A bit like cash : understanding cash-for-bitcoin transactions through individual vendors.

As technology improves and economies become more globalized, the concept of currency has evolved. Bitcoin, a cryptographic digital currency, has been embraced as a secure and convenient type of money. Due to its security and privacy for the user, Bitcoin is a good tool for conducting criminal trades. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has regulations in place to make identification information of Bitcoin purchasers accessible to law enforcement, but enforcing these rules with cash-for-Bitcoin traders is difficult. This study surveyed cash-for-Bitcoin vendors in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico to determine personal demographic information, knowledge of and compliance with FinCEN regulations, and opinions regarding government control of currency and willingness to work with law enforcement among vendors

Discovery Across Disciplines

Sara Lentz writes about Planet Texas 2050 and President Greg Fenves inaugural speech in an article published in 2017.Office of the VP for Researc

"Modernism is a Prophet Crying in the Wilderness": Mina Loy, Manifestoes and Prophecy

This study argues that modernist poet Mina Loy's investment in the power of prophetic discourse and religious revelation is a crucial feature of her idiosyncratic appropriation of the manifesto during the 1910s. Unlike the manifestoes of the futurist movement that directly inform Loy's use of the genre, Loy's manifestoes focus on a visionary expansion of individual consciousness rather than a violent and revolutionary overthrow of institutions. Even as they reject the traditions and institutions of the past in typical futurist fashion, Loy's manifestoes posit a personal evolution of consciousness and a realization of the divine "Macro-cosmic presence" or supra-consciousness as the truer path for escaping the cultural grip of those institutions. For an intensely individual artist like Loy, the prophetic voice also offered a speaking position which did not explicitly place her in the ranks of those movements. The present work draws on scholarship that examines Loy's relationship to revelatory religious discourse and theories of expanded consciousness, as well as the larger body of scholarship on Loy's poetry and polemic writings during the 1910s. As the examination of prophetic modalities within the form of specific manifesto texts is a complex undertaking made more complex by the facts that (1) the manifesto form is in part a descendant of earlier prophetic forms, and (2) both forms are highly variable, recent analyses of both genres are brought together to delineate as clearly as possible their rhetoric, structure, and performativity. Finally, as Loy's poetic and prosaic uses of the prophetic mode and the language of revelation also suggest compelling connections to her nineteenth-century forbears, those connections are explored in order to make a secondary case that Loy's work should be considered in the context of the tradition of the "poet-prophet," which extends from Old Testament times to nineteenth-century poet-prophets such as Walt Whitman. From this perspective, an argument can be made that Loy shares more in common with her Romantic precursors than the standard narrative of modernism's rejection of the past generally permits

A Bit Like Cash: Understanding Cash-For-Bitcoin Transactions Through Individual Vendors

As technology improves and economies become more globalized, the concept of currency has evolved. Bitcoin, a cryptographic digital currency, has been embraced as a secure and convenient type of money. Due to its security and privacy for the user, Bitcoin is a good tool for conducting criminal trades. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has regulations in place to make identification information of Bitcoin purchasers accessible to law enforcement, but enforcing these rules with cash-for-Bitcoin traders is difficult. This study surveyed cash-for-Bitcoin vendors in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico to determine personal demographic information, knowledge of and compliance with FinCEN regulations, and opinions regarding government control of currency and willingness to work with law enforcement among vendors

Floristic and characterization of grassland vegetation at a granitic hill in Southern Brazil

