Researching research: new skills of targeting audiences and networking are now necessary to create impact

Correctly targeting your audience and specifically tailoring outputs to policymakers is key to improving the impact of your research. Sarah Lester explains how building contacts and targeted dissemination of research requires skills outside those traditionally used in academia

Book review: handbook of disaster policies and institutions: improving emergency management and climate change adaptation, 2nd Edition

At the heart of the book we are made to think thoroughly about the dichotomy of “policy-as-usual” vs. “emergencies-as-exceptions”, and how is it possible to plan and prepare for ‘unexpected’ natural disasters, writes Sarah Lester. However, although Handbook of Disaster Policies and Institutions will be useful to policymakers to think critically about preparing long-term disaster response strategies, it does not provide enough of a ‘handbook’ for practicing emergency managers or humanitarian responders who need practical and considered advice on how to embed adaptive practices within their recovery strategies

Book review: this changes everything: capitalism vs. the climate by Naomi Klein

In her latest book, Naomi Klein, author of global bestsellers The Shock Doctrine and No Logo, looks to tackle the war our economic model is waging against life on earth. Sarah Lester finds that Klein leaves us with the glimmer of hope that climate justice movements and social mobilisation can offer an alternative future

Evaluation of Depression Screening Practices for College Women in a Primary Care University Health Clinic

Mental disorders, including depression, are increasing in frequency and intensity in the college student population. College-aged women appear to be particularly vulnerable to depression. Primary care providers play an important role in addressing this issue, as they are the principal health care contacts for more than 50% of patients with mental illnesses. Guidelines from the 2009 United States Preventative Services Task Force recommend screening all adults (age 18+) for depression in primary care when depression care supports are in place. However, current screening rates for depression in the primary care setting from are estimated at only 1.6 to 3.3% (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2012a). This capstone report presents three manuscripts which focus on depression screening practices for college women in the primary care setting. The first manuscript presents a literature review pertaining to depression in college women, including risk factors for depression, consequences of depression, and depression screening practices in this population. The second manuscript presents a critical analysis of the United States Preventative Services Task Force’s guideline recommendations for screening for depression in adults in primary care, using a modified version of the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) Instrument (2001). The literature obtained from these first two manuscripts led to a descriptive study, which examined depression screening practices and barriers at a primary care university health clinic in the southeastern United States. The third and final manuscript details this study, and presents practical implications for improving depression screening rates in this at-risk population

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Teaching Practices among Engineering Librarians

With ASEE’s growing commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion there is a push for educators to make a greater effort to improve outcomes for students from marginalized and legally protected social identities. With this commitment in mind this research investigates if engineering librarian members of ASEE have the knowledge, training, and support to incorporate inclusive teaching practices into their library instruction. This research examines the current climate for engineering librarians through an anonymous survey. The survey will collect data on inclusive teaching by engineering librarians. The study aims to answer whether librarians have the knowledge, training, and support from their library, college, and institution to engage with inclusive teaching practices

The Economic Value of Rebuilding Fisheries

The global demand for protein from seafood –- whether wild, caught or cultured, whether for direct consumption or as feed for livestock –- is high and projected to continue growing. However, the ocean's ability to meet this demand is uncertain due to either mismanagement or, in some cases, lack of management of marine fish stocks. Efforts to rebuild and recover the world's fisheries will benefit from an improved understanding of the long-term economic benefits of recovering collapsed stocks, the trajectory and duration of different rebuilding approaches, variation in the value and timing of recovery for fisheries with different economic, biological, and regulatory characteristics, including identifying which fisheries are likely to benefit most from recovery, and the benefits of avoiding collapse in the first place. These questions are addressed in this paper using a dynamic bioeconomic optimisation model that explicitly accounts for economics, management, and ecology of size-structured exploited fish populations. Within this model framework, different management options (effort controls on small-, medium-, and large-sized fish) including management that optimises economic returns over a specified planning horizon are simulated and the consequences compared. The results show considerable economic gains from rebuilding fisheries, with magnitudes varying across fisheries

Look Who\u27s Talking: Exploring the DEI STEM Librarianship Conversation

Librarian research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in its various iterations dates back over a decade; however, in the context of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) librarianship this work still seems very limited. We collect and analyze papers published in STEM library and information science journals over the past 10 years to better understand the nature of this work. In our research we consider the content of existing conversations, what is missing from this discourse, and areas for further research

Site-Specific Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids into Receptors Expressed in Mammalian Cells

AbstractWe describe an approach to achieve unnatural amino acid incorporation into channels and receptors expressed in mammalian cells. We show that microelectroporation provides a general method to deliver DNA, mRNA, and tRNA simultaneously. In both CHO cells and cultured neurons, microelectroporation efficiently delivers an in vitro transcribed, serine amber suppressor tRNA, leading to nonsense suppression in a mutant EGFP gene. In CHO cells, both natural and unnatural amino acids chemically appended to a suppressor tRNA are site specifically incorporated into the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Electrophysiology confirms the expected functional consequences of the unnatural residue. The microelectroporation strategy described here is more general, less tedious, and less damaging to mammalian neuronal and nonneuronal cells than previous approaches to nonsense suppression in small cells and provides the first example of unnatural amino acid incorporation in mammalian cells using chemically aminoacylated tRNA