On the digital forensic analysis of the Firefox browser via recovery of SQLite artifacts from unallocated space

A technique and supporting tool for the recovery of browsing activity (both stored and deleted) from current and recent versions of the Firefox web-browser is presented. The generality of the technique is discussed: It is applicable to any software that uses the popular SQLite embedded database engine such as the Apple Safari web-browser and many Android apps

All-optical combiner-splitter and gating devices based on straight waveguides

A two-mode optical combiner-splitter device is designed based on all straight waveguides that maintains the integrity of the two modes during propagation and allows for an analytic analysis. The design analysis has the potential to improve the precision of the device fabrication. The design is used in an analytic optical gate based on a nonlinear Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The design reduces the size of a previously proposed device and simplifies its analysis

One-step synthesis of pyridines and dihydropyridines in a continuous flow microwave reactor

The Bohlmann–Rahtz pyridine synthesis and the Hantzsch dihydropyridine synthesis can be carried out in a microwave flow reactor or using a conductive heating flow platform for the continuous processing of material. In the Bohlmann–Rahtz reaction, the use of a Brønsted acid catalyst allows Michael addition and cyclodehydration to be carried out in a single step without isolation of intermediates to give the corresponding trisubstituted pyridine as a single regioisomer in good yield. Furthermore, 3-substituted propargyl aldehydes undergo Hantzsch dihydropyridine synthesis in preference to Bohlmann–Rahtz reaction in a very high yielding process that is readily transferred to continuous flow processing

Discussion of ‘Style’ from Max Loehr and the Study of Chinese Bronzes, Style and Classification in the History of Art,

This essay is the concluding chapter of a study of the work of Max Loehr (1903-1988), an art historian whose visual analysis of unprovenanced Chinese bronzes famously anticipated the discoveries of archaeologists. It argues that Loehr’s strictly pragmatic understanding of style is implicit in the daily practice of most art historians, but that most of our explicit uses of the word, including such everyday expressions as ‘Romanesque style’ and ‘style of Raphael’, presume the existence of a mysterious, indefinable entity that is both a property of the object and a disembodied agent evolving independently of artists and objects. Not surprisingly, no procedure for ascertaining the style of an object has ever been described. The failure to recognize that style is not a physical property but only a shorthand for talking about comparisons is responsible for many classic confusions in art history. Finding the causes of a style or explaining its evolution (‘the origin of the Gothic style’, ‘the evolution from Renaissance to Baroque’), relating styles to times or cultures or nations, relating them across media (‘Baroque painting’ and ‘Baroque music’)—these are fictitious problems, artefacts of a mistaken belief in a thing called ‘style’

Discovery of quantitative trait loci that mediate the effects of prenatal stress on cocaine and sensorimotor behaviors: Implications for gene by environment interactions that contribute to psychiatric disorders

Gene by environment interactions may be important etiological factors that confer risk of numerous psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders are found to be heritable, indicating genetic variants contribute to risk and resilience. In addition to genetics, early life stress confers significant risk. Prenatal stress (PNS) is associated with numerous disorders and alterations to affect and cognition that suggest profound and enduring consequences. Preclinical studies causally indicate the deleterious effects of PNS on models of psychiatric disorders, including effects on prepulse inhibition (PPI) and cocaine reward and locomotion. The intersection of genetics and PNS has been explored and PNS was found to interact with genetic background. PNS differentially alters PPI and cocaine reward and locomotion in the C57/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) inbred mouse strains. These strains may serve as progenitors for populations that can be utilized in forward genetic studies for discovery of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that will facilitate discovery of PNS interacting variants. The following will present studies that utilized the BXD recombinant inbred mouse panel, derived from the B6 and D2 strains, to discover QTLs that interact with PNS to alter sensorimotor and cocaine-induced behaviors. A QTL by PNS interaction was discovered for PPI and acute cocaine locomotion. The BXD panel is a genetic reference population that allows for extensive accumulation and sharing of data across studies. Following discovery of these QTLs, publicly available BXD mRNA expression data was utilized to prioritize positional candidate genes. These efforts prioritized several positional candidate genes. In addition to offspring phenotypes, the maternal stress corticosterone response and effects of stress on dam-pup contact were assessed, as heritable maternal stress responses may contribute to strain differences in offspring phenotype, with implications for the interpretation of QTLs. Strain differences in the maternal corticosterone response and the maternal behavior response to stress associated with strain differences in PNS effects on male offspring cocaine phenotypes, suggesting a potential role for genetic variants that moderate the maternal stress response. The results obtained are a preliminary step in identifying genes that interact with PNS to confer risk of psychiatric disease

Use of swivel desks and aisle space to promote interaction in mid-sized college classrooms

Traditional designs for most mid-sized college classrooms discourage 1) face-to-face interaction among students, 2) instructor movement in the classroom, and 3) efficient transitions between different kinds of learning activities. An experimental classroom piloted during Spring Semester 2011 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uses clusters of stationary desks that swivel 360-degrees and aisle space to address these challenges. The findings from a study involving ten courses taught in the room suggest that there is a need for designs that not only promote quality interactions but also facilitate movement between small group work, class discussion, and lecture

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F. Robert Henderson et al., Increasing Eastern Bluebirds in Kansas, Kansas State University, November 1990