Fetal and early neonatal interleukin-6 response

In 1998, a systemic fetal cytokine response, defined as a plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) value above 11 pg/mL, was reported to be a major independent risk factor for the subsequent development of neonatal morbid events even after adjustments for gestational age and other confounders. Since then, the body of literature investigating the use of blood concentrations of IL-6 as a hallmark of the fetal inflammatory response syndrome (FIRS), a diagnostic marker of early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) and a risk predictor of white matter injury (WMI), has grown rapidly. In this article, we critically review: IL-6 biological functions; current evidence on the association between IL-6, preterm birth, FIRS and EONS; IL-6 reference intervals and dynamics in the early neonatal period; IL-6 response during the immediate postnatal period and perinatal confounders; accuracy and completeness of IL-6 diagnostic studies for EONS (according to the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy statement); and recent breakthroughs in the association between fetal blood IL-6, EONS, and WMI

Dynamic causal communication channels between neocortical areas

Processing of sensory information depends on the interactions between hierarchically connected neocortical regions, but it remains unclear how the activity in one area causally influences the activity dynamics in another and how rapidly such interactions change with time. Here, we show that the communication between the primary visual cortex (V1) and high-order visual area LM is context-dependent and surprisingly dynamic over time. By momentarily silencing one area while recording activity in the other, we find that both areas reliably affected changing subpopulations of target neurons within one hundred milliseconds while mice observed a visual stimulus. The influence of LM feedback on V1 responses became even more dynamic when the visual stimuli predicted a reward, causing fast changes in the geometry of V1 population activity and affecting stimulus coding in a context-dependent manner. Therefore, the functional interactions between cortical areas are not static but unfold through rapidly shifting communication subspaces whose dynamics depend on context when processing sensory information

Topics and Sequences in Experienced Teachers’ Instructional Planning: Addressing a ~30-Year Literature Gap

Which topics were addressed, and in what sequence(s) did they appear, in experienced K-12 teachers’ instructional plans that incorporate students’ educational technology use? Eight volunteer classroom teachers with expertise in a broad variety of curricula and instructional levels participated in a university-sponsored professional learning program that helped them to explore ways to plan technology-enhanced, curriculum standards-specific lessons, units, and projects. Data were generated through individual participants’ think-aloud and group reflection audio recordings, plus follow-up interviews with two participants that occurred after the planned units were taught. Many individual differences in planning topics and sequences were noted when the data were analyzed. Overall, the teachers’ TPCK/TPACK-based pedagogical reasoning first emphasized curriculum content, then knowledge of students and/or learning activities. Technological considerations were voiced far less often than those regarding content, students, and learning activities, but did increase when participants used planning aids that matched recommended educational technologies to specific types of learning activities.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/educationbookchapters/1042/thumbnail.jp

Organizational Financial Performance: Identifying and Testing Multiple Dimensions

This research addresses the measurement of organizational financial performance. Its primary purpose is to provide researchers and managers a better understanding of the implications of selecting the dependent variables that should be used in empirical studies and management practice where organizational financial performance is the criterion of interest. This is the first study that has undertaken to empirically identify both the different distinct dimensions of organizational financial performance and the measures that represent those dimensions. Since no prior research has empirically established the domain of organizational financial performance, this research is by necessity exploratory in nature. A two-part approach was adopted to address this problem. First, a model of overall organizational performance was inferred from empirical data that included the primary constructs of an organization\u27s financial performance and empirical measures of these constructs. Next, the validity and reliability of the constructs and measures were tested. The identification of different dimensions and measures of financial performance for both annual and three-year timeframes are unique contributions of this research

Different Target Modalities Improve the Single Probe Protocol of the Response Time-Based Concealed Information Test

To detect if someone hides specific knowledge (called “probes”), the response time-based Concealed Information Test (RT-CIT) asks the examinee to classify items into two categories (targets/non-targets). Within the non-targets, slower RTs to the probes reveal recognition of concealed information. The preferred protocol examines one piece of information per test block (single probe protocol), but its validity is suboptimal. The aim of this study was to improve the validity of the single probe protocol by presenting the information in multiple modalities. In a preregistered study (N = 388) participants were instructed to try to hide their nationality. The items referring to the nationality were presented as words, flags, and maps. Increasing the number of modalities of the targets (BF10 = 37), but not of the probes and irrelevants (BF01 = 6), increased the CIT-effect.</p

Statistical Properties of Exciton Fine Structure Splittings and Polarization Angles in Quantum Dot Ensembles

We propose an effective model to describe the statistical properties of exciton fine structure splitting (FSS) and polarization angle of quantum dot ensembles (QDEs). We derive the distributions of FSS and polarization angle for QDEs and show that their statistical features can be fully characterized using at most three independent measurable parameters. The effective model is confirmed using atomistic pseudopotential calculations as well as experimental measurements for several rather different QDEs. The model naturally addresses three fundamental questions that are frequently encountered in theories and experiments: (I) Why the probability of finding QDs with vanishing FSS is generally very small? (II) Why FSS and polarization angle differ dramatically from QD to QD? and (III) Is there any direct connection between FSS, optical polarization and the morphology of QDs? The answers to these fundamental questions yield a completely new physical picture for understanding optical properties of QDEs.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Superfluid drag of two-species Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

We study two-species Bose-Einstein condensates in quasi two-dimensional optical lattices of varying geometry and potential depth. Based on the numerically exact Bloch and Wannier functions obtained using the plane-wave expansion method, we quantify the drag (entrainment coupling) between the condensate components. This drag originates from the (short range) inter-species interaction and increases with the kinetic energy. As a result of the interplay between interaction and kinetic energy effects, the superfluid-drag coefficient shows a non-monotonic dependence on the lattice depth. To make contact with future experiments, we quantitatively investigate the drag for mass ratios corresponding to relevant atomic species.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted in its original form but minor changes have been don

The development and interlinkage of a drought vocabulary in the EuroGEOSS interoperable catalogue infrastructure

Metadata catalogues are used for facilitating the discovery of data and web services in, e.g., growing collections of Earth observation resources. Two conditions need to be met in order to successfully retrieve resources in catalogues: the metadata describing resources have to be complete and accurate and the keywords used in searches semantically related to the keywords contained in the metadata descriptions. One method to increase the rate of successfully retrieved metadata in catalogues is the use of controlled vocabularies. Such vocabularies can be used for annotating metadata with appropriate keywords and then also presented to users of the catalogue for specifying search terms. In the process of preparing metadata for drought-related data and services within the EuroGEOSS project, the need of a drought-specific vocabulary arose. This paper presents this drought vocabulary, the methodology followed for its development, its integration in the EuroGEOSS drought infrastructure and discusses its usefulness for the drought thematic area. The usefulness of the vocabulary is hereby measured by an increased use of search terms coming from an appropriate vocabulary and by an increase in the successful retrieval of resources. In particular, metadata must be annotated with appropriate keywords from a controlled vocabulary, thesaurus or ontology suitable for that particular field

Testing a TPACK-Based Technology Integration Observation Instrument

Teachers’ knowledge for technology integration – conceptualized as technological pedagogical content knowledge, or TPACK (Mishra & Koehler 2006) – is difficult to discern, much less assess. Given the complexity, situatedness and interdependence of the types of knowledge represented by the TPACK construct, well-triangulated ways to assess demonstrated technology integration knowledge are needed. In 2009, three of the authors created and tested a rubric that was found to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess the TPACK evident in teachers’ written lesson plans (Harris, Grandgenett & Hofer 2010). We have now also developed a TPACK-based observation rubric that testing has shown to be robust. Seven TPACK experts confirmed the rubric’s construct and face validity. The instrument’s interrater reliability coefficient (.802) was computed using both Intraclass Correlation and a percent score agreement (90.8%) procedure. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha) was .914. Test-retest reliability (score agreement) was 93.9%. The rubric is available online at http://activitytypes.wm.edu/Assessments