Altruism among relatives and non-relatives

The amount of their own monetary reward that undergraduate participants claimed they were willing to forgo, in order to give $75 to another person, decreased hyperbolically as social distance increased between the participant and the other person. Relatives tended to be ranked at closer social distances than were non-relatives. However, even at the same social distance, participants were willing to forgo significantly more money for the benefit of relatives than for the benefit of non-relatives. These results imply that altruism is determined by factors in addition to social distance

Relationship-based practice revisited [editorial]

Editorial to Special Issue. This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Social Work Practice called 'Relationship-based Practice Revisited'

A Rapid Prototyping Environment for Wireless Communication Embedded Systems

This paper introduces a rapid prototyping methodology which overcomes important barriers in the design and implementation of digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms and systems on embedded hardware platforms, such as cellular phones. This paper describes rapid prototyping in terms of a simulation/prototype bridge and in terms of appropriate language design. The simulation/prototype bridge combines the strengths of simulation and of prototyping, allowing the designer to develop and evaluate next-generation communications systems, partly in simulation on a host computer and partly as a prototype on embedded hardware. Appropriate language design allows designers to express a communications system as a block diagram, in which each block represents an algorithm specified by a set of equations. Software tools developed for this paper implement both concepts, and have been successfully used in the development of a next-generation code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular wireless communications system.NokiaTexas InstrumentsThe Texas Advanced Technology ProgramNational Science Foundatio

Improving biochemical yields with MixoFerm

Acetyl-CoA is a primary hub for metabolism and is the building block for most biochemicals of interest. However, the yields for biochemicals derived from acety-CoA are inherently limited because of the decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA which releases CO2. To overcome this limitation, White Dog Labs (WDL) developed a fermentation technology call MixoFerm™ (also known as anaerobic, non-photosynthetic mixotrophy). This technology uses microorganisms capable of concurrently utilizing both organic (e.g., sugars) and inorganic (e.g., CO2) substrates. Using MixoFerm, CO2 can be fixed back into acetyl-CoA and thus improve biochemical yields (g product/g substrate consumed). Here, we demonstrate simultaneous utilization of both fructose and syngas by Clostridium ljungdahlii and Clostridium autoethanogenum. We next engineered C. ljungdahlii to produce the non-native metabolite acetone at a yield 35% greater than the theoretical maximum acetone yield without mixotrophy. Finally, we designed and generated a strain of C. ljungdahlii capable of consuming glucose, which the wild-type strain is unable to do. With the ability to improve biochemical yields, MixoFerm™ is a robust and flexible platform technology to improve process economics and product life-cycle analysi

Looking into the hearts of native peoples: nation building as an institutional orientation for graduate education

In this article, we suggest that graduate programs in predominantly white institutions can and should be sites of self-education and tribal nation building. In arguing this, we examine how a particular graduate program and the participants of that program engaged tribal nation building, and then we suggest that graduate education writ large must also adopt an institutional orientation of nation building. We connect Guinier's notion of democratic merit to our discussion of nation building as a way to suggest a rethinking of "success" and "merit" in graduate education. We argue that higher education should be centrally concerned with capacity building and graduates who aim to serve their communities

Example of monitoring measurements in a virtual eye clinic using 'big data'

Aim: To assess the equivalence of measurement outcomes between patients attending a standard glaucoma care service, where patients see an ophthalmologist in a face-to-face setting, and a glaucoma monitoring service (GMS). Methods: The average mean deviation (MD) measurement on the visual field (VF) test for 250 patients attending a GMS were compared with a ‘big data’ repository of patients attending a standard glaucoma care service (reference database). In addition, the speed of VF progression between GMS patients and reference database patients was compared. Reference database patients were used to create expected outcomes that GMS patients could be compared with. For GMS patients falling outside of the expected limits, further analysis was carried out on the clinical management decisions for these patients. Results: The average MD of patients in the GMS ranged from +1.6dB to −18.9dB between two consecutive appointments at the clinic. In the first analysis, 12 (4.8%; 95% CI 2.5% to 8.2%) GMS patients scored outside the 90% expected values based on the reference database. In the second analysis, 1.9% (95% CI 0.4% to 5.4%) GMS patients had VF changes outside of the expected 90% limits. Conclusions: Using ‘big data’ collected in the standard glaucoma care service, we found that patients attending a GMS have equivalent outcomes on the VF test. Our findings provide support for the implementation of virtual healthcare delivery in the hospital eye service

Cognitive Performance May be Impaired by Exercise in a Hot, Humid Environment: A Preliminary Investigation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of acute active dehydration by exercise in a hot, humid environment on cognitive performance. Our findings were inconclusive compared to previous studies that reported decreased cognitive performance in manual laborers and military personnel working in extreme environmental conditions

Photoreceptor Outer Segment-like Structures in Long-Term 3D Retinas from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.

The retinal degenerative diseases, which together constitute a leading cause of hereditary blindness worldwide, are largely untreatable. Development of reliable methods to culture complex retinal tissues from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) could offer a means to study human retinal development, provide a platform to investigate the mechanisms of retinal degeneration and screen for neuroprotective compounds, and provide the basis for cell-based therapeutic strategies. In this study, we describe an in vitro method by which hPSCs can be differentiated into 3D retinas with at least some important features reminiscent of a mature retina, including exuberant outgrowth of outer segment-like structures and synaptic ribbons, photoreceptor neurotransmitter expression, and membrane conductances and synaptic vesicle release properties consistent with possible photoreceptor synaptic function. The advanced outer segment-like structures reported here support the notion that 3D retina cups could serve as a model for studying mature photoreceptor development and allow for more robust modeling of retinal degenerative disease in vitro