Undocumented: The Stress of Status

From 2010 to 2012 researchers from Fairfield University, Loyola University Chicago, and Santa Clara University talked to students who were undocumented and attending Jesuit colleges. The project culminated in a book, Undocumented and in College: Students and Institutions in a Climate of National Hostility (Fordham University Press, 2017)

Earthquake source parameters and fault kinematics in the Eastern California Shear Zone

Based on waveform data from a profile of aftershocks following the north-south trace of the June 28, 1992 Landers rupture across the Mojave desert, we construct a new velocity model for the Mojave region which features a thin, slow crust. Using this model, we obtain source parameters, including depth and duration, for each of the aftershocks in the profile, and in addition, any significant (M>3.7) Joshua Tree--Landers aftershock between April, 1992 and October, 1994 for which coherent TERRAscope data were available. In all, we determine source parameters and stress-drops for 45 significant (M_w > 4) earthquakes associated with the Joshua Tree and Landers sequences, using a waveform grid-search algorithm. Stress drops for these earthquakes appear to vary systematically with location, with respect to previous seismic activity, proximity to previous rupture (i.e., with respect to the Landers rupture), and with tectonic province. In general, for areas north of the Pinto Mountain fault, stress-drops of aftershocks located off the faults involved with the Landers rupture are higher than those located on the fault, with the exception of aftershocks on the newly recognized Kickapoo (Landers) fault. Stress drops are moderate south of the Pinto Mountain fault, where there is a history of seismic swarms but no single through-going fault. In contrast to aftershocks in the eastern Transverse ranges, and related to the 1992 Big Bear, California, sequence, Landers events show no clear relationship between stress-drop and depth. Instead, higher stress-drop aftershocks appear to correlate with activity on nascent faults, or those which experienced relatively small slip during mainshock rupture.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, to appear in Bull. Seism. Soc. A

Big data: the potential role of research data management and research data registries

Universities generate and hold increasingly vast quantities of research data – both in the form of large, well-structured datasets but more often in the form of a long tail of small, distributed datasets which collectively amount to ‘Big Data’ and offer significant potential for reuse. However, unlike big data, these collections of small data are often less well curated and are usually very difficult to find thereby reducing their potential reuse value. The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) works to support UK universities to better manage and expose their research data so that its full value may be realised. With a focus on tapping into this long tail of small data, this presentation will cover two main DCC, services: DMPonline which helps researchers to identify potentially valuable research data and to plan for its longer-term retention and reuse; and the UK pilot research data registry and discovery service (RDRDS) which will help to ensure that research data produced in UK HEIs can be found, understood, and reused. Initially we will introduce participants to the role of data management planning to open up dialogue between researchers and library services to ensure potentially valuable research data are managed appropriately and made available for reuse where feasible. DMPs provide institutions with valuable insights into the scale of their data holdings, highlight any ethical and legal requirements that need to be met, and enable planning for dissemination and reuse. We will also introduce the DCC’s DMPonline, a tool to help researchers write DMPs, which can be customised by institutions and integrated with other systems to simplify and enhance the management and reuse of data. In the second part of the presentation we will focus on making selected research data more visible for reuse and explore the potential value of local and national research data registries. In particular we will highlight the Jisc-funded RDRDS pilot to establish a UK national service that aggregates metadata relating to data collections held in research institutions and subject data centres. The session will conclude by exploring some of the opportunities we may collaboratively explore in facilitating the management, aggregation and reuse of research data

Evolutionary tradeoff and equilibrium in an aquatic predator-prey system

Due to the conventional distinction between ecological (rapid) and evolutionary (slow)timescales, ecological and population models to date have typically ignored the effects of evolution. Yet the potential for rapid evolutionary change has been recently established and may be critical to understanding how populations adapt to changing environments. In this paper we examine the relationship between ecological and evolutionary dynamics, focusing on a well-studied experimental aquatic predator-prey system (Fussmann et al. 2000; Shertzer et al. 2002; Yoshida et al. 2003). Major properties of predator-prey cycles in this system are determined by ongoing evolutionary dynamics in the prey population. Under some conditions, however, the populations tend to apparently stable steady-state densities. These are the subject of the present paper. We examine a previously developed model for the system, to determine how evolution shapes properties of the equilibria, in particular the number and identity of coexisting prey genotypes. We then apply these results to explore how evolutionary dynamics can shape the responses of the system to "management": externally imposed alterations in conditions. Specifically, we compare the behavior of the system including evolutionary dynamics, with predictions that would be made if the potential for rapid evolutionary change is negelected. Finally, we posit some simple experiments to verify our prediction that evolution can have significant qualitative effects on observed population-level responses to changing conditions.Comment: 30 pages including 8 figures, 2 tables and an Appendix; to appear in Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Revised three Figures, added references and expanded Section

Opportunistic infection as a cause of transient viremia in chronically infected HIV patients under treatment with HAART

When highly active antiretroviral therapy is administered for long periods of time to HIV-1 infected patients, most patients achieve viral loads that are ``undetectable'' by standard assay (i.e., HIV-1 RNA $< 50$ copies/ml). Yet despite exhibiting sustained viral loads below the level of detection, a number of these patients experience unexplained episodes of transient viremia or viral "blips". We propose here that transient activation of the immune system by opportunistic infection may explain these episodes of viremia. Indeed, immune activation by opportunistic infection may spur HIV replication, replenish viral reservoirs and contribute to accelerated disease progression. In order to investigate the effects of concurrent infection on chronically infected HIV patients under treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), we extend a simple dynamic model of the effects of vaccination on HIV infection [Jones and Perelson, JAIDS 31:369-377, 2002] to include growing pathogens. We then propose a more realistic model for immune cell expansion in the presence of pathogen, and include this in a set of competing models that allow low baseline viral loads in the presence of drug treatment. Programmed expansion of immune cells upon exposure to antigen is a feature not previously included in HIV models, and one that is especially important to consider when simulating an immune response to opportunistic infection. Using these models we show that viral blips with realistic duration and amplitude can be generated by concurrent infections in HAART treated patients.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Bulletin of Mathematical Biolog

EFRC Bulletin 77

EFRC's regular newletter covering policy, agricutlural research, policy and advisory wor

Emerging good practice in managing research data and research information within UK Universities

Sound data intensive science depends upon effective research data and information management. Efficient and interoperable research information systems will be crucial for enabling and exploiting data intensive research however it is equally important that a research ecosystem is cultivated within research-intensive institutions that foster sustainable communication, cooperation and support of a diverse range of research-related staff. Researchers, librarians, administrators, ethics advisors, and IT professionals all have a vital contribution to make in ensuring that research data and related information is available, visible, understandable and usable over the mid to long term. This paper will provide a summary of several ongoing initiatives that the Jisc-funded Digital Curation Centre (DCC) are currently involved with in the UK and internationally to help staff within higher education institutions prepare to meet funding body mandates relating to research data management and sharing and to engage fully in the digital agenda