LABORATORY STUDIES OF RESPONSES OF ANURAN AMPHIBIANS TO ROUNDUP EXPOSURES: REFERENCE TOXICANT AND COMPONENTS

Roundup¨ has been implicated as a possible cause for the declining amphibian populations in North America. Carefully designed laboratory toxicity tests are crucial for accurate risk assessment of the responses of anuran populations to incidental exposures of Roundup¨ herbicides. The overall objective of these studies was to determine the response of North American anuran species to exposures of Roundup¨ formulations and components to support or refute the claim that Roundup¨ is a factor in amphibian decline in North America. Aqueous 96 hour static non-renewal laboratory tests were utilized to (1) evaluate the effectiveness of copper sulfate as a reference toxicant in larval anuran toxicity testing for six species of anurans; (2) compare the toxicity of two formulations of Roundup¨ containing different salts of glyphosate and surfactant mixtures for three larval ranid species; (3) determine the relative contribution of the two components in the original formulation of Roundup¨ to the toxicity of the formulation for five species of anurans. Our results indicate that copper sulfate can serve as a suitable reference toxicant in larval amphibian toxicity testing because low concentrations of copper can be used to elicit significant responses in larval anurans which allow for detection of differences in sensitivities between species and accessions of organisms. The results of our study on the comparative toxicity of two formulations of Roundup¨ herbicides indicate that Roundup WeatherMax¨ is more toxic to larval anurans than the original formulation of Roundup¨. Many Roundup¨ formulations, including WeatherMax¨ have proprietary mixtures of surfactants making it difficult to evaluate the source of the toxicity of the formulation, but we can speculate that the difference in surfactant between the two formulations is the cause for the difference in toxicity. Larval amphibian toxicity testing procedures should be standardized to facilitate spatial and temporal comparisons between species, acquisitions, and laboratories. Our studies also suggest the importance of evaluating whole formulations in risk assessments rather than just the active ingredient to ensure safety for non-target species. The best way to mitigate risk to anuran species could be to control the surfactant portion of Roundup¨ formulations

The Effect of Substance Use on the Relationship between PTSD Symptom Clusters and Suicide in Adolescents

Adolescent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a multifaceted, debilitating disorder that if left untreated has been shown to lead to problematic internalizing and externalizing behaviors including suicidal ideation and substance use. Little is known about the course of PTSD in adolescents and less is known about the individual effects of PTSD symptom clusters. Furthermore, there is a dearth in the literature studying the predictive effects of PTSD, substance use and suicidality in adolescent samples. Participants were a clinical sample of adolescents referred from inpatient and outpatient clinics in the Pacific Northwest as part of a larger study. Ages of participants ranged from 13 to 19 (M=15.70) and were primarily white and female. This sample reported high rates of trauma exposure (M = 3.4) and subclinical but prevalent PTSD symptoms. Additionally, substance use was uncommon but moderately severe and prevalent but infrequent suicidal ideation (M = 7.06). We investigated the indirect effect of substance use on the relationship between the four symptom clusters of PTSD and suicidal ideation in this correlational study. We found significant correlations between trauma exposure and substance use (r(75) = .239, p ≤ .05), PTSD symptom clusters and suicidal ideation (Intrusion r(75) = .431, p ≤ .01; Avoidance r(75) = .324, p ≤ .01; NACM r(75) = .423, p ≤ .01; Arousal r(75) = .429, p ≤ .05). We did not find support that the four symptom clusters individually predicted suicidal ideation in regression analyses. Ancillary analysis results showed that total PTSD symptoms were predictive of suicidal ideation (b = .48, t(75) = 4.43, p = \u3c.01). However, substance use did not mediate the relationship in any model. This study suggests that subclinical levels of cluster symptoms of PTSD is not predictive of suicidal ideation in adolescents and moreover substance use may not mediate the relationship. Total PTSD symptoms and trauma exposure were predictive of suicidal ideation and substance use respectively, suggesting that clinicians should assess and treat substance use and suicidal ideation when working with trauma exposed youth. Future investigation should focus on larger samples of non-clinical adolescents and use longitudinal measurements to make causal inferences

Relationships between Primary Teacher Beliefs and Practice in the Primary Classrooms of a Small Urban School in East Tennessee.

The purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship existed between primary teacher beliefs, traditional or developmentally appropriate; and primary teacher practice, traditional or constructivist. A multi-case study design was employed for this qualitative research study. Eight teachers completed the Primary Teacher Questionnaire (PTQ) to determine the study group. Based on their responses to the teacher beliefs questionnaire, 3 teachers were chosen to further participate in the study. Three main research questions were analyzed with individual and cross-case analysis. Triangulation of data included observations, Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms (APEEC) scores determined from observation data, and individual teacher interviews. The 3 teachers\u27 initial data from the questionnaire were also used. The teacher with traditional beliefs demonstrated traditional practices. The teacher with developmentally appropriate beliefs demonstrated constructivist practices. The teacher whose beliefs fell in the middle demonstrated practices that were more constructivist than traditional

Exploring The New Urbanist Legacy In Cornell, Markham

This research paper examines how the principles of New Urbanism were incorporated into the planning and design of the Cornell community in Markham, Ontario. Master Planned as a multi-phase development in the 1990s by some of New Urbanism's biggest proponents - Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Cornell was intentionally designed around the principles identified in the Charter of the New Urbanism (2000). Through a detailed study of the various literature on New Urbanism in Canada and the United States, this paper identifies some of the important principles of New Urbanism and explores how the principles were incorporated into the policies, design guidelines, and other planning documents that directed the development of Cornell. This research paper finds that some principles and design elements of New Urbanism were successfully implemented in Cornell (i.e., walkable streets and diverse and affordable housing options), while others were not (i.e., mixed-use). Based on a review of critical literature on New Urbanism, personal observations, and interviews, this research paper finds that the New Urbanist vision for Cornell was generally realized. Although adaptations have been made to recent plans and design guidelines to reflect current and future planning challenges, the New Urbanist framework remains relevant in guiding the future development of Cornell

Implementing Automated Data Validation for Canadian Political Datasets

This paper describes a series of automated data validation tests for datasets detailing charity financial information, political donations, and government lobbying in Canada. We motivate and document a series of 200 tests that check the validity, internal consistency, and external consistency of these datasets. We present preliminary findings after application of these tests to the political donations ($\approx10.1$ million observations) and lobbying ($\approx711,200$ observations) datasets, and to a sample of $\approx380,880$ observations from the charities datasets. We conclude with areas for future work and lessons learnt for others looking to implement automated data validation in their own workflows

Nonlethal Technology and Fourth Epoch War: A New Paradigm of Politico-Military Force

How politico-military force will be employed in future war is of major concern to U.S. national security and, because of its operational leadership in this area, to the Army\u27s Force XXI campaign plan. It is envisioned that such force will qualitatively change because of the introduction of advanced technology. This technology will extend the West\u27s continuing mastery of the application of political violence. No longer in war will the West have the capability to solely to kill; now, like a martial arts master, it will be able to reply upon nonlethal means to disarm an opponent. As a result, an effective national policy to deal with the appropriate employment of technologically advanced politico-military force will become a challenge of the first magnitude. How our policy makes use of this new method of waging war has far-reaching and potentially dangerous national security implications