Studying Gender in Conference Talks -- data from the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society

We present a study on the gender balance, in speakers and attendees, at the recent major astronomical conference, the American Astronomical Society meeting 223, in Washington, DC. We conducted an informal survey, yielding over 300 responses by volunteers at the meeting. Each response included gender data about a single talk given at the meeting, recording the gender of the speaker and all question-askers. In total, 225 individual AAS talks were sampled. We analyze basic statistical properties of this sample. We find that the gender ratio of the speakers closely matched the gender ratio of the conference attendees. The audience asked an average of 2.8 questions per talk. Talks given by women had a slightly higher number of questions asked (3.2$\pm$0.2) than talks given by men (2.6$\pm$0.1). The most significant result from this study is that while the gender ratio of speakers very closely mirrors that of conference attendees, women are under-represented in the question-asker category. We interpret this to be an age-effect, as senior scientists may be more likely to ask questions, and are more commonly men. A strong dependence on the gender of session chairs is found, whereby women ask disproportionately fewer questions in sessions chaired by men. While our results point to laudable progress in gender-balanced speaker selection, we believe future surveys of this kind would help ensure that collaboration at such meetings is as inclusive as possible.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Comments welcome

Conceptualizing gratitude and appreciation as a unitary personality trait

Gratitude and appreciation are currently measured using three self-report instruments, the GQ6 (1 scale), the Appreciation Scale (8 scales), and the GRAT (3 scales). Two studies were conducted to test how these three instruments are interrelated, whether they exist under the same higher order factor or factors, and whether gratitude and appreciation is a single or multi-factorial construct. In Study 1 (N = 206) all 12 scales were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Both parallel analysis and the minimum average partial method indicated a clear one-factor solution. In Study 2 (N = 389) multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the one-factor structure, demonstrated the invariance of this structure across gender, and ruled out the confounding effect of socially desirable responding. We conclude gratitude and appreciation are a single-factor personality trait. We suggest integration of gratitude and appreciation literatures and provide a clearer conceptualization of gratitude

Hydrologic impacts and trade-offs associated with developing oil palm for bioenergy in Tabasco, Mexico

Study region: Oil palm cultivation has rapidly expanded worldwide due to demands for food oils and the potential for liquid fuel production. However, there is a scarcity of research on the hydrologic impacts of oil palm plantations at a watershed scale, especially in Latin America. We focus on a watershed typical of intensive palm oil production in Tabasco, Mexico. Study focus: A Soil and Water Assessment Tool model was calibrated to simulate long-term streamflow in the study watershed. The plant growth module was calibrated for leaf area index (LAI) and fruit yield simulations. Oil palm development scenarios were simulated to investigate the impacts of planting density and converted land cover types. New hydrological insights for the region: Oil palm evapotranspiration rates were 51 % higher on average than the converted land covers. The higher water use reduced mean annual streamflow by only 9% at the watershed scale, due to high precipitation in the upper watershed. In contrast, a 15 % decline in annual water yield was simulated in the converted areas of the watershed. Corresponding streamflow reductions in low-flow months were on average 34 %. A planting density of 150 palm/ha was the most efficient for water use and fruit production, giving a green water footprint for producing biodiesel of 87 m3/GJ energy, similar to oil palm cultivation elsewhere in the world

Strategies to Improve Nurse to Patient Ratios and its Affects on Patient Outcomes

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1246/thumbnail.jp

The role of ECL2 in CGRP receptor activation: a combined modelling and experimental approach

The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor is a complex of a calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR), which is a family B G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and receptor activity modifying protein 1. The role of the second extracellular loop (ECL2) of CLR in binding CGRP and coupling to Gs was investigated using a combination of mutagenesis and modelling. An alanine scan of residues 271–294 of CLR showed that the ability of CGRP to produce cAMP was impaired by point mutations at 13 residues; most of these also impaired the response to adrenomedullin (AM). These data were used to select probable ECL2-modelled conformations that are involved in agonist binding, allowing the identification of the likely contacts between the peptide and receptor. The implications of the most likely structures for receptor activation are discussed.</jats:p

