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The lack of women holding high-level leadership positions in higher education institutions is problematic. From a historical standpoint, women face several more obstacles while working toward obtaining leadership roles in higher education than men do. In addition, from a societal lens, women are judged differently in regard to leadership style, emotion, and success in higher education leadership. This case follows a woman who obtained the position of interim dean and was unceremoniously removed from the role. Authors make suggestions regarding factors for her success, how her emotions affected her performance, and variables leading to her accepting the role of interim dean.

We describe a space industry work experience program and report on the design, implementation, and evaluation of this program, including its purposes, organisation, participants -- hosts and students -- and its outcomes. The program was a collaboration between the South Australian Department for Education, the South Australian Space Industry Centre, universities, and space sector enterprises. We found that the program was in-demand among students, although places at this stage are quite limited. It was well-received by participating industry partners, all of whom indicated an intention to continue their involvement in the program. Student placements were designed to be immersive, but the extent of this varied between what might be described as work-shadowing through to structured and challenging project work. The most challenging and structured placements were highly valued by students and were more effective for informing an academic stream of student participants about the range of space industry careers currently available. Implications for future work experience placements are drawn for the organisation and structure of placement programs.

Summary: The Triassic–Jurassic boundary marks the third largest mass extinction event in the Phanerozoic, characterized by a rise in CO2‐concentrations from c. 600 ppm to c. 2100–2400 ppm, coupled with a c. 3.0–4.0°C temperature rise. This is hypothesized to have induced major floral turnover, altering vegetation structure, composition and leaf morphology, which in turn are hypothesized to have driven changes in wildfire. However, the effects of elevated CO2 on fuel properties, such as chemical composition of leaves, are also important in influencing fire behaviour, but yet have not been considered.We test this by selecting three Triassic analogue species grown experimentally in different atmospheric compositions, and analyse variations in leaf chemistry, and leaf level flammability. These data were used to inform a fire behaviour model.We find that all three species tested showed a reduction in their volatile component, leading to lower flammability. Accounting for these variations in a model, our results suggest that leaf intrinsic flammability has a measurable impact on modelled fire behaviour.If scaled up to ecosystem level, periods of elevated CO2 may therefore be capable of inducing both biochemical and morphological changes in fuel properties, and thus may be capable of influencing fire behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE2) is thought to have been contemporary with extensive volcanism and the release of large quantities of volcanic CO2 capable of triggering marine anoxia through a series of biogeochemical feedbacks. High-resolution reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations across the initiation of OAE2 suggest that there were also two distinct pulses of CO2 drawdown coeval with increased organic carbon burial. These fluctuations in CO2 likely led to significant climatic changes, including fluctuations in temperatures and the hydrological cycle. Paleofire proxy records suggest that wildfire was a common occurrence throughout the Cretaceous Period, likely fueled by the estimated high atmospheric O2 concentrations at this time. However, over geological time scales, the likelihood and behavior of fire are also controlled by other factors such as climate, implying that CO2-driven climate changes should also be observable in the fossil charcoal record. We tested this hypothesis and present a high-resolution study of fire history through the use of fossil charcoal abundances across the OAE2 onset, and we compared our records to the estimated CO2 fluctuations published from the same study sites. Our study illustrates that inferred wildfire activity appears to relate to changes in CO2 occurring across the onset of OAE2, where periods of CO2 drawdown may have enabled an increase in fire activity through suppression of the hydrological cycle. Our study provides further insight into the relationships between rapid changes in the carbon cycle, climate, and wildfire activity, illustrating that CO2 and climate changes related to inferred wildfire activity can be detected despite the estimated high Cretaceous atmospheric O2 concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ophidiomycosis, historically referred to as snake fungal disease (SFD), caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, is a significant disease of snakes characterized by crusty scales, pustules, subcutaneous nodules, and death. Ophidiomycosis is a proposed threat to sustainability of free-ranging snake populations throughout the United States and Europe, but the clinical