“Remoteness was a blessing, but also a potential downfall”: Traditional/Subsistence and store-bought food access in remote Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Objective: This study employs a strengths-based approach to assess food access in remote Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying both the negative consequences of the pandemic on store-bought and subsistence/traditional food access as well as compensatory strategies used. Design: As a part of a larger study on the impacts of COVID-19 on daily life remote Alaska communities, study data presented here were collected through key informant interviews (KIIs) and statewide online surveys from September 21, 2020 to March 31, 2021 among remote Alaska community members. Setting: This study was conducted with residents of remote communities in Alaska, defined as those off of the road system. Remote communities often have small or no grocery stores, and rely on subsistence or traditional sources of food. Participants: KII participants (n=36) were majority female (78%) and Alaska Native (57%). Survey participants (n=615) were also majority female, 25-54 years old, and most had had some post-secondary education or training. Results: Survey and interview data revealed that the pandemic had significant negative impacts on store-bought food access in remote Alaskan communities. Individuals also shared that locally available and wild harvested foods acted as a buffer to some of the loss of access to these store-bought foods, with some people sharing that the harvesting of wild and traditional foods served served as a coping strategy during times of pandemic-related stress. Conclusions: The results from this study demonstrate that the remoteness of some Alaska communities has been both a source of vulnerability and protection in terms food access

Observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 with the Keck 1 HIRES Instrument During Deep Impact

We report high-spectral resolution observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during and after the impact on 4 July 2005 UT of the Deep Impact spacecraft with the comet. These observations were obtained with the HIRES instrument on Keck 1. We observed brightening of both the dust and gas, but at different rates. We report the behavior of OH, NH, CN, C$_{3}$, CH, NH$_{2}$ and C$_{2}$ gas. From our observations, we determined a CN outflow velocity of at least 0.51 km sec$^{-1}$. The dust color did not change substantially. To date, we see no new species in our spectra, nor do we see any evidence of prompt emission. From our observations, the interior material released by the impact looks the same as the material released from the surface by ambient cometary activity. However, further processing of the data may uncover subtle differences in the material that is released as well as the time evolution of this material.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures (1 color, landscape). Accepted for publication in Icaru

COVID-19 vaccine decision-making in remote Alaska between November 2020 and November 2021

AbstractVaccine hesitancy is an ongoing barrier to achieve sufficient COVID-19 vaccination coverage. Although there are many studies globally of vaccine hesitancy based on large survey samples, there are fewer in-depth qualitative studies that explore vaccine hesitancy and acceptance as a spectrum of decision-making. In this paper, we begin to describe vaccination decision-making among 58 adults living in remote Alaska based on three waves of online surveys and follow-up semi-structured interviews conducted between November 2020 and November 2021. The survey question of intention was not a predictor of adoption for about one third of the interviewees who were unvaccinated when they took the survey (n=12, 35%). Over half of all interviewees (n=37, 64%) had vaccine-related concerns, including 25 vaccinated individuals (representing 57% of vaccinated interviewees). Most interviewees reported that they learned about COVID-19 vaccines through interpersonal interactions (n=30, 52%) and/or a variety of media sources (n=29, 50%). The major facilitators of acceptance were trust in the information source (n=20, 48% of the 42 who responded), and learning from the experiences of family, friends, and the broader community (n=12, 29%). Further, trust and having a sense of agency appears to be important to interviewee decision-making, regardless of vaccination status and intention

Active pedestrian warning system for rail and bus transit routes

A system includes a transmitter coupled to a vehicle and a client system. The transmitter broadcasts a wireless signal. The client system includes a receiver that receives the wireless signal from the transmitter. The client system determines an identifier within the wireless signal, compares the identifier within the wireless signal to a list of identifiers, and in response to determining that the identifier within the wireless signal matches a particular identifier within the list of identifiers, generates an alert that the vehicle is approaching.U

Debate Starts Here : the Presidential Debate Comes to Ole Miss

This film documents the 2008 Presidential Debate at the University of Mississippi between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain and celebrates the enormous efforts of thousands of individuals to make this historic debate a success from the University\u27s decision to apply for the debate through the infrastructure and construction concerns, ticketing lottery, and the threat of last-minute cancellation. With interviews from University officials, Oxford residents, national journalists, and politicians, the film covers the exciting events leading up to the debate and explores the tremendous effort involved behind the scenes to bring a Presidential debate to life. Includes footage from the national media and the Rock the Debate festival on campus. Includes interviews with: Andy Mullins, Curtis Wilkie, Tom Oliphant, Robert Khayat, Thad Cochran, Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, James Meredith, Gloria Kellum, Sparky Reardon, Shepard Smith, Richard Howorth, Kathy Gates, Larry Sparks, Ashton Pearson, Haley Barbour, Noel Wilkin, Norman Easterbrook, Matthew Zerangue, Mario Hilliard, James Windham, Artair Rogers, Maury Breazeale, Jim Morrison, Ray Hawkins, and David Drewery

pyproj4/pyproj: 3.6.1rc0

Python interface to PROJ (cartographic projections and coordinate transformations library

pyproj4/pyproj: 3.6.1 Release

What's Changed WHL: Update to PROJ 9.3 by @snowman2 in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1334 DEP: Add Python 3.12 support by @snowman2 in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1341 BUG: Cython 3 compatibility fixes by @snowman2 in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1322 BUG: Remove pkg_resources from setup.py by @snowman2 in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1314 DOC: Fixed typos by @djm93dev in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1305 & https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1306 DOC: Fix logo view on Pypi by @cyschneck in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1308 DOC: Spelling permimeter -> perimeter by @zanejgr in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1310 New Contributors @djm93dev made their first contribution in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1305 @cyschneck made their first contribution in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1308 @zanejgr made their first contribution in https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/pull/1310 Other contributions: @sebastic - testing Debian builds @jdkloe - testing Fedora builds Full Changelog: https://github.com/pyproj4/pyproj/compare/3.6.0...3.6.

geopandas/geopandas: v0.14.0

Python tools for geographic dat

geopandas/geopandas: v0.14.1

Python tools for geographic dat

Relative Fitness of Genotypes as a Function of Theophylline Production.

<p>Theophylline production as measured by LC-MS analysis is listed for the three genotypes with the highest fitness and two genotypes with very low fitness.</p