An Sveir Model for Assessing Potential Impact of an Imperfect Anti-SARS Vaccine

The control of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a fatal contagious viral disease that spread to over 32 countries in 2003, was based on quarantine of latently infected individuals and isolation of individuals with clinical symptoms of SARS. Owing to the recent ongoing clinical trials of some candidate anti-SARS vaccines, this study aims to assess, via mathematical modelling, the potential impact of a SARS vaccine, assumed to be imperfect, in curtailing future outbreaks. A relatively simple deterministic model is designed for this purpose. It is shown, using Lyapunov function theory and the theory of compound matrices, that the dynamics of the model are determined by a certain threshold quantity known as the control reproduction number (Rv). If Rv ≤ 1, the disease will be eliminated from the community; whereas an epidemic occurs if Rv \u3e 1. This study further shows that an imperfect SARS vaccine with infection-blocking efficacy is always beneficial in reducing disease spread within the community, although its overall impact increases with increasing efficacy and coverage. In particular, it is shown that the fraction of individuals vaccinated at steady-state and vaccine efficacy play equal roles in reducing disease burden, and the vaccine must have efficacy of at least 75% to lead to effective control of SARS (assuming R0 = 4). Numerical simulations are used to explore the severity of outbreaks when Rv \u3e 1

2016 AQ Summit: Innovation Update by Laurie Connell

A general summary of methods and technologies that can be employed to combat pathogenic microbes that adversely affect aquaculture yields in Maine

Collaborative CNIC: US-Argentina planning visits for fungal biodiversity investigation

This collaborative project aims to catalyze a research collaboration between US and Argentinian researchers. The project will be led by Drs. Russell Rodriguez at Symbiogenics and Regina Redman of the University of Washington, both in Seattle, Washington, and Dr. Laurie Connell at the University of Maine, Orono, for the US side. On the Argentinean side, Drs. Diego Libkind, Martin Molino and Virginia de Garcia of INIBIOMA (Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente, an Argentinean National Scientific and Technical Research Council Institute) and the University of Comahue, are the counterparts for the project. The Argentinian researchers bring to the collaboration expertise in fungal taxonomy and biodiversity, particularly of cold and extreme environments. The US researchers bring expertise in fungal and plant adaptation to stresses, particularly in diverse habitats of Antarctica. Overall, this collaboration aims to understand how function impacts bacterial community structures, an important challenge in predicting ecosystems responses to climate change. For this project the researchers will study fungal communities by investigating their diversity, physiology, and ecology in extreme habitats such as glacial water run-off in Patagonia. The results of these initial studies will lay the groundwork for further large-scale projects. The collaboration will provide training opportunities for students at different levels and has significant potential to increase our understanding of global nutrient cycling, inter-organismal relationships, and life in extreme environments

Planning Visit: U.S.- Irish R&D Partnership

This project provides support for a planning visit to Queen\u27s University in Belfast, UK and Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland. The US principal investigator is Laurie Connell from the University of Maine. The foreign collaborators are Chris Elliott in Belfast and Richard O\u27Kennedy in Dublin. The primary purpose of this planning visit is to develop a full proposal that will be submitted to NSF\u27s Biotechnology, Biochemical, and Biomass Engineering Program (BBBE). The proposal will address BBBE\u27s research priority area of food safety through implementation of nano-biotechnology and biosensor development. The research goal is to develop new technologies to deliver rapid and portable analysis. Over the past several years, there has been substantial progress in a number of areas of sensor technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The combination of these approaches could lead to the development of portable technologies capable of producing rapid and reliable analyses for food contaminants of major concern. The researchers involved in this effort have considerable expertise in the areas of toxin analysis, biosensor technology, and protein engineering. By combining this expertise, they expect to deliver working prototypes for the sensor based measurement of selected toxins in the food supply chain

