Remaking Guangzhou: Political engagement and place-making on Sina Weibo

This study uses the concept of ‘place-making’ to consider political engagement on Sina Weibo, one of the most popular microblogging services in China. Besides articulating statepublic confrontation during major social controversies, Weibo has been used to recollect and renarrate the memories of a city, such as Guangzhou, where dramatic social and cultural changes took place during the economic reform era. The Chinese government’s ongoing project to create a culturally indifferent ‘national identity’ triggers a defensive response from local places. Through consuming news and information about leisure and entertainment in Guangzhou, the digital narration of the city becomes an important source for Guangzhou people to learn about their geo-identity, and the kind of rights and responsibility attaching to it.

Reduced intensity conditioning for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant determines the kinetics of acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Background Preparative myeloablative conditioning regimens for allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) may control malignancy and facilitate engraftment but also contribute to transplant related mortality, cytokine release, and acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens have decreased transplant related mortality but the incidence of acute GVHD, while delayed, remains unchanged. There are currently no in vivo allogeneic models of RIC HSCT, limiting studies into the mechanism behind RIC-associated GVHD. Methods We developed two RIC HSCT models that result in delayed onset GVHD (major histocompatibility complex mismatched (UBI-GFP/BL6 [H-2b]→BALB/c [H-2d]) and major histocompatibility complex matched, minor histocompatibility mismatched (UBI-GFP/BL6 [H-2b]→BALB.B [H-2b])) enabling the effect of RIC on chimerism, dendritic cell (DC) chimerism, and GVHD to be investigated. Results In contrast with myeloablative conditioning, we observed that RIC-associated delayed-onset GVHD is characterized by low production of tumor necrosis factor-α, maintenance of host DC, phenotypic DC activation, increased T-regulatory cell numbers, and a delayed emergence of activated donor DC. Furthermore, changes to the peritransplant milieu in the recipient after RIC lead to the altered activation of DC and the induction of T-regulatory responses. Reduced intensity conditioning recipients suffer less early damage to GVHD target organs. However, as donor cells engraft, activated donor DC and rising levels of tumor necrosis factor-α are associated with a later onset of severe GVHD. Conclusions Delineating the mechanisms underlying delayed onset GVHD in RIC HSCT recipients is vital to improve the prediction of disease onset and allow more targeted interventions for acute GVHD.

A place carved out by time

A travel story about South Dakota. "Time travel is much easier in life than in the movies. Driving out of Rapid City in South Dakota, you cover 500,000 years in the first hour. That journey brings you to the Badlands, a vast natural excavation site that has been created by water and wind. At the same time, you’re deposited into the deep past..."--publisher website

Systematic constellations of neurons are activated in lateral amygdala following Pavlovian fear conditioning

How memory is organized within neural networks is a fundamental question in neuroscience. We used Pavlovian fear conditioning to study the discrete organization patterns of neurons activated in an associative memory paradigm. In Pavlovian fear conditioning a neutral stimulus, such as an auditory tone, is temporally paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), such as a foot shock...

Acute restraint stress alters subsequent auditory fear conditioning in the rat

The neural basis of Pavlovian fear conditioning is well understood and depends upon neural processes within the amygdala. Stress is known to play a role in the modulation of fear-related behavior, including Pavlovian fear conditioning. Chronic restraint stress has been shown to enhance fear conditioning to discrete and contextual stimuli; however, the time course and extent of restraint that is essential for this modulation of fear learning remains unclear. Thus, we tested the extent to which a single exposure to 1 hr of restraint would alter subsequent auditory fear conditioning in rats.

Propagating excitatory potentials within the fear conditioning circuit of the lateral amygdala

In the Hebbian postulate, transiently reverberating cellular ensembles can sustain activity to facilitate temporal coincidence detection. Auditory fear conditioning is believed to be formed in the lateral amygdala (LA), by way of plasticity at auditory input synapses on principal neurons. To evaluate the contribution of LA cellular ensembles in the formation of conditioned fear memories, we investigated the LA micro-circuitry by electrophysiological and anatomical approaches. Polysynaptic field potentials evoked in the LA by stimulation of auditory thalamus(MGm/PIN) or auditory cortical (TE3) afferents were analyzed in vitro and in vivo. In vivo, two potentials were identified following stimulation of either pathway. In vitro, these multiple potentials were revealed by adding 75uM Picrotoxin or 30uM Bicuculine, with the first potential peaking at 15-20 ms, followed by two additional potentials at 20 – 25 and 30 – 35 ms, respectively. These data show single stimulation events can result in multiple synchronized excitatory events within the lateral amygdala. In order to determine underlying mechanisms of auditory signal propagation, LA principal neuron axon collateral trajectory patterns and morphology were analyzed. Neurons were found to have local axon collaterals that are topographically organized. Each axon collateral within the LA totaled 14.1 ± 2.73mm, had 29.8 ± 9.1 branch points and 1870.8 ± 1035 boutons (n=9). Electrophysiological and anatomical data show that a network of extensive axon collaterals within the LA may facilitate preservation of auditory afferent signals.

