Exploring College Students\u27 Perceptions of College Gun Violence: A Meta-Analysis

College gun violence has been one of our nation’s most forefront issues in recent years. The present meta-analysis reviewed studies reporting college students’ perceptions about school/college gun violence in order to summarize the total effect and direction of these research findings. There were only two studies identified for this research topic: Study A and Study B. Combining the effect sizes from both studies could not be accomplished because there was not enough data from Study A to calculate the correlation coefficient(r) or standardized mean difference (SMD). The summary of the results of the two studies as a metaanalysis was more a descriptive analysis. With the exception of the more conservative study participants, participants in both studies felt the most significant variable in the occurrence of school/college gun violence was the mental health of the individual perpetrator

A Framework for Secure and Survivable Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks increasingly become viable solutions to many challenging problems and will successively be deployed in many areas in the future. A wireless sensor network (WSN) is vulnerable to security attacks due to the insecure communication channels, limited computational and communication capabilities and unattended nature of sensor node devices, limited energy resources and memory. Security and survivability of these systems are receiving increasing attention, particularly critical infrastructure protection. So we need to design a framework that provide both security and survivability for WSNs. To meet this goals, we propose a framework for secure and survivable WSNs and we present a key management scheme as a case study to prevent the sensor networks being compromised by an adversary. This paper also considers survivability strategies for the sensor network against a variety of threats that can lead to the failure of the base station, which represents a central point of failure.key management scheme, security, survivability, WSN

The Correlation Between Perceived Discrimination and Social Anxiety in College Students Who Identify as LGBTQ

Discrimination can have many adverse effects on a college student. Stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideology, and social motivation are some of the negative impacts to the psychological well-being of those exposed to discrimination. Social interaction anxiety in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity may impact social motivation in college students. The motivation to engage in socialization on campus may be hindered by an individual’s experience with discrimination. Though a diverse student body may help lower instances of discrimination, students may still be influenced by stigmas within these groups which may impact physical and psychological behaviors. The author of the current study explored the relationship between discrimination and social interaction anxiety in 38 self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) undergraduate students. Participants completed a survey assessing experiences of perceived discrimination and levels of social anxiety. The results from the current pilot study portrayed a weak and direct correlation between perceived discrimination and social interaction anxiety, r = .31, p \u3c 0.03 (one tailed), r² = .10. The data suggests that discrimination is an issue that sexual minority undergraduate students face which relates to their levels of social motivation

Flower heating following anthesis and the evolution of gall midge pollination in Schisandraceae

Premise of the study: Flower heating is known from a few species in 11 of the c. 450 families of flowering plants. Flowers in these families produce heat metabolically and are adapted to beetles or flies as pollinators. Here, we focus on the Schisandraceae, an American/Asian plant family known to exhibit flower heating in some species, but not others, raising the question of the adaptive function of heat production. Methods: We used field observations, experiments, and ancestral trait reconstruction on a molecular phylogeny for Schisandraceae that includes the investigated species. Key results: At least two Chinese species of Illicium are exclusively pollinated by gall midges that use the flowers as brood sites (not for pollen feeding). Continuous monitoring of flower temperatures revealed that the highest temperatures were attained after the flowers’ sexual functions were over, and experiments showed that post-anthetic warming benefited larval development, not fruit development. Midge larvae in flowers with trimmed tepals (and hence a lower temperature) died, but fruit set ratios remained unchanged. Based on the DNA phylogeny, gall midge pollination evolved from general fly/beetle pollination several times in Schisandraceae, with some species adapted to flower-breeding midges, others to pollen-feeding midges. Conclusions: Flower heating may be an ancestral trait in Schisandraceae that became co-opted in species pollinated by flower-breeding midges requiring long-persistent warm chambers for larval development

Comparison of Different Structural Software for Multistory Building Design in Terms of Concrete Columns Reinforcement

The use of computers for the analysis and design of structures has become a standard practice in today's world especially in the design of complex structures, such that space craft, aircraft, tall building, long span bridges, etc. As a result of standard practice of computational design of tall building structures, there are a number of software in the market for a solution of similar problem; however, there is not exist any comparative analysis among commercially available software for tall building design. This research study was focused on the comparative analysis of different software. The comparison wasmadein terms of efficiently, ease in modelling and economy of design. Structure model with different combination of building height and bay width were used to carryout the analytical study. In orderto maintain the consistency and accuracy of the results output, columnsizes were kept constantfor all the models. Two software, Prokon Version Wl.1.02 and STAAD Pro 2002 which are very common in the structural practices in Malaysiawere used for this comparative analysis. Based on the analytical and structural design results, STAAD Pro 2002 is found to be more superior to Prokon Version Wl.1.02 in term of tall building modelling. STAAD Pro software proved to be an highly efficiency software, which produced more economical design as compared to Prokon. Moreover, the differences, similarities as well as the limitations of both programs have been identified in this project. On the whole, STAAD Pro software is a more advance program which is appropriate for tall building modelling purposes

