173 research outputs found
NASA access mechanism: Graphical user interface information retrieval system
Access to online information sources of aerospace, scientific, and engineering data, a mission focus for NASA's Scientific and Technical Information Program, has always been limited to factors such as telecommunications, query language syntax, lack of standardization in the information, and the lack of adequate tools to assist in searching. Today, the NASA STI Program's NASA Access Mechanism (NAM) prototype offers a solution to these problems by providing the user with a set of tools that provide a graphical interface to remote, heterogeneous, and distributed information in a manner adaptable to both casual and expert users. Additionally, the NAM provides access to many Internet-based services such as Electronic Mail, the Wide Area Information Servers system, Peer Locating tools, and electronic bulletin boards
Connecting Youth to Nature: Environmental Educationâs Role in the Future of Wellbeing and Stewardship
In 2005, the term Nature-deficit disorder was coined by Richard Louv to describe the childhood costs of alienation from nature including diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The increasing use of technology, stricter parenting, local ordinances, biophobia, socioeconomic status, and coronavirus all contribute to Nature-deficit disorder. To mitigate and reverse Nature-deficit disorder and its consequences, children must connect with nature. Nature connection improves childrenâs health and wellbeing and increases environmentally responsible behavior. Nature connection can improve physical, spiritual, psychological, and social wellbeing. Children who spend more time in nature report lower rates of depression and reduced stress.
In my thesis, I explore how children connect to nature, the benefits from such connection, and the role environmental education has in increasing childrenâs learning experiences in nature; feature environmental educationâs efforts to incorporate Indigenous worldviews, traditional ecological knowledge, and ways of relating to the natural world; and highlight Forest Schoolsâ efforts to implement hands-on, play-based, child-led, and outdoors-centered learning. I argue that environmental education is uniquely positioned to connect children with nature through Indigenous environmental education programs and Forest Schools, thereby improving childhood wellbeing and promoting environmental stewardship
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Environmental Threats to the Symbiotic Relationship of Coral Reefs and Quorum Sensing
The coral reefs are declining in vitality and quantity in all parts of the world. Microbiomes exist symbiotically on the individual coral polyps. With this understanding comes the idea that microbiomes may coordinate survival through their inhabiting microbe colonies in order to sustain the life of the coral polyps. Of particular interest is quorum sensing, a form of bacterial communication known to coordinate gene expression in density dependent bacteria. The importance of understanding the symbiotic relationship between microbeâs use of quorum sensing and the coral it inhabits may offer insight in how microbiological colonies promote reef health and how external toxins alter these molecular processes
Global disease monitoring and forecasting with Wikipedia
Infectious disease is a leading threat to public health, economic stability,
and other key social structures. Efforts to mitigate these impacts depend on
accurate and timely monitoring to measure the risk and progress of disease.
Traditional, biologically-focused monitoring techniques are accurate but costly
and slow; in response, new techniques based on social internet data such as
social media and search queries are emerging. These efforts are promising, but
important challenges in the areas of scientific peer review, breadth of
diseases and countries, and forecasting hamper their operational usefulness.
We examine a freely available, open data source for this use: access logs
from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Using linear models, language as a
proxy for location, and a systematic yet simple article selection procedure, we
tested 14 location-disease combinations and demonstrate that these data
feasibly support an approach that overcomes these challenges. Specifically, our
proof-of-concept yields models with up to 0.92, forecasting value up to
the 28 days tested, and several pairs of models similar enough to suggest that
transferring models from one location to another without re-training is
feasible.
