Ecological specialization of Tubakia iowensis, and searching for variation in resistance to bur oak blight

Tubakia iowensis was recently recognized and described as the causative agent of bur oak blight. The pathogen causes vein necrosis and early season leaf death on Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak). Tubakia sp. B, an undescribed species, was isolated from bur oak and other oaks and was found to be morphologically indistinguishable from T. iowensis. In chapter 2, T. iowensis and Tubakia sp. B differed in causing a greater amount of necrosis on inoculated leaf blade tissue and in causing less petiole death and fewer conidiomata (pustules) after inoculation of expanding shoots. Both Tubakia spp. caused vein necrosis, but Tubakia sp. B was better at causing leaf spots, and T. iowensis was better at infecting petioles and preventing petiole abscission. Thus, T. iowensis appears to have a narrower ecological niche. Reports of bur oak blight appear to correspond with the geographic range of Q. macrocarpa var. oliviformis. However, even in the upland sites, there is substantial variation in symptom severity among trees within a stand. In chapter 3, seed sources were collected from within the geographic ranges of Q. macrocarpa var. oliviformis, Q. macrocarpa var. macrocarpa, and Q. macrocarpa var. depressa. Seedlings from blighted and healthy Q. macrocarpa trees also were inoculated to test the hypothesis that there is variation in resistance to bur oak blight. Greenhouse inoculations demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the number of symptomatic leaves or seedlings with petiole pustules among the different varieties of Q. macrocarpa. Seedlings from trees with bur oak blight showed no difference in production of petiole pustules when compared to seedlings from healthy trees in the same stand

Improvements to the RV Waste-transfer Station Design to Reduce Contaminated Storm Runoff

Mammoth Cave in Central Kentucky is the world’s longest cave system and has been designated an international biosphere. It has unique organisms that live in the cave system and they are dependant upon high quality water supplied through rain recharge. We have documented quaternary ammonia compounds (QAC) levels ranging from 0.2 to 22 mg/L in storm fl ow, as well as, other chemicals coming from the RV waste-transfer station. The objective of this project was to re-design the drain system around the dump station to prevent spillage from washing down into the cave. The first design feature is a v-trench to catch storm runoff and redirect it into the sanitary sewer. The second feature is a gently elevated barrier that will impede the fl ow of runoff from the impacted area. The designs presented in this paper incorporate both features

The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles

Despite growing interest in Open Access (OA) to scholarly literature, there is an unmet need for large-scale, up-to-date, and reproducible studies assessing the prevalence and characteristics of OA. We address this need using oaDOI, an open online service that determines OA status for 67 million articles. We use three samples, each of 100,000 articles, to investigateOAin three populations: (1) all journal articles assigned a Crossref DOI, (2) recent journal articles indexed in Web of Science, and (3) articles viewed by users of Unpaywall, an open-source browser extension that lets users find OA articles using oaDOI. We estimate that at least 28% of the scholarly literature is OA (19M in total) and that this proportion is growing, driven particularly by growth in Gold and Hybrid. The most recent year analyzed (2015) also has the highest percentage of OA (45%). Because of this growth, and the fact that readers disproportionately access newer articles, we find that Unpaywall users encounter OA quite frequently: 47% of articles they view are OA. Notably, the most common mechanism for OA is not Gold, Green, or Hybrid OA, but rather an under-discussed category we dub Bronze: articles made freeto- read on the publisher website, without an explicit Open license. We also examine the citation impact of OA articles, corroborating the so-called open-access citation advantage: accounting for age and discipline, OA articles receive 18% more citations than average, an effect driven primarily by Green and Hybrid OA.Weencourage further research using the free oaDOI service, as a way to inform OA policy and practice

Interaction Between Income, Health Insurance, and Self-rated Health: A Path Analysis.

The political focus of equitable health outcomes in the United States have long centered on access to medical care. However, there is compelling evidence that access to medical care is only the bare minimum necessary to achieve health, and the true influence of health insurance on health is still unclear. Widely accepted models of health estimate that less than 20% of health outcomes can be attributed to clinical care, while greater than 50% is related to social and economic determinants of health, with income being the most consistent predictor. As a result, this study investigated whether earned income is related to insurance status on the one hand and self-rated health on the other; whether the association between income and self-rated health is indirectly influenced by the presence of health insurance –namely private health insurance; whether there are differences in self-rated health between the privately insured, the publicly insured, and the uninsured; and if duration of uninsurance was inversely associated with self-rated health. As hypothesized, higher income was associated with having health insurance, and in particular private insurance. Among all included predictor variables, higher income and private insurance are the strongest predictors of higher self-rated health, and lower income and Medicaid were the strongest predictors of lower self-rated health. This study affirms that the health of persons with Medicaid is more similar to persons who are uninsured, and the health of persons with private insurance is more similar to those with Medicare. The association between income and self-rated health is indirectly influenced by health insurance. Age and education exerted the strongest overall influence on self-rated health: older respondents had lower self-rated health, and more educated respondents had higher self-rated health. And as uninsurance duration increased, self-rated health decreased. Additional studies are recommended to improve health insurance policy

Takin' it to the streets: the politics of Wilmington's black working class women

From 1880 to 1898 the working class black women of Wilmington, North Carolina forged a politics of recognition in the city streets by asserting their own terms of womanhood and demanding protection. However, during this period these women were labeled “disorderly” in The Wilmington Morning Star. Assessing the politics of the city’s working class black women required evaluating the hidden transcript of the “disorderly” reports. Additionally, also exploring the public transcript of the reports revealed the advantages a white press gained in portraying such an unruly image of the women. While these accounts lacked a direct perspective from the working class black women themselves, interpreting the hidden transcript offered the opportunity to find their political voice

Predictors of Pathology Smartphone Use: Reward Processing, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Control

The widespread adoption of smartphones that allow us to work, engage with friends and family, and pursue leisure activities has been associated with the emergence of pathological smartphone use wherein individuals experience anxiety and depressive symptoms when separated from their devices and may be more likely to engage in risky behavior while using their phone. Consistent with the broader literature on behavioral addictions, smartphone pathology is associated with increased depressive symptoms and decreased self-control. The current study builds upon a foundation of evidence from studies of pathological technology use including video games, the Internet, and social media to explore the association between the neural correlates of reward processing and smartphone pathology, depressive symptoms, and self-control. Our findings reveal that greater levels of smartphone pathology are associated with decreased neural activity related to the processing of both gains and losses when the individual is the agent of choice in a simple gambling task. Additionally, we replicate the association between depressive symptoms, self-control and smartphone pathology; and further demonstrate that reward processing represents a unique predictor of pathology beyond any shared association with depressive symptoms and self-control