Zoomed Out? How Burnout was Associated with Affect, Personality, and Job Satisfaction Among Library Employees During the Pandemic

In March 2020, many libraries transitioned from onsite to remote work in an “abundance of caution” due to the coronavirus pandemic. Almost overnight, the varied interactions previously occurring across classrooms, conference rooms, offices, staff lounges, and cafes transformed into endless Zoom sessions. Many library employees consequently noted feeling greater stress, fatigue, and burnout, the latter of which is characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, alienation from work activities, and reduced job performance. We measured how burnout related to affect, personality, job satisfaction, and various characteristics among library employees during this transition to remote work. We distributed a survey to all library employees at a large, urban research university during the 2020-2021 academic year. The survey included previously established measures of four constructs: (1) affect: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, (2) personality: Big Five Inventory, (3) job satisfaction: Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction, and (4) burnout: Bergen Burnout Inventory-9. We also included demographic questions and items inquiring about Zoom use. Among the 54 survey participants, burnout did not differ based on service area (public services or technical services), employee status (faculty or staff), nor the amount of time spent in Zoom meetings. However, it was significantly negatively associated with job satisfaction, positive affect, and the personality traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness. Conversely, burnout was significantly positively associated with negative affect and the personality trait of neuroticism. These results may be used to help library employees reduce burnout in both their libraries and personal lives, capitalizing on their unique characteristics to redesign workflows that improve workplace culture and create individually optimized, innovative work environments for “the new normal” and beyond

Mi Casa, Su Casa: Librarians serving students from the comfort of their homes

To respond proactively to the pandemic, the Libraries moved many services and programs online. Providing online services is nothing new for librarians; using the technologies available to replicate and improve on the outcomes these services have on student learning has required creativity and new ways of thinking. To this end, we have increased our use of Zoom, Slack, and YouTube to offer support, allowing students to interact in ways that mimic F2F library services. To increase visibility we adapted popular events to an online modality such as Language Day conversations and open mic events to enrich student engagement. Several unique opportunities not feasible in a physical setting came to fruition, allowing us to enhance student success

Movement and Aggregation of Eastern Hudson Bay Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas): A Comparison of Patterns Found through Satellite Telemetry and Nunavik Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) consists of the collective knowledge, experience, and values of subsistence communities, while Western science relies on hypothesis testing to obtain information on natural processes. Both approaches provide important ecological information, but few studies have directly compared the two. We compared information on movements and aggregation of beluga whales obtained from TEK interview records (n = 3253) and satellite telemetry records of 30 whales tagged in eastern Hudson Bay, Canada, using geographic information system (GIS) approaches that allowed common formatting of the data sets. Estuarine centres of aggregation in the summer were evident in both data sets. The intensive use of offshore areas seen in the telemetry data, where 76% of the locations were more than 15 km from mainland Quebec, was not evident in the TEK data, where only 17% of the records indicated offshore locations. Morisita’s index of similarity indicated that TEK and telemetry data distributions varied with season, with the highest similarity in winter (0.74). Location and movement data from the telemetry study were limited by small sample size and short tag deployment times, while TEK data were biased by spatial coverage and coastal travel habits. Although the two data sets can provide complementary information, both suffer from weaknesses that need to be acknowledged when these data are adapted for use in resource management.Les connaissances écologiques traditionnelles (CÉT) consistent en l’ensemble des connaissances, de l’expérience et des valeurs des communautés de subsistance, tandis que la science occidentale s’appuie sur la mise à l’épreuve d’hypothèses dans le but d’obtenir de l’information sur les processus naturels. Bien que ces deux démarches permettent d’obtenir d’importants renseignements sur l’écologie, peu d’études ont établi une comparaison directe entre ces deux démarches. Nous avons comparé des données sur les mouvements et le rassemblement des bélugas, données obtenues à partir de CÉT prélevées au moyen d’entrevues (n = 3253) ainsi qu’à partir de résultats de télémétrie par satellite sur 30 baleines marquées dans l’est de la baie d’Hudson, au Canada, à l’aide de systèmes d’information géographique (SIG) qui ont permis le formatage commun des ensembles de données. Pendant l’été, les centres de rassemblement en estuaire étaient évidents dans les deux ensembles de données. L’utilisation intensive des zones au large en ce qui a trait aux données de télémétrie, où 76 % des localisations se situaient à plus de 15 km du continent québécois, n’était pas évidente dans le cas des données des CÉT, où seulement 17 % des résultats indiquaient des localisations au large. L’indice de similarité de Morisita indiquait que la répartition des données obtenues par CÉT et par télémétrie variait d’une saison à l’autre, la similarité la plus grande ayant été atteinte l’hiver (0,74). Les données de localisation et de mouvement découlant de l’étude de télémétrie étaient limitées par la petite taille de l’échantillon et les courtes durées de déploiement des étiquettes, tandis que les données provenant des CÉT étaient biaisées par l’espace à couvrir et les habitudes de déplacement sur la côte. Bien que les deux ensembles de données puissent fournir de l’information complémentaire, tous deux possèdent des faiblesses qu’il y a lieu de reconnaître lorsque ces données sont adaptées à des fins de gestion des ressources

