Developing Novel Molecular Detection Techniques for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid \u3ci\u3e(Adelges tsugae)\u3c/i\u3e

Hemlock forests in eastern North America face a deadly threat: the invasive insect, hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae. Early detection of this pest remains a key focus for management groups to ensure rapid response to control and stop the spread of HWA. In Chapter II, our goals were to develop an affordable, easy-to-use trap that is compatible with airborne eDNA sampling techniques and assess its efficiency as a monitoring tool for HWA. We tested three potential trap designs (i.e., passive trap, funnel trap, and motorized trap) against a standard sticky trap. Our passive, funnel, and motorized traps estimated adelgid capture success probabilities compared to sticky traps were 0.87, 0.8, and 0.4, respectively. We then further assessed the motorized trap after modifying the original design. In the secondary study, the motorized trap increased in estimated success probability to 0.67. We also evaluated how many traps would be needed in a set area size to maintain high probability of detecting HWA and measured how environmental variables affected trap performance in capturing adelgids. We found that number of traps placed within a 3-acre area did not impact trap capture success over a 16-week collecting period, but trap elevation and distance to an infested hemlock did affect adelgid numbers. In Chapter III, we continued to assess the motorized trap’s performance across varied height and distance to an infested hemlock stand. We also determined how well a rapid molecular assay worked to detect HWA from the environmental samples caught by the trap. Again, trap distance to an infestation impacted trap capture success, but the height of a trap did not. The molecular assay reached a 0.9 probability of detecting HWA when a trap sample had approximately 14 adelgids present. This technology showed to be very promising as a monitoring tool for HWA and could help preserve valuable personnel and financial resources for HWA eradication efforts across its invasive range

Organizing for Economic Empowerment of Battered Women: Women\u27s Savings Accounts

When describing reasons for remaining with or returning to an abusive partner, many women mention economic dependence on their abuser. Few battered women, especially those who are poor,have the economic resources necessary to live independently. Additionally, battered women are commonly isolated from financial resources lacking ready access to cash, checking accounts, or charge accounts. Creating strategies that address financial well-being is essential to addressing the issue ofdomestic violence. This article discusses a collaboration among domestic violence service providers in the St. Louis, Missouri region created to promote the economic development of low-income batteredwomen. The collaboration has culminated in formalized economic service provisions including economiceducation and credit counseling; women’s matched savings accounts; and economic advocacy and support services

Little perpetrators, witness-bearers and the young and the brave: towards a post-transitional aesthetics

The aesthetic choices characterizing work produced during the transition to democracy have been well documented. We are currently well into the second decade after the 1994 election - what then of the period referred to as the 'second transition'? Have trends consolidated, hardened, shifted, or have new 'post-transitional' trends emerged? What can be expected of the future 'born free' generation of writers and readers, since terms such as restlessness, dissonance and disjuncture are frequently used to describe the experience of constitutional democracy as it co-exists with the emerging new apartheid of poverty? Furthermore, what value is there in identifying post-transitional aesthetic trends?DHE

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

On the cosmic evolution of AGN obscuration and the X-ray luminosity function: XMM-Newton and Chandra spectral analysis of the 31.3 deg2^2 Stripe 82X

We present X-ray spectral analysis of XMM and Chandra observations in the 31.3 deg$^2$ Stripe-82X (S82X) field. Of the 6181 X-ray sources in this field, we analyze a sample of 2937 active galactic nuclei (AGN) with solid redshifts and sufficient counts determined by simulations. Our results show a population with median values of spectral index $\Gamma=1.94_{-0.39}^{+0.31}$, column density log$\,N_{\mathrm{H}}/\mathrm{cm}^{-2}=20.7_{-0.5}^{+1.2}$ and intrinsic, de-absorbed, 2-10 keV luminosity log$\,L_{\mathrm{X}}/\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}=44.0_{-1.0}^{+0.7}$, in the redshift range 0-4. We derive the intrinsic fraction of AGN that are obscured ($22\leq\mathrm{log}\,N_{\mathrm{H}}/\mathrm{cm}^{-2}<24$), finding a significant increase in the obscured AGN fraction with redshift and a decline with increasing luminosity. The average obscured AGN fraction is $57\pm4\%$ for log$\,L_{\mathrm{X}}/\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}>43$. This work constrains the AGN obscuration and spectral shape of the still uncertain high-luminosity and high-redshift regimes (log$\,L_{\mathrm{X}}/\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}>45.5$, $z>3$), where the obscured AGN fraction rises to $64\pm12\%$. We report a luminosity and density evolution of the X-ray luminosity function, with obscured AGN dominating at all luminosities at $z>2$ and unobscured sources prevailing at log$\,L_{\mathrm{X}}/\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}>45$ at lower redshifts. Our results agree with evolutionary models in which the bulk of AGN activity is triggered by gas-rich environments and in a downsizing scenario. Also, the black hole accretion density (BHAD) is found to evolve similarly to the star formation rate density, confirming the co-evolution between AGN and host-galaxy, but suggesting different time scales in their growing history. The derived BHAD evolution shows that Compton-thick AGN contribute to the accretion history of AGN as much as all other AGN populations combined.Comment: 31 pages, 35 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

BASS XXXIV: A Catalog of the Nuclear Mm-wave Continuum Emission Properties of AGNs Constrained on Scales ≲\lesssim 100--200 pc

We present a catalog of the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) continuum properties of 98 nearby ($z <$ 0.05) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from the 70-month Swift/BAT hard X-ray catalog that have precisely determined X-ray spectral properties and subarcsec-resolution ALMA Band-6 (211--275 GHz) observations as of 2021 April. Due to the hard-X-ray ($>$ 10 keV) selection, the sample is nearly unbiased for obscured systems at least up to Compton-thick-level obscuration, and provides the largest number of AGNs with high physical resolution mm-wave data ($\lesssim$ 100--200 pc). Our catalog reports emission peak coordinates, spectral indices, and peak fluxes and luminosities at 1.3 mm (230 GHz). Additionally, high-resolution mm-wave images are provided. Using the images and creating radial surface brightness profiles of mm-wave emission, we identify emission extending from the central source and isolated blob-like emission. Flags indicating the presence of these emission features are tabulated. Among 90 AGNs with significant detections of nuclear emission, 37 AGNs ($\approx$ 41%) appear to have both or one of extended or blob-like components. We, in particular, investigate AGNs that show well-resolved mm-wave components and find that these seem to have a variety of origins (i.e., a jet, radio lobes, a secondary AGN, stellar clusters, a narrow line region, galaxy disk, active star-formation regions, and AGN-driven outflows), and some components have currently unclear origins.Comment: 49 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

American Gut: an Open Platform for Citizen Science Microbiome Research

McDonald D, Hyde E, Debelius JW, et al. American Gut: an Open Platform for Citizen Science Microbiome Research. mSystems. 2018;3(3):e00031-18

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics