Draft Genome Sequences of Antibiotic-Resistant Commensal Escherichia coli

Antimicrobial resistance is a significant public health issue. We report here the draft genome sequences of three drug-resistant strains of commensal Escherichia coli isolated from a single healthy college student. Each strain has a distinct genome, but two of the three contain an identical large plasmid with multiple resistance genes

Exploring the college experiences of students adopted from South Korea

This phenomenological study focused on the college experiences of students adopted from South Korea. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the college experiences of Korean adoptees related to their personal development and Korean cultural awareness while at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Eleven students at a land-grant institution in the Midwestern United States participated in this study. Data were collected using the three interview structure that Seidman (2006) outlined. The first interview focused on life history, the second meeting on details of their college experience, and the final interview on the meaning made of these experiences. The three interviews in the series were conducted within 1 week of each other to provide continuity from one interview to the next interview. There was no literature available on the college experiences of transracially adopted college students, so this study expands the literature in that area. The findings are organized into three sections that paralleled the interview content: youth and background experiences, college experiences, and thoughts about the future. The themes that emerged in the youth and background experiences include strong connection to family, religion as an important part of childhood, and connection to Korean culture as a child. The majority of the text focused on the themes that emerged from the college experiences portion of the interviews. The major themes included interacting with others while in college, experiencing life as an Asian person, and exploring racial and ethnic identity while in college. In the final section, the theme focused on future plans and meaning making. The theme in this section was interest in learning about Korean culture. The findings reflected that, although the students did develop and change while in college, they did not necessarily explore their Korean culture or interact with Koreans and Korean Americans. Typically, they did not use campus support services or the campus environment to explore the Korean culture. The findings of this study have implications for parents of transracially adopted children, student affairs professionals, adopted individuals, and people who interact with these students. Recommendations for future research include studying students who were adopted from countries other than South Korea, interviewing students in different regions of the United States, and identifying a pool of students from urban areas to interview. It would be interesting to learn more about the college experiences of Korean adoptees as well

Using Speech Recognition Software to Increase Writing Fluency for Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Writing is an important skill that is necessary throughout school and life. Many students with physical disabilities, however, have difficulty with writing skills due to disability-specific factors, such as motor coordination problems. Due to the difficulties these individuals have with writing, assistive technology is often utilized. One piece of assistive technology, speech recognition software, may help remove the motor demand of writing and help students become more fluent writers. Past research on the use of speech recognition software, however, reveals little information regarding its impact on individuals with physical disabilities. Therefore, this study involved students of high school age with physical disabilities that affected hand use. Using an alternating treatments design to compare the use of word processing with the use of speech recognition software, this study analyzed first-draft writing samples in the areas of fluency, accuracy, type of word errors, recall of intended meaning, and length. Data on fluency, calculated in words correct per minute (wcpm) indicated that all participants wrote much faster with speech recognition compared to word processing. However, accuracy, calculated as percent correct, was much lower when participants used speech recognition compared to word processing. Word errors and recall of intended meaning were coded based on type and varied across participants. In terms of length, all participants wrote longer drafts when using speech recognition software, primarily because their fluency was higher, and they were able, therefore, to write more words. Although the results of this study indicated that participants wrote more fluently with speech recognition, because their accuracy was low, it is difficult to determine whether or not speech recognition is a viable solution for all individuals with physical disabilities. Therefore, additional research is needed that takes into consideration the editing and error correction time when using speech recognition software

Role of Alfalfa in Animal Diets

Alfalfa forage use has increased in all classes of livestock - dairy, beef, horses, sheep, and swine - during the last 40 years. The highest utilization of alfalfa by livestock is found in dairy cattle diets. Additionally, the use of alfalfa as a grazing crop has also undergone a considerable increase with the use of new grazing management techniques and the development of new grazing varieties. Alfalfa\u27s strength as a forage crop is its high nutritional value. Alfalfa is higher in protein, minerals, and net energy than grasses and small grains. High quality alfalfa also helps to promote intake, especially as long-stemmed hay, because of its influence on increasing saliva flow

