Effective Leadership and Nonprofit Sustainability

A sustainability plan of an organization is useless without effective leadership in its design and execution. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies that church leaders having at least 7 continuous years of organizational fiscal sustainability and leadership used to ensure fiscal sustainability. The study included 8 face-to-face and 2 phone interviews with 4 senior pastors, 3 associate pastors, a treasurer, a finance committee chair, and a certified public accountant who lived in the Akron, Ohio area along with a review of documents including a leadership meeting agenda and financial committee meeting agenda, provided by study participants. The transformational leadership theory was used to frame this study. Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed along with interview notes and publicly available documents to identify themes regarding strategies used by church leaders to successfully achieve fiscal sustainability. Data analysis consisted of coding, thematic analysis, and key word analysis, which resulted in 4 major themes: mentoring strategies, where a pastor might get some good advise from someone knowledgeable about fiscal sustainability; training strategies on subjects like planned giving; education strategies on the use of websites and social media tools to improve the effectiveness of fundraising activities; and the importance of choosing the right leadership style as a strategy in improving fiscal sustainability. These strategies may contribute to social change if they are used by pastors and other church leaders to ensure fiscal sustainability in their organizations. Social implications may include increased attention on the varied benefits of sustainability and their adoption by individuals, businesses, organizations, governments, and society

What Can We Learn from One Billion Ground System Log Messages?

Shortage of log-based data in a ground system they have traditionally been the under achievers in a satellite ground system. This is due to several factors: Once log messages scroll out of view on the TTC event console window they are soon forgotten. Application and system log files are scattered across directories within a system, across a multitude of servers, and across one or more databases making access cumbersome. Typical tools to perform log file content searching are generally crude and typically only employed as part of trouble-shooting exercises.As we move towards satellite constellations and fleets and add even more status information, the number of messages keeps growing. One mission now estimates that they could generate 3,000,000 messages per day 1 billion per year - for the life of their mission. What to do with those 1 billion messages? That is the challenge. With the recent technological advances in the management of large data sets, text-based processing, and data analytics, there are now capabilities that we can provide to the ground system engineers and satellite operators to address what we postulate are missed opportunities. Advanced real-time log analysis can allow us to be less reactionary in favor of being more proactive. Analytics goals include the ability to: Identify root cause of unexpected events, failures or error conditions enabled by correlating disparate data. Detect security breaches attempts before they are successful. Help admins ensure IT resources continue running optimally. Identify trends and patterns that may indicate impending failures or error conditions for valuable assets before they happen. Compare satellites in a fleet or constellation in terms of number of alarms, number of command sent to them, etc.. Answer questions like "Are the operations support needs increasing over the past year?" or "Have we seen this combination of alarm conditions before?" But really, once the tools are readily available the users will start realizing what can be done with their new powers. In this presentation we will show the results of analyzing millions of actual mission operations log messages, how the results can be displayed to the user, and how new products now available as open source can be applied to the challenges of large scale time-tagged text-based mission operations messages. Flight operations team members believe that this is a powerful new option for how they assess overall system and space asset health. Technical descriptions of the design, tools, and storage will be provided. One billion messages? Bring'em on

Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) biting behaviour and malaria transmission: interactions between intrinsic host preferences and local host availability

Distribution of mosquito-borne diseases is governed by a complex mix of genetic, environmental and social factors which in turn affect pathogen, vector and host interactions. Different mosquito species show a variety of host biting behaviours with some showing an extreme preference for human blood hosts. However, even the most anthropophilic vectors will source a proportion of their blood meals from nonhuman hosts, suggesting this preference is not fixed. This thesis investigates mosquito biting behaviour and the interactions between intrinsic host preference and host availability. Firstly, through investigation of the literature, the HBI was found to be more associated with collection location (R2 = 0.29) than mosquito species (R2 = 0.11). The influence of host availability was then tested in the field using a transect-based collection methodology. Anopheles mosquitoes were collected across a range of human host availabilities and significant changes in HBI (OR = 1.50 (95% CIs:1.05 – 2.16)) and BBI (OR = 0.60 (95% CIs:0.49 – 0.73)) were observed over 250 metres. In addition, extrinsic factors (AIC:243) impacted human blood host choice more than intrinsic factors (AIC:359.8). The transect-based collection strategy coupled with a novel molecular measure of blood meal digestion also informed mosquito dispersal. An. coluzzii was shown to typically remain within 50m of their host up to seven hours after feeding but disperse up to 250m after sixty hours. This novel molecular method was further optimised for multiple mosquito species of medical importance and compared to the Sella score, a widely used visual measure of blood meal digestion. This thesis provides compelling evidence of how host availability directly influencing mosquito host preference and describes a novel measure of dispersal utilising bloodmeal digestion. Understanding factors influencing host choice opens the opportunity to synergise current control efforts with alternative methods that exploit this behaviour, ultimately increasing the impact of current and future interventions

Evidence of extrinsic factors dominating intrinsic blood host preferences of major African malaria vectors.