Tools to Ease the Choice and Design of Protein Crystallisation Experiments

The process of macromolecular crystallisation almost always begins by setting up crystallisation trials using commercial or other premade screens, followed by cycles of optimisation where the crystallisation cocktails are focused towards a particular small region of chemical space. The screening process is relatively straightforward, but still requires an understanding of the plethora of commercially available screens. Optimisation is complicated by requiring both the design and preparation of the appropriate secondary screens. Software has been developed in the C3 lab to aid the process of choosing initial screens, to analyse the results of the initial trials, and to design and describe how to prepare optimisation screens

Spatially variable hidrologic impact and biomass production tradeoffs associated with Eucaliptus ( E. Grandis) cultivation for biofuel production in Entre Ríos, Argentina

Climate change and energy security promote using renewable sources of energy such as biofuels. High woody biomass production achieved from short-rotation intensive plantations is a strategy that is increasing in many parts of the world. However, broad expansion of bioenergy feedstock production may have significant environmental consequences. This study investigates the watershed-scale hydrological impacts of Eucalyptus (E. grandis) plantations for energy production in a humid subtropical watershed in Entre Rios province, Argentina. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated and validated for streamflow, leaf area index (LAI), and biomass production cycles. The model was used to simulate various Eucalyptus plantation scenarios that followed physically based rules for land use conversion (in various extents and locations in the watershed) to study hydrological effects, biomass production, and the green water footprint of energy production. SWAT simulations indicated that the most limiting factor for plant growth was shallow soils causing sea sonal water stress. This resulted in a wide range of biomass productivity throughout the watershed. An optimization algorithm was developed to find the best location for Eucalyptus development regarding highest productivity with least water impact. E. grandis plantations had higher evapotranspiration rates compared to existing terres trial land cover classes; therefore, intensive land use conversion to E. grandis caused a decline in streamflow, with January through March being the most affected months. October was the least-affected month hydrologically, since high rainfall rates over came the canopy interception and higher ET rates of E. grandis in this month. Results indicate that, on average, producing 1 kg of biomass in this region uses 0.8 m3 of water, and the green water footprint of producing 1 m3 fuel is approximately 2150 m3 water, or 57 m3 water per GJ of energy, which is lower than reported values for wood based ethanol, sugar cane ethanol, and soybean biodiesel.Fil: Heidari, Azad. Michigan Technological University. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Estados UnidosFil: Watkins Jr, David. Michigan Technological University. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Estados UnidosFil: Mayer, Alex. Michigan Technological University. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Estados UnidosFil: Propato, Tamara Sofía. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Clima y Agua; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Verón, Santiago. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Clima y Agua; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: de Abelleyra, Diego. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Clima y Agua; Argentin

Bacteriophages isolated from Lake Michigan demonstrate broad host-range across several bacterial phyla

BACKGROUND: The study of bacteriophages continues to generate key information about microbial interactions in the environment. Many phenotypic characteristics of bacteriophages cannot be examined by sequencing alone, further highlighting the necessity for isolation and examination of phages from environmental samples. While much of our current knowledge base has been generated by the study of marine phages, freshwater viruses are understudied in comparison. Our group has previously conducted metagenomics-based studies samples collected from Lake Michigan - the data presented in this study relate to four phages that were extracted from the same samples. FINDINGS: Four phages were extracted from Lake Michigan on the same bacterial host, exhibiting similar morphological characteristics as shown under transmission electron microscopy. Growth characteristics of the phages were unique to each isolate. Each phage demonstrated a host-range spanning several phyla of bacteria - to date, such a broad host-range is yet to be reported. Genomic data reveals genomes of a similar size, and close similarities between the Lake Michigan phages and the Pseudomonas phage PB1, however, the majority of annotated genes present were ORFans and little insight was offered into mechanisms for host-range. CONCLUSIONS: The phages isolated from Lake Michigan are capable of infecting several bacterial phyla, and demonstrate varied phenotypic characteristics despite similarities in host preference, and at the genomic level. We propose that such a broad host-range is likely related to the oligotrophic nature of Lake Michigan, and the competitive benefit that this characteristic may lend to phages in nature