ADAPTING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR A VIRTUAL SPACE

Incorporating virtual education offerings with traditional environmental education delivery can be a complementary pairing. In addition to giving instructors more flexibility by increasing their toolkit, it can also increase potential offerings and engagement opportunities for an organization. Since virtual programs offer the chance for them to be shared beyond the initial audience with no significant increase in time, they can allow instructors to focus on developing other projects. This report studies content delivered by an environmental education specialist at Huron Pines, Gaylord, Michigan from February to October 2020. The environmental education specialist created virtual, nine-part series, Connecting to Nature, in April and May of 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 shutdown of in-person education. The program initially had comparable or better turnout for the live, online sessions (n=244) to previous programming at Huron Pines, and recordings of the sessions had continuous engagement through a virtual platform, YouTube, (n=479 April-October 2020). Two additional series were created in order to explore environmental education online for Huron Pines, as well as train participants to report invasive species to the Midwest Invasive Species and Identification Network. Online programs had the potential to reach larger audiences and provide continuous opportunities for participants to engage with Huron Pines’ content. By utilizing a dual approach to environmental education, where fieldwork and computer learning coexist, outdoor-related content can be maintained while engaging participants in environmental education

Small molecule inhibition of CBP/catenin interactions eliminates drug resistant clones in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Drug resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains a major problem warranting new treatment strategies. Wnt/catenin signaling is critical for the self-renewal of normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. Deregulated Wnt signaling is evident in chronic and acute myeloid leukemia, however little is known about ALL. Differential interaction of catenin with either the Kat3 coactivator CREBBP (CBP) or the highly homologous EP300 (p300) is critical to determine divergent cellular responses and provides a rationale for the regulation of both proliferation and differentiation by the Wnt signaling pathway. Usage of the coactivator CBP by catenin leads to transcriptional activation of cassettes of genes that are involved in maintenance of progenitor cell self-renewal. However, the use of the coactivator p300, leads to activation of genes involved in the initiation of differentiation. ICG-001 is a novel small molecule modulator of Wnt/catenin signaling, which specifically binds to the N-terminus of CBP and not p300, within amino acids 1–110, thereby disrupting the interaction between CBP and catenin. Here, we report that selective disruption of the CBP/β- and γ-catenin interactions using ICG-001 leads to differentiation of pre-B ALL cells and loss of self-renewal capacity. Survivin, an inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein, was also downregulated in primary ALL after treatment with ICG-001. Using ChIP assay, we demonstrate occupancy by CBP of the survivin promoter, which is decreased by ICG-001 in primary ALL. CBP-mutations have been recently identified in a significant percentage of ALL patients, however, almost all of the identified mutations reported occur C-terminal to the binding site for ICG-001. Importantly, ICG-001, regardless of CBP mutational status and chromosomal aberration, leads to eradication of drug-resistant primary leukemia in combination with conventional therapy in vitro and significantly prolongs the survival of NOD/SCID mice engrafted with primary ALL. Therefore, specifically inhibiting CBP/catenin transcription represents a novel approach to overcome relapse in ALL

Transgenic Mice for a Tamoxifen-Induced, Conditional Expression of the Cre Recombinase in Osteoclasts

Background: Studies on osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells, have remained limited due to the lack of transgenic mice allowing the conditional knockout of genes in osteoclasts at any time during development or adulthood. Methodology/Principal Finding: We report here on the generation of transgenic mice which specifically express a tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase in osteoclasts. These mice, generated on C57BL/6 and FVB background, express a fusion Cre recombinase-ERT2 protein whose expression is driven by the promoter of cathepsin K (CtsK), a gene highly expressed in osteoclasts. We tested the cellular specificity of Cre activity in CtsKCreERT2 strains by breeding with Rosa26LacZ reporter mice. PCR and histological analyses of the CtsKCreERT2LacZ positive adult mice and E17.5 embryos show that Cre activity is restricted largely to bone tissue. In vitro, primary osteoclasts derived from the bone marrow of CtsKCreERT2+/2LacZ+/2 adult mice show a Cre-dependent b-galactosidase activity after tamoxifen stimulation