A floristic and vegetation study was carried out in the grassland formations at Morro São Pedro, Porto Alegre municipality, Rio Grande do Sul State, a granitic elevation area, so far poorly surveyed, that cradles important natural vegetation remnants of the region. After the study, which lasted from April 2005 to March 2009, we found 497 angiosperm species, distributed in four main grassland formation types: dry grassland, rocky grassland, humid grassland and wetlands. Among the species list three species are noteworthy: Alstroemeria albescens, a new species for the science, Lepuropethalon spathulatum, a new record for Southern Brazil, and Thrasyopsis juergensii, a new record for the Pampa biome. Based on our results and on support from other papers we concluded that ca. 65% of the grassland species present in the granitic hills of the region belong to seven main botanical families (Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae and Apiaceae). The species belonging to these families are also determining in the vegetation phytophysiognomical and structural composition, so that cespitous grasses predominate in the landscape, shaping a continuous gramineous layer. The grasslands at the granitic hills of the municipality have an insular present distribution, isolated in patches at hilltops, due to the presence of forests in the slopes. They show a high number of species that can be found in higher numbers in dry areas than in humid areas, and there is a gap in works concerning the characterization of humid grasslands and wetland formations inserted at hilltops. Despite the significant plant diversity of these grasslands, their representation in conservation units at the municipality is virtually inexistent.  Foi realizado um estudo florístico e vegetacional nos campos do morro São Pedro, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, uma área de elevação granítica, ainda pouco estudada, que conserva importantes remanescentes de vegetação natural da região. Após a realização do estudo, com duração de abril de 2005 a março de 2009, obteve-se a catalogação de 497 espécies de angiospermas nativas distribuídas em quatro tipos de formações campestres principais: campo seco, campo rupestre, campo úmido e banhado. Dentre a lista de espécies, destacam-se Alstroemeria albescens, uma espécie nova para a ciência, Lepuropethalon spathulatum, uma nova citação para a Região Sul do Brasil, e Thrasyopsis juergensii, uma nova citação para o bioma Pampa. Com base nos resultados obtidos e o suporte de outros trabalhos realizados, conclui-se que cerca de 65% das espécies campestres de morros graníticos da região pertencem a sete famílias botânicas principais (Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae e Apiaceae). As espécies destas famílias também são determinantes na composição fitofisionômica e estrutural da vegetação, predominando na paisagem as gramíneas cespitosas, formando um estrato contínuo de tapete graminoso. Os campos dos morros graníticos do município têm distribuição atual em forma insular, isolado em manchas nos topos destas elevações devido à presença de florestas nas encostas. Apresentam elevado número de espécies que se concentram em maior número nas áreas secas do que nas áreas úmidas, havendo uma lacuna de trabalhos de caracterização de formações de campos úmidos e banhados de topos de morro. Apesar da significativa diversidade vegetal destes campos, sua representatividade em unidades de conservação é praticamente nula no município.

Evidence for multiple structural genes for the γ chain of human fetal hemoglobin

A sequence with a specific residue at each position was proposed for the γ chain of human fetal hemoglobin by Schroeder et al. (1) after a study in which hemoglobin from a number of individual infants was used. We have now examined in part the fetal hemoglobin components of 17 additional infants and have observed that position 136 of the γ chain may be occupied not only by a glycyl residue, as previously reported, but also by an alanyl residue

Stratigraphy and Uranium Potential of Virgilian Through Leonardian Strata in Parts of Comanche, Cotton, and Tillman Counties, Oklahoma, and Wichita County, Texas

This thesis concerns the distribution and physical characteristics of selected facies of Upper Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian rocks in parts of Comanche, Cotton, and Tillman Counties, Oklahoma, and Wichita County, Texas. Electric logs were used to prepare maps and several correlation cross sections. Analyses of cores, bit cuttings, and electric log correlations were used to make inferences about depositional environments

Florística e Fitossociologia de um campo natural no município de Santo Antonio da Patrulha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

A floristic and phytosociological survey of a campos grassland was conducted in a private area of approximately 20 ha. The grassland-covered areas are discontinuous, together covering approximately 10 ha. The method applied in the floristic survey was the “Caminhamento”. The obtained floristic list contains 123 botanical species, distributed in 83 genera and 31 families. The phytosociological survey was carried out in 20 0.25 m2 (0.5 m x 0.5 m) plots, and 66 species where sampled. For estimation of the species’ covering values, we used the surface method with a modification of the Braun-Blanquet cover scale. The values recovered for the Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index and the Pielou Equitability Index were 3.63 nats and 0.87, respectively.Resumo: (Florística e fitossociologia de um campo natural no município de Santo Antonio da Patrulha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil). Foi realizado um levantamento florístico e fitossociológico das fisionomias campestres presentes em uma área particular de aproximadamente 20 ha. As áreas campestres são descontínuas, totalizando uma cobertura de ca. 10 ha. A metodologia utilizada no levantamento florístico foi o Caminhamento. A lista florística obtida contém 123 espécies botânicas, distribuídas em 83 gêneros e 31 famílias. O levantamento fitossociológico foi realizado em 20 unidades amostrais de 0,25 m2 (0,5 m x 0,5 m), e 66 espécies foram amostradas. Para estimar a cobertura das espécies utilizou-se o método de superfície com uma modificação da escala de cobertura de Braun-Blanquet. Os valores encontrados para o Índice de Diversidade de Shannon-Wiener e para o Índice de Equidade de Pielou foram, respectivamente, 3,63 nats e 0,87

Espécie campestre provavelmente extinta (Desmodium craspediferum Azevedo & Oliveira, Fabaceae) reencontrada no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

This work inform the rediscovered of Desmodium craspediferum after 62 years of its only record in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, providing taxonomic, ecological and conservation information related to this species.Neste trabalho é informado o reencontro de Desmodium craspediferum após 62 anos de seu único registro no estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, fornecendo informações taxonômicas, ecológicas e de conservação referentes a esta espécie