Towards a Personalized Assistance in Distributed Group Facilitation

With the advancement of group decision support systems (GDSS), facilitation has been regarded as one of the most important means in enhancing the outcome of group decisions. Many researchers have spent great efforts in creating useful methodologies and techniques to better support group facilitation. However, most of the research in the current literature deals more with facilitation targeted at a group-level than an individual level. With the increasingly available personalization techniques found in e-commerce, personalized facilitation seems to be a natural direction in group system facilitation research to deal with the needs of individual members for the overall gain of the group. In this paper, we address the needs for personalized facilitation in the context of the “EasyWinWin” framework in software requirements analysis by proposing a conceptual framework of personalized facilitation, developing a system architecture towards personalized facilitation and identifying key functions for a personalized facilitation system

CFSv2-Based Seasonal Hydroclimatic Forecasts over the Conterminous United States

There is a long history of debate on the usefulness of climate model–based seasonal hydroclimatic forecasts as compared to ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP). In this study, the authors use NCEP's operational forecast system, the Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2), and its previous version, CFSv1, to investigate the value of climate models by conducting a set of 27-yr seasonal hydroclimatic hindcasts over the conterminous United States (CONUS). Through Bayesian downscaling, climate models have higher squared correlation R2 and smaller error than ESP for monthly precipitation, and the forecasts conditional on ENSO have further improvements over southern basins out to 4 months. Verification of streamflow forecasts over 1734 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauges shows that CFSv2 has moderately smaller error than ESP, but all three approaches have limited added skill against climatology beyond 1 month because of overforecasting or underdispersion errors. Using a postprocessor, 60%–70% of probabilistic streamflow forecasts are more skillful than climatology. All three approaches have plausible predictions of soil moisture drought frequency over the central United States out to 6 months, and climate models provide better results over the central and eastern United States. The R2 of drought extent is higher for arid basins and for the forecasts initiated during dry seasons, but significant improvements from CFSv2 occur in different seasons for different basins. The R2 of drought severity accumulated over CONUS is higher during winter, and climate models present added value, especially at long leads. This study indicates that climate models can provide better seasonal hydroclimatic forecasts than ESP through appropriate downscaling procedures, but significant improvements are dependent on the variables, seasons, and regions

A Study on Using Internet to Implement Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching for Research Method Course

“Scaffoldings” states to let teachers provide a temporary support to help the students developing their self-scaffolding, this temporary support (the scaffolds) might be a kind of teaching facility or teaching strategy, as the capability of the learner advanced, the learning responsibility will shift gradually to the student, finally the student can dominate his/her learning, and through learning he/she shall build up his/her own knowledge. In this study, Internet and the Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Theories are applied to develop a teaching model based on the “Research Method”- a program for the first year in graduate school, so that information technologies can be applied to make up the teachers’ deficiencies in terms of energy, time and capability. On the other hand, taking the advantages of the traditional teaching model face-to-face communication, and interaction to make up the deficiencies of Internet teaching. To realize the effects of this instructional model, experimentation is adopted in this study. Differences of learning results between constructive scaffolding teaching model with Internet assistance (CSTMIA) and the traditional teaching model (TTM) are analyzed. The result of the study shows: (1) indeed the performance of the CSTMIA better improves the students’ learning achievement than that of the TTM, but it is not as good as the traditional teaching in terms of the learning performance, learning satisfaction and the growth of learning capabilities; (2) the result of the subsequent evaluation and analysis shows: based on the subjective realization from more than 60% of the students in the CSTMIA, they are positive toward the capability of such CSTMIA in the improvement of learning performance, learning achievement, learning satisfaction, interaction between teachers and the students, and the growth of learning capabilities, this proves that the CSTMIA implemented by this study helps improve the learning effect, strengthen the interaction between teachers and the students in certain extent. The contributions of this study are: (1) Based on the “Research Method” program, to develop that program’s Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Model supplemented by Internet; (2) Based on the “Research Method” program, to see the influences of the Constructivist Scaffolding Teaching Model supplemented by Internet toward the learning performance, learning achievement, learning Satisfaction, interaction between teachers and the students, and the growth of learning capabilities

Source Regions of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field and Variability in Heavy-Ion Elemental Composition in Gradual Solar Energetic Particle Events

Gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events are those in which ions are accelerated to their observed energies by interactions with a shock driven by a fast coronal mass-ejection (CME). Previous studies have shown that much of the observed event-to-event variability can be understood in terms of shock speed and evolution in the shock-normal angle. But an equally important factor, particularly for the elemental composition, is the origin of the suprathermal seed particles upon which the shock acts. To tackle this issue, we (1) use observed solar-wind speed, magnetograms, and the PFSS model to map the Sun-L1 interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) line back to its source region on the Sun at the time of the SEP observations; and (2) then look for correlation between SEP composition (as measured by Wind and ACE at approx. 2-30 MeV/nucleon) and characteristics of the identified IMF-source regions. The study is based on 24 SEP events, identified as a statistically-significant increase in approx. 20 MeV protons and occurring in 1998 and 2003-2006, when the rate of newly-emergent solar magnetic flux and CMEs was lower than in solar-maximum years and the field-line tracing is therefore more likely to be successful. We find that the gradual SEP Fe/O is correlated with the field strength at the IMF-source, with the largest enhancements occurring when the footpoint field is strong, due to the nearby presence of an active region. In these cases, other elemental ratios show a strong charge-to-mass (q/M) ordering, at least on average, similar to that found in impulsive events. These results lead us to suggest that magnetic reconnection in footpoint regions near active regions bias the heavy-ion composition of suprathermal seed ions by processes qualitatively similar to those that produce larger heavy-ion enhancements in impulsive SEP events. To address potential technical concerns about our analysis, we also discuss efforts to exclude impulsive SEP events from our event sample

Silicon (Si) biochar for the mitigation of arsenic (As) bioaccumulation in spinach (Spinacia oleracean) and improvement in the plant growth

In many parts of the world, growing crops on polluted soils often leads to elevated levels of pollutants in plant tissues. Minimizing the transfer of these pollutants into edible plant tissues while improving plant growth and productivity is a major area of research. In this study, we investigated the efficiency of silicon-modified biochar in reducing the uptake of As(III) in spinach (Spinacia oleracean) while simultaneously increasing the plant biomass. Unmodified biochars (uBC) and silicon-modified biochars (SiBC) were prepared from bamboo at 300 and 600 °C and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometry (XPS), and X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD). The bioaccumulation of As(III) in the edible part of spinach significantly decreased by 33.8 and 37.7% following the amendment of, respectively, 2% and 5% SiBC in soil. Biochar amendment increased the concentration of As(III) in pore water by 64.4% as a result of increased soil pH from 6.83 ± 0.4 to 8.01 ± 0.1 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from 7.02 ± 3.7 to 22.58 ± 3.7 g kg−1. However, the uptake of As(III) into spinach was prevented by silicon, which was preferentially transported to the plant through the same transport pathway as As(III). Dry biomass yield in spinach also significantly increased by 67.7% and strongly correlated (R2 = 0.97) with CaCl2 extractable Si in the plant. The results highlighted the effectiveness of SiBC in reducing the toxic effects of As in the environment and overall dietary exposure to the pollutant. The slow release of Si from biochars (<48.42%) compared to soil (87.39%) also suggested that SiBC can be efficient sources of Si fertilization for annual crops which can significantly reduce the increasing demand for Si fertilizers and their sustainable use in the environment

Non-Abelian Quantum Hall States and their Quasiparticles: from the Pattern of Zeros to Vertex Algebra

In the pattern-of-zeros approach to quantum Hall states, a set of data {n;m;S_a|a=1,...,n; n,m,S_a in N} (called the pattern of zeros) is introduced to characterize a quantum Hall wave function. In this paper we find sufficient conditions on the pattern of zeros so that the data correspond to a valid wave function. Some times, a set of data {n;m;S_a} corresponds to a unique quantum Hall state, while other times, a set of data corresponds to several different quantum Hall states. So in the latter cases, the patterns of zeros alone does not completely characterize the quantum Hall states. In this paper, We find that the following expanded set of data {n;m;S_a;c|a=1,...,n; n,m,S_a in N; c in R} provides a more complete characterization of quantum Hall states. Each expanded set of data completely characterize a unique quantum Hall state, at least for the examples discussed in this paper. The result is obtained by combining the pattern of zeros and Z_n simple-current vertex algebra which describes a large class of Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states \Phi_{Z_n}^sc. The more complete characterization in terms of {n;m;S_a;c} allows us to obtain more topological properties of those states, which include the central charge c of edge states, the scaling dimensions and the statistics of quasiparticle excitations.Comment: 42 pages. RevTeX

Silicon (Si) biochar for the mitigation of arsenic (As) bioaccumulation in spinach (Spinacia oleracean) and improvement in the plant growth

