Providing Information and Public Outreach Across Three U.S. State Archaeology Offices During the Age of Open Access

Archaeology in the United States has been transformed into a mainstream, practical science over the past fifty years by Cultural Resource Management (CRM) and the federal regulations imposed by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. However, this form of archaeology has been plagued with criticisms since the NHPA’s enactment including issues of access and use of data maintained by state site files. State archaeology is publicly funded yet state and federal legislation often exempts CRM data from freedom of information laws. To mitigate this contradiction and stem the growing body of “gray literature”, new open-access (OA) technologies are being developed to connect the general and academic publics with archaeological research. This thesis explores to what extent a consensus exists between state outreach and access features and how the implemented polices could be adapted with recent developments in OA information systems. Understanding these questions requires information directly from state archaeologists. As such, seven interviews were conducted with personnel from three state archaeology departments across the country. To establish a survey of state policy offerings, these professionals were asked a series of questions as they related to their state’s implementation of data access and public outreach outlets. Furthermore, each interviewee provided comments on their state’s investment in OA development. Over sixty pages of transcripts revealed a consensus on the concepts of data access and public outreach. This agreement was checked by considerable variation in state policy offerings. A grounded theory analysis was applied to the transcripts to uncover why this variation in policy existed. Initially it appeared that underfunding of programs was the primary factor. However, a comprehensive assessment though revealed that concerns with data security led states to implement strict yet largely unstandardized data access and public outreach policies. As such, I put forth that state archaeology departments across the nation look to implement Open-Access data management systems like the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINNA). Implementing such systems will provide a new platform for efficient researching and help in the fight against the growing body of gray literature. What is more, systems like DINAA will act as a clearinghouse of linked comprehensive data sets for state archaeologists, academic, and CRM researchers to utilize for broad geographic analyses needed to understand the threats posed to archaeological sites nationwide

SYNTHESIS AND EVALUATION OF PYRIDINIUM DERIVATIVES AS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR LIGANDS

This project utilized synthesis and in vitro assays to generate antagonist SARs at various nAChR subtypes. Alkylation of the pyridino nitrogen of the nicotine molecule afforded subtype specific antagonists at a42* nAChR subtypes and nAChR subtypes that mediate nicotine-evoked dopamine release. Using this data, a series of mono-azaaromatic quaternary salts were produced and evaluated in binding and functional assays for a42* and a7* nAChR subtypes and nAChR subtypes that mediate nicotine-evoked dopamine release. Additionally, bis-azaaromatic quaternary salts were synthesized and evaluated in the same assays. Two potent lead compounds were identified. N-n-dodecylnicotinium iodide (NDDNI) was found to be very potent at both a42* nAChR subtypes and nAChR subtypes that mediate nicotine-evoked dopamine release. And the most promising candidate was N-N-bisdodecylpicolinium dibromide (bDDPiB), which was selective for the nAChR subtypes that mediate nicotine-evoked dopamine release (IC50 = 9 nM). Additionally, using the data from the SARs, predictive computer models were generated to assist in future compound assessment without in vitro assays. Three self-organizing map (SOMs) models were generated from three different sets of compounds. The groups consisted of the mono-substituted compounds, the bissubstituted compounds, and both sets combined. The models were able to successfully bin the test set of compounds after developing a model from a similar set of training compounds. Additionally, using genetic functional activity (GFA) algorithms an evolutionary approach to generating predictive model equations was applied to the compounds. Three separate equations were generated in order to form a predictive method for evaluating affinities at the a4b2* receptor subtype. In addition to the modeling and SAR work of the quaternary ammonium compounds, novel synthetic methods were also employed to develop enantiomerically pure nicotine analogs. Efficient enantioselective syntheses of (S)- and R-(+)-nornicotine, (S)-and R-(+)-anabasine, and (S)-and R-(+)-anatabine have been developed, affording isomers in high enantiomeric excess

Efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation in anxiety disorders: Subgroup analysis of the randomized, active- and placebo-controlled EAGLES trial.

