Rapid biodiversity monitoring of freshwater ponds using environmental DNA : traversing the aquatic-terrestrial boundary in pondscapes

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is transforming biodiversity monitoring in aquatic ecosystems with immense potential to inform their conservation and management. eDNA analysis is rapid, non-invasive, cost-efficient, and often more accurate and sensitive than conventional monitoring tools for single species detection and community survey. Ponds are extremely diverse yet understudied freshwater habitats that require novel tools to enable comprehensive, systematic, long-term monitoring. eDNA monitoring could radically improve assessments of pond biodiversity, but the applications and methodical constraints of this tool in ponds are largely unexplored. In this thesis, eDNA analysis was examined as a tool for monitoring biodiversity associated with ponds, including aquatic, semi-aquatic, and terrestrial taxa. eDNA analysis using metabarcoding was shown to have comparable detection sensitivity for Triturus cristatus to targeted eDNA analysis using quantitative PCR, depending on species detection thresholds applied. Using the community data generated by this method comparison, eDNA metabarcoding was validated as a tool for ecological hypothesis testing, specifically biotic and abiotic determinants of T. cristatus and vertebrate species richness. A novel eDNA assay was designed and validated for targeted survey of the threatened Carassius carassius, a fish species characteristic of ponds. Furthermore, eDNA metabarcoding was compared to established methods of freshwater invertebrate assessment, and all methods used to evaluate the impact of stocking C. carassius for conservation purposes. Finally, eDNA metabarcoding was vindicated as a tool to monitor semi-aquatic and terrestrial mammals associated with ponds, and investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of their eDNA signals in these water bodies as a function of behaviour. These results combined emphasise the biological and scientific importance of ponds, and the prospects of eDNA analysis - targeted and community approaches - for enhanced conservation, management, monitoring, and research of these valuable ecosystems

Using Interactive Notebooks to Help ELL Students Find Confidence in Writing

Writing can be a challenge for students whose first language is not English. The number of English Language Learners in the United States is increasing exponentially year after year. Educators can easily find themselves overwhelmed and unsure how to help these students with their understanding and ease of use with English. ELLs may find it difficult to write in their non-native language. Due to this issue, these students can lack a sense of confidence in writing if they are not given the adequate support needed to achieve this task. The use of interactive notebooks is a simple, strategic tool to help guide and scaffold learning in the 21st century classroom in all subject areas

Relationship between obstructive sleep apnea severity and sleep, depression and anxiety symptoms in newly-diagnosed patients.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs in at least 10% of the population, and leads to higher morbidity and mortality; however, relationships between OSA severity and sleep or psychological symptoms are unclear. Existing studies include samples with wide-ranging comorbidities, so we assessed relationships between severity of OSA and common sleep and psychological disturbances in recently diagnosed OSA patients with minimal co-morbidities. We studied 49 newly diagnosed, untreated OSA patients without major co-morbidities such as mental illness, cardiovascular disease, or stroke; subjects were not using psychoactive medications or tobacco (mean +/- std age: 46.8+/-9.1 years; apnea/hyponea index [AHI]: 32.1+/-20.5 events/hour; female/male: 12/37; weight <125 kg). We evaluated relationships between the AHI and daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale; ESS), sleep quality (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index; PSQI), depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II; BDI), and anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory; BAI), as well as sex and body mass index (BMI). AHI was similar in females and males. Mean levels of all symptoms were above normal thresholds, but AHI was not correlated with age, ESS, PSQI, BDI, or BAI; only BMI was correlated with OSA severity. No differences in mean AHI appeared when subjects were grouped by normal versus elevated values of ESS, PSQI, BDI, or BAI. Consistent with other studies, a strong link between OSA severity and psychological symptoms did not appear in these newly diagnosed patients, suggesting that mechanisms additional to the number and frequency of hypoxic events and arousals occurring with apneas contribute to adverse health effects in OSA. OSA patients presenting with mild or moderate severity, and no major co-morbidities will not necessarily have low levels of sleep or psychological disturbances

Redesigning a Hospital’s Evidence-Based Practice Course

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Value Institute, which falls under the hospital’s Quality Department, has contributed to evidence-based practice (EBP) culture through education, evidence synthesis services, and the development of clinical decision support tools. Three members of the Value Institute -- a librarian, Clinical Evidence-Based Analyst, and Senior Value Specialist -- have taught a variety of EBP courses to clinicians over the years. However, because of increasing course dropout rates, the Value Institute conducted focus groups to identify ways to redesign the course. Two focus groups consisted of 6-8 previous course participants each. The focus groups started with an introduction, challenge statement, and problem statement. Participants silently brainstormed answers to four questions then posted answers to wall-mounted paper. A group discussion followed

Being Nomadic in a Neo World

Teachers are often classified into groups based on performance, identity, and through the use of metaphors. This article utilizes a post structuralist lens to build on past research by posing the classification of teachers into three personas: the nematode, neo, and nomad. These personas are not always chosen by the teacher, but instead are reactions to environments, colleagues and administrators, and education mandates. Standardization and accountability, which are forced on education by neoliberal policies, affect teachers’ identities in negative ways and often cause them to be the type of teacher they never desired to be to their students. Utilizing Deleuze’s theory of the nomad, the article explores the nomad as the persona that teachers should assume and offers suggestions of how teachers can be exposed to discourses that are not hijacked by standardization and accountability

“Reality” TV: Portrayals of Labor and Birth in a Mainstream Reality Series One Born Every Minute

Today, the birthing process is predominantly medicalized in the United States. Compounding this phenomenon is the media, which has a strong influence on people’s perceptions, attitudes, and behavior, and can serve to reinforce cultural norms—specifically, mainstream media disproportionately promotes medicalized birth. The media often portrays labor and birth as a dangerous affair, and as a result, may contribute to the culture of fear around labor and birth. In this feminist, qualitative media analysis, we examined women’s experiences giving birth on a popular reality television series called One Born Every Minute. We analyzed how women’s births are portrayed in four episodes, paying close attention to the frequency of perceived danger and who identifies as the decision maker. We asked two questions to guide our study: 1) How often is birth portrayed as dangerous in the reality television show One Born Every Minute? and 2) Who are presented as decision makers during labor and birth? We found that labor and birth are more frequently portrayed as dangerous than not, and that women are most often the least empowered to make decisions during labor and birth, after their doctors and family members. This analysis reflects popular beliefs about labor and delivery and sheds light on the disempowerment of mothers in labor and birth

JULES-BE:Representation of bioenergy crops and harvesting in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator vn5.1

We describe developments to the land surface model JULES, allowing for flexible user-prescribed harvest regimes of various perennial bioenergy crops or natural vegetation types. Our aim is to integrate the most useful aspects of dedicated bioenergy models into dynamic global vegetation models, in order that assessment of bioenergy options can benefit from state-of-the-art Earth system modelling. A new plant functional type (PFT) representing Miscanthus is also presented. The Miscanthus PFT fits well with growth parameters observed at a site in Lincolnshire, UK; however, global observed yields of Miscanthus are far more variable than is captured by the model, primarily owing to the model's lack of representation of crop age and establishment time. Global expansion of bioenergy crop areas under a 2 ?C emissions scenario and balanced greenhouse gas mitigation strategy from the IMAGE integrated assessment model (RCP2.6- SSP2) achieves a mean yield of 4.3 billion tonnes of dry matter per year over 2040-2099, around 30 % higher than the biomass availability projected by IMAGE. In addition to perennial grasses, JULES-BE can also be used to represent short-rotation coppicing, residue harvesting from cropland or forestry and rotation forestry