The Habitat, Ecology and Epidemiology of Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis in Southeast Louisiana.

Many unanswered questions on the epidemiology and ecology of eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) still preclude a complete understanding of its natural history. Among these are the distribution and epidemic vectors of EEE virus (EEEV) in different regions, habitats, and foci; its inter-epidemic maintenance, and overwintering mechanisms. Phase 1 of a research project designed to find answers to the above questions with regard to southeast Louisiana was conducted over 1992 and 1993, and consisted of several individual studies. These included 3 mosquito studies to determine major horse- and bird-feeding mosquito species that could be the EEEV epidemic vectors in southeast Louisiana; a chicken serological study to establish and monitor EEEV activity in the study areas so that the epidemic vector potential of the identified major species could be verified and a transfer interval between birds and horses or humans could be determined; and a horse serological study to deal with the distribution, inter-epidemic, and overwintering mechanism questions. An attempt was also made to assess the influence of environmental factors on the population dynamics and feeding patterns of the identified major species. The results of these studies are summarized as follows: (1) Many major horse- and bird-feeding species were identified. However, only Culex (Melanoconion) spp. was strongly suggested as a potential epidemic vector of EEEV. The species avidly fed on both horses and birds, its population increased simultaneously with increasing EEEV activity, it shares breeding habitats with the endemic vector, Culiseta melanura, and it is ubiquitous; (2) an even distribution of EEEV in St. Tammany Parish was established, thus providing a basis for future similar studies; (3) continued EEEV activity and transmission during 1993 was indicated even though the year was non-epidemic; (4) continued EEEV activity during the 1992/93 winter months was also suggested, thus casting doubt on the necessity of an overwintering mechanism; (5) the results demonstrated that appropriately located private chicken yards could be an inexpensive and effective EEEV monitoring tool and that vaccinated horses might be a valuable tool for detecting and, perhaps, monitoring EEEV inter-epidemic activity; (6) the environmental factor assessment had little success and the transfer interval could not be determined

Your Biometric Data is Concrete, Your Injury is Imminent and Particularized: Articulating a BIPA Claim to Survive Article III Standing After TransUnion v. Ramirez

Biometric data is a digital translation of self which endures in its accuracy for one’s entire lifespan. As integral elements of modern life continue to transition their operations exclusively online, the verifiable “digital self” has become indispensable. The immutable and sensitive nature of biometric data makes it peculiarly vulnerable to misappropriation and abuse. Yet the most frightening is the unknown. For an individual who has had their digital extension-of-self covertly stolen or leaked, the dangers that lie in the technology of the future are innumerable. The Illinois legislature recognized the danger associated with the cavalier collection and handling of biometric data in 2008, passing the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) to facilitate a higher standard for consumer protection. BIPA’s key feature is a private right of action awarding not less than $1,000 for each instance of non-compliance with certain enumerated data collection and handling procedures. In the years since its enactment, classes of Illinois plaintiffs have successfully won multimillion-dollar judgments in state court. However, when an out-of-state defendant removes to federal court, Article III standing often proves to be an insurmountable threshold for the plaintiff class. This issue delays the plaintiff class’s relief and undermines the goal of the Illinois legislature. This Comment summarizes the state of legal protection of biometric data in the United States. It then explains the development of Article III standing doctrine as it pertains to statutorily prescribed privacy harms. Next, this Comment reviews Article III standing in the context of BIPA litigation specifically. Finally, it recommends an articulation of the injury at the heart of BIPA likely to confer Article III standing to assist plaintiff’s counsel in evading the quagmire. It is a call to attention and a call to arms; biometric data handling requires the same care as the handling of the physical body

An investigation of children's peer trust across culture: is the composition of peer trust universal?

The components of children's trust in same-gender peers (trust beliefs, ascribed trustworthiness, and dyadic reciprocal trust) were examined in samples of 8- to 11-year-olds from the UK, Italy, and Japan. Trust was assessed by children's ratings of the extent to which same-gender classmates kept promises and kept secrets. Social relations analyses confirmed that children from each country showed significant: (a) actor variance demonstrating reliable individual differences in trust beliefs, (b) partner variance demonstrating reliable individual differences in ascribed trustworthiness, and (c ) relationship variance demonstrating unique relationships between interaction partners. Cultural differences in trust beliefs and ascribed trustworthiness also emerged and these differences were attributed to the tendency for children from cultures that value societal goals to share personal information with the peer group

