Driftwatch Pollinator Mapping Application

Over 65% percent of food consumed in the United States is pollinated by bees. Unfortunately, due to poor farming practices, pesticides are sprayed in bee sensitive areas unknowingly and as a result, the bee population is dwindling at an alarming rate. With lesser bees to pollinate crops, produce is compromised on a very large scale and this could have disastrous impacts on the nation\u27s needs for food. Apiarists and beehive owners face the major responsibility of ensuring that their hives aren\u27t affected by dangerous insecticides and pesticides from the farming areas that they might visit during their crop pollination cycles across states in the United States. The major issue underlying in this current scenario involving the dwindling of the bee population is the lack of communication between beehive owners and government registered farmers. In order to improve the communication between beehive owners and the registered farmers, it was evident that a medium as universal and adaptive as technology would be required to play a major role in the solution. Cell phones and tablets seemingly prove to be devices used by almost all individuals regularly. In an attempt to use these devices in improving communication, it was suggested to develop a mobile phone/tablet application which can be used to connect to a server to regulate and share information on an intuitive basis. An intrusive mobile phone and tablet Operating System, Google Android was chosen as the platform on which the application would be developed. The requirements of the application involve having to connect to a server for remote login by bee inspectors, to be able to plot data points representing beehive locations on a Google Maps layer and to modify, remove or add beehive locations so that the changes can be reflected on the host server. The application prototype is to field tested by farmers based in the farm regions of the mid west. No results have been gathered yet. It is expected that the application will be useful in solving the communication issue between farmers and the beehive owners

Sylvia and Larry Kamisher, Thelma and Steve Engel to Mr. and Mrs. James Meredith (1 October 1962)

Signed by Sylvia and Larry Kamisher, Thelma and Steve Engelhttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1841/thumbnail.jp

Aquifer Vulnerability Assessment for Sustainable Groundwater Management Using DRASTIC

Groundwater management and protection has been facilitated by computational modeling of aquifer vulnerability and monitoring aquifers using groundwater sampling. The DRASTIC (Depth to water, Recharge, Aquifer media, Soil media, Topography, Impact of vadose zone media, and hydraulic Conductivity) model, an overlay and index GIS model, has been used for groundwater quality assessment because it relies on simple, straightforward methods. Aquifer vulnerability mapping identifies areas with high pollution potential that can be areas for priority management and monitoring. The objectives of this study are to demonstrate how aquifer vulnerability assessment can be achieved using DRASTIC with high resolution data. This includes calibrating DRASTIC weights using a binary classifier calibration method with a genetic algorithm (Bi-GA), identifying areas of high potential aquifer vulnerability, and selecting potential aquifer monitoring sites using spatial statistics. The aquifer vulnerability results from DRASTIC using Bi-GA were validated with a well database of observed nitrate concentrations for a study area in Indiana. The DRASTIC results using Bi-GA showed that approximately 42.2% of nitrate detections \u3e2 ppm are within “High” and “Very high” vulnerability areas (representing 3.4% of study area) as simulated by DRASTIC. Moreover, 53.4% of the nitrate detections were within the “Moderate” vulnerability class (26.9% of study area), and only 4.3% of the nitrate detections were within the “Low” vulnerability class (60.1% of study area). Nitrates \u3e2 ppm were not detected at all within the “Very low” vulnerability class (9.6% of area). “High” and “Very high” vulnerability areas should be regarded as priority areas for groundwater monitoring and efforts to prevent groundwater contamination. This case study suggests that the approach may be applicable to other areas as part of efforts to target groundwater management efforts

Disease burden of urinary tract infections among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in the U.S.

