Information Check: Studying the Information-Seeking Behaviors of Dungeons & Dragons Players

This study explores how, how often, and where players of the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons search for information. Over 2,500 participants were surveyed about what information they sought, what resources they used, and why. While participants’ purposeful information seeking was fairly similar to habits described in other studies of everyday life information seeking, participants had strong opinions about what resources were missing from the realm of existing D&D resources and what was most important to them when selecting a resource for use. Among the most common concerns were ease of access, cost of access (both temporal and monetary), validity of information, consolidation of information, and the feel of the resource.Master of Science in Information Scienc

Looking Local: An Exploration of Texas Residents’ Perceptions of the GO TEXAN Certification Program to Develop Brand Positioning Strategies

State agricultural certification programs allow consumers to knowingly purchase products grown or produced in their state. However, consumers may not be aware of or understand the concept behind these certification programs. This study examined Texas residents’ awareness and perceptions of one state agricultural certification program, GO TEXAN. To position a brand and develop key messages, communicators must be aware of how the audience views the brand, its key qualities and characteristics, and the information channels to distribute the messages. To do so, we distributed a survey instrument embedded in Qualtrics to a panel of Texas residents. We found respondents were generally unaware of the GO TEXAN certification program; however, the results of this study provide evidence of the consumers preferred products and qualities of GO TEXAN’s certified products. We suggest communicators use elements of brand positioning to develop strategic key messages that are relevant to target audiences. Specifically, messages should be developed with key frames highlighting product freshness, flavor, taste, and purchase convenience. Communication efforts should be developed to provide emphasis to these attributes on the product label, at farmers markets, and at places of purchase. Further, we recommend future research should explore how types of key messages impact brand awareness, loyalty, and willingness to purchase

Improving process and enhancing parent and therapist satisfaction through a coordinated intake approach

Recent research indicates that, in Canada, approximately one in five children entering school are not meeting age appropriate milestones in physical, social, language, or cognitive development. Even where support services are available families often face barriers in accessing these. With the goals of improving access to programs, reducing barriers and increasing consistency and efficiency, a new Coordinated Intake Approach (CIA) was developed for families accessing Children’s Rehabilitation Services. It was expected that the CIA would result in 1) parents finding the intake process more satisfactory and easier to complete, 2) therapists feeling more supported and satisfied and 3) a decrease in wait times from the date referrals were received to initial contact with families. Initial data was collected prior to CIA implementation through parent telephone interviews and therapist surveys. This data was then compared with telephone interviews, therapist surveys and chart reviews completed following implementation. Results were consistent with expectations, suggesting that a family centered, CIA contributed to increased parent and therapist satisfaction as well as improved process efficiency. CIA successes and areas for improvement are identified. Possible directions for further process enhancements are also discussed

Hybridization and adaptive evolution of diverse Saccharomyces species for cellulosic biofuel production

Additional file 15. Summary of whole genome sequencing statistics

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (body mass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Mortality rate

Mortality rate induced by parasite populations following experimental evolution. All parasite populations were evaluated against the ancestral host lineage of matching number. “Parasite” indicates the parasite experimental evolution treatment being assaying, and “Line” the replicate lineage. “Replicate” indicates the replicate assay plate. “Mortality_Rate” gives the proportion of hosts found to be dead or morbid following 24 hours of exposure to the parasite population

Data from: The evolution of reduced antagonism – a role for host-parasite coevolution

Why do some host-parasite interactions become less antagonistic over evolutionary time? Vertical transmission can select for reduced antagonism. Vertical transmission also promotes coevolution between hosts and parasites. Therefore, we hypothesized that coevolution itself may underlie transitions to reduced antagonism. To test the coevolution hypothesis, we selected for reduced antagonism between the host Caenorhabditis elegans and its parasite Serratia marcescens. This parasite is horizontally transmitted, which allowed us to study coevolution independently of vertical transmission. After 20 generations, we observed a response to selection when coevolution was possible: reduced antagonism evolved in the co-passaged treatment. Reduced antagonism, however, did not evolve when hosts or parasites were independently selected, without coevolution. In addition, we found strong local adaptation for reduced antagonism between replicate host/parasite lines in the co-passaged treatment. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that coevolution was critical to the rapid evolution of reduced antagonism