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In this introductory chapter, the book’s editors set the stage for the second edition of the book by reviewing publication rates in odonatology over the preceding eighty years and looking at trends in odonate research publications by decade over that time period. These topics have ranged from primary studies in taxonomy, life history, and distribution, to studies on ecology, behavior, sexual selection, and most recently to topics such as phylogenetics, macro-ecology, environmental change, and conservation. The editors then address how this new second edition differs in structure and breadth from the first edition of the book (published in 2008), reviewing each of the six sections and 28 subject chapters. The editors also thank the large number of chapter authors and reviewers, without whom this book would not be possible.

Biogeography—the study of the factors influencing the distribution of organisms in space and time—has a number of applications in modern research on odonates. Studies considering phylogenetic and geological information to infer past and extant patterns of biodiversity (known as historical biogeography, Jenkins and Ricklefs 2011) are considerably enhanced by ecological biogeography, providing a more complete view of the forces structuring odonate diversity. This chapter reviews current knowledge of the distribution of odonates globally, and also considers work in a number of active research areas in odonate biogeography, including the influence of climate on changing distribution, life-history attributes, and adaptation to changing landscapes, and the use of biogeographical methods in odonate conservation. It concludes that, while recent decades have seen much important work, much remains to be done to understand global odonate distributions, and to safeguard odonate diversity.

We present a chromosome-length genome assembly and annotation of the Black Petaltail dragonfly (Tanypteryx hageni). This habitat specialist diverged from its sister species over 70 million years ago, and separated from the most closely related Odonata with a reference genome 150 million years ago. Using PacBio HiFi reads and Hi-C data for scaffolding we produce one of the most high quality Odonata genomes to date. A scaffold N50 of 206.6 Mb and a BUSCO score of 96.8% indicate high contiguity and completeness.SignificanceWe provide a chromosome-length assembly of the Black Petaltail dragonfly (Tanypteryx hageni), the first genome assembly for any non-libelluloid dragonfly. The Black Petaltail diverged from its sister species over 70 million years ago.T. hageni, like its confamilials, occupies fen habitats in its nymphal stage, a life history uncommon in the vast majority of dragonflies. We hope that the availability of this assembly will facilitate research onT. hageniand other petaltail species, to better understand their ecology and support conservation efforts.

Introduction: Understanding suburban, Kansas parental attitudes and adherence of recommended childhood vaccination schedules adopts a new level of importance in the era of the SARS-CoV-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With hopes for release of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine underway, understanding parental perception of vaccines is important to design successful vaccination interventions. Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional survey was administered to approximately 900 parents in Johnson County, Kansas during the summer of 2020. Pearson chi square and Mann-Whitney U tests were utilized to assess the attitudes of Kansas parents towards a potential addition of the influenza vaccine to the required list for K-12 students and furthermore, their general perception of vaccinations, and the impact of COVID-19 on those beliefs. Results: A total of 179 parents responded. Fifty-one percent (n = 92) were in favor of adding the influenza vaccine to the mandatory list (Pro-Addition). Anti-Addition parents had significantly higher levels of distrust (2.1, p < 0.001) and were significantly more concerned about vaccine adverse effects. When presented with a hypothetical situation in which a "safe and effective" COVID-19 vaccine was available, 24% of Anti-Addition parents indicated they would receive the vaccine or obtain it for their children (21 people, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Kansas suburban parents were split on their attitudes towards the addition of the influenza vaccine to the required list for children and the effects of the pandemic. Follow-up qualitative studies of Anti-Addition parents are critical for successful vaccine distribution and coverage in the communities.

Nesobasis rito sp. nov. (Holotype ♂, Fiji, Vanua Levu, Drawa, 31 v 2018, A. Rivas-Torres leg.) from the comosa group is here described, illustrated, diagnosed, and compared with morphologically close species of the genus. Nesobasis rito can be distinguished from its related congeners by the shape of the caudal appendages and the ligula. The most similar species are N. comosa and N. heteroneura, which, like N. rito, have the caudal appendages covered by dense setae (especially the first species), but the shape differs clearly in lateral view, with N. rito having longer and more slender appendages, and a basal tooth clearly seen in dorsal view, absent in other members of the comosa group. The specific status of the collected specimens is also supported by the results of genetic analyses, where N. rito appears as a well-supported monophyletic clade. Nesobasis rito also has a distinct distribution from its most similar congeners: it is found on Vanua Levu, while N. comosa is found on Viti Levu and the closely related N. heteroneura is found on Viti Levu and Ovalau. All species of this group are found in streams with native forest riparian vegetation on their respective islands.

Background The New World Tropics has experienced a dynamic landscape across evolutionary history and harbors a high diversity of flora and fauna. While there are some studies addressing diversification in Neotropical vertebrates and plants, there is still a lack of knowledge in arthropods. Here we examine temporal and spatial diversification patterns in the damselfly family Polythoridae, which comprises seven genera with a total of 58 species distributed across much of Central and South America. Results Our time-calibrated phylogeny for 48 species suggests that this family radiated during the late Eocene (~ 33 Ma), diversifying during the Miocene. As with other neotropical groups, the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of most of the Polythoridae genera has a primary origin in the Northern Andes though the MRCA of at least one genus may have appeared in the Amazon Basin. Our molecular clock suggests correlations with some major geographical events, and our biogeographical modeling (with BioGeoBEARS and RASP) found a significant influence of the formation of the Pebas and Acre systems on the early diversification of these damselflies, though evidence for the influence of the rise of the different Andean ranges was mixed. Diversification rates have been uniform in all genera except one—Polythore—where a significant increase in the late Pliocene (~ 3 mya) may have been influenced by recent Andean uplift. Conclusion The biogeographical models implemented here suggest that the Pebas and Acre Systems were significant geological events associated with the diversification of this damselfly family; while diversification in the tree shows some correlation with mountain building events, it is possible that other abiotic and biotic changes during our study period have influenced diversification as well. The high diversification rate observed in Polythore could be explained by the late uplift of the Northern Andes. However, it is possible that other intrinsic factors like sexual and natural selection acting on color patterns could be involved in the diversification of this genus.

The Neotropics are a hotspot of global diversity for many groups of organisms, including the dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata). While the number of biodiversity surveys and new species descriptions for Neotropical odonates is increasing, diversity in this region is still under‐explored, and very few studies have looked at the genetic and morphological diversity among (and within) species. Here, we present an overview of the evolutionary history of the Neotropical damselfly family Polythoridae. The family comprises 57 species across seven genera: Chalcopteryx Selys, Chalcothore De Marmels, Cora Selys, Euthore Selys, Miocora Calvert, Polythore Calvert and Stenocora Kennedy. Using a multi‐locus approach, mitochondrial (COI, ND1, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28S, EF1‐alpha) genes were concatenated to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Our results support five monophyletic clades, which were not always congruent with the genera previously considered to be monophyletic. Only Polythore was recovered as monophyletic, and within it there was geographical structure. We propose the following new genus‐level classification: Chalcothore, Chalcopteryx, Cora s.s., Cora s.l., Miocora, Euthore s.l and Polythore. In addition, we proposed the following new combinations: Miocora aurea comb.n., Miocora chirripa comb.n., Euthore confusa comb.n., Euthore klenei comb.n., and Euthore terminalis comb.n., based on our phylogenetic analyses, our evaluation of morphological characters and their geographical distribution: these data each support the monophyletic entities we recover here. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E9E10CD8‐6A04‐4F2E‐A632‐1B998BAFB193.

Background Sorting out the biogeographical history of species in the New World Tropics is challenging. We here examine the roles of evolution and biogeography in driving the distribution and diversification of the damselflies of the family Polythoridae. This family comprises seven genera with a total of 57 species, distributed across much of Central and South America. Results Through phylogenetic analysis, relaxed-clock molecular dating and biogeographical analysis we find these genera originated ~56 Ma and started diversifying ~45 Ma. As with other neotropical groups, the Polythoridae have a primary origin in the Northern Andes; at least one genus first appears in the Amazon Basin. Diversification rates have been uniform in all genera except one—Polythore—where a significant increase in the late Pliocene (~3 mya) correlates with mountain building. While our molecular clock suggests correlations with some major geographical events, our biogeographical modeling (with BioGeoBEARS and RASP) found little influence of the formation of the Pebas and Acre systems or Andean mountain building, possibly due to the short branch lengths in our time-dated phylogeny. Conclusion We conclude that this family of damselflies, despite its relatively young age, has developed into genera with diverse distributions and some surprisingly high diversity, despite relatively low habitat diversity. Polythore is a recent radiation where biogeographical events may not be the main drivers of diversification. Other factors like sexual and natural selection acting on color patterns could be involved in generate the extreme diversity in this genus.

International audience; Wolbachia is one of the most common endosymbionts found infecting arthropods. theory predicts symbionts like Wolbachia will be more common in species radiations, as host shift events occur with greatest frequency between closely related species. further, the presence of Wolbachia itself may engender reproductive isolation, and promote speciation of their hosts. Here we screened 178 individuals belonging to 30 species of the damselfly genera Nesobasis and Melanesobasis-species radiations endemic to the Fiji archipelago in the South Pacific-for Wolbachia, using multilocus sequence typing to characterize bacterial strains. incidence of Wolbachia was 71% in Nesobasis and 40% in Melanesobasis, and prevalence was also high, with an average of 88% in the Nesobasis species screened. We identified a total of 25 Wolbachia strains, belonging to supergroups A, B and f, with some epidemic strains present in multiple species. the occurrence of Wolbachia in both males and females, and the similar global prevalence found in both sexes rules out any strong effect of Wolbachia on the primary sex-ratio, but are compatible with the phenotype of cytoplasmic incompatibility. Nesobasis has higher species richness than most endemic island damselfly genera, and we discuss the potential for endosymbiont-mediated speciation within this group. Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic α-Proteobacteria, which infects a wide range of hosts, including arthro-pods and filarial nematodes 1. Among the arthropoda, studies have estimated Wolbachia infects between 40% 2 and 52% 3 of species (including arachnids and crustaceans, but predominantly insects). A recent study on aquatic insects has estimated that 52% of these carry Wolbachia, a figure comparable to that found in terrestrial insects 4. In most cases however, a minority (

