Displacement and entrainment behavior of bedload clasts in mountain streams

textUnderstanding how individual grains and populations of grains move through alluvial systems is important for predicting how landscapes adjust to changes in climate, tectonics and watershed management. Mountainous terrain covers over 20% of Earth's landscape and channels running through these steep slopes deliver significant volumes of sediment to lowland systems. However, most historic sediment transport studies were conducted in lowland rivers and laboratory experiments. Recently, upland stream studies have had limited success in monitoring the bedload fraction of sediment transported during floods exceeding bankfull flows. To address the scarcity of bedload observations in natural streams, I characterized bedload displacement and entrainment behavior in a mountain stream over a range of temporal and spatial scales. I designed and developed new fluvial geomorphology tools, including active tracers that were clasts embedded with accelerometers to record the timing of motion relative to discharge. I also deployed passive tracers which were bedload clasts embedded with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The passive tracers were used to determined flood-scale displacement lengths. Additionally, I installed RFID antennas on the channel bed to record the times that tracers passed through a reach. Flow strength during flood events was estimated using discharge records and numerical modeling. Datasets collected by the active and passive tracers demonstrated that probabilities of transport, average step lengths and cumulative displacement distances scale with discharge. The heavy-tailed measurements of rest times from the active tracers suggested that bedload transport is superdiffusive in mountain streams. Transport, deposition and re-entrainment records showed that thresholds of motion are best represented by a distribution rather than a constant value, are influenced by channel width and bed slope, and can be lower at re-entrainment than deposition. Historic discharge records and field-modified transport formulas predicted that a broad range of discharges contribute significant fractions of the total bedload volumes, and that magnitude-frequency analyses are highly sensitive to common scaling and extrapolation techniques. The rare field-based observations from this research provide new insights into the complex mechanisms that drive bedload dispersion in mountain streams.Geological Science

PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES OF RECRUITMENT EFFORTS FOR UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of and improve the recruitment efforts of The College of Agricultural Sciences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. This study surveyed a group of freshmen and first-year transfer students enrolled in the College of Agricultural Sciences (COAS) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) in the fall of 2016 on why they chose to attend, and what factors were considered when making their choice. 184 students were sent surveys and a total of 62 students completed the survey, giving a response rate of 34%. The instrument contained a 21 item questionnaire, with responses of both open and close ended items. The survey found that the reputation of the COAS, as well as the faculty and staff’s dedication of welcoming and assisting (potential students) were identified as the most influential factors in a student choosing to attend the COAS. It was found that parents, followed closely by high school agriculture teachers, held the greatest influence in prospective students\u27 college choice process. Other results show why the students selected and enrolled were due to the affordability of the COAS, scholarships, and the specific programs that were offered. Noting these results, the COAS would be able to continue to increase enrollment numbers

Bitcoin and stone money: Anglophone use of Yapese economic cultures, 1910-2020

Recently parallels have been drawn between Bitcoin and Yapese stone money. This article focuses on Fitzpatrick and McKeon’s (2019) exploration of similarities and differences. The analogy between Bitcoin and Yapese stone money is based on proposed commonalities that are inaccurate, ill-defined, and/or trivial. However, this does not signal a need to refine the comparison, but rather a need to reconsider the rationale for attempting it in the first place. Recent attempts to redefine Yapese stone money using terminology from the field of cryptocurrency reproduces a longer textual history in which writers from the Global North have misrepresented Yap for pedagogic or polemic convenience. Examples include works by William Furness III, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and influential macroeconomics textbooks, such as N. Gregory Mankiw’s Macroeconomics. This history features frequent colonialist tropes of Yap as well as the erasure of histories of colonial violence and power. More caution should be exercised in the study and pedagogic use of Yapese economic cultures, and greater effort should be made to center Yapese voices, acknowledge colonial contexts, and reflect positionality and uncertainty

SenseBelt:a belt-worn sensor to support cross-device interaction

Mobile interaction is shifting from a single device to simultaneous interaction with ensembles of devices such as phones, tablets, or watches. Spatially-aware cross-device interaction between mobile devices typically requires a fixed tracking infrastructure, which lim- its mobility. In this paper, we present SenseBelt – a sensing belt that enhances existing mobile interactions and enables low-cost, ad hoc sensing of cross-device gestures and interactions. SenseBelt enables proxemic interactions between people and their personal devices. SenseBelt also supports cross-device interaction be- tween personal devices and stationary devices, such as public displays. We discuss the design and implementation of SenseBelt together with possible applications. With an initial evaluation, we provide insights into the benefits and drawbacks of a belt-worn mediating sensor to support cross-device interactions

Maintaining access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in a pandemic: a service evaluation of telephone-based pre-exposure prophylaxis provision

