Locating Science Fiction. Andrew Milner.

Review of Locating Science Fiction. Andrew Milner. Liverpool:  Liverpool University Press, 2012. Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies, 44. Hardback. 244 pp. ISBN 978-1-84631-842-1

States can fight growing economic inequality through lowering taxes on the poor, and stricter labor market policies.

While unemployment and levels of economic growth in the U.S. have returned to levels not seen since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, inequality remains a significant problem. In new research, Megan E. Hatch and Elizabeth Rigby examine the role of state-level policies in reducing or increasing inequality. They find that inequality can be reduced through a combination of high taxes on the wealthy, low taxes on the poorest, and labor market regulations that are favorable to workers, such as minimum wages and an absence of right to work laws. Surprisingly, they also find that greater spending on the poor is associated with higher levels of income inequality

Distribution of contaminants in the environment and wildlife habitat use: a case study with lead and waterfowl on the Upper Texas Coast

The magnitude and distribution of lead contamination remain unknown in wetland systems. Anthropogenic deposition of lead may be contributing to negative population-level effects in waterfowl and other organisms that depend on dynamic wetland habitats, particularly if they are unable to detect and differentiate levels of environmental contamination by lead. Detection of lead and behavioral response to elevated lead levels by waterfowl is poorly understood, but necessary to characterize the risk of lead-contaminated habitats. We measured the relationship between lead contamination of wetland soils and habitat use by mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) on the Upper Texas Coast, USA. Mottled ducks have historically experienced disproportionate negative effects from lead exposure, and exhibit a unique nonmigratory life history that increases risk of exposure when inhabiting contaminated areas. We used spatial interpolation to estimate lead in wetland soils of the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Soil lead levels varied across the refuge complex (0.01–1085.51 ppm), but greater lead concentrations frequently corresponded to areas with high densities of transmittered mottled ducks. We used soil lead concentration data and MaxENT species distribution models to quantify relationships among various habitat factors and locations of mottled ducks. Use of habitats with greater lead concentration increased during years of a major disturbance. Because mottled ducks use habitats with high concentrations of lead during periods of stress, have greater risk of exposure following major disturbance to the coastal marsh system, and no innate mechanism for avoiding the threat of lead exposure, we suggest the potential presence of an ecological trap of quality habitat that warrants further quantification at a population scale for mottled ducks

Simulating Effects of Imperfect Detectability in Bird Surveys

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. November 2016. Major: Natural Resources Science and Management. Advisor: Douglas Johnson. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 324 pages.Counts obtained from point count bird surveys can be treated as an index to bird abundance, but imperfect detectability can complicate inferences about abundance. Adjustment analysis methods, including double-observer, replicated counts, removal, and distance sampling methods, have been developed to estimate detection in addition to abundance. These methods require additional information to estimate detection, which may entail added logistical costs or be additional sources of error. It is not clear when or if adjustment methods outperform index methods, or how the benefits of adjustment methods compare to their costs. I simulated point counts of birds, modeling birds spatially as moving within bivariate normal territories, modeling song production as an autocorrelated process, and modeling perceptibility as a logit function of distance to the observer. In Chapter 1, I simulated counts using a test scenario with parameters reflecting surveys of black-throated blue warblers (BTBW, Setophaga caerulescens), analyzed counts using index and adjustment analysis methods, then evaluated and compared the performance of analysis methods. Estimates from index methods underestimated true density of birds (Dp) for all survey types, but were highly correlated with true density. Adjusted estimates from distance sampling and removal analysis methods showed a reduction in bias as compared to index estimates, but had reduced correlation with true density. Adjusted estimates from double-observer analysis methods were nearly unchanged from index estimates. Adjusted estimates from replicated counts analysis methods were susceptible to highly inflated density estimates, resulting in extremely high bias and low correlation with true density. Index methods, while biased, were better correlated with true density and would provide better information about changes in abundance than an adjustment analysis method for the BTBW scenario. If detection is constant and relative abundance is sufficient to meet survey objectives, using an index method is often preferable. For systems with variable detection probability where inference about absolute abundance is necessary to meet objectives, practitioners should select adjustment methods suited to model the source of imperfect detection in their system. Ill-suited adjustment methods will not improve inference and are no more useful than an index. In Chapter 2, I used the model to simulate counts for scenarios with high or low availability and high or low perceptibility. I also included scenarios where abundance was confounded with perceptibility, and scenarios where they were independent. I then analyzed count data using index methods and adjustment methods. Although index methods were biased and only had a strong correlation with true density when detectability was high, adjustment methods generally did not offer an improvement. As compared to index methods, adjustment method performance ranged from far worse (replicated counts), to no added value (double-observer) to moderate improvement (in bias only, for removal and distance sampling in specific scenarios). Practitioners should carefully consider the sources of variation in detection probability in their system. If detection components are unknown or known to be variable, I advise practitioners to perform a pilot study to estimate detection components. Additionally, practitioners should standardize their methods to increase availability and perceptibility in their surveys and to lower the variation in these detection components. In Chapter 3, I conducted simulated bird surveys using recorded bird songs to assess factors affecting detection probability in grassland bird point counts. I used mixed effects logistic regression models to estimate factors affecting detection probability and to estimate and visualize the variation in the area around the observer where birds can be perceived (the perceptible area). I conducted simulated surveys with 8926 binary opportunities for detection in Minnesota grasslands in 2011 and 2012. Species, distance to the observer, wind speed and direction, observer, and density of vegetation all affected detection of recorded bird songs. Species had a strong effect; the size of the predicted perceptible area around the observer differed by more than 10-fold among species. Wind also had a strong effect on detection. As wind speed increased, probability of detection downwind of the observer was reduced and the perceptible area around the observer became smaller and more asymmetrical. The effective distance at which an observer is more likely to detect a bird than to not detect it may differ among species and angles to the wind, even within the same survey. I recommend using fixed-radius counts for bird surveys in grasslands and reducing the variation in detection probability by standardizing surveys across wind conditions