progression during periods of reproductive activity (gravid females, neonates) is unknown. In spring 2012, five apparently healthy gravid eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) rattlesnakes from Clinton County, Illinois, were brought into captivity to give birth and be returned into the population. While in captivity, one adult female and 21 neonates died. Five individuals were subsequently confirmed positive for O. ophiodiicola by using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In 2016, a gravid timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) with ophidiomycosis from Jackson County, Illinois, gave birth in captivity to 13 neonates. Skin swabs were taken from all neonates immediately after birth and confirmed negative for O. ophiodiicola by using qPCR. The neonates remained housed with the positive female for 10 days before all animals were reswabbed and released back into the wild. One neonate was O. ophiodiicola positive at time of release. The initial negative result followed by a positive result several days postpartum suggests that the neonate was infected by the female after direct contact. Both case series represent natural infection of neonates after parturition and highlight the importance of this disease in a demographically important age class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innate immunity provides a fast‐acting and nonspecific defense against microbial infection, and appears to have particular importance in the immune response of ectothermic vertebrates. Chelonians are a globally distributed and diverse group, yet little is known about their basic immune function. The chelonian family Chelydridae is made up of two genera (Chelydra and Macrochelys), represented in our study by the widespread common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina; CST) and the southeast USA endemic alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii; AST). Our goal was to quantify the innate immune response of the family Chelydridae, using the antibacterial activity of plasma as a measure of immune function. Our results show that the plasma of both species has strong antibacterial properties, but CST plasma kills a higher percentage of bacteria than AST plasma. In addition, while both species showed the highest antibacterial activity at 25 to 30°C, CST plasma retained its antibacterial properties at lower and higher temperatures than AST plasma. Our results indicate that, like many ectotherms, Chelydridae have a relatively strong innate immune response. The stronger, more robust immune response of CSTs compared with ASTs is likely correlated to the differences in geographic ranges but may also have implications for each species' tolerance to anthropogenic habitat degradation and global climate change. Thermal profile of antibacterial activity in common and alligator snapping turtle plasma. HIGHLIGHTS: The plasma of common snapping turtle (CST) and alligator snapping turtle (AST) both exhibit potent, broad‐acting antibacterial activities.The antibacterial activities are rapid, peaking within 20 min of exposure to microbes.The thermal profiles of the antibacterial properties of plasma derived from AST and CST are reflective of their latitudinal distributions.The antibacterial activities are heat labile and inhibited by protease and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, which are characteristics of innate immune activity mediated by serum complement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the first confirmed occurrence of the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in Indiana, indicating its potential spread in the region. Topics discussed include the sampling methodology for detecting snake fungal disease (SFD), prevalence rates across different snake species, and recommendations for biosecurity measures to prevent pathogen transmission.

Disease events are threatening wildlife populations across North America. Specifically, mortality events due to Ophidiomyces (snake fungal disease; SFD) have been observed recently in snakes in Illinois, US. We investigated the health of a population of eastern massasaugas ( Sistrurus catenatus) in south-central Illinois using 1) a meta-analysis of hematologic findings from 2004, 2011, 2013, and 2014; 2) a determination of the prevalence of SFD in snakes examined in 2013 and 2014; and 3) the examination of 184 museum specimens collected from 1999-2013 for signs and presence of SFD. For the meta-analysis and prevalence of SFD, hematologic analytes were reduced to three principle components that explained 67.5% of the cumulative variance. There were significant differences among one principle component (total white blood cell counts, monocytes, lymphocytes, and basophils) across years when it was highest in 2004 and 2014. The top general linear model explaining the difference in principle components included the main effects of year and stage, body condition index (BCI), and the interaction between stage and BCI. The prevalence of SFD was 18% ( n=7) in 2013 and 24% ( n=11) in 2014, and no hematologic analytes were associated with SFD. In museum specimens, Ophidiomyces DNA was first detected from an individual collected in 2000. Studies such as these, integrating multiple modalities of health, can elucidate the epidemiology of diseases that may pose conservation threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]