Agricultural producer perceptions of climate change and climate education needs for the Central Great Plains

Citation: Hibbs, Amber Campbell, Daniel Kahl, Lisa PytlikZillig, Ben Champion, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Timothy Steffensmeier, Charles W. Rice, and Kenneth Hubbard. “Agricultural Producer Perceptions of Climate Change and Climate Education Needs for the Central Great Plains.” Journal of Extension 52, no. 3 (June 2014). https://www.joe.org/joe/2014june/a2.php.The Central Great Plains Climate Education Partnership conducted focus groups throughout Kansas to gain a better understanding of farmer perceptions and attitudes towards climate change education. Results indicate concern about climatic changes, even if producers are unsure that "human caused climate change" is occurring. Participants indicated they would like access to information through Web-based programs that allow them to manipulate variables relevant to their area and situation. Participants prefer locally relevant information and identified Extension agents as trusted educators. The study provided an expanded understanding of agricultural producer perceptions that will be valuable to individuals or organizations providing climate education

Reclassification of the Specialized Metabolite Producer Pseudomonas mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 as a Member of the Burkholderia cepacia Complex.

Pseudomonas mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 is a Gram-negative bacterium, first isolated from Japanese soil samples, that produces the monobactam isosulfazecin and the β-lactam-potentiating bulgecins. To characterize the biosynthetic potential of P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433, its complete genome was determined using single-molecule real-time DNA sequence analysis. The 7.8-Mb genome comprised four replicons, three chromosomal (each encoding rRNA) and one plasmid. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 was misclassified at the time of its deposition and is a member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex, most closely related to Burkholderia ubonensis The sequenced genome shows considerable additional biosynthetic potential; known gene clusters for malleilactone, ornibactin, isosulfazecin, alkylhydroxyquinoline, and pyrrolnitrin biosynthesis and several uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters for polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, and other metabolites were identified. Furthermore, P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 harbors many genes associated with environmental resilience and antibiotic resistance and was resistant to a range of antibiotics and metal ions. In summary, this bioactive strain should be designated B. cepacia complex strain ATCC 31433, pending further detailed taxonomic characterization.IMPORTANCE This work reports the complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas mesoacidophila ATCC 31433, a known producer of bioactive compounds. Large numbers of both known and novel biosynthetic gene clusters were identified, indicating that P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 is an untapped resource for discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 is in fact a member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex, most closely related to the species Burkholderia ubonensis Further investigation of the classification and biosynthetic potential of P. mesoacidophila ATCC 31433 is warranted

Who Is at Risk for Diagnostic Discrepancies? Comparison of Pre- and Postmortal Diagnoses in 1800 Patients of 3 Medical Decades in East and West Berlin

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Autopsy rates in Western countries consistently decline to an average of <5%, although clinical autopsies represent a reasonable tool for quality control in hospitals, medically and economically. Comparing pre- and postmortal diagnoses, diagnostic discrepancies as uncovered by clinical autopsies supply crucial information on how to improve clinical treatment. The study aimed at analyzing current diagnostic discrepancy rates, investigating their influencing factors and identifying risk profiles of patients that could be affected by a diagnostic discrepancy.</p> <h3>Methods and Findings</h3><p>Of all adult autopsy cases of the Charité Institute of Pathology from the years 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008, the pre- and postmortal diagnoses and all demographic data were analyzed retrospectively. Based on power analysis, 1,800 cases were randomly selected to perform discrepancy classification (class I-VI) according to modified Goldman criteria. The rate of discrepancies in major diagnoses (class I) was 10.7% (95% CI: 7.7%–14.7%) in 2008 representing a reduction by 15.1%. Subgroup analysis revealed several influencing factors to significantly correlate with the discrepancy rate. Cardiovascular diseases had the highest frequency among class-I-discrepancies. Comparing the 1988-data of East- and West-Berlin, no significant differences were found in diagnostic discrepancies despite an autopsy rate differing by nearly 50%. A risk profile analysis visualized by intuitive heatmaps revealed a significantly high discrepancy rate in patients treated in low or intermediate care units at community hospitals. In this collective, patients with genitourinary/renal or infectious diseases were at particularly high risk.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>This is the current largest and most comprehensive study on diagnostic discrepancies worldwide. Our well-powered analysis revealed a significant rate of class-I-discrepancies indicating that autopsies are still of value. The identified risk profiles may aid both pathologists and clinicians to identify patients at increased risk for a discrepant diagnosis and possibly suboptimal treatment intra vitam.</p> </div

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Racial differences in systemic sclerosis disease presentation: a European Scleroderma Trials and Research group study

Objectives. Racial factors play a significant role in SSc. We evaluated differences in SSc presentations between white patients (WP), Asian patients (AP) and black patients (BP) and analysed the effects of geographical locations.Methods. SSc characteristics of patients from the EUSTAR cohort were cross-sectionally compared across racial groups using survival and multiple logistic regression analyses.Results. The study included 9162 WP, 341 AP and 181 BP. AP developed the first non-RP feature faster than WP but slower than BP. AP were less frequently anti-centromere (ACA; odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, P &lt; 0.001) and more frequently anti-topoisomerase-I autoantibodies (ATA) positive (OR = 1.2, P = 0.068), while BP were less likely to be ACA and ATA positive than were WP [OR(ACA) = 0.3, P &lt; 0.001; OR(ATA) = 0.5, P = 0.020]. AP had less often (OR = 0.7, P = 0.06) and BP more often (OR = 2.7, P &lt; 0.001) diffuse skin involvement than had WP.AP and BP were more likely to have pulmonary hypertension [OR(AP) = 2.6, P &lt; 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.7, P = 0.03 vs WP] and a reduced forced vital capacity [OR(AP) = 2.5, P &lt; 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.4, P &lt; 0.004] than were WP. AP more often had an impaired diffusing capacity of the lung than had BP and WP [OR(AP vs BP) = 1.9, P = 0.038; OR(AP vs WP) = 2.4, P &lt; 0.001]. After RP onset, AP and BP had a higher hazard to die than had WP [hazard ratio (HR) (AP) = 1.6, P = 0.011; HR(BP) = 2.1, P &lt; 0.001].Conclusion. Compared with WP, and mostly independent of geographical location, AP have a faster and earlier disease onset with high prevalences of ATA, pulmonary hypertension and forced vital capacity impairment and higher mortality. BP had the fastest disease onset, a high prevalence of diffuse skin involvement and nominally the highest mortality