Dipolar-glass-like relaxor ferroelectric behaviour in the 0.5BaTiO3-0.5Bi(Mg1/2Ti1/2)O3 electroceramic

In this study, the dielectric and ferroelectric switching behaviour of 0.5BaTiO3-0.5Bi(Mg1/2Ti1/2)O3 (BT-BMT) ceramics are investigated. The BT-BMT ceramic exhibits a typical dipolar-glass-like, dielectric polarisation relaxation. This is attributed to the 15 distinct possible local A4B2 configurations around the O ions and the effect this unavoidable local compositional variability has on the dipole relaxation behaviour of inherent {1-D h111} dipole chains, arising from correlated off-centre displacements of Bi3+ and Ti4+ ions along local {111} directions. On the other hand, switchable polarisation under strong applied electric fields is observed on different length scales accompanied by the appearance of strong polarisation relaxation, as observed via time-delayed piezoresponse hysteresis loop measurements. These experimental results demonstrate that this BT-BMT ceramic is relaxor ferroelectric in nature, although it exhibits dipolar-glass-like dielectric relaxation behaviour.The authors J.W., Y.L., and R.L.W. acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council (ARC) in the form of Discovery projects. Y.L. also appreciates support from the ARC Future Fellowships program

Life in the FASt Lane: Speedy Workflows for Providing a Faculty Assisted Submission (FAS) Service for Your IR

Including faculty papers in your repository is an essential function of an IR, but it can be tough to manage the solicitation and review of previously published materials. What can we legally add to faculty collections? Are there any requirements for posting? Can you rely on faculty to submit their work and comply with publisher policies? At the University of Pennsylvania, we have been developing workflows and processes to systematically run permissions on faculty CVs and upload them to Penn’s IR, ScholarlyCommons. Through our Faculty Assisted Submission (FAS) service, we are maximizing the libraries’ ability to support faculty works in the repository with as little effort as possible for the faculty member and the IR manager. Now in the second year of this program, we have quadrupled the number of faculty papers submitted since the first year, adding thousands to our collections. By leveraging free tools and common Library purchases, we have expanded the breadth of participation and fostered a growing sense of faculty interest in participating in Penn’s IR. All of this has been achieved by implementing a comprehensive training program for student workers and external administrators with oversight from a two-person scholarly communications team. While this program is by no means completely effortless, by investing heavily in the training of student workers up front, we have engaged students in scholarly communication literacy and provided the library with a mechanism for reliable ingestion of faculty materials into the IR. In this presentation, we will provide our shareable resources and give a step-by-step overview of our training module, permissions process, and ingestion workflows. We will discuss some of the challenges we still face and how you can leverage these approaches for your own institution

Preparation for meaningful work and life: urban high school youth's reflections on work-based learning 1 year post-graduation

The challenges confronted by low-income high school students throughout school and across the transition to higher education and employment are well-documented in the US and many other nations. Adopting a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2005), this study reports findings from interviews with 18 low-income, racially and ethnically diverse graduates of an urban Catholic high school in the US. The interviews were designed to shed light on the post-high school experiences of urban high school graduates and to understand how students construct meaning about the value of school and work-based learning (WBL) in their preparation for meaningful work and life. The interviews highlight the perceived value of the academic and non-cognitive preparation students experienced through high school and WBL in relation to the challenges they encountered along the pathway to post-high school success and decent work. Overall, the findings suggest the potential of WBL for low-income youth in facilitating access to resources that build academic and psychological/non-cognitive assets, while also illustrating the role of structural and contextual factors in shaping post-high school transitions and access to meaningful work and life opportunities.Published versio

Comparing the Executive Function Ability of Autistic and Non-autistic Adolescents with a Manualised Battery of Neuropsychological Tasks

Performance on a single executive function (EF) task (e.g., a card sorting task) is often taken to represent ability on the underlying subcomponent of EF (e.g., set shifting) without accounting for the non-specific and non-executive skills employed to complete the task. This study used a manualised battery of EF tasks to derive individual task scores and latent EF scores. Seventy-nine adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years, including 37 autistic and 42 non-autistic participants, matched on cognitive ability, completed the battery. Autistic adolescents had moderate global EF difficulties and had significantly more difficulties on some individual tasks. However, the samples did not differ on any of the specific individual subcomponents of EF (fluency, cognitive control and working memory)