U.S. SDG Data Revolution Roadmap

One year after adopting the SDGs, in an addendum to its Open Government National Action Plan, the U.S. Government committed to develop an SDG Data Revolution Roadmap that "charts the future course of efforts to fill data gaps and build capacity to use data for decision-making and innovation to advance sustainable development." The U.S. Government's SDG Data Revolution Roadmap will outline the government's commitments-to-action from 2017-2018. With a deadline of June 2017, it will be developed by the U.S. Government "through an open and inclusive process that engages the full range of citizen, non-governmental, and private sector stakeholders."This report represents the beginning of that engagement process. On December 14, 2016, the Center for Open Data Enterprise and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data convened a Roundtable to develop recommended priorities for the U.S. Government's SDG Data Revolution Roadmap The Roundtable brought together more than 40 stakeholders from government, civil society, and the private sector with expertise in achieving and promoting sustainable development

The Effects of Flood Warning Information on Driver Decisions in a Driving Simulator Scenario

Flood warnings are a type of risk communication that alerts the public of potential floods. Flood warnings can be communicated through mobile devices and should convey enough information to keep the user safe during a flood situation. However, the amount of detail included in the warning, such as the depth of the flood, may vary. The purpose of this study was to: (a) extend our prior research on flood warnings by recreating the written driving scenarios into the driving simulator; (b) deepen the understanding of human decision-making in risky situations; and (c) investigate how to best inform drivers of floods by design to keep them protected. We examined the effects of flood warning information on the actions taken by drivers in various driving scenarios in a driving simulator. Participants were tasked to drive to a restaurant after receiving instructions and a type of flood information warning during each scenario (flood, no flood, flood of 6 inches, flood of 6 inches maximum). Their actions taken, trust in the navigation system, understanding of the situation and scenario, and perceived risk were measured for each type of flood information warning. We found that participants accepted the alternate route more when in a scenario with a flood present compared to the no-flood scenario. The level of detail of the warning did not influence the actions taken. These results deepened the understanding of human decision-making and can guide future flood warning designs to keep drivers protected from flooded roadways

HOW ARE MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS EQUIPPED WITH ADEQUATE TRAINING TO DETECT AND REPORT ELDER ABUSE IN HOSPICE

Purpose: This study explored how equipped medical social workers are with adequate training to detect and report elder abuse in hospice. This study was carried out in Southern California with the help of participants who currently or have previously worked as medical social workers in hospice. The eleven participants are all women of varying backgrounds in age, ethnicity, cultures, work experience, and licensures. In the United States, elder abuse is known to affect approximately one out of ten Americans aged sixty and over. However, there are ways we can combat elder abuse. One of the major ways is by properly educating and training medical social workers who work with the elderly population to detect, identify, report, and intervene when elder abuse is suspected. This study obtains a better understanding of how medical social workers are supplied with adequate training to detect and report elder abuse in hospice. Data for this study was collected through interviews of medical social workers who currently work or have previously worked in hospice. Analysis of the interviews revealed that participants who did receive mandatory and volunteer training at their hospice agencies on elder abuse, most expressed that the training they did receive was beneficial. Although, they did express a need for more comprehensive and extensive training that would challenge them and further their current knowledge on elder abuse. Along with mandatory and volunteer training, participants also shared their formal education, in the classroom and through internship, as beneficial in being able to identify, detect and report elder abuse in hospice. Results in volunteer training were similar to mandatory training in that participants found it beneficial because it was more comprehensive information that challenged and furthered their current knowledge. These findings reveal the professional and educational needs of medical social workers in hospice. Participants expressed a need for more training and education that would further their knowledge and understanding of elder abuse. Therefore, it is the social workers’ and hospice agencies’ responsibility to provide and participate in more comprehensive and extensive training in elder abuse that will create more adept social workers in hospice

Effects of Different Types of Noise on Foreign Accent Adaptation

Understanding foreign-accented speech can be difficult. Comprehension can be further compromised by environmental noise. Previous research has shown that listeners are able to adapt rapidly to a foreign accent. The present study examines how foreign accent (FA) adaptation is affected by two kinds of noise: speech-shaped white noise and competing speech. Native English listeners heard blocks of sentences produced by native-accented or foreign-accented talkers (Korean, Spanish) mixed with either type of noise, and indicated if the word written on the screen and the last word they heard were the same by pressing a button. Results show that listener responses were more accurate (though slower) when sentences were mixed with competing speech than with speech-shaped white noise. These findings suggest that while competing speech made word recognition more effortful, ultimately it was less disruptive than white noise for FA adaptation.Linguistic

