Person to Person in China

While still in the midst of their study abroad experiences, students at Linfield College write reflective essays. Their essays address issues of cultural similarity and difference, compare lifestyles, mores, norms, and habits between their host countries and home, and examine changes in perceptions about their host countries and the United States. In this essay, Ashley Streich describes her observations during her study abroad program at Peking University in Beijing, China

Court Mandated Technology-Assisted Review in E-Discovery: Changes In Proportionality, Cost-Shifting, and Spoliation

Burgeoning advanced technology-assisted review (TAR) methods challenge justifications for requesting parties’ burdens and litigant cooperation in e-discovery. Increasingly accurate and accessible TAR introduces novel issues in e-discovery, including determining the proportionality of discovery requests and managing information in spoliation cases. This Essay recommends reconsidering the judiciary’s role in e-discovery in light of new technology and argues that courts, particularly lower courts, need expert technical guidance to adequately address the issues e-discovery presents

Use of Beta-antagonists or HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors for Cardioprotection During Chemotherapy in Oncology Patients

Over the years, oncologists are better able to fight cancer and have increased cancer survival, but we are also finding that these lifesaving therapies can affect the heart and other parts of the body in a negative way. Chemotherapy is excellent at destroying cancer cells, but it also causes collateral damage to other healthy cells. There are certain chemotherapeutic agents that are known to cause cardiotoxicity. Currently we are monitoring the heart function of the patients who are receiving these cardiotoxic drugs prior to starting the chemotherapy as well as during and after treatment. However, there are currently no recommendations for what can be done to prevent the cardiotoxicity. The intention of this scholarly review is to look into the benefits and compelling results in adrenergic beta-antagonists and HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors to reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy in oncology patients. The goal of this paper is to look at the research and hopefully conclude that either beta-antagonists or hmg-CoA reductase are a reliable option to prevent chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. An extensive literature review was performed and at this time, there are no concrete benefits of using either a beta-blocker or a statin to reduce chemotherapy- induced cardiotoxicity. In the research that has been done, there is some evidence of using these agents to protect the heart. More long-term studies need to be conducted as well as more precise inclusion terms need to be used, such as the exact chemotherapy regimen or the particular cardioprotective medication that is used in the study. At this time, recommendations to prevent chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity remains inconclusive.https://commons.und.edu/pas-grad-posters/1170/thumbnail.jp

Genetic, Geographic, and Climate Diversity of a Weedy Species: The Brachypodium distachyon Species Complex

The Introduction of novel species into non-native environments can have biodiversity and agricultural effects on landscapes costing billions of dollars in damage each year. Approximately 1.2 million hectares of land are currently deemed unusable globally because of invasive plants. The likelihood of introduced species becoming invasive isn't always understood, nor the effect of introductions immediately apparent. The environment is the primary selection force for screening habitability and is the primary selector for adaptation, but measuring all its components is complex. Therefor climate factors, precipitation and temperature, are the primary variables for determining a species distribution. The three model grasses in the Brachypodium distachyon complex species were used in this study because of their small sequenced genomes, classified as weedy and invasive in some regions, and were once native to the circum-Mediterranean, now global distributed. Genotyping by sequencing was used on 1,573 individuals to determine species identification and genetic diversity of each complex member. A total of 125 unique genotypes of B. distachyon were found from 479 individuals, eight unique genotypes of B. stacei from 50 individuals, and 80 unique genotypes of B. hybridum from 1,015 individuals. MaxEnt distribution modelling was used to find potential area using a training specificity equals sensitivity threshold both natively and globally. B. stacei was the most rare having the smallest potential area in its native range at 2,458,837 square kilometers and 3,207,524 globally. B. distachyon had the largest native potential area at 5,098,573 square kilometers, but rare outside its native range, Australia only. B. hybridum was modelled to have 3,935,266 square kilometers natively, but 6,705,946 square kilometers globally leaving 2,770,680 of potential habitat non-natively. Common genotypes of the polyploid complex member B. hybridum were permutation tested for global abundance across groups of regions, with the genotype NRD-1 being significantly more abundant geographically than random. NRD-1 was also used for global distribution modelling to determine global suitable regions that would be sensitive to NRD-1 introduction. The three complex species were compared for climate breadth where B. hybridum had the widest climate breadth of the three group members. The genotype NRD-1 was also compared to B. hybridum as a whole to see if the NRD-1 genotype had a similar climate breadth as the whole species, possibly defining the species climate breadth. The climate diversity within each species was used to designate climate type identities for sample locations to measure climate range a genotype occupies and the climate diversity of geographic space. The B. hybridum genotype NRD-1 was found in the most climate types through permutation testing and found to have a significantly larger climate breadth than average p-value <0.01. Geographic regions with high climate diversity were also found to have the most genotypes. As B. hybridum was found to be the most widely distributed of the three study species, many specific genotypes occurred in numerous climate types and were sampled on multiple continents, particularly genotype NRD-1, thus were concluded as the most widely adapted B. hybridum and all other B. distachyon complex species genotypes

