Improving Facilitation of Student Communication Through Observational Feedback Within a Partner Instruction Model.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to further evaluate an eight-step partner instructional model developed by Kent-Walsh and McNaughton that has been demonstrated to improve implementation quality and fidelity among adults in clinical and educational settings who support the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for individuals with complex communication needs. Method This study examined the effectiveness of the eight-step model in a K-12 special education setting. Participants included 26 staff and 19 students. Effects on both communication partner modeling and student AAC system use were assessed. The study expanded upon prior research by employing a group design, including largely adolescent participants, and utilizing multiple AAC hardware and software types. Results Staff receiving training and coaching via the full eight-step model demonstrated gains in the percentage of utterances modeled, and their student partners increased mean length of utterance. The study failed to find statistically significant differences between the experimental group and a comparison group receiving only Stages 1-5 of the model. Conclusion Findings provide additional evidence for the viability of the eight-step instructional model as a methodology to promote the communication skills of students who utilize AAC, and also point to the advanced practice and feedback element of the model as a potential mediator of intervention outcomes.

Evidence of Selection for Fungicide Resistance in Zymoseptoria tritici Populations on Wheat in Western Oregon.

Plant pathogens pose a major challenge to maintaining food security in many parts of the world. Where major plant pathogens are fungal, fungicide resistance can often thwart regional control efforts. Zymoseptoria tritici, causal agent of Septoria tritici blotch, is a major fungal pathogen of wheat that has evolved resistance to chemical control products in four fungicide classes in Europe. Compared with Europe, however, fungicide use has been less and studies of fungicide resistance have been infrequent in North American Z. tritici populations. Here, we confirm first reports of Z. tritici fungicide resistance evolution in western Oregon through analysis of the effects of spray applications of propiconazole and an azoxystrobin + propiconazole mixture during a single growing season. Frequencies of strobilurin-resistant isolates, quantified as proportions of G143A mutants, were significantly higher in azoxystrobin-sprayed plots compared with plots with no azoxystrobin treatment at two different locations and were significantly higher in plots of a moderately resistant cultivar than in plots of a susceptible cultivar. Thus, it appears that western Oregon Z. tritici populations have the potential to evolve levels of strobilurin resistance similar to those observed in Europe. Although the concentration of propiconazole required to reduce pathogen growth by 50% values were numerically greater for isolates collected from plots receiving propiconazole than in control plots, this effect was not significant (P > 0.05).

Effectiveness of Garlic for the Control of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) on Residential Properties in Western Connecticut.

We conducted field trials to evaluate the ability of a garlic juice-based product to control or suppress nymphal activity of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, at residential properties in Connecticut in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The product was applied at a rate of 0.2 g AI/m2. Percent control of nymphal densities achieved by the spray treatment at 6, 11, and 18 d postspray for the 3 yr was 37.0, 59.0, and 47.4%, respectively. Differences between nymphal densities were greatest during the first post-spray sampling period. While garlic may require multiple applications for the suppression of tick activity, this product could provide a minimal-risk option for the short-term control of nymphal I. scapularis in the residential landscape.

Influences of weather on Ixodes scapularis nymphal densities at long-term study sites in Connecticut.

Tick species worldwide are implicated in transmission of pathogens that cause mild to severe diseases in humans and livestock. Although tick population densities are often highly correlated with tick-borne disease rates, we currently know little about which factors underlie annual changes in those tick population densities. We used a 25-year dataset of Ixodes scapularis drag-sampling surveys at two locations in CT, USA, to investigate the relationship between average nymphal density from mid-May to mid-August and monthly, lagged regional weather variables. The dataset was randomly split into two data subsets, one for hypothesis development and one for hypothesis testing. Nymphal density showed the strongest association with the Standardized Precipitation Index for January of the same year that density data were collected in the analysis based on the hypothesis development data subset. This association was positive; nymphal tick density increased with regional winter precipitation. Nymphal density was positively associated with this same weather variable in the hypothesis testing data subset. Weather conditions during the coldest months of the year may serve as a bottleneck to tick populations, thereby functioning as an important correlate of not only annual blacklegged tick nymphal densities the following summer, but also entomological risk associated with tick-borne pathogens transmitted by this species.