The study of island fauna has greatly informed our understanding of the evolution of diversity. We here examine the phylogenetics, biogeography, and diversification of the damselfly genera Nesobasis and Melanesobasis, endemic to the Fiji Islands, to explore mechanisms of speciation in these highly speciose groups. Using mitochondrial (COI, 12S) and nuclear (ITS) replicons, we recovered Garli-part maximum likelihood and Mrbayes Bayesian phylogenetic hypotheses for 26 species of Nesobasis and eight species/subspecies of Melanesobasis. Biogeographical patterns were explored using Lagrange and Bayes-Lagrange and interpreted through beast relaxed clock dating analyses. We found that Nesobasis and Melanesobasis have radiated throughout Fiji, but are not sister groups. For Nesobasis, while the two largest islands of the archipelago—Viti Levu and Vanua Levu—currently host two distinct species assemblages, they do not represent phylogenetic clades; of the three major groupings each contains some Viti Levu and some Vanua Levu species, suggesting independent colonization events across the archipelago. Our Beast analysis suggests a high level of species diversification around 2–6 Ma. Our ancestral area reconstruction (Rasp-Lagrange) suggests that both dispersal and vicariance events contributed to the evolution of diversity. We thus conclude that the evolutionary history of Nesobasis and Melanesobasis is complex; while inter-island dispersal followed by speciation (i.e., peripatry) has contributed to diversity, speciation within islands appears to have taken place a number of times as well. This speciation has taken place relatively recently and appears to be driven more by reproductive isolation than by ecological differentiation: while species in Nesobasis are morphologically distinct from one another, they are ecologically very similar, and currently are found to exist sympatrically throughout the islands on which they are distributed. We consider the potential for allopatric speciation within islands, as well as the influence of parasitic endosymbionts, to explain the high rates of speciation in these damselflies. © 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Aim To explore the phylogenetics and historical biogeography of the dragonfly family Petaluridae (known as ‘petaltails’), a relict dragonfly group with unique habitat and life history attributes. Location Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile and North America. Methods Using five mitochondrial and three nuclear gene fragments we recovered garli-part maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic hypotheses for 10 of the 11 extant petaltail species. Biogeographical patterns were analysed using Lagrange and interpreted through beast relaxed clock dating analysis. Results Petaluridae is monophyletic with an origin in the mid-Jurassic, c. 157 Ma. The family consists of two major clades: one with a Laurasian distribution containing the genera Tachopteryx and Tanypteryx, and another containing the genera Petalura, Phenes and Uropetala, distributed in Gondwanan remnants. Based on our beast molecular clock, these two clades separated c. 146 Ma. Species ages in Petaluridae range from c. 100 to c. 30 million years, with the majority of the species persisting for 70–75 million years. Analysis with Lagrange points to an origin for the family associated with New Zealand, with subsequent dispersal to other Gondwanan remnants (Australia and Chile) as well as Laurasia (eastern and western North America) and subsequent dispersal from western North America to Japan. Main conclusions The extant species of Petaluridae are extremely old, with most species persisting as independent lineages since the Jurassic. Our results suggest that New Zealand was close to the origin point in the Jurassic; one possibility is that Antarctica was at the centre of the petalurid distribution, based on Permian fossil evidence. Such long persistence for species is surprising, especially considering the specialized habitat required by petalurid larvae; unlike the majority of modern dragonflies, which spend their larval stage in ponds or streams, petaltails live in fen habitats. Petaltails also take multiple years to develop from egg to adult, another trait uncommon in modern dragonflies. Specialization in a species is normally associated with higher extinction rates; the petaltails appear to be an exception to this rule.

Treatment of renal stones using flexible ureteroscopy (fURS) is increasingly common despite the poor evidence in literature supporting its use and indications. With this study, we wanted to investigate the current use and indication of fURS for the treatment of renal stones in the clinical practice across the European countries. A survey was conducted using an emailed questionnaire consisting of 21 items; 2,894 recipients were selected via the EAU membership database. The questionnaires were collected through the SurveyMonkey system and the data were processed with the SPSS statistical package. Frequencies, cross tabs and Pearson correlation coefficients were applied as appropriate. 1,168 questionnaires were collected (response rate 40.4 %). fURS was performed in 72.9 % of the respondents’ institutions, and 54.2 % of the respondents were performing the procedure. For 95 % of the users, fURS was considered first-line treatment, for stone of lower pole stone (45.9 %) and

The study of island fauna has greatly informed our understanding of the evolution of diversity. We here examine the phylogenetics, biogeography, and diversification of the damselfly genera Nesobasis and Melanesobasis, endemic to the Fiji Islands, to explore mechanisms of speciation in these highly speciose groups. Using mitochondrial (COI, 12S) and nuclear (ITS) replicons, we recovered garli‐part maximum likelihood and mrbayes Bayesian phylogenetic hypotheses for 26 species of Nesobasis and eight species/subspecies of Melanesobasis. Biogeographical patterns were explored using lagrange and bayes‐lagrange and interpreted through beast relaxed clock dating analyses. We found that Nesobasis and Melanesobasis have radiated throughout Fiji, but are not sister groups. For Nesobasis, while the two largest islands of the archipelago—Viti Levu and Vanua Levu—currently host two distinct species assemblages, they do not represent phylogenetic clades; of the three major groupings each contains some Viti Levu and some Vanua Levu species, suggesting independent colonization events across the archipelago. Our beast analysis suggests a high level of species diversification around 2–6 Ma. Our ancestral area reconstruction (rasp‐lagrange) suggests that both dispersal and vicariance events contributed to the evolution of diversity. We thus conclude that the evolutionary history of Nesobasis and Melanesobasis is complex; while inter‐island dispersal followed by speciation (i.e., peripatry) has contributed to diversity, speciation within islands appears to have taken place a number of times as well. This speciation has taken place relatively recently and appears to be driven more by reproductive isolation than by ecological differentiation: while species in Nesobasis are morphologically distinct from one another, they are ecologically very similar, and currently are found to exist sympatrically throughout the islands on which they are distributed. We consider the potential for allopatric speciation within islands, as well as the influence of parasitic endosymbionts, to explain the high rates of speciation in these damselflies.

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA) is an innovative pedagogy for science and mathematics instruction. The ‘Teacher Learning of TEFA’ research project studies teacher change as in-service secondary science and mathematics teachers learn TEFA in the context of a multi-year professional development programme. Applying cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to the linked activity systems of professional development and teachers’ classroom practice leads to a model of teacher learning and pedagogical change in which TEFA is first introduced into classrooms as an object of activity, and then made useful as a tool for instruction, and then—in rare cases—incorporated into all elements of a deeply transformed practice. Different levels of contradiction within and between activity systems drive the transitions between stages. A CHAT analysis suggests that the primary contradiction within secondary education is a dual view of students as objects of instruction and of students as willful individuals; the difficulties arising from this can either inhibit or motivate TEFA adoption.

There are many situations in which the ability of animals to distinguish between two similar looking objects can have significant selective consequences. For example, the objects that require discrimination may be edible versus defended prey, predators versus non-predators, or mates of varying quality. Working from the premise that there are situations in which discrimination may be more or less successful, we hypothesized that individuals find it more difficult to distinguish between stimuli when they encounter them sequentially rather than simultaneously. Our study has wide biological and psychological implications from the perspective of signal perception, signal evolution, and discrimination, and could apply to any system where individuals are making relative judgments or choices between two or more stimuli or signals. While this is a general principle that might seem intuitive, it has not been experimentally tested in this context, and is often not considered in the design of models or experiments, or in the interpretation of a wide range of studies. Our study is different from previous studies in psychology in that a) the level of similarity of stimuli are gradually varied to obtain selection gradients, and b) we discuss the implications of our study for specific areas in ecology, such as the level of perfection of mimicry in predator-prey systems. Our experiments provide evidence that it is indeed more difficult to distinguish between stimuli – and to learn to distinguish between stimuli – when they are encountered sequentially rather than simultaneously, even if the intervening time interval is short.

Students take a two-phase exam twice: once individually, and a second time working in teams. Proponents hope that during the team phase, students will discuss, debate, and resolve questions by sharing their reasoning, challenging each other, and reaching consensus. Potential adopters fear that students might uncritically follow the majority answer or mimic one dominant team member. To explore this empirically, I data-mined students’ solo- and team-phase responses from the final exams of three different introductory physics courses to construct multiple measures of team dynamics. My results substantiate prior findings that teams do engage in meaningful debate and explore the virtues of various possible answers. The two-phase exam implementation used does not force teams to submit a common answer, allows students to “hedging their bets” for partial credit, and incentivizes helping teammates.

The purpose of this study is to uncover and understand the factors that affect secondary science and mathematics teachers’ initial implementation of Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA), a pedagogy developed for teaching with classroom response system (CRS) technology. We sought to identify the most common and strongest factors, and to understand the general process of how teachers adopt TEFA. We identified ten main hindering factors reported by teachers, and found that time limitations and question development difficulties are reported as the most problematic. In this paper we provide five vignettes of teachers’ initial implementation experiences, illustrating different courses that TEFA adoption can follow. We classify our ten factors into four groups: contextual factors that directly hinder teachers’ attempts to implement TEFA (extrinsic type I); circumstances that affect teachers’ teaching in general (extrinsic type 0); gaps that teachers have in the knowledge and skills they need to adopt TEFA (intrinsic type I); and ways of being a teacher that describe teachers’ deeper perspectives and beliefs, which may be consonant or dissonant with TEFA (intrinsic type II). Finally, we identify four general categories that describe the teachers’ initial TEFA implementation.

We analysed temperature data and odonate distribution data collected in the province of Ontario, Canada, over approximately sixty years. Analysis of temperature data from 31 weather stations collected in the years 1945–2000 showed an overall significant increase in the minimum, maximum and mean monthly temperatures; these trends were not adjusted for changes in urbanisation. Comparison of county level presence/absence data for odonates from the 1950´s and 2002 found a slight decrease in the northernmost distributions of some species, although no significant patterns were evident. Lower sampling coverage in the larger, more northerly counties in Ontario, as well as the assessment of distributions based on county records may limit the sensitivity of our approach in detecting changes in odonate species distributions over time. Future work should focus on increasing the coverage, uniformity and geographic detail of available datasets, as well as evaluating range change through testing predictions based on the ecology and biogeography of odonate species.

