Virtual Expeditions Facilitated By Open Source Solutions Broaden Student Participation in Natural History Research

From its genesis in the Victorian era as an activity for the elite to today\u27s emphasis on “Big Data” and continuous monitoring, natural history has a prominent role in scientific discoveries for many fields. However, participation in field expeditions is limited by funding, space, accessibility, and safety constraints. Others have detailed the active exclusion of minoritized groups from field expeditions and harm/discrimination faced by the few who do participate, but we provide one solution to broaden opportunities for participation in natural history: Virtual Expeditions. Virtual Expeditions are broadly defined as open source, web-facilitated research activities designed to analyze bulk-collected digital data from field expeditions that require visual human interpretation. We show two examples here of their use: an independent research-based analysis of snake behavior and a course-based identification of invertebrate species. We present a guide to their appropriate design, facilitation, and evaluation to result in research grade data. We highlight the importance of open source technology to allow for longevity in methodology and appropriate quality control measures necessary for projects that include dozens of researchers over multiple years. In this perspective, we specifically emphasize the prominent role that open source technology plays in making these experiences feasible and scalable. Even without explicit design as broadening participation endeavors, Virtual Expeditions allow for more inclusive participation of early career researchers with specific participatory limitations. Not only are Virtual Expeditions integral to the large-scale analysis necessary for field expeditions that generate impossibly enormous datasets, but they can also be effective facilitators of inclusivity in natural history research

Salvaging the Speaker Clause: The Constitutional Case Against Nonmember Speakers of the House

As the Founding generation understood the word, “Speaker” meant an elected member of the House. Yet modern representatives nominate non-House-members for the speakership—and many argue the practice is constitutional. To correct this constitutional drift, this Article closely analyzes the text of the Speaker Clause, the structure of the Constitution, and 700 years of history and tradition to show that the Constitution requires the Speaker of the House to be a member of the House. It also considers the practicalities of correcting this drift. If, as this Article argues, the Constitution bars nonmembers from the speakership, who can enforce that rule, especially if Congress itself is the one violating it? Though the Speaker Clause likely is not justiciable, Congress has an independent duty—equally important to that of the judiciary—to uphold the Constitution. This Article’s conclusion is significant. It clarifies the procedure and rationale involved in choosing a Speaker of the House. And by excluding nonmembers as candidates for the speakership, this Article’s conclusion promises to make future speakership negotiations and votes smoother, eliminating one avenue for meaningless protest votes

Benzoyl-arginine naphthylamide (BANA) hydrolysis by Treponema denticola and/or Bacteroides gingivalis in periodontal plaques

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73624/1/j.1399-302X.1990.tb00425.x.pd

Studies on fusobacteria associated with periodontal diseases

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.The physiological and metabolic characteristics of representative isolates of the various subspecies of Fusobacterium nucleatum were investigated by growing them in continuous culture in chemically-defined media. Behaving almost identically, these organisms were found to obtain energy from the fermentation of simple carbohydrates such as glucose or fructose or from the fermentation of certain amino acids, free or in the form of small peptides. The latter can be attacked by aminopeptidase activity which was shown to be essential for the growth of the organism in an environment lacking fermentable carbohydrate and free amino acids but replete with small peptides. This metabolic versatility may explain the presence of F nucleatum in both supra- and sub-gingival dental plaque and why it is often found together with organisms such as Porphyromonas gingivalis which display powerful endopeptidase activities. Using the technique of allozyme electrophoresis, the current subspeciation of F. nucleatum was shown to be of doubtful validity and evidence, based upon physiological and metabolic properties, for differences in pathogenicity between isolates was not detected. While this organism is a member of various bacterial consortia associated with periodontal diseases, its contribution to the disease process remains unclear.AH Roger

Perinatal characteristics and risk of polio among Swedish twins

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90577/1/j.1365-3016.2012.01268.x.pd

Exploring Expressions of Possible Selves with High School and College Students with Learning Disabilities

In this article, we explore a program designed to engage high school and college students with learning disabilities (LD) in conversations about their hopes, expectations, and fears for the future. We explore the mindset of students by focusing on their self-identified passions for life and sense of strengths and limitations. We found that males and females differed in goals related to Academics, Work Ethic, Degree Specific Statements, and Money and Finances. For example, females emphasized “Academic Goals” more frequently than males and focused on topics such as GPA and work ethic in school. However, males made more “Degree Specific Statements” than females, more often emphasizing the desire to be financially stable or have a career with a large income. These differences suggest that college transition staff may want to focus on goals identified by male and female students with LD as a way to be more responsive to student self-identified goals

A synthesis of the evidence on peer-research with potentially vulnerable adults: how this relates to dementia

Background. There is limited literature around peer-research in dementia. This study aims to identify the benefits, the risks and the practical challenges and to develop a model of good-practice in peer-research with people with dementia. Methods. We searched on PsycInfo, PubMed and Google Scholar for empirical investigations or discussion papers on peer-research. Given the limited literature in the field of dementia, we included studies with groups who share similar demographics (older people), experience of stigma (mental health service users) and exclusion from research (people with learning disabilities). We applied no restrictions on language and publication date. Analysis. We identified three themes: the potential benefits, the potential risks and the practical challenges of peer-research. We developed a model of good practice. The European Working Group of People With Dementia (EWGPWD) reviewed our paper and added to our findings. Results. We included 7 papers. Potential benefits of peer-research included enriched data and empowering people with dementia. Potential risks included power differentials between researchers and issues of representativeness. The practical issues for good practice included the training of peer-researchers, defining involvement and roles, working with cognitive impairment and considering resource implications. The EWGPWD emphasised the importance of equality issues. Conclusion. Involving people with dementia in peer-research can generate several benefits, including empowerment and opportunities for inclusion for the peer-researchers and the research participants living with dementia, challenging academics’ traditional views on research processes and gathering enhanced research data. There remains a need for further research on the impact of peer-research in dementia studies

The determinants of vulnerability to currency crises: country-specific factors versus regional factors

We investigate the determinants of exchange market pressures (EMP) for some new EU member states at both the national and regional levels, where macroeconomic and financial variables are considered as potential sources. The regional common factors are extracted from these variables by using dynamic factor analysis. The linear empirical analysis, in general, highlights the importance of country-specific factors to defend themselves against vulnerability in their external sectors. Yet, given a significant impact of the common component in credit on EMP, a contagion effect is apparent through the conduit of credit market integration across these countries under investigation

Objectively measured physical activity and fat mass in a large cohort of children

Background Previous studies have been unable to characterise the association between physical activity and obesity, possibly because most relied on inaccurate measures of physical activity and obesity. Methods and Findings We carried out a cross sectional analysis on 5,500 12-year-old children enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Total physical activity and minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were measured using the Actigraph accelerometer. Fat mass and obesity (defined as the top decile of fat mass) were measured using the Lunar Prodigy dual x-ray emission absorptiometry scanner. We found strong negative associations between MVPA and fat mass that were unaltered after adjustment for total physical activity. We found a strong negative dose-response association between MVPA and obesity. The odds ratio for obesity in adjusted models between top and the bottom quintiles of minutes of MVPA was 0.03 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01-0.13, p-value for trend < 0.0001) in boys and 0.36 (95% CI 0.17-0.74, p-value for trend = 0.006) in girls. Conclusions We demonstrated a strong graded inverse association between physical activity and obesity that was stronger in boys. Our data suggest that higher intensity physical activity may be more important than total activity