A Dialogue about the Impacts of Mass Digitization Projects

The mass digitization of libraries raises significant issues that will ultimately have impact on public policy. Copyright questions, open access, and the digital divide are just a few of the issues that come to the forefront. The role of the government in a partnership between a private and public institution will also be a point of much debate. We are at the threshold of an era unlike any other. Decisions we make now will lay the foundation for how future generations will be able to access and use online content. We must take the time to make these decisions with the greatest of thought and care. This panel offers us an opportunity to begin this discussion.University of Michigan University Library & National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; held March 10 and March 11, 2006 in Rackham Auditorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57310/4/mdp-public_policy.movhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57310/3/kahin.pd

Attitudes toward groups and behavioral intentions toward individual group members: The impact of nondiagnostic information

The current research examined the impact that nondiagnostic individuating information has on the consistency between subjects' attitudes toward a group and their behavioral intentions toward individual group members. Consistent with predictions, nondiagnostic individuating information reduced the consistency between subjects' intentions to vote for a political candidate and their attitudes toward the candidate's political party to a greater degree if the information was relatively high in typical diagnosticity (i.e., useful across many social judgment and behavioral tasks) than if it was relatively low in typical diagnosticity (i.e., useful across few social judgment and behavioral tasks). In addition, the information that was relatively high in typical diagnosticity reduced the perceived representativeness of the party member more than did the information that was low in typical diagnosticity. Moreover, the effect that individuating information had on the representativeness of the party member was correlated significantly with the impact that the information had on the consistency between subjects' attitudes toward the party and their voting intentions regarding the party member. The implications of these findings are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30166/1/0000550.pd

Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Habitat Monitoring and Assessment - 2010 Final Report

For the last two decades, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS), a federally endangered species, has been a pivot point for water management operations in the Everglades, primarily because a decline in sparrow population in the early 1990s was attributed in part to managementinduced alterations in hydrologic regimes. With a goal of understanding the response of landscape-level processes to hydrological restoration and its interaction with fire, a study intended to monitor vegetation structure and composition throughout the marl prairie landscape has been conducted since 2003 with funding from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In the first three years (2003-2005), vegetation structure and composition was characterized in relation to the existing hydrologic regime and fire history. During 2006-2010, vegetation was resampled to assess vegetation change within the sparrow habitat. This document summarizes the vegetation change pattern observed between the two sampling periods in sub-population A, C, E and F, emphasizing the work accomplished in FY 2010

Differing instructional needs for children of similar reading achievement grades two, four, and six

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Partially Randomized, Non-Blinded Trial of DNA and MVA Therapeutic Vaccines Based on Hepatitis B Virus Surface Protein for Chronic HBV Infection

BACKGROUND: Chronic HBV infects 350 million people causing cancer and liver failure. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of plasmid DNA (pSG2.HBs) vaccine, followed by recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA.HBs), encoding the surface antigen of HBV as therapy for chronic HBV. A secondary goal was to characterize the immune responses. METHODS: Firstly 32 HBV e antigen negative (eAg(-)) participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: to receive vaccines alone, lamivudine (3TC) alone, both, or neither. Later 16 eAg(+) volunteers in two groups received either 3TC alone or both 3TC and vaccines. Finally, 12 eAg(-) and 12 eAg(+) subjects were enrolled into higher-dose treatment groups. Healthy but chronically HBV-infected males between the ages of 15-25 who lived in the western part of The Gambia were eligible. Participants in some groups received 1 mg or 2 mg of pSG2.HBs intramuscularly twice followed by 5×10(7) pfu or 1.5×10(8) pfu of MVA.HBs intradermally at 3-weekly intervals with or without concomitant 3TC for 11-14 weeks. Intradermal rabies vaccine was administered to a negative control group. Safety was assessed clinically and biochemically. The primary measure of efficacy was a quantitative PCR assay of plasma HBV. Immunity was assessed by IFN-γ ELISpot and intracellular cytokine staining. RESULTS: Mild local and systemic adverse events were observed following the vaccines. A small shiny scar was observed in some cases after MVA.HBs. There were no significant changes in AST or ALT. HBeAg was lost in one participant in the higher-dose group. As expected, the 3TC therapy reduced viraemia levels during therapy, but the prime-boost vaccine regimen did not reduce the viraemia. The immune responses were variable. The majority of IFN-γ was made by antigen non-specific CD16(+) cells (both CD3(+) and CD3(-)). CONCLUSIONS: The vaccines were well tolerated but did not control HBV infection. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN ISRCTN67270384

Effect of Hydrologic Restoration on the Habitat of the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, 2008 – Final Report

This document summarizes the activities that were accomplished in 2008, the sixth year of the research project “Effect of hydrologic restoration on the habitat of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow”, a collaborative effort among the US Army Corps of Engineers, Everglades National Park, Florida International University, and the US Geological Survey (Florida Integrated Science Center). The major activities in 2008 included field work, data analysis, and presentations. Jay Sah presented the results of 6th year field work at the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS) Fire Meeting 2008, held on December 2-3 at the Krome Center, Homestead, Florida. In the same meeting, Mike Ross presented results from a related USFWS-funded project on encroachment pattern of woody plants in Cape Sable seaside sparrow habitat