I\u27d Rather Be Forgotten Than Dishonored : An Oral and Life History Project with a Vietnam Veteran

More than 2.7 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam era and roughly 40,000 of them as helicopter pilots in Vietnam, yet scholars are still trying to understand the Vietnam experience. There is little doubt that the war played an influential role in the lives of that generation. Yet, many Vietnam veterans refrained from talking about their service, making it difficult to study and understand their experiences within the existing historical narrative. Using the life history of Warrant Officer James Scott, Hayley Hasik argues that Vietnam veterans—particularly helicopter pilots—are an underrepresented group that, through oral history, can provide an alternative narrative to enhance our understanding of the war and its aftereffects. Gathering primary sources and understanding how the individual fits—as an individual—into the larger historical narrative provides Vietnam veterans with a “voice” and helps give validity and meaning to the abstract

Corn Leaf Aphids Do Not Benefit from Greenbug Feeding and Plant Damage

Citation: Barkoviak, H. (2017). Corn Leaf Aphids Do Not Benefit from Greenbug Feeding and Plant Damage . 1st Annual Undergraduate Research Experience in Entomology Symposium, November 16, 2016. Manhattam, KS.Greenbugs (Schizaphis graminum) are known for their devastating effects on crops including cereal grains. Their saliva contains toxins, which break down the plants defenses and allow the aphids to utilize nitrogen from the plant. This quality makes the greenbug more destructive than other species including the corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis). To observe whether aphid feeding influences the success of other aphid species that later feed on the same plant, we designed an experiment which measured aphid virulence and plant damage. We found that the presence of aphids generally stunts plant growth, combined damage of two aphid species is greater than a single species, and damage done by greenbugs does not necessarily benefit corn leaf aphids

A scoping methodological review of simulation studies comparing statistical and machine learning approaches to risk prediction for time-to-event data

BACKGROUND: There is substantial interest in the adaptation and application of so-called machine learning approaches to prognostic modelling of censored time-to-event data. These methods must be compared and evaluated against existing methods in a variety of scenarios to determine their predictive performance. A scoping review of how machine learning methods have been compared to traditional survival models is important to identify the comparisons that have been made and issues where they are lacking, biased towards one approach or misleading. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of research articles published between 1 January 2000 and 2 December 2020 using PubMed. Eligible articles were those that used simulation studies to compare statistical and machine learning methods for risk prediction with a time-to-event outcome in a medical/healthcare setting. We focus on data-generating mechanisms (DGMs), the methods that have been compared, the estimands of the simulation studies, and the performance measures used to evaluate them. RESULTS: A total of ten articles were identified as eligible for the review. Six of the articles evaluated a method that was developed by the authors, four of which were machine learning methods, and the results almost always stated that this developed method's performance was equivalent to or better than the other methods compared. Comparisons were often biased towards the novel approach, with the majority only comparing against a basic Cox proportional hazards model, and in scenarios where it is clear it would not perform well. In many of the articles reviewed, key information was unclear, such as the number of simulation repetitions and how performance measures were calculated. CONCLUSION: It is vital that method comparisons are unbiased and comprehensive, and this should be the goal even if realising it is difficult. Fully assessing how newly developed methods perform and how they compare to a variety of traditional statistical methods for prognostic modelling is imperative as these methods are already being applied in clinical contexts. Evaluations of the performance and usefulness of recently developed methods for risk prediction should be continued and reporting standards improved as these methods become increasingly popular

Herbicide-Resistant Soybeans in Arkansas: Lessons Learned and Future Direction

In Arkansas Delta soybean production, glyphosate resistant (GR) Palmer amaranth has significantly impacted weed management. The incidence of herbicide resistant (HR) weeds has farreaching crop science, economic, and communications implications, which have been explored by the corresponding expertise of our research team members to form a comprehensive literature review. The review was used to develop policy recommendations to address current and future HR genetically modified (GM) crop use and the associated issues. The review of crop science research indicated an overall increase in herbicide application, as well as an increase in weed management programs focused around glyphosate rather than the application of multiple herbicides. The review also revealed some management methods have potential to resolve the problem, including alternating herbicide application, avoiding sub-lethal rates, using “burn down” herbicides prior to planting, crop rotation, tillage, and zero tolerance weed policies. The use of fewer herbicides rather than multiple types creates a monopolistic edge for the companies producing those few herbicides, allowing greater market control. Crisis communication methods, including developing internal readiness, conducting needs assessments, developing a relevant message, and conveying the message through appropriate channels, can be used to develop a response to the issue that will best communicate necessary information to the target audience. The team used these findings to formulate policy recommendations, which include management, economic, and communication plans that may provide a starting point to address the issue

Conducting Research in Non-Traditional Settings: Research Assistant Experiences in a Gay Bathhouse