Determinants of Virus Variation, Evolution, and Host Adaptation

Virus evolution is the change in the genetic structure of a viral population over time and results in the emergence of new viral variants, strains, and species with novel biological properties, including adaptation to new hosts. There are host, vector, environmental, and viral factors that contribute to virus evolution. To achieve or fine tune compatibility and successfully establish infection, viruses adapt to a particular host species or to a group of species. However, some viruses are better able to adapt to diverse hosts, vectors, and environments. Viruses generate genetic diversity through mutation, reassortment, and recombination. Plant viruses are exposed to genetic drift and selection pressures by host and vector factors, and random variants or those with a competitive advantage are fixed in the population and mediate the emergence of new viral strains or species with novel biological properties. This process creates a footprint in the virus genome evident as the preferential accumulation of substitutions, insertions, or deletions in areas of the genome that function as determinants of host adaptation. Here, with respect to plant viruses, we review the current understanding of the sources of variation, the effect of selection, and its role in virus evolution and host adaptation

African American Issues in the Workplace

The issue of discrimination against African Americans within the labor market has presented itself throughout the United States (Cherlin, 2010). Such discrimination, we have found, is largely due to the barriers to equal opportunity that the average African American faces today (“Why Equal Opportunity is Important”, n.d.). Thus, we have identified and provided solutions for such barriers (“Laying the Foundation for National Prosperity”, n.d.). In doing so, we intend for the solutions to be implemented in an effort to reduce discrimination against African American workers throughout the United States of America

Mutations in virus-derived small RnAs

RNA viruses exist as populations of genome variants. Virus-infected plants accumulate 21–24 nucleotide small interfering RnAs (siRnAs) derived from viral RnA (virus-derived siRnAs) through gene silencing. This paper describes the profile of mutations in virus-derived siRNAs for three members of the family Potyviridae: Turnip mosaic virus (tuMV), Papaya ringspot virus (pRSV) and Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV). for tuMV in Arabidopsis thaliana, profiles were obtained for mechanically inoculated rosette leaves and systemically infected cauline leaves and inflorescence. Results are consistent withselection pressure on the viral genome imposed by local and systemic movement. By genetically removing gene silencing in the plant and silencing suppression in the virus, our results showed that antiviral gene silencing imposes selection in viral populations. Mutations in siRnAs derived from a PRSV coat protein transgene in the absence of virus replication showed the contribution of cellular RnA-dependent RnA polymerases to the generation of mutations in virus-derived siRnAs. collectively, results are consistent with two sources of mutations in virus-derived siRNAs: viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases responsible for virus replication and cellular RnA-dependent RnA polymerases responsible for gene silencing amplification

Modelado de procesos con enfoque BPM para mejorar la eficacia de gestión de pedidos de una empresa exportadora de arándanos, 2021

La presente investigación trata sobre mejorar la eficacia de la gestión de pedidos de una empresa exportadora de arándanos en el periodo 2021 mediante el modelado de procesos con enfoque BPM. En este sentido la presente investigación de tipo aplicada con un enfoque cuantitativo y con un alcance descriptivo, de diseño no experimental- transaccional. Teniendo como resultados que, el proceso actual de la gestión de pedidos de la empresa exportadora es deficiente , debido a que la eficacia de cumplimiento global de la entrega de pedidos en el periodo 2019-2020 es del 93.16% , esto se ha ocasionado por las pérdidas en la diferencia de stock de materiales de empaque (SAP /R3), pues se han identificado 2,503,636 unidades de diferencia de materiales, además se ha tenido un incumplimiento de producción de 6.8%, es decir 4, 535.90 kg de arándanos, esto se refleja en una pérdida de utilidad de S/ 37,421.20. Así mismo, en el modelado de procesos de BPM se han utilizado las herramientas como el mapa mental, el diagrama BPMN, el diagrama de bloques y el diagrama de operaciones, lo cual ayudará en reducir 751,090.80 unidades de diferencia de materiales, también se logrará reducir el incumplimiento de producción a 77,935.07 kg de arándanos. Obteniendo de esta manera unVAN de S/ 44,668, que para su cálculo se ha tomado en cuenta el COK del 17.91%, además el TIR obtenido fue de 53%, y un costo beneficio de S/. 1.58