In many parts of the world, growing crops on polluted soils often leads to elevated levels of pollutants in plant tissues. Minimizing the transfer of these pollutants into edible plant tissues while improving plant growth and productivity is a major area of research. In this study, we investigated the efficiency of silicon-modified biochar in reducing the uptake of As(III) in spinach (Spinacia oleracean) while simultaneously increasing the plant biomass. Unmodified biochars (uBC) and silicon-modified biochars (SiBC) were prepared from bamboo at 300 and 600 °C and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometry (XPS), and X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD). The bioaccumulation of As(III) in the edible part of spinach significantly decreased by 33.8 and 37.7% following the amendment of, respectively, 2% and 5% SiBC in soil. Biochar amendment increased the concentration of As(III) in pore water by 64.4% as a result of increased soil pH from 6.83 ± 0.4 to 8.01 ± 0.1 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from 7.02 ± 3.7 to 22.58 ± 3.7 g kg−1. However, the uptake of As(III) into spinach was prevented by silicon, which was preferentially transported to the plant through the same transport pathway as As(III). Dry biomass yield in spinach also significantly increased by 67.7% and strongly correlated (R2 = 0.97) with CaCl2 extractable Si in the plant. The results highlighted the effectiveness of SiBC in reducing the toxic effects of As in the environment and overall dietary exposure to the pollutant. The slow release of Si from biochars (<48.42%) compared to soil (87.39%) also suggested that SiBC can be efficient sources of Si fertilization for annual crops which can significantly reduce the increasing demand for Si fertilizers and their sustainable use in the environment

Evidence of efficient stop codon readthrough in four mammalian genes

Stop codon readthrough is used extensively by viruses to expand their gene expression. Until recent discoveries in Drosophila, only a very limited number of readthrough cases in chromosomal genes had been reported. Analysis of conserved protein coding signatures that extend beyond annotated stop codons identified potential stop codon readthrough of four mammalian genes. Here we use a modified targeted bioinformatic approach to identify a further three mammalian readthrough candidates. All seven genes were tested experimentally using reporter constructs transfected into HEK-293T cells. Four displayed efficient stop codon readthrough, and these have UGA immediately followed by CUAG. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that in the four readthrough candidates containing UGA-CUAG, this motif is conserved not only in mammals but throughout vertebrates with the first six of the seven nucleotides being universally conserved. The importance of the CUAG motif was confirmed using a systematic mutagenesis approach. One gene, OPRL1, encoding an opiate receptor, displayed extremely efficient levels of readthrough (∼31%) in HEK-293T cells. Signals both 5′ and 3′ of the OPRL1 stop codon contribute to this high level of readthrough. The sequence UGA-CUA alone can support 1.5% readthrough, underlying its importance.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH-1-R01-HG004037-07)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NSF-DBI-0644282)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH-U41-HG007234

Visfatin mediates malignant behaviors through adipose-derived stem cells intermediary in breast cancer

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have been implicated in tumor growth and metastasis in breast cancer. ADSCs exhibit tumor tropism, and are of increasing clinical relevance due to the autologous fat grafting for breast reconstruction. Although we have previously shown that a high level of the adipocytokine visfatin in human breast cancer tissues correlated with tumor progression mediated by cAbl and STAT3, the effects of visfatin in the tumor microenvironment are unclear. To understand how visfatin modulates breast cancer within the tumor-stromal environment, we examined determinants of breast cancer progression using a visfatin-primed ADSCs-tumor co-culture model. ADSCs were isolated from tumor-free adipose tissue adjacent to breast tumors. ADSCs were treated with or without visfatin for 48 h and then collected for co-culture with breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 for 72 h in a transwell system. We found that the MDA-MB-231 cells co-cultured with visfatin-treated ADSCs (vADSCs) had higher levels of cell viability, anchorage independent growth, migration, invasion, and tumorsphere formation than that co-cultured with untreated ADSCs (uADSCs). Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) upregulation was found in the co-culture conditioned medium, with GDF15 neutralizing antibody blocking the promoting effect on MDA-MB-231 in co-culture. In addition, a GDF15-induced AKT pathway was found in MDA-MB-231 and treatment with PI3K/AKT inhibitor also reversed the promoting effect. In an orthotopic xenograft mouse model, MDA-MB-231 co-injected with vADSCs formed a larger tumor mass than with uADSCs. Positive correlations were noted between visfatin, GDF15, and phosphor-AKT expressions in human breast cancer specimens. In conclusion, visfatin activated GDF15-AKT pathway mediated via ADSCs to facilitate breast cancer progression