Comparing Entry-Level Skill Depths Across Information Systems Job Types: Perceptions of IS Faculty

This paper compares and contrasts various information systems (IS) job types based on IS faculty perceptions of the skills that comprise each job type. A total of 148 IS academics took part in a skills survey as part of efforts to update of the IS\u2797 curriculum model (Davis, et al, 1997; Cougar, et al, 1995). IS academics perceive themselves are preparing students for four predominant jobs, the most prevalent one being information systems analyst. The results indicate that individual and team/interpersonal skills are perceived as needing the most depth for each of four job types studied; IS analysts and database analysts are the predominant job specializations perceived among IS faculty; and the network administrator and application developer roles have the most potential as sub-specializations. Future studies must validate these findings against industry perceptions of job types and their skill requirements

Parental Beliefs and Perceptions of the Role of Middle Schools in Student Tobacco Use Prevention Activities in Juárez, Mexico

The purpose of this study was to examine parental beliefs and perceptions of the role that schools should play in implementing smoking prevention activities for their children in Juárez, Mexico. The parents were of sixth grade students from six randomly selected middle schools. Schools were classified by school setting and socioeconomic status. A total of 506 surveys were sent to the homes of the parents and 77% (N=390) responded. The majority of the parents (88%) were supportive of smoking prevention activities. Furthermore, mothers were significantly more likely than fathers to agree that the school had an important role to play in smoking prevention activities (p<0.01). Parents of students in the low SES category regardless of school setting were significantly more likely to support the implementation of smoking prevention activities than parents of students who attended either a middle or high SES school setting (p<0.01). However, even though 79% of parent respondents believed their child’s school should get parental input about what should be taught in tobacco prevention programs, only 62% felt that such activities should include homework and projects involving families. These results provide further evidence that if school-based adolescent tobacco prevention programs are to be successful, public health initiatives need to do a much better job not only soliciting and receiving parental input with regard to proposed anti-tobacco curricula but also in convincing parents of the importance of becoming active participants in the process

Toward a Method of Collaborative, Evidence-Based Response to Desertification

Over generalized narratives about how desertified ecosystems will respond to restoration actions may result in wasted resources, missed opportunities, or accelerated degradation. Evidence-based collaborative adaptive management (CAM) could solve this problem by providing site-specific information that is trusted by users and enables learning opportunities. Although calls for CAM are increasing, many recommendations remain abstract and difficult to operationalize in specific projects. We review some general challenges for managing desertification in rangelands and draw upon recommendations in the recent literature to develop a 6-step method of CAM to address desertification. The method draws upon our ongoing experiences and makes novel connections between CAM concepts and technologies including ecological sites, state-and-transition models, ecological state mapping, and web-based knowledge systems. The development of a broadly-applicable and flexible methodology for CAM could increase the frequency and success of projects and provide sorely needed knowledge to guide locally-tailored responses to desertification

Validity and Value of Wave Energy Generation as Blackout Risk Mitigation for the Central Oregon Coast

Energy security is a vital but often unmet requirement for community resiliency. Electricity availability is essential to the functioning of the economy, individual households, and the collective essential services that provide health, safety, and the basic human needs to sustain life. Coastal communities in Oregon face special vulnerability because they are almost entirely dependent on outside sources of electricity generation routed via a limited number of transmission lines over a coastal mountain range, where they are prone to damage. When these lines fail, as has occurred in past storms, the coast can be electrically stranded from the regional grid network and large swaths of coastal communities are without power. This vulnerability raises a question whether this risk to coastal community energy resilience could be mitigated through utilization of a local and abundant renewable energy source: ocean wave energy. This transdisciplinary report assesses key technical, natural system, socio-economic, and regulatory considerations surrounding the validity and value of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) as an emergency power generation resource for the example community of Newport, Oregon. The work was performed by a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team of graduate researchers as part of the National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship in Risk and Uncertainty Quantification and Communication in Marine Sciences at Oregon State University. This report imagines a scenario in which an event such as a winter storm causes a regional transmission line outage in the example community of Newport, Oregon for a hypothetical duration of two weeks. We propose a system of rapidly deployed WECs connected to the local electrical grid to allow conversion of the Central Lincoln PUD service area into an “islanded microgrid” that can provide locally for the community’s critical infrastructure services. In this context, the goal of having an islanded microgrid is to be able to use local sources to supply the community’s electrical needs. We determine that marine renewable energy (MRE) may be a valid risk mitigation alternative from a technical and regulatory standpoint with the proper consideration of grid integration needs and support for emergency MRE options on a policy level. Based on the findings in this report, it appears that the temporary emergency WEC use case would be economically infeasible given the estimated power demand for critical services and the generation capabilities of currently available WEC devices. However, our research shows that there are significant gaps in knowledge regarding how we value critical services in a long emergency, and advancements in this field may change the value proposition of an emergency WEC use case. Additionally, advancements in wave energy technology or emergency power demand management may reduce the total size requirements for an emergency WEC array, or the logistical ability to deploy the WEC system, changing the feasibility and cost of the system in the future. Moreover, there is additional uncertainty regarding the recurrence interval of an outage of sufficient scale to warrant investment