Harmful algal blooms and their effects in coastal seas of Northern Europe

Highlights • Fish mortalities due to harmful algae cause substantial economic and social costs for the fish farming industry in the northeastern Atlantic, North Sea and adjacent European waters • Toxin syndromes associated with Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins and Paralytic Shellfish Toxins and their regulation have the most profound effect on the bivalve aquaculture industry in the northeastern Atlantic region • Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins are mainly problems in brackish water areas, particularly in the Baltic Sea • Emerging threats to the shellfish and finfish industries include the known presence of the phycotoxins azaspiracids and goniodomins • The IOC-ICES-PICESHAEDAT contains time-series baseline information on harmful algal events in EuropeHarmful algal blooms (HAB) are recurrent phenomena in northern Europe along the coasts of the Baltic Sea, Kattegat-Skagerrak, eastern North Sea, Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. These HABs have caused occasional massive losses for the aquaculture industry and have chronically affected socioeconomic interests in several ways. This status review gives an overview of historical HAB events and summarises reports to the Harmful Algae Event Database from 1986 to the end of year 2019 and observations made in long term monitoring programmes of potentially harmful phytoplankton and of phycotoxins in bivalve shellfish. Major HAB taxa causing fish mortalities in the region include blooms of the prymnesiophyte Chrysochromulina leadbeateri in northern Norway in 1991 and 2019, resulting in huge economic losses for fish farmers. A bloom of the prymesiophyte Prymnesium polylepis (syn. Chrysochromulina polylepis) in the Kattegat-Skagerrak in 1988 was ecosystem disruptive. Blooms of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis spp. have caused accumulations of foam on beaches in the southwestern North Sea and Wadden Sea coasts and shellfish mortality has been linked to their occurrence. Mortality of shellfish linked to HAB events has been observed in estuarine waters associated with influx of water from the southern North Sea. The first bloom of the dictyochophyte genus Pseudochattonella was observed in 1998, and since then such blooms have been observed in high cell densities in spring causing fish mortalities some years. Dinoflagellates, primarily Dinophysis spp., intermittently yield concentrations of Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins (DST) in blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, above regulatory limits along the coasts of Norway, Denmark and the Swedish west coast. On average, DST levels in shellfish have decreased along the Swedish and Norwegian Skagerrak coasts since approximately 2006, coinciding with a decrease in the cell abundance of D. acuta. Among dinoflagellates, Alexandrium species are the major source of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins (PST) in the region. PST concentrations above regulatory levels were rare in the Skagerrak-Kattegat during the three decadal review period, but frequent and often abundant findings of Alexandrium resting cysts in surface sediments indicate a high potential risk for blooms. PST levels often above regulatory limits along the west coast of Norway are associated with A. catenella (ribotype Group 1) as the main toxin producer. Other Alexandrium species, such as A. ostenfeldii and A. minutum, are capable of producing PST among some populations but are usually not associated with PSP events in the region. The cell abundance of A. pseudogonyaulax, a producer of the ichthyotoxin goniodomin (GD), has increased in the Skagerrak-Kattegat since 2010, and may constitute an emerging threat. The dinoflagellate Azadinium spp. have been unequivocally linked to the presence of azaspiracid toxins (AZT) responsible for Azaspiracid Shellfish Poisoning (AZP) in northern Europe. These toxins were detected in bivalve shellfish at concentrations above regulatory limits for the first time in Norway in blue mussels in 2005 and in Sweden in blue mussels and oysters (Ostrea edulis and Crassostrea gigas) in 2018. Certain members of the diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia produce the neurotoxin domoic acid and analogs known as Amnesic Shellfish Toxins (AST). Blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia were common in the North Sea and the Skagerrak-Kattegat, but levels of AST in bivalve shellfish were rarely above regulatory limits during the review period. Summer cyanobacteria blooms in the Baltic Sea are a concern mainly for tourism by causing massive fouling of bathing water and beaches. Some of the cyanobacteria produce toxins, e.g. Nodularia spumigena, producer of nodularin, which may be a human health problem and cause occasional dog mortalities. Coastal and shelf sea regions in northern Europe provide a key supply of seafood, socioeconomic well-being and ecosystem services. Increasing anthropogenic influence and climate change create environmental stressors causing shifts in the biogeography and intensity of HABs. Continued monitoring of HAB and phycotoxins and the operation of historical databases such as HAEDAT provide not only an ongoing status report but also provide a way to interpret causes and mechanisms of HABs

Current and emerging developments in subseasonal to decadal prediction

Weather and climate variations of subseasonal to decadal timescales can have enormous social, economic and environmental impacts, making skillful predictions on these timescales a valuable tool for decision makers. As such, there is a growing interest in the scientific, operational and applications communities in developing forecasts to improve our foreknowledge of extreme events. On subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales, these include high-impact meteorological events such as tropical cyclones, extratropical storms, floods, droughts, and heat and cold waves. On seasonal to decadal (S2D) timescales, while the focus remains broadly similar (e.g., on precipitation, surface and upper ocean temperatures and their effects on the probabilities of high-impact meteorological events), understanding the roles of internal and externally-forced variability such as anthropogenic warming in forecasts also becomes important. The S2S and S2D communities share common scientific and technical challenges. These include forecast initialization and ensemble generation; initialization shock and drift; understanding the onset of model systematic errors; bias correct, calibration and forecast quality assessment; model resolution; atmosphere-ocean coupling; sources and expectations for predictability; and linking research, operational forecasting, and end user needs. In September 2018 a coordinated pair of international conferences, framed by the above challenges, was organized jointly by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the World Weather Research Prograame (WWRP). These conferences surveyed the state of S2S and S2D prediction, ongoing research, and future needs, providing an ideal basis for synthesizing current and emerging developments in these areas that promise to enhance future operational services. This article provides such a synthesis

The Challenge of consistency in brand management for umbrella brands : a frame-semantic analysis of chosen brands within the nutrition industry

In dieser Forschungsarbeit wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit es Dachmarken der Ernährungsindustrie möglich ist, im Rahmen der Online- und Social-Media-Kommunikation ein konsistentes Markenprofil im Sinne des ‚Konzepts der Integrierten Kommunikation‘ (IK) von Bruhn (2003) zu vermitteln. Aufgrund der sich verändernden Markt-, Kommunikations- und gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen in Zusammenhang mit den markenstrategischen Charakteristika ist eine effektive Markenkommunikation, und damit zusammenhängend eine erfolgreiche Markenführung insb. für Dach- und Unternehmensmarken aus der Ernährungsindustrie mit großen Herausforderungen verbunden. Die Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit liegt darin, auf theoretischer Grundlage der Markenführung und Markenkommunikation – basierend auf dem Modell der IK von Bruhn (2003) – die Konsistenz in der kommunikativen Umsetzungsstrategie der strategischen Positionierung ausgehend von der Dachmarken-Webseite zu untersuchen. Damit sollen Aussagen zur Realisierung einer IK von Dachmarken gemacht werden. Die praxisnahe Umsetzung des Themas erfolgt mit einer frame-semantischen Untersuchung und anschließender inhaltsanalytischer Integrationsprüfung der Online- und Social-Media-Präsenzen von Danone und Nestlé, als exemplarische Dachmarken der Ernährungsindustrie. Als wichtiger Entschluss dieser Arbeit ergibt sich, dass bei beiden Dachmarken eine Integrationsbemühung zur Erzielung eines einheitlichen Erscheinungsbildes im Onlinebereich über verschiedene Kommunikationsmittel vorhanden ist. Dabei lässt sich im Vergleich die Vermittlung ähnlicher Standardbedeutungen (Kernaussagen) auf ähnlicher Art und Weise feststellen, und zwar über alle Vermittlungsebenen – sei es unter Einbezug verbaler, nonverbaler – visueller und – oder paraverbaler Kommunikationskomponenten. Als zusätzliches Resultat zeigt sich, dass neben Anzeichen einer konsistenten, abgestimmten Kommunikation auch kritische Aspekte diesbezüglich vorhanden sind. So weisen beide Dachmarken Defizite im Rahmen der allgemeinen Kommunikationsgestaltung sowie hinsichtlich der Verwendung inhaltlicher, formaler und zeitlicher Integrationsmittel auf. Und damit ist weder bei Danone noch bei Nestlé eine konsequent umgesetzte Integrationsform vorhanden. Dennoch zeigt die Analyse, dass bei dieser Umsetzung die Dachmarke Danone über die jeweiligen Inhalte der verschiedenen Kommunikationsmittel (Einzelaussagen) besser alle Kernaussagen aufgegriffen werden und damit ein stärkerer Konnex zur strategischen Positionierung hergestellt werden kann. Insgesamt folgt daraus, dass trotz vorhandener Integrationsmaßnahmen bei Danone und Nestlé, ein Handlungsbedarf zur Perfektionierung der Online- und Social-Media-Präsenz besteht – vor allem im Hinblick auf die Content-Erstellung im Social-Media-Bereich, der Anpassung an medialen Charakteristika der einzelnen Kanäle sowie auf eine stärkere Differenzierung von der jeweiligen Konkurrenzmarke durch eine unterschiedliche Vermittlung ähnlicher Werte

