Mechanical Removal of Juniper and its Effects on Plant Diversity

The increase in density and distribution of juniper (Juniperus spp.) in sagebrush communities throughout the Western United States, primarily as a result of fire suppression and historic over-grazing, has raised concerns among land managers and ranchers due to the detrimental effects of juniper on livestock forage species, and wildlife habitat. Juniper may dominate sagebrush communities because it may decrease understory plant cover and is more proficient in accessing deep soil waters than common competitors in the area. The main objective of this study was to examine how removal of juniper by mechanical means may affect species richness and abundance of forbs in the immediate surrounding area. We estimated species richness and abundance of forbs in three treatments: live juniper, removed juniper (stump present with masticated juniper materials), and non-juniper (no live juniper tree or stump present). Removed juniper sites had 62% more species than live sites (

RESOLVING COOKING INSTRUCTIONS FROM FOOD PACKAGING

The invention discloses a smart appliance cooking system. The smart appliance cooking system can be used to retrieve cooking instructions from a packaged food item and then cause a smart appliance to cook the food item according to the cooking instructions. The smart appliance cooking system detects that a food item has been placed into a cooking appliance. The system resolves cooking instructions for the food item from the packaging of the food item. Subsequently, the system causes the cooking appliance to cook the food item according to the resolved cooking instructions

Emergency Medical Services to Emergency Department Patient Handover: A Delphi Study of Interprofessional Content Expectations

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) patient handover impacts subsequent Emergency Department (ED) care. This study sought to determine the core and provider specific handover elements necessary for EMS to ED patient handover. In addition, the study examined the significance of patient acuity on handover content expectations. Prior to this research, there was no evidence-based guidance regarding information necessary for continuation of prehospital care. A 2 round modified Delphi method was used to collect interprofessional expert opinion. The panel of emergency medicine experts (emergency medicine physicians, emergency registered nurses, and paramedics) participated in 2 surveys where they determined the importance of given elements to 5 different acuity level patient scenarios. The findings show profession did not affect content expectation group means (Round I p=0.91, Round II p=0.44). Therefore the possibility exists for a prehospital handover element checklist to meet the needs of all emergency care providers involved in prehospital transfer of care. Ultimately 3 EMS handover content lists were generated: universal, interprofessional, and acuity. The universal list has 20 elements, interprofessional consensus has 17 elements, and the acuity list has 16. These results highlight the difference between interprofessional handover expectations and National EMS Education Standards

Phenotypic Variations of Erigeron strigosus Muhl. (Compositae) in Eastern Texas

In Texas, Erigeron strigosus Muhl. shows great variation, having: (1) spring forms which frequently resemble E. tenuis T.&G. and which have strigose, usually scanty pubescence; (2) taller summer forms with dense, predominantly spreading pubescence; and (3) autumn forms of tall plants having conspicuous basal rosettes

Edward Snowden and the Privacy vs. National Security Debate

The shockwaves emanating from Edward Snowden’s actions as a whistleblower beg the research question, how do whistleblowers, specifically Edward Snowden, influence media coverage (or lack thereof) regarding the national security vs. privacy debate? There are large swaths of literature surrounding Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers, surveillance as an exercise of power, and mass media theories. News articles from May 2013 to April 2014 were coded for frames and the sources. Agenda setting analysis, journalistic norms, and policy changes were also crucial to determining Snowden’s long term impact. The results showed an initial interest by the media, followed by a drop in coverage. The indexing study showed a reliance on elite political voices, even when the information was damaging to elite political sources’ credibility, and frames illustrated a balanced use of selection and salience in news coverage

The Dialogics of Southern Quechua Narrative

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65196/1/aa.1998.100.2.326.pd

Tonic and Phasic Alertness Training: A Novel Behavioral Therapy to Improve Spatial and Non-Spatial Attention in Patients with Hemispatial Neglect

Hemispatial neglect is a debilitating disorder marked by a constellation of spatial and non-spatial attention deficits. Patients’ alertness deficits have shown to interact with lateralized attention processes and correspondingly, improving tonic/general alertness as well as phasic/moment-to-moment alertness has shown to ameliorate spatial bias. However, improvements are often short-lived and inconsistent across tasks and patients. In an attempt to more effectively activate alertness mechanisms by exercising both tonic and phasic alertness, we employed a novel version of a continuous performance task (tonic and phasic alertness training, TAPAT). Using a between-subjects longitudinal design and employing sensitive outcome measures of spatial and non-spatial attention, we compared the effects of 9 days of TAPAT (36 min/day) in a group of patients with chronic neglect (N = 12) with a control group of chronic neglect patients (N = 12) who simply waited during the same training period. Compared to the control group, the group trained on TAPAT significantly improved on both spatial and non-spatial measures of attention with many patients failing to exhibit a lateralized attention bias at the end of training. TAPAT was effective for patients with a range of behavioral profiles and lesions, suggesting that its effectiveness may rely on distributed or lower-level attention mechanisms that are largely intact in patients with neglect. In a follow-up experiment, to determine if TAPAT is more effective in improving spatial attention than an active treatment that directly trains spatial attention, we trained three chronic neglect patients on both TAPAT and search training. In all three patients, TAPAT training was more effective in improving spatial attention than search training suggesting that, in chronic neglect, training alertness is a more effective treatment approach than directly training spatial attention