BackgroundSmoking rates are high in adults with anxiety disorders (ADs), yet little is known about the safety and efficacy of smoking-cessation pharmacotherapies in this group.MethodsPost hoc analyses in 712 smokers with AD (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], n = 192; generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], n = 243; panic disorder [PD], n = 277) and in a nonpsychiatric cohort (NPC; n = 4,028). Participants were randomly assigned to varenicline, bupropion, nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT), or placebo plus weekly smoking-cessation counseling for 12 weeks, with 12 weeks follow-up. General linear models were used to test the effects of treatment group, cohort, and their interaction on neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPSAEs), and continuous abstinence weeks 9-12 (treatment) and 9-24 (follow-up).ResultsNPSAE incidence for PTSD (6.9%), GAD (5.4%), and PD (6.2%) was higher versus NPC (2.1%), regardless of treatment. Across all treatments, smokers with PTSD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.58), GAD (OR = 0.72), and PD (OR = 0.53) had lower continuous abstinence rates weeks 9-12 (CAR9-12) versus NPC. Varenicline demonstrated superior efficacy to placebo in smokers with GAD and PD, respectively (OR = 4.53; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.20-17.10; and OR = 8.49; 95% CI = 1.57-45.78); NRT was superior to placebo in smokers with PD (OR = 7.42; 95% CI = 1.37-40.35). While there was no statistically significant effect of any treatment on CAR9-12 for smokers with PTSD, varenicline improved 7-day point prevalence abstinence at end of treatment in this subcohort.ConclusionIndividuals with ADs were more likely than those without psychiatric illness to experience moderate to severe NPSAEs during smoking-cessation attempts, regardless of treatment. While the study was not powered to evaluate abstinence outcomes with these subgroups of smokers with ADs, varenicline provided significant benefit for cessation in those with GAD and PD, while NRT provided significant benefit for those with PD

Black and on the Border

The civil war is often understood in terms of stark oppo¬sites. It seems only natural to think of North and South, of Union and Confederacy, of freedom and slavery. But the habit of thinking in opposites often extends to other parts of the war where it serves us less well: battlefield and homefront, soldier and civilian, male and female, and black and white, as if these places, people, and ex¬periences were not swept up in the same all-consuming war

The unique chemistry of Eastern Mediterranean water masses selects for distinct microbial communities by depth

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Black and on the Border

In an attempt to bring together aspects of the war that are often kept separate, this essay focuses on the region of the United States that is often ignored when explaining the onset of the Civil War: the border where the upper South met the lower North. This area--a third of the nation--went into the war with uncertainty but then gave itself over to the conflict, playing a crucial role start to finish as battlefield and supplier of soldiers, materiel, and leaders. Specifically, this essay looks at the border between Virginia and Pennsylvania, a region almost arbitrarily divided by the Mason-Dixon Line. People in this area had much in common--from their ethnic heritage to the crops they grew--but were divided profoundly by slavery. This division made all the difference

‘Treading lightly’: Travel and Offsetting Policies in UK International Development Research Institutes and NGOs

There is increasing concern over climate change impacts of the international development sector, because climate change is disproportionately affecting those groups primarily targeted by international development organisations; poor people in poor countries. Yet in their activities, these organisations generate greenhouse gases causing climate change, commonly with the most significant contributions due to travel by air. This is problematic given that the international nature of the sector often demands high levels of overseas travel

Aiming High for Virginia Colleges

Considerable discussion about higher education is likely to take place throughout 1999 from the current legislative session through December, when the report of the Governor\u27s Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education is anticipated. Because faculty teach, conduct research and provide service to all Virginians, we have a unique perspective on what will be needed to ensure the continuing excellence of higher education in Virginia. Toward that end, we offer the observations below on funding practices, simplifying bureaucratic procedures, improving research and scholarship, and governance in higher education. We believe positive change can make real differences in the quality of the services and programs we provide

A new approach to local hardness

The applicability of the local hardness as defined by the derivative of the chemical potential with respect to the electron density is undermined by an essential ambiguity arising from this definition. Further, the local quantity defined in this way does not integrate to the (global) hardness - in contrast with the local softness, which integrates to the softness. It has also been shown recently that with the conventional formulae, the largest values of local hardness do not necessarily correspond to the hardest regions of a molecule. Here, in an attempt to fix these drawbacks, we propose a new approach to define and evaluate the local hardness. We define a local chemical potential, utilizing the fact that the chemical potential emerges as the additive constant term in the number-conserving functional derivative of the energy density functional. Then, differentiation of this local chemical potential with respect to the number of electrons leads to a local hardness that integrates to the hardness, and possesses a favourable property; namely, within any given electron system, it is in a local inverse relation with the Fukui function, which is known to be a proper indicator of local softness in the case of soft systems. Numerical tests for a few selected molecules and a detailed analysis, comparing the new definition of local hardness with the previous ones, show promising results.Comment: 30 pages (including 6 figures, 1 table