University of North Florida Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Projections 2009

This report describes the 2009 greenhouse gas emissions inventory of the University of North Florida. Such inventories are becoming more important as society approaches restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions due to their effects on global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions inventories have been conducted on hundreds of campuses in the United States, as well as thousands of other organizations worldwide, including U.S. private corporations. An inventory like this generally forms the initial baseline for a campus climate action plan. Climate action plans have also been created by hundreds of universities and other entities. Following the release of this report, a UNF Climate Action Plan will be created by the UNF Sustainability Committee, whose members are listed in Appendix 1, with essential input from the campus community.https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/sustainability/1006/thumbnail.jp

Monitoring Congestive Heart Failure Across the Healthcare Continuum

Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition where the heart no longer pumps adequate blood and oxygen to bodily organs. CHF is a chronic condition that affects millions of people on a yearly basis. Common diseases that cause CHF are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. CHF patients face many compilations that affect their daily activities. Along with morbidity CHF has major financial implications because much of the cost associated with CHF healthcare is avoidable. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of monitoring congestive heart failure across the healthcare continuum with application to the Corbin and Strauss trajectory model of chronic illness. The research hypothesis is that monitoring CHF across the healthcare continuum effects CHF readmission rates. This study was conducted at a large medical university hospital. The sample size includes a random selection of 100 consecutive CHF admission occurrences. Retrospective data was reviewed using a chart audit tool. Data included in the review were admission dates, discharge dates, readmission dates if applicable, disposition and, financial class. Data analysis for the study was done by using a chi-squared test. The dependent variables in the study were readmission in 30 days or less compared to no readmission in 30 days or less. The null hypothesis for the chi-squared test is there is no relationship between readmissions and care across the continuum. The study failed to reject H 0 at 5% of level of significance

Repeatability of locomotor performance and morphology-locomotor performance relationships

There is good evidence that natural selection drives the evolution of locomotor performance, but the processes that generate the among-individual variation for selection to act on are relatively poorly understood. We measured prolonged swimming performance, U-crit, and morphology in a large cohort (n=461) of wild-type zebrafish (Danio rerio) at similar to 6 months and again at similar to 9 months. Using mixed-model analyses to estimate repeatability as the intraclass correlation coefficient, we determined that U-crit was significantly repeatable (r=0.55; 95% CI: 0.45-0.64). Performance differences between the sexes (males 12% faster than females) and changes with age (decreasing 0.07% per day) both contributed to variation in U-crit and, therefore, the repeatability estimate. Accounting for mean differences between sexes within the model decreased the estimate of U-crit repeatability to 21% below the naive estimate, while fitting age in the models increased the estimate to 14% above the naive estimate. Greater consideration of factors such as age and sex is therefore necessary for the interpretation of performance repeatability in wild populations. Body shape significantly predicted U-crit in both sexes in both assays, with the morphology-performance relationship significantly repeatable at the population level. However, morphology was more strongly predicative of performance in older fish, suggesting a change in the contribution of morphology relative to other factors such as physiology and behaviour. The morphology-performance relationship changed with age to a greater extent in males than females

Cigarillo and Little Cigar (CLC) Portrayals on Instagram

Among US public health concerns, smoking remains a significant target for intervention. However, teen and young adult users appear to be adopting different preferences and patterns of smoking than prior generations. Little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) use is rapidly expanding among this age group. Depictions of LCC product use are highly prevalent on social media, a preferred and ubiquitous channel of communication among young people. The purpose of the study is to identify and examine primary themes and message attributes of posted LCC behaviors and messages on social media – and specifically on Instagram. A quantitative content analysis was conducted to describe the profiles of Instagram users posting LCC – related images and the content of the posted images. The coded sample included more than 2000 images which were randomly selected to represent each of the four brands. Undergraduate coders were included in the creation of the coding scheme. The results identified the majority of Instagram users who posted LCC –related pictures as being young, white, males. The posted images feature LCC packages, partially smoked cigarillos, and blunts which are often posed for the photograph. The findings of this study will assist us in future prevention message creation.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2014/1025/thumbnail.jp

Parent-educators’ explorations of learning and role tensions during and ‘after’ Covid-19

This paper investigates the insights that we, as parent-educators gained from our children’s learning experiences throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and how this impacted our approaches to learning and teaching. All authors are teacher education academics working at a regional Australian university. The rapid and extensive changes in our personal and professional circumstances provided an opportunity for us to critically examine the ways in which we promoted learning for our children and our students. Our reflections on these investigations form the basis of this article. To explore these issues we drew on a method involving narrative inquiry and the Indigenous concept of yarning that we call collaborative narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Antonovsky’s salutogenic approach. Key findings of the research demonstrated tensions between the roles of parent and educator with a growing focus on the former and an increasing emphasis on health and well-being. These issues impacted the ways in which parent-educators facilitated learning for all students. © 2023, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved

The Influence of Using Novel Predictive Technologies on Judgments of Stigma, Empathy, and Compassion among Healthcare Professionals