Background: Since 1990 the Swedish Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Research Registry has accrued over 10,900 cases with a 92% follow-up rate. We analyzed the incidence of recurrence over time to evaluate the appropriate duration of our long term follow-up. Methods: Patients with stages 1-3 disease were selected for study. Stages 0 and 4 disease, and neo-adjuvant treatment patients were excluded. The incidence and time to recurrence was compared with tumor grade [Bloom Richardson (BR) score], hormone receptor, HER2 status, stage, number of positive lymph nodes, surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and menopausal status. Results: The recurrence rate was 7.8% (740/9455) of which 68% (500) occurred in the first 5 years, 24% (179) occurred between 5 and 10 years, and 8% (61) occurred after 10 years. Factors that had a significant (P The incidence of recurrence and the rate of recurrence of breast cancer was greatest for tumors that were hormone receptor negative, had a high number of positive lymph nodes and were high grade (BR 8-9). The incidence of recurrence after 10 years was under 0.5% overall and under 1.0% for most groups. The exception was patients with over 10 nodes positive (2.2%). However, patients with low grade (BR 3-5), hormone receptor positive or 1-3 positive lymph nodes, or patients treated with total mastectomy without irradiation or hormone therapy had over 10% of their recurrences occur after 10 years. The old adage that after ten years one is cured does not apply to these low risk patients. Nor does it apply to the high risk patients although their outlook is markedly improved by 10 years. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-09-05.

Background: In the era of personalized medicine, a major challenge is harnessing longitudinal data across the cancer care continuum, which includes multimodal data sets of biologic, molecular, and clinical information about patients (pts) and their tumors. There is a growing need for new computing analytics, such as machine learning–an important tool in healthcare bio-informatics. We report our approach to building cancer disease models in an unbiased manner through utilization of a causal machine learning and simulation platform. Methods: The Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI) Personalized Medicine Research Program (PMRP) is a prospective registration protocol with the objective of establishing a centralized longitudinal, molecular, and phenotypic data repository. Since 2014, over 1,030 pts have been enrolled, having undergone next-generation sequencing (NGS) profiling of their tumors. Of these pts, we identified 100 breast cancer pts who also have detailed longitudinal clinical annotation within our SCI Breast Cancer Registry. All de-identified data, variables, and data points in the multimodal data types are integrated into normalized data frames to include demographics, cancer risks, tumor specifications, tumor sequencing, initial and subsequent cancer treatments, and outcomes data. A reverse engineering approach, via the Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation (REFS) platform, is being utilized, focusing on discovering the complex causal mechanisms that determine which therapies will produce the best outcomes for an individual pt. This method goes beyond traditional approaches that rely on data correlations to match treatments to pts. The breast cancer causal model uncovers many of the possible combinations of causal relationships that drive outcomes and enables “what if?” simulations of a variety of interventions, across pts, to determine optimal therapies. Performance metrics and model robustness will be explored using a stratified, n-fold (e.g., 10-fold) cross-validation procedure, which is designed to provide an unbiased estimate of model generalization to new observations. Results: The causal model and simulations can elevate the providers' abilities to better understand treatment responses based on pts' unique clinical data and mutational statuses; study different treatment options to optimize management; and understand the complex interactions among variables that lead to a range of treatment outcomes. Conclusions: Knowledge generated from the simulations of the disease model can potentially streamline and support the clinical decision-making process, to include molecular tumor board deliberations, and ultimately assist providers in arriving at optimal treatment recommendations for pts. Citation Format: Henry Kaplan, Anna Berry, Kristine Rinn, Erin Ellis, George Birchfield, Tanya Wahl, Xiaoyu Liu, Mariko Tameishi, J D. Beatty, Patricia Dawson, Vivek Mehta, Anna Holman, Mary Atwood, Shlece Alexander, Candy Bonham, Lauren Summers, Iya Khalil, Boris Hayete, Diane Wuest, Wei Zheng, Yuhang Liu, Xulong Wang, Thomas David Brown. Machine learning approach to personalized medicine in breast cancer patients: Development of data-driven, personalized, causal modeling through identification and understanding of optimal treatments for predicting better disease outcomes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5299.

Populations of Ischnura hastata found in the Azores archipelago represent the only known example of parthenogenesis in the order Odonata. In this paper, we present results from fieldwork done on the islands of Sao Miguel, Pico, Santa Maria, and Graciosa, aimed at characterizing population ecology and habitat preferences of this species. Sampling of several ponds in the islands of Sao Miguel and Pico showed that I. hastata occurred in oligotrophic ponds, but was absent from all eutrophic ponds sampled, many of which have been impacted by cattle grazing and water extraction by humans. This suggests that parthenogenetic populations are highly sensitive to eutrophication, which may be different from suggested habitat preferences of sexual populations for this species. Mark-recapture studies showed I. hastata to occur in high densities in the studied populations. Although life expectancy of mature females was estimated at less than one week, their high fecundity and fertility could potentially explain...

