Pathways to Externalizing Behavior: The Effects of Mother\u27s Harsh Parenting and Toddler\u27s Emotional Reactivity

Externalizing behavior is stable as early as 2 years of age and is a precursor to many childhood and adult negative outcomes. Although global self report data show a relationship between parenting and children\u27s externalizing, few studies have examined the proximal effect of observed mother\u27s parenting on children\u27s expression of aggression. A sample of 55 primarily African American, toddler-mother dyads were observed in their homes. Data was collected on the 2-year-old children\u27s emotional reactivity, externalizing behavior, social competence and mother\u27s harsh and supportive parenting. A second wave of data was collected one year later with a smaller sample, n=37.Children who were boys and more emotionally reactive had higher Externalizing scores on the CBCL, both at age 2 and 3. Mothers who used contingent harsh parenting in response to child noncompliance had children who were higher on Externalizing behavior concurrently, but not across time. Mother\u27s contingent supportive parenting in response to child compliance at age 2 predicted children\u27s Social Competence at age 3. Results lend support to a transactional model of parent-child interaction very early in development that can be linked variously to children\u27s aggressive, acting out and prosocial behaviors

Hands-on introductory training in Backdoor and SQL injection attacks

Software, though vital to organizations, come with risks attached. Malicious use of software has caused a great deal of damage to individuals, companies, and even countries. Accounting students generally do not acquire detailed understanding of such threats. To introduce accounting students to software vulnerabilities, we provide two MS Access exercises illustrating simplified versions of Backdoor attacks and SQL injection attacks. These quick and simple-to-do introductory exercises help accounting students get a closer look at software vulnerabilities. The COSO framework, to address such risks is discussed. Post exercise survey revealed increased understanding of software vulnerabilities

Innovating new virus diagnostics and planting bed management in the Australian Sweetpotato Industry

The provision of disease free planting material is a key driver of Australia’s burgeoning sweetpotato industry, which currently achieves the highest commercial yields in the world. Australian Sweetpotato Growers Inc. (ASPG) investigated how to improve productivity of on-farm multiplication nurseries (plant beds). Their four-year project also studied virus occurrence and threats to the Australian industry and explored new techniques for detecting viruses. The project worked closely with commercial sweetpotato growers in Queensland and Northern New South Wales, representing 95% of Australia’s production. Queensland scientists monitored grower plant beds over four years, assessing production of planting material (sprouts), and problems, such as plant bed breakdown, that arose during the season. They investigated management options such as sweetpotato root size, plant bed nutrition, irrigation and soil temperatures, in detailed experiments at research facilities and with on-farm collaborators. The virology team surveyed viruses present in the Australian industry, and how they varied geographically and across the season. They compared different diagnostic techniques, including herbaceous indexing, NCM-ELISA and qPCR for accuracy and cost-efficiency. Research demonstrated sprout multiplication could be improved 25% by constructing higher, well-drained plant beds, only covering bedding roots with 3-5 cm of soil, irrigating sparingly early, and keeping soil temperatures between 17-26oC in spring by careful use of plastic covers. The dominant issue was premature plant bed breakdown, particularly with the new, nematode-resistant cultivar Bellevue. The project investigated physiological and pathogenic causes of breakdown and developed guidelines to reduce risk. Surveying found only two main viruses, sweetpotato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and sweetpotato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) in commercial cropping areas. North Queensland has two more viruses at least, mainly in home/market garden situations. The Australian industry planting material scheme is free of viruses, and by using pathogen-tested material, virus infections have negligible impact on yields. Herbaceous indexing with Ipomoea setosa is still the most reliable method of detecting sweetpotato viruses but is very time consuming. Molecular technologies such as qPCR proved accurate for two viruses, however for several endemic and exotic viruses, current assays produced too many false negatives, particularly testing asymptomatic sweetpotato material. The molecular technologies are very cost-effective and are rapidly improving. The project developed new virus assays for endemic and exotic viruses not currently in Australia. The project team prepared plant bed and virus management guides, as well as fact sheets and experimental reports, available on ASPG and Hort Innovation websites. They had excellent engagement with well over 85% of current Australian sweetpotato growers, through on-farm visits, and 24 field days and workshops during the project. The project also developed exciting collaborative relationships with sweetpotato researchers at several Australian Universities, neighbouring Pacific countries, and particularly scientists from Louisiana State University. The latter were involved in several reciprocal visits over the four years. Further research into the causes and management of premature breakdown of plant beds would certainly benefit the Australian industry, as would improvement in molecular diagnostic assays for virus detection, to support sweetpotato industry biosecurity

X-linked Hyper IgM (HIGM1) in an African kindred: the first report from South Africa

