Borrelia burgdorferi Manipulates Innate and Adaptive Immunity to Establish Persistence in Rodent Reservoir Hosts.

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex is capable of establishing persistent infections in a wide variety of species, particularly rodents. Infection is asymptomatic or mild in most reservoir host species, indicating successful co-evolution of the pathogen with its natural hosts. However, infected humans and other incidental hosts can develop Lyme disease, a serious inflammatory syndrome characterized by tissue inflammation of joints, heart, muscles, skin, and CNS. Although B. burgdorferi infection induces both innate and adaptive immune responses, they are ultimately ineffective in clearing the infection from reservoir hosts, leading to bacterial persistence. Here, we review some mechanisms by which B. burgdorferi evades the immune system of the rodent host, focusing in particular on the effects of innate immune mechanisms and recent findings suggesting that T-dependent B cell responses are subverted during infection. A better understanding of the mechanisms causing persistence in rodents may help to increase our understanding of the pathogenesis of Lyme disease and ultimately aid in the development of therapies that support effective clearance of the bacterial infection by the host's immune system

Applying a social justice framework to ensure good practice in monitoring student learning engagement

A current Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded action research project aims to provide a set of practical resources founded on a social justice framework, to guide good practice for monitoring student learning engagement (MSLE) in higher education. The project involves ten Australasian institutions, eight of which are engaged in various MSLE type projects. A draft framework, consisting of six social justice principles which emerged from the literature has been examined with reference to the eight institutional approaches for MSLE in conjunction with the personnel working on these initiatives during the first action research cycle. The cycle will examine the strategic and operational implications of the framework in each of the participating institutions. Cycle 2 will also build capacity to embed the principles within the institutional MSLE program and will identify and collect examples and resources that exemplify the principles in practice. The final cycle will seek to pilot the framework to guide new MSLE initiatives. In its entirety, the project will deliver significant resources to the sector in the form of a social justice framework for MSLE, guidelines and sector exemplars for MSLE. As well as increasing the awareness amongst staff around the criticality of transition to university (thereby preventing attrition) and the significance of the learning and teaching agenda in enhancing student engagement, the project will build leadership capacity within the participating institutions and provide a knowledge base and institutional capacity for the Australasian HE sector to deploy the deliverables that will safeguard student learning engagement At this early stage of the project the workshop session provides an opportunity to discuss and examine the draft set of social justice principles and to discuss their potential value for the participants’ institutional contexts. Specifically, the workshop will explore critical questions associated with the principles

Using a maturity model to move student engagement practices beyond the generational approach

This paper proposes that the generational approach to conceptualising first year student learning behaviour, while it has made a very useful contribution to understanding that behaviour, can be expanded upon. The generational approach has an explicit focus on student behaviour and it is suggested that a capability maturity model interpretation may provide a complementary extension of that as it allows an assessment of institutional capability to initiate, plan, manage and evaluate institutional student engagement practices. The development of a Student Engagement, Success and Retention Maturity Model (SESR-MM) is discussed along with Australasian FYE generational data and Australian SESR-MM data

Judicial and Administrative Interpretations of the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification as Applied to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

This note will examine administrative and judicial standards used to prevent age discrimination in employment decisions. The first section will analyze the ADEA, enacted in response to the growing concern about age discrimination. The second section will discuss the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification exception to the ADEA\u27s prohibition against age discrimination. Finally, the concerns particular to the airline industry regarding its age-related policies will be presented together with the responses of the FAA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the judiciary in an attempt to clarify and resolve the difficulties inherent in situations where safety is a major concern

TeV astronomy of millisecond pulsars

This thesis is concerned with the detection of pulsed TeV γ-rays from millisecond pulsars. These stars appear to include some very efficient producers of high energy particles, but the mechanisms by which they produce TeV γ-rays are still a matter of debate. After an introductory section, there is a brief description of the principles used in the atmospheric Cerenkov technique. The design and operation of the University of Durham atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes are reviewed. The main analysis techniques used to search for periodic signals are then described. The effects on periodic signals of binary motion of a source are discussed. These are a particularly important consideration for observations of millisecond pulsars, where high timing accuracy is required. One of the problems of detecting TeV sources is the cosmic ray background. A means of rejecting background events in TeV γ -ray telescopes is considered in chapter 5. The technique is developed for the Durham Mark III telescope. Substantial rejection of the cosmic ray background is achieved, with minimal loss of source events. The evolutionary scenarios which lead to the formation of millisecond pulsars are outlined. Two models for 7-ray emission are discussed briefly and applied to six known millisecond pulsars. Empirical results on these and two other pulsars are also presented. In particular, a detection of PSR 1855+09 is reported, and an upper limit to the flux from PSR 1957+20 is derived. All the empirical fluxes are compatible with the emission models, but the 'polar gap' model may be favoured. The final chapter summarises the results obtained and suggests some directions for future work on the 7-ray emission from millisecond pulsars

The impact of a night confinement policy on patients in a high secure inpatient mental health service.

