The Impact of Opendyslexic Font on the Reading Comprehension of Tier II and Tier III Reading Intervention Students

This mixed methods action research project measured the effect of OpenDyslexic font on the reading comprehension of MTSS Tier II and Tier III reading intervention students. A review of the literature revealed little research about OpenDyslexic font or its effect on reading comprehension. The study consisted of a 7-week period with 4th grade Tier II and Tier III reading intervention students using OpenDyslexic font while reviewing previously taught comprehension strategies before end of the year testing. Results show positive growth for Tier II reading intervention students and results were inconclusive for Tier III students

Wide Hybridization, Genomic, and Overwintering Characterization of High-Biomass Sorghum Spp. Feedstocks

The federally mandated 36 billion gallons a year production goal for "advanced biofuels" by 2022 has created a demand for lignocellulosic feedstocks that are inexpensive to produce. The current lack of market development for lignocellulosic feedstocks incentivizes the development of versatile biomass products with greater end-use possibilities, as in either a forage or bioenergy system. High-biomass, perennial grasses offer dual-use potential in either forage or biofuel systems. In 2009 and 2010 controlled pollinations were made to evaluate the efficiency of producing interspecific hybrids between homozygous recessive iap/iap and Iap/- Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, cultivated sorghum, and three S. halepense (L.) Pers., johnsongrass, genotypes. The iap/iap genotype removes reproductive barriers to alien pollen in S. bicolor and aids in wide hybridization. Total seed set, germinable seed set, and hybrid production were significantly higher using the iap/iap genotype. The iap/iap S. bicolor genotype is a valuable tool available to plant breeders for the creation of wide hybrids with S. halepense. In a related study a bulked segregant analysis was conducted using bulked samples of S. bicolor, typical flowering S. halepense, non-flowering S. halepense, and putative triploid hybrids of the two species to identify unique markers for each bulk and to evaluate S. bicolor genetic material introgression into the non-flowering S. halepense genome. Thirty-nine and 23 markers were found to be unique to the S. bicolor and typical flowering S. halepense bulks, respectively. These unique markers could be used in a breeding program to identify interspecific hybrids. Alleles at fifteen markers were found in both the S. bicolor and non-flowering S. halepense bulks but not in typical flowering S. halepense and may help explain the non-flowering phenotype. In 2010 and 2011 a study was conducted to investigate the rhizome composition of 11 genotypes of Sorghum species and its relationship to overwintering. Genotype, environment, and sampling date had significant effects on rhizome metabolite concentrations. Overwintering capacity was related to fructans and crude protein concentrations and NIRS (Near Infrared Spectroscopy) was effective at estimating these values. This information can be used to screen for stronger perennial parents to be used in future breeding programs

Optical Gaze Tracking with Spatially-Sparse Single-Pixel Detectors

Gaze tracking is an essential component of next generation displays for virtual reality and augmented reality applications. Traditional camera-based gaze trackers used in next generation displays are known to be lacking in one or multiple of the following metrics: power consumption, cost, computational complexity, estimation accuracy, latency, and form-factor. We propose the use of discrete photodiodes and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as an alternative to traditional camera-based gaze tracking approaches while taking all of these metrics into consideration. We begin by developing a rendering-based simulation framework for understanding the relationship between light sources and a virtual model eyeball. Findings from this framework are used for the placement of LEDs and photodiodes. Our first prototype uses a neural network to obtain an average error rate of 2.67{\deg} at 400Hz while demanding only 16mW. By simplifying the implementation to using only LEDs, duplexed as light transceivers, and more minimal machine learning model, namely a light-weight supervised Gaussian process regression algorithm, we show that our second prototype is capable of an average error rate of 1.57{\deg} at 250 Hz using 800 mW.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published in IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) 202

Forest Fragments as Barriers to Fruit Fly Dispersal: \u3ci\u3eAnastrepha\u3c/i\u3e (Diptera: Tephritidae) Populations in Orchards and Adjacent Forest Fragments in Puerto Rico

McPhail-type traps baited with ammonium acetate and putrescine were used to monitor populations of Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) and Anastrepha suspensa(Loew) in two orchards with hosts of these flies (mango, Mangifera indica L., and carambola, Averrhoa carambola L.), as well as in forest fragments bordering these orchards. Contour maps were constructed to measure population distributions in and around orchards. Our results indicate that Anastrephapopulations are focused around host fruit in both space and time, that traps do not draw fruit flies away from hosts, even when placed within 15 m of the host, and that lures continue to function for 6 mo in the field. The contour mapping analyses reveal that populations of fruit flies are focused around ovipositional hosts. Although the trapping system does not have a very long effective sampling range, it is ideal, when used in combination with contour analyses, for assessing fine-scale (on the order of meters) population distributions, including identifying resources around which fly populations are focused or, conversely, assessing the effectiveness of management tools. The results are discussed as they pertain to monitoring and detecting Anastrepha spp. with the McPhail-type trap and ammonium acetate and putrescine baiting system and the dispersal of these flies within Puerto Rico

