MICROBIOME RECOVERY OF THE UPPER CLARK FORK RIVER RESTORATION SITE

Soil microorganisms provide ecosystem functions and services critical for life, can have lasting effects on aboveground plant communities, and can serve as indicators of soil quality. However, biotic indicators are underrepresented in soil health assessments. Incorporating microbial soil evaluations in ecological restoration studies are important in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding about their role in healthy soil development. In this study, we used three bioindicators to assess the post-restoration soil microbiome recovery of the Upper Clark Fork River: extracellular soil enzyme activity, microbial biomass, and microbiome community and diversity. We found that microbiome recovery rate varied at different phases of the restoration site, with one section still exhibiting low microbial biomass and enzyme activity after eight years of recovery. Prokaryotic community compositions of the different sites were compared. Prokaryotic communities from the study site separated into two groups based on Bray-Curtis measurements. These groups were unique compared to communities from the control site. We further tried to assess soil function through a soil inoculation experiment. Sandbar willow cuttings were grown in sterile soil inoculated with live or sterilized samples from different phases of the restoration site. Inoculation treatment (live or sterilized) and collection site did not influence willow growth, however, willow cutting mass had a significant effect. Extracellular soil enzyme activity was higher in soils inoculated with live inoculant than those inoculated with sterile inoculant. Inoculation with live soil from all collection sites increased enzyme activity over soil inoculated with unsterilized backfill soil. Inclusion of biotic indicators in soil health assessments may elucidate environmental factors and management actions that contribute to variance in microbiome recovery rates observed, leading to more effective restoration practices, and increasing the likelihood of self-sustaining, resilient ecosystems

Minimodal: Dimensional Domain of Miniature Shipping Containers for Intermodal Freight Transportation

This study explores the feasibility of miniature shipping container usage within existing intermodal transportation (IT) supply chains. Smaller intermodal container shipments may help realign freight shipments with the most efficient transportation mode, rail. These containers embolden the dimensional domain (DD) of shipping. The shipping container dimensional domain (container size variation and modal fluidity) is widespread and results in shipments that are often larger or more infrequent than needed. The DD impacts transport mode, shipping frequency, shipment velocity, intermodal supply chain accessibility, and regional shipping networks. This study suggests that container size impacts the DD and, therefore, mode choice. As miniature shipping containers may be used to delineate between large and one-off specialized shipments, inventories are leaned out and warehousing functions shift towards the supply chain. Several organizations may be affected such as ports, railroads, over-the-road and less-than-truckload trucking companies, shippers, buyers, and trans-loading facilities. Therefore, this paper will explore Minimodal’s (MM) integrational feasibility with an evaluation of rail efficiency over trucking efficiency, standard operating procedures, and the emboldening of the dimensional domain. Additionally, future research efforts may further examine the dimensional domain of shipping and to what extent container size impacts mode choice

A Guide to Protecting Newsrooms and Journalists Against Online Violence

Online violence poses a constant threat to journalists, resulting in serious implications for press freedom, including self-censorship. This abuse disproportionately affects women and diverse journalists who are often reluctant to speak out for fear of jeopardizing their careers.The IWMF is dedicated to promoting a culture of change in newsrooms when it comes to tackling online violence. This guide details policies and best practices newsrooms can implement to better protect staff members who are targeted simply for doing their jobs.The guide also includes case studies from six months of work with a wide range of newsrooms – from small specialized outlets covering health in South Africa to established independent newsrooms in the United States

Nursery rhyme - an assessment of primary technology capability across key stage 2

Assessment procedures in the traditional areas of of reading, writing and arithmetic are well known. This paper describes an assessment in technology and then quantifies the results obtained from over 200 pupils in key stage 2. The responses of the pupils' have been analysed by age and by gender. The activity was chosen as a typical primary technology activity in order to assess capability. It was presented as a series of focussed tasks, recorded by the children on a Design Sheet. Opportunity was provided for the children to exhibit their ability to reflect, critically appraise and to action their design intentions in a familiar classroom situation.There were few gender differences in capability. Age was a factor, with the younger children generally scoring less. The best scores were not in the oldest group and will be further investigated