Using College Students as Peer Leaders in a Tobacco Prevention Program and the Effect on Student Participant Smoking Beliefs and Social Influence Leadership

This study evaluates the effectiveness of using college students as peer leaders in an after-school tobacco prevention program for upper elementary students. Thirty-three students and three counselors participated in a six-week intervention, focusing on social influence and active-learning strategies. The program aimed to improve students\u27 smoking outcome expectancies and their ability to influence peers against tobacco use. Despite following best practices, the study found no significant changes in students\u27 smoking beliefs or observed leadership abilities. These results suggest that while initial anti-tobacco beliefs remained strong, the short duration and structured setting may have limited opportunities for significant behavioral changes. This study highlights the importance of exploring diverse and non-traditional settings for tobacco prevention education and suggests further research with larger samples and varied contexts to better understand the potential impact of peer-led interventions

“Don’t Let Government Touch My Medicare”: How Media Framing Shapes Public Support for Health Care Reform

When covering the policymaking process, the media typically cover both substantive aspects of the issue at hand and the political wrangling that occurs as lawmakers attempt to agree on a course of action. In this paper, we use the recent health care debate to investigate the effects of what we call ‘policy’ and ‘process’ frames on the citizens’ perceptions that reform would benefit the nation. First, we apply social network analysis to articles from 144 daily U.S. newspapers in order to track the changing centrality of each type of frame in media coverage. We then combine the results of this analysis with data from the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll to demonstrate the effects of policy and process frames on public attitudes. The results show that increased policy frame centrality had a positive effect on all citizens, regardless of partisan identification or education level, although the effect was strongest for Republicans. The effects for increased process frame centrality were only observed for those in the middle range of education, with partisans on both sides reacting positively, and independents having more negative attitudes toward health reform