Activation of the Syk tyrosine kinase is insufficient for downstream signal transduction in B lymphocytes

BACKGROUND: Immature B lymphocytes and certain B cell lymphomas undergo apoptotic cell death following activation of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) signal transduction pathway. Several biochemical changes occur in response to BCR engagement, including activation of the Syk tyrosine kinase. Although Syk activation appears to be necessary for some downstream biochemical and cellular responses, the signaling events that precede Syk activation remain ill defined. In addition, the requirements for complete activation of the Syk-dependent signaling step remain to be elucidated. RESULTS: A mutant form of Syk carrying a combination of a K395A substitution in the kinase domain and substitutions of three phenylalanines (3F) for the three C-terminal tyrosines was expressed in a murine B cell lymphoma cell line, BCL(1).3B3 to interfere with normal Syk regulation as a means to examine the Syk activation step in BCR signaling. Introduction of this kinase-inactive mutant led to the constitutive activation of the endogenous wildtype Syk enzyme in the absence of receptor engagement through a 'dominant-positive' effect. Under these conditions, Syk kinase activation occurred in the absence of phosphorylation on Syk tyrosine residues. Although Syk appears to be required for BCR-induced apoptosis in several systems, no increase in spontaneous cell death was observed in these cells. Surprisingly, although the endogenous Syk kinase was enzymatically active, no enhancement in the phosphorylation of cytoplasmic proteins, including phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCγ2), a direct Syk target, was observed. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that activation of Syk kinase enzymatic activity is insufficient for Syk-dependent signal transduction. This observation suggests that other events are required for efficient signaling. We speculate that localization of the active enzyme to a receptor complex specifically assembled for signal transduction may be the missing event

Seasonal variability of the warm Atlantic Water layer in the vicinity of the Greenland shelf break

The warmest water reaching the east and west coast of Greenland is found between 200?m and 600?m. Whilst important for melting Greenland's outlet glaciers, limited winter observations of this layer prohibit determination of its seasonality. To address this, temperature data from Argo profiling floats, a range of sources within the World Ocean Database and unprecedented coverage from marine-mammal borne sensors have been analysed for the period 2002-2011. A significant seasonal range in temperature (~1-2?°C) is found in the warm layer, in contrast to most of the surrounding ocean. The phase of the seasonal cycle exhibits considerable spatial variability, with the warmest water found near the eastern and southwestern shelf-break towards the end of the calendar year. High-resolution ocean model trajectory analysis suggest the timing of the arrival of the year's warmest water is a function of advection time from the subduction site in the Irminger Basin

Atlantic water variability on the SE Greenland continental shelf and its relationship to SST and bathymetry

