A needs assessment of West Virginia environmental educators: West Virginia Environmental Education Association and West Virginia University County Extension Agents

West Virginia is a state full of a variety of environmental education (EE) programs---both formal and nonformal. However, in order to be effective, educators must have the most updated and user friendly resources readily accessible through various supporting organizations or agencies. The WVEEA is a new state-wide group dedicated to improving EE programs, and supporting EE through its members.;The ultimate goal of EE programs is to improve environmental literacy and foster environmentally responsible behavior. Environmental literacy gives people the awareness, knowledge, ability, motivation, commitment and skill to work with others to resolve environmental problems and prevent new ones. EE activities can also improve communication, group processes, and problem-solving skills to help prepare a society-ready youth.;This present study examined the needs of environmental educators in West Virginia---defined as those individuals associated with the WVEEA. The purpose of this study is to identify those individuals and organizations that provide EE in West Virginia and gather specific information about EE providers in WV (types of programs provided, audiences, etc). In addition, the educators were asked about barriers and needs, in order to enhance their programs for the future and to aid in their professional development.;In August and September 2008, surveys were mailed to all the contacts in the WVEEA\u27s database and every West Virginia extension agent. These contacts were asked to fill out the surveys and mail them back. The survey included questions that addressed program descriptions, demographics, resource and professional development needs and program barriers

Dopamine and glutamate release in the dorsolateral caudate putamen following withdrawal from cocaine self-administration in rats

Evidence suggests that cocaine addiction may involve progressive neuroadaptive changes in the dorsolateral caudate putamen (dlCPu). While cocaine seeking following abstinence from chronic self-administration requires intact dlCPu function, in vivo neurotransmitter release in the dlCPu has not been investigated. The current study measured dlCPu dopamine (DA) and glutamate (GLU) release during drug seeking following limited or extended abstinence, as well as in response to a cocaine priming injection alone. Male, Sprague–Dawley rats self-administered cocaine (0.2 mg/50 μl infusion, i.v.) for 10 days (2 h/day). In vivo microdialysis occurred in the self-administration chamber after 1 and 14 days of abstinence (Experiment 1). A separate set of animals that completed self-administration as well as drug naïve controls received a cocaine priming injection (20 mg/kg) during concurrent microdialysis (Experiment 2). DA release increased during drug seeking in the self-administration context at both 1 and 14 days post abstinence. In contrast, GLU release only increased after 1 day of abstinence. Furthermore, animals with a cocaine self-administration history showed enhanced DA and GLU release following cocaine challenge as compared to drug naïve controls. These results indicate that chronic cocaine self-administration enhances dlCPu DA and GLU under both drug-paired context and drug-primed conditions.Fil: Gabriele, Amanda. Medical University Of South Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Pacchioni, Alejandra Maria. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Laboratorio de Toxicología Experimental; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; ArgentinaFil: See, Ronald E.. Medical University Of South Carolina; Estados Unido

Unique Transcriptional Profile of Sustained Ligand-Activated Preconditioning in Pre- and Post-Ischemic Myocardium

BACKGROUND: Opioidergic SLP (sustained ligand-activated preconditioning) induced by 3–5 days of opioid receptor (OR) agonism induces persistent protection against ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury in young and aged hearts, and is mechanistically distinct from conventional preconditioning responses. We thus applied unbiased gene-array interrogation to identify molecular effects of SLP in pre- and post-ischemic myocardium. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Male C57Bl/6 mice were implanted with 75 mg morphine or placebo pellets for 5 days. Resultant SLP did not modify cardiac function, and markedly reduced dysfunction and injury in perfused hearts subjected to 25 min ischemia/45 min reperfusion. Microarray analysis identified 14 up- and 86 down-regulated genes in normoxic hearts from SLP mice (≥1.3-fold change, FDR≤5%). Induced genes encoded sarcomeric/contractile proteins (Myh7, Mybpc3,Myom2,Des), natriuretic peptides (Nppa,Nppb) and stress-signaling elements (Csda,Ptgds). Highly repressed genes primarily encoded chemokines (Ccl2,Ccl4,Ccl7,Ccl9,Ccl13,Ccl3l3,Cxcl3), cytokines (Il1b,Il6,Tnf) and other proteins involved in inflammation/immunity (C3,Cd74,Cd83, Cd86,Hla-dbq1,Hla-drb1,Saa1,Selp,Serpina3), together with endoplasmic stress proteins (known: Dnajb1,Herpud1,Socs3; putative: Il6, Gadd45g,Rcan1) and transcriptional controllers (Egr2,Egr3, Fos,Hmox1,Nfkbid). Biological themes modified thus related to inflammation/immunity, together with cellular/cardiovascular movement and development. SLP also modified the transcriptional response to I-R (46 genes uniquely altered post-ischemia), which may influence later infarction/remodeling. This included up-regulated determinants of cellular resistance to oxidant (Mgst3,Gstm1,Gstm2) and other forms of stress (Xirp1,Ankrd1,Clu), and repression of stress-response genes (Hspa1a,Hspd1,Hsp90aa,Hsph1,Serpinh1) and Txnip. CONCLUSIONS: Protection via SLP is associated with transcriptional repression of inflammation/immunity, up-regulation of sarcomeric elements and natriuretic peptides, and modulation of cell stress, growth and development, while conventional protective molecules are unaltered