G91-1015 Perennials

This NebGuide describes perennial flowers that will withstand Nebraska\u27s winters outdoors and that will bloom within the growing season. Herbaceous perennials normally live for many years under local growing conditions, dying back to the ground each winter. They vary in height, leaf texture and flower color, and are the backbone of the flower garden for many home gardeners

Structure and stability of non-symmetric Burgers vortices

We investigate, numerically and analytically, the structure and stability of steady and quasi-steady solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations corresponding to stretched vortices embedded in a uniform non-symmetric straining field, ([alpha]x, [beta]y, [gamma]z), [alpha]+[beta]+[gamma]=0, one principal axis of extensional strain of which is aligned with the vorticity. These are known as non-symmetric Burgers vortices (Robinson & Saffman 1984). We consider vortex Reynolds numbers R=[Gamma]/(2[pi]v) where [Gamma] is the vortex circulation and v the kinematic viscosity, in the range R=1[minus sign]104, and a broad range of strain ratios [lambda]=([beta][minus sign][alpha])/([beta]+[alpha]) including [lambda]>1, and in some cases [lambda][dbl greater-than sign]1. A pseudo-spectral method is used to obtain numerical solutions corresponding to steady and quasi-steady vortex states over our whole (R, [lambda]) parameter space including [lambda] where arguments proposed by Moffatt, Kida & Ohkitani (1994) demonstrate the non-existence of strictly steady solutions. When [lambda][dbl greater-than sign]1, R[dbl greater-than sign]1 and [epsilon][identical with][lambda]/R[double less-than sign]1, we find an accurate asymptotic form for the vorticity in a region 11. An iterative technique based on the power method is used to estimate the largest eigenvalues for the non-symmetric case [lambda]>0. Stability is found for 0[less-than-or-eq, slant][lambda][less-than-or-eq, slant]1, and a neutrally convective mode of instability is found and analysed for [lambda]>1. Our general conclusion is that the generalized non-symmetric Burgers vortex is unconditionally stable to two-dimensional disturbances for all R, 0[less-than-or-eq, slant][lambda][less-than-or-eq, slant]1, and that when [lambda]>1, the vortex will decay only through exponentially slow leakage of vorticity, indicating extreme robustness in this case

The hydrological function of a mountain valley-bottom peatland under drought conditions

Mountain wetlands act as a sponge, storing water during wet periods and releasing water during dry periods. They are of particular interest as they have been shown to help mitigate downstream hydrological events, such as droughts and floods. Previous studies in northern wetlands have indicated the timing and magnitude of wetland runoff is inconsistent, with atmospheric and environmental conditions playing a key role in the production of wetland runoff. However, little work has been done to study the factors that influence flow between wetlands and streams systems in mountain valley-bottom regions. During the spring and summer of 2017, runoff dynamics of the Sibbald Research Wetland, a peatland in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, were analysed using a water balance approach and application of the Spence (2007) hydrological functions model. This model states that a peatland can store, transmit or contribute water to its outlet. An additional hydrological function, evapotranspiration, was added to this model to account for storage loss. Results show that the peatland was able to maintain outlet baseflow throughout the study period, despite a severe regional drought. Furthermore, the peatland transmitted water to its outlet when abundant ground frost was found in the upper 50 cm peat, whilst contributing water during the frost-free period. Additionally, large precipitation events initiated flows into peat storage which were quickly followed by runoff generation to the stream. Evapotranspiration occurred daily and accounted for the largest loss of storage from the system. This research indicates the importance of mountain peatlands in regulating streamflow during severe drought and during high precipitation events, as well at the importance of frozen ground and precipitation in determining the hydrological functioning of mountain peatlands. Moreover, this research underlines the need for further study in mountain peatlands across elevation gradients and for a variety of climatological and meteorological conditions as these controls on hydrological function may differ between peatland biophysical states and with atmospheric conditions

Are all competencies equal in the eyes of residents? A multicenter study of emergency medicine residents’ interest in feedback

Introduction: Feedback, particularly real-time feedback, is critical to resident education.  The emergency medicine (EM) milestones were developed in 2012 to enhance resident assessment and many programs utilize them to provide focused resident feedback. The purpose of this study was to evaluate EM residents’ level of interest in receiving real-time feedback on each of the 23 milestone sub-competencies.Methods: This was a multicenter cross sectional study of EM residents. Participants were surveyed on their level of interest in receiving real-time on-shift feedback on each of the 23 milestone sub-competencies. Anonymous paper or computerized surveys were distributed to residents at three 4-year training programs and three 3-year training programs with a total of 223 resident respondents. Residents rated their level of interest in each milestone on a 6-point semantic differential response scale. Average level of interest was calculated for each of the 23 sub-competencies, both as an average of all 223 respondents as well as by individual postgraduate year (PGY) level of training. One-way ANOVA analysis was performed to determine statistical significance.Results: The overall survey response rate across all institutions was 82%. Emergency stabilization had the highest mean rating (5.47/6) while technology had the lowest rating (3.24/6). However, none of the 23 milestone sub-competencies were statistically significant based on ANOVA analysis.Conclusion: It is unclear whether residents ascribe much more value to certain sub-competency domains than others.  Further studies are necessary to determine whether residents’ sub-competency valuations need to be considered when developing an assessment or feedback program focusing on the 23 EM milestones