Online outsiders within\ud

Heightened attention to technological diffusion and informational inequalities is of\ud particular societal concern, given the increasing mediation of everyday life whereby\ud web-based initiatives abound and an increasing amount of information on critical\ud human services including education and healthcare are online or only available online.\ud As Cheong and Martin (2009) note, the digital divide is a significant, multi-layered access\ud challenge for institutions of higher education worldwide as they embark on e or distance\ud learning programs, including the incorporation of virtual course management systems.\ud Kreps (2006) also notes that the digital divide is an important health communication\ud problem as new technologies can help underserved populations retrieve relevant health\ud information, yet exacerbate disparities by reducing access to those most at risk for poor\ud health outcomes

A Flash of Understanding: Utilizing Flash-Length Creative Writing in the Empowerment and Identity Development of Young Women

This project’s purpose was to evaluate the potential strengths and areas for improvement of the Flash of Understanding curriculum for young women to combat the mental health crisis faced by this population. The curriculum, utilizing flash-length creative writing as its main tool, seeks to strengthen knowledge of creative writing craft, deepen understanding of social justice concepts, and combat isolation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Content was created utilizing Creative Youth Development (CYD) as a framework, which as a discipline places equal importance on creative skill development and the personal growth of youth (Montgomery, 2017). The curriculum outline was presented to four reviewers via a structured interview process who have experience in creative writing education, youth development, or community engagement. All reviewers reacted positively to the curriculum and provided suggestions for implementation. Significant findings from this review process include: a favorable response to the balance between creative writing and social justice, the importance of emphasizing boundaries among program participants, and the suggestion of including outside reading to address any gaps in knowledge among participants

Spatial mapping of hepatitis C prevalence in recent injecting drug users in contact with services.

In developed countries the majority of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections occur in injecting drug users (IDUs) with prevalence in IDUs often high, but with wide geographical differences within countries. Estimates of local prevalence are needed for planning services for IDUs, but it is not practical to conduct HCV seroprevalence surveys in all areas. In this study survey data from IDUs attending specialist services were collected in 52/149 sites in England between 2006 and 2008. Spatially correlated random-effects models were used to estimate HCV prevalence for all sites, using auxiliary data to aid prediction. Estimates ranged from 14% to 82%, with larger cities, London and the North West having the highest HCV prevalence. The methods used generated robust estimates for each area, with a well-identified spatial pattern that improved predictions. Such models may be of use in other areas of study where surveillance data are sparse

The Transition Zone: Impact of Riverbanks on Emergent Dragonfly Nymphs. Implications for Riverbank Restoration and Management

The use of riprap in the restoration and stabilization of riverine landscapes is an issue of concern for many ecologists. While current methods of bank stabilization, especially those involving the placement of rocks (riprap) along the waterline, are effective in controlling erosion their presence changes habitat components (slope, substrate composition, near-shore river velocity) at the river-land interface. The additional impacts of river current, water temperature, soil composition, slope, and water level fluctuation, may further imperil emerging nymphs. The purpose of this research is to document the effects of riprap, location (upriver or downriver of hydroelectric intake/outtake facilities), water level fluctuation, river velocity, air temperature, water temperature, substrate temperature, and soil composition on the distance traveled to eclosure site by G. vastus and S. spiniceps, and the density of S. spiniceps, G. vastus, N. yamaskanensis, D. spinosus, O. rupinsulensis, M. illinoiensis, and E. priniceps. Knowledge of the conservation status of these species is fairly limited, although S. spiniceps (threatened), G. vastus (species of special concern), and N. yamaskanensis (species of special concern) are all currently listed on the Massachusetts Endangered Species list. Species density was determined through exuviae collection, and emergence distance was recorded from the edge of the waterline to the site of attached exuviae. Results of the study indicate that nymphal response to the observed abiotic features varies both with location and species. The presence of riprap had no significant effect on densities of S. spiniceps, G. vastus, N. yamaskanensis, D. spinosus, O. rupinsulensis, M. illinoiensis, and E. priniceps, but did significantly reduce the distance traveled from the waterline by both G. vastus and S. spiniceps

For the first time, all over again : reading classic children\u27s literature with contemporary children

This thesis explores a simple question: what happens when modern children are exposed to the canon of great children\u27s literature for the very first time? How will contemporary children process and engage with texts that are over fifty years old? Using qualitative research with her own classroom of second graders, the author sets out to explore student reactions as they discovered a selected set of exemplary children\u27s literature

Different forms of the bovine PrP gene have five or six copies of a short, G-C-rich element within the protein-coding exon