Behavioural sex-role reversal occurs when males and females exchange their standard roles in territorial defence or parental care. One circumstance under which sex-role reversal may occur is when males are a limiting resource, so that females have to compete for access to mates. Here we report on male rarity and male and female behaviour of species within the damselfly genus Nesobasis, endemic to Fiji. Earlier reports suggested that, in some members of this genus, males were seldom observed and that females of these species were consequentially territorial, a phenomenon described as ‘sex-role reversal’. Quantitative estimation of the ratio of adult males to females at 15 localities in 13 Nesobasis species (1489 individuals) indicated that males were extremely rare in some species, yet common in others. This interspecific variability in male rarity cannot be explained by elevation or habitat. Formal observations of three species with abundant males revealed that males of these species were highly territorial: they physically challenged intruders while remaining within a confined area. By contrast, in three species where males were consistently rare or absent, females were not territorial: instead, they moved widely and were primarily engaged in oviposition. While we do not know the underlying reason for the unusual rarity of males at oviposition sites in some species, it is clear that this rarity has not provided sufficient selection pressure to generate genuine sex-role reversal.

Classroom response systems (CRSs) can be potent tools for teaching physics. Their efficacy, however, depends strongly on the quality of the questions used. Creating effective questions is difficult, and differs from creating exam and homework problems. Every CRS question should have an explicit pedagogic purpose consisting of a content goal, a process goal, and a metacognitive goal. Questions can be engineered to fulfil their purpose through four complementary mechanisms: directing students' attention, stimulating specific cognitive processes, communicating information to instructor and students via CRS-tabulated answer counts, and facilitating the articulation and confrontation of ideas. We identify several tactics that help in the design of potent questions, and present four "makeovers" showing how these tactics can be used to convert traditional physics questions into more powerful CRS questions., 11 pages, including 6 figures and 2 tables. Submitted (and mostly approved) to the American Journal of Physics. Based on invited talk BL05 at the 2005 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (Albuquerque, NM)

Although most of the studies on the evolution of mimicry and warning signals in insects have considered birds as the main predators, predation by other taxonomic groups, such as insects, may far exceed avian predation at some localities. However, few studies have investigated the possibility that insect predators might facilitate selection for warning colours and mimicry in other insects. We experimentally evaluated whether prey size and/or wasp-like colours and patterns were important in deterring attacks by dragonflies, using pairwise and single presentations of both natural and artificial prey in the field. Dragonflies were more likely to attack smaller natural prey and smaller artificial prey. However, dragonflies showed no differences between attacks on prey with wasp-like colours and patterns and those on the same-sized prey that were nonmimetic. Moreover, dragonflies avoided attacking both mock-painted and black-painted wasps entirely. Overall, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that wasp-like warning signals protect small insect prey from attack by dragonflies, although size seems to be an important cue in dragonfly prey choice.

The relationship between gregariousness and warning signals in defended species has been the subject of much debate. While previous researchers have found that predators learn to avoid conspicuous unpalatable prey faster when they are in aggregations, they have not presented solitary and aggregated unprofitable prey to predators simultaneously to directly compare their survivorship. Furthermore, no experiment has investigated the influence of profitable prey configuration on predator response to aggregation in unprofitable prey. Here we investigated the response of human, Homo sapiens, predators to profitable and unprofitable prey in a computer version of the ‘novel world’ experiments that addressed these issues. When all prey types were cryptic and all profitable prey were solitary, then aggregated unprofitable prey had higher per capita survivorship than solitary unprofitable prey. In this case, aggregation was the sole reliable distinguishing characteristic of unprofitability. By contrast, when profitable and unprofitable prey could be distinguished in terms of their conspicuousness, then aggregation did not confer a benefit to unprofitable prey. When profitable prey were simultaneously presented in solitary and aggregated configurations, aggregated profitable prey consistently had a lower per capita survivorship than solitary profitable prey, regardless of the configuration of unprofitable prey. We conclude that while aggregation can serve as a signal of unprofitability, it may not be required for the evolution of warning signals. Instead, we suggest that the common association between aggregation and distastefulness may primarily arise for a ‘negative’ reason: the vulnerability of aggregated palatable prey.

Prey species that are unprofitable to attack often share conspicuous colours and patterns with other coexisting defended species. This phenomenon, termed müllerian mimicry, has long been explained as a consequence of selection on defended prey to adopt a common way of advertising their unprofitability. However, studies using two unpalatable prey types have not always supported this theory. Here we show, using a system of humans hunting for computer-generated prey, that predators do not always generate strong selection for mimicry when there are two unprofitable prey types. By contrast, we demonstrate that when predators are faced with a range of different prey species, selection on unprofitable prey to resemble one another can be intense. Here the primary selective force is not one in which predators evaluate the profitabilities of distinct prey types independently, but one in which predators learn better to avoid unprofitable phenotypes that share traits distinguishing them from profitable prey. This need to simplify decision making readily facilitates the spread of imperfect mimetic forms from rarity, and suggests that müllerian mimicry is more likely to arise in multispecies communities.

