Turn of Events: How environmental temperatures and artificial nest habitats influence incubation behaviors of Cassin\u27s auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus)

Nest attendance behaviors are critical to hatching success for most bird species. Yet, details of avian incubation behaviors are still not well understood, especially for species that nest in burrows and crevices. Cassin\u27s auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) is a burrow-nesting seabird found throughout the northeastern Pacific Ocean, including Southeast Farallon Island, California (SEFI). Artificial nest boxes have been used to monitor Cassin\u27s auklets (hereafter auklet) breeding on SEFI. Temperatures in un-shaded nest boxes can increase significantly during extreme heat events. The effects of these elevated temperatures on auklet incubation behaviors and egg viability are not clear. In this study, egg data loggers were used to measure egg temperatures and turning rates of auklet eggs in natural burrows, shaded nest boxes, and un-shaded nest boxes on SEFI during the 2012 and 2013 breeding seasons. Nest temperatures were highest and most variable in un-shaded nest boxes. Egg temperatures were highest in un-shaded boxes. Egg turning rates and egg temperature decreased during the night. During the day, egg turning rates increased with nest temperature. Overall, the results of this study show that nest habitat type can influence auklet incubation behaviors and temperatures. Increasing environmental temperatures could affect breeding Cassin\u27s auklets, and mechanisms to further mitigate these effects should be considered

Effects of Climate Change on Phenology of Blackbirds and Orioles (Icterids) in Eastern South Dakota

Birds are among the first responders to climate change, often having clearly observable phenological responses to less perceptible levels of climate shift. Declines in populations of a number of bird species have been witnessed both in the United States and abroad, with up to a 48% decline in grassland birds of the Central U.S. Understanding changes in bird abundance and distribution is essential because birds supply a wide variety of critical ecosystem services, including pollination and pest control. While the effects of climate change on many bird species’ phenology have been studied intensely, research on the family Icteridae is limited. This study was conducted using spring bird presence and absence data and weather data from Oak Lake Field Station from 1995 to 2012. Linear regression analysis was applied against warmth sum days for the 30 days prior to each spring bird survey. Our analysis demonstrated significant increases in accumulated warmth sum days between 1999 and 2012 (P = 0.01). Icterid species richness also increased with increasing warmth sum days during the month leading up to surveys (P = 0.02). Trends in both habitat (open woodland, marsh, and grassland) and feeding guild (insectivores and omnivores) species richness were also observed with increasing warmth sum days. These findings suggest a shift towards earlier spring arrival of members of the family Icteridae in eastern South Dakota

The Development of a Well-Being Program for Occupational Therapy Graduate Students

High levels of stress among occupational therapy graduate students have led to the adoption of unhealthy coping habits such as poor nutrition, little exercise, and disrupted sleep. In response, many institutions have explored programming and even curricular changes to support student well-being. However, very few are built upon a strong theoretical foundation to address holistic well-being. Therefore, this paper describes how logic modeling was used to develop a student well-being program based on Facilitating Learning and Occupational Well-Being Using Research-Based Initiatives for Student Health (FLOURISH), a theoretical approach rooted in the Person-Environment-Occupation Performance Model. A well-being program delivered via a virtual community of practice for entry-level students at a Midwestern occupational therapy program was created to decrease stress and enhance overall well-being for the performance of learning. The program consisted of eight 50-minute sessions that met once per week and included topics of physical, mental, sociocultural, environmental, and occupational well-being. The student well-being program is one viable option that shows promise to empower students with a theoretical approach to address personal and professional well-being, which has the potential to translate into professional practice. In this article, we describe the well-being program and the theoretical approach in detail and illustrate how it can be used to improve occupational therapy student well-being

The Development of a Well-Being Program for Occupational Therapy Graduate Students

