Mowin\u27 Day

Prose by Carey Ford Compton

Paideia

Prose by Carey Ford Compton

After the Baby

Prose by Carey Ford Compton. Runner-Up in the 2016 Manuscripts Prose Contest with Benjamin Percy

Perceptions of selected agricultural groups toward education programs in agriculture

The major purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions about agricultural education programs as perceived by Farmers Home Administration, Soil Conservation Service, and agribusiness personnel in Iowa. More specifically, this investigation was intended to: (1) determine and analyze the demographic characteristics of these groups; (2) determine the personal involvement and contact of these groups with agricultural education programs; (3) determine the program content of these programs as perceived by these groups; (4) determine the teaching methods used in agricultural education programs as perceived by these groups; and (5) determine the importance of agricultural education programs as perceived by these groups when grouped according to demographic characteristics;Data collection was accomplished through a survey instrument mailed to the Farmers Home Administration, Soil Conservation Service, and agribusiness personnel. The stratified random sampling procedure was used to this investigation. Cronbach\u27s alpha was calculated for the scaled items of the survey instrument and the group factors, namely: personal involvement, program content, method, and perceptions;The major findings of the study revealed farm visits, field days, and demonstrations seemed to be the most used methods in transferring information to program clients. Audio program instructions and telephone conferences were observed to be the least used teaching methods;A majority of the respondents indicated that they first heard about agricultural education programs through mass media communication. A majority of the respondents indicated that they used agricultural education programs some ;The Soil Conservation Service group was observed to have the highest mean score for the involvement item soil conservation field tours , whereas the Farmers Home Administration group was observed to have the second highest mean score for the involvement item farm decision-making meetings ;It was concluded that several factors influenced the perceptions of the respondents toward agricultural education programs, namely: (1) respondent level of education, (2) use of agricultural education programs, and (3) extent of employment in agricultural education programs

Optimization of routine identification of clinically relevant gram-negative bacteria by use of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and the bruker biotyper

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) might complement and one day replace phenotypic identification of bacteria in the clinical microbiology laboratory, but there is no consensus standard regarding the requirements for its validation prior to clinical use in the United States. The objective of this study was to assess the preanalytical variables influencing Gram-negative identification by use of the Bruker Biotyper MALDI-TOF MS system, including density of organism spotting on a stainless steel target plate and the direct overlay of organisms with formic acid. A heavy smear with formic acid overlay was either superior or equivalent to alternative smear conditions. Microbiological preanalytical variables were also assayed, such as culture medium, growth temperature, and use of serial subculture. Postanalytical analysis included the application of modified species-level identification acceptance criteria. Biotyper identifications were compared with those using traditional phenotypic methods, and discrepancies were resolved with 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compared to the recommended score cutoffs of the manufacturer, the application of optimized Biotyper score cutoffs for species-level identification increased the rate of identification by 6.75% for the enteric Gram-negative bacteria and 4.25% for the nonfermenting Gram-negative bacteria. Various incubation temperatures, growth medium types, and repeat subcultures did not result in misidentification. We conclude that the Bruker MALDI Biotyper is a robust system for the identification of Gram-negative organisms in the clinical laboratory and that meaningful performance improvements can be made by implementing simple pre- and postanalytical techniques

The Bare Minimum: A Shift Leader’s Perspective on Minimum Wage in the Fast-Food Industry

Despite growing evidence that the recession has ended and the economic recovery has started, over 50 percent of fast-food workers have to rely on government assistance in order to survive. This is influenced by several factors: a stagnant minimum wage, a workforce that is both older and more skilled than before, and the low-wage employers’ reliance on a flawed system in order to bring more profit. Reviewing research both before (1970 to 2007) and after (2009 to October 2013) the recession of 2008 has yielded two different views of the low-wage industries, and despite some obvious differences, both data sets agree that the minimum wage is not enough to support a family alone. I will be discussing several theories presented in my research on how to help the “working poor” attain a satisfying “living wage,” including “indexing” the minimum wage, wage as a percentage of average wage, and the use of a program known as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).Carey FordCunningham Memorial Library, Terre Haute, Indiana State Universit

Editorial Perspective: When is a ‘small effect’ actually large and impactful?

Reporting of effect sizes is standard practice in psychology and psychiatry research. However, interpretation of these effect sizes can be meaningless or misleading – in particular, the evaluation of specific effect sizes as ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’ can be inaccurate depending on the research context. A real-world example of this is research into the mental health of children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence suggests that clinicians and services are struggling with increased demand, yet population studies looking at the difference in mental health before and during the pandemic report effect sizes that are deemed ‘small’. In this short review, we utilise simulations to demonstrate that a relatively small shift in mean scores on mental health measures can indicate a large shift in the number of cases of anxiety and depression when scaled up to an entire population. This shows that ‘small’ effect sizes can in some contexts be large and impactful

Two cases of Kerstersia gyiorum isolated from sites of chronic infection

Kerstersia gyiorum is infrequently associated with human infection. We report the isolation of Kerstersia gyiorum from two patients: the first, a patient with chronic ear infections, and the second, a patient with a chronic leg wound. Both isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, which has not been previously reported

Mapping Large-Scale CO Depletion in a Filamentary Infrared Dark Cloud

Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) are cold, high mass surface density and high density structures, likely to be representative of the initial conditions for massive star and star cluster formation. CO emission from IRDCs has the potential to be useful for tracing their dynamics, but may be affected by depleted gas phase abundances due to freeze-out onto dust grains. Here we analyze C18O J=1-0 and J=2-1 emission line data, taken with the IRAM 30m telescope, of the highly filamentary IRDC G035.39.-0033. We derive the excitation temperature as a function of position and velocity, with typical values of ~7K, and thus derive total mass surface densities, Sigma_C18O, assuming standard gas phase abundances and accounting for optical depth in the line, which can reach values of ~1. The mass surface densities reach values of ~0.07 g/cm^2. We compare these results to the mass surface densities derived from mid-infrared (MIR) extinction mapping, Sigma_SMF, by Butler & Tan, which are expected to be insensitive to the dust temperatures in the cloud. With a significance of >10sigma, we find Sigma_C18O/Sigma_SMF decreases by about a factor of 5 as Sigma increases from ~0.02 to ~0.2 g/cm^2, which we interpret as evidence for CO depletion. Several hundred solar masses are being affected, making this one of the most massive clouds in which CO depletion has been observed directly. We present a map of the depletion factor in the filament and discuss implications for the formation of the IRDC.Comment: 9 pages, accepted to ApJ, Mac users: Figure 1 is best viewed with Adobe acroread rather than previe