Quantification of the total neuronal structure of the fear conditioning circuit of the lateral amygdala of the rat

During Pavlovian auditory fear conditioning a previously neutral auditory stimulus (CS) gains emotional significance through pairing with a noxious unconditioned stimulus (US). These associations are believed to be formed by way of plasticity at auditory input synapses on principal neurons in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA). In order to begin to understand how fear memories are stored and processed by synaptic changes in the LA, we have quantified both the entire neural number and the sub-cellular structure of LA principal neurons.We first used stereological cell counting methods on Gimsa or GABA immunostained rat brain. We identified 60,322+/-1408 neurons in the LA unilaterally (n=7). Of these 16,917+/-471 were GABA positive. The intercalated nuclei were excluded from the counts and thus GABA cells are believed to represent GABAergic interneurons. The sub-nuclei of the LA were also independently counted. We then quantified the morphometric properties of in vitro electrophysiologically identified principal neurons of the LA, corrected for shrinkage in xyz planes. The total dendritic length was 9.97+/-2.57mm, with 21+/-4 nodes (n=6). Dendritic spine density was 0.19+/-0.03 spines/um (n=6). Intra-LA axon collaterals had a bouton density of 0.1+/-0.02 boutons/um (n=5). These data begin to reveal the finite cellular and sub-cellular processing capacity of the lateral amygdala, and should facilitate efforts to understand mechanisms of plasticity in LA.

GABAergic inhibition in the fear conditioning circuit of the lateral amygdala is potentiated by dopamine D1 agonists

Auditory fear conditioning is dependent on auditory signaling from the medial geniculate (MGm) and the auditory cortex (TE3) to principal neurons of the lateral amygdala (LA). Local circuit GABAergic interneurons are known to inhibit LA principal neurons via fast and slow IPSP's. Stimulation of MGm and TE3 produces excitatory post-synaptic potentials in both LA principal and interneurons, followed by inhibitory post-synaptic potentials. Manipulations of D1 receptors in the lateral and basal amygdala modulate the retrieval of learned association between an auditory CS and foot shock. Here we examined the effects of D1 agonists on GABAergic IPSP's evoked by stimulation of MGm and TE3 afferents in vitro. Whole cell patch recordings were made from principal neurons of the LA, at room temperature, in coronal brain slices using standard methods. Stimulating electrodes were placed on the fiber tracts medial to the LA and at the external capsule/layer VI border dorsal to the LA to activate (0.1-0.2mA) MGm and TE3 afferents respectively. Neurons were held at -55.0 mV by positive current injection to measure the amplitude of the fast IPSP. Changes in input resistance and membrane potential were measured in the absence of current injection. Stimulation of MGm or TE3 afferents produced EPSP's in the majority of principal neurons and in some an EPSP/IPSP sequence. Stimulation of MGm afferents produced IPSP's with amplitudes of -2.30 ± 0.53 mV and stimulation of TE3 afferents produced IPSP's with amplitudes of -1.98 ± 1.26 mV. Bath application of 20μM SKF38393 increased IPSP amplitudes to -5.94 ± 1.62 mV (MGm, n=3) and-5.46 ± 0.31 mV (TE3, n=3). Maximal effect occurred <10mins. A small increase in resting membrane potential and decrease in input resistance were observed. These data suggest that DA modulates both the auditory thalamic and auditory cortical inputs to the LA fear conditioning circuit via local GABAergic circuits. Supported by NIMH Grants 00956, 46516, and 58911.

Performance-Based Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Acceptance Procedures for In-Place Soil Testing Phase 3

One of the objectives of this study was to evaluate soil testing equipment based on its capability of measuring in-place stiffness or modulus values. As design criteria transition from empirical to mechanistic-empirical, soil test methods and equipment that measure properties such as stiffness and modulus and how they relate to Florida materials are needed. Requirements for the selected equipment are that they be portable, cost effective, reliable, a ccurate, and repeatable. A second objective is that the selected equipment measures soil properties without the use of nuclear materials.The current device used to measure soil compaction is the nuclear density gauge (NDG). Equipment evaluated in this research included lightweight deflectometers (LWD) from different manufacturers, a dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), a GeoGauge, a Clegg impact soil tester (CIST), a Briaud compaction device (BCD), and a seismic pavement analyzer (SPA). Evaluations were conducted over ranges of measured densities and moistures.Testing (Phases I and II) was conducted in a test box and test pits. Phase III testing was conducted on materials found on five construction projects located in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. Phase I analyses determined that the GeoGauge had the lowest overall coefficient of variance (COV). In ascending order of COV were the accelerometer-type LWD, the geophone-type LWD, the DCP, the BCD, and the SPA which had the highest overall COV. As a result, the BCD and the SPA were excluded from Phase II testing.In Phase II, measurements obtained from the selected equipment were compared to the modulus values obtained by the static plate load test (PLT), the resilient modulus (MR) from laboratory testing, and the NDG measurements. To minimize soil and moisture content variability, the single spot testing sequence was developed. At each location, test results obtained from the portable equipment under evaluation were compared to the values from adjacent NDG, PLT, and laboratory MR measurements. Correlations were developed through statistical analysis. Target values were developed for various soils for verification on similar soils that were field tested in Phase III. The single spot testing sequence also was employed in Phase III, field testing performed on A-3 and A-2-4 embankments, limerock-stabilized subgrade, limerock base, and graded aggregate base found on Florida Department of Transportation construction projects. The Phase II and Phase III results provided potential trend information for future research—specifically, data collection for in-depth statistical analysis for correlations with the laboratory MR for specific soil types under specific moisture conditions. With the collection of enough data, stronger relationships could be expected between measurements from the portable equipment and the MR values. Based on the statistical analyses and the experience gained from extensive use of the equipment, the combination of the DCP and the LWD was selected for in-place soil testing for compaction control acceptance. Test methods and developmental specifications were written for the DCP and the LWD. The developmental specifications include target values for the compaction control of embankment, subgrade, and base materials.

