138 research outputs found
Building Volunteer Engagement in the Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program from the Ground Up
This study was designed to assess key volunteer attitudes and perceptions about local and state Extension Master Gardener (EMG) volunteer programs. EMG volunteers in Tennessee completed a total of 759 surveys between January 22 and March 10, 2020. Survey responses showed there was a strong positive perception of local EMG groups and the connection with the University of Tennessee system overall. When respondents were segmented, answers to key questions showed illuminating differences between volunteers with positive and neutral or negative views of the program. The variations in answers show areas of potential emphasis to support healthy local group culture and broader efficacy of the EMG program
Two-Screen Scattering in CRAFT FRBs
Temporal broadening is a commonly observed property of fast radio bursts
(FRBs), associated with turbulent media which cause radiowave scattering.
Similarly to dispersion, scattering is an important probe of the media along
the line of sight to an FRB source, such as the circum-burst or circum-galactic
mediums (CGM). Measurements of characteristic scattering times alone are
insufficient to constrain the position of the dominant scattering media along
the line of sight. However, where more than one scattering screen exists,
Galactic scintillation can be leveraged to form strong constraints. We quantify
the scattering and scintillation in 10 FRBs with 1) known host galaxies and
redshifts and 2) captured voltage data enabling high time resolution analysis,
obtained from the Commensal Real-time ASKAP (Australian Square Kilometre Array
Pathfinder) Fast Transient survey science project (CRAFT). We find strong
evidence for two screens in three cases. For FRBs 20190608B and 20210320C, we
find evidence for scattering screens less than approximately 16.7 and 3000 kpc
respectively, from their sources. For FRB 20201124A we find evidence for a
scattering screen at 26 kpc. Each of these measures is consistent with
the scattering occurring in the host ISM (inter-stellar medium) or CGM. If
pulse broadening is assumed to be contributed by the host galaxy ISM or
circum-burst environment, the definitive lack of observed scintillation in four
FRBs in our sample suggests that existing models may be over-estimating
scattering times associated with the Milky Way's ISM, similar to the
anomalously low scattering observed for FRB 20201124A.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Submitted to MNRA
Chasing Jenner's Vaccine: Revisiting Cowpox Virus Classification
Cowpox virus (CPXV) is described as the source of the first vaccine used to prevent the onset and spread of an infectious disease. It is one of the earliest described members of the genus Orthopoxvirus, which includes the viruses that cause smallpox and monkeypox in humans. Both the historic and current literature describe “cowpox” as a disease with a single etiologic agent. Genotypic data presented herein indicate that CPXV is not a single species, but a composite of several (up to 5) species that can infect cows, humans, and other animals. The practice of naming agents after the host in which the resultant disease manifests obfuscates the true taxonomic relationships of “cowpox” isolates. These data support the elevation of as many as four new species within the traditional “cowpox” group and suggest that both wild and modern vaccine strains of Vaccinia virus are most closely related to CPXV of continental Europe rather than the United Kingdom, the homeland of the vaccine
The unseen host galaxy and high dispersion measure of a precisely-localised Fast Radio Burst suggests a high-redshift origin
FRB 20210912A is a fast radio burst (FRB), detected and localised to
sub-arcsecond precision by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. No
host galaxy has been identified for this burst despite the high precision of
its localisation and deep optical and infrared follow-up, to 5- limits
of mag and mag with the Very Large Telescope. The
combination of precise radio localisation and deep optical imaging has almost
always resulted in the secure identification of a host galaxy, and this is the
first case in which the line-of-sight is not obscured by the Galactic disk. The
dispersion measure of this burst,
, allows for
a large source redshift of according to the Macquart relation. It could
thus be that the host galaxy is consistent with the known population of FRB
hosts, but is too distant to detect in our observations ( for a host
like that of the first repeating FRB source, FRB 20121102A); that it is more
nearby with a significant excess in , and thus dimmer than
any known FRB host; or, least likely, that the FRB is truly hostless. We
consider each possibility, making use of the population of known FRB hosts to
frame each scenario. The fact of the missing host has ramifications for the FRB
field: even with high-precision localisation and deep follow-up, some FRB hosts
may be difficult to detect, with more distant hosts being the less likely to be
found. This has implications for FRB cosmology, in which high-redshift
detections are valuable.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Revised based on referee's comments and accepted
to MNRA
Probing the distant universe with a very luminous fast radio burst at redshift 1
Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration pulses of radio emission that have
been found to originate at extragalactic distances. The bursts show dispersion
imparted by intervening plasma, with the bulk attributed to the intergalactic
medium. Here we report the discovery of a burst, FRB20220610A, in a complex
host galaxy system at a redshift of . The relationship
between its redshift and dispersion confirm that the bulk of the baryonic
matter was ionized and in the intergalactic medium when the universe was almost
half its present age. The burst shows evidence for passage through a
significant additional column of turbulent and magnetized high-redshift plasma.
