The State of State Science Standards 2012

American science performance is lagging as the economy becomes increasingly high tech, but our current science standards are doing little to solve the problem. Reviewers evaluated science standards for every state for this report and their findings were deeply troubling: The majority of states earned Ds or Fs for their standards in this crucial subject, with only six jurisdictions receiving As. Explore all the state report cards and see how your state performed

A Teen Activist Takes on Sex Trafficking and Social Media

Sex trafficking is a crisis happening in every community in the U.S., with predators primarily targeting those 12 to 14 years old. This presentation features the research and perspective of a 16-year-old who has grown up in our public school system. She gives staggering statistics about sex trafficking activity, with special focus on how traffickers use social media apps to lure young people

Edessa Greenways: A Land Use Planning Tool Promoting Sustainable Development in Northern Greece

Known historically as the “City of Water”, Edessa is one of many ancient small hill towns situated in a forested river valley found at the northwest part of Greece\u27s Macedonia region. Bordering with FYROM, Albania and Bulgaria, it sits at the edge of a plateau overlooking the historically rich Plains of Hellas; atop a vast agricultural plain that extends east to Thessalonica, some 120 kilometers. Small rivers run through Edessa boasting an intricate system of waterwayscanals, rivulets, and waterfalls-intertwined with small streets, walking paths and scenic overlooks. The rivers fall spectacularly 70m down from the ledge to the plain below. These waterfalls are a well-known and celebrated natural feature. The new extended municipality includes both towns of Edessa and neighboring town Anissa encompassing a rural “green corridor” agricultural area between them. It comprises the study area which extends in the valley of the River Edesseos, rising in the Agras Nissi Vritta wetlands and Lake Vegoritida. North of Edessa recreational itineraries include abundant ski resorts, ornithological reserves, lakes and archeological sites. Unless the municipality of Edessa generates new economic growth, it will continue to lose a valuable human resource, its youth. The mayor wishes to create new hope and energy for the new municipality through economic investment and physical restructuring. Improvements here could reverberate throughout the region and potentially motivate further investment. Renovated small hotels and lodgings have emerged as outsiders begin to see the potential value of Edessa\u27s future. Egnatia Motorway, the region’s greatest infrastructural project, has already transformed travel times and accessibilities across northern Greece bringing closer the emerging economies of Western and Eastern Europe. Environmental considerations for the region are underway as two transnational agreements, the EU\u27s NATURA Network 2000 and the RAMSAR Convention of 1971, continue to ensure the preservation and protection of sensitive ecosystems and wetlands for the foreseeable future. But this green corridor, however scenic, suffers from inattention and minimal investment. As many regions of great natural beauty dotted with small agricultural towns across Europe continue their dependence upon cultural and ecological tourism, questions that define and frame broader issues of design, sustainability and growth in northern Greece, were considered throughout the planning process: a) How sustainable development and design issues of a region can be sensitively addressed, while developing a strategy that provides socio-cultural, economic and environmental sustainability? b) How can landscape and infrastructure design work synergistically to address the demands of connectivity and increased capacity while also promoting a sense of identity and placeness for a rural region? c) How can issues of sustainability and environmental stewardship be calibrated to the specifics of local culture and geography? d) How can recent shifts in the regional geopolitical sphere be actuated to bolster tourism and economic development? e) How can strategic investments in landscape and infrastructure be leveraged to provide development opportunity for the larger region? f) Can a pronounced shift toward high-end tourism reposition the developmental future of the region? g) Can a new strategy of catalytic rural landscape and infrastructure investments improve the internal structure of the landscape and enhance its connection to the larger region? Like many hill towns across continental Europe impacted by the shift away from small scale agricultural operations and the forces of an increasingly globalized economy, the structural relationship between town and country (in this case, the agrarian hinterlands) has profoundly changed. In the more targeted scope and scale of a municipality, fundamental questions remain: a) What uniquely defining characteristics does Edessa possess? b) What additional attributes does Edessa require? c) What actions can be taken to improve sustainable development and economic growth, while preserving natural resources, promoting cultural resources, and upgrading physical planning integration of Edessa’s urban and rural Mediterranean landscape