AbstractAimsType 2 diabetes is a reported risk factor for more frequent and severe urinary tract infections (UTI). We sought to quantify the annual healthcare cost burden of UTI in type 2 diabetic patients.MethodsAdult patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were identified in MarketScan administrative claims data. UTI occurrence and costs were assessed during a 1-year period. We examined UTI-related visit and antibiotic costs among patients diagnosed with UTI, comparing those with versus without a history of UTI in the previous year (prevalent vs. incident UTI cases). We estimated the total incremental cost of UTI by comparing all-cause healthcare costs in patients with versus without UTI, using propensity score-matched samples.ResultsWithin the year, 8.2% (6,014/73,151) of subjects had ≥1 UTI, of whom 33.8% had a history of UTI. UTI-related costs among prevalent versus incident cases were, respectively, $603 versus$447 (p=0.033) for outpatient services, $1,607 versus$1,819 (p=NS) for hospitalizations, and $61 versus$35 (p<0.0001) for antibiotics. UTI was associated with a total all-cause incremental cost of $7,045 (95% CI: 4,130, 13,051) per patient with UTI per year.ConclusionsUTI is common and may impose a substantial direct medical cost burden among patients with type 2 diabetes

The Habitable Zone Planet Finder: A Proposed High Resolution NIR Spectrograph for the Hobby Eberly Telescope to Discover Low Mass Exoplanets around M Dwarfs

The Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HZPF) is a proposed instrument for the 10m class Hobby Eberly telescope that will be capable of discovering low mass planets around M dwarfs. HZPF will be fiber-fed, provide a spectral resolution R~ 50,000 and cover the wavelength range 0.9-1.65{\mu}m, the Y, J and H NIR bands where most of the flux is emitted by mid-late type M stars, and where most of the radial velocity information is concentrated. Enclosed in a chilled vacuum vessel with active temperature control, fiber scrambling and mechanical agitation, HZPF is designed to achieve a radial velocity precision < 3m/s, with a desire to obtain <1m/s for the brightest targets. This instrument will enable a study of the properties of low mass planets around M dwarfs; discover planets in the habitable zones around these stars, as well serve as an essential radial velocity confirmation tool for astrometric and transit detections around late M dwarfs. Radial velocity observation in the near-infrared (NIR) will also enable a search for close in planets around young active stars, complementing the search space enabled by upcoming high-contrast imaging instruments like GPI, SPHERE and PALM3K. Tests with a prototype Pathfinder instrument have already demonstrated the ability to recover radial velocities at 7-10 m/s precision from integrated sunlight and ~15-20 m/s precision on stellar observations at the HET. These tests have also demonstrated the ability to work in the NIR Y and J bands with an un-cooled instrument. We will also discuss lessons learned about calibration and performance from our tests and how they impact the overall design of the HZPF.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Proc. SPIE 2010 Vol. 773

The Dichotomous Nucleon: Some Radical Conjectures for the Large Nc Limit

We discuss some problems with the large Nc approximation for nucleons which arise if the axial coupling of the nucleon to pions is large, g_A \sim Nc. While g_A \sim Nc in non-relativistic quark and Skyrme models, it has been suggested that Skyrmions may collapse to a small size, r \sim 1/f_pi \sim Lambda_QCD^{-1}/sqrt(Nc). (This is also the typical scale over which the string vertex moves in a string vertex model of the baryon.) We concentrate on the case of two flavors, where we suggest that to construct a nucleon with a small axial coupling, that most quarks are bound into colored diquark pairs, which have zero spin and isospin. For odd Nc, this leaves one unpaired quark, which carries the spin and isospin of the nucleon. If the unpaired quark is in a spatial wavefunction orthogonal to the wavefunctions of the scalar diquarks, then up to logarithms of Nc, the unpaired quark only costs an energy \sim Lambda_QCD. This naturally gives g_A \sim 1 and has other attractive features. In nature, the wavefunctions of the paired and unpaired quarks might only be approximately orthogonal; then g_A depends weakly upon Nc. This dichotomy in wave functions could arise if the unpaired quark orbits at a size which is parametrically large in comparison to that of the diquarks. We discuss possible tests of these ideas from numerical simulations on the lattice, for two flavors and three and five colors; the extension of our ideas to more than three or more flavors is not obvious, though.Comment: Published version in Nucl. Phys.

