A Social Survey of Austin

The City of Austin, as every citizen well knows, has been richly endowed by nature. · We have the beautiful hills to the west, · which have come down to meet the fertile plains of the Gulf, to rest ~he eye, and the trees are abundant. The natural health conditio~s are unsurpas~ed. The State Capitol, the State Insti tutions for the Blind, Deaf, and Insane, and the State University, along with a number of private schools, add to the general attrac tiveness of the city. Yet we have permitted certain social ills to spring up with the growth of our city. We are still in the Dark Ages of sanitary and health regulations. The present City Administration has adopted a forward pro gram of municipal improvements, and Austin has taken new life. A number of miles of paving has been constructed, the water sys tem, lighting system, and parking system have been greatly im proved. The sewer system has been doubled; laws are better enforced; and the city is now constructing a dam across the Colo rado River, which is to cost $1,500,000. Along with these material improvements, it is fitting that the city should take an invoice of the sanitary and health conditions. It seems certain that an administration such as this, needs only to be informed as . to the deplorable conditions as they now exist in order that effective remedies will be adopted. The purpose of this survey is to reveal certain deep-seated social ailments in this community, to state as accurately as possible the actual sanitary and health conditions under which we live, and arouse the public mind to see the great need of eradicati'ng these bad conditions. The inadequacy of present organization of the · health department and present ordinances for. effecting proper sani tary and health conditions has been pointed out. And a policy of next-steps in municipal housekeeping has been suggested~Waller Creek Working Grou

Bostonia. Volume 12

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Structural Inductive Biases in Emergent Communication

In order to communicate, humans flatten a complex representation of ideas and their attributes into a single word or a sentence. We investigate the impact of representation learning in artificial agents by developing graph referential games. We empirically show that agents parametrized by graph neural networks develop a more compositional language compared to bag-of-words and sequence models, which allows them to systematically generalize to new combinations of familiar features.Comment: The first two authors contributed equally. Poster presented at CogSci 202

A Hormone-Activated Central Pattern Generator for Courtship

Background: Medicinal leeches (Hirudo spp.) are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Mating occurs after a stereotyped twisting and oral exploration that result in the alignment of the male and/or female gonopores of one leech with the complementary gonopores of a partner. The neural basis of this behavior is presently unknown and currently impossible to study directly because electrophysiological recording techniques disrupt the behavior. Results: Here we report that (Arg^8)-conopressin G and two other members of the oxytocin/vasopressin family of peptide hormones induce in Hirudo verbana a sequence of behaviors that closely mimic elements of spontaneous reproductive behavior. Through a series of progressively more reduced preparations, we show that one of these behaviors, a stereotyped twisting that is instrumental in aligning gonopores in preparation for copulation, is the product of a central pattern generator that consists of oscillators in ganglia M5 and M6 (the ganglia in the reproductive segments of the leech), and also in ganglion M4, which was not previously known to play a role in reproductive behavior. We find that the behavior is periodic, with a remarkably long cycle period of around five minutes, placing it among the slowest behavioral rhythms (other than diurnal and annual rhythms) yet described. Conclusion: These results establish the leech as a new model system for studying aspects of the neuronal basis of reproductive behavior. Highlights: Oxytocin/vasopressin homologs induce precopulatory movements in a leech. These movements are generated by a central pattern generator. Segmental ganglia M4, M5, and M6 can each generate fictive behavior in isolatio

Design, assembly, and validation of a nose-only inhalation exposure system for studies of aerosolized viable influenza H5N1 virus in ferrets

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The routes by which humans acquire influenza H5N1 infections have not been fully elucidated. Based on the known biology of influenza viruses, four modes of transmission are most likely in humans: aerosol transmission, ingestion of undercooked contaminated infected poultry, transmission by large droplets and self-inoculation of the nasal mucosa by contaminated hands. In preparation of a study to resolve whether H5N1 viruses are transmissible by aerosol in an animal model that is a surrogate for humans, an inhalation exposure system for studies of aerosolized H5N1 viruses in ferrets was designed, assembled, and validated. Particular attention was paid towards system safety, efficacy of dissemination, the viability of aerosolized virus, and sampling methodology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An aerosol generation and delivery system, referred to as a Nose-Only Bioaerosol Exposure System (NBIES), was assembled and function tested. The NBIES passed all safety tests, met expected engineering parameters, required relatively small quantities of material to obtain the desired aerosol concentrations of influenza virus, and delivered doses with high-efficacy. Ferrets withstood a mock exposure trial without signs of stress.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The NBIES delivers doses of aerosolized influenza viruses with high efficacy, and uses less starting material than other similar designs. Influenza H5N1 and H3N2 viruses remain stable under the conditions used for aerosol generation and sample collection. The NBIES is qualified for studies of aerosolized H5N1 virus.</p

Factors affecting ammonium uptake in streams - an inter-biome perspective

The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen experiment (LINX) was a coordinated study of the relationships between North American biomes and factors governing ammonium uptake in streams. Our objective was to relate inter-biome variability of ammonium uptake to physical, chemical and biological processes. 2. Data were collected from 11 streams ranging from arctic to tropical and from desert to rainforest. Measurements at each site included physical, hydraulic and chemical characteristics, biological parameters, whole-stream metabolism and ammonium uptake. Ammonium uptake was measured by injection of \u275~-ammonium and downstream measurements of 15N-ammonium concentration. 3. We found no general, statistically significant relationships that explained the variability in ammonium uptake among sites. However, this approach does not account for the multiple mechanisms of ammonium uptake in streams. When we estimated biological demand for inorganic nitrogen based on our measurements of in-stream metabolism, we found good correspondence between calculated nitrogen demand and measured assimilative nitrogen uptake. 4. Nitrogen uptake varied little among sites, reflecting metabolic compensation in streams in a variety of distinctly different biomes (autotrophic production is high where allochthonous inputs are relatively low and vice versa). 5. Both autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism require nitrogen and these biotic processes dominate inorganic nitrogen retention in streams. Factors that affect the relative balance of autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism indirectly control inorganic nitrogen uptake