The origin and anisotropy of high energy cosmic rays

The evidence for the anisotropy of cosmic rays from 10(^11)eV to 10(^20)eV is considered in detail from both a Galactic and extragalactic viewpoint and placed in astrophysical context. The importance of recent measurements of the local interstellar wind (consistent with a direction from (ɑ,δ) = (252º, -16º) and velocity 21 - 23 kms(^-1)) is noted. Cosmic ray streaming along the lines of the local Galactic magnetic field appears to account for the constant observed anisotropy of 0.05% at (1 - 2)hrs R.A. below l0(^14)eV. However, the distribution of cosmic rays does not appear to conform to the expectations of axial symmetry. Observational and statistical aspects of anisotropy are considered with particular reference to harmonic analysis. The results are used for analysis of the collection of data by Linsley and Watson which are shown to be inconclusive for anisotropy measurements in the range 10(^14)eV to 10(^20)eV. The power of using only phase or only amplitude information from collections of measurements is noted. Anisotropy measurements from 10(^17)eV to 10(^20)eV are considered and seen to favour a mixed origin model in which particles above ~ 10(^17)eV are of extragalactic origin. The cosmic ray spectrum above 10(^18)eV can then be interpreted purely in terms of an effect of extragalactic particles. Three models to account for the upturn in the cosmic ray spectrum at high energies are considered. A simple model in which neutrons escape from clusters of galaxies before decaying into protons is found to account for the observed spectrum if a source spectrum of the form j (E) (_x)E(^-2.25) is adopted. A model based on diffusion of particles from the Virgo Supercluster is seen to give a satisfactory fit to the dataif a diffusion coefficient of D(E) = 5 x 10(^33) E(^1/2)(_19) cm(^2)s(^-1) is taken. The model also accounts for the observed amplitude of the anisotropy above 10(^17)eV. A model assuming production of high energy particles in radio galaxies is shown to be less satisfactory than the neutron or diffusion models

Terrorist Attacks on Non-Governmental Organizations

Citation: Stapley, C. S. (2014). Terrorist Attacks on Non-Governmental Organizations. Open Journal of Political Science, 04, 265. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2014.44029Understanding the process by which terrorist groups decide on whom to target would seem to be a process that might lend itself to study and generalization that would be helpful in predicting later attacks. This study hopes to look at the attacks on non-governmental organizations and determine if there is a systematic set of measures that would allow us to determine if terrorist groups do rationally approach target selection in such a way to derive a pattern that would inform future attack avoidance

Minimodal: Dimensional Domain of Miniature Shipping Containers for Intermodal Freight Transportation

This study explores the feasibility of miniature shipping container usage within existing intermodal transportation (IT) supply chains. Smaller intermodal container shipments may help realign freight shipments with the most efficient transportation mode, rail. These containers embolden the dimensional domain (DD) of shipping. The shipping container dimensional domain (container size variation and modal fluidity) is widespread and results in shipments that are often larger or more infrequent than needed. The DD impacts: transport mode, shipping frequency, shipment velocity, intermodal supply chain accessibility, and regional shipping networks. This study suggests that container size impacts the DD and, therefore, mode choice. As miniature shipping containers may be used to delineate between large and one-off specialized shipments, inventories are leaned out and warehousing functions shift towards the supply chain. Several organizations may be affected such as ports, railroads, over-the-road and less-than-truckload trucking companies, shippers, buyers, and trans-loading facilities. Therefore, this paper will explore Minimodal’s (MM) integrational feasibility with an evaluation of rail efficiency over trucking efficiency, standard operating procedures, and the emboldening of the dimensional domain. Additionally, future research efforts may further examine the dimensional domain of shipping, and to what extent container size impacts mode choice. Keywords: Intermodal, intermodal transportation, miniature shipping container(s), Minimodal, dimensional domain of shipping, twenty-foot equivalent (TEU), velocity, container size optimization, trans-load(ing), feasibility, OTR and LTL trucking, lumpy shipments, transportation sharing

