Tourism Planning in the Northern Bahamas

The Abaco region of the northern Bahamas is developing its niche as a nature-based tourism destination with a wealth of natural and cultural attractions such as beaches, snorkel and dive sites, blue holes, cultural features, vibrant history, and colorful towns and artistry. Part of this effort is the development of the Abaco Trail, which will highlight regional attractions and link them together for visitors to follow on their own, fulfilling their own interests as their visit allows. In this study, the Tourism Opportunity Spectrum (TOS) was used to gather information to aid in the process of assembling tourism site conditions and function to assist this trail effort. TOS data was collected on ten sites in the Abacos and results show individual condition scores for each attribute on the TOS scale as well as estimated scores for each individual condition based on what changes may occur based on proposed changes at one site. Overall, results indicate that the site conditions in the Abacos fall into the more Primitive end of the spectrum, however proposed changes as one site would move site conditions well into the Urban end of the TOS

Carrying the Weight: The True Cost of First-Gen Guilt

First-Generation College Students (FGCS) are the pioneers and trailblazers of higher education for their families. Higher education has its own unique culture, language and history which can be difficult for many first-generation college students to understand. Every semester FGCS travel through unknown territory, navigating the “hidden curriculum” while possibly carrying significant guilt for leaving their families and other responsibilities at home. This guilt manifests itself in low-retention and academic persistence rates, a poor sense of belonging both in the collegiate environment and at home with their family, and lack of engagement in the campus community. This presentation will draw on intersectionality, appreciative advising techniques, the role of advisors as cultural navigators, and personal anecdotes to uncover where this “guilt” comes from to illuminate how First-Gen University Professionals can help FGCS navigate the complexities of a “double life”. First-Gen University Professionals’ intentionality in addressing this pervasive guilt can help integrate first-generation college students into the culture of higher education and empower them to take greater agency in their own academic and personal journeys. With the support of inclusive institutional policies and First-Gen University Professionals, FGCS can graduate on-time, discover their true potential, and inspire and elevate the many generations to come

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

Characterization of the avian trojan gene family reveals contrasting evolutionary constraints

"Trojan" is a leukocyte-specific, cell surface protein originally identified in the chicken. Its molecular function has been hypothesized to be related to anti-apoptosis and the proliferation of immune cells. The Trojan gene has been localized onto the Z sex chromosome. The adjacent two genes also show significant homology to Trojan, suggesting the existence of a novel gene/protein family. Here, we characterize this Trojan family, identify homologues in other species and predict evolutionary constraints on these genes. The two Trojan-related proteins in chicken were predicted as a receptor-type tyrosine phosphatase and a transmembrane protein, bearing a cytoplasmic immuno-receptor tyrosine-based activation motif. We identified the Trojan gene family in ten other bird species and found related genes in three reptiles and a fish species. The phylogenetic analysis of the homologues revealed a gradual diversification among the family members. Evolutionary analyzes of the avian genes predicted that the extracellular regions of the proteins have been subjected to positive selection. Such selection was possibly a response to evolving interacting partners or to pathogen challenges.We also observed an almost complete lack of intracellular positively selected sites, suggesting a conserved signaling mechanism of the molecules. Therefore, the contrasting patterns of selection likely correlate with the interaction and signaling potential of the molecules

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark mass using charged particles in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Study of Z boson production in pPb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

The production of Z bosons in pPb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV is studied by the CMS experiment via the electron and muon decay channels. The inclusive cross section is compared to pp collision predictions, and found to scale with the number of elementary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The differential cross sections as a function of the Z boson rapidity and transverse momentum are measured. Though they are found to be consistent within uncertainty with theoretical predictions both with and without nuclear effects, the forward-backward asymmetry suggests the presence of nuclear effects at large rapidities. These results provide new data for constraining nuclear parton distribution functions