Background: Our objective was to evaluate whether the description of a machine learning (ML) app or brain imaging technology to predict the onset of schizophrenia or alcohol use disorder (AUD) influences healthcare professionals’ judgments of stigma, empathy, and compassion. Methods: We randomized healthcare professionals (N = 310) to one vignette about a person whose clinician seeks to predict schizophrenia or an AUD, using a ML app, brain imaging, or a psychosocial assessment. Participants used scales to measure their judgments of stigma, empathy, and compassion. Results: Participants randomized to the ML vignette endorsed less anger and more fear relative to the psychosocial vignette, and the brain imaging vignette elicited higher pity ratings. The brain imaging and ML vignettes evoked lower personal responsibility judgments compared to the psychosocial vignette. Physicians and nurses reported less empathy than clinical psychologists. Conclusions: The use of predictive technologies may reinforce essentialist views about mental health and substance use that may increase specific aspects of stigma and reduce others

Arsenal of plant cell wall degrading enzymes reflects host preference among plant pathogenic fungi

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The discovery and development of novel plant cell wall degrading enzymes is a key step towards more efficient depolymerization of polysaccharides to fermentable sugars for the production of liquid transportation biofuels and other bioproducts. The industrial fungus <it>Trichoderma reesei </it>is known to be highly cellulolytic and is a major industrial microbial source for commercial cellulases, xylanases and other cell wall degrading enzymes. However, enzyme-prospecting research continues to identify opportunities to enhance the activity of <it>T. reesei </it>enzyme preparations by supplementing with enzymatic diversity from other microbes. The goal of this study was to evaluate the enzymatic potential of a broad range of plant pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi for their ability to degrade plant biomass and isolated polysaccharides.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Large-scale screening identified a range of hydrolytic activities among 348 unique isolates representing 156 species of plant pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify groups of species with similar hydrolytic profiles. Among moderately and highly active species, plant pathogenic species were found to be more active than non-pathogens on six of eight substrates tested, with no significant difference seen on the other two substrates. Among the pathogenic fungi, greater hydrolysis was seen when they were tested on biomass and hemicellulose derived from their host plants (commelinoid monocot or dicot). Although <it>T. reesei </it>has a hydrolytic profile that is highly active on cellulose and pretreated biomass, it was less active than some natural isolates of fungi when tested on xylans and untreated biomass.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Several highly active isolates of plant pathogenic fungi were identified, particularly when tested on xylans and untreated biomass. There were statistically significant preferences for biomass type reflecting the monocot or dicot host preference of the pathogen tested. These highly active fungi are promising targets for identification and characterization of novel cell wall degrading enzymes for industrial applications.</p

Reverse immunodynamics : a new method for identifying targets of protective immunity

Despite a dramatic increase in our ability to catalogue variation among pathogen genomes, we have made far fewer advances in using this information to identify targets of protective immunity. Epidemiological models predict that strong immune selection can cause antigenic variants to structure into genetically discordant sets of antigenic types (e.g. serotypes). A corollary of this theory is that targets of immunity may be identified by searching for non-overlapping associations of amino acids among co-circulating antigenic variants. We propose a novel population genetics methodology that combines such predictions with phylogenetic analyses to identify genetic loci (epitopes) under strong immune selection. We apply this concept to the AMA-1 protein of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and find evidence of epitopes among certain regions of low variability which could render them ideal vaccine candidates. The proposed method can be applied to a myriad of multi-strain pathogens for which vast amounts of genetic data has been collected in recent years

Lightning Imaging Sensor on the International Space Station: Assessments and Results from First Year Operations

Over two decades, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and their partners have demonstrated the effectiveness and value of space-based lightning observations as a remote sensing tool for Earth science research and applications, and, in the process, established a robust global lightning climatology. The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) provided global observations of tropical lightning for an impressive 17 years before that mission came to a close in April 2015. Now a space-qualified LIS, built as the flight spare for TRMM, has been installed on the International Space Station (ISS) for a minimum two year mission following its SpaceX launch on February 19, 2017. The LIS, flown as a hosted payload on the Department of Defense Space Test Program-Houston 5 (STP-H5) mission, was delivered to the ISS in the Dragon trunk and robotically installed in an Earth-viewing position on the outside of the ISS. Following successful activation and checkout, LIS has continuously observed the amount, rate, and radiant energy lightning within its field-of-view as it orbits the Earth. Placing LIS on the Space Station provides a great opportunity to not only extend the 17-year TRMM LIS record of tropical lightning measurements but also to expand that coverage to higher latitudes missed by the previous mission. Furthermore, this mission continues the important science focus to better understand the processes which cause lightning, as well as the connections between lightning and subsequent severe weather events. This understanding is a key to improving weather predictions and saving lives and property here in the United States and around the world. The LIS measurements, along with observations from the new Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) operating on NOAA's newest weather satellites, the Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellite-16/17 (GOES-16/17), are being used to cross-validate both systems. An especially unique contribution from the ISS platform is the production of real-time lightning data, especially valuable for operational forecasting and warning applications over data sparse regions such as the oceans. Finally, LIS provides simultaneous and complementary observations with other ISS payloads such as the European Space Agency's Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) that is exploring the connection between thunderstorms and lightning with terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). Leveraging TRMM's well-established processing and data handling assures that LIS data can be quickly delivered to users

Early phase clinical trials extension to the guidelines for the content of statistical analysis plans

This paper reports guidelines for the content of statistical analysis plans for early phase clinical trials, ensuring specification of the minimum reporting analysis requirements, by detailing extensions (11 new items) and modifications (25 items) to existing guidance after a review by various stakeholders