Oregon State University Libraries and Press Strategic Agenda for Research Data Services

The Strategic Agenda for Research Data Services will guide the development of data services at OSU Libraries from January 2013 to June 2014. The Strategic Agenda is informed by best practices in data management at peer universities. Major elements of the Strategic Agenda include an instructional program on data management, robust data management consultation and planning services, facilitation of OSU participation in open data initiatives, and the development of additional data preservation and sharing infrastructures

An Analysis of Arthropod Interceptions by APHIS-PPQ and Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico

USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspect traffic entering the United States for arthropods posing a threat to national agriculture or ecosystems. We analyzed interceptions made by these agencies in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands between October 2006 and December 2009 for patterns with regard to the frequency of interceptions, origins of interceptions, and the taxa intercepted. 6,952 arthropods were intercepted in freight or luggage entering Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from foreign countries and 9,840 arthropods were intercepted from freight or luggage leaving Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands destined for mainland U.S. Most (77%) of the arthropods intercepted entering Puerto Rico were intercepted in freight or luggage originating within the Caribbean. Most intercepted arthropods were in the order Hemiptera (52% of all interceptions), followed by Diptera (16%), Coleoptera (10%), Lepidoptera (8%), Thysanoptera (5%), Acari (4%), and Hymenoptera (2%). Intercepted arthropods from foreign countries were more equitably spread among orders, whereas 89% of the arthropods intercepted from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were in the orders Hemiptera and Diptera. Hemiptera made up 28% of the interceptions from foreign countries, but 69% of the interceptions made from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Only 7 of 28 adventive arthropods recently established in Puerto Rico were intercepted during this study, and these were intercepted at relatively low frequency (between 3 and 132 interceptions; mean of 35 interceptions). We present data suggesting that most adventive arthropods that occur in both Puerto Rico and Florida established in Florida first, likely due to less stringent or non-existent import inspections for traffic coming into Puerto Rico from the U.S. Finally, we highlight several adventive arthropods that have recently established in Puerto Rico and discuss what we can learn from these invaders

Inhomogeneous Neutrino Degeneracy and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

We examine Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the case of inhomogenous neutrino degeneracy, in the limit where the fluctuations are sufficiently small on large length scales that the present-day element abundances are homogeneous. We consider two representive cases: degeneracy of the electron neutrino alone, and equal chemical potentials for all three neutrinos. We use a linear programming method to constrain an arbitrary distribution of the chemical potentials. For the current set of (highly-restrictive) limits on the primordial element abundances, homogeneous neutrino degeneracy barely changes the allowed range of the baryon-to-photon ratio. Inhomogeneous degeneracy allows for little change in the lower bound on the baryon-to-photon ratio, but the upper bound in this case can be as large as 1.1 \times 10^{-8} (only electron neutrino degeneracy) or 1.0 \times 10^{-9} (equal degeneracies for all three neutrinos). For the case of inhomogeneous neutrino degeneracy, we show that there is no BBN upper bound on the neutrino energy density, which is bounded in this case only by limits from structure formation and the cosmic microwave background.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

Collaboration and tension between institutions and units providing data management support

A panel of speakers from three universities explored their challenges and progress in building programs to support research data management, whether within the library system or with research offices or computing groups. Since 2012 Oregon State University has partnered with its research office and graduate school, helping students prepare data for preservation and sharing and developing a graduate course for credit in research data management. Based on needs identified through an environmental scan, the University of Washington hired a data services coordinator to promote the services provided and to increase collaborations, visibility and support. Purdue University pairs data services specialists with subject liaison librarians to reach disciplinary faculty and researchers. The connections identify champions, lead to successful collaborations and, most importantly, provide the opportunity to show data services specialists as peers and collaborators. With basic services established, each institution looks forward to strengthening relationships and expanding services, skills and staffing

Using peer review to support development of community resources for research data management

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. The definitive version was published in Journal of eScience Librarianship 6 (2017): e1114, doi:10.7191/jeslib.2017.1114.To ensure that resources designed to teach skills and best practices for scientific research data sharing and management are useful, the maintainers of those materials need to evaluate and update them to ensure their accuracy, currency, and quality. This paper advances the use and process of outside peer review for community resources in addressing ongoing accuracy, quality, and currency issues. It further describes the next step of moving the updated materials to an online collaborative community platform for future iterative review in order to build upon mechanisms for open science, ongoing iteration, participation, and transparent community engagement.DataONE is supported by US National Science Foundation Awards 08- 30944 and 14-30508, William Michener, Principal Investigator; Matthew Jones, Patricia Cruse, David Vieglais, and Suzanne Allard, Co-Principal Investigators