High levels of stress among occupational therapy graduate students have led to the adoption of unhealthy coping habits such as poor nutrition, little exercise, and disrupted sleep. In response, many institutions have explored programming and even curricular changes to support student well-being. However, very few are built upon a strong theoretical foundation to address holistic well-being. Therefore, this paper describes how logic modeling was used to develop a student well-being program based on Facilitating Learning and Occupational Well-Being Using Research-Based Initiatives for Student Health (FLOURISH), a theoretical approach rooted in the Person-Environment-Occupation Performance Model. A well-being program delivered via a virtual community of practice for entry-level students at a Midwestern occupational therapy program was created to decrease stress and enhance overall well-being for the performance of learning. The program consisted of eight 50-minute sessions that met once per week and included topics of physical, mental, sociocultural, environmental, and occupational well-being. The student well-being program is one viable option that shows promise to empower students with a theoretical approach to address personal and professional well-being, which has the potential to translate into professional practice. In this article, we describe the well-being program and the theoretical approach in detail and illustrate how it can be used to improve occupational therapy student well-being

Mentorship Experiences of Doctoral Students: Understanding Desired Attributes of Doctoral Student Mentors

Background: Mentorship is a critical aspect of the professional development of the doctoral student who wishes to pursue a role in higher education. Continued understanding is needed regarding the needs of the doctoral student when it comes to mentorship. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the needs of a doctoral student from their mentoring relationships, as they work towards their terminal degree. Methods: This is a descriptive, phenomenological qualitative research study within universities that offer doctoral education. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted using Zoom video conference technology. Each interview, after transcribed, was analyzed following the step-wise approach of a phenomenological study. Credibility was established by 1) research triangulation, 2) bracketing/reflexivity, and 3) peer review. Results: Twelve doctoral students (7 females, 5 males) who were enrolled in doctoral programs with a focus on allied health or exercise science completed the Zoom interviews. Our participants were an average age of 28 3 years, and all twelve had graduate assistantship positions in association with their doctoral programs. Three main themes materialized from the data analyses including 1) guided autonomy, 2) humanistic nature, and 3) professional advocate. Doctoral students want guidance to develop the technical skills necessary for success by providing opportunities to perform with the chance to gain feedback. Mentors were identified as needing to demonstrate humanistic qualities that were rooted in being interpersonal. The importance of a mentor serving as a professional advocate to help the student grow and develop as a professional was also discussed. Conclusions: Doctoral students need their mentors to demonstrate both personal and professional attributes in the mentor relationship. Specifically, they are looking for guidance and feedback through independent learning, as well as a mentor who values them, is relatable, and is invested in their development as a professional

What’s going on in babies’ brains when they learn to do something?

Actions are important. We need to know how to do all sorts of actions in our everyday life, like using a fork to eat and using a pen to write. We understand actions we see other people do better if we’ve done the same action before ourselves. It helps us understand why other people choose to use the same action. Adults know lots of different actions, but babies are still learning how to do many things. They are just learning how to move around and how to play with new toys. Babies also understand more about actions they have done before than actions they haven’t done. Is there something happening in their brains that might help them understand the actions they have done? Do babies’ brains respond differently when they perceive an action they know how to do compared to one they have never done? Let’s find out

Deaf ACCESS: Adapting Consent through Community Engagement and State-of-the-Art Simulation [English and Spanish versions]

A Spanish translation of this publication is available to download under Additional Files. All human subjects’ research involves an informed consent process, during which potential participants learn about research procedures, possible risks of being in the research study, and then decide if they would like to participate in the study. This information is usually communicated in written or spoken English, rather than translated into ASL, making the process inaccessible to the Deaf community. In addition, the Deaf community often feels mistrust toward researchers and strong resistance to enrolling in research studies because of the long history of mistreatment of Deaf people in the research world.2-4 Researchers must develop ways to improve access and build trust with the Deaf community to include this underserved and at-risk population in human subjects’ research studies. In 2016, the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), in partnership with Brown University, was awarded a 2-year grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to improve Deaf people’s trust and involvement in biomedical research. The Deaf ACCESS: Adapting Consent through Community Engagement and State-of-the-art Simulation research team is led by Melissa Anderson from UMMS and Co-Investigator Timothy Riker from Brown University