A flexible framework for online collaborative learning

This paper presents a framework for online collaborative learning, also known as telecollaboration. At the centre of this flexible framework are online collaborative educational experiences where knowledge creation and knowledge in action are the nexus of social, teaching and cognitive presence based on the Community of Inquiry model of Garrison, Anderson and Archers (1999). The framework provided should guide educators as they design, develop and implement authentic educational experiences within local, national or international settings in partnership with other educational stakeholders

Mass Flux Analysis of Abiotic Tetrachloroethene Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Pool Dissolution in a Heterogeneous Flow Environment

Porous aquifer materials are often characterized by layered heterogeneities that influence groundwater flow and present complexities in contaminant transport modeling. Such flow variations also have the potential to impact the dissolution flux from dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) pools. This study examined how these heterogeneous flow conditions affected the dissolution of a tetrachloroethene (PCE) pool in a two-dimensional intermediate-scale flow cell containing coarse sand. A steady-state mass-balance approach was used to calculate the PCE dissolution rate at three different flow rates. As expected, aqueous PCE concentrations increased along the length of the PCE pool and higher flow rates decreased the aqueous PCE concentration in the effluent. Nonreactive tracer studies at two flow rates confirmed the presence of a vertical flow gradient, with the most rapid velocity located at the bottom of the tank. These results suggest that flow focusing occurred near the DNAPL pool. Effluent PCE concentrations and pool dissolution flux rates were compared to model predictions assuming local equilibrium (LE) conditions at the DNAPL pool/aqueous phase interface and a uniform distribution of flow. The LE model did not describe the data well, even over a wide range of PCE solubility and macroscopic transverse dispersivity values. Model predictions assuming nonequilibrium mass-transfer-limited conditions and accounting for vertical flow gradients, however, resulted in a better fit to the data. These results have important implications for evaluating DNAPL pool dissolution in the field where subsurface heterogeneities are likely to be present

A Tyrosine-Rich Cell Surface Protein in the Diatom <i>Amphora coffeaeformis</i> Identified through Transcriptome Analysis and Genetic Transformation

<div><p>Diatoms are single-celled eukaryotic microalgae that are ubiquitously found in almost all aquatic ecosystems, and are characterized by their intricately structured SiO₂ (silica)-based cell walls. Diatoms with a benthic life style are capable of attaching to any natural or man-made submerged surface, thus contributing substantially to both microbial biofilm communities and economic losses through biofouling. Surface attachment of diatoms is mediated by a carbohydrate- and protein- based glue, yet no protein involved in diatom underwater adhesion has been identified so far. In the present work, we have generated a normalized transcriptome database from the model adhesion diatom <i>Amphora coffeaeformis</i>. Using an unconventional bioinformatics analysis we have identified five proteins that exhibit unique amino acid sequences resembling the amino acid composition of the tyrosine-rich adhesion proteins from mussel footpads. Establishing the first method for the molecular genetic transformation of <i>A. coffeaeformis</i> has enabled investigations into the function of one of these proteins, AC3362, through expression as YFP fusion protein. Biochemical analysis and imaging by fluorescence microscopy revealed that AC3362 is not involved in adhesion, but rather plays a role in biosynthesis and/or structural stability of the cell wall. The methods established in the present study have paved the way for further molecular studies on the mechanisms of underwater adhesion and biological silica formation in the diatom <i>A. coffeaeformis</i>.</p></div

Western blot probed with an anti-YFP antibodies.

<p>The extracts obtained from identical amounts of either wild type (WT) or AC3362-YFP bearing cell walls by treatment with a hot SDS solution (SDS) or with an ammonium fluoride solution at pH 4–5 (AF) were loaded. In lane ‘ctrl.’ 100 ng recombinant Sil3-GFP (isolated from <i>E. coli</i>) was loaded.</p