Intelligence Dissemination Among Local, State, and Federal Law Enforcement: The Necessity, Gaps, and Recommendations

The purpose of this study is to examine how intelligence is gathered in the Southern State Region, identify perceived gaps in the current policies used with this communication and offer potential solutions to intelligence communication flaws. An interview-based research of Southern State Region officers and agents and the support of peer-reviewed academic articles shaped the research in this paper. The results of this research indicated that (a) personal connections between law enforcement agents and federal agents are the backbone of the current process utilized in information sharing, (b) there are gaps when personnel leave their position in office because of the personal connections that are used while in office, and (c) the fusion center in the Southern State Region is a highly underutilized because of its lack of publicity and resources. Implications for future research and practice are discussed

Learning Styles and Gender: How They Influence Academic Performance

The current study examined whether biological sex and learning style had an influence on a student’s academic performance. The participants were asked to take a nineteen-question survey. This survey included sixteen questions from the VARK questionnaire. Three additional questions were added asked for the participant’s age, biological sex, and grade-point average (GPA). The answers were recorded anonymously. These answers were then entered into the VARK questionnaire to determine the participant’s learning style. The results revealed no main effects or interactions. These results are important to studies of academic performance and what aspects can influence it

Alternative Shelter Evaluation Report

This report summarizes research by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative for the Joint Office of Homeless Services on the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to each other and to traditional, congregate shelters

PSAPP mice exhibit regionally selective reductions in gliosis and plaque deposition in response to S100B ablation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Numerous studies have reported that increased expression of S100B, an intracellular Ca²⁺receptor protein and secreted neuropeptide, exacerbates Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. However, the ability of S100B inhibitors to prevent/reverse AD histopathology remains controversial. This study examines the effect of S100B ablation on <it>in vivo </it>plaque load, gliosis and dystrophic neurons.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Because S100B-specific inhibitors are not available, genetic ablation was used to inhibit S100B function in the PSAPP AD mouse model. The PSAPP/S100B^-/-line was generated by crossing PSAPP double transgenic males with S100B^-/-females and maintained as PSAPP/S100B^+/-crosses. Congo red staining was used to quantify plaque load, plaque number and plaque size in 6 month old PSAPP and PSAPP/S100B^-/-littermates. The microglial marker Iba1 and astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were used to quantify gliosis. Dystrophic neurons were detected with the phospho-tau antibody AT8. S100B immunohistochemistry was used to assess the spatial distribution of S100B in the PSAPP line.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PSAPP/S100B^-/-mice exhibited a regionally selective decrease in cortical but not hippocampal plaque load when compared to PSAPP littermates. This regionally selective reduction in plaque load was accompanied by decreases in plaque number, GFAP-positive astrocytes, Iba1-positive microglia and phospho-tau positive dystrophic neurons. These effects were not attributable to regional variability in the distribution of S100B. Hippocampal and cortical S100B immunoreactivity in PSAPP mice was associated with plaques and co-localized with astrocytes and microglia.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, these data support S100B inhibition as a novel strategy for reducing cortical plaque load, gliosis and neuronal dysfunction in AD and suggest that both extracellular as well as intracellular S100B contribute to AD histopathology.</p

Trajectory Model Validation Using Newly Developed Altitude-Controlled Balloons During the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformations 2004 Campaign

During the summer of 2004, five altitude-controlled tracking balloons were flown as part of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformations (ICARTT) campaign. These Controlled Meteorological (CMET) balloons, newly developed at the University of Massachusetts, are notable for their light weight (∼1 kg mass), efficient altitude control, case of launch, long-duration flight capability, and ability to perform repeated quasi-Lagrangian soundings. The balloons were embedded in urban plumes from New York and Boston which they tracked over New England, eastern Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean while maintaining a nearly constant altitude. The flights ranged from 10 to 111 hours and covered a maximum distance of 3000 km. Balloon flight tracks are used here to assess the accuracy of trajectory models during intensive aircraft sampling periods. A new method is presented for increasing the number of available reference trajectories by dividing the balloon flights into shorter segments for statistical analysis. For trajectory durations between 2 and 12 hours, mean trajectory errors are found to be approximately 26% and 34% of the flight distance for ECMWF-based and GFS-based trajectories, respectively. Anomalously large model errors observed during three of the flights are found to be the result of a narrow low-level jet (15 July) and synoptic-scale flow patterns (9 and 10 August). The results from this study should be useful to researchers evaluating the performance of trajectory models and chemical transport models during the ICARTT campaign. Complete CMET balloon and model trajectory data sets are available as a supplement to this paper

Orthographic and Phonological Code Activation in Deaf and Hearing Readers

Grainger et al. (2006) were the first to use ERP masked priming to explore the differing contributions of phonological and orthographic representations to visual word processing. Here we adapted their paradigm to examine word processing in deaf readers. We investigated whether reading-matched deaf and hearing readers (n = 36) exhibit different ERP effects associated with the activation of orthographic and phonological codes during word processing. In a visual masked priming paradigm, participants performed a go/no-go categorization task (detect an occasional animal word). Critical target words were preceded by orthographically-related (transposed letter – TL) or phonologically-related (pseudohomophone – PH) masked non-word primes were contrasted with the same target words preceded by letter substitution (control) non-words primes. Hearing readers exhibited typical N250 and N400 priming effects (greater negativity for control compared to TL or PH primed targets), and the TL and PH priming effects did not differ. For deaf readers, the N250 PH priming effect was later (250–350 ms), and they showed a reversed N250 priming effect for TL primes in this time window. The N400 TL and PH priming effects did not differ between groups. For hearing readers, those with better phonological and spelling skills showed larger early N250 PH and TL priming effects (150–250 ms). For deaf readers, those with better phonological skills showed a larger reversed TL priming effect in the late N250 window. We speculate that phonological knowledge modulates how strongly deaf readers rely on whole-word orthographic representations and/or the mapping from sublexical to lexical representations

