Local Government Relations in Knox County Executive Collaboration and its Impact

The recent governmental history of Knoxville and Knox County represents an intriguing case study of interest-group-led referendums, corruption, and reform. Recent structural reforms were a direct response to the unethical behavior displayed by some members of the Knox County Commission, but indirectly the changes attempted to address a number of lingering community issues. When placed in the context of the community’s contemporary political history, the reforms\u27 significance becomes apparent. In the past twenty years the greater Knoxville community experienced intergovernmental court battles, a failed unification referendum, a sheriff with unprecedented political clout, and state legislative intervention. Executive leadership has had a major impact on the course of the community’s contemporary history and will continue to be an important factor in local debate to come

South Dakota Population, Housing and Farm Census Facts

Every day, school board officials, county agents, legislators, mayors, teachers, business men and women, and other community leaders make decisions that need to be based on reliable, up-to-date information. This report, an update of an earlier publication, provides social indicators- facts and trends which describe the social landscape-for each county in South Dakota

Crude Protein Content of Diet of Cattle Grazing Native and Introduced Pastures

Crude protein contents of diets were compared for steers grazing introduced, high condition native and low condition native grass pastures under spring-deferment or season-long grazing systems. This study was conducted at the SDSU Cottonwood Research Station near Cottonwood, SD, in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Esophageally fistulated steers were used to obtain diet samples throughout the grazing season on all treatments. Esophageal samples were analyzed for crude protein content and data were compared among grazing treatments within each year. In all three years, cattle diets were not limiting until late summer. Contrary to what was expected, diets of cattle on introduced grass pastures were typically higher in crude protein throughout the summer than diets of cattle grazing native pastures. Average daily gains were similar for all pastures and grazing systems for all years

Spectrophotometry of Epsilon Aur, 3295-8880 A

Spectrophotometric scans were obtained at 8 A resolution from 3295 to 8880 A on twenty nights before, during, and after the recent eclipse of epsilon Aurigae, beginning with a pre-eclipse observation on 5 March 1982 U.T. The observations were reduced to absolute flux using the standard stars 109 Vir or xi(2) Ceti. The data confirm that the eclipse is essentially gray over the entire visible spectrum, as others have noted from broadband photometry. High resolution echellograms (450 to 6700 A) made through mid-eclipse and the scans show changes in the equivalent widths of H alpha, Na D, and O I as large as a factor of two

Soliton Dynamics in Computational Anatomy

Computational anatomy (CA) has introduced the idea of anatomical structures being transformed by geodesic deformations on groups of diffeomorphisms. Among these geometric structures, landmarks and image outlines in CA are shown to be singular solutions of a partial differential equation that is called the geodesic EPDiff equation. A recently discovered momentum map for singular solutions of EPDiff yields their canonical Hamiltonian formulation, which in turn provides a complete parameterization of the landmarks by their canonical positions and momenta. The momentum map provides an isomorphism between landmarks (and outlines) for images and singular soliton solutions of the EPDiff equation. This isomorphism suggests a new dynamical paradigm for CA, as well as new data representation.Comment: published in NeuroImag

The Role of Transnational Expert Associations in Governing the Cybersecurity Risks of the Internet of Things

The benefits and challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT) are increasingly capturing the attention of policy-makers, the media and the wider public. On the one hand, IoT has the potential to enable new models of organising social and economic activity, as evidenced in sectors such as transport (mobility as service) and manufacturing (industrial IoT). On the other hand, IoT is challenged by the increasing number of cyberattacks originating from unsecure connected devices and the challenges of monitoring and enforcing basic security policies on them. This paper analyses the unique cybersecurity risks emerging from the growth of IoT, focusing on the use of connected devices as vectors in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Through an analysis of the Mirai DDoS, the paper identifies three unique characteristics of IoT botnets: a) higher utilisation rate; b) more durable infections; c) greater contamination rate due to their increasingly connected ecosystem. The paper concludes that an adaptive governance structure is required to effectively respond to the dynamic cybersecurity risks associated with IoT and its potential to develop into a global infrastructure of vulnerabilities. This complex adaptive system cannot be based solely on traditional points of authority (e.g. regulation; formal standards) and relies on the information gathering and monitoring capabilities of transnational internet anti-abuse communities, such as M3AAWG and APWG, to provide a more modular response to the global proliferation of IoT products with low level of security

Physical Activity and Immunity in HIV-Infected Individuals

The purpose of this study was to determine what relationship exists among physical activity levels and viral load and CD4+ cell count in HIV-infected individuals. Increased viral load is associated with disease progression and symptom severity. A convenience sample of 66 male and female subjects between the ages of 18 and 64 years of age (mean 399/8) was recruited from a hospital-based HIV/AIDS clinic. Components of PA were assessed for three continuous days using a mini-motion logger wrist actigraph. These components included mean PA level, and PA index and acceleration index. Pearson’s correlational analysis was used to test the strength of association between PA components and viral load or CD4+ cell count. A significant inverse relationship was found between mean PA level and viral load (p=0.047). An inverse relationship was also observed between PA index and viral load (p=0.0061). Neither mean PA nor PA index scores correlated with CD4+ cell counts. Acceleration index, a measure of PA intensity, showed no correlation to viral load or CD4+ cell counts. These findings suggest that increasing levels of physical activity might have beneficial effects on viral load in HIV-infected individuals

Imaging the Impact of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on the Structure of the Developing Human Brain

Prenatal alcohol exposure has numerous effects on the developing brain, including damage to selective brain structure. We review structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of brain abnormalities in subjects prenatally exposed to alcohol. The most common findings include reduced brain volume and malformations of the corpus callosum. Advanced methods have been able to detect shape, thickness and displacement changes throughout multiple brain regions. The teratogenic effects of alcohol appear to be widespread, affecting almost the entire brain. The only region that appears to be relatively spared is the occipital lobe. More recent studies have linked cognition to the underlying brain structure in alcohol-exposed subjects, and several report patterns in the severity of brain damage as it relates to facial dysmorphology or to extent of alcohol exposure. Future studies exploring relationships between brain structure, cognitive measures, dysmorphology, age, and other variables will be valuable for further comprehending the vast effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and for evaluating possible interventions