Deep-sea sediment records of the Laschamp geomagnetic field excursion (∼41,000 calendar years before present)

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 110 (2005): B04101, doi:10.1029/2003JB002943.We have recovered two new high-resolution paleomagnetic records of the Laschamp Excursion (∼41,000 calendar years B.P.) from deep-sea sediments of the western North Atlantic Ocean. The records document that the Laschamp Excursion was characterized locally by (1) declination changes of ±120°, (2) inclination changes of more than 140°, (3) ∼1200-year oscillations in both inclination and declination, (4) near 90° out-of-phase relationships between inclinations and declinations that produced two clockwise loops in directions and virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) followed by a counterclockwise loop, (5) excursional VGPs during both intervals of clockwise looping, (6) magnetic field intensities less than 10% of normal that persisted for almost 2000 years, (7) marked similarity in excursional directions over ∼5000 km spatial scale length, and (8) secular variation rates comparable to historic field behavior but persisting in sign for hundreds of years. All of these features, with the exception of anomalously large directional amplitude, are consistent with normal magnetic field secular variation. Comparison of our Laschamp Excursion paleomagnetic records with other late Quaternary excursion records suggests that there is a group of excursions, which we term class I, which have strikingly similar patterns of field behavior and likely share a common cause as part of the overall core dynamo process. Three general models of secular variation are described that can qualitatively produce class I excursions. On the basis of these observations we conclude that class I excursions, epitomized by the Laschamp Excursion, are more closely related to normal secular variation and are not necessarily a prelude to magnetic field reversal

Correlation of Late-Pleistocene Lake-Level Oscillations in Mono Lake, California, with North Atlantic Climate Events

Oxygen-18 (18O) values of sediment from the Wilson Creek Formation, Mono Basin, California, indicate three scales of temporal variation (Dansgaard-Oeschger, Heinrich, and Milankovitch) in the hydrologic balance of Mono Lake between 35,400 and 12,900 14C yr B.P. During this interval, Mono Lake experienced four lowstands each lasting from 1000 to 2000 yr. The youngest low stand, which occurred between 15,500 and 14,000 14C yr B.P., was nearly synchronous with a desiccation of Owens Lake, California. Paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) data indicate that three of four persistent low stands occurred at the same times as Heinrich events HI, H2, and H4. 18O data indicate the two highest lake levels occurred ~18,000 and ~13,100 14C yr B.P., corresponding to passages of the mean position of the polar jet stream over the Mono Basin. Extremely low values of total inorganic carbon between 26,000 and 14,000 14C yr B.P. indicate glacial activity, corresponding to a time when summer insolation was much reduced

The Association of Patient Factors, Digital Access, and Online Behavior on Sustained Patient Portal Use: A Prospective Cohort of Enrolled Users

BACKGROUND: As electronic health records and computerized workflows expand, there are unprecedented opportunities to digitally connect with patients using secure portals. To realize the value of patient portals, initial reach across populations will need to be demonstrated, as well as sustained usage over time. OBJECTIVE: The study aim was to identify patient factors associated with short-term and long-term portal usage after patients registered to access all portal functions. METHODS: We prospectively followed a cohort of patients at a large Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care facility who recently completed identity proofing to use the VA patient portal. Information collected at baseline encompassed patient factors potentially associated with portal usage, including: demographics, Internet access and use, health literacy, patient activation, and self-reported health conditions. The primary outcome was the frequency of portal log-ins during 6-month and 18-month time intervals after study enrollment. RESULTS: A total of 270 study participants were followed prospectively. Almost all participants (260/268, 97.0%) reported going online, typically at home (248/268, 92.5%). At 6 months, 84.1% (227/270) of participants had visited the portal, with some variation in usage across demographic and health-related subgroups. There were no significant differences in portal log-ins by age, gender, education, marital status, race/ethnicity, distance to a VA facility, or patient activation measure. Significantly higher portal usage was seen among participants using high-speed broadband at home, greater self-reported ability using the Internet, and routinely going online. By 18 months, 91% participants had logged in to the portal, and no significant associations were found between usage and demographics, health status, or patient activation. When examining portal activity between 6 and 18 months, patients who were infrequent or high portal users remained in those categories, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term and long-term portal usage was associated with having broadband at home, high self-rated ability when using the Internet, and overall online behavior. Digital inclusion, or ready access to the Internet and digital skills, appears to be a social determinant in patient exposure to portal services

