Next Generation Of Researchers Research Articles

Compositional principal component analysis generates gut microbiota profiles that associate with children's diet and body composition

AbstractGut microbiota data obtained by DNA sequencing are not only complex because of the number of taxa that may be detected within human cohorts, but also compositional because characteristics of the microbiota are described in relative terms (e.g., “relative abundance” of particular bacterial taxa expressed as a proportion of the total abundance of taxa). Nutrition researchers often use standard principal component analysis (PCA) to derive dietary patterns from complex food data, enabling each participant's diet to be described in terms of the extent to which it fits their cohort's dietary patterns. However, compositional PCA methods are not commonly used to describe patterns of microbiota in the way that dietary patterns are used to describe diets. This approach would be useful for identifying microbiota patterns that are associated with diet and body composition. The aim of this study is to use compositional PCA to describe gut microbiota profiles in 5 year old children and explore associations between microbiota profiles, diet, body mass index (BMI) z-score, and fat mass index (FMI) z-score. This study uses a cross-sectional data for 319 children who provided a faecal sample at 5 year of age. Their primary caregiver completed a 123-item quantitative food frequency questionnaire validated for foods of relevance to the gut microbiota. Body composition was determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and BMI and FMI z-scores calculated. Compositional PCA identified and described gut microbiota profiles at the genus level, and profiles were examined in relation to diet and body size. Three gut microbiota profiles were found. Profile 1 (positive loadings on Blautia and Bifidobacterium; negative loadings on Bacteroides) was not related to diet or body size. Profile 2 (positive loadings on Bacteroides; negative loadings on uncultured Christensenellaceae and Ruminococcaceae) was associated with a lower BMI z-score (r = -0.16, P = 0.003). Profile 3 (positive loadings on Faecalibacterium, Eubacterium and Roseburia) was associated with higher intakes of fibre (r = 0.15, P = 0.007); total (r = 0.15, P = 0.009), and insoluble (r = 0.13, P = 0.021) non-starch polysaccharides; protein (r = 0.12, P = 0.036); meat (r = 0.15, P = 0.010); and nuts, seeds and legumes (r = 0.11, P = 0.047). Further regression analyses found that profile 2 and profile 3 were independently associated with BMI z-score and diet respectively. We encourage fellow researchers to use compositional PCA as a method for identifying further links between the gut, diet and obesity, and for developing the next generation of research in which the impact on body composition of dietary interventions that modify the gut microbiota is determined.

Measuring and improving quality in early care and education

For decades, research on the quality of early care and education has helped identify features of those settings that play some role in promoting children’s learning and development. We offer this brief commentary as a framework for considering not only the topic and papers in this special issue, but more importantly, as a motivating heuristic for next generation of research and development on the assessment and improvement of measuring quality. First, we present some observations on the contemporary debates about quality, including a discussion of effect sizes, causality, conducting "horse race" analyses, and bringing measures to scale. We then argue that making progress towards measuring quality requires the field to think carefully about the focus of assessment, tradeoffs between reliability and validity, the diversity of the classroom and teachers, and scientific and technical advances. Absent these considerations, individually and in terms of their integrative links, discussions or presentations of "new and improved" measures of quality will not help advance the understanding and appropriate use of such instruments.

B. V. Sreekantan (1925–2019)

The new face of India after independence could be seen not only in dams and industries, but it was also apparent in the experiments in fundamental research undertaken with zeal by its youngsters. One of those youngsters was B. V. Sreekantan who passed away on 27 October 2019 at the ripe age of 95 years. He pioneered experiments in three fields: (1) Cosmic ray interactions and extensive air showers; (2) Underground muon and neutrino experiments; and (3) High energy astrophysics experiments. His experiments of those times are interesting for several reasons: (a) These are pioneering efforts of an individual as also of a new institution looking for new ways and means in research. (b) These would set up the roads to be travelled by the next generation of researchers. (c) The ingenuity in the face of scarcity of science instruments was very important in a newly independent and not an affluent country.

Contemporary Indigenous issues

ABSTRACTContemporary scholarship on Indigenous issues explores a bold new array of questions and topics, both internal to Indigenous movement dynamics as well as external to their linkages across colonial borders and boundaries. It is time to take stock of this next generation of research. This is precisely what this special issue sets out to do with a collection of articles focused on gender, generational and technological issues in the countries of Canada, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. This introductory essay outlines the major themes of the special issue and highlights how the articles in the collection advance the literature on contemporary Indigenous issues in significant ways by fostering intercontinental dialogue on key research agendas, theoretical approaches and perspectives within Indigenous studies and by promoting more policy-relevant research.