AN EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS AND INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT STAFF ABOUT THE USE OF DATA TO GUIDE INSTRUCTION IN A CATHOLIC DIOCESE, IN THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Educators have an abundance of student data available to guide their instructional decisions. Federal and State legislation has repeatedly incorporated accountability measures to ensure learning equity. Current research revealed that effective data use in the classroom to guide instructional decisions requires a complex network of resources, supports, and practices. This quantitative research study, informed by Sociocultural Theory, investigated teachers, administrators, and instructional support staff perceptions regarding teachers’ use of data to support instruction, their attitudes toward data, and the supports that help teachers use data. The study was conducted in one suburban Roman Catholic Diocese in the Northeastern United States consisting of 39 elementary schools with a student enrollment of 12,801. In total, 969 teachers, 51 administrators, and 39 instructional support staff were invited to participate. The study analyzed results from the Teacher Data Use Survey (TDUS). The survey yielded response rates from teachers (16.3%), administrators (39%), and instructional support staff (10%). Cronbach alpha statistics for each scale were calculated at 0.94 or higher. Descriptive survey analysis revealed that all three subgroups identified that Iowa Assessment data was the most available yet the least frequently used. Classroom performance assessment data was used the most frequently by teachers for all instructional practices. Positive correlations were identified between scale means including Data Competence with Data’s Effectiveness for Pedagogy (r (158) = .618, p \u3c .05), Principal Leadership (r (158) = .495, p \u3c .05), Principal Leadership with Data’s Effectiveness for Pedagogy (r (158) = .492, p \u3c .05), Computer Data Systems (r (158) = .548, p \u3c .05), Data Competence, and Collaborative Team Trust (r (158) = .350, p \u3c .05), Computer Data Systems with Data Competence (r (158) = .333, p \u3c .05.) , and Data’s Effectiveness for Pedagogy (r (158) = .248, p \u3c .05). Implications for future research include examining the relationships between teacher self-efficacy in data competence, collaborative team trust and actions, principal leadership, data’s effectiveness for pedagogy and computer data systems. Implications for future practice includes considerations for effective professional development and the establishment of systematic, structured time to support a strong data culture

Yeast in the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Biological Role, Distribution, and Evolution

The soil community of Antarctic polar desert is comprised of few endemic species of bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates. Both filamentous and single cellular fungi have been isolated from a diversity of Antarctic soil types, but only yeast appear to be endemic to the polar desert soils. Although the ecological roles of yeast in Antarctic soils is undefined, yeast may be the principal taxa in the heterotrophic communities that synthesize sterols required by soil invertebrates. In addition, yeast may be involved in accumulating and mobilizing growth limiting nutrients such as phosphorus into the polar desert food web. This multidisciplinary research will characterize the roles soil yeast play in the McMurdo Dry Valley ecosystem in order to better understand polar deserts and other extreme environments, as well as provide a foundation for incorporating yeast into biogeochemical models of temperate environments. Soil microbiota mediate most of the terrestrial ecosystem processes such as decomposition, soil respiration, the uptake and fixation of micro and macro-nutrients, detoxification of heavy metals, and serve as major global carbon sinks. The complexity of soil communities in temperate regions pose difficulties in studying the relationships between biotic and abiotic parameters of ecosystem function and the factors controlling populations of soil microbiota remain poorly understood. The extreme climate and relatively simple community structure of the continental Antarctica desert regions offer a unique opportunity to define interactions between soil organisms that are central to many ecosystems processes. The abundance and distribution of yeast in polar desert soils will be correlated with physical and chemical soil properties and these data will be stored and analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Several physiological parameters will be explored in vitro to develop a basis for understanding the functional role(s) these organisms may play. The evolution of Dry Valley yeast will be addressed by determining intra- and inter-valley population relatedness patterns, based on DNA sequence. These experiments will form a strong foundation for future investigations, provide additional opportunities for collaborative research and students from middle school through college will be given the opportunity to participate in this project

A novel interaction between nutrients and grazers alters relative dominance of marine habitats

Copyright © 2005 Inter-Research.Strong top-down control by grazers is considered a moderating influence on the negative effects of elevated nutrients on marine algae. Little experimental work has been done in a system that has weak grazing pressure (weak top-down control), which is also subjected to elevated nutrients. We experimentally elevated nutrient concentration to test (1) the effects of nutrient enrichment on algal assemblages in the presence and absence of canopies (Ecklonia radiata) and (2) the interactive effects of nutrients and molluscan grazers (meso-grazers) on algal assemblages in the absence of canopies. We established that the loss of canopy-forming algae is likely to be a key precursor to nutrient-driven changes of assemblages of benthic algae, because nutrients had no effects on algal assemblages in the presence of canopy-forming algae. In the absence of canopy-forming algae, space was monopolised by filamentous, turf-forming algae, and it was only in the presence of grazers that nutrients caused a change to the relative covers of algal habitat that monopolise canopyfree space. When grazers were present at natural densities, elevated nutrients reduced the monopoly of turf-forming algae in favour of foliose algae. These results demonstrate a novel interaction between nutrients (bottom-up control) and grazing pressure (top-down control), which are fundamental to predictions about management of human activities that continue to reduce densities of herbivores and increase nutrient availability on temperate coasts.Bayden D. Russell and Sean D. Connel

Dear Wife : the Civil War letters of Chester K. Leach

Occasional paper (University of Vermont. Center for Research on Vermont) ; no. 20