Abnormal lateralization of functional connectivity between language and default mode regions in autism

Background: Lateralization of brain structure and function occurs in typical development, and abnormal lateralization is present in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Autism is characterized by a lack of left lateralization in structure and function of regions involved in language, such as Broca and Wernicke areas. Methods: Using functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging from a large publicly available sample (n = 964), we tested whether abnormal functional lateralization in autism exists preferentially in language regions or in a more diffuse pattern across networks of lateralized brain regions. Results: The autism group exhibited significantly reduced left lateralization in a few connections involving language regions and regions from the default mode network, but results were not significant throughout left- and right-lateralized networks. There is a trend that suggests the lack of left lateralization in a connection involving Wernicke area and the posterior cingulate cortex associates with more severe autism. Conclusions: Abnormal language lateralization in autism may be due to abnormal language development rather than to a deficit in hemispheric specialization of the entire brain

Multisite functional connectivity MRI classification of autism: ABIDE results

Background:: Systematic differences in functional connectivity MRI metrics have been consistently observed in autism, with predominantly decreased cortico-cortical connectivity. Previous attempts at single subject classification in high-functioning autism using whole brain point-to-point functional connectivity have yielded about 80% accurate classification of autism vs. control subjects across a wide age range. We attempted to replicate the method and results using the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) including resting state fMRI data obtained from 964 subjects and 16 separate international sites. Methods:: For each of 964 subjects, we obtained pairwise functional connectivity measurements from a lattice of 7266 regions of interest covering the gray matter (26.4 million “connections”) after preprocessing that included motion and slice timing correction, coregistration to an anatomic image, normalization to standard space, and voxelwise removal by regression of motion parameters, soft tissue, CSF, and white matter signals. Connections were grouped into multiple bins, and a leave-one-out classifier was evaluated on connections comprising each set of bins. Age, age-squared, gender, handedness, and site were included as covariates for the classifier. Results:: Classification accuracy significantly outperformed chance but was much lower for multisite prediction than for previous single site results. As high as 60% accuracy was obtained for whole brain classification, with the best accuracy from connections involving regions of the default mode network, parahippocampaland fusiform gyri, insula, Wernicke Area, and intraparietal sulcus. The classifier score was related to symptom severity, social function, daily living skills, and verbal IQ. Classification accuracy was significantly higher for sites with longer BOLD imaging times. Conclusions:: Multisite functional connectivity classification of autism outperformed chance using a simple leave-one-out classifier, but exhibited poorer accuracy than for single site results. Attempts to use multisite classifiers will likely require improved classification algorithms, longer BOLD imaging times, and standardized acquisition parameters for possible future clinical utility

Parental Beliefs and Perceptions of the Role of Middle Schools in Student Tobacco Use Prevention Activities in Juárez, Mexico

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine parental beliefs and perceptions of the role that schools should play in implementing smoking prevention activities for their children in Juárez, Mexico. The parents were of sixth grade students from six randomly selected middle schools. Schools were classified by school setting and socioeconomic status. A total of 506 surveys were sent to the homes of the parents and 77% (N=390) responded. The majority of the parents (88%) were supportive of smoking prevention activities. Furthermore, mothers were significantly more likely than fathers to agree that the school had an important role to play in smoking prevention activities (p<0.01). Parents of students in the low SES category regardless of school setting were significantly more likely to support the implementation of smoking prevention activities than parents of students who attended either a middle or high SES school setting (p<0.01). However, even though 79% of parent respondents believed their child's school should get parental input about what should be taught in tobacco prevention programs, only 62% felt that such activities should include homework and projects involving families. These results provide further evidence that if school-based adolescent tobacco prevention programs are to be successful, public health initiatives need to do a much better job not only soliciting and receiving parental input with regard to proposed anti-tobacco curricula but also in convincing parents of the importance of becoming active participants in the process

The conserved GTPase HflX is a ribosome splitting factor that binds to the E-site of the bacterial ribosome

Sherpa Romeo green journal. Permission to archive final published verisonUsing a combination of biochemical, structural probing and rapid kinetics techniques we reveal for the first time that the universally conserved translational GTPase (trGTPase) HflX binds to the E-site of the 70S ribosome and that its GTPase activity is modulated by peptidyl transferase centre (PTC) and peptide exit tunnel (PET) binding antibiotics, suggesting a previously undescribed mode of action for these antibiotics. Our rapid kinetics studies reveal that HflX functions as a ribosome splitting factor that disassembles the 70S ribosomes into its subunits in a nucleotide dependent manner. Furthermore, our probing and hydrolysis studies show that the ribosome is able to activate trGTPases bound to its E-site. This is, to our knowledge, the first case in which the hydrolytic activity of a translational GTPase is not activated by the GTPase activating centre (GAC) in the ribosomal A-site. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the bound state of the PTC is able to regulate the GTPase activity of E-site bound HflX.Ye