An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Minnesota Safety Grant Program

Includes bibliographical references

Hope Works: Student Use of Education Tax Credits

Surveys University of California students on their use of Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credit programs. Explores the debate over whether federal aid should emphasize incentives to attend college or relief to those already planning to attend

Land Use Planning for Solar Energy: Resource Guide

This document was created to help New York State localities develop and adopt solar friendly policies and plans. It begins by presenting the local government’s role in land use planning and regulation and introduces common characteristics of “solar friendly” communities. The resource then describes how municipalities should begin a solar energy initiative through an official policy statement that provides support for solar energy and that authorizes a task force to shepherd the process, appropriate studies, training programs for staff and board members, inter-municipal partnerships, and outside funding sources. Next, the document explains how municipalities should engage the entire community in the solar energy initiative process to ensure support for the initiative and its implementation. Finally, the resource presents local planning best practices that communities can incorporate into their comprehensive plans, subarea plans, or other plans. Throughout, this document provides helpful resources and examples that communities can use to develop effective solar energy policies and plans

Literacy Access through Storytime: An Ethnographic Study of Public Library Storytellers in a Low-Income Neighborhood

While early literacy achievement continues to be stratified by social class in the United States, public libraries often offer programs such as “storytime” in order to bolster the literacy development of youth in their communities. The purpose of the present ethnographic study was to explore how storytellers recruited and maintained participation in this free literacy program in a lower-income neighborhood. Via participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and artifact collection, storytellers recruited new patrons to storytime by (1) appealing to community members to enter the physical space of the library and (2) appealing to library patrons to attend storytime. Once patrons attended storytime, storytellers acted in order to maintain storytime attendance by (1) facilitating meaningful learning experiences, (2) fostering enjoyment through participation, (3) developing nurturing relationships, and (4) offering flexibility in storytime expectations. By exploring a contextualized account of the work of storytellers, the findings suggest important avenues through which public programs may contribute to more equitable access to literacy learning

A solute gradient in the tear meniscus I. A hypothesis to explain Marx's line

Marx's line is a line of mucosal staining behind the mucocutaneous junction. It can be demonstrated throughout life in all normal lids by staining with lissamine green and related dyes. Of all the body orifices, only the mucosae of the eye and mouth are directly exposed to the atmosphere. In this paper, we suggest that for the eye, this exposure leads to the formation of Marx's line. The tear meniscus thins progressively toward its apex, where it is pinned at the mucocutaneous junction of the lid. It also thins toward the black line, which segregates the meniscus from the tear film after the blink. We predict that, because of the geometry of the tear meniscus, evaporation generates a solute gradient across the meniscus profile in the anteroposterior plane, which peaks at the meniscus apices at the end of the interblink. One outcome would be to amplify the level of tear molarity at these sites so that they reach hyperosmolar proportions. Preliminary mathematical modeling suggests that dilution of this effect by advection and diffusion of solute away from the meniscus apex at the mucocutaneous junction will be restricted by spatial constraints, the presence of tear and surface mucins at this site, and limited fluid flow. We conclude that evaporative water loss from the tear meniscus may result in a physiological zone of hyperosmolar and related stresses to the occlusal conjunctiva, directly behind the mucocutaneous junction. We hypothesize that this stimulates a high epithelial cell turnover at this site, incomplete epithelial maturation, and a failure to express key molecules such as MUC 16 and galectin-3, which, with the tight junctions between surface epithelial cells, are necessary to seal the ocular surface and prevent penetration of dyes and other molecules into the epithelium. This is proposed as the basis for Marx's line. In Part II of this paper (also published in this issue of The Ocular Surface), we address additional pathophysiological consequences of this mechanism, affecting lid margins

Dendrobates leucomelas

Number of Pages: 6Integrative BiologyGeological Science

A solute gradient in the tear meniscus II. implications for lid margin disease, including meibomian gland dysfunction