Understanding and Estimating Effective Population Size for Practical Application in Marine Species Management

Effective population size (Ne) determines the strength of genetic drift in a population and has long been recognized as an important parameter for evaluating conservation status and threats to genetic health of populations. Specifically, an estimate of Ne is crucial to management because it integrates genetic effects with the life history of the species, allowing for predictions of a population’s current and future viability. Nevertheless, compared with ecological and demographic parameters, Ne has had limited influence on species management, beyond its application in very small populations. Recent developments have substantially improved Ne estimation; however, some obstacles remain for the practical application of Ne estimates. For example, the need to define the spatial and temporal scale of measurement makes the concept complex and sometimes difficult to interpret. We reviewed approaches to estimation of Ne over both long-term and contemporary time frames, clarifying their interpretations with respect to local populations and the global metapopulation. We describe multiple experimental factors affecting robustness of contemporary Ne estimates and suggest that different sampling designs can be combined to compare largely independent measures of Ne for improved confidence in the result. Large populations with moderate gene flow pose the greatest challenges to robust estimation of contemporary Ne and require careful consideration of sampling and analysis to minimize estimator bias. We emphasize the practical utility of estimating Ne by highlighting its relevance to the adaptive potential of a population and describing applications in management of marine populations, where the focus is not always on critically endangered populations. Two cases discussed include the mechanisms generating Ne estimates many orders of magnitude lower than census N in harvested marine fishes and the predicted reduction in Ne from hatchery-based population supplementation

Understanding and Estimating Effective Population Size for Practical Application in Marine Species Management

Effective population size (Ne) determines the strength of genetic drift in a population and has long been recognized as an important parameter for evaluating conservation status and threats to genetic health of populations. Specifically, an estimate of Ne is crucial to management because it integrates genetic effects with the life history of the species, allowing for predictions of a population’s current and future viability. Nevertheless, compared with ecological and demographic parameters, Ne has had limited influence on species management, beyond its application in very small populations. Recent developments have substantially improved Ne estimation; however, some obstacles remain for the practical application of Ne estimates. For example, the need to define the spatial and temporal scale of measurement makes the concept complex and sometimes difficult to interpret. We reviewed approaches to estimation of Ne over both long-term and contemporary time frames, clarifying their interpretations with respect to local populations and the global metapopulation. We describe multiple experimental factors affecting robustness of contemporary Ne estimates and suggest that different sampling designs can be combined to compare largely independent measures of Ne for improved confidence in the result. Large populations with moderate gene flow pose the greatest challenges to robust estimation of contemporary Ne and require careful consideration of sampling and analysis to minimize estimator bias. We emphasize the practical utility of estimating Ne by highlighting its relevance to the adaptive potential of a population and describing applications in management of marine populations, where the focus is not always on critically endangered populations. Two cases discussed include the mechanisms generating Ne estimates many orders of magnitude lower than census N in harvested marine fishes and the predicted reduction in Ne from hatchery-based population supplementation