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationPeptides are a powerful class of therapeutics with high potency, high specificity, low immunogenicity, and effective methods of discovery. However, peptides often possess limitations including degradation by proteases, rapid clearance by renal filtration, and difficulty passing through membranes. The Kay lab at the University of Utah has applied the benefits of peptide design to tackling the problem of HIV-1 transmission. In this dissertation I describe the discovery of our lead peptide candidate, PIE12, including its optimization by mirror-image phage display, its potency enhancement by defined geometric linkages and lipid conjugation, its engineered ability to prevent HIV-1 resistance, and finally the optimization of its pharmacokinetic properties. These efforts have overcome the common limitations of peptide therapeutics and produced an ideal preclinical candidate for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The first chapter examines the scope of the HIV pandemic, describes HIV-1's susceptible target for which we developed PIE12, and includes a brief examination of the current state of the peptide therapeutic field. The second chapter reviews methods of peptide discovery that enable protease resistance, including a discussion of well-validated techniques like mirror-image phage display followed by a review of several emerging technologies. The third chapter reveals how the aforementioned techniques were utilized in the discovery of PIE12, including early efforts to link PIE12 peptides together in order to improve potency. The fourth chapter completes this story, illuminating our efforts to optimize the linkages between PIE12 peptides in order to increase potency, and includes information on potency-enhancing membrane-tethering moieties. The fifth chapter describes our efforts to make potent PIE12-conjugates suitable for subcutaneous delivery, including new conjugate designs and detailed evaluation of their half-life-improving properties. The final chapter discusses future directions and new opportunities revealed to us by the body of this work. i

A comparison of SNPs and microsatellites as linkage mapping markers: lessons from the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Background: Genetic linkage maps are essential tools when searching for quantitative trait loci (QTL). To maximize genome coverage and provide an evenly spaced marker distribution a combination of different types of genetic marker are sometimes used. In this study we created linkage maps of four zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) chromosomes (1, 1A, 2 and 9) using two types of marker, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellites. To assess the effectiveness and accuracy of each kind of marker we compared maps built with each marker type separately and with both types of marker combined. Linkage map marker order was validated by making comparisons to the assembled zebra finch genome sequence. Results: We showed that marker order was less reliable and linkage map lengths were inflated for microsatellite maps relative to SNP maps, apparently due to differing error rates between the two types of marker. Guidelines on how to minimise the effects of error are provided. In particular, we show that when combining both types of marker the conventional process of building linkage maps, whereby the most informative markers are added to the map first, has to be modified in order to improve map accuracy. Conclusions: When using multiple types and large numbers of markers to create dense linkage maps, the least error prone loci (SNPs) rather than the most informative should be used to create framework maps before the addition of other potentially more error prone markers (microsatellites). This raises questions about the accuracy of marker order and predicted recombination rates in previous microsatellite linkage maps which were created using the conventional building process, however, provided suitable error detection strategies are followed microsatellite-based maps can continue to be regarded as reasonably reliable

A case study of the National Union of Teachers as a pressure group: the Oxfordshire dispute

This thesis is a case study of an attempt by a specific pressure group, the National Union of Teachers, to influence the policy-making process of a local education authority, Oxfordshire County Council, at a time when the local authority had embarked upon a course of expenditure reductions in its education budget. The study seeks to identify, and assess the significance of, national developments during the mid-1970s which had a bearing on the course of this particular dispute. Three significant factors are identified: the impact upon local education authorities of the reform of local government in England and Wales in the early 197Os; the changing relationship between teacher unions, the Department of Education and Science and local authorities during the 1960s and '70s; and the impact- of the nation's economic difficulties upon the funding of the education service. It is argued that the Oxfordshire dispute of 1976-77 illustrates a turning point in relations between local education authorities and teacher unions as they were each required to adjust to the new realities which confronted them. The major theoretical approaches to the policy-making process are identified as systems theory, pluralism, Marxism and neo-liberalism and the particular contribution of each of these to tins study of policy making is discussed. The events of the dispute are analysed using the models provided these theories each of which provides a different explanation of the underlying factors which determined the policy-making framework within which the dispute occurred. The study points to pluralism as the theory which most closely accords with the practical realities of policy-making as viewed by those involved in the process