A Benefit Transfer Toolkit for Fish, Wildlife, Wetlands, and Open Space

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

An Economic Evaluation of a Phosphate Basal Dressing Scheme for the Niamey Department

Coarse grain yields have remained relatively constant and production has stagnated in Niger during the past six years, while the population has risen. This paper examines one proposed government intervention to increase cereal production: the application of a one-time basal dressing using phosphates fertilizers. This intervention may provide a means of raising production to keep pace with increasing cereal demand; it may also augment soil fertility in the short run. This evaluation presents a preliminary economic analysis and suggests areas for further work towards a phosphate basal dressing scheme. In order to simplify the analysis, the scheme is only considered for millet production in the Niamey Department. Sections II and III examine the technical issues of a phosphate basal dressing scheme, and derive the assumptions concerning the effects of such a scheme which are made for the base case analysis. Section IV presents the economic evaluation; and Section V draws conclusions and recommendations from the analysis.Center for Research on Economic Development, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100878/1/ECON330.pd

Exposure to the Dental Environment and Prevalence of Respiratory Illness in Dental Student Populations

Objective: To determine if the prevalence of respiratory disease among dental students and dental residents varies with their exposure to the clinical dental environment. Methods: A detailed questionnaire was administered to 817 students at 3 dental schools. The questionnaire sought information concerning demographic characteristics, school year, exposure to the dental environment and dental procedures, and history of respiratory disease. The data obtained were subjected to bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Respondents reported experiencing the following respiratory conditions during the previous year: asthma (26 cases), bronchitis (11 cases), chronic lung disease (6 cases), pneumonia (5 cases) and streptococcal pharyngitis (50 cases). Bivariate statistical analyses indicated no significant associations between the prevalence of any of the respiratory conditions and year in dental school, except for asthma, for which there was a significantly higher prevalence at 1 school compared to the other 2 schools. When all cases of respiratory disease were combined as a composite variable and subjected to multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for age, sex, race, dental school, smoking history and alcohol consumption, no statistically significant association was observed between respiratory condition and year in dental school or exposure to the dental environment as a dental patient. Conclusion: No association was found between the prevalence of respiratory disease and a student\u27s year in dental school or previous exposure to the dental environment as a patient. These results suggest that exposure to the dental environment does not increase the risk for respiratory infection in healthy dental health care workers

Current ecological understanding of fungal-like pathogens of fish: what lies beneath?

Despite increasingly sophisticated microbiological techniques, and long after the first discovery of microbes, basic knowledge is still lacking to fully appreciate the ecological importance of microbial parasites in fish. This is likely due to the nature of their habitats as many species of fish suffer from living beneath turbid water away from easy recording. However, fishes represent key ecosystem services for millions of people around the world and the absence of a functional ecological understanding of viruses, prokaryotes, and small eukaryotes in the maintenance of fish populations and of their diversity represents an inherent barrier to aquatic conservation and food security. Among recent emerging infectious diseases responsible for severe population declines in plant and animal taxa, fungal and fungal-like microbes have emerged as significant contributors. Here, we review the current knowledge gaps of fungal and fungal-like parasites and pathogens in fish and put them into an ecological perspective with direct implications for the monitoring of fungal fish pathogens in the wild, their phylogeography as well as their associated ecological impact on fish populations. With increasing fish movement around the world for farming, releases into the wild for sport fishing and human-driven habitat changes, it is expected along with improved environmental monitoring of fungal and fungal-like infections, that the full extent of the impact of these pathogens on wild fish populations will soon emerge as a major threat to freshwater biodiversity

Garden Equipment and Items to Make for the Maine Garden

Do-It-Yourself directions for making garden equipment and other items including newspaper pots, PVC light stands for seedlings, two-tier seedling stand, cold frame, raised bed, plant in a bag, celery blancher, and planting holes in plastic.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/extension_garden_yard/1002/thumbnail.jp

Inception: Virtual Space in Memory Space in Real Space

Virtual Reality (VR) has become a reality. With the technology\u27s increased use cases, comes its misuse. Malware affecting the Virtual Environment (VE) may prevent an investigator from ascertaining virtual information from a physical scene, or from traditional “dead” analysis. Following the trend of antiforensics, evidence of an attack may only be found in memory, along with many other volatile data points. Our work provides the primary account for the memory forensics of Immersive VR systems, and in specific the HTC Vive. Our approach is capable of reconstituting artifacts from memory that are relevant to the VE, and is also capable of reconstructing a visualization of the room setup a VR player was immersed into. In specific, we demonstrate that the VE, location, state and class of VR devices can be extracted from memory. Our work resulted in the first open source VR memory forensics plugin for the Volatility Framework. We discuss our findings, and our replicable approach that may be used in future memory forensics research

Digital Forensics in the Next Five Years

Cyber forensics has encountered major obstacles over the last decade and is at a crossroads. This paper presents data that was obtained during the National Workshop on Redefining Cyber Forensics (NWRCF) on May 23-24, 2017 supported by the National Science Foundation and organized by the University of New Haven. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed from twenty-four cyber forensics expert panel members. This work identified important themes that need to be addressed by the community, focusing on (1) where the domain currently is; (2) where it needs to go and; (3) steps needed to improve it. Furthermore, based on the results, we articulate (1) the biggest anticipated challenges the domain will face in the next five years; (2) the most important cyber forensics research opportunities in the next five years and; (3) the most important job-ready skills that need to be addressed by higher education curricula over the next five years. Lastly, we present the key issues and recommendations deliberated by the expert panel. Overall results indicated that a more active and coherent group needs to be formed in the cyber forensics community, with opportunities for continuous reassessment and improvement processes in place