Objectives: The objective was to perform a survey-based service evaluation of our telephone PrEP clinic (Tele-PrEP), which was instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform future service delivery. // Methods: We administered parallel, web-based, anonymous surveys to PrEP-users who had a Tele-PrEP appointment between 13.11.2020 and 17.12.2020 and all healthcare professionals (HCPs) conducting Tele-PrEP clinics. We used descriptive statistics to summarise demographic and qualitative data, and thematically categorised free text responses using the Framework for a Systems Approach to Healthcare Delivery. // Results: 62/117 (53%) PrEP-users and 8/9 (89%) HCPs completed the surveys. Tele-PrEP was rated ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ by 61/62 (98%) PrEP-users. All HCPs felt that Tele-PrEP allowed them to assess patients safely and confidently. 10/62 (16%) PrEP-users and 1 (11%) HCP expressed a preference for face-to-face care. Using the Framework for a Systems Approach to Healthcare Delivery we identified key areas important to respondents who highlighted the rapid changes as a result of COVID-19, which required an increase in dedicated resources. HCPs valued teamwork, support/supervision and convenience in achieving quality care for the patient, who in turn, valued convenient, holistic and individualised management to meet their sexual healthcare needs. // Conclusion: Tele-PrEP is feasible and acceptable. While most respondents rated the service highly, others identified a need/preference for face-to-face appointments

Delivering HIV prevention medication online: findings from a qualitative study exploring the acceptability of an online HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care pathway among service users and healthcare professionals

Objective: Eliminating HIV transmission worldwide could become a reality with the advent of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) where people take HIV medication to prevent HIV acquisition. Incorporating digital health into PrEP provision could help services scale up and meet increasing demand. We aimed to explore the prospective acceptability of a novel online PrEP care pathway (the ePrEP clinic) among PrEP users and healthcare professionals. The ePrEP clinic is composed of online postal self-sampling for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, an online consultation, and remote medication provision.Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 PrEP users recruited from a large sexual health service and online cohort, and focus groups with nine healthcare professionals from the same sexual health service (May to December 2021). We analysed data using framework analysis.Results: Participants found the ePrEP clinic highly acceptable, anticipating that it would provide convenience, empower PrEP users, and increase capacity within sexual health services. The need for blood self-sampling was a considerable barrier for some. Participants anticipated that the ePrEP clinic would be appropriate for established PrEP users with adequate digital health literacy and no medically significant conditions requiring in-clinic monitoring. Participants highlighted the need for support, including access to in-clinic care, and the integration of the ePrEP clinic within existing services.Conclusions: Our findings provide clear justification for the development of the ePrEP clinic as an addition to in-clinic PrEP care pathways and provide useful insights for those developing digital services for other conditions incorporating testing, consultations, and prescribing

Accumulation and dissemination of prion protein in experimental sheep scrapie in the natural host

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In order to study the sites of uptake and mechanisms of dissemination of scrapie prions in the natural host under controlled conditions, lambs aged 14 days and homozygous for the VRQ allele of the PrP gene were infected by the oral route. Infection occurred in all lambs with a remarkably short and highly consistent incubation period of approximately 6 months. Challenge of lambs at approximately eight months of age resulted in disease in all animals, but with more variable incubation periods averaging significantly longer than those challenged at 14 days.</p> <p>This model provides an excellent system in which to study the disease in the natural host by virtue of the relatively short incubation period and close resemblance to natural infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Multiple sites of prion uptake were identified, of which the most important was the Peyer's patch of the distal ileum.</p> <p>Neuroinvasion was detected initially in the enteric nervous system prior to infection of the central nervous system. At end stage disease prion accumulation was widespread throughout the entire neuraxis, but vacuolar pathology was absent in most animals that developed disease at 6–7 months of age.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Initial spread of detectable PrP was consistent with drainage in afferent lymph to dependent lymph nodes. Subsequent accumulation of prions in lymphoid tissue not associated with the gut is consistent with haematogenous spread. In addition to macrophages and follicular dendritic cells, prion containing cells consistent with afferent lymph dendritic cells were identified and are suggested as a likely vehicle for carriage of prions from initial site of uptake to the lymphoreticular system, and as potential carriers of prion protein in blood. It is apparent that spongiform change, the characteristic lesion of scrapie and other prion diseases, is not responsible for the clinical signs in sheep, but may develop in an age dependent manner.</p

Employer choice and job quality : workplace innovation, work redesign and employee perceptions of job quality in a complex healthcare setting

This article examines employer choice in relation to job quality (JQ). Acknowledging the important role of market, institutional and technological constraints, we highlight the role of employer agency in shaping JQ by reporting on an employer-led service redesign initiative in hospital pharmacy services in Scotland. This redesign initiative aimed at upskilling employees and redirecting their work effort towards high value added, patient-facing work using robotics implementation. The article provides a critical assessment of the success of the initiative in enhancing JQ and explores a range of factors constraining and shaping employers' job quality choices