and for interrogating mechanisms of viral tropism and persistence. We previously demonstrated that the persistent strain MNo

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Using the Skewness of the CMB Temperature Distribution

We present a detection of the unnormalized skewness induced by the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect in filtered Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) 148 GHz cosmic microwave background temperature maps. Contamination due to infrared and radio sources is minimized by template subtraction of resolved sources and by constructing a mask using outlying values in the 218 GHz (tSZ-null) ACT maps. We measure = -31 +- 6 \mu K^3 (measurement error only) or +- 14 \mu K^3 (including cosmic variance error) in the filtered ACT data, a 5-sigma detection. We show that the skewness is a sensitive probe of sigma_8, and use analytic calculations and tSZ simulations to obtain cosmological constraints from this measurement. From this signal alone we infer a value of sigma_8= 0.79 +0.03 -0.03 (68 % C.L.) +0.06 -0.06 (95 % C.L.). Our results demonstrate that measurements of non-Gaussianity can be a useful method for characterizing the tSZ effect and extracting the underlying cosmological information.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Replaced with version accepted by Phys. Rev. D, with improvements to the likelihood function and the IR source treatment; only minor changes in the result