THE ROLE OF NETWORKS IN TEACHING GERONTOLOGY THROUGH COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE-LEARNING PROJECTS

As we seek to prepare the next generation of researchers, teachers, and service providers in the field of aging, it is vital that students garner experience interacting directly and appropriately with older adults. Community engagement and service-learning (CE/SL) are high impact pedagogical practices associated with enhanced learning, retention, and student success and can facilitate positive interactions across generations. Creating CE/SL opportunities requires authentic relationships with community members and organizations, allowing faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to network with a variety of individuals and agencies. In this presentation, we define CE/SL, examine the role of networks in creating CE/SL opportunities, and discuss challenges and threats to effective CE/SL projects. Tools and resources will be highlighted to provide guidance to those wishing to harness the power of networks to teach gerontology content while also working to have positive, lasting, and measurable impact on the communities in which they serve.

Invasive alien species and planetary and global health policy

Invasive alien species and planetary and global health policy

Inspiring the next generation through the AMADEE-18 MARS analog simulation

The Austrian Space Forum in cooperation with the Oman Astronomical Society conducted a high-fidelity Mars Analog field simulation in the Dhofar region, Sultanate of Oman in February 2018. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a carefully selected and trained field crew of 15 researchers conducted experiments from various disciplines (e.g. engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences) preparing for future human Mars missions. Mars analog research in a representative environment is also an excellent tool to enhance the visibility of planetary sciences and to engage with the next generation of researchers. To reach out to young students from 6 to 25 years, special programs and initiatives were set-up. This paper focuses on the Junior Researchers Program, where four high school and undergraduate student teams realized their experiments in a scientific mission, starting with defining their research questions, building their experiment hardware and finally analyzing and publishing the outcomes.

Fourteenth AnnualBrownLecture in Education Research: Reenvisioning Equity Research: Disability Identification Disparities as a Case in Point

I engage longstanding challenges and risks associated with conducting and using research on complex equity problems. I engage these challenges in the context of research on disability identification disparities, which have been historically intertwined with particular identity markers (e.g., race, social class, gender, language). Some of these tensions revolve around knowledge production, the nuances of representation, and the identities of oppressed groups. I critique traditional research on disability identification disparities and outline guiding principles for the next generation of equity research. First, future research on disability intersections must rely on historical epistemologies to honor the complexities of equity in worlds of difference. Second, the next generation of research must produce alternative interdisciplinary re-presentations of disability intersections.

Developing a Training Program to Diversify the Biomedical Research Workforce.

The National Institutes of Health has made considerable investments to diversify the biomedical research workforce. Towards this goal, the authors partnered with representatives from several minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to develop training for the next generation of researchers. To ensure the most effective training program, the authors conducted a needs assessment with junior and senior investigators from the partnering MSIs. In 2016, the authors conducted focus groups and interviews with 23 junior investigators as well as in-depth interviews with 6 senior investigators from the partnering institutions with the goal of identifying specific areas of training and support that would help junior investigators at MSIs develop and sustain research careers. The data were transcribed and coded, and thematic analysis was conducted. The authors determined four areas in which training and support were needed: training in the "informal curriculum" (skills not covered in traditional clinical research courses), protected time for research training, opportunities to create career-advancing work products, and networking opportunities. The themes that were identified informed the development of the LEADS (Leading Emerging and Diverse Scientists to Success) program. The program consists of 10 instructor-led online modules each lasting approximately one month in duration with weekly synchronous sessions. Scholars are expected to be able to devote at least 20% of their time to the program.

The Inertia of Old Ideas: A Historical Overview of Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in the Study of Classic Maya Political Organization

While it is tempting to assume that empirical advancements inexorably lead to incremental improvement in our understanding of the past, the impact of ideas—even empirically untenable positions—often impede disciplinary progress. This paper examines the intellectual history of changing views of Classic Maya political organization, from the formulation of the “traditional synthesis” to contemporary debates. Although the traditional synthesis did not stand up to empirical evaluation, elements of the model continued to have substantive impact into the 21st century. This historical overview is part of a broader critique of ways we create and evaluate theories about the ancestral Maya past. With a century of archaeological research and the maturation of epigraphic research providing a rich empirical foundation, the successes or failures of the next generation of research will be governed by advancements in theory building and long overdue methodological reforms.

