Lethal and sublethal effects of Cadmium on Daphnia (Crustacea: Cladocera)

Acute and chronic toxicity studies were performed to determine the effects of cadmium on Daphnia pulex, Leydig 1860 emend. Richard 1896, D. magna Straus 1820, and D. parvula, Fordyce 1901, three cladocerans commonly found in fresh water. Test specimens were exposed to several series of concentrations of cadmium sulfate for 96 hours in the acute toxicity studies. The 24-, 48-, 72- and 96-hour 50 percent lethal doses (LDSO\u27s) were calculated by probit analysis using a computer program. Mortality was defined as immobilization. The 96-hour LD50\u27s for D. pulex ranged from 0.213 to 0.064 mg/liter. The 96-hour LD50 could not be determined for D. parvula; however, the 72-hour LD50 was 0.183 mg/liter. The 96-hour LD50 for D. magna was 0.086 mg/liter. All LD50\u27s were reported in terms of the salt concentration. Daphnia pulex was selected for long-term (chronic) study and was exposed to two concentrations of cadmium sulfate (0.012 and 0.025 mg/liter) at two temperatures (15.5 and 19.5 C). Molting, hatching of young, number of young, and mortality were observed every six hours for four weeks. Molting appeared to be a critical time for Daphnia exposed to cadmium sulfate. Dosed animals showed significantly higher mortality rates and produced 50 percent fewer young than the controls. The experimental temperatures did not alter the toxicity of cadmium

Rule-Based Configuration Control Mechanisms

This paper explores the use of rule-based techniques to manage reusable software libraries. In particular, we examine the properties of partially instantiated Ada generic packages and present an object- based view of a particular collection of reusable Ada generic packages. We argue that because types are the primary mechanism for structuring programs in Ada, our ability to organize and manage large Ada software systems is commensurate with the software development environment\u27s support for organizing and managing types. We have assembled a testbed environment for Evolutionary Software Associates\u27 Workshop object management software. The testbed enables us to evaluate the Workshop system and demonstrate the feasibility of the evolutionary approach to the development of large Ada systems. The evolutionary approach to software engineering seeks to integrate tools that support software development with tools that support software maintenance. Initially the Workshop is being used in conjunction with a LISP-based development environment, but it is, in principle, language and platform independent. We are currently experimenting with rules and class definitions for structuring information about the products and processes in software design and development. We are designing and implementing control mechanisms that can be automatically activated when the developers engage in certain events. An inference mechanism determines which rules can fire and in some cases will cause transformations to occur automatically.* The developers interact with the environment through a Software Spreadsheet™ (Clemm 1987) which actively indicates the status of software objects

Assessing Organizational Change in Multisector Community Health Alliances

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110557/1/hesr12216-sup-0001-AuthorMatrix.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110557/2/hesr12216.pd

Cycles in politics : wavelet analysis of political time-series

Spectral analysis and ARMA models have been the most common weapons of choice for the detection of cycles in political time-series. Controversies about cycles, however, tend to revolve about an issue that both techniques are badly equipped to address: the possibility of irregular cycles without fixed periodicity throughout the entire time-series. This has led to two main consequences. On the one hand, proponents of cyclical theories have often dismissed established statistical techniques. On the other hand, proponents of established techniques have dismissed the possibility of cycles without fixed periodicity. Wavelets allow the detection of transient and coexisting cycles and structural breaks in periodicity. In this paper, we present the tools of wavelet analysis and apply them to the study to two lingering puzzles in the political science literature: the existence to cycles in election returns in the United States and in the severity of major power wars.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

The Rise and Fall, and the Rise (Again) of Feminist Research in Music: 'What Goes Around Comes Around'

This article reports from a two-phase study that involved an analysis of the extant literature followed by a three-part survey answered by seventy-one women composers. Through these theoretical and empirical data, the authors explore the relationship between gender and music’s symbolic and cultural capital. Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus is employed to understand the gendered experiences of the female composers who participated in the survey. The article suggests that these female composers have different investments in gender but that, overall, they reinforce the male habitus given that the female habitus occupies a subordinate position in relation to that of the male. The findings of the study also suggest a connection between contemporary feminism and the attitudes towards gender held by the participants. The article concludes that female composers classify themselves, and others, according to gendered norms and that these perpetuate the social order in music in which the male norm dominates

Health system outcomes and determinants amenable to public health in industrialized countries: a pooled, cross-sectional time series analysis

BACKGROUND: Few studies have tried to assess the combined cross-sectional and temporal contributions of a more comprehensive set of amenable factors to population health outcomes for wealthy countries during the last 30 years of the 20(th )century. We assessed the overall ecological associations between mortality and factors amenable to public health. These amenable factors included addictive and nutritional lifestyle, air quality, public health spending, healthcare coverage, and immunizations. METHODS: We used a pooled cross-sectional, time series analysis with corrected fixed effects regression models in an ecological design involving eighteen member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development during the period 1970 to 1999. RESULTS: Alcohol, tobacco, and fat consumption, and sometimes, air pollution were significantly associated with higher all-cause mortality and premature death. Immunizations, health care coverage, fruit/vegetable and protein consumption, and collective health expenditure had negative effects on mortality and premature death, even after controlling for the elderly, density of practicing physicians, doctor visits and per capita GDP. However, tobacco, air pollution, and fruit/vegetable intake were sometimes sensitive to adjustments. CONCLUSION: Mortality and premature deaths could be improved by focusing on factors that are amenable to public health policies. Tackling these issues should be reflected in the ongoing assessments of health system performance

Local Food Pantry Hidden Markov Model Analysis

Local food pantries currently lack the analytical tools necessary to effectively address hunger. Dr. Zhu’s and my research attempts to predictively model the inflow and outflow of food goods within partnered food pantries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This inflow of goods is defined as those food products, measured in pounds, which enter food pantries through donators such as the Hunger Task Force and in-kind donators. Similarly, the outflow of goods is the recorded amount of food given out by these pantries. Using yearly data provided to us by our partnered pantries, this predictive modeling grants pantries access to another analytical tool outside of local, state, and federal census estimates to effectively manage their food inventories and prepare for future events. Given this, we anticipate several applications stemming from this analytical tool. This would include saving donated funds and grant money to purchase more food on years of greater expected need or giving away more food in a particular year if it is expected that the following year there will be a decrease in need or increase in food inflow. As displayed, this analytical tool would allow food pantries to be even more effective at addressing hunger needs. Using Hidden Markov Chain Models with the data acquired from our partnered food pantries, our expectation is that we will be able to accurately model the future yearly behavior of these pantries. We anticipate by the end of the project a working predictive algorithm software that implements Hidden Markov Models to predict the inflow and outflow for the next one to two years of food goods from the respective partnered food pantries. The implications of the smaller scale study could entail a larger scale research project incorporating more food pantries as partners