One of the key determinants of a haematophagous vector's capacity to transmit pathogens is its selection of which host to secure a blood meal from. This choice is influenced by both intrinsic (genetic) and extrinsic (environmental) factors, but little is known of their relative contributions. Blood fed Anopheles mosquitoes were collected from a malaria endemic village in Ghana. Collections were conducted across a range of different host availabilities and from both indoor and outdoor locations. These environmental factors were shown to impact dramatically the host choice of caught malaria vectors: mosquitoes caught indoors were ten-fold more likely to have sourced their blood meal from humans; and a halving in odds of being human-fed was found for mosquitoes caught only 25 m from the centre of the village. For the first time, we demonstrate that anthropophagy was better explained by extrinsic factors (namely, local host availability and indoor/outdoor trapping location) than intrinsic factors (namely, the (sibling) species of the mosquito caught) (respective Akaike information criterion estimates: 243.0 versus 359.8). Instead of characterizing biting behaviour on a taxonomic level, we illustrate the importance of assessing local entomology. Accounting for this behavioural plasticity is important, both in terms of measuring effectiveness of control programmes and in informing optimal disease control strategies

Perylene-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Acid Vapor Sensing.

Traditionally, the properties and functions of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are defined by their constituting building blocks, while the chemical bonds that connect the individual subunits have not attracted much attention as functional components of the final material. We have developed a new series of dual-pore perylene-based COFs and demonstrated that their imine bonds can be protonated reversibly, causing significant protonation-induced color shifts toward the near-infrared, while the structure and crystallinity of the frameworks are fully retained. Thin films of these COFs are highly sensitive colorimetric acid vapor sensors with a detection limit as low as 35 μg L-1 and a response range of at least 4 orders of magnitude. Since the acidochromism in our COFs is a cooperative phenomenon based on electronically coupled imines, the COFs can be used to determine simultaneously the concentration and protonation strength of nonaqueous acid solutions, in which pH electrodes are not applicable, and to distinguish between different acids. Including the imine bonds as function-determining constituents of the framework provides an additional handle for constructing multifunctional COFs and extending the range of their possible applications

Permethrin-Treated Clothing as Protection against the Dengue Vector, Aedes aegypti: Extent and Duration of Protection.

INTRODUCTION: Dengue transmission by the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, occurs indoors and outdoors during the day. Personal protection of individuals, particularly when outside, is challenging. Here we assess the efficacy and durability of different types of insecticide-treated clothing on laboratory-reared Ae. aegypti. METHODS: Standardised World Health Organisation Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) cone tests and arm-in-cage assays were used to assess knockdown (KD) and mortality of Ae. aegypti tested against factory-treated fabric, home-dipped fabric and microencapsulated fabric. Based on the testing of these three different treatment types, the most protective was selected for further analysis using arm-in cage assays with the effect of washing, ultra-violet light, and ironing investigated using high pressure liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Efficacy varied between the microencapsulated and factory dipped fabrics in cone testing. Factory-dipped clothing showed the greatest effect on KD (3 min 38.1%; 1 hour 96.5%) and mortality (97.1%) with no significant difference between this and the factory dipped school uniforms. Factory-dipped clothing was therefore selected for further testing. Factory dipped clothing provided 59% (95% CI = 49.2%- 66.9%) reduction in landing and a 100% reduction in biting in arm-in-cage tests. Washing duration and technique had a significant effect, with insecticidal longevity shown to be greater with machine washing (LW50 = 33.4) compared to simulated hand washing (LW50 = 17.6). Ironing significantly reduced permethrin content after 1 week of simulated use, with a 96.7% decrease after 3 months although UV exposure did not reduce permethrin content within clothing significantly after 3 months simulated use. CONCLUSION: Permethrin-treated clothing may be a promising intervention in reducing dengue transmission. However, our findings also suggest that clothing may provide only short-term protection due to the effect of washing and ironing, highlighting the need for improved fabric treatment techniques

Personal Protection of Permethrin-Treated Clothing against Aedes aegypti, the Vector of Dengue and Zika Virus, in the Laboratory.