Advances in pantographic structures: design, manufacturing, models, experiments and image analyses

In the last decade, the exotic properties of pantographic metamaterials have been investigated and different mathematical models (both discrete or continuous) have been introduced. In a previous publication, a large part of the already existing literature about pantographic metamaterials has been presented. In this paper, we give some details about the next generation of research in this field. We present an organic scheme of the whole process of design, fabrication, experiments, models and image analyses.

European Society of Paediatric Radiology 2019 strategic research agenda: improving imaging for tomorrow\u2019s children

The European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) research committee was established to initiate, drive forward and foster excellence in paediatric imaging, paediatric image-guided intervention and radiation protection research, by facilitating more evidence-based standards, protocols and multi-institutional collaborations. The ESPR Strategic Research Agenda outlines our current research approach, highlighting several areas of paediatric imaging where the society can help guide current and future research, and emphasizing those areas where early research (“seed”) funding may need to be allocated by this and other societies as precursors to larger grant applications. The key aims are to evaluate normal variation in order to be able to confidently diagnose disease states, develop robust image-based classification systems to aid diagnosis and treatment monitoring, and help develop evidence-based clinical guidelines using current literature and experience to identify knowledge gaps. For this reason, the development of evidence-based imaging pipelines, broken down step-by-step to include diagnosis, classification and clinical effectiveness, should be the end goal for each disease entity for each affected child. Here, we outline the 2019 ESPR Strategic Research Agenda along three points in the clinical imaging pipeline: clinical referral, disease diagnosis and evolution, and clinical therapeutic evaluation and effectiveness. Through multicentre trials, using existing high-level experience and expertise, and nurturing the next generation of researchers, we will be able to achieve these aims.

Near‐Eye Display and Tracking Technologies for Virtual and Augmented Reality

AbstractVirtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are expected to revolutionise entertainment, healthcare, communication and the manufacturing industries among many others. Near‐eye displays are an enabling vessel for VR/AR applications, which have to tackle many challenges related to ergonomics, comfort, visual quality and natural interaction. These challenges are related to the core elements of these near‐eye display hardware and tracking technologies. In this state‐of‐the‐art report, we investigate the background theory of perception and vision as well as the latest advancements in display engineering and tracking technologies. We begin our discussion by describing the basics of light and image formation. Later, we recount principles of visual perception by relating to the human visual system. We provide two structured overviews on state‐of‐the‐art near‐eye display and tracking technologies involved in such near‐eye displays. We conclude by outlining unresolved research questions to inspire the next generation of researchers.

The Next Generation of Scientists: The Development of a Model Intensive Research Experience for Undergraduates

When undergraduates engage in hands-on research experiences, particularly intense mentored experiences, they are more likely to pursue graduate studies in the sciences and take a more assertive role in their learning and career activities. Such early career experiences have been identified as essential in the development of the next generation of researchers. The authors describe the decade long development, structure, and evaluation outcomes of a summer research experience for undergraduates designed to provide an intense, yet supportive, research experience that helps inspire the next generation of scientists. Future considerations for the program are also provided.

Good Societies, Financial Inequality and Secrecy, and a Good Life: from Aristotle to Piketty

Abstract In this paper we show that for a dataset of 105 countries, four candidate objective indexes (Human Development Index (HDI), Weighted Index of Social Progress (WISP), Social Progress Index (SPI) and Sustainable Society Index (SSI)) and one subjective index (World Happiness Survey (WHS)) of at least aspects of the quality of life or human well-being have good convergent validity among themselves and expected statistically significant negative correlations with Gini measures of wealth and income, and a measure of political jurisdictions’ institutionalized financial secrecy (Financial Secrecy Scores (FSS)). A measure of offshore wealth as a fraction of GDP (FOW) showed only a couple significant correlations with one overall quality of life index (SSI). When we combined the four objective indexes to the subjective index to create overall measures of the quality of life (including Happy Life Years (HLY)), the correlations among the indexes increased. Most of the correlations increased again when we used Gini indexes to create wealth-equality overall quality of life indexes and these correlations were higher on average than those among income-equality overall quality of life indexes. Combining results using 21 quality of life/well-being indexes, we rank ordered 105 countries from best to worst. The top 10 in order were Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Australia, Finland, Netherlands, Slovakia, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark. This is the first time anyone has built the array of index options presented here based on a handful of originals. We offer them as another potential starting point for the next generation of researchers.

