Winter Wheat Variety Trial

In 2010, the University of Vermont Extension in collaboration with the University of Maine began an extensive organic variety trial of hard red winter wheat in order to determine which varieties thrive in our northern climate. The trials were established at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont and at Cornell University’s Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York. This trial is one of several in a USDA OREI grant focused on the production of hig

The Effects of Topdressing Organic Nitrogen Hard Red Winter Wheat

The demand for local organic food is steadily increasing throughout Vermont and New England. Consumers are asking for bread baked with locally grown wheat; however bakers have been slow to incorporate local wheat flour because of the challenges associated with obtaining grains that consistently meet bread-baking standards. Addressing the quality issue is essential for expanding the bread flour market in the northeast. One of the major quality factors facing Vermont grain producers is protein content. Much of the winter wheat currently produced in Vermont has protein levels below what most commercial mills would consider suitable for flour production. Commercial mills prefer to buy wheat with CP concentrations of 12-14%. Higher protein levels generally improve baking characteristics. In 2010, the University of Vermont Extension in collaboration with Gleason Grains (Bridport, VT) and Borderview Farm (Alburgh, VT) established trials to evaluate if winter wheat yield and protein could be improved by topdressing with various organic nitrogen (N) sources at key developmental stages

Spring Wheat Variety Trial

In 2010, the University of Vermont Extension in collaboration with the University of Maine began an extensive evaluation of hard red spring wheat varieties grown under organic production in order to determine which varieties thrive in our northern climate. The trials were established at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont and at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York. This trial is one of several in a USDA Organic Research Education Initiative grant focused on the production of high quality organic bread wheat in New England

Effectiveness of Clinical Scenarios in Improving Student Interprofessional Skills and Attitudes

Background: “Interprofessional education (IPE) is defined as the process by which individuals from two or more health professions learn with, from, and about each other across the spectrum of their education to improve collaboration, practice, and the quality of health care.” [1] Interprofessional Education has recently gained interest as an important aspect of training in healthcare professions, attracting the attention and support of several key pharmacy organizations. Various models of IPE have been implemented to facilitate collaboration among medical, nursing, pharmacy, and social work students and professionals. One model found to be particularly effective among pharmacy students is a mock clinical scenario, requiring interprofessional collaboration in order to yield the best care for the patient. Objectives: Therefore, the aim of this project is to utilize mock clinical scenarios to improve interprofessional knowledge, collaboration, student attitudes, and behaviors among Cedarville pharmacy, nursing, and social work students and Wright State medical students. The long term goal is to integrate this clinical scenario model, if proven effective, into the interprofessional curriculums of emerging health science centers. Methodology: The study will conduct mock clinical scenarios among pharmacy, nursing, social work, and medical students. The participants will complete a survey prior to the event regarding interprofessional behaviors and attitudes. The volunteers will then complete the scenario in intraprofessional groups. Following the intraprofessional session another survey will be taken to determine any changes in attitudes and behaviors. The subjects will then complete the scenario again in interprofessional groups. Following the interprofessional session a final survey will be administered to further measure change in attitudes and behaviors. Both sessions will be 20 minutes, and participants will be given 5 minutes to complete each survey. Analysis: Analysis will be conducted with the Kruskall-Wallis test to find change in attitudes among the students among the different majors. Also, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test will determine changes within each group since normal distribution will not be assumed

A Framework for an HSI Downselection Tool

This technical report describes the concept and development of SITHE, the Systems Integration Tool for HSI Evaluation. SITHE is a framework for selecting tools to be used in evaluating complex technical systems in terms of Human-Systems Integration, or HSI. HSI, or Human-Systems Integration, is the process of integrating people, technology, and an organization at a systems level, with full consideration given to the human requirements of the user (Booher, 2003). HSI focuses on the human aspects of system definition, development, and deployment, and integrates considerations related to personnel, training, human factors, habitability, and other human-related concerns into the overall systems acquisition process (US Department of Defense, 2004). HSI is a field of interest to researchers in academia and industry because, although systems continue to grow more complex, they have not achieved the level of autonomy that would permit them to operate successfully without humans either in or on the loop. Humans are still an essential component of most complex systems, especially when the context of operation for the complex system is subject to uncertainty, as in military applications. However, HSI as a broad field can encompass a large number of types of interaction between humans and systems, including but not necessarily limited to supervisory control, mechanics and ergonomics of control operation, and visualization and decision support. The universe of tools for HSI (including hardware, software, processes, and techniques used to evaluate HSI aspects of complex systems) is already large and growing quickly. Many HSI tools are developed for research purposes only, or in an ad-hoc fashion for specific projects, and as such there is no such thing as a standard catalogue of HSI tools. In addition, the need to consider downstream competencies such as flexibility, robustness, and usability, is increasing as HSI systems become more complex. Thus the HSI cost-benefit trade space is ever increasing, making it difficult for decision makers to determine if and to what degree a system actually meets some pre-specified HSI criteria.Prepared for Dr. T. Skrmetti, Rite Solutions, Inc

Evaluating Interprofessional Fast Forward Rounds for Transition of Care Education

