The Special Needs of Women on College Campuses

The authors embarked on a journey to understand the special needs of women college students. They discovered two major themes that were explored in greater depth in an attempt to explain why these themes were more specific to college women than other populations. Although these needs may be extrapolated to other populations of college students they were of particular concern to the female college student population. The authors began by selecting a non-scientific restricted pool of female college students than spanned first-year, second-year and junior or third-year students. This student sample was interviewed to discover their concerns or perceptions about violence and sexual discrimination against women on college campuses. The interview questions and responses were abbreviated and included, followed by a discussion of each theme. The interview subjects stated that violence was not a major concern however; they did offer suggestions to improve safety. This led the authors to conclude that although they did not explicitly state violence as a concern it remains an implicit concern. The second theme explored was discrimination based on gender. The interviewed sample had a varied response to having been the victim of gender discrimination. Of greater concern was the perception of what constituted gender harassment, what procedures and processes were in place and available to respond to these occurrences and how to report an incident

Debt income and mental disorder in the general population

Background The association between poor mental health and poverty is well known but its mechanism is not fully understood. This study tests the hypothesis that the association between low income and mental disorder is mediated by debt and its attendant financial hardship. Method The study is a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of private households in England, Scotland and Wales, which assessed 8580 participants aged 16–74 years living in general households. Psychosis, neurosis, alcohol abuse and drug abuse were identified by the Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised, the Schedule for Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and other measures. Detailed questions were asked about income, debt and financial hardship. Results Those with low income were more likely to have mental disorder [odds ratio (OR) 2.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.68–2.59] but this relationship was attenuated after adjustment for debt (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.25–1.97) and vanished when other sociodemographic variables were also controlled (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.77–1.48). Of those with mental disorder, 23% were in debt (compared with 8% of those without disorder), and 10% had had a utility disconnected (compared with 3%). The more debts people had, the more likely they were to have some form of mental disorder, even after adjustment for income and other sociodemographic variables. People with six or more separate debts had a six-fold increase in mental disorder after adjustment for income (OR 6.0, 95% CI 3.5–10.3). Conclusions Both low income and debt are associated with mental illness, but the effect of income appears to be mediated largely by debt

Consistency of projected drought over the Sahel with changes in the monsoon circulation and extremes in a regional climate model projections

As a step toward an increased understanding of climate change over West Africa, in this paper we analyze the relationship between rainfall changes and monsoon dynamics in high-resolution regional climate model experiments performed using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3). Multidecadal simulations are carried out for present-day and future climate conditions under increased greenhouse gas forcing driven by the global climate model European Center/Hamburg 5 (ECHAM5). Compared to the present day, the future scenario simulation produces drier conditions over the Sahel and wetter conditions over orographic areas. The Sahel drying is accompanied by a weaker monsoon flow, a southward migration and strengthening of the African Easterly Jet, a weakening of the Tropical Easterly Jet, a decrease of the deep core of ascent between the jets, and reduced African Easterly Wave activity. These circulation changes are characteristics of dry periods over the Sahel and are similar to the conditions found in the late twentieth century observed drought over the region. Changes in extreme events suggest that the drier conditions over the Sahel are associated with more frequent occurrences of drought periods. The projected drought over the Sahel is thus physically consistent with changes in the monsoon circulation and the extreme indices (maximum dry spell length and 5 day precipitation)

SNP Assay Development for Linkage Map Construction, Anchoring Whole-Genome Sequence, and Other Genetic and Genomic Applications in Common Bean.

A total of 992,682 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was identified as ideal for Illumina Infinium II BeadChip design after sequencing a diverse set of 17 common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) varieties with the aid of next-generation sequencing technology. From these, two BeadChips each with >5000 SNPs were designed. The BARCBean6K_1 BeadChip was selected for the purpose of optimizing polymorphism among market classes and, when possible, SNPs were targeted to sequence scaffolds in the Phaseolus vulgaris 14× genome assembly with sequence lengths >10 kb. The BARCBean6K_2 BeadChip was designed with the objective of anchoring additional scaffolds and to facilitate orientation of large scaffolds. Analysis of 267 F2 plants from a cross of varieties Stampede × Red Hawk with the two BeadChips resulted in linkage maps with a total of 7040 markers including 7015 SNPs. With the linkage map, a total of 432.3 Mb of sequence from 2766 scaffolds was anchored to create the Phaseolus vulgaris v1.0 assembly, which accounted for approximately 89% of the 487 Mb of available sequence scaffolds of the Phaseolus vulgaris v0.9 assembly. A core set of 6000 SNPs (BARCBean6K_3 BeadChip) with high genotyping quality and polymorphism was selected based on the genotyping of 365 dry bean and 134 snap bean accessions with the BARCBean6K_1 and BARCBean6K_2 BeadChips. The BARCBean6K_3 BeadChip is a useful tool for genetics and genomics research and it is widely used by breeders and geneticists in the United States and abroad

Characterization of a large sex determination region in Salix purpurea L. (Salicaceae).

Dioecy has evolved numerous times in plants, but heteromorphic sex chromosomes are apparently rare. Sex determination has been studied in multiple Salix and Populus (Salicaceae) species, and P. trichocarpa has an XY sex determination system on chromosome 19, while S. suchowensis and S. viminalis have a ZW system on chromosome 15. Here we use whole genome sequencing coupled with quantitative trait locus mapping and a genome-wide association study to characterize the genomic composition of the non-recombining portion of the sex determination region. We demonstrate that Salix purpurea also has a ZW system on chromosome 15. The sex determination region has reduced recombination, high structural polymorphism, an abundance of transposable elements, and contains genes that are involved in sex expression in other plants. We also show that chromosome 19 contains sex-associated markers in this S. purpurea assembly, along with other autosomes. This raises the intriguing possibility of a translocation of the sex determination region within the Salicaceae lineage, suggesting a common evolutionary origin of the Populus and Salix sex determination loci

A New H I Survey of Active Galaxies

We have conducted a new Arecibo survey for H I emission for 113 galaxies with broad-line (type 1) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) out to recession velocities as high as 35,000 km/s. The primary aim of the study is to obtain sensitive H I spectra for a well-defined, uniformly selected sample of active galaxies that have estimates of their black hole masses in order to investigate correlations between H I properties and the characteristics of the AGNs. H I emission was detected in 66 out of the 101 (65%) objects with spectra uncorrupted by radio frequency interference, among which 45 (68%) have line profiles with adequate signal-to-noise ratio and sufficiently reliable inclination corrections to yield robust deprojected rotational velocities. This paper presents the basic survey products, including an atlas of H I spectra, measurements of H I flux, line width, profile asymmetry, optical images, optical spectroscopic parameters, as well as a summary of a number of derived properties pertaining to the host galaxies. To enlarge our primary sample, we also assemble all previously published H I measurements of type 1 AGNs for which can can estimate black hole masses, which total an additional 53 objects. The final comprehensive compilation of 154 broad-line active galaxies, by far the largest sample ever studied, forms the basis of our companion paper, which uses the H I database to explore a number of properties of the AGN host galaxies.Comment: To appear in ApJS; 31 pages. Preprint will full-resolution figures can be downloaded from http://www.ociw.edu/~lho/preprints/ms1.pd

Twisting arms and sending messages: Terrorist tactics in civil war

We examine the strategic rationale for terrorist tactics in civil war. We identify conditions that favor terrorism as a tactic in armed civil conflicts as well as the specific targets as a function of rebel characteristics, goals, and government responses to political demands. Terrorist tactics can be helpful as an instrument to coerce the government in asymmetric conflicts, as rebels are typically weak relative to the government. But terrorism can also help communicate the goals and resolve of a group when there is widespread uncertainty. We consider the strategic importance and rationale for terrorism in terms of the frequency of attacks and specific targets, and analyze our propositions using new data linking actors from the Uppsala/PRIO Armed Conflict Data and the Global Terrorism Database. Consistent with our expectations, we find that terrorism is used more extensively in civil conflicts by weaker groups and when attacks can help the group convey its goals without undermining popular support. Groups with more inclusive audiences are more likely to focus on ‘hard’ or official targets, while groups with more sectarian audiences are more likely to attack ‘soft’ targets and civilians

Properties of Active Galaxies Deduced from H I Observations

We completed a new survey for H I emission for a large, well-defined sample of 154 nearby (z < 0.1) galaxies with type 1 AGNs. We make use of the extensive database presented in a companion paper to perform a comprehensive appraisal of the cold gas content in active galaxies and to seek new strategies to investigate the global properties of the host galaxies and their relationship to their central black holes (BHs). We show that the BH mass obeys a strong, roughly linear relation with the host galaxy's dynamical mass. BH mass follows a looser, though still highly significant, correlation with the maximum rotation velocity of the galaxy, as expected from the known scaling between rotation velocity and central velocity dispersion. Neither of these H I-based correlations is as tight as the more familiar relations between BH mass and bulge luminosity or velocity dispersion, but they offer the advantage of being insensitive to the glare of the nucleus and therefore are promising new tools for probing the host galaxies of both nearby and distant AGNs. We present evidence for substantial ongoing BH growth in the most actively accreting AGNs. In these nearby systems, BH growth appears to be delayed with respect to the assembly of the host galaxy but otherwise has left no detectable perturbation to its mass-to-light ratio or its global gas content. The host galaxies of type 1 AGNs, including those luminous enough to qualify as quasars, are generally gas-rich systems, possessing a cold interstellar medium reservoir at least as abundant as that in inactive galaxies of the same morphological type. This calls into question current implementations of AGN feedback in models of galaxy formation that predict strong cold gas depletion in unobscured AGNs. (Abridged)Comment: To appear in ApJ; 14 page

Multiple origins, one evolutionary trajectory: gradual evolution characterizes distinct lineages of allotetraploid "Brachypodium"

The “genomic shock” hypothesis posits that unusual challenges to genome integrity such as whole genome duplication may induce chaotic genome restructuring. Decades of research on polyploid genomes have revealed that this is often, but not always the case. While some polyploids show major chromosomal rearrangements and derepression of transposable elements in the immediate aftermath of whole genome duplication, others do not. Nonetheless, all polyploids show gradual diploidization over evolutionary time. To evaluate these hypotheses, we produced a chromosome-scale reference genome for the natural allotetraploid grass Brachypodium hybridum, accession “Bhyb26.” We compared 2 independently derived accessions of B. hybridum and their deeply diverged diploid progenitor species Brachypodium stacei and Brachypodium distachyon. The 2 B. hybridum lineages provide a natural timecourse in genome evolution because one formed 1.4 million years ago, and the other formed 140 thousand years ago. The genome of the older lineage reveals signs of gradual post-whole genome duplication genome evolution including minor gene loss and genome rearrangement that are missing from the younger lineage. In neither B. hybridum lineage do we find signs of homeologous recombination or pronounced transposable element activation, though we find evidence supporting steady post-whole genome duplication transposable element activity in the older lineage. Gene loss in the older lineage was slightly biased toward 1 subgenome, but genome dominance was not observed at the transcriptomic level. We propose that relaxed selection, rather than an abrupt genomic shock, drives evolutionary novelty in B. hybridum, and that the progenitor species’ similarity in transposable element load may account for the subtlety of the observed genome dominance