Detection of a common odd aberration in confocal reflection microscopy by means of an edge scan

In reflection laser scanning microscopes, detection of odd aberrations is challenging because aberration cancellation can occur after the second passage of the light beam through the system. A method is proposed that uses a sample containing high spatial frequencies, such as an edge scan, to detect and measure the presence of odd aberrations. The new approach is demonstrated by scanning the focal spot over an edge in a confocal reflection microscope when coma is present in the imaging system (a common odd aberration). It is shown that the edge response displays characteristic distortions which are typical of coma. Detection of amplitude, sign and orientation of the coma aberration is made possible by comparison of the measured edge responses with theoretical curves

Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Fluxes: New Constraints and Implications

We apply new upper limits on neutrino fluxes and the diffuse extragalactic component of the GeV gamma-ray flux to various scenarios for ultra high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. As a result we find that extra-galactic top-down sources can not contribute significantly to the observed flux of highest energy cosmic rays. The Z-burst mechanism where ultra-high energy neutrinos produce cosmic rays via interactions with relic neutrinos is practically ruled out if cosmological limits on neutrino mass and clustering apply.Comment: 10 revtex pages, 9 postscript figure

An Effect of α′\alpha' Corrections on Racetrack Inflation

We study the effects of $\alpha '$ corrections to the K\"ahler potential on volume stabilisation and racetrack inflation. In a region where classical supergravity analysis is justified, stringy corrections can nevertheless be relevant for correctly analyzing moduli stabilisation and the onset of inflation.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Typos corrected, references added, this version to appear in JHE

Non-iterative aberration retrieval based on the spot shape around focus

A non-iterative, robust, aberration retrieval method to determine primary aberrations by utilizing the intensity distribution at and around focus is presented. The primary Zernike aberrations (coma, spherical aberration and astigmatism) are retrieved by fitting a set of orthogonal circle functions within the central region of the intensity distribution recorded at 3 different axial planes, typically taken at best focus and either side of focus. Aberration indicators are derived from these fits for each primary aberration and it is shown that these indicators can be used for aberration retrieval. The selected indicators vary almost linearly with the magnitude of aberration up to 0.13λ rms, corresponding to a Strehl ratio of 0.44. In the presence of multiple primary aberrations, the method is found to be reliable for a total rms wavefront deviation below 0.10λ (Strehl ratio of 0.68). This approach is linear and non-iterative and will therefore be beneficial for applications where speed and limiting photon exposure is important such as wavefront correction in biomedical imaging

First Kepler results on compact pulsators - VIII. Mode identifications via period spacings in g-mode pulsating subdwarf B stars

We investigate the possibility of nearly equally spaced periods in 13 hot subdwarf B (sdB) stars observed with the Kepler spacecraft and one observed with CoRoT. Asymptotic limits for gravity (g-)mode pulsations provide relationships between equal-period spacings of modes with differing degrees ℓ and relationships between periods of the same radial order n but differing degrees ℓ. Period transforms, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and linear least-squares fits have been used to detect and determine the significance of equal-period spacings. We have also used Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the likelihood that the detected spacings could be produced randomly. Period transforms for nine of the Kepler stars indicate ℓ= 1 period spacings, with five also showing peaks for ℓ= 2 modes. 12 stars indicate ℓ= 1 modes using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test while another shows solely ℓ= 2 modes. Monte Carlo results indicate that equal-period spacings are significant in 10 stars above 99 per cent confidence, and 13 of the 14 are above 94 per cent confidence. For 12 stars, the various methods find consistent period spacings to within the errors, two others show some inconsistencies, likely caused by binarity, and the last has significant detections but the mode assignment disagrees between the methods. We use asymptotic period spacing relationships to associate observed periods of variability with pulsation modes for ℓ= 1 and 2. From the Kepler first-year survey sample of 13 multiperiodic g-mode pulsators, five stars have several consecutive overtones making period spacings easy to detect, six others have fewer consecutive overtones but period spacings are readily detected, and two stars show marginal indications of equal-period spacings. We also examine a g-mode sdB pulsator observed by CoRoT with a rich pulsation spectrum, and our tests detect regular period spacings. We use Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the significance of the detections in individual stars. From the simulations, it is determined that regular period spacings in 10 of the 14 stars are very unlikely to be random, another two are moderately unlikely to be random and two are mostly unconstrained. We find a common ℓ= 1 period spacing spanning a range from 231 to 272 s allowing us to correlate pulsation modes with 222 periodicities and that the ℓ= 2 period spacings are related to the ℓ= 1 spacings by the asymptotic relationship forumla⁠. We briefly discuss the impact of equal-period spacings which indicate low-degree modes with a lack of significant mode trappings