Geospatial Web Services, Open Standards, and Advances in Interoperability: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography

This paper is designed to help GIS librarians and information specialists follow developments in the emerging field of geospatial Web services (GWS). When built using open standards, GWS permits users to dynamically access, exchange, deliver, and process geospatial data and products on the World Wide Web, no matter what platform or protocol is used. Standards/specifications pertaining to geospatial ontologies, geospatial Web services and interoperability are discussed in this bibliography. Finally, a selected, annotated list of bibliographic references by experts in the field is presented

Eliciting Touristic Profiles: A User Study on Picture Collections

Eliciting the preferences and needs of tourists is challenging, since people often have difficulties to explicitly express them, especially in the initial phase of travel planning. Recommender systems employed at the early stage of planning can therefore be very beneficial to the general satisfaction of a user. Previous studies have explored pictures as a tool of communication and as a way to implicitly deduce a traveller's preferences and needs. In this paper, we conduct a user study to verify previous claims and conceptual work on the feasibility of modelling travel interests from a selection of a user's pictures. We utilize fine-tuned convolutional neural networks to compute a vector representation of a picture, where each dimension corresponds to a travel behavioural pattern from the traditional Seven-Factor model. In our study, we followed strict privacy principles and did not save uploaded pictures after computing their vector representation. We aggregate the representations of the pictures of a user into a single user representation, i.e., touristic profile, using different strategies. In our user study with 81 participants, we let users adjust the predicted touristic profile and confirm the usefulness of our approach. Our results show that given a collection of pictures the touristic profile of a user can be determined.Comment: Accepted at UMAP 2020 (full paper

Gateway-Compatible CRISPR-Cas9 Vectors and a Rapid Detection by High-Resolution Melting Curve Analysis

CRISPR-Cas9 system rapidly became an indispensable tool in plant biology to perform targeted mutagenesis. A CRISPR-Cas9-mediated double strand break followed by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repair most frequently results in a single base pair deletion or insertions (indels), which is hard to detect using methods based on enzymes that detect heteroduplex DNA. In addition, somatic tissues of the T1 generation inevitably contain a mosaic population, in which the portion of cells carrying the mutation can be too small to be detected by the enzyme-based methods. Here we report an optimized experimental protocol for detecting Arabidopsis mutants carrying a CRISPR-Cas9 mediated mutation, using high-resolution melting (HRM) curve analysis. Single-base pair insertion or deletion (indel) can be easily detected using this method. We have also examined the detection limit for the template containing a one bp indel compared to the WT genome. Our results show that <5% of mutant DNA containing one bp indel can be detected using this method. The vector developed in this study can be used with a Gateway technology-compatible derivative of pCUT vectors, with which off-target mutations could not be detected even by a whole genome sequencing

Species composition influences soil nutrient depletion and plantphysiology in prairie agroenergy feedstocks

High-diversity mixtures of perennial tallgrass prairie vegetation could be useful biomass feed-stocks for marginal farmland in the Midwestern United States. These agroenergy crops can help meet cel-lulosic agrofuel targets while also enhancing other ecosystem services on the landscape. One proposedadvantage of high-diversity prairie biomass feedstocks is that they should become nutrient limited at aslower rate than monoculture feedstocks. In this study, we examine rates of soil nutrient depletion and thephysiology and performance of a focal species (switchgrass,Panicum virgatumL.) in four prairie agroen-ergy feedstocks with different species composition and diversity. The feedstocks in this study were a1-species switchgrass monoculture, a 5-species mixture of C4grasses, a 16-species mixture of C3and C4grasses, forbs, and legumes, and a 32-species mixture of C3and C4grasses, forbs, legumes, and sedges. Toassess feedstock effects on soil, we measured changes in soil N/P/K over afive-year period. We also per-formed a greenhouse study, in which we grew switchgrass plants infield soil conditioned by each feed-stock. To assess feedstock effects on plant function, we measured four physiological traits (photosyntheticrate, chlorophyll concentration, leafflorescence, leaf N concentration) on switchgrass plants within eachfeedstock in thefield. In the soil analysis, we found that the 5-species feedstock displayed higher rates ofsoil N/P/K depletion than other feedstocks. In the greenhouse analysis, we found that switchgrass plantsgrown in soil conditioned by the 5-species feedstock were smaller than plants grown in soil conditionedby other feedstocks. In the physiological analysis, we found that switchgrass plants in the 5-species feed-stock had lower leaf N, photosynthesis, chlorophyll concentration, and higherflorescence than switchgrassplants growing in other feedstocks. Collectively, our results show that prairie agroenergy feedstocks withdifferent species composition and diversity have different rates of soil nutrient depletion, which influencesthe physiology and performance of plants within the feedstock. These differences would ultimately impactthe ecosystem services (e.g., biomass production, need for fertilizer) that these prairie agroenergyfeedstocks provide

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Dispositivos lingüísticos de acogida, aprendizaje expansivo e interculturalidad: Contribuciones para la inclusión educativa de estudiantes extranjeros

Indexación: Scopus.In the context of the progressive increase of foreigners in public schools in Chile and the recent changes in migratory patterns, the presence of students who do not master the working language of the educational system has systematically incremented in recent years. In a scenario marked by the absence of educational policies that respond to this new linguistic diversity, the purpose of our research was to understand how schools have responded to the arrival of foreign students and what educational practices they have implemented to tackle this challenge. Through a two-year school ethnography in four public schools with high enrollment of foreigners, institutional documents were analyzed and field observation, interviews and focus groups were conducted with different actors amidst the educational communities. Through an analysis of thematic content, the results reveal the implementation of ten devices to manage educational responses to foreign students. We have analyzed three of these devices with a focus on linguistics based on the tensions and contradictions that occur within the educational institutions of which they are part, identifying significant elements and dimensions to drive forward expansive learning. Finally, we discuss these findings in light of the advances and challenges of the intercultural approach in our Latin American region.https://www.scielo.br/j/ep/a/NhL67jbv7H7VpZtQYjtHVFt/?lang=e

Development Of A Behavioral Marker System To Assess Intensive Care Unit Team Performance

Teamwork plays a pivotal role in ensuring the quality and safety of care delivery in the intensive care unit (ICU). The measurement of these skills, therefore, is paramount to quantifying performance, providing developmental feedback, and evaluating the impact of initiatives to improve performance. The purpose of this paper is to detail the development of a theoretically-driven and context-driven approach to the measurement of teamwork skills in critical care

Equine Syndromic Surveillance in Colorado Using Veterinary Laboratory Test Order Data

A collaboration of veterinary epidemiologists, laboratorians, and statistical analysts has designed a laboratory-based health surveillance system for horses in Colorado. Initial efforts focused on 12 years of data from three state labs. Exploratory analysis, stakeholder input, and discovery of laboratory workflow details were applied to refine syndrome groups and filter test order records to eliminate alerting bias. To tailor alerting methods for each syndrome, we constructed an algorithm testbed and a stochastic injection process based on target signal types chosen by the epidemiologists based on known disease progression. Testbed results yielded recommended methods, settings and thresholds for each syndrome