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 118 (2013): 847–855, doi:10.1029/2012JC008354.Interaction of warm, Atlantic-origin water (AW) and colder, polar origin water (PW) advecting southward in the East Greenland Current (EGC) influences the heat content of water entering Greenland's outlet glacial fjords. Here we use depth and temperature data derived from deep-diving seals to map out water mass variability across the continental shelf and to augment existing bathymetric products. We compare depths derived from the seal dives with the IBCAO Version 3 bathymetric database over the shelf and find differences up to 300 m near several large submarine canyons. In the vertical temperature structure, we find two dominant modes: a cold mode, with the typical AW/PW layering observed in the EGC, and a warm mode, where AW is present throughout the water column. The prevalence of these modes varies seasonally and spatially across the continental shelf, implying distinct AW pathways. In addition, we find that satellite sea surface temperatures (SST) correlate significantly with temperatures in the upper 50 m (R = 0.54), but this correlation decreases with depth (R = 0.22 at 200 m), and becomes insignificant below 250 m. Thus, care must be taken in using SST as a proxy for heat content, as AW mainly resides in these deeper layers.Funding for this work came from National Science Foundation OPP grant 0909373 and OCE grant 1130008, plus the WHOI Arctic Research Initiative. The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, supported the seal tagging logistics.2013-08-2

Genome-wide association study of receptive language ability of 12 year olds

Purpose: We have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. The current study attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the heritability of receptive language ability using a genome-wide association (GWA) approach. Method: We administered four internet-based measures of receptive language (vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics) to a sample of 2329 12-year-olds for whom DNA and genome-wide genotyping were available. Nearly 700,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and one million imputed SNPs were included in a GWA analysis of receptive language composite scores. Results: No SNP associations met the demanding criterion of genome-wide significance that corrects for multiple testing across the genome (p < 5 ×10-8). The strongest SNP association did not replicate in an additional sample of 2639 12-year-olds. Conclusion: These results indicate that individual differences in receptive language ability in the general population do not reflect common genetic variants that account for >3% of the phenotypic variance. The search for genetic variants associated with language skill will require larger samples and additional methods to identify and functionally characterize the full spectrum of risk variants

Production of Interferons and β-Chemokines by Placental Trophoblasts of HIV-1-Infected Women

Objective: The mechanism whereby the placental cells of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1-infected mother protect the fetus from HIV-1 infection is unclear. Interferons (IFNs) inhibit the replication of viruses by acting at various stages of the life cycle and may play a role in protecting against vertical transmission of HIV-1. In addition the β-chemokines RANTES (regulated on activation T cell expressed and secreted), macrophage inflammatory protein-1-α (MIP-1α), and MIP-1β can block HIV-1 entry into cells by preventing the binding of the macrophage-trophic HIV-1 strains to the coreceptorCCR5. In this study the production of IFNs and β-chemokines by placental trophoblasts of HIV-1-infected women who were HIV-1 non-transmitters was examined. Methods: Placental trophoblastic cells were isolated from 29 HIV-1-infected and 10 control subjects. Supernatants of trophoblast cultures were tested for the production of IFNs and β-chemokines by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Additionally, HIV-1-gag and IFN-β transcripts were determined by a semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Results: All placental trophoblasts of HIV-1-infected women contained HIV-1-gag transcripts. There were no statistical differences in the median constitutive levels of IFN-α and IFN-γ produced by trophoblasts of HIV-1- infected and control subjects. In contrast, trophoblasts of HIV-1-infected women constitutively produced significantly higher levels of IFN-β protein than trophoblasts of control subjects. Furthermore, the median levels of β-chemokines produced by trophoblasts of HIV-infected and control women were similar. Conclusions: Since there was no correlation between the placental HIV load and the production of interferons or β-chemokines, the role of trophoblast-derived IFNs and β-chemokines in protecting the fetus from infection with HIV-1 is not clear

Herbivores at the Highest Risk of Extinction Among Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles

As a result of their extensive home ranges and slow population growth rates, predators have often been perceived to suffer higher risks of extinction than other trophic groups. Our study challenges this extinction-risk paradigm by quantitatively comparing patterns of extinction risk across different trophic groups of mammals, birds, and reptiles. We found that trophic level and body size were significant factors that influenced extinction risk in all taxa. At multiple spatial and temporal scales, herbivores, especially herbivorous reptiles and large-bodied herbivores, consistently have the highest proportions of threatened species. This observed elevated extinction risk for herbivores is ecologically consequential, given the important roles that herbivores are known to play in controlling ecosystem function