Research conducted in traditional and non-traditional settings remains essential to understanding behaviors and attitudes among diverse populations. The effective preparation of research assistants is essential in order to conduct ethical research and ensure safety for the participants and those conducting the research. One such example pertains to examining the behavior of men who have sex with men (e.g., gay, bisexual, other MSM) within bathhouse settings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among six graduate students and alumni examining their overall interest in conducting research as well as their thoughts and feelings prior to, during, and after collecting data at a gay male bathhouse, and the overall impact upon their professional growth and development. Thematic findings centered around conducting research within a bathhouse setting, navigating personal feelings and reactions, and strengthening connections between personal and professional selves, among others. Implications for effectively training and preparing student research assistants to conduct data collection with unique and non-traditional settings will be examined

Assessment of the Negative Role Amur Honeysuckle has on Urban Forest Diversity

Lonicera maackii (Amur Honeysuckle), an invasive shrub species, has out-competed native species in urban riparian zones for decades due to its ability to receive more sunlight and it also secretes an allelochemical from its leaves that negatively impacts the ecosystems. Our research question is how does Lonicera maackii affect native plant species in the herbaceous understory? Five forest communities were sampled in Northwest Illinois. Sites were separated into four different categories with L. maackii only, Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) only, Neither invasive species, and sites where both occur. There were 12 sites for each of the four categories resulting in 48 total. Daubenmire 1 m2 plots were placed haphazardly throughout the site. Native relative cover, native Shannon\u27s H, native richness, non-native relative cover, non-native shannons, and non-native richness were assessed. There was a site effect for native relative cover, native Shannon’s H, native richness, non-native relative cover, and non-native richness. There was a treatment effect for native relative cover, non-native relative cover, non-native Shannon’s H, and non-native richness. There was a site by treatment interaction for native relative cover, non-native relative cover, non-native Shannon’s H, and non-native richness. The data show that when comparing the effect L. maackii had on total relative native cover, four out of five sites had lower total native relative cover when L. maackii was present. All five sites had lower non-native Shannon’s H when L. maackii was present. We conclude that L. maackii has a significant effect on native plant species in the herbaceous understory. The data correlates to the literature with L. maackii’s presence lowering the amount of native plant species cover. A possible explanation is that L. maackii dominates native species with its shading ability as suggested from other studies

Developing Accessible Services:Understanding Current Knowledge and Areas for Future Support

When creating digital artefacts, it is important to ensure that the product being made is accessible to as much of the population as is possible. Many guidelines and supporting tools exist to assist reaching this goal. However, little is known about developers’ understanding of accessible practice and the methods that are used to implement this.We present findings from an accessibility design workshop that was carried out with a mixture of 197 developers and digital technology students. We discuss perceptions of accessibility, techniques that are used when designing accessible products, and what areas of accessibility development participants believed were important. We show that there are gaps in the knowledge needed to develop accessible products despite the effort to promote accessible design. Our participants are themselves aware of where these gaps are and have suggested a number of areas where tools, techniques and guidance would improve their practice

Tracing the water-energy-food nexus : description, theory and practice

The ‘nexus’ between water, energy and food (WEF) has gained increasing attention globally in research, business and policy spheres. We review the premise of recent initiatives framed around the nexus, examine the challenge of achieving the type of disciplinary boundary crossing promoted by the nexus agenda and consider how to operationalise what has to date been a largely paper exercise. The WEF nexus has been promoted through international meetings and calls for new research agendas. It is clear from the literature that many aims of nexus approaches pre-date the recent nexus agenda; these have encountered significant barriers to progress, including challenges to cross-disciplinary collaboration, complexity, political economy (often perceived to be under-represented in nexus research) and incompatibility of current institutional structures. Indeed, the ambitious aims of the nexus—the desire to capture multiple interdependencies across three major sectors, across disciplines and across scales—could become its downfall. However, greater recognition of interdependencies across state and non-state actors, more sophisticated modelling systems to assess and quantify WEF linkages and the sheer scale of WEF resource use globally, could create enough momentum to overcome historical barriers and establish nexus approaches as part of a wider repertoire of responses to global environmental change

Conducting Research in Non-Traditional Settings: Research Assistant Experiences in a Gay Bathhouse

Research conducted in traditional and non-traditional settings remains essential to understanding behaviors and attitudes among diverse populations. The effective preparation of research assistants is essential in order to conduct ethical research and ensure safety for the participants and those conducting the research. One such example pertains to examining the behavior of men who have sex with men (e.g., gay, bisexual, other MSM) within bathhouse settings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among six graduate students and alumni examining their overall interest in conducting research as well as their thoughts and feelings prior to, during, and after collecting data at a gay male bathhouse, and the overall impact upon their professional growth and development. Thematic findings centered around conducting research within a bathhouse setting, navigating personal feelings and reactions, and strengthening connections between personal and professional selves, among others. Implications for effectively training and preparing student research assistants to conduct data collection with unique and non-traditional settings will be examined