BACKGROUND:The objective of this study was to describe the clinical and molecular features of the first South African family with X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome (HIGM1). METHODS: Diagnoses were based on immunoglobulin results and the absence of CD40 ligand (CD40L) expression on activated T-cells. Complete molecular characterisation involved CD40L cDNA sequencing, and genomic DNA analysis by polymerase chain reaction amplification, restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing. A PCR-based diagnostic assay was established for carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis in this family. RESULTS: There were originally six children, three males and three females. The eldest boy died after being diagnosed with hypogammaglobulinaemia, before HIGM1 was considered. This disorder was diagnosed in the second eldest boy at the age of 5 years, after failing to detect CD40L expression on his activated T-cells. A deficiency of CD40L was also confirmed in the youngest male at the age of 5 years. Both younger brothers have since died of infections relating to HIGM1. Molecular investigation showed that exon 3 was deleted from the CD40L mRNA of the affected males. Genomic DNA analysis identified a 1.5 kilobase deletion, spanning exon 3 and including extended flanking intronic sequence. Carrier status in the mother was confirmed by RT-PCR of her CD40L mRNA. Genetic analysis of the three female children was deferred because they were below the legal consenting age of 18 years. A PCR-based assay for genomic DNA was established for easy identification of female carriers and affected males in the future. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the diagnosis of HIGM1 in the first South African family to be investigated and identified a novel mutation in the CD40L gene

L-2 hydroxyglutaric aciduria in a South African Staffordshire Bull Terrier

L-2 hydroxyglutaric aciduria is an autosomal recessive error of metabolism that manifests as an encephalopathy. The most common presenting signs are seizures, tremors, ataxia and/ or dementia. Some affected dogs show only subtle behavioural changes. Amongst canines, the condition has been best described in Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Although this is the first reported case in South Africa, at least three other affected dogs have been indentified by polmerase chain reaction (PCR) in this country. Affected dogs have normal haematology, serum biochemistry and routine urine analysis. This report discusses the advantages and limitations of the three main diagnostic modalities, namely: magnetic resonance imaging, urine gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and genetic testing. The aim of this report is to increase awareness of the condition, assist diagnosis in encephalopathic dogs and improve detection of carriers amongst breeding stock

The face of empire: the cultural production of U.S. imperialism in the Panama Canal Zone and California, 1904–1916

The U.S. government's construction of the Panama Canal (1904–1914) presented a template for expansive imperialism in Latin America in the twentieth century. After the highly publicized atrocities of the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) and the popular anti-imperialist movement at the turn of the century, imperial boosters required a new strategy. The U.S. government’s Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) thus sold the Panama Canal project to the American public as a peaceful, beneficent development project rather than a coercive occupation. Imperial boosters continuously reinforced this message from the construction era onward through the cultural production of attractive, reassuring images that profoundly influenced media coverage of the canal project and the resulting public perceptions of U.S. imperialism in the American-run Panama Canal Zone (PCZ). Visually appealing images of canal construction highlighted the technological wonders of its engineering and made the canal a metaphor for the proclaimed superiority of American civilization in the jungle. The PCZ emerged as an unprecedented model for imperial occupation, in that boosters packaged the annexed territory as an Edenic civilian enclave rather than a militarized zone. The cultural production of this publicity, particularly visual images of technology and white settler life in the PCZ, worked to neutralize popular resistance to U.S. imperial expansion in the early twentieth century. The publicity triumph of the PCZ was consolidated by corollary mainland initiatives, the two world’s fairs in California in 1915–1916 commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal. Panama, San Diego, and San Francisco became three points on a circuit of imperial power, bound together inextricably with the opening of the canal. San Diego organized the Panama-California Exposition (PCE) in 1915–1916, and San Francisco staged the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in 1915. These two expositions significantly advanced the publicity efforts of empire boosters, while furthering the imperial aspirations of the two cities. San Diego used its fair to exert control over the U.S. Southwest in an effort to forge an inland empire that would position the city as an imperial hub. The PCE employed scientific racism to justify white supremacy, Indian removal, and imperial expansion, both "at home" in the U.S. West and "abroad" in the PCZ, as imperial boundaries between "the domestic" and "the foreign" blurred. Fair exhibits and publications celebrated hydraulic engineering in both California and Panama as critical to expanding white American settler societies, and justified the dislocation of indigenous peoples in both locations in the name of progress, modernity, and civilization. San Francisco’s imperial boosterism also served local needs, as the city used the PPIE to stage a renaissance from the cataclysmic 1906 earthquake and fire and position itself as an imperial metropole on a global stage, a vital outpost on the Pacific Rim. San Francisco boosters strove to turn the fair into a wider celebration of imperialism in the tradition of Western Civilization. The PPIE claimed the legacy of Imperial Rome and the Greek Empire of city-states, which San Francisco aspired to imitate. The PPIE created a spectacle for millions of fairgoers who were dazzled and spellbound by the architecture, landscaping, sculpture, color design, and the unprecedented lighting shows. Fairgoers were lulled into a state of political quiescence by the fair’s sublime beauty and thus consented to imperialism without critically analyzing it. Visiting the fair became an aesthetic experience, one that fostered acquiescence and discouraged dissent. From Panama in 1904 to California in 1916, promoters made the expanding U.S. empire appear peaceful, consensual, beneficent, and beautiful, a marketing strategy that was difficult to argue with