Researching West Nile Virus

Well here's my blog that I spent my free time writing, during reading week and our week off from classes. As I had other homework to do, I thought I would do the efficient thing and combine it with my blog! I'm writing a paper on West Nile Virus, which may not sound overly interesting, but it depends on what perspective you look at it with. Here's a bit of information in case you are curious. It is from the genus Flavivvirus. This virus is transferred between hosts by mosquitos, which feed on a wide variety of animals; including humans. Birds serve as the amplifier hosts but horses and humans can also be infected.

Blue Jay photo
curtesy of Briana Carlyon

Jays, magpies and crows serve as sign of the virus's locality because the severe illness causes high mortality. Other animals are dead-end-hosts for the virus, meaning that you cannot get the virus from a person with West Nile Virus. The virus causes fevers, rashes and neurological damage in humans; the majority of people that get the virus are elderly.

Crow Photo curtesy of Briana Carlyon

Inititally it was difficult to find any reliable sources for information (ie. peer-reviewed articles and/or ones from trusted journals) but as I kept searching, trying sites like PubMed and PLoS it became easier to find the information I needed. One really informative article about the pathology of the virus was really helpful because it enabled me to gain a basic understanding and then continue on with further, in-depth research. The UAlberta Library site was the first place I searched because it has been reliable in supplying me with relevant, peer-reviewed articles. This time, no such luck. In order to search more effectively, I will have to search different key words and other trusted sites. Researching and finding dependable articles for writing papers takes a lot of time, but as you gain experience in searching it becomes easier and more efficient.


In Cassandra's blog, she discusses the debate about how technology could be ruining or helping the English language. The shorthand language of texting and chatting online (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can be harmful or be helpful. This is a prime example of technology is evolving at a super fast rate. Before when researching for papers, you would have to actually check out the hardcopy of the journal from your library. Now, you can do all your research online from your own room, no need to go trekking to the library to do all your research. All or most journals publish their articles online so they can be more accessible to a wide range of audiences. Yay for technology!

References:

Madden, K. (2003). West Nile Virus Infection and its Neurological Manifestation. Clinical Medicine and Research, 1(2), 145-150. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1069038/ Accessed: February 29, 2012

Creating a Facebook Page, not Profile

     This week I learned how to create a Facebook page that can be used for professional purposes. I have developed my page to reflect some information about my education, work experience, awards and other activities and interests. I also included my contact information so that anyone interested can get a hold of me. My page is similar to having an online resume, but I have not included all the same information that I would send to a potential employer in a resume because I do not want to reveal all of my private life and information to whoever may like to view my page. It just contains a basic background that can catch someone's interest and cause them to want to contact me for more information.
     This page will be separate from my Facebook profile which contains more personal, private information that I would only like friends and family to see. Having a page is a great way to keep my personal and public/work life separate. I can control which information I want people to see about me without the other, extra information about my facebook friends and other posts that would be on my profile page.

My Facebook Page

     In a fellow students blog, Julie Lackowicz talks about how common-place Facebook has become for our generation and how it has become quite likely for a guy or girl to ask for your Facebook rather than your number. There are many celebrities and organizations using Facebook to create pages to generate more interest and publicity. I found a site that has measured and rated the most engaging pages currently on Facebook. One of the top ones was Justin Biebers page, amongst all of the religious pages. I found this quite intriguing but it is a great demonstration of who the most avid Facebook users are; teenage girls. The popularity of Justin Bieber's page supports Julie's thoughts on how commonplace Facebook is for teenagers to use and communicate.

My Debut to Blogging

     Hello, my name is Andi and I am currently in my second year of my program at the University of Alberta. I am taking Bachelor of Agriculture, majoring in Animal Science. I transferred here this year to further my education in the agricultural field and am so far really enjoying my classes. They are helping me discover what parts of the agricultural field I like more and may be interested in pursuing further as a possible career. I do know that I love working with animals and will probably be working with cattle and horses in my future; hopefully ones that I own myself.

     I love the aerial photos of farmland (like this one) or looking out of the airplane window at all the square fields and the yards with the trees and buildings. It shows me a different, broader persepective of how much land Canadians farm and grow crops on.
     I have found that social media has been slowly invading my life from all areas. School has been using it more and more to appeal to students growing interest in the internet and all of the things it offers. This increases students participation because they are already online and it is only a click away to check out something for school. Some teachers have difficulty using Youtube clips because they are blocked by the school. In this article about using Youtube safely at school, the authors discuss a website called VuSafe that allows teachers to access and use Youtube videos without the inappropriate material popping up.
     Twitter is being used by companies, weather and news networks and interest groups to keep their followers updated on new and important changes. I was not very fond of the idea of twitter initially because I thought it was too similar to the statuses on Facebook but now that I was required to join for ALES204, my dislike has decreased. It is a very simple way to communicate with people and organizations that you do not have a strong affliation with, but are interested in. Twitter will be a method for me to find out about new discoveries in the agricultural field, but I have yet to search for someone or some group to follow that will allow me to do this.
     I have had Facebook for a while and I usually use it for finding out what friends are up to, chatting with long-distance friends or just 'creep' to find out the latest gossip that Facebook can tell me about my friends. A fellow blogger, Danielle Becker discusses on her blog how important Facebook, Skype and email were to her to communicate with her friends and family when she moved to Wales. Because of Facebook's extreme popularity, many companies and organizations have created Facebook pages to advertise and inform people about themselves. It is an easy, inexpensive way to appeal to a large population. The agricultural sector is also taking advantage of this to increase young people's awareness of the career and other future opportunities available.

     I am looking forward to learning more about social media and how I can utilize it for school, research and other places in my future.