Current models of the virus-like agents of scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have to take into account that structural changes in a host-encoded protein (PrP protein) exhibit an effect on the time course of these diseases and the survival time of any man or animal exposed to these pathogens. We report here the sequence of different forms of the bovine PrP gene which contain either five or six copies of a short, G-C-rich element which encodes the octapeptide Pro-His-Gly-Gly-Gly-Trp-Gly-Gln or its longer variants Pro-Gln/His-Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly-Trp-Gly-Gln. Out of 12 cattle, we found eight animals homozygous for genes with six copies of the Gly-rich peptide (6:6), while four were heterozygous (6:5). Two confirmed cases of BSE occurred in (6: 6) homozygous animals. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a transmissible disease (Fraser et al., 1988; Dawson et al., 1990; Barlow & Middleton, 1990) which produces neuropathological lesions in cattle similar to those seen in ovine scrapie (Wells et al., 1987) and the rare human dementias Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Str/iussler syndrome (GSS) (Beck & Daniel, 1987). A cellular membrane protein (PrP) has a key role in the transmission and development of these diseases. This protein accumulates in the brain and other tissues during the protracted time course of these diseases and, in a disease-specific, protease-resistant isoform (SAF-PrP), has been purified by subcellular fractionation of scrapie

From the guest editors

The land issue is still making waves across Southern Africa, with South Africa being the latest focus of dispute. An article, featured in the Daily Maverick on 29 May 2019, indicates that “Land reform is a broad social challenge that requires the commitment of every South African to ensure the  sustainability and prosperity of an inclusive South African economy. The land question is not only an agricultural land problem, but it also relates to urban and peri-urban land” (Kirsten & Vink, 2019: n.p.).&nbsp

Editorial : In Australian Journal of Communication, v.38 n.3

Edition of journal guest-edited by Martin Hirst (Deakin), Wayne Hope and Alan Cocker (AUT UNiversity). Papers collected from conference organised by Centre for Journalism, Media & Democracy (JMAD). Ten of the eleven articles here were originally presented to the Political Economy of Communication conference held at the Auckland University of Technology in September 2011. This international event was organised by Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD), a research centre co-founded by Martin Hirst and Wayne Hope in May 2010. The founding objectives were to foster individual research projects for members; develop opportunities for collaborative, funded research projects; and arrange interdisciplinary media conferences. In September 2010, JMAD launched an inaugural one-day conference: Media, Democracy and the Public Sphere. The success of this undertakingencouraged the centre to plan for a second, two-day conference in 2011. The invited keynote speakers, Professors Graham Murdock, Dwayne Winseck, and Janet Wasko were, and are, distinguished scholars in the political economy of communication.They have also given identity and purpose to their field within the annual InternationalAssociation of Communication Research (IAMCR) conference, which includes a longstanding political economy of communication section. Contributors to this section are featured in the book reviewed for this issue, Wasko, J., Murdock, G., & Sousa, H. (2011). The handbook of political economy of communications

Structural plasticity of the feline leukaemia virus fusion peptide: a circular dichroism study

AbstractThe secondary structure of the feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) fusion peptide was investigated using circular dichroism (CD). Our results show that this peptide can readily flip between random, α-helical and β-sheet conformations, depending upon its environment. The CD spectrum changes from one characteristic of random coil to predominantly β-sheet type, and finally to that showing the characteristics of α-helical structure on moving from an aqueous solvent, through several increasingly hydrophobic systems, to a highly hydrophobic solvent. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of β structure. We propose that the structural plasticity demonstrated here is crucial to the ability of the fusion peptide to perturb lipid bilayers, and thus promote membrane fusion

Testate amoebae as a hydrological proxy for reconstructing water-table depth in the mires of south-eastern Australia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordAlthough it is well established that moisture availability in south-eastern Australia has been decreasing through time recently, the driver(s) of this trend are contentious, and our understanding of any drivers is limited by a relatively short historic record. Testate amoebae have been widely used to reconstruct peatland hydrology in the Northern Hemisphere, but in the Southern Hemisphere research is still needed to assess their proficiency as a palaeohydrological proxy and to develop robust transfer functions. Here we examine the ecology of testate amoebae in several high altitude mires in south-eastern Australia and present the first transfer function for the continent. Euglypha tuberculata type, Centropyxis platystoma type and Assulina muscorum were the most common taxa in our modern samples. Water-table depth was the primary environmental variable determining testate amoebae assemblages and therefore transfer functions were developed for this ecological factor. We found that the performance of various all-species and species-pruned transfer functions were statistically robust, with R2 values of around 0.8 and Root Mean Squared Error of Prediction (RMSEP) values of about 7 cm. All cross-validation methods (leave-one-out RMSEP, cluster-bootstrap RMSEP, segment-wise RMSEP and leave-one-site-out RMSEP from all-species and species-pruned transfer functions) suggested that the Modern Analogue Technique (MAT) was the best performing transfer function, with negligible bias evident from un-even sampling and spatial autocorrelation. We also used a new approach to evaluate the importance of taxa and the performance of our transfer functions using species-pruned methods. Our results suggest that the all-species MAT, with an RMSEP of 5.73 and R2 of 0.86, provides the best reconstruction of water-table depth across our sites in south-eastern Australia.Australian National Universit