Native and Invading Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) Microbiomes Differ in Composition and Diversity of Bacteria.

Invasive species could benefit from being introduced to locations with more favorable species interactions, including the loss of enemies, the gain of mutualists, or the simplification of complex interaction networks. Microbiomes are an important source of species interactions with strong fitness effects on multicellular organisms, and these interactions are known to vary across regions. The highly invasive plant yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) has been shown to experience more favorable microbial interactions in its invasions of the Americas, but the microbiome that must contribute to this variation in interactions is unknown. We sequenced amplicons of 16S rRNA genes to characterize bacterial community compositions in the phyllosphere, ectorhizosphere, and endorhizosphere of yellow starthistle plants from seven invading populations in California, USA, and eight native populations in Europe. We tested for the differentiation of microbiomes by geography, plant compartment, and plant genotype. Bacterial communities differed significantly between native and invading plants within plant compartments, with consistently lower diversity in the microbiome of invading plants. The diversity of bacteria in roots was positively correlated with plant genotype diversity within both ranges, but this relationship did not explain microbiome differences between ranges. Our results reveal that these invading plants are experiencing either a simplified microbial environment or simplified microbial interactions as a result of the dominance of a few taxa within their microbiome. Our findings highlight several alternative hypotheses for the sources of variation that we observe in invader microbiomes and the potential for altered bacterial interactions to facilitate invasion success.IMPORTANCE Previous studies have found that introduced plants commonly experience more favorable microbial interactions in their non-native range, suggesting that changes to the microbiome could be an important contributor to invasion success. Little is known about microbiome variation across native and invading populations, however, and the potential sources of more favorable interactions are undescribed. Here, we report one of the first microbiome comparisons of plants from multiple native and invading populations, in the noxious weed yellow starthistle. We identify clear differences in composition and diversity of microbiome bacteria. Our findings raise new questions about the sources of these differences, and we outline the next generation of research that will be required to connect microbiome variation to its potential role in plant invasions.

Impact de l’immigration, conséquences pour les immigrants : nouveaux résultats utilisant des données d’entreprises et sociales

For some time, many researchers have argued that the success of the next generation of research on the performance of immigrants in the labour market would be largely dependent on developing new databases. The conference organised by the CIQSS in October 2018 defined as its objective an examination of how far new databases are assisting in producing new research results and advancing the discussion of immigrants’ performance in the labour market as well as of the economic impact of immigration. This research note examines the contributions to this conference and concludes that, thanks partly to recent longitudinal databases, new research does offer innovative findings on both the factors involved in integration and also the economic effects of immigration.

Reflections on Teaching, Learning and Doing Participatory Research in a Graduate Seminar.

To improve training for the next generation of researchers to engage in community-based participatory research (CBPR), we reflect on our experience offering an applied participatory research methodologies graduate seminar. This article is written from the perspective of a university professor/course director, a community partner, and a master's student who took the course. First, we describe our unique context. Second, we provide a general overview of the planning and implementation. Third, we illustrate what happened from our three perspectives. We conclude with recommendations. We each shared our unique perspectives on the strengths, opportunities and challenges associated with teaching/learning through engaging an applied CBPR project. There was consensus that our timelines were tight, the workload was heavy, communication was tricky, and we could have used more resources. Nevertheless, we all appreciated everyone's deep engagement and investment in the collaborative processes, the development of new skills and our success in gathering important evaluative feedback with efficiency and expediency. We agreed that this was a rewarding experience that we would repeat. Mounting a course in this fashion requires a strong community-university partnership, that is supported with substantial preparatory work, human and financial resource commitments, and contingency planning. We recommend transparency, communication and managed expectations.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Not Your Parents’ Internationalization: Next Generation Perspectives

Although still young, internationalization of higher education has provided the stimulus for a burgeoning field of research, with concentrations in English speaking countries in the global North. New perspectives are now coming to the fore, exploring alternative contexts, topics, and methods in internationalization, and giving rise to the voice of a next generation of researchers.