ranacapa: An R package and Shiny web app to explore environmental DNA data with exploratory statistics and interactive visualizations.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is becoming a core tool in ecology and conservation biology, and is being used in a growing number of education, biodiversity monitoring, and public outreach programs in which professional research scientists engage community partners in primary research. Results from eDNA analyses can engage and educate natural resource managers, students, community scientists, and naturalists, but without significant training in bioinformatics, it can be difficult for this diverse audience to interact with eDNA results. Here we present the R package ranacapa, at the core of which is a Shiny web app that helps perform exploratory biodiversity analyses and visualizations of eDNA results. The app requires a taxonomy-by-sample matrix and a simple metadata file with descriptive information about each sample. The app enables users to explore the data with interactive figures and presents results from simple community ecology analyses. We demonstrate the value of ranacapa to two groups of community partners engaging with eDNA metabarcoding results

Generative mechanisms for innovation in information infrastructures

This paper investigates how innovation of ICT based services takes place within existing infrastructures, including the whole network of technology, vendors and customers. Our research question is, how can an information infrastructure provide generative mechanisms for innovation of ICT based services? Building on a critical realist approach, our empirical evidence was a case study within an international airline, aiming to diversify its services. From our analysis we propose that there are two self-reinforcement mechanisms in information infrastructures. First, we identified the innovation reinforcement mechanism, resulting in new services. Second, there is the service reinforcement mechanism, resulting in more users and profits. The practical implication of our framework is to show that although ICT-based innovation cannot be planned and managed in detail, the innovation mechanism may help organisations to facilitate the innovation process in a structured way

Rotational Grazing Demonstration with Beef Cattle on Conservation Reserve Land in Adams County, Iowa, USA

The United States Dept. of Agriculture\u27s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers who will enroll erosive, marginally productive cropland for a 10 to 15 year period. In return, participants are provided annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish and maintain long- term, resource-conserving vegetative cover to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat. Since the inception of the CRP, policymakers, conservationists, farmers, and rural residents have been concerned about the likely fate of program land after the contracts expire. Most of the existing research, whether it relies on farm surveys or computer models, suggests that a significant proportion, perhaps more than 50 percent, will move back into row-crop production. Many rural residents in areas in which the CRP has significantly affected agricultural production would prefer to see the land returned to some form of agricultural activity, competitive with intensive row-crop production but with management and technologies that lead to acceptable environmental consequences

A youth empowerment intervention to prevent childhood obesity: design and methods for a cluster randomized trial of the H2GO! program

BACKGROUND: Reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a promising dietary target for childhood obesity prevention. This paper describes the design and methods of a cluster randomized trial of H2GO!, a youth empowerment intervention to prevent childhood obesity through reducing SSB consumption among a low-income, ethnically diverse sample of youth. METHODS: This cluster randomized controlled trial is an academic-community partnership with the Massachusetts Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs (BGC). Ten BGC sites will be randomly assigned to the H2GO! intervention or a wait-list, usual care control. Eligible study participants will be N = 450 parent-child pairs (youth ages 9-12 years and their parents/caregivers) recruited from participating BGCs. The 6-week in-person H2GO! intervention consists of 12 group-based sessions delivered by BGC staff and youth-led activities. An innovative feature of the intervention is the development of youth-produced narratives as a strategy to facilitate youth empowerment and parental engagement. Child outcomes include measured body mass index z scores (zBMI), beverage intake, and youth empowerment. Parent outcomes include beverage intake and availability of SSBs at home. Outcomes will be measured at baseline and at 2, 6, and 12 months. With a 75% retention rate, the study is powered to detect a minimum group difference of 0.1 zBMI units over 12 months. DISCUSSION: Empowering youth may be a promising intervention approach to prevent childhood obesity through reducing SSB consumption. This intervention was designed to be delivered through BGCs and is hypothesized to be efficacious, relevant, and acceptable for the target population of low-income and ethnically diverse youth. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04265794 . Registered 11 February 2020

Concurrent engineering

The following subject areas are covered: issues (liquid rocket propulsion - current development approach, current certification process, and costs of engineering changes); state of the art (DICE information management system, key government participants, project development strategy, quality management, and numerical propulsion system simulation); needs identified; and proposed program

1999 Quadrantids and the lunar Na atmosphere

Enhancements of the Na emission and temperature from the lunar atmosphere were reported during the Leonids meteor showers of 1995, 1997 and 1998. Here we report a search for similar enhancement during the 1999 Quadrantids, which have the highest mass flux of any of the major streams. No enhancements were detected. We suggest that different chemical-physical properties of the Leonid and Quadrantid streams may be responsible for the difference.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA

Universal Behaviour of the Superfluid Fraction and Tc of He-3 in 99.5% Open Aerogel

We have investigated the superfluid transition of He-3 in a 99.5% porosity silica aerogel. This very dilute sample shows behaviour intermediary between bulk He-3 and He-3 confined to the denser aerogels previously studied. We present data on both the superfluid transition temperature and the superfluid density and compare our results with previous measurements. Finally, we show that the suppression of the superfluid transition temperature and suppression of the superfluid density of He-3 in aerogel follow a universal relation for a range of aerogel samples.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; 1 new figure, minor change

zfishbook: connecting you to a world of zebrafish revertible mutants

zfishbook is an internet-based openly accessible database of revertible protein trap gene-breaking transposon (GBT) insertional mutants in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. In these lines, a monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP) is encoded by an artificial 3′ exon, resulting in a translational fusion to endogenous loci. The natural transparency of the zebrafish embryo and larvae greatly facilitates the expression annotation of tagged loci using new capillary-based SCORE imaging methods. Molecular annotation of each line is facilitated by cloning methods such as 5′-Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (RACE) and inverse polymerase chain reaction (PCR). zfishbook (http://zfishbook.org) represents a central hub for molecular, expression and mutational information about GBT lines from the International Zebrafish Protein Trap Consortium (IZPTC) that includes researchers from around the globe. zfishbook is open to community-wide contributions including expression and functional annotation. zfishbook also represents a central location for information on how to obtain these lines from diverse members of the IZPTC and integration within other zebrafish community databases including Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN), Ensembl and National Center for Biotechnology Information

Mitigating Bighorn Sheep–Vehicle Collisions and Habitat Fragmentation with Overpasses and Adaptive Mitigation

As transportation infrastructure expands to accommodate increasing human population growth, wildlife–vehicle conflicts (WVCs) are a growing concern for motorist safety and wildlife populations. In the case of large ungulates, minimal information exists on successful mitigation of WVCs involving bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and habitat fragmentation. Too address this void, we evaluated the effectiveness of 3 new wildlife overpasses, 3 culverts, 2 bridges, and ungulate exclusionary fencing as potential desert bighorn sheep (O. c. nelsoni; sheep) crossing opportunities along US Highway 93 in Arizona, USA. We evaluated sheep movements using global positioning system (GPS) radio-transmitter collars and remote cameras for 4 years from March 2011 to March 2015 and sheep–vehicle collision data collected from 2011 to 2020. Although GPS determined pre- and post-mitigation passage rates of sheep that crossed US Highway 93 were initially similar, they increased every year and were on average 217% higher following inclusion of wildlife crossings and by year 4 had ultimately increased 633% from pre-construction rates. Cameras recorded 6,936 crossings by a dozen wildlife species with sheep accounting for 95% of all crossings. Sheep used the 3 overpasses (90% of all sheep crossings) disproportionately more than the 3 culverts and 2 underpasses (10% of all sheep crossings) in the same area, and use of the 3 overpasses increased 905% in the first year. Sheep initially used the 30-m-wide overpasses at 83% and 175% higher passage rates than 2 15-m-wide structures; however, by year 4 passage rates were similar across overpasses. From February 2011 through February 2020, we documented 0.8 sheep–vehicle collisions/year for an overall 93.3% reduction from the 12 collisions per year previously documented. Most of the collisions occurred immediately following completion of the project and gradually reduced as sheep access points were identified and addressed through an adaptive mitigation process to iteratively improve success. Overpasses appear to be the preferred wildlife crossing type for sheep and when properly located and linked with ungulate exclusion fencing successfully reduced collisions and habitat fragmentation. These findings add to our knowledge base of effective roadway mitigation for different species. Long-term monitoring informs species learning curves, preference of wildlife crossing structure type, and adaptive mitigation opportunities to increase effectiveness of mitigation measures on current and future projects

A log analysis study of 10 years of ebook consumption in academic library collections

Even though libraries have been offering eBooks for more than a decade, very little is known about eBook access and consumption in academic library collections. This paper addresses this gap with a log analysis study of eBook access at the library of the University of Waikato. This in-depth analysis covers a period spanning 10 years of eBook use at this university. We draw conclusions about the use of eBooks at this institution and compare the results with other published studies of eBook usage at tertiary institutes