Visitor Motivations for Technology Escape in Wisconsin\u27s Largest State Forest

Outdoor recreation managers are increasingly challenged with determining whether and how to provide opportunities for technology use in forests and parks. Decisions can be informed, in part, by better understanding visitor motivations regarding technology. To this end, four new “technology escape” motivation items were developed and measured in a survey of visitors to Northern Highland – American Legion State Forest. Visitors completed 815 surveys in summer 2013 (response rate = 90%). The four motivation items were grouped together into a single escape technology domain. Overall, NHAL visitors placed moderate importance on this motivation. Small differences in technology escape were found by respondent group size, gender, and place attachment. However, no significant relationships were found by primary activity, education level, age, income, or experience use history. Moderate to strong correlations suggest that the new technology specific domain may not be particularly distinct from existing recreation experience domains targeted at escaping everyday pressures

HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service: Reaping The Rewards Of Long-term Collaboration

On March 31, 2020, HathiTrust launched the Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS). This new offering supports HathiTrust members’ research, teaching and learning mission by providing reading access to in-copyright works held in library print collections, on a temporary basis, during unplanned disruptions to normal operations. HathiTrust conceived, planned, and launched ETAS in less than four weeks by building on existing cooperative structures, including years-long investments in a shared digital collection, a member model that values strong engagement, and a collaborative staffing approach

A New Model for Dose-Response Relations in Hadron Therapy: a Statistical Analysis of Hadron Therapy Data

In recent years, hadron therapy has become an increasingly popular cancer treatment alternative to conventional photon-based radiation. The distinct advantage of using proton or heavy ion radiation over other treatment modalities (x-rays) is the depositing of the desired dose directly onto a targeted tumour. This treatment avoids delivering lethal doses of radiation to the surrounding healthy and potentially radiation-sensitive tissues. The tissue sparing e ect of hadron therapy signi cantly improves the quality of life and minimises long-term health side-e ects in cancer patients from excessive radiation exposure. Understanding the response of a eukaryotic cell to ionising radiation is of vital importance in the eld. Many models have been developed to explain the response of a cell to ionising radiation, all of which are based on the Poisson count process. The most widely used model in the literature, the Linear-Quadratic model, is no exception. However, despite its wide use, the Linear-Quadratic model presents serious problems under statistical analysis and explaining the mid to high linear-energytransfer (LET) region of experimental data. In this study, we rst make use of rigorous statistical analyses of experimental world hadron therapy dose-response data to test the validity range of the Linear- Quadratic model under di erent radiation exposure and biological conditions. Our statistical analysis showed that it has a limited range of applicability and is restricted to the low to mid-LET region. Moreover, we demonstrated that it exhibits discrepancies under the considered regression analysis. To understand and explain these discrepancies, we make use of the TOPAS and Geant4 software toolkits to carry out a series of numerical simulations to study the dose-response relations by radiating V79 Chinese Hamster cells with a proton beam for a range of LET. Our analysis of the simulated data shows that the distribution of lethal damages per cell is overdispersed in the mid to high-LET range, violating the equidispersion condition of the Poisson process. However as the LET decreases, an overdispersed distribution of lethal damages approach to an equidispersed distribution, satisfying the Poisson condition. To explain the experimental and simulated data better, we proposed a new stochastic model based on a fractional Poisson count process which converges to the Poisson count process in the low-LET region. We rigorously tested our newly proposed model against the experimental and our simulated dose-response data and found that they are in excellent agreement. We showed that the distribution of lethal damages can be explained by a fractional Poisson process signi cantly better than the Poisson count process. The cell survival dose-response results exhibit a superior agreement with the Mittag-Le er distribution which corresponds to zero count events of the fractional Poisson process in all LET ranges for di erent cell lines and radiation types. The Mittag-Le er distribution predicts the DNA damage yield and therefore the relative biological e ectiveness extremely accurately. Compared with the Linear-Quadratic model, we demonstrated that our proposed model is superior.Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Adelaide, School of Physical Sciences, 202

Fact Sheet: Writing great abstracts

An abstract is a short piece of writing that presents the essential elements of a larger work in a powerful manner. If you are having trouble writing them and need guidance, or want to improve your abstracts writing skills then this Fact Sheet is a must for you

