More than symbioses : orchid ecology ; with examples from the Sydney Region

The Orchidaceae are one of the largest and most diverse families of flowering plants. Orchids grow as terrestrial, lithophytic, epiphytic or climbing herbs but most orchids native to the Sydney Region can be placed in one of two categories. The first consists of terrestrial, deciduous plants that live in fire-prone environments, die back seasonally to dormant underground root tubers, possess exclusively subterranean roots, which die off as the plants become dormant, and belong to the subfamily Orchidoideae. The second consists of epiphytic or lithophytic, evergreen plants that live in fire-free environments, either lack specialised storage structures or possess succulent stems or leaves that are unprotected from fire, possess aerial roots that grow over the surface of, or free of, the substrate, and which do not die off seasonally, and belong to the subfamily Epidendroideae. Orchid seeds are numerous and tiny, lacking cotyledons and endosperm and containing minimal nutrient reserves. Although the seeds of some species can commence germination on their own, all rely on infection by mycorrhizal fungi, which may be species-specific, to grow beyond the earliest stages of development. Many epidendroid orchids are viable from an early stage without their mycorrhizal fungi but most orchidoid orchids rely, at least to some extent, on their mycorrhizal fungi throughout their lives. Some are completely parasitic on their fungi and have lost the ability to photosynthesize. Some orchids parasitize highly pathogenic mycorrhizal fungi and are thus indirectly parasitic on other plants. Most orchids have specialised relationships with pollinating animals, with many species each pollinated by only one species of insect. Deceptive pollination systems, in which the plants provide no tangible reward to their pollinators, are common in the Orchidaceae. The most common form of deceit is food mimicry, while at least a few taxa mimic insect brood sites. At least six lineages of Australian orchids have independently evolved sexual deception. In this syndrome, a flower mimics the female of the pollinating insect species. Male insects are attracted to the flower and attempt to mate with it, and pollinate it in the process. Little is known of most aspects of the population ecology of orchids native to the Sydney Region, especially their responses to fire. Such knowledge would be very useful in informing decisions in wildlife management

A Comparative Study of the Views of Planning Students and Professionals About Planning Education in Western Australia

This paper reports the finding of a study into the relevance of Planning Education in Western Australia (WA). Phase one involved surveying students Planning at both Curtin and Edith Cowan Universities and WA Planning professionals. Participants were asked to rate the importance of the various \u27streams\u27 of planning education, their passion for planning, and to identify what were the key attributes of an \u27excellent\u27 planner. The survey was followed up with qualitative research involving focus groups of selected students to explore in depth the similarities and differences between the views of students and professionals and the issues raised by the results. The key similarities in views on the planning education streams showed the importance of environmental and sustainability planning, regional planning, strategic planning and infrastructure planning. There was agreement that research methods, planning history and computer aided design were the least important. The key differences concerned the importance of statutory planning and evaluation techniques (professionals saw these as important and students saw them as unimportant). In regard to key attributes of an \u27excellent\u27 planner, there was agreement that communication and negotiations skills, being ethical, being adaptable, being innovative and thinking strategically were key attributes. The passion participants expressed for planning from all groups was high, being over 7 out of 10 for all groups. The results of the focus groups are reported and explored

Integrating the academic experience: An inter-disciplinary approach to the authentic marketing research experience

This paper describes the evolution of an innovative inter–disciplinary approach to teaching and learning in a University Faculty of Business. Further, it reviews the implementation of a series of unique, integrated and authentic assessments involving units based in the marketing, urban planning and business communication disciplines. The project has used the production of Revitalization Plans for the University‘s campuses as the basis for integrating student teaching and learning. It has championed an approach which moves away from the traditional ‗silo‘ methods of academic assessment to integrated, contextualised learning which develops both generic and discipline-specific skills such as client/consultation roles, business communications and knowledge in marketing, urban planning, and management. The paper concludes by reflecting on the issues involved with the introduction of the inter-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning with the University

Enhancing experiential learning in planning education through an online toolkit of resources

This paper reports on the development of an online toolkit of resources to support the use and assessment of experiential learning (EL) across planning programs. Planning graduates face diverse workplace demands with expectations to address the local and regional implications of global trends, integrate technological advances with existing planning processes, as well as interpret and integrate changing legislative and institutional arrangements. Planning education is about educators, practitioners and students coming together. Equipping students for increasing complexity and change requires planning educators to design programs that facilitate the learning of personal and professional skills and both broad and specialised planning knowledge. Planning practitioners, in partnership with educators, make further valuable contributions by providing a range of ‘real world’ learning experiences where students can directly develop new skills, knowledge and qualities. Experiential learning allows students to develop confidence within a safe environment through a series of activities and reflection that link theory to practice. However, developing EL learning outcomes, teaching activities and assessment can be demanding and time consuming for planning educators. In response, the Experiential Learning in Planning Education: Resources and Tools for Good Practice research project developed an online toolkit of case studies and associated resources to assist planning educators and practitioners in their application of EL. These case studies, developed by the partners in the project, explain the rationale of using particular EL activities based on a set of EL principles; how these activities are assessed; and reflections on how they could be improved for future use. The case studies also include numerous ‘how to’ resources, such as checklists and handy hints for organising activities, evaluation tools and examples of students’ work. Furthermore, the toolkit website is an interactive and ‘living’ repository where additional case studies by other EL users can be included to enhance the diversity and richness of the resources available. The toolkit is expected to particularly benefit new planning educators but should also be of interest to planning schools and practitioners around the globe who are endeavouring to facilitate students’ education in a rapidly changing world