Exploring the spectral diversity of low-redshift Type Ia supernovae using the Palomar Transient Factory

We present an investigation of the optical spectra of 264 low-redshift (z < 0.2) Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory, an untargeted transient survey. We focus on velocity and pseudo-equivalent width measurements of the Si II 4130, 5972, and 6355 A lines, as well those of the Ca II near-infrared (NIR) triplet, up to +5 days relative to the SN B-band maximum light. We find that a high-velocity component of the Ca II NIR triplet is needed to explain the spectrum in ~95 per cent of SNe Ia observed before -5 days, decreasing to ~80 per cent at maximum. The average velocity of the Ca II high-velocity component is ~8500 km/s higher than the photospheric component. We confirm previous results that SNe Ia around maximum light with a larger contribution from the high-velocity component relative to the photospheric component in their Ca II NIR feature have, on average, broader light curves and lower Ca II NIR photospheric velocities. We find that these relations are driven by both a stronger high-velocity component and a weaker contribution from the photospheric Ca II NIR component in broader light curve SNe Ia. We identify the presence of C II in very-early-time SN Ia spectra (before -10 days), finding that >40 per cent of SNe Ia observed at these phases show signs of unburnt material in their spectra, and that C II features are more likely to be found in SNe Ia having narrower light curves.Comment: 18 page, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Marginal Reefs Under Stress: Physiological Limits Render Galápagos Corals Susceptible to Ocean Acidification and Thermal Stress

Ocean acidification (OA) and thermal stress may undermine corals' ability to calcify and support diverse reef communities, particularly in marginal environments. Coral calcification depends on aragonite supersaturation (Ω » 1) of the calcifying fluid (cf) from which the skeleton precipitates. Corals actively upregulate pHcf relative to seawater to buffer against changes in temperature and dissolved inorganic carbon, which together control Ωcf. Here we assess the buffering capacity of modern and fossil corals from the Galápagos Islands that have been exposed to sub-optimal conditions, extreme thermal stress, and OA. We demonstrate a significant decline in pHcf and Ωcf since the pre-industrial era, trends which are exacerbated during extreme warm years. These results suggest that there are likely physiological limits to corals' pH buffering capacity, and that these constraints render marginal reefs particularly susceptible to OA

Embracing different approaches to estimating HIV incidence, prevalence and mortality.

BACKGROUND: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Murray et al. have both produced sets of estimates for worldwide HIV incidence, prevalence and mortality. Understanding differences in these estimates can strengthen the interpretation of each. METHODS: We describe differences in the two sets of estimates. Where possible, we have drawn on additional published data to which estimates can be compared. FINDINGS: UNAIDS estimates that there were 6 million more people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2013 (35 million) compared with the Murray et al. estimates (29 million). Murray et al. estimate that new infections and AIDS deaths have declined more gradually than does UNAIDS. Just under one third of the difference in PLHIV is in Africa, where Murray et al. have relied more on estimates of adult mortality trends than on data on survival times. Another third of the difference is in North America, Europe, Central Asia and Australasia. Here Murray et al. estimates of new infections are substantially lower than the number of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses reported by countries, whereas published UNAIDS estimate tend to be greater. The remaining differences are in Latin America and Asia where the data upon which the UNAIDS methods currently rely are more sparse, whereas the mortality data leveraged by Murray et al. may be stronger. In this region, however, anomalies appear to exist between the both sets of estimates and other data. INTERPRETATION: Both estimates indicate that approximately 30 million PLHIV and that antiretroviral therapy has driven large reductions in mortality. Both estimates are useful but show instructive discrepancies with additional data sources. We find little evidence to suggest that either set of estimates can be considered systematically more accurate. Further work should seek to build estimates on as wide a base of data as possible