Ribonuclease H2, RNA:DNA hybrids and innate immunity

The activation of the innate immune system is the first line of host defence against infection. Nucleic acids can potently stimulate this response and trigger a series of signalling cascades leading to cytokine production and the establishment of an inflammatory state. Mutations in genes encoding nucleases have been identified in patients with autoimmune diseases, including Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS). This rare childhood inflammatory disorder is characterised by the presence of high levels of the antiviral cytokine interferon-α in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood, which is thought to be produced as a consequence of the activation of the innate immunity by unprocessed self-nucleic acids. This thesis therefore aimed to define the role of one of the AGS nucleases, the Ribonuclease H2 (RNase H2) complex, in innate immunity, and to establish if nucleic acid substrates of this enzyme were able to induce type I interferon production in vitro. The AGS nucleases may function as components of the innate immune response to nucleic acids. Consistent with this hypothesis, RNase H2 was constitutively expressed in immune cells, however, its expression was not upregulated in response to type I interferons. RNase H2-deficient cells responded normally to a range of nucleic acid PAMPs, which implied that a role for RNase H2 as a negative regulator of the immune response was unlikely, in contrast to the reported cellular functions of two other AGS proteins, TREX1 and SAMHD1. Therefore, no clear evidence was found for the direct involvement of RNase H2 in the innate immune response to nucleic acids. An alternative model for the pathogenesis of disease hypothesises that decreased RNase H2 activity within the cell results in an accumulation of RNA:DNA hybrids. To investigate the immunostimulatory potential of such substrates, RNA:DNA hybrids with different physiochemical properties were designed and synthesised. Methods to purify the hybrids from other contaminating nucleic acid species were established and their capacity as activators of the innate immune response tested using a range of in vitro cellular systems. A GU-rich 60 bp RNA:DNA hybrid was shown to be an effective activator of a pro-inflammatory cytokine response exclusively in Flt3-L bone marrow cultures. This response was completely dependent on signalling involving MyD88 and/or Trif, however the specific receptor involved remains to be determined. Reduced cellular RNase H2 activity did not affect the ability of Flt3-L cultures to mount a cytokine response against the RNA:DNA hybrid. These in vitro studies suggested that RNA:DNA hybrids may be a novel nucleic acid PAMP. Taken together, the data in this thesis suggest that the cellular function of RNase H2 is in the suppression of substrate formation rather than as a component of the immune response pathways. Future studies to identify endogenous immunostimulatory RNA:DNA hybrids and the signalling pathways activated by them should provide a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of AGS and related autoimmune diseases

Combining mercury thermoporometry with integrated gas sorption and mercury porosimetry to improve accuracy of pore-size distributions for disordered solids

The typical approach to analysing raw data, from common pore characterization methods such as gas sorption and mercury porosimetry, to obtain pore size distributions for disordered porous solids generally makes several critical assumptions that impact the accuracy of the void space descriptors thereby obtained. These assumptions can lead to errors in pore size of as much as 500%. In this work, we eliminated these assumptions by employing novel experiments involving fully integrated gas sorption, mercury porosimetry and mercury thermoporometry techniques. The entrapment of mercury following porosimetry allowed the isolation (for study) of a particular subset of pores within a much larger interconnected network. Hence, a degree of specificity of findings to particular pores, more commonly associated with use of templated, model porous solids, can also be achieved for disordered materials. Gas sorption experiments were conducted in series, both before and after mercury porosimetry, on the same sample, and the mercury entrapped following porosimetry was used as the probe fluid for theromporometry. Hence, even if one technique, on its own, is indirect, requiring unsubstantiated assumptions, the fully integrated combination of techniques described here permits the validation of assumptions used in one technique by another. Using controlled-pore glasses as model materials, mercury porosimetry scanning curves were used to establish the correct correspondence between the appropriate Gibbs–Thomson parameter, and the nature of the meniscus geometry in melting, for thermoporometry measurements on entrapped mercury. Mercury thermoporometry has been used to validate the pore sizes, for a series of sol–gel silica materials, obtained from mercury porosimetry data using the independently-calibrated Kloubek correlations. The pore sizes obtained for sol–gel silicas from porosimetry and thermoporometry have been shown to differ substantially from those obtained via gas sorption and NLDFT analysis. DRIFTS data for the samples studied has suggested that the cause of this discrepancy may arise from significant differences in the surface chemistries between the samples studied here and that used to calibrate the NLDFT potentials

Bloomfield Road Stormwater Storage Tanks Grouting Works, Blackpool, UK

Bloomfield Road Stormwater Storage Tanks, owned by United Utilities PLC, were constructed in 1999 in Blackpool UK to provide 60,000m3 of storage to prevent overflow discharges during the summer bathing water season. The asset comprises two buried tanks (36m diameter and 40m deep) constructed as circular diaphragm walls. Significant groundwater inflows with minor fines content and turbidity up to 48l/s have been reported entering one of the tanks since 2001. From 2008 an increase of fines ingress has been observed indicating potential for progressive failure of the underlying formation strata. The site stratigraphy comprises predominantly glacial superficial soils overlying an interlaminated Mudstone/Gypsum and Halite sequence. Groundwater inflows were likely to have initiated failure mechanisms in the formation strata including fines loss, dissolution of both gypsum and halite and potentially significant voiding. An innovative event tree risk analysis tool was developed to identify and allow a focused remedial works design and a cost effective solution to be planned. The main works implemented comprised: sealing of the base slab joint by resin injection; contact grouting beneath the base; ground investigation works including cross hole tomography geophysics; and grouting within the Mudstone formation. This paper describes the implementation of the project which was completed ahead of programme ensuring continue