Cross-over study of novice intubators performing endotracheal intubation in an upright versus supine position

There are a number of potential physical advantages to performing orotracheal intubation in an upright position. The objective of this study was to measure the success of intubation of a simulated patient in an upright versus supine position by novice intubators after brief training. This was a cross-over design study in which learners (medical students, physician assistant students, and paramedic students) intubated mannequins in both a supine (head of the bed at 0°) and upright (head of bed elevated at 45°) position. The primary outcome of interest was successful intubation of the trachea. Secondary outcomes included log time to intubation, Cormack–Lehane view obtained, Percent of Glottic Opening score, provider assessment of difficulty, and overall provider satisfaction with the position. There were a total of 126 participants: 34 medical students, 84 physician assistant students, and 8 paramedic students. Successful tracheal intubation was achieved in 114 supine attempts (90.5 %) and 123 upright attempts (97.6 %; P = 0.283). Upright positioning was associated with significantly faster log time to intubation, higher likelihood of achieving Grade I Cormack–Lehane view, higher Percent of Glottic Opening score, lower perceived difficulty, and higher provider satisfaction. A subset of 74 participants had no previous intubation training or experience. For these providers, there was a non-significant trend toward improved intubation success with upright positioning vs supine positioning (98.6 % vs. 87.8 %, P = 0.283). For all secondary outcomes in this group, upright positioning significantly outperformed supine positioning

Feasibility of upright patient positioning and intubation success rates at two academic emergency departments

Objectives Endotracheal intubation is most commonly taught and performed in the supine position. Recent literature suggests that elevating the patient's head to a more upright position may decrease peri-intubation complications. However, there is little data on the feasibility of upright intubation in the emergency department. The goal of this study was to measure the success rate of emergency medicine residents performing intubation in supine and non-supine, including upright positions. Methods This was a prospective observational study. Residents performing intubation recorded the angle of the head of the bed. The number of attempts required for successful intubation was recorded by faculty and espiratory therapists. The primary outcome of first past success was calculated with respect to three groups: 0–10° (supine), 11–44° (inclined), and ≥ 45° (upright); first past success was also analyzed in 5 degree angle increments. Results A total of 231 intubations performed by 58 residents were analyzed. First pass success was 65.8% for the supine group, 77.9% for the inclined group, and 85.6% for the upright group (p = 0.024). For every 5 degree increase in angle, there was increased likelihood of first pass success (AOR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.01–1.22, p = 0.043). Conclusions In our study emergency medicine residents had a high rate of success intubating in the upright position. While this does not demonstrate causation, it correlates with recent literature challenging the traditional supine approach to intubation and indicates that further investigation into optimal positioning during emergency department intubations is warranted

2020-05-16/17 DAILY UNM GLOBAL HEALTH COVID-19 BRIEFING

Executive Summary: Only 1 case in NM state prisons. NM case count. NM travel warning. NM web-based recovery reporting system. NM Mask Madness Tournament. Face covering in ABQ. NM graduate medical program funding. ABQ Memorial Day cancellation. NM affordable housing funding. Taos farmers market drive through opening. US correctional facility cases. Social distancing works. Dogs sniffing out COVID-19. Germany\u27s soccer league to restart. Mask effectiveness. Mask comfort w/cardboard cutout. Ammonium cleaning ineffective. CDC contact tracing guidance. Spanish immunity. CDC epidemic intelligence fellowship. Speaking transmits virus. Decontaminating workers. CDC advisory for children. Addressing ER fears. Indoor presymptomatic virus transfer. Virus transmission of currency. Safety advice for reopening. Lessons learned from universities. Dutch safe sex guidelines for singles. Recommendations are given on invasive management of acute coronary syndrome, onco-gynecologic surgery, endoscopy, hemodialysis, on resuming orthopedic surgery, clozapine monitoring, starting ADHD medications, orthodontics, and scaling up virtual services. At-home sample collection kit. Hydroxychloroquine no benefit. Tocilizumab reduces mortality rate. Calcium channel blockers beneficial. COVID-19 opinion/review vs. primary research. Disease severity and biomarkers. Concomitant liver injury. Gastrointestinal and liver involvement. Diabetes mortality. High incidence venous thrombosis. Monitoring global emotions with twitter

Faceting for direction-dependent spectral deconvolution

Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics, © 2018 ESO. Content in the UH Research Archive is made available for personal research, educational, and non-commercial purposes only. Unless otherwise stated, all content is protected by copyright, and in the absence of an open license, permissions for further re-use should be sought from the publisher, the author, or other copyright holder.The new generation of radio interferometers is characterized by high sensitivity, wide fields of view and large fractional bandwidth. To synthesize the deepest images enabled by the high dynamic range of these instruments requires us to take into account the direction-dependent Jones matrices, while estimating the spectral properties of the sky in the imaging and deconvolution algorithms. In this paper we discuss and implement a wideband wide-field spectral deconvolution framework (ddfacet) based on image plane faceting, that takes into account generic direction-dependent effects. Specifically, we present a wide-field co-planar faceting scheme, and discuss the various effects that need to be taken into account to solve for the deconvolution problem (image plane normalization, position-dependent Point Spread Function, etc). We discuss two wideband spectral deconvolution algorithms based on hybrid matching pursuit and sub-space optimisation respectively. A few interesting technical features incorporated in our imager are discussed, including baseline dependent averaging, which has the effect of improving computing efficiency. The version of ddfacet presented here can account for any externally defined Jones matrices and/or beam patterns.Peer reviewe