Home range and habitat use by Kemp's Ridley turtles in West-Central Florida

The Kemp's ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is an endangered species whose recovery depends in part on the identification and protection of required habitats. We used radio and sonic telemetry on subadult Kemp's ridley turtles to investigate home-range size and habitat use in the coastal waters of west-central Florida from 1994 to 1996. We tracked 9 turtles during May-August up to 70 days after release and fou.ld they occupied 5-30 km2 foraging ranges. Compositional analyses indicated that turtles used rock outcroppings in their foraging ranges at a significantly higher proportion than expected. based on availability within the study area. Additionally. turtles used live bottom (e.g .• sessile invertebrates) and green macroalgae habitats significantly more than seagrass habitat. Similar studies are needed through'mt the Kemp's ridley turtles' range to investigate regional and stage-specific differences in habitat use. which can then be used to conserve important foraging areas

Here or There Instruction: Lessons Learned in Implementing Innovative Approaches to Blended Synchronous Learning

Here or There (HOT) instruction is a blended synchronous approach that enables students from on-campus (“here”) or a remote location (“there”) to participate together in class activities in real time. The purpose of this article is to share three different cases at two universities that illustrate different implementations of HOT instruction, explain the affordances of these varied approaches, provide best practices that are common to each, and share lessons learned along the way. Readers will gain a better understanding of how to implement a range of innovative HOT approaches, and in what context(s) they might choose one approach over another. The authors’ experience indicates that sound pedagogical principles along with pragmatic considerations, such as class size, available technology, and instructor’s skills, should guide decisions regarding use of these blended synchronous approaches. Future research should look towards what impact blended synchronous environments have on student outcomes

Real circles tangent to 3 conics

In this paper we study circles tangent to conics. We show there are generically 184 complex circles tangent to three conics in the plane and we characterize the real discriminant of the corresponding polynomial system. We give an explicit example of 3 conics with 136 real circles tangent to them. We conjecture that 136 is the maximal number of real circles. Furthermore, we implement a hill-climbing algorithm to find instances of conics with many real circles, and we introduce a machine learning model that, given three real conics, predicts the number of circles tangent to these three conics

Aligning systems science and community-based participatory research: A case example of the Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA).

Partnered research may help bridge the gap between research and practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) supports collaboration between scientific researchers and community members that is designed to improve capacity, enhance trust, and address health disparities. Systems science aims to understand the complex ways human-ecological coupled systems interact and apply knowledge to management practices. Although CBPR and systems science display complementary principles, only a few articles describe synergies between these 2 approaches. In this article, we explore opportunities to utilize concepts from systems science to understand the development, evolution, and sustainability of 1 CBPR partnership: The Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA). Systems science tools may help CHARA and other CBPR partnerships sustain their core identities while co-evolving in conjunction with individual members, community priorities, and a changing healthcare landscape. Our goal is to highlight CHARA as a case for applying the complementary approaches of CBPR and systems science to (1) improve academic/community partnership functioning and sustainability, (2) ensure that research addresses the priorities and needs of end users, and (3) support more timely application of scientific discoveries into routine practice

Multipath simulator measurements of handset dual antenna performance with limited number of signal paths

Antenna pairs for diversity or MIMO functionality are characterized under the assumption of a certain statistical distribution of the incident signals over angle and polarization, but also assuming a signal environment with a large number of signal paths. In many real-life environments, however, only a few signal paths contain most of the transferred power. A multipath simulator can be used to realize signal environments with a controlled number of signal paths. This paper presents measurements of dual antenna performance using amultipath simulator with 2–16 signal paths. The results are analyzed in terms of statistical power distributions,power imbalance, correlation coefficient, multiplexing efficiency, and diversity gain. Differences in performance depending on the number of signal paths are noted, illustrating the value of considering the number of signal paths in characterization.The work was supported in part by MICINN (Project TEC2008-05811) through an FPI doctoral grant (BES-2009-013764

Insights gained from a systematic reanalysis of a successful model-facilitated change process in health care

Health care is a complex system with multiprofessional staff and multiple patient care pathways. Time pressure and minimal margins for error make it challenging to implement new policies or procedures, no matter how desirable. Changes in health care also requires the participation of the staff. System dynamics (SD) simulations can lead to shared systems understanding and allows for the development and testing of new scenarios in silico before implementing solutions. However, research shows that the actual implementation rate of simulations is low. This paper presents a reanalysis of a successful change project in health care combining SD principles with basic action research (AR) premises. The analysis was done by a multidisciplinary research group using qualitative methodology and identifies that a fruitful combination of AR inquiry and SD modelling potentially can improve implementation rates.publishedVersio

Two key polymorphisms in a newly discovered allele of the Vitis vinifera TPS24 gene are responsible for the production of the rotundone precursor α-guaiene

Rotundone was initially identified as a grape-derived compound responsible for the peppery aroma of Shiraz wine varieties. It has subsequently been found in black and white pepper and several other spices. Because of its potent aroma, the molecular basis for rotundone formation is of particular relevance to grape and wine scientists and industry. We have identified and functionally characterized in planta a sesquiterpene synthase, VvGuaS, from developing grape berries, and have demonstrated that it produces the precursor of rotundone, α-guaiene, as its main product. The VvGuaS enzyme is a novel allele of the sesquiterpene synthase gene, VvTPS24, which has previously been reported to encode VvPNSeInt, an enzyme that produces a variety of selinene-type sesquiterpenes. This newly discovered VvTPS24 allele encodes an enzyme 99.5% identical to VvPNSeInt, with the differences comprising just 6 out of the 561 amino acid residues. Molecular modelling of the enzymes revealed that two of these residues, T414 and V530, are located in the active site of VvGuaS within 4 Å of the binding-site of the substrate, farnesyl pyrophosphate. Mutation of these two residues of VvGuaS into the corresponding polymorphisms in VvPNSeInt results in a complete functional conversion of one enzyme into the other, while mutation of each residue individually produces an intermediate change in the product profile. We have therefore demonstrated that VvGuaS, an enzyme responsible for production of the rotundone precursor, α-guaiene, is encoded by a novel allele of the previously characterized grapevine gene VvTPS24 and that two specific polymorphisms are responsible for functional differences between VvTPS24 alleles