The Thrush Sings Me Home: What is Killing the Birds of My Heart?

Amy Boyd writes of her heartbreak seeing dead wood thrushes in her town. Habitat destruction and climate change will reduce these beautiful birds’ numbers by 80 percent over the next 60 years

A ROTTERDAM APPLICATION TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN FRESH APPLES: A DIFFERENTIAL APPROACH

A Rotterdam import allocation model is used to fit import data for fresh apples in four importing markets important to U.S. apple exporters. Nested tests rejected homotheticity but could not reject homogeneity, symmetry, or separability among import suppliers. A Monte Carlo test rejected first-order autocorrelation in each market. Expenditure and price elasticities are calculated and reported.International Relations/Trade,

Interactive Virtual Suturing Simulations: Enhancement of Student Learning in Veterinary Medicine

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Christine B. Boyd and Amy J. Staton on December 29, 2013

Challenges of Early Estimation of Infrastructure Projects within the UK: an Information Perspective

This research examines the challenges of early cost estimation of infrastructure projects within the UK with a focus on why cost overruns are such a persistent issue. The research was carried out by an investigation of existing literature surrounding early estimation in construction, characteristics of UK-based infrastructure projects and cost overruns within infrastructure projects. The data were collected through fourteen semi-structured interviews with estimating professionals who work predominantly on infrastructure projects across the UK. The key findings were that the early estimation process consists of an intricate system of hard and soft information exchange from the many involved parties due to the social and political nature of infrastructure projects; this provides many challenges for the estimator. This led to the idea that an estimate is actually a soft input itself and should not be taken as a hard numerical figure but something which requires human interpretation. Moreover, these challenges are heightened by the number of unknowns and uncertainties that are again part of the very nature of large scale infrastructure projects. This is difficult to address as it is the process of converting soft information into hard information and when soft information is hardened it will inevitably lose some of its information or context. Unfortunately, cost estimates have become to be accepted as hard information even when it is known to be soft information that requires interpretation and sense making

Exploring the Experience of Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctoral Students on the use of Anatomage® Table to Learn Anatomy – A Survey

Technology has transformed health science education delivery over the past decade. Students in all health science disciplines must learn and master anatomy to be successful in their education and career. Several virtual resources are available to learn anatomy. The University of Texas Medical Branch introduced Anatomage Table to its entry-level occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students in 2021 to supplement anatomy learning. As students’ usage of educational technology depends on perceived usefulness, user-friendliness, and positive user experience, this study explored the experiences and perceptions of the students regarding the use of Anatomage Tables to learn anatomy. Students in the class of OTD 2024 were asked to complete an anonymous survey. Thirty valid responses were received. Around 80% of the respondents perceived the Anatomage Table as a useful resource and reported a positive experience using the table. Nearly half of the respondents perceived the table as user-friendly. Respondents stated that the table helped them review learned materials, visualize anatomical structures, self-assess their anatomy knowledge, and avoid the hassle associated with cadaver lab requirements and restrictions. Results suggest that Anatomage Table may be a useful supplemental resource to teach anatomy for entry-level OTD students. However, students may need adequate training and orientation at the beginning of the semester to successfully utilize the resource

Reverse Genetic Analysis of the Transcription Regulatory Sequence of the Coronavirus Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus

Coronavirus discontinuous transcription uses a highly conserved sequence (CS) in the joining of leader and body RNAs. Using a full-length infectious construct of transmissable gastroenteritis virus, the present study demonstrates that subgenomic transcription is heavily influenced by upstream flanking sequences and supports a mechanism of transcription attenuation that is regulated in part by a larger domain composed of primarily upstream flanking sequences which select appropriately positioned CS elements for synthesis of subgenomic RNAs

SARS-CoV replication and pathogenesis in an in vitro model of the human conducting airway epithelium

SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) emerged in 2002 as an important cause of severe lower respiratory tract infection in humans and in vitro models of the lung are needed to elucidate cellular targets and the consequences of viral infection. The severe and sudden onset of symptoms, resulting in an atypical pneumonia with dry cough and persistent high fever in cases of severe acute respiratory virus brought to light the importance of coronaviruses as potentially lethal human pathogens and the identification of several zoonotic reservoirs has made the reemergence of new strains and future epidemics all the more possible. In this chapter, we describe the pathology of SARS-CoV infection in humans and explore the use of two models of the human conducting airway to develop a better understanding of the replication and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV in relevant in vitro systems. The first culture model is a human bronchial epithelial cell line Calu3 that can be inoculated by viruses either as a non-polarized monolayer of cells or polarized cells with tight junctions and microvilli. The second model system, derived from primary cells isolated from human airway epithelium and grown on Transwells, form a pseudostratified mucociliary epithelium that recapitulates the morphological and physiological features of the human conducting airway in vivo. Experimental results using these lung epithelial cell models demonstrate that in contrast to the pathology reported in late stage cases SARS-CoV replicates to high titers in epithelial cells of the conducting airway. The SARS-CoV receptor, human angiotensin 1 converting enzyme 2 (hACE2), was detected exclusively on the apical surface of cells in polarized Calu3 cells and human airway epithelial cultures (HAE), indicating that hACE2 was accessible by SARS-CoV after airway lumenal delivery. Furthermore, in HAE, hACE2 was exclusively localized to ciliated airway epithelial cells. In support of the hACE2 localization data, the most productive route of inoculation and progeny virion egress in both polarized Calu3 and ciliated cells of HAE was the apical surface suggesting mechanisms to release large quantities of virus into the lumen of the human lung. Preincubation of the apical surface of cultures with antisera directed against hACE2 reduced viral titers by 2 logs while antisera against DC-SIGN/DC-SIGNR did not reduce viral replication levels suggesting that hACE2 is the primary receptor for entry of SARS-CoV into the ciliated cells of HAE cultures. To assess infectivity in ciliated airway cultures derived from susceptible animal species we generated a recombinant SARS-CoV by deletion of open reading frame 7a/7b (ORF 7a/b) and insertion of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) resulting in SARS-CoV GFP. SARS-CoV GFP replicated to similar titers as wild type viruses in Vero E6, MA104, and CaCo2 cells. In addition, SARS-CoV replication in airway epithelial cultures generated from Golden Syrian hamster tracheas reached similar titers to the human cultures by 72 hours post infection. Efficient SARS-CoV infection of ciliated cell-types in HAE provides a useful in vitro model of human lung origin to study characteristics of SARS-CoV replication and pathogenesis

Reliable Witnesses: Integrating Multimedia, Distributed Electronic Textual Editions into Library Collections

The Reliable Witnesses project addresses current vulnerabilities of distributed electronic textual editions and integrates such projects into library collections through workflows for acquisition, description, and preservation. Electronic editions of unique manuscript materials represent an important part of our cultural heritage, providing access to materials otherwise inaccessible to most users, serving as incubators for cutting-edge scholarship, and providing a platform for technological innovation. However, e-text projects frequently employ infrastructures from a variety of resources, and such innovative, distributed designs can result in projects that are not easily integrated into library collections, which consist primarily of traditional print and subscription digital resources. The Reliable Witnesses project will result in local best practices for meeting these challenges as well as a generalized life-cycle model that other institutions can adapt to their needs

Validation of actigraphy for sleep measurement in children with cerebral palsy

OBJECTIVES: Sleep issues are common in children with cerebral palsy (CP), although there are challenges in obtaining objective data about their sleep patterns. Actigraphs measure movement to quantify sleep but their accuracy in children with CP is unknown. Our goals were to validate actigraphy for sleep assessment in children with CP and to study their sleep patterns in a cross-sectional cohort study. METHODS: We recruited children with (N = 13) and without (N = 13) CP aged 2-17 years (mean age 9 y 11mo [SD 4 y 10mo] range 4-17 y; 17 males, 9 females; 54% spastic quadriplegic, 23% spastic diplegic, 15% spastic hemiplegic, 8% unclassified CP). We obtained wrist and forehead actigraphy with concurrent polysomnography for one night, and home wrist actigraphy for one week. We developed actigraphy algorithms and evaluated their accuracy (agreement with polysomnography-determined sleep versus wake staging), sensitivity (sleep detection), and specificity (wake detection). RESULTS: Our actigraphy algorithms had median 72-80% accuracy, 87-91% sensitivity, and 60-71% specificity in children with CP and 86-89% accuracy, 88-92% sensitivity, and 70-75% specificity in children without CP, with similar accuracies in wrist and forehead locations. Our algorithms had increased specificity and accuracy compared to existing algorithms, facilitating detection of sleep disruption. Children with CP showed lower sleep efficiency and duration than children without CP. CONCLUSIONS: Actigraphy is a valid tool for sleep assessment in children with CP. Children with CP have worse sleep efficiency and duration