Effect of Breast Milk Lead on Infant Blood Lead Levels at 1 Month of Age

Nursing infants may be exposed to lead from breast milk, but relatively few data exist with which to evaluate and quantify this relationship. This route of exposure constitutes a potential infant hazard from mothers with current ongoing exposure to lead as well as from mothers who have been exposed previously due to the redistribution of cumulative maternal bone lead stores. We studied the relationship between maternal breast milk lead and infant blood lead levels among 255 mother–infant pairs exclusively or partially breast-feeding through 1 month of age in Mexico City. A rigorous, well-validated technique was used to collect, prepare, and analyze the samples of breast milk to minimize the potential for environmental contamination and maximize the percent recovery of lead. Umbilical cord and maternal blood lead were measured at delivery; 1 month after delivery (± 5 days) maternal blood, bone, and breast milk and infant blood lead levels were obtained. Levels of lead at 1 month postpartum were, for breast milk, 0.3–8.0 μg/L (mean ± SD, 1.5 ± 1.2); maternal blood lead, 2.9–29.9 μg/dL (mean ± SD, 9.4 ± 4.5); and infant blood lead, 1.0–23.1 μg/dL (mean ± SD, 5.5 ± 3.0). Infant blood lead at 1 month postpartum was significantly correlated with umbilical cord (Spearman correlation coefficient r(S) = 0.40, p < 0.0001) and maternal (r(S) = 0.42, p < 0.0001) blood lead at delivery and with maternal blood (r(S) = 0.67, p < 0.0001), patella (r(S) = 0.19, p = 0.004), and breast milk (r(S) = 0.32, p < 0.0001) lead at 1 month postpartum. Adjusting for cord blood lead, infant weight change, and reported breast-feeding status, a difference of approximately 2 μg/L (ppb; from the midpoint of the lowest quartile to the midpoint of the highest quartile) breast milk lead was associated with a 0.82 μg/dL increase in blood lead for breast-feeding infants at 1 month of age. Breast milk lead accounted for 12% of the variance of infant blood lead levels, whereas maternal blood lead accounted for 30%. Although these levels of lead in breast milk were low, they clearly have a strong influence on infant blood lead levels over and above the influence of maternal blood lead. Additional information on the lead content of dietary alternatives and interactions with other nutritional factors should be considered. However, because human milk is the best and most complete nutritional source for young infants, breast-feeding should be encouraged because the absolute values of the effects are small within this range of lead concentrations

Variants in Iron Metabolism Genes Predict Higher Blood Lead Levels in Young Children

Background: Given the association between iron deficiency and lead absorption, we hypothesized that variants in iron metabolism genes would predict higher blood lead levels in young children. Objective: We examined the association between common missense variants in the hemochromatosis (HFE) and transferrin (TF) genes and blood lead levels in 422 Mexican children. Methods: Archived umbilical cord blood samples were genotyped for HFE (H63D and C282Y) and TF (P570S) variants. Blood lead was measured at 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48 months of age. A total of 341 subjects had at least one follow-up blood lead level available and data available on covariates of interest for inclusion in the longitudinal analyses. We used random-effects models to examine the associations between genotype (HFE, TF, and combined HFE + TF) and repeated measures of blood lead, adjusting for maternal blood lead at delivery and child’s concurrent anemia status. Results: Of 422 children genotyped, 17.7, 3.3, and 18.9% carried the HFE H63D, HFE C282Y, and TF P570S variants, respectively. One percent of children carried both the HFE C282Y and TF P570S variants, and 3% of children carried both the HFE H63D and TF P570S variants. On average, carriers of either the HFE (β = 0.11, p = 0.04) or TF (β = 0.10, p = 0.08) variant had blood lead levels that were 11% and 10% higher, respectively, than wild-type subjects. In models examining the dose effect, subjects carrying both variants (β = 0.41, p = 0.006) had blood lead 50% higher than wild-type subjects and a significantly higher odds of having a blood lead level > 10 μg/dL (odds ratio = 18.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.9–177.1). Conclusions: Iron metabolism gene variants modify lead metabolism such that HFE variants are associated with increased blood lead levels in young children. The joint presence of variant alleles in the HFE and TF genes showed the greatest effect, suggesting a gene-by-gene-by-environment interaction