McPherson College

Commotio retinae (CR) resulting from retinal trauma can lead to focal photoreceptor degeneration and permanent vision loss. Currently no therapies exist for CR-induced retinal degeneration, in part because of the lack of a large-animal model that replicates human injury pathology and allows testing of therapeutics. Severe CR is clinically characterized by subretinal fluid and focal photoreceptor outer nuclear layer thinning. To develop a porcine CR model, we developed a laser-guided projectile apparatus and optimized projectile delivery procedure using porcine cadaveric eyes embedded in a 3D-printed porcine skull. Scleral and corneal impacts resulted in retinal damage consistent with patient injury, but corneal impacts also led to cornea damage and opacification, which precluded follow-up imaging. In live porcine eyes, scleral impacts of 39.5 m/s induced transient blood-retinal barrier breakdown evidenced by subretinal fluid on optical coherence tomography (OCT), leakage observed on fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography, and transient photoreceptor outer segment disruption seen by OCT and multifocal electroretinography. Impacts above 39.5 m/s induced longer-lasting photoreceptor degeneration but only transient blood-retinal barrier breakdown. This porcine model, combined with clinically relevant imaging and diagnostic modalities, will be valuable for testing the safety and efficacy of therapies to restore vision after focal photoreceptor degeneration.

Objective:To determine the effect of clinic versus home environments on intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements in normotensive dogs.Animals:Forty client-owned normotensive dogs.Methods:In a prospective crossover study, 40 normotensive dogs were included following a complete ophthalmic examination. IOPs were measured in both eyes for each dog using a TonoVet rebound tonometer by a single observer. IOPs were measured in the clinic after the ophthalmic examination, and in the home upon initial entry by the observer (t = 0) and 10 min later (t = 10). Paired t-tests were performed to compare IOP in the clinic versus home and adjusted p < 0.05 followed by the Holm-Šídák correction were considered significant.Results:Mean IOP in the clinic (15.7 mmHg ±2.7) was significantly higher than mean IOP in the home at both t = 0 (14.2 mmHg ±2.2; p < 0.0001) and t = 10 (12.9 mmHg ±1.9; p < 0.0001). Mean IOP in the home at t = 0 (14.2 mmHg ±2.2) was significantly higher than mean IOP in the home at t = 10 (12.9 mmHg ±1.9; p = 0.0001). There was no significant effect of testing site sequence on IOP.Conclusion:IOPs measured by tonometry in the clinic are elevated relative to IOPs obtained in the home, by up to 10 mmHg in one eye in this study. Changes in IOP may be rapid, as seen with the significant reduction in IOP over 10 min of acclimation in the home setting. Veterinarians should consider these findings when interpreting IOP values, especially in dogs that are stressed by the clinic environment.

PurposeThis research investigates the complex relationships between individual psychological traits, the fear of missing out (FOMO) and sales promotions in the online sports betting industry. Specifically, it aims to comprehend how sensation-seeking, as a personality trait and FOMO influence the intention to engage in instant online sports betting under various sales promotions like win-bet boosting and lose-bet protecting.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with USA adults familiar with major online betting platforms. Participants were assigned to different promotional scenarios, and their responses were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe findings show that sensation-seeking positively affects betting intentions, with FOMO playing a partially mediating role. Sales promotions were found to negatively moderate the relationship between sensation-seeking and betting intention. Notably, the impact of FOMO on betting intention was stronger in the lose-bet protecting scenario than in the win-bet boosting scenario.Originality/valueThis research enriches existing literature by elucidating the nuanced interactions between sensation-seeking, FOMO and sales promotions in the context of online sports betting. The study offers practical insights for developing targeted marketing strategies, particularly for users inclined towards sensation-seeking.

In congenital stationary night blindness type 2 (CSNB2)—a disorder involving the Ca v 1.4 (L-type) Ca 2+ channel—visual impairment is mild considering that Ca v 1.4 mediates synaptic release from rod and cone photoreceptors. Here, we addressed this conundrum using a Ca v 1.4 knockout (KO) mouse and a knock-in (G369i KI) mouse expressing a non-conducting Ca v 1.4. Surprisingly, Ca v 3 (T-type) Ca 2+ currents were detected in cones of G369i KI mice and Ca v 1.4 KO mice but not in cones of wild-type mouse, ground squirrel, and macaque retina. Whereas Ca v 1.4 KO mice are blind, G369i KI mice exhibit normal photopic (i.e., cone-mediated) visual behavior. Cone synapses, which fail to form in Ca v 1.4 KO mice, are present, albeit enlarged, and with some errors in postsynaptic wiring in G369i KI mice. While Ca v 1.4 KO mice lack evidence of cone synaptic responses, electrophysiological recordings in G369i KI mice revealed nominal transmission from cones to horizontal cells and bipolar cells. In CSNB2, we propose that Ca v 3 channels maintain cone synaptic output provided that the nonconducting role of Ca v 1.4 in cone synaptogenesis remains intact. Our findings reveal an unexpected form of homeostatic plasticity that relies on a non-canonical role of an ion channel.