After attending a class on caring and the Boulder, Colorado Caring Conference in 2003, the author and graduate student applied Swanson’s Caring Theory to an at-risk family receiving nursing care in the Nurse Family Partnership program of La Salle’s Neighborhood Nursing Center. She used the theory as a lens to analyze her care of the family.

Prey that are unprofitable to attack (for example, those containing noxious chemicals) frequently exhibit slower and more predictable movement than species that lack these defenses. Possible explanations for the phenomenon include a lack of selection pressure on unprofitable prey to avoid predators and active selection on unprofitable prey to advertise their noxiousness. We explicitly tested these and other hypotheses using a novel "artificial world" in which the locomotory characteristics (step size, waiting time, and angular direction) of artificial profitable and unprofitable computer-generated prey were subject to continued selection by humans over a number of generations. Unprofitable prey evolved significantly slower movement behavior than profitable prey when they were readily recognized as unprofitable, and also when they frequently survived predatory attacks. This difference arose primarily as a consequence of more intense selection on profitable prey to avoid capture. When unprofitable prey were very similar (but not identical) in morphological appearance to profitable prey, unprofitable prey evolved particularly slow movement behavior, presumably because when they were slow-moving they could be more readily recognized as being unprofitable. When unprofitable prey were constrained to move slowly, a morphologically identical profitable prey species evolved locomotor mimicry only when it had no more effective means of avoiding predation. Overall, our results provide some of the first empirical support for a number of earlier hypotheses for differences in movement between unprofitable and profitable prey and demonstrate that locomotor mimicry is not an inevitable outcome of selection even in morphologically similar prey.

Background: Cancer care is evolving to a model of precision medicine where genomic changes in a patient's tumor are used to inform individualized management (mgmt). The optimal approach and impact of tumor profiling on cancer care remain important research questions. We report the impact on clinical decision-making by results from a PMRP in a research practice. Methods: A custom designed next generation sequencing (NGS) 68 gene alteration (GA) panel, covering clinically relevant genes and regions was developed in 2014. The NGS results were used to: 1) prioritize standard therapies; 2) match patients (pts) with clinical trials (CT); and 3) serve as a data mining resource. NGS testing was offered early in the course of mgmt. An Institutional Review Board approved prospective registration protocol (PMRP) was activated in 2014, with the objective of establishing a centralized longitudinal, molecular phenotypic, and research data repository. Primary endpoints include proportion of pts where NGS impacted mgmt, to include enrollment onto CT. A cloud-based informatics platform was developed to: manage PMRP; facilitate CT matching; perform quality assurance/quality improvement; pursue research initiatives. Results: As of 11/15/2016, 869 pts gave informed consent, with 844 pts enrolled. The top primary sites included: breast (115); colorectal (111); central nervous system (103); lung (91); ovary (49); hematologic malignancies (46); pancreas (37); uterus (28); esophagus (25); skin (21). Of solid tumor pts with documented clinical stage, 130 (40%) pts had early stage cancer (I, II and III), and 193 (60%) pts had advanced stage (IV) cancer. NGS results: 739 (88%) pts with GA found; 27 (3%) pts without GA. Of pts with GA, 178 (24%) pts had actionable (on-label drugs) GA and 476 (64%) pts had applicable (off-label or CT) GA, for a total of 546 (74%) pts with actionable and/or applicable GA. The top actionable GA were: KRAS (125); PIK3CA (17); BRAF (13); EGFR (12); NRAS (11); AKT1 (3); TET2 (2); ERBB2 (2); HRAS (2). The top applicable GA, included: TP53 (225); TPMT (78); TYMS (78); PIK3CA (77); APC (56); PTEN (52); IDH1 (34); CDNK2A (22); CTNNB1 (18); TET2 (16). Care mgmt impact was reported by physicians for 508 pts with actionable/applicable GA. Physicians reported mgmt impact, at time of reporting, for 105 (21%) pts, to include: new treatment (Tx) in 30 (6%) pts; no Tx given in 18 (4%) pts; Tx changed in 12 (2%) pts; Tx stopped in 1 ( Conclusions: NGS profiling of tumors with this 68 GA panel has an impact on clinical decision- making in a minority, though substantial number, of pts. Impact on CT participation remains modest. Access to drugs and CT remains an important barrier. Citation Format: Thomas D. Brown, Paul D. Tittel, Philip J. Gold, Charles W. Drescher, John M. Pagel, J D. Beatty, Patra Grevstad, Desiree Iriarte, Shlece Alexander, Madeleine Brindle, Xiaoyu Liu, Donielle O'connor, Mariko Tameishi, Danbin Xu, Anna B. Berry. Impact of a personalized medicine research program (PMRP), using targeted tumor profiling and a cloud based clinical trials matching platform, on clinical decision-making [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 997. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-997

We investigated student reactions to two computational physics courses incorporating several videogame-like aspects. These included use of gaming terminology such as "levels," "weapons," and "bosses"; a game-style point system linked to course grades; a self-paced schedule with no deadlines; a mastery design in which only entirely correct attempts earn credit, but students can retry until they succeed; immediate feedback via self-test code; an assignment progression from "minions" (small, focused tasks) to "level bosses" (integrative tasks); and believable, authentic assignment scenarios. Through semi-structured interviews and course evaluations, we found that a majority of students considered the courses effective and the game-like aspects beneficial. In particular, many claimed that the point system increased their motivation; the self-paced nature caused them to reflect on their self-discipline; the possibility and necessity of repeating assignments until perfect aided learning; and the authentic tasks helped them envision using course skills in their professional futures., Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2014 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC)