We have hypothesized previously that evaporation from the tears generates a solute gradient across the tear meniscus, which delivers hyperosmolar stress to the mucocutaneous junction (MCJ) of the lid margin. This is proposed as the basis for Marx's line, a line of staining with topically applied dyes that lies directly behind the MCJ. In this article, we consider the implications of this hypothesis for progressive damage to the lid margin as an age-related phenomenon, its amplification in dry eye states, and its possible role in the etiology of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). It is suggested that a hyperosmolar or related stimulus, acting behind the MCJ over a lifetime, promotes the anterior migration of the MCJ, which is a feature of the aging lid margin. This mechanism would be amplified in dry eye states, not only by reason of increased tear molarity at the meniscus apex but also by raising the concentration of inflammatory peptides at this site. This could explain the increased width and irregularity of Marx's line in dry eye. While the presence of stem cells at the lid margin may equip this region to respond to such stress, their depletion could be the basis of irreversible lid margin damage. It is further proposed, given the proximity of the MCJ to the meibomian gland orifices, that the solute gradient mechanism could play a role in the initiation of MGD by delivering hyperosmolar and inflammatory stresses to the terminal ducts and orifices of the glands. By the same token, the presence of a zone of increased epithelial permeability in this region may provide a back door route for the delivery of drugs in the treatment of MGD

Leaf Beetles of the Cayman Islands (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Data are presented for 29 chrysomelid species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) occurring in the Cayman Islands, West Indies, 26 of these not having been reported from these islands previously. Altica occidentalis Suffrian is removed from the genus Lysathia Bechyné and reinstated in Altica Geoffroy. Chaetocnema perplexa Blake is synonymized with Chaetocnema confinis Crotch, new synonymy. Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata (Crotch) is synonymized with Omophoita cyanipennis (Fabricius), new synonymy. The following nine species are named and described: Apraea luciae, Apraea priscilae, Cryptocephalus catharinae, Cryptocephalus kirki, Cryptocephalus paulotigrinus, Longitarsus alisonae, Megistops adiae, Nyctiplanctus bifasciatus, Syphrea thurstonae, all are new species. Taxonomic notes and a key to species, as well as information on plant associations and extralimital distribution, are also provided

A mass and solute balance model for tear volume & osmolarity in the normal and the dry eye

Tear hyperosmolarity is thought to play a key role in the mechanism of dry eye, a common symptomatic condition accompanied by visual disturbance, tear film instability, inflammation and damage to the ocular surface. We have constructed a model for the mass and solute balance of the tears, with parameter estimation based on extensive data from the literature which permits the influence of tear evaporation, lacrimal flux and blink rate on tear osmolarity to be explored. In particular the nature of compensatory events has been estimated in aqueous-deficient (ADDE) and evaporative (EDE) dry eye.\ud \ud The model reproduces observed osmolarities of the tear meniscus for the healthy eye and predicts a higher concentration in the tear film than meniscus in normal and dry eye states. The differential is small in the normal eye, but is significantly increased in dry eye, especially for the simultaneous presence of high meniscus concentration and low meniscus radius. This may influence the interpretation of osmolarity values obtained from meniscus samples since they need not fully reflect potential damage to the ocular surface caused by tear film hyperosmolarity.\ud \ud Interrogation of the model suggests that increases in blink rate may play a limited role in compensating for a rise in tear osmolarity in ADDE but that an increase in lacrimal flux, together with an increase in blink rate, may delay the development of hyperosmolarity in EDE. Nonetheless, it is predicted that tear osmolarity may rise to much higher levels in EDE than ADDE before the onset of tear film breakup, in the absence of events at the ocular surface which would independently compromise tear film stability. Differences in the predicted responses of the pre-ocular tears in ADDE compared to EDE or hybrid disease to defined conditions suggest that no single, empirically-accessible variable can act as a surrogate for tear film concentration and the potential for ocular surface damage. This emphasises the need to measure and integrate multiple diagnostic indicators to determine outcomes and prognosis. Modelling predictions in addition show that further studies concerning the possibility of a high lacrimal flux phenotype in EDE are likely to be profitable