Automatic image scaling for place recognition in changing environments

Robustness to variations in environmental conditions and camera viewpoint is essential for long-term place recognition, navigation and SLAM. Existing systems typically solve either of these problems, but invariance to both remains a challenge. This paper presents a training-free approach to lateral viewpoint- and condition-invariant, vision-based place recognition. Our successive frame patch-tracking technique infers average scene depth along traverses and automatically rescales views of the same place at different depths to increase their similarity. We combine our system with the condition-invariant SMART algorithm and demonstrate place recognition between day and night, across entire 4-lane-plus-median-strip roads, where current algorithms fail.

Place recognition with ConvNet landmarks: Viewpoint-robust, condition-robust, training-free

Place recognition has long been an incompletely solved problem in that all approaches involve significant compromises. Current methods address many but never all of the critical challenges of place recognition – viewpoint-invariance, condition-invariance and minimizing training requirements. Here we present an approach that adapts state-of-the-art object proposal techniques to identify potential landmarks within an image for place recognition. We use the astonishing power of convolutional neural network features to identify matching landmark proposals between images to perform place recognition over extreme appearance and viewpoint variations. Our system does not require any form of training, all components are generic enough to be used off-the-shelf. We present a range of challenging experiments in varied viewpoint and environmental conditions. We demonstrate superior performance to current state-of-the- art techniques. Furthermore, by building on existing and widely used recognition frameworks, this approach provides a highly compatible place recognition system with the potential for easy integration of other techniques such as object detection and semantic scene interpretation.

'There is nothing that identifies me to that place’: Indigenous Women’s Perceptions of Health Spaces and Places

This chapter provides an overview of the gendered realities of Indigenous men’s and Indigenous women’s lives and gendered Indigenous health perspectives. It offers the nurse some examples of the role of the nurse in working within gendered Indigenous health care.

Goodbye Brigadoon: Place, Production, and Identity in Global Glasgow

Goodbye Brigadoon examines the shifting role media production plays in the economic and cultural strategies of global cities in small market nations, specifically Glasgow, Scotland. In particular, this project focuses on the formation of a digital media village along the banks of the River Clyde to argue the site constitutes a logical component to Glasgow’s ongoing transformation into a cosmopolitan center. Yet, as the regional government’s economic strategies and policy directives work to transform the abandoned waterfront into a center of cultural activity, this project also underscores the contradictory cultural dynamics to emerge from media production’s new role in the post-industrial city. At its core, the media hub reveals a regional government more interested in the technology used to deliver “national” stories than the manner of the stories themselves or the cultural practices responsible for creating them. Indeed, Goodbye Brigadoon is most interested in how media professionals based at the emergent cluster negotiate a sense of cultural identity and creative license against the institutional constraints, policy matters, and commercial logic they also must navigate in their workaday rituals. Ultimately, the conclusions offered in this project argue for a more complicated conception of the global-local location where these professionals work. Glasgow’s digital media village, in other words, is much more than an innocuous site of competitive advantage, urban regeneration, and job growth. It is best understood as a site of intense social struggle and unequal power relations where local mediamakers often find the site’s impetus for multiplatform media production an institutionally enforced false promise at odds with the realities of creative labor in the city.

The purpose and place of mentoring for women managers in organisations: An Australian perspective

Mentoring has been identified as an important career development activity for women managers. Over the last four decades, organisations world-wide have implemented formal mentoring programs for women and for members of minority groups in recognition of the personal and professional benefits mentoring provides, not only for persons who are mentored but also, for those who undertake the mentoring. This chapter reviews the literature on mentoring and the contribution it can make to the career development of women managers. It reviews several inter-related bodies of literature: women’s representation in management positions worldwide; theories and frameworks of mentoring; empirical research exploring the impact of mentoring relationships on women managers’ career development; current illustrations of formal programs offered to women managers in the public and private sectors; and some critical issues that continue to impact women managers in relation to mentoring relationships. The chapter concludes by making an argument for further research on gender and mentoring.