Purpose – From 2012, all high-secure forensic mental health services in England began operating a policy of confining patients to their locked bedrooms overnight to increase service efficiency and reduce costs. The purpose of this paper is to assess the views of staff and patients concerning the policy and examine the specific impact of the policy on patients. Design/methodology/approach – Measures of patients’ sleep hygiene, patients’ behaviour, ward atmosphere, engagement with therapy and adverse incidents were taken both before and after the night confinement (NC) policy was implemented. Both patients and staff also expressed their views of the impact of the NC policy. Findings – Results provide converging evidence that the impact of the NC policy on patients is negligible. There were no consistent negative effects of confining patients overnight. Rather, patients and staff were broadly positive about the impact that the practice had on patients. Practical implications – Confining patients to locked bedrooms overnight does not exert any consistent influence, positive or negative, on patients’ sleep hygiene, behaviour or engagement with therapy, and patients expressed a broadly positive view of the practice of NC. Thus, a NC policy may have a contribution to make to the provision an effective high-secure mental health service. Originality/value – The study provides convincing evidence that secure inpatient mental health services that are considering the adoption of a NC policy may do so without fear of a negative impact on patients

Teamwork protocol

This protocol represents an attempt to assist in the instruction of teamwork assessment for first-year students across QUT. We anticipate that teaching staff will view this protocol as a generic resource in teamwork instruction, processes and evaluation. Teamwork has been acknowledged as a problematic practice at QUT while existing predominantly in importance amongst graduate capabilities for all students at this institution. This protocol is not an extensive document on the complexities and dynamics of teamwork processes, but instead presents itself as a set of best practice guidelines and recommendations to assist in team design, development, management, support and assessment. It is recommended that this protocol be progressively implemented across QUT, not only to attain teamwork teaching consistency, but to address and deal with the misconceptions and conflict around the importance of the teamwork experience. The authors acknowledge the extensive input and contributions from a Teamwork Steering Committee selected from academic staff and administrative members across the institution. As well, we welcome feedback and suggestions to both fine tune and make inclusive those strategies that staff believe add to optimal teamwork outcomes

Design and Optimization of a Thermal Capacitor

Team Hot Stuff designed a thermal capacitor for Senior Design I at Utah State University. This thermal capacitor is intended for use in the food service industry as a low-cost alternative to chafers. Chafers are platters which use oil burners to keep food warm. The client for this thermal capacitor is Thermal Management Technologies (TMT), a company specializing in thermal science solutions whose mission is “to provide simple, practical thermal science solutions to a wide range of platforms including: Industry, Defense, and Space”1. The founder and president of TMT, Dr. J. Clair Batty, serves as a mentor for this project. The project is broken down into tasks and split among the team members. Karen Nielson is team lead. As team lead, Karen’s responsibilities include overseeing and helping with all tasks, as well as ensuring that the team remains on task and on schedule. Brian Pincock is in charge of the team schedule and the thermal analysis. Brian is responsible for keeping track of task completions, updating the schedule and building and running various thermal models of the thermal capacitor. Ruby Kostur is the purchasing agent and is in charge of selection and purchasing of materials. Ruby’s responsibilities include researching, selecting, purchasing and budgeting parts and materials for the thermal capacitor. Jordan Cox is in charge of the design drawings and structural analysis. Jordan is responsible for constructing virtual models of the various parts of the thermal capacitor and analyzing the potential structural problems. The team developed a list of requirements with the customer. These requirements are listed in Section 3 Statement of Problem. The team decided on the following design parameters: Phase change material: Beeswax Heat spreader: Aluminum honeycomb Container material: Aluminum 6061 Insulation: Western Red Cedar Bonding: Epoxy Seal: O-ring Fasteners: Stainless steel screws To select these parameters the team performed thermal, structural, and materials analysis. Brian Pincock oversaw thermal analysis. He consulted with professional engineers at TMT and professors at USU to decide on a correct modeling method.Using Star CCM to model the physics, Brian proved the final design would meet requirements. Jordan Cox performed structural analysis using FEMAP. His models confirmed that the final bolt pattern and O-ring seal would be safe and functional. Ruby Kostur used these results to select materials which maintained the budgetary constraints

Fear and Loathing in Britain: A Framing Analysis of News Coverage during the Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreaks in the United States

Communicating science is a complex task filled with challenges for scientists and communicators. In the field of agricultural communications, some of the most complex and controversial topics covered in today’s media are related to contagious animal diseases. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of frames in two daily newspapers, The New York Times in the U.S., and The Guardian in the U.K., during both the 2001 and 2007 outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Britain. The analysis showed that the primary frame used in articles published during the outbreaks was fear, followed closely by a connection of FMD to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) and the potential for human infection. Secondary frames included criticism of government and politics, and a military/war frame. This research shows that the use of frames in media has the potential to create unnecessary fear among consumers who already possess low levels of knowledge regarding agricultural production practices. Future research in this area should include an evaluation of headlines corresponding to newspaper articles, as well as a study of the sources of information and quotations used in such stories. Through the use of such framing analyses, agricultural communications scholars can begin to take a concrete step in exploring the ways in which the public interprets, creates meaning and values information related to agriculture

Sink Or Swim: The Development Of International Executives

The increasing globalization of business has placed demands on executives to become more effective in understanding, appreciating, and dealing with differences in business practices, customs, and cultures around the world.  This four-day seminar assists executives in this internationalization.  It trains the participants in country investigation and research, has the executives design web pages for internationalization for a hypothetical company, Great Otter Lodge and Water Park, and requires participants to develop and deliver a training module for what they would need to know as they “get off the plane” in an overseas location.