PurposeThis study aimed to understand better what makes esports fans engage with streamers' live-streaming of esports gameplay. This study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and additionally adopted streamer identification and esports game identification as moderating variables.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from streamers' esports content streaming viewers over 18 years of age using an online survey in Amazon M-Turk (N = 307). Based on past esports live-streaming weekly watching hours, which range from 1 to 45 h, the participants were divided into lower (n = 152) and higher (n = 155) frequency groups. PLS-SEM and bootstrapping techniques were used to test the moderated mediation relationships among the constructs.FindingsThis study found a negative moderating effect of past watching experience on the relationship between attitudes and behavioral intention, and it positively moderated the path between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention. Also, it was found statistically significant direct impacts of streamer identification (STI) and esports game identification (EGI) on attitude and subjective norms. While the indirect impact of STI on behavioral intention through attitude was statistically significant, there were no significant indirect impacts of EGI on attitude and behavioral intention through subjective norms.Originality/valueTheoretically, this study extends the TPB model by exploring the two identifications (i.e. streamers and esports games) as antecedents of the focal TPB factors (i.e. attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) and the moderating effect of prior experience based on high/low weekly watching frequencies. Practically, content creators of esports live-streaming and live-streaming platform managers can use the study’s findings to develop strategies to nurture their current and future viewership.

This work explores the lifetime model and failure modes of the 4H-SiC MOS interface in the depletion mode. Unlike accumulation mode TDDB, shorter lifetime and a strong defect dependence are observed in the depletion mode. The 1/E model is found to be a good fit for the observed TDDB lifetime data. Despite having a shorter lifetime than accumulation mode, the modeled lifetimes are sufficient for application deployment.

Humans are able to make inferences about objects’ potential animacy (i.e., are alive) and intentionality (i.e., have goals that they are attempting to meet) based upon reasonably simple visual movement patterns. One open question is whether humans are aware of the visual cues that they use to make such inferences, and if so, can humans employ these cues to mask their own agency and intentionality from other humans. We hypothesized that when participating in a competitive chasing task on a computer (one human chasing another), the “chaser” would avoid producing movement patterns that tend to trigger detection of intentionality by the “chasee.” In separate blocks of trials, participants (N=40 pairs) played the role of chaser (the “wolf”) and chasee (the “sheep”). The setup involved one red circle (the sheep; always controlled by a human participant) and many white circles (one of which was the wolf, the others were distractors), all moving in a large rectangular field. In some blocks, the wolf was controlled by a computer algorithm, and in other blocks, it was controlled by another human being. The wolf’s task was to catch the sheep. The sheep’s task was to avoid being caught. Consistent with previous work, when playing against a computer-controlled wolf, participants playing as the sheep often detected and avoided the wolf (in particular when the wolf was controlled by a direct-chasing or trajectory-interception algorithm). Conversely, when playing against a human-controlled wolf, participants very rarely escaped, with, as expected, the human-controlled wolves showing more complex movement patterns (and thus better disguised among the distractors) than the simple computer-controlled wolves. These results suggest that humans have some degree of awareness of the visual cues they use to make inferences about animacy and intentionality and are capable of masking those cues in their own behaviors.

The papers selected for Steel World have a theme on furnace burden effects. There has been a trend in previous editions of focusing on scrap. This has been partly continued in this edition. However...

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract WATERS Network’s Potential to Transform Environmental Engineering Education Abstract The WATERS Network (WATer and Environmental Research Systems Network) will be an integrated real-time distributed observing system which will enable academic and government scientists, engineers, educators, and practitioners to advance effective management of our nation’s water resources by understanding human interactions with water and the natural and built environment. WATERS will provide easily accessible real time environmental data as well as analysis tools to engineers, scientists, educators, K- graduate students and policymakers so they can better understand how water quantity, quality and related components of the hydrologic cycle are impacted by natural and human influences. The WATERS strategic plan will be completed by July 2007 and requires constituent input. This paper describes the draft Conceptual Design and the Education Plan of WATERS Network. This paper will highlight the potential impact of WATERS on undergraduate and graduate environmental engineering education in order to elicit input from the environmental engineering education community on how WATERS Network could better meet the future needs of undergraduate and graduate students and educators. More information can be found at www.watersnet.org. Overview With support of the Geosciences and Engineering Directorates at the National Science Foundation (NSF) the WATERS Project Office, a joint initiative of the Collaborative Large- scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research (CLEANER) project1 and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI)2, is developing a strategic plan for the WATer and Environmental Research Systems (WATERS) Network. The WATERS Network aims to transform and advance the scientific and engineering knowledge base by developing a collaborative scientific exploration and engineering analysis network that will transform our scientific understanding of how water quantity, quality, and related earth system processes are affected by natural and human-induced changes to the environment. WATERS will allow environmental engineers, scientists and other professionals to advance the scientific understanding of human impacts on water resources and improve and inform the management of environmental issues1. NSF has funded 11 WATERS Network test bed project grants that focus on sensors and deployment of sensor networks; development of new modeling tools; and development of cyberinfrastructure, especially as it relates to enabling models and making sensor data accessible. In two years, additional testbedding opportunities are expected to further develop technology and determine the best path forward for building the WATERS Network. The WATERS Project Office is also meeting with other NSF environmental observatory programs (e.g., National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)3, Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)4 and governmental monitoring agencies to coordinate program efforts and develop partnerships to