It extends the maximum observed burst energy by a factor of four, confirming
the presence of an energetic burst population at high redshift.Comment: 40 page
Diet Dynamics of the Adult Piscivorous Fish Community in Spirit Lake, Iowa, USA 1995–1997
Diets of adults of six important piscivorous fish species, black crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, northern pike Esox lucius, smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieui, walleye Stizostedion vitreum, and yellow perch Perca flavescens were quantified in Spirit Lake, Iowa, USA from May to October in 1995–1997. Forty-one prey taxa were found in the diets of these species, including 19 species of fish. The most important prey taxa overall were yellow perch, amphipods and dipterans. Diets of northern pike and walleye were dominated by yellow perch. Largemouth bass diets included large percentages of both yellow perch and black bullhead Ameiurus melas. Smallmouth bass diets included large percentages of both yellow perch and crayfish. Black crappie and yellow perch diets were dominated by invertebrates, primarily amphipods and dipterans. There were pronounced differences in diets among species, among size classes within species and over time. Most of the dominant prey taxa we documented in the diets of piscivorous species were in accordance with previous studies, but a few deviated significantly from expectations. Many of the temporal diet changes were asynchronous among piscivorous species and size classes, suggesting different responses to common prey resources over time
Distinct evolutionary patterns of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B disease outbreaks at two universities in the USA
L. H., L. A., S. W., P. L. and A. S. A. are current employees of Pfizer, and this work was funded by Pfizer Inc.Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MnB) was responsible for two independent meningococcal disease outbreaks at universities in the USA during 2013. The first at University A in New Jersey included nine confirmed cases reported between March 2013 and March 2014. The second outbreak occurred at University B in California, with four confirmed cases during November 2013. The public health response to these outbreaks included the approval and deployment of a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine that was not yet licensed in the USA. This study investigated the use of whole-genome sequencing(WGS) to examine the genetic profile of the disease-causing outbreak isolates at each university. Comparative WGS revealed differences in evolutionary patterns between the two disease outbreaks. The University A outbreak isolates were very closely related, with differences primarily attributed to single nucleotide polymorphisms/insertion-deletion (SNP/indel) events. In contrast, the University B outbreak isolates segregated into two phylogenetic clades, differing in large part due to recombination events covering extensive regions (>30 kb) of the genome including virulence factors. This high-resolution comparison of two meningococcal disease outbreaks further demonstrates the genetic complexity of meningococcal bacteria as related to evolution and disease virulence.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Teaching the history of geography:Current challenges and future directions
Drawing upon the personal reflections of geographical educators in Brazil, Canada, the UK, and the US, this Forum provides a state-of-the-discipline review of teaching in the history of geography; identifies the practical and pedagogical challenges associated with that teaching; and offers suggestions and provocations as to future innovation. The Forum shows how teaching in the history of geography is valued – as a tool of identity making, as a device for cohort building and professionalization, and as a means of interrogating the disciplinary present – but also how it is challenged by neoliberal educational policies, competing priorities in curriculum design, and sub-disciplinary divisions
Detection of minority drug resistant mutations in Malawian HIV-1 subtype C-positive patients initiating and on first-line antiretroviral therapy
Background: Minority drug resistance mutations (DRMs) that are often missed by Sanger sequencing are clinically significant, as they can cause virologic failure in individuals treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs.
Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of minor DRMs among patients enrolled in a Malawi HIV drug resistance monitoring survey at baseline and at one year after initiation of ART.
Methods: Forty-one plasma specimens collected from HIV-1 subtype C-positive patients and seven clonal control samples were analysed using ultra-deep sequencing technology.
Results: Deep sequencing identified all 72 DRMs detected by Sanger sequencing at the level of ≥20% and 79 additional minority DRMs at the level of < 20% from the 41 Malawian clinical specimens. Overall, DRMs were detected in 85% of pre-ART and 90.5% of virologic failure patients by deep sequencing. Among pre-ART patients, deep sequencing identified a statistically significant higher prevalence of DRMs to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) compared with Sanger sequencing. The difference was mainly due to the high prevalence of minority K65R and M184I mutations. Most virologic failure patients harboured DRMs against both NRTIs and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). These minority DRMs contributed to the increased or enhanced virologic failures in these patients.
Conclusion: The results revealed the presence of minority DRMs to NRTIs and NNRTIs in specimens collected at baseline and virologic failure time points. These minority DRMs not only increased resistance levels to NRTIs and NNRTIs for the prescribed ART, but also expanded resistance to additional major first-line ART drugs. This study suggested that drug resistance testing that uses more sensitive technologies, is needed in this setting
Operational Research in Education
Operational Research (OR) techniques have been applied, from the early stages of the discipline, to a wide variety of issues in education. At the government level, these include questions of what resources should be allocated to education as a whole and how these should be divided amongst the individual sectors of education and the institutions within the sectors. Another pertinent issue concerns the efficient operation of institutions, how to measure it, and whether resource allocation can be used to incentivise efficiency savings. Local governments, as well as being concerned with issues of resource allocation, may also need to make decisions regarding, for example, the creation and location of new institutions or closure of existing ones, as well as the day-to-day logistics of getting pupils to schools. Issues of concern for managers within schools and colleges include allocating the budgets, scheduling lessons and the assignment of students to courses. This survey provides an overview of the diverse problems faced by government, managers and consumers of education, and the OR techniques which have typically been applied in an effort to improve operations and provide solutions
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