Based on these preliminary results, we close with a research agenda designed
to overcome these challenges and produce a disease monitoring and forecasting
system that is significantly more effective, robust, and globally comprehensive
than the current state of the art.Comment: 27 pages; 4 figures; 4 tables. Version 2: Cite McIver & Brownstein
and adjust novelty claims accordingly; revise title; various revisions for
clarit
Final conversations: Overview and practical implications for patients, families, and healthcare workers
The current paper presents a summary of a 12-year body of research on final conversations, which will be useful for healthcare providers who work with patients and family nearing the end-of-life, as well as for patients and their family members. Final conversations encompass any and all conversations that occur between individuals with a terminal diagnosis and their family members (all participants are aware that their loved one is in the midst of the death journey). Final conversations take the family memberâs perspective and highlights what are their memorable messages with the terminally ill loved one. In this paper the authors highlight the message themes present at the end-of-life for both adults and children, the functions each message theme serves for family members, and lastly, the communicative challenges of final conversations. Additionally, the authors discuss the current nature and future of final conversations research, with special attention paid to practical implications for healthcare providers, patients, and family members; also, scholarly challenges and future research endeavors are explored
PENINGKATAN EKONOMI MASYARAKAT DESA LUBUK ENAU KECAMATAN LEMBAK KABUPATEN MUARA ENIM MELALUI POTENSI DESA
Lubuk Enau Village, Lembak District, Muara Enim Regency. In this village, it was the Preparation Village which later became the definitive village. From Lubuk Enau - Lubuk Enau Village, Lembak District. This village was only inaugurated as a separate village in 2011 based on the regulation of the Regent of Muara Enim No. 25. In this village most of the people work as farmers. Based on the results of observations of KKN. It was found that the Lubuk Enau Village government did not explore and manage the economic potential of the MSME sector, and the potential of Natural Resources owned by Lubuk Enau Village itself. Community service activities carried out by KKN Group 4 students together with Karang Taruna Lubuk Enau Village by holding workshop activities. The goal to be achieved is that MSME actors in the village can expand their marketing reach on social media. However, one of the problems faced in the development of MSMEs in Lubuk Enau Village is the limited internet network making economic empowerment difficult.Desa Lubuk Enau Kecamatan Lembak Kabupaten Muara Enim. Di desa ini, merupakan Desa Persiapan yang kemudian menjadi desa depinitif. Dari Lubuk Enau - Desa Lubuk Enau Kecamatan Lembak. Desa ini baru diresmikan menjadi Desa yang terdiri sendiri pada tahun 2011 berdasarkan peraturan Bupati Muara Enim No 25. Di kota ini sebagian besar individu membeli sebagai peternak. Mengingat efek samping dari persepsi KKN. Ditemukan bahwa pemerintah Desa Lubuk Enau perlu menyelidiki dan menangani kemampuan keuangan UMKM daerah, dan kemampuan Sumber Daya Alam yang dimiliki oleh Desa Lubuk Enau itu sendiri. Kegiatan pengabdian masyarakat yang dilakukan mahasiswa KKN Kelompok 4 bersama Karang Taruna Desa Lubuk Enau dengan mengadakan kegiatan workshop. Tujuan yang akan dicapai agar para pelaku UMKM di Desa dapat memeperluas jangkauan pemasarannya di Media Sosial. Namun salah satu masalah yang dihadapi dalam perkembangan UMKM di Desa Lubuk Enau adalah keterbatasan jaringan internet membuat pemberdayaan ekonomi sulit dilakukan
Stability and change in South African public policy: 1994-2014
This thesis narrates the exercise of state autonomy to achieve macro-economic stability and
effect incremental policy change in South Africa between 1994 and 2014. Employing a
composite case study of the macro-economic policy framework; the Growth Employment and
Redistribution (GEAR) (1996) strategy, and two micro policies, Free Basic Electricity (FBE)
(2003) and No Fee Schools (NFS) (2006), it demonstrates how the post-apartheid state
introduced reforms at macro and micro policy levels. Taking a historical institutionalist
approach, it emphasizes the importance of ideas, context, configurations, temporal arguments
and path-dependence to recount a story of policy change.
The main sources of evidence comprise semi-structured elite interviews conducted with
senior politicians, public servants, trade unionists and academic researchers as well as
secondary data such as Hansard, government documents and other research reports. Data
collection in South Africa was undertaken over a period of twelve months across various sites
such as state departments, parliament, the South African Reserve Bank, university libraries,
municipalities, private companies, parastatals and schools in the Gauteng Province.
The context of transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation, 1990-1994, with the
negotiation processes forms a backdrop to the study whereby compromises and important
policy choices set the scene for the formulation of new policy infrastructure culminating in
GEAR in 1996. The implementation of GEAR in 1996 and the achievement of macroeconomic
stability in turn prepared the ground for intervention at micro policy level.
Consequently the introduction of incremental policy change through micro policies such as
FBE (2003) and NFS (2006) became possible. Importantly this thesis reveals that whilst
incremental policy change has been achievable, it is not totally transformative but rather built
upon policy legacies as it proffers gradual adjustments which do not reverse earlier policy
decisions and compromises nor effect fundamental change. Nevertheless, even in a difficult
international and domestic environment, the South African state has shown a capacity to
initiate and sustain incremental change in key areas of public policy
Identification of putative interactions between swine and human influenza A virus nucleoprotein and human host proteins
Abstract
Background
Influenza A viruses (IAVs) are important pathogens that affect the health of humans and many additional animal species. IAVs are enveloped, negative single-stranded RNA viruses whose genome encodes at least ten proteins. The IAV nucleoprotein (NP) is a structural protein that associates with the viral RNA and is essential for virus replication. Understanding how IAVs interact with host proteins is essential for elucidating all of the required processes for viral replication, restrictions in species host range, and potential targets for antiviral therapies.