Who makes community change for whom: the lived experience of civic leadership by citizens in a midwestern rural community

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Curriculum and InstructionJeong Hee KimJeffrey ZacharakisCommunity leadership development programs often strive to cultivate civic leadership as an approach that involves citizens in activities and efforts which serve the common good. This descriptive case study examines citizen perspectives of civic leadership in a rural Kansas community to better understand how citizens: 1) understand civic leadership, 2) are involved in civic leadership activities, 3) perceive their ability to participate in civic leadership, and 4) classify opportunities for civic leadership in their community over time. The community identified is a purposeful selection of a community identified as having strong civic leadership characteristics. Through individual interviews; focus group interviews; field observations; and supporting physical artifacts, this study triangulates findings to get a “picture” of citizen perspectives of their capacity for civic leadership. The study provides insight into how citizens perceive their ability to participate in the leadership of the community and to what degree they feel their participation is important and effective in bringing about change. Findings include that citizens identified civic leadership as action based in personal commitment and applied to community betterment. Avenues to engage in civic leadership include service through community organizations or local government, or by initiating action to address emerging issues. Not all citizens expressed full confidence and ability in making community change, and while several income levels demonstrated mixed results, only the lowest income study participants all expressed mixed combinations of ability and/or confidence in making community change. Case study discussion considers connections between civic leadership and community development and civic leadership activities in light of community power and community capacity building

Fostering Climate Change Education in the Central Great Plains: A Public Engagement Approach

Despite its increasing importance for sustainability, building widespread competency in the basic principles of climate literacy among the United States general public is a great challenge. This article describes the methods and results of a public engagement approach to planning climate change education in the Central Great Plains of the United States. Our approach incorporated contextual and lay expertise approaches to public engagement with a focus on supporting the self-determination of the specific stakeholder groups–rural producers, educators, and community members. An integration of results from the focus groups reveal that our approach was received positively and elicited a number of important themes describing stakeholders’ concerns, interests, and needs pertaining to climate change education. Focus group participants were concerned about climate change, cautious regarding conflicting sources of information, and interested in learning more about climate science and climate change impacts. Across all stakeholder groups, participants consistently expressed a desire for trustworthy, personally- and locally-relevant, easy-to-access information that they could evaluate and use in applications as they saw fit. Although these findings do not yet provide a recipe for concrete educational programming, when viewed through the lenses of social, cognitive and educational theories, they suggest a number of important directions for future research and program implementation that are needed in order to advance the understanding of effective climate change education

Building Trust with Agricultural and Rural Decision-Makers through Engaged Climate Educational Models in the Rural U.S. Central Great Plains

Potential climate change impacts on Central Great Plains (CGP) agricultural production are profound and highly likely to affect both national and global food supplies and related social and economic systems. Predicted climate changes include increasing temperatures with more variability including, greater precipitation events, longer and more frequent heat waves. These changes will impact agricultural production, water supply, and human health. Three annual crops, corn, sorghum, and wheat, which collectively account for 81 million hectares of agricultural land in the U.S., are concentrated in the Midwest and Central Great Plains. These crops are the mainstay for U.S. agriculture and account for $30.1 billion of agricultural production annually. The CGP also has been identified as one of the few regions around the globe that has a high degree of coupling of climate to soil moisture conditions, suggesting that any changes in precipitation will amplify climate feedbacks. This increases the level of uncertainty regarding the effects of climate change on production agriculture. Despite the fact that both Nebraska and Kansas are heavily dependent upon agriculture for their economic well-being, rural citizens’ responses to climate change remain mixed. Regional research has found that most rural Nebraskans felt at least fairly well informed about climate change (71%), believed climate change was happening (58%), and were concerned or very concerned about climate change impacting the U.S. (60%), but other research indicates that sizable numbers of producers say that weather and climate forecasts do not influence their agricultural decisions (e.g., ranging from 9% to 42% depending on the specific forecast product and agricultural decision). Focus groups from our Phase I partnership conducted with three sets of stakeholders (agricultural producers, rural community members, and agriculture/science educators representing future agricultural producers/rural community members) suggest these stakeholder group members were eager to learn more about climate and how it might change, but that their purposes, goals and attitudes toward the information vary widely. Different stakeholder groups want access to different types of information as well as how to use that information for different purposes. Moreover, they want increased access to data such that it allows them to decide for themselves how the data could be useful to them. Despite these differences, all the focus group stakeholders desire information that they can trust, is frequently and quickly updated, and easy to access. Most of all, they want locally relevant information. Conclusions from Phase I emphasize locally relevant, inquiry-based approaches with multiple points of access to the development and delivery of educational programs on climate change. We have developed a larger research and implementation framework outlining these multiple points of entry for different stakeholder audiences and a plan for programming across the three stakeholder groups based on this framework. Information about project personnel, partners, and other project information can be found at the project website: www.ksu.edu/cgp-cce