Payments fraud : consumer considerations

This article examines the potential for fraud associated with various "traditional" payment methods and the protective measures that consumers should take when using them.Payment systems ; Checks ; Credit cards

Junior College Reading Problems

Junior or community college reading programs are one of the areas most open for innovation. The two-year college itself is still a relatively new concept and reading programs designed to fit the still evolving function of these schools offer the reading specialist both freedom and frustrations. To date, I have taught reading courses at a junior college which was affiliated with a university and at a community college with an open door policy. In the first instance, the courses were offered through the continuing education department and dealt largely with marginal admittance students. Presently I am within the English department and the reading courses are credit courses, some of which carry transfer credit to local universities. At this point, there are probably many more questions than answers. In this article, I would like to discuss these questions and perhaps this will lead to an exchange of ideas from other reading specialists w-ho may have solutions. Particularly at this level, it is easy to become isolated from dialogue with other reading personnel. What my questions may serve to do is offer an outline of topics to which you may want to respond

Functional Interaction of RacF2 and the WASp Family Protein, SCAR, in the Rab8 Signaling Pathway of the Social Amoeba, \u3ci\u3e Dictyostelium discoideum\u3c/i\u3e

The small GTPase, Rab8, has been shown to play a role in cell-cell adhesion and restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton in both mammalian cells and the lower eukaryote, Dictyostelium discoideum. In D. discoideum, cells expressing constitutively activated Rab8 (Rab8CA) display reduced cell-cell adhesion and increased actin-rich protrusions as well as delayed aggregation. Rab8 has been implicated in the restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton, but no specific pathway for this action has been identified. In other systems, actin-rich membrane extension formation is regulated by WASp family proteins, including SCAR. Here we provide evidence of a functional relationship between the WASp family protein, SCAR, and Rab8. This provides the first genetic evidence in any cell system of a functional interaction between Rab8 and a WASp family protein. SCAR is known to be directly activated by Rac. Our results indicate that Rab8 interacts directly with RacF2 to rescue aggregation in cells expressing Rab8CA. While we were unable to demonstrate that RacF2 interacts directly with SCAR, we have demonstrated that RacF2 likely interacts directly with Rab8 to control cell-cell adhesion. Additionally, we have begun to conduct similar experiments in mammalian cells. To this end, we have developed and expressed EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) chimeras of wildtype as well as constitutively active and dominant negative mutant forms of Rab8 in mammalian cells. In addition, we have designed a Rab8 activation assay based on its interaction with GCK, a germinal center kinase, which interacts directly with the active, GTP-bound form of Rab8. We have also investigated the effect of expression of mutant versions of Rab8 on GCK intracellular levels

Use of Open Networks and Delay-Tolerant Protocol to Decrease WAN Latency of EOS near Real-Time Data

Since 1999, NASA's Earth Observing System Data Operations System (EDOS) project at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has provided high-rate data capture, level zero processing, and product distribution services for a majority of NASA's EOS (Earth Observing System) high-rate missions, including Terra, Aqua, Aura, ICESat, EO-1, SMAP, and OCO-2. EDOS high-rate science and engineering (150-300 Mbps) data-driven capture systems are deployed at 7 worldwide ground stations which are connected via both private (closed) and public (open) wide area networks (WANs) to the centralized EDOS Level Zero Processing Facility (LZPF) located at GSFC, where the data is processed and Level 0 products are distributed to users worldwide. All data transferred over the open networks to GSFC traverse an IPSec tunnel, providing the same level of security as a VPN connection. EDOS produces both time-based and near real-time products (session-based). Near real-time data products are produced from a single ground station contact; time-based products are produced from multiple ground station contacts. EDOS is the primary supplier of EOS Level 0 data to the NASA near real-time user community known as the Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE). For the past few years, EDOS has streamlined its systems to reduce WAN latency for near real-time data delivery, including implementing Quality of Service (QoS), expanding closed network bandwidth, adding open network connections with more bandwidth, and implementing a delay-tolerant protocol to mitigate long round-trip times to remote ground stations

EDOS: 20 Years or Level 0 Processing for Terra

No abstract availabl

EDOS Evolution to Support NASA Future Earth Sciences Missions

This paper presents a ground system architecture to service future NASA decadal missions and in particular, the high rate science data downlinks, by evolving EDOS current infrastructure and upgrading high rate network lines. The paper will also cover EDOS participation to date in formulation and operations concepts for the respective missions to understand the particular mission needs and derived requirements such as data volumes, downlink rates, data encoding, and data latencies. Future decadal requirements such as onboard data recorder management and file protocols drive the need to emulate these requirements within the ground system. The EDOS open system modular architecture is scalable to accommodate additional missions using the current sites antennas and future sites as well and meet the data security requirements and fulfill mission's objective

Current Conditions Risk Assessment for the 300-FF-5 Groundwater Operable Unit

This report updates a baseline risk assessment for the 300 Area prepared in 1994. The update includes consideration of changes in contaminants of interest and in the environment that have occurred during the period of interim remedial action, i.e., 1996 to the present, as well as the sub-regions, for which no initial risk assessments have been conducted. In 1996, a record of decision (ROD) stipulated interim remedial action for groundwater affected by releases from 300 Area sources, as follows: (a) continued monitoring of groundwater that is contaminated above health-based levels to ensure that concentrations continue to decrease, and (b) institutional controls to ensure that groundwater use is restricted to prevent unacceptable exposure to groundwater contamination. In 2000, the groundwater beneath the two outlying sub-regions was added to the operable unit. In 2001, the first 5-year review of the ROD found that the interim remedy and remedial action objectives were still appropriate, although the review called for additional characterization activities. This report includes a current conditions baseline ecological and human health risk assessment using maximum concentrations in the environmental media of the 300-FF-5 Operable Unit and downstream conditions at the City of Richland, Washington. The scope for this assessment includes only current measured environmental concentrations and current use scenarios. Future environmental concentrations and future land uses are not considered in this assessment

Uranium in the Near-shore Aquatic Food Chain: Studies on Periphyton and Asian Clams

The benthic aquatic organisms in the near-shore environment of the Columbia River are the first biological receptors that can be exposed to groundwater contaminants coming from the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. The primary contaminant of concern in the former nuclear fuels processing area at the Site, known as the 300 Area, is uranium. Currently, there are no national clean up criteria for uranium and ecological receptors. This report summarizes efforts to characterize biological uptake of uranium in the food chain of the benthic aquatic organisms and provide information to be used in future assessments of uranium and the ecosystem