Background: Interprofessional Education is gaining recognition by key pharmacy organizations for its value in healthcare education, producing various models for implementation among healthcare students and professionals. Unfolding cases incorporating transitions of care may improve student skills and attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. Objectives: This project assessed the efficacy of unfolding cases in improving interprofessional skills and attitudes among pharmacy, nursing, and social work students. The ultimate goal is to integrate this model, if proven effective, into the curricula of multiple health science centers. Methodology: First, pharmacy, nursing, and social work students completed a pre-intervention survey regarding interprofessional skills and attitudes before discussing the first “fast-forward rounds” case in professional silos. After a transitions of care lecture, subjects completed the alternative cases in interprofessional groups in a crossover design. The comparable transitions of care cases included common healthcare topics that were challenging but within the scope of regular practice. “Fast forwards” between transitions of care required students to interpret changes in the case throughout the hospital stay. Following the interprofessional session, group debriefing allowed for feedback on cases, transitions, and differences working with and without other professions. Finally, a post-intervention survey was administered to measure changes in interprofessional attitudes and skills. Analysis: Kruskall-Wallis analysis identified differences among the three majors on the pretest and posttest separately. The Wilcoxon sign rank test assessed changes within each group since normal distribution was not assumed. A Chi-squared test analyzed demographic data. Results: Data analysis of results from the conference revealed a significant improvement in 15 of 25 survey questions in the composite group, while 14, 7, and 4 questions showed significant improvement in the pharmacy, nursing, and social work sub-analyses, respectively. Fewer questions showed significant improvement in the social work group, possibly due to the specific medical details of the cases as well as fewer social work participants relative to pharmacy and nursing. Discussion: Results suggest that this intervention can effectively improve student attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration and understanding of transitions of care. Changes can be made to improve the benefit to social work students and to increase the number of majors participating

Evidence-based recommendations for the use of WBC-reduced cellular blood components

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72881/1/j.1537-2995.2001.41101310.x.pd

Accurate, rapid and high-throughput detection of strain-specific polymorphisms in Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia pestis by next-generation sequencing

Background: In the event of biocrimes or infectious disease outbreaks, high-resolution genetic characterization for identifying the agent and attributing it to a specific source can be crucial for an effective response. Until recently, in-depth genetic characterization required expensive and time-consuming Sanger sequencing of a few strains, followed by genotyping of a small number of marker loci in a panel of isolates at or by gel-based approaches such as pulsed field gel electrophoresis, which by necessity ignores most of the genome. Next-generation, massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology (specifically the Applied Biosystems sequencing by oligonucleotide ligation and detection (SOLiD™) system) is a powerful investigative tool for rapid, cost-effective and parallel microbial whole-genome characterization. Results: To demonstrate the utility of MPS for whole-genome typing of monomorphic pathogens, four Bacillus anthracis and four Yersinia pestis strains were sequenced in parallel. Reads were aligned to complete reference genomes, and genomic variations were identified. Resequencing of the B. anthracis Ames ancestor strain detected no false-positive single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and mapping of reads to the Sterne strain correctly identified 98% of the 133 SNPs that are not clustered or associated with repeats. Three geographically distinct B. anthracis strains from the A branch lineage were found to have between 352 and 471 SNPs each, relative to the Ames genome, and one strain harbored a genomic amplification. Sequencing of four Y. pestis strains from the Orientalis lineage identified between 20 and 54 SNPs per strain relative to the CO92 genome, with the single Bolivian isolate having approximately twice as many SNPs as the three more closely related North American strains. Coverage plotting also revealed a common deletion in two strains and an amplification in the Bolivian strain that appear to be due to insertion element-mediated recombination events. Most private SNPs (that is, a, variant found in only one strain in this set) selected for validation by Sanger sequencing were confirmed, although rare falsepositive SNPs were associated with variable nucleotide tandem repeats. Conclusions: The high-throughput, multiplexing capability, and accuracy of this system make it suitable for rapid whole-genome typing of microbial pathogens during a forensic or epidemiological investigation. By interrogating nearly every base of the genome, rare polymorphisms can be reliably discovered, thus facilitating high-resolution strain tracking and strengthening forensic attribution

Developing a Series of AI Challenges for the United States Department of the Air Force

Through a series of federal initiatives and orders, the U.S. Government has been making a concerted effort to ensure American leadership in AI. These broad strategy documents have influenced organizations such as the United States Department of the Air Force (DAF). The DAF-MIT AI Accelerator is an initiative between the DAF and MIT to bridge the gap between AI researchers and DAF mission requirements. Several projects supported by the DAF-MIT AI Accelerator are developing public challenge problems that address numerous Federal AI research priorities. These challenges target priorities by making large, AI-ready datasets publicly available, incentivizing open-source solutions, and creating a demand signal for dual use technologies that can stimulate further research. In this article, we describe these public challenges being developed and how their application contributes to scientific advances

SCFAs Induce Mouse Neutrophil Chemotaxis through the GPR43 Receptor

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have recently attracted attention as potential mediators of the effects of gut microbiota on intestinal inflammation. Some of these effects have been suggested to occur through the direct actions of SCFAs on the GPR43 receptor in neutrophils, though the precise role of this receptor in neutrophil activation is still unclear. We show that mouse bone marrow derived neutrophils (BMNs) can chemotax effectively through polycarbonate filters towards a source of acetate, propionate or butyrate. Moreover, we show that BMNs move with good speed and directionality towards a source of propionate in an EZ-Taxiscan chamber coated with fibrinogen. These effects of SCFAs were mimicked by low concentrations of the synthetic GPR43 agonist phenylacetamide-1 and were abolished in GPR43−/− BMNs. SCFAs and phenylacetamide-1 also elicited GPR43-dependent activation of PKB, p38 and ERK and these responses were sensitive to pertussis toxin, indicating a role for Gi proteins. Phenylacetamide-1 also elicited rapid and transient activation of Rac1/2 GTPases and phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6. Genetic and pharmacological intervention identified important roles for PI3Kγ, Rac2, p38 and ERK, but not mTOR, in GPR43-dependent chemotaxis. These results identify GPR43 as a bona fide chemotactic receptor for neutrophils in vitro and start to define important elements in its signal transduction pathways