Multimodal biometrics score level fusion using non-confidence information

Multimodal biometrics refers to automatic authentication methods that depend on multiple modalities of measurable physical characteristics. It alleviates most of the restrictions of single biometrics. To combine the multimodal biometrics scores, three different categories of fusion approaches including rule based, classification based and density based approaches are available. When choosing an approach, one has to consider not only the fusion performance, but also system requirements and other circumstances. In the context of verification, classification errors arise from samples in the overlapping region (or non- confidence region) between genuine users and impostors. In score space, a further separation of the samples outside the non-confidence region does not result in further verification improvements. Therefore, information contained in the non-confidence region might be useful for improving the fusion process. Up to this point, no attempts are reported in the literature that tries to enhance the fusion process using this additional information. In this work, the use of this information is explored in rule based and density based approaches mentioned above

Solutions to time variant problems of real-time expert systems

Real-time expert systems for monitoring and control are driven by input data which changes with time. One of the subtle problems of this field is the propagation of time variant problems from rule to rule. This propagation problem is even complicated under a multiprogramming environment where the expert system may issue test commands to the system to get data and to access time consuming devices to retrieve data for concurrent reasoning. Two approaches are used to handle the flood of input data. Snapshots can be taken to freeze the system from time to time. The expert system treats the system as a stationary one and traces changes by comparing consecutive snapshots. In the other approach, when an input is available, the rules associated with it are evaluated. For both approaches, if the premise condition of a fired rule is changed to being false, the downstream rules should be deactivated. If the status change is due to disappearance of a transient problem, actions taken by the fired downstream rules which are no longer true may need to be undone. If a downstream rule is being evaluated, it should not be fired. Three mechanisms for solving this problem are discussed: tracing, backward checking, and censor setting. In the forward tracing mechanism, when the premise conditions of a fired rule become false, the premise conditions of downstream rules which have been fired or are being evaluated due to the firing of that rule are reevaluated. A tree with its root at the rule being deactivated is traversed. In the backward checking mechanism, when a rule is being fired, the expert system checks back on the premise conditions of the upstream rules that result in evaluation of the rule to see whether it should be fired. The root of the tree being traversed is the rule being fired. In the censor setting mechanism, when a rule is to be evaluated, a censor is constructed based on the premise conditions of the upstream rules and the censor is evaluated just before the rule is fired. Unlike the backward checking mechanism, this one does not search the upstream rules. This paper explores the details of implementation of the three mechanisms

モンゴル国での妊婦および生後6ヶ月児でのインフルエンザおよびRSウイルス感染症の疾病負荷に関する疫学研究

Tohoku University押谷仁課

The role of palliative radiotherapy for haemostasis in unresectable gastric cancer:a single-institution experience

Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes of patients with gastric cancer bleeding who had been treated with palliative radiotherapy with haemostatic intent. Methods and materials: Fifty-two gastric cancer patients aged 52–92 years (median 78 years) with active bleeding or anaemia resulting from inoperable gastric cancer were treated with short-course radiotherapy. Responses to radiotherapy treatment were evaluated based on the changes of haemoglobin level, number of transfusions received before and after radiotherapy, and overall median survival. Results: Thirty-nine (75%) patients received single 8 Gy fraction, and 13 (25%) patients received 20 Gy in five daily fractions. The need for transfusion was evaluable in 44 patients, and the response rate was 50%, with less requirement for blood transfusions within four weeks of radiotherapy. There was also an increase in mean haemoglobin level (0.66 ± 1.12 g/dl, p < 0.01) after radiotherapy in 35 evaluable patients. The overall median survival (calculated from last day of treatment to date of death) was 160 days (95% CI of 119–201 days), making actuarial 12-month survival 15%. Conclusion: Palliative short-course radiotherapy is a reasonably effective treatment that can provide durable palliation of bleeding in gastric cancer. Keywords: bleeding, gastric cancer, haemostasis, palliative, radiotherap