Caregiver Assessment Using Smart Gaming Technology: A Preliminary Approach

As pre-diagnostic technologies are becoming increasingly accessible, using them to improve the quality of care available to dementia patients and their caregivers is of increasing interest. Specifically, we aim to develop a tool for non-invasively assessing task performance in a simple gaming application. To address this, we have developed Caregiver Assessment using Smart Gaming Technology (CAST), a mobile application that personalizes a traditional word scramble game. Its core functionality uses a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) optimized via a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to provide customized performance measures for each user of the system. With CAST, we match the relative level of difficulty of play using the individual's ability to solve the word scramble tasks. We provide an analysis of the preliminary results for determining task difficulty, with respect to our current participant cohort.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figures, 6 table

Reconceptualising the Dramatic Monologue: The Interlocutory Dynamics of Carol Ann Duffy's Poetry.

Previous critics of the dramatic monologue have largely confined their interrogations to the ironic form in the work of male poets. Little attention has been paid to sympathetic and satiric variants of the form and the work of female poets. This thesis claims that a double-stranded inheritance of both an ironic form from Browning, and a sympathetic form from his contemporary Augusta Webster should be recognised for the dramatic monologue in the works of contemporary female poets. My research is focused on the work of Carol Ann Duffy, who is acclaimed as the foremost contemporary exponent of the form. My thesis argues that the recent development of feminist discourse is a contributory factor to the variation of form and diversity of content in the dramatic monologues of contemporary women poets. My findings demonstrate that much of Duffy's work with the form is inscribed with feminist polemic, and has the potential to disseminate the theories and concepts of'feminism' into the public domain. A subsidiary element of my research suggests that there is an interrelation between autobiographical writing and women's dramatic monologues. My readings of ironic, sympathetic and satiric dramatic monologues pay close attention to the interlocutory triad of speaker, audience in the poem, and the external audience, the readers. My method of stylistic and discursive analysis draws upon an eclectic body of feminist concepts and theories. My own life experience is also, at times, incorporated self-reflexively into my readings. The thesis is divided into an Introduction, four chapters of readings and analyses, and a Conclusion which ends with a dramatic monologue of my own. The Introduction interrogates existing critics of the form and defines the methodology of my research. Chapters One and Two consider sympathetic and ironic variants of the form. Chapter Three investigates Duffy's use of a multi-voiced variant. Chapter Four focuses on Duffy's fifth collection and assesses the engagement with feminist ideas

Texas white-tailed deer Internet harvest model

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is an intensively managed game species throughout Texas and the United States. Modeling is a tool that has been used to evaluate various management practices and their potential impacts on wildlife populations; however, many existing models are complicated for the average land manager, require a significant amount of demographic data that may not be readily available, or require expensive software. I developed a white-tailed deer (WTD) harvest model, Texas Deer Manager (TDM), using STELLA® (High Performance Systems, Inc., Version 7.0.3) and NetSim Creator® (High Performance Systems, Inc. Version 2.0), that incorporates the field data that are currently collected and/or can be easily collected, and can be used by interested landowners and state biologists. Unlike other population models specific for WTD, my TDM simulation model has an easy-to-use interface and is available on-line via the Internet. Age classes in the model are represented as fawns (2 years) for each sex. Harvest is controlled by the model user. Currently the parameters such as survival and fecundity rates are set for an average year in the Edwards Plateau Ecological Region of Texas; however, model users can adjust survival and fecundity based on the specifics of their land management area. The website also provides general information about WTD biology and management. I conducted an on-line survey (n = 29) to evaluate the perceived usefulness and satisfaction of the TDM and website. I found that overall participants found the TDM and website were useful with 59% responding they would “probably” or “definitely” use it as a tool to help them determine their harvest plans. There seems to be a strong interest and need for a tool like the TDM and website. It would be beneficial to continue to develop the website and make it applicable for all the regions in Texas. Also, since the TDM model is easily accessible via the Internet and simple to use, it could be incorporated as a tool to teach population dynamics in the classroom