Prediagnostic Serum Concentrations of Organochlorine Compounds and Risk of Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that exposure to organochlorine (OC) compounds, chlordanes and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE) in particular, may increase the risk of developing testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs). OBJECTIVE: To further investigate this question, we conducted a nested case-control study of TGCTs within the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank cohort. METHODS: The study was conducted among individuals with serum collected between 1972 and 1978. TGCT cases diagnosed through 1999 (n = 49; 27-62 years of age at diagnosis) were identified through linkage to the Norwegian Cancer Registry. Controls (n =51) were matched to cases on region, blood draw year, and age at blood draw. Measurements of 11 OC insecticide compounds and 34 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners were performed using gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry. Case-control comparisons of lipid-adjusted analyte concentrations were performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for tertiles of analyte concentration were calculated using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: TGCT cases had elevated concentrations of p,p′-DDE (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1 OR (ORT3) 2.2; 95% CI, 0.7-6.5; p Wilcoxon = 0.07), oxychlordane (ORT3 3.2; 95% CI, 0.6-16.8; pWilcoxon = 0.05), trans-nonachlor (ORT3 2.6; 95% CI, 0.7-8.9; pWilcoxon = 0.07), and total chlordanes (OR T3 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6-7.2; pWilcoxon = 0.048) compared with controls, although no ORs were statistically significant. Seminoma cases had significantly lower concentrations of PCB congeners 44, 49, and 52 and significantly higher concentrations of PCBs 99, 138, 153, 167, 183, and 195. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides additional but qualified evidence supporting an association between exposures to p,p′-DDE and chlordane compounds, and possibly some PCB congeners, and TGCT risk

Operationalizing Ocean Health: Toward Integrated Research on Ocean Health and Recovery to Achieve Ocean Sustainability

Protecting the ocean has become a major goal of international policy as human activities increasingly endanger the integrity of the ocean ecosystem, often summarized as “ocean health.” By and large, efforts to protect the ocean have failed because, among other things, (1) the underlying socio-ecological pathways have not been properly considered, and (2) the concept of ocean health has been ill defined. Collectively, this prevents an adequate societal response as to how ocean ecosystems and their vital functions for human societies can be protected and restored. We review the confusion surrounding the term “ocean health” and suggest an operational ocean-health framework in line with the concept of strong sustainability. Given the accelerating degeneration of marine ecosystems, the restoration of regional ocean health will be of increasing importance. Our advocated transdisciplinary and multi-actor framework can help to advance the implementation of more active measures to restore ocean health and safeguard human health and well-being

Expressions 1992

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1014/thumbnail.jp

A randomized study on the usefulness of an electronic outpatient hypoglycemia risk calculator for clinicians of patients with diabetes in a safety-net institution

Objective: Hypoglycemia (HG) occurs in up to 60% of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) each year. We assessed a HG alert tool in an electronic health record system, and determined its effect on clinical practice and outcomes. Methods: The tool applied a statistical model, yielding patient-specific information about HG risk. We randomized outpatient primary-care providers (PCPs) to see or not see the alerts. Patients were assigned to study group according to the first PCP seen during four months. We assessed prescriptions, testing, and HG. Variables were compared by multinomial, logistic, or linear model. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04177147 (registered on 22 November 2019). Results: Patients (N = 3350) visited 123 intervention PCPs; 3395 patients visited 220 control PCPs. Intervention PCPs were shown 18,645 alerts (mean of 152 per PCP). Patients’ mean age was 55 years, with 61% female, 49% black, and 49% Medicaid recipients. Mean baseline A1c and body mass index were similar between groups. During follow-up, the number of A1c and glucose tests, and number of new, refilled, changed, or discontinued insulin prescriptions, were highest for patients with highest risk. Per 100 patients on average, the intervention group had fewer sulfonylurea refills (6 vs. 8; p < .05) and outpatient encounters (470 vs. 502; p < .05), though the change in encounters was not significant. Frequency of HG events was unchanged. Conclusions: Informing PCPs about risk of HG led to fewer sulfonylurea refills and visits. Longer-term studies are needed to assess potential for long-term benefits