Fact Sheet: Collaborative partnerships in research

Collaborative partnerships between researchers, practitioners, decision makers, consumers and community members can strengthen research. They can enhance the relevance of research questions, ensure that the research methods are appropriate and feasible, and improve the chances of research funding. These partnerships can also aid the translation of research results into practice and policy, as well as contribute to faster development of the body of research and a research culture. Collaborations occur to enable sharing of different perspectives, skills, resources and other attributes that contribute to effectively addressing the research problem

12-Month progression of motor and functional outcomes in congenital myotonic dystrophy

Background: We aim to describe 12-mo functional and motor outcome performance in a cohort of participants with congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM). Methods: CDM participants performed the 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT), 10 Meter Run, 4 Stair Climb, Grip Strength, and Lip Force at baseline and 12-mo visits. Parents completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Results: Forty-seven participants, aged 0 to 13 y old, with CDM were enrolled. 6MWT, 10 Meter Run, and 4 Stair Climb were completed in \u3e85% of eligible participants. The only significant difference between mean baseline and 12-mo performance was an improvement in 6MWT in children 3-6 y old (P =.008). This age group also had the largest mean % improvement in performance in all other timed functional testing. In children \u3e7 y, the slope of change on timed functional tests decreased or plateaued, with further reductions in performance in children ≥10 y. Participants with CTG repeat lengths \u3c500 did not perform differently than those with repeat lengths \u3e1000. Conclusions: The 6MWT, 10 Meter Run, and 4 Stair Climb were the most feasible measures. Our findings are consistent with the clinical profile and prior cross-sectional data, helping to establish reasonable expectations of functional trajectories in this population as well as identifying points in which therapeutic interventions may be best studied. Further study of outcomes in children \u3e10 y old and \u3c3 y is warranted, but this new information will assist planning of clinical trials in the CDM population

Pyk2 deficiency potentiates osteoblast differentiation and mineralizing activity in response to estrogen or raloxifene

Bone remodeling is controlled by the actions of bone-degrading osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts (OBs). Aging and loss of estrogen after menopause affects bone mass and quality. Estrogen therapy, including selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), can prevent bone loss and increase bone mineral density in post-menopausal women. Although investigations of the effects of estrogen on osteoclast activity are well advanced, the mechanism of action of estrogen on OBs is still unclear. The proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) is important for bone formation and female mice lacking Pyk2 (Pyk2-KO) exhibit elevated bone mass, increased bone formation rate and reduced osteoclast activity. Therefore, in the current study, we examined the role of estrogen signaling on the mechanism of action of Pyk2 in OBs. As expected, Pyk2-KO OBs showed significantly higher proliferation, matrix formation, and mineralization than WT OBs. In addition we found that Pyk2-KO OBs cultured in the presence of either 17β-estradiol (E2) or raloxifene, a SERM used for the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis, showed a further robust increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mineralization. We examined the possible mechanism of action and found that Pyk2 deletion promotes the proteasome-mediated degradation of estrogen receptor α (ERα), but not estrogen receptor β (ERβ). As a consequence, E2 signaling via ERβ was enhanced in Pyk2-KO OBs. In addition, we found that Pyk2 deletion and E2 stimulation had an additive effect on ERK phosphorylation, which is known to stimulate cell differentiation and survival. Our findings suggest that in the absence of Pyk2, estrogen exerts an osteogenic effect on OBs through altered ERα and ERβ signaling. Thus, targeting Pyk2, in combination with estrogen or raloxifene, may be a novel strategy for the prevention and/or treatment of bone loss diseases

Housing and Ageing:Let’s get serious-“how do you plan for the future while addressing immediate chaos?"

This article presents findings from the Housing and Ageing programme conducted in 2018 that investigated how the housing sector can effectively plan for an ageing population. The project took a transdisciplinary approach to focus on new, critical insights into the process of decision making concerning housing and ageing across Scotland, England and Wales. A ‘Serious Game’ methodology was developed that explored over 200 policy maker, practitioner and service user perspectives. This was used as a framework to capture priorities, decisions, negotiations and processes that indicate how a ‘sense of place’ and ‘place belonging’ can influence the development of suitable housing for older people. Key housing provision challenges identified were tackling inequality, preserving autonomy, in(ter)dependence, empowerment and accessibility. Such challenges need consideration when strategically planning for the future. The findings recommend placing housing at the heart of service integration to support the co-production of decisions that emphasise the importance of working together across boundaries within social policy, service and stakeholder groups. A place-based approach can support the perception that we are all stakeholders in ageing