Identification of beneficial and detrimental bacteria impacting sorghum responses to drought using multi-scale and multisystem microbiome comparisons

Drought is a major abiotic stress limiting agricultural productivity. Previous field-level experiments have demonstrated that drought decreases microbiome diversity in the root and rhizosphere. How these changes ultimately affect plant health remains elusive. Toward this end, we combined reductionist, transitional and ecological approaches, applied to the staple cereal crop sorghum to identify key root-associated microbes that robustly affect drought-stressed plant phenotypes. Fifty-three Arabidopsis-associated bacteria were applied to sorghum seeds and their effect on root growth was monitored. Two Arthrobacter strains caused root growth inhibition (RGI) in Arabidopsis and sorghum. In the context of synthetic communities, Variovorax strains were able to protect plants from Arthrobacter-caused RGI. As a transitional system, high-throughput phenotyping was used to test the synthetic communities. During drought stress, plants colonized by Arthrobacter had reduced growth and leaf water content. Plants colonized by both Arthrobacter and Variovorax performed as well or better than control plants. In parallel, we performed a field trial wherein sorghum was evaluated across drought conditions. By incorporating data on soil properties into the microbiome analysis, we accounted for experimental noise with a novel method and were able to observe the negative correlation between the abundance of Arthrobacter and plant growth. Having validated this approach, we cross-referenced datasets from the high-throughput phenotyping and field experiments and report a list of bacteria with high confidence that positively associated with plant growth under drought stress. In conclusion, a three-tiered experimental system successfully spanned the lab-to-field gap and identified beneficial and deleterious bacterial strains for sorghum under drought

Public toilets have reduced enteric pathogen hazards in San Francisco

Uncontained fecal wastes in cities may present exposure risks to the public. We collected discarded feces from public spaces in San Francisco, CA for analysis by RT-qPCR for a range of enteric pathogens. Out of 59 samples, we found 12 (20%) were of human origin and 47 (80%) were non-human; 30 of 59 stools were positive for ≥1 of the 35 pathogens assessed, including pathogenic E. coli, Shigella, norovirus, Cryptosporidium, and Trichuris. Using quantitative enteric pathogen estimates and data on observed fecal waste from a public reporting system, we modeled pathogens removed from the environment attributable to a recently implemented program of public toilet construction. We estimated that each new public toilet reduced the annual number of enteric pathogens released into the immediate environment (within 500 m walking distance), including 6.3 x 1012 enteropathogenic E. coli (95% CI: 4.0 x 1012–7.9 x 1012), 3.2 x 1011 enteroaggregative E. coli (95% CI: 1.3 x 1011–6.3 x 1011), and 3.2 x 108 Shigella (6.3 x 107–2.5 x 109). Improving access to public sanitation can reduce enteric pathogen hazards in cities. Interventions must also consider the hygienic disposal of animal waste to reduce microbial hazards with zoonotic infection potential

The Lantern, 2018-2019

The Treasure Buried in Ponce de Leon\u27s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park • High Cards on the Low River • Sestina of a Vagina left in the microwave too long • Keeps on Tripping • The Auction • Nuclear Meltdown on Seedship C5B.6 • Cock Fight • An Interview with God • Minimum Wage • Star-Crossed Lovers • Romeo Echo Alpha • PM Entertainment, or Action Beats • The Gospel of Aggregates • Hel Hath no Fury • Crossing the Line • Mango de la hora • Stress Judgment • Perception (Part 2) • Rain Falling Up • Church: the Italian Market • Landscape with the Fall of Hillary • Forced to Ponder • Morally Upright • Adulthood • Migration in Tandem • Hospital Bed • To Autumn (After Keats) • Selected Tweets • Hidden Moments • Mysteries are Wrong • Jukebox Memory • Flames • A Simple Moment • The Farmhouse • Lord, Let Me Catch a Fish • Sun-Kissed • Five • The Thing • The Moons of Mars • You are Weak • You Kept Me Quiet • Offer Her a Seat • Sacraments • Cigar • The Lake George Mafia • Houses • Spun Out • To Romanticize the Restless • 12/25/17 • skylight • lanternflies • Goo Girls • Toi Le • Lovers, Thinkers, Rebels • home in paradise • Irreverence • The Fisherman • St Mary Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh • Mirror 2https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1187/thumbnail.jp

The TESS-Keck Survey. XXII. A Sub-Neptune Orbiting TOI-1437

Exoplanet discoveries have revealed a dramatic diversity of planet sizes across a vast array of orbital architectures. Sub-Neptunes are of particular interest; due to their absence in our own solar system, we rely on demographics of exoplanets to better understand their bulk composition and formation scenarios. Here, we present the discovery and characterization of TOI-1437 b, a sub-Neptune with a 18.84 day orbit around a near-solar analog (M⋆ = 1.10 ± 0.10 M☉, R⋆=1.17 ± 0.12 R☉). The planet was detected using photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission and radial velocity (RV) follow-up observations were carried out as a part of the TESS-Keck Survey using both the HIRES instrument at Keck Observatory and the Levy Spectrograph on the Automated Planet Finder telescope. A combined analysis of these data reveal a planet radius of Rp = 2.24 ± 0.23 R⊕ and a mass measurement of Mp = 9.6 ± 3.9 M⊕). TOI-1437 b is one of few (∼50) known transiting sub-Neptunes orbiting a solar-mass star that has a RV mass measurement. As the formation pathway of these worlds remains an unanswered question, the precise mass characterization of TOI-1437 b may provide further insight into this class of planet