UNCG has an innovative Learning Assistant (LA) program, in which upper-class undergraduate physics majors teach laboratory sections of the introductory calculus-based physics sequence. The lecture section’s professor provides supervision and determines the overall learning objectives and structure of the labs, but the team of LAs develop the detailed lesson plans, write up all handouts and quizzes, conduct the lab sessions, and evaluate student work. This gives the LAs a genuine voice in planning and teaching, and increases the authenticity of the teaching experience. In order to investigate the impact of this teaching experience upon physics majors, we interviewed five current and former LAs. We analyzed the interview transcripts via emergent thematic analysis to identify the most prevalent impacts, and then viewed the results through the lens of professional identity development. We claim that the LA experience helps grow three aspects of physics majors’ professional identity: their sense of themselves as a physics teacher, as a physics student, and as a member of a community of practice.

The first measurements of the differential cross section for the d(gamma,p)n reaction up to 4.0 GeV were performed at Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab. We report the cross sections at the proton center-of-mass angles of 36, 52, 69 and 89 degrees. These results are in reasonable agreement with previous measurements at lower energy. The 89 and 69 degree data show constituent-counting-rule behavior up to 4.0 GeV photon energy. The 36 and 52 degree data disagree with the counting rule behavior. The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) model of nuclear reactions involving reduced amplitudes disagrees with the present data., Comment: 5 pages (REVTeX), 1 figure (postscript)

The (e,e'p) reaction was studies on targets of C, Fe, and Au at momentum transfers squared Q{sup 2} of 0.6, 1.3, 1.8 and 3.3 GeV{sup 2} in a region of kinematics dominated by quasifree electron-proton scattering. Missing energy and missing momentum distributions are reasonably well described by plane wave impulse approximation calculations with Q{sup 2} and A dependent corrections that measure the attenuation of the final state protons.

Video games can be very powerful teaching systems, and game designers have become adept at optimizing player engagement while scaffolding development of complex skills and situated knowledge. One implication is that we might create games to teach physics. Another, which I explore here, is that we might learn to improve classroom physics instruction by studying effective games. James Gee, in his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2007), articulates 36 principles that make good video games highly effective as learning environments. In this theoretical work, I identify 16 themes running through Gee's principles, and explore how these themes and Gee's principles could be applied to the design of an on-campus physics course. I argue that the process pushes us to confront aspects of learning that physics instructors and even physics education researchers generally neglect, and suggest some novel ideas for course design.

Studies of the production of the Δ resonance in hadronic charge exchange reactions show a shift in the Δ peak position. Measurements looking also at the Δ decay products give some evidence for coherent pion production. We have recently completed a new measurement of the 12 C ( p , n ) reaction leading to the Δ resonance, including a higher resolution coincidence measurement of decay π's in the forward direction. We describe the experiment and some aspects of the preliminary analysis.

Background. Radioimmunotherapy of nude mice bearing human tumor xenografts using 90 Y-labeled monoclonal antibodies has resulted in slower tumor growth, decreased tumor burden, and increased survival times. Dosimetry estimates in the murine model usually were based on biodistribution data and standard Medical Internal Radiation Dose approaches. A new dosimetric model for the mouse that takes into consideration the small dimensions, mass, and proximity of murine organs has been developed based on self-organ absorbed and cross-organ doses. Methods. Nude mice bearing carcinoembryonic antigen-expressing WiDr human colon cancer xenografts were injected with 240 μCi 90 Y-anti-carcinoembryonic-antigen monoclonal antibodies and then killed at 12, 24, 72, 120, and 168 hours

Copyright © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011. We report here the prevalence of parasitism by water mites (Arrenurus sp.) and terrestrial mites (Leptus killingtoni) on parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from the Azores islands. Leptus killingtoni was only found on the island of Pico, and the prevalence of infestation was highly variable among the different ponds studied, ranging from 0 to 41%. Leptus killingtoni was observed on three of the four odonate species from the archipelago: I. hastata, I. pumilio, and Sympetrum fonscolombii, all of them new hosts for this species. Aquatic mites have been found parasitizing I. hastata females on the island of São Miguel. The prevalence of mite parasitism by Arrenurus sp. on I. hastata was very low, ranging from 12% (2003) to 1% (2008), and in most of the studied ponds, no mites were found attached to females. Although I. hastata coexists with a sexual congener species in the Azores (I. pumilio), they are syntopic in only a small fraction of ponds. Therefore, a comparison between I. hastata and I. pumilio was insufficient to test the predictions of the Red Queen Hypothesis, and further research on parasitism rates in both species needs to be done. In any case, the low prevalence of mite parasitism found in the Azores, coupled with the fact that most of the populations in the archipelago are almost free from competitors and predators, could explain the persistence of these I. hastata parthenogenetic populations, despite their low levels of genetic variation.