Methods
In this study, the NP from a swine IAV was cloned into a yeast two-hybrid âbaitâ vector for expression of a yeast Gal4 binding domain (BD)-NP fusion protein. This âbaitâ was used to screen a Y2H human HeLa cell âpreyâ library which consisted of human proteins fused to the Gal4 proteinâs activation domain (AD). The interaction of âbaitâ and âpreyâ proteins resulted in activation of reporter genes.
Results
Seventeen positive bait-prey interactions were isolated in yeast. All of the âpreyâ isolated also interact in yeast with a NP âbaitâ cloned from a human IAV strain. Isolation and sequence analysis of the cDNAs encoding the human prey proteins revealed ten different human proteins. These host proteins are involved in various host cell processes and structures, including purine biosynthesis (PAICS), metabolism (ACOT13), proteasome (PA28B), DNA-binding (MSANTD3), cytoskeleton (CKAP5), potassium channel formation (KCTD9), zinc transporter function (SLC30A9), Na+/K+ ATPase function (ATP1B1), and RNA splicing (TRA2B).
Conclusions
Ten human proteins were identified as interacting with IAV NP in a Y2H screen. Some of these human proteins were reported in previous screens aimed at elucidating host proteins relevant to specific viral life cycle processes such as replication. This study extends previous findings by suggesting a mechanism by which these host proteins associate with the IAV, i.e., physical interaction with NP. Furthermore, this study revealed novel host protein-NP interactions in yeast.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110223/1/12985_2014_Article_228.pd
Google Health Trends performance reflecting dengue incidence for the Brazilian states
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Background
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infection transmitted by Aedes aegypti and mainly found in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Since its re-introduction in 1986, Brazil has become a hotspot for dengue and has experienced yearly epidemics. As a notifiable infectious disease, Brazil uses a passive epidemiological surveillance system to collect and report cases; however, dengue burden is underestimated. Thus, Internet data streams may complement surveillance activities by providing real-time information in the face of reporting lags.
Methods
We analyzed 19 terms related to dengue using Google Health Trends (GHT), a free-Internet data-source, and compared it with weekly dengue incidence between 2011 to 2016. We correlated GHT data with dengue incidence at the national and state-level for Brazil while using the adjusted R squared statistic as primary outcome measure (0/1). We used survey data on Internet access and variables from the official census of 2010 to identify where GHT could be useful in tracking dengue dynamics. Finally, we used a standardized volatility index on dengue incidence and developed models with different variables with the same objective.
Results
From the 19 terms explored with GHT, only seven were able to consistently track dengue. From the 27 states, only 12 reported an adjusted R squared higher than 0.8; these states were distributed mainly in the Northeast, Southeast, and South of Brazil. The usefulness of GHT was explained by the logarithm of the number of Internet users in the last 3 months, the total population per state, and the standardized volatility index.
Conclusions
The potential contribution of GHT in complementing traditional established surveillance strategies should be analyzed in the context of geographical resolutions smaller than countries. For Brazil, GHT implementation should be analyzed in a case-by-case basis. State variables including total population, Internet usage in the last 3 months, and the standardized volatility index could serve as indicators determining when GHT could complement dengue state level surveillance in other countries
Epidemiological data challenges: planning for a more robust future through data standards
Accessible epidemiological data are of great value for emergency preparedness
and response, understanding disease progression through a population, and
building statistical and mechanistic disease models that enable forecasting.
The status quo, however, renders acquiring and using such data difficult in
practice. In many cases, a primary way of obtaining epidemiological data is
through the internet, but the methods by which the data are presented to the
public often differ drastically among institutions. As a result, there is a
strong need for better data sharing practices. This paper identifies, in detail
and with examples, the three key challenges one encounters when attempting to
acquire and use epidemiological data: 1) interfaces, 2) data formatting, and 3)
reporting. These challenges are used to provide suggestions and guidance for
improvement as these systems evolve in the future. If these suggested data and
interface recommendations were adhered to, epidemiological and public health
analysis, modeling, and informatics work would be significantly streamlined,
which can in turn yield better public health decision-making capabilities.Comment: v2 includes several typo fixes; v3 adds a paragraph on backfill; v4
adds 2 new paragraphs to the conclusion that address Frontiers reviewer
comments; v5 adds some minor modifications that address additional reviewer
comment
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