BACKGROUND: The dengue and Zika viruses are primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are most active during day light hours and feed both in and outside of the household. Personal protection technologies such as insecticide-treated clothing could provide individual protection. Here we assessed the efficacy of permethrin-treated clothing on personal protection in the laboratory. METHODS: The effect of washing on treated clothing, skin coverage and protection against resistant and susceptible Ae. aegypti was assessed using modified WHO arm-in-cage assays. Coverage was further assessed using free-flight room tests to investigate the protective efficacy of unwashed factory-dipped permethrin-treated clothing. Clothing was worn as full coverage (long sleeves and trousers) and partial coverage (short sleeves and shorts). Residual permethrin on the skin and its effect on mosquitoes was measured using modified WHO cone assays and quantified using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. RESULTS: In the arm-in-cage assays, unwashed clothing reduced landing by 58.9% (95% CI 49.2-66.9) and biting by 28.5% (95% CI 22.5-34.0), but reduced to 18.5% (95% CI 14.7-22.3) and 11.1% (95% CI 8.5-13.8) respectively after 10 washes. Landing and biting for resistant and susceptible strains was not significantly different (p80% one hour after wearing treated clothing. CONCLUSION: Whilst partially covering the body with permethrin-treated clothing provided some protection against biting, wearing treated clothing with long sleeves and trousers provided the highest form of protection. Washing treated clothing dramatically reduced protection provided. Permethrin-treated clothing could provide protection to individuals from Ae. aegypti that show permethrin resistance. Additionally, it could continue to provide protection even after the clothing has been worn. Field trials are urgently needed to determine whether clothing can protect against dengue and Zika

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Encoded and Size-Defined π-Stacking of Perylene Diimides

Natural photosystems use protein scaffolds to control intermolecular interactions that enable exciton flow, charge generation, and long-range charge separation. In contrast, there is limited structural control in current organic electronic devices such as OLEDs and solar cells. We report here the DNA-encoded assembly of π-conjugated perylene diimides (PDIs) with deterministic control over the number of electronically coupled molecules. The PDIs are integrated within DNA chains using phosphoramidite coupling chemistry, allowing selection of the DNA sequence to either side, and specification of intermolecular DNA hybridization. In this way, we have developed a “toolbox” for construction of any stacking sequence of these semiconducting molecules. We have discovered that we need to use a full hierarchy of interactions: DNA guides the semiconductors into specified close proximity, hydrophobic–hydrophilic differentiation drives aggregation of the semiconductor moieties, and local geometry and electrostatic interactions define intermolecular positioning. As a result, the PDIs pack to give substantial intermolecular π wave function overlap, leading to an evolution of singlet excited states from localized excitons in the PDI monomer to excimers with wave functions delocalized over all five PDIs in the pentamer. This is accompanied by a change in the dominant triplet forming mechanism from localized spin–orbit charge transfer mediated intersystem crossing for the monomer toward a delocalized excimer process for the pentamer. Our modular DNA-based assembly reveals real opportunities for the rapid development of bespoke semiconductor architectures with molecule-by-molecule precision

Investigating the blood-host plasticity and dispersal of Anopheles coluzzii using a novel field-based methodology

Background: The biting behaviour and dispersal of insect vectors in the field underlies the transmission of many diseases. Here, a novel collection methodology coupled with the molecular analysis of blood-meal sources and digestion rates is introduced with the aim of aiding the understanding of two critical and relatively understudied mosquito behaviours: plasticity in blood-host choice and vector dispersal. Results: A collection strategy utilising a transect of mosquito traps placed at 50 m intervals allowed the collection of blood-fed Anopheles coluzzii from a malaria-endemic village of southern Ghana where human host availability ranged from zero (a cattle pen), increasing until humans were the dominant host choice (the middle of the village). Blood-meal analysis using PCR showed statistically significant variation in blood-meal origins for mosquitoes collected across the 250 m transect: with decreasing trend in Bovine Blood Index (OR = 0.60 95% CI: 0.49-0.73, P < 0.01) and correspondingly, an increasing trend in Human Blood Index (OR = 1.50 95% CI: 1.05-2.16, P = 0.028) as the transect approached the village. Using qPCR, the host DNA remaining in the blood meal was quantified for field-caught mosquitoes and calibrated according to timed blood digestion in colony mosquitoes. Time since blood meal was consumed and the corresponding distance the vector was caught from its blood-host allowed the estimation of An. coluzzii dispersal rates. Within 7 hours of feeding, mosquitoes typically remained within 50 m of their blood-host but at 60 hours they had dispersed up to 250 m. Conclusions: Using this methodology the remarkably small spatial scale at which An. coluzzii blood-host choice can change was demonstrated. In addition, conducting qPCR on host blood from field-caught mosquitoes and calibrating with timed experiments with colonised mosquitoes presents a novel methodology for investigating the dispersal behaviour of vectors. Future adaptations to this novel method to make it broadly applicable to other types of setting are also discussed.Universiteit Stellenbosch, National Institute for Health Research, National Health and Medical Research Counci