Research Findings: MARC 2011 Survey Grades 3-12

Self-report survey of 20,766 children in grades 3-12 in Massachusett

Cyberbullying and Information Exposure: User-Generated Content in Post-Secondary Education

The term “Cyberimmersion” refers to the central role that the Internet and electronic communications now play in the lives of individuals born after 1980 in the First World. Cyberimmersion has transformed everything about bullying and harassment between youth in the First World. It has also transformed the information landscape, although confusion about the scope and nature of this transformation is common. User-generated content has opened the door to a vast “spillage” of information, both damaging and promising. Younger users evidence a high comfort level with technology but many remain naïve in the areas of electronic security, privacy, and information exposure. This report details research findings from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center on the frequency and nature of online interactions between college students, some of which encompass bullying and harassing behaviors and others of which deal with information sharing and exposure

MARC Freshman Study 2011: Bullying, Cyberbullying, Risk Factors and Reporting

The Sample: 617 College freshman, studied over a 6 month period in 2010-­‐2011 Predominately white Predominately 18–19 years old Parents tend to be high working class, low middle class, or middle class Studied for: rates of behavior; risk factors & their relationship to bullying and cyberbullying; and many other social, family, and school factor

MARC Handful O\u27 Statistics

These statistics were gleaned from two 2010-­‐2011 studies through the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In-depth survey of 617 college freshman Survey of 21,000 children in grades 3-12 in a variety of communities across Massachusetts

Just Turn the Darn Thing Off: Understanding Cyberbullying.

The central role that the Internet now plays in the life of children has transformed everything about bullying between youth in the First World. Three features characterize cyberbullying: it evolves rapidly, adults differ fundamentally from children in their use of the Internet, and children are comfortable with technology but ignorant about the psychological impact of their online behaviors and the dangers to which they expose themselves and their families. This presentation will review the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center’s innovative and aggressive approach to researching and addressing both bullying and cyberbullying

Susceptibility of Selected Ericaceous Ornamental Host Species to Phytophthora ramorum

We assessed disease reactions of 51 species or varieties of ericaceous ornamental hosts to two isolates of Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of sudden oak death. Inoculation was performed with an A2 mating type U.S. isolate from rhododendron and the P. ramorum type culture of A1 mating type from Germany. For only one host were statistically significant differences in disease observed between the two isolates. Several different inoculation methods were compared. The 51 hosts tested varied widely in susceptibility, ranging from 0% to over 90% leaf area infected. Two cultivars of Vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry) showed no disease, while three cultivars of Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) were all highly susceptible. The results indicate that many ornamental hosts grown in the United States are susceptible to P. ramorum under artificial inoculation conditions. Inoculum density studies with two susceptible host species showed that P. ramorum is capable of producing disease symptoms over sporangium concentrations ranging from 100 to 5,000 sporangia per ml. Mean numbers of chlamydospores forming in host tissue of 21 hosts ranged from 2 to over 900 chlamydospores per 6-mm-diameter leaf disk. Whether hosts showing susceptiblity under the experimental conditions used in this study would become infected with P. ramorum in the presence of inoculum under natural conditions is unknown

Planetary Probe Entry Models for Concurrent and Integrated Interplanetary Mission Design

There are many prospective mission opportunities involving atmospheric entry probes. The Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) re-cently selected probe missions to Venus, Mars, and the outer planets as part of the 10 selected studies. Two of the six themes in the most recent New Fron-tiers call were a Saturn probe and a Venus in situ explorer. The 2013-2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey includes probe missions at Venus, Mars, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, and Neptune. Across mission destinations and mission classes there is growing interest in planetary probes. While interplanetary trajectory specialists may like to use a broad sweep of low-fidelity solutions to find a wide array of trajectory options, probe specialists typically start off with mid- to high-fidelity point designs for the entry probe since the equations of motion for atmospheric probes require numerical integration and are so directly linked with some of the probe's subsystem design. Cur-rently, there are no alternatives to this design ap-proach as there are no tools capable of automatical-ly and concurrently designing interplanetary and atmospheric trajectories. Unfortunately, this makes us reliant on point designs in the early stages of the mission design process. The reliance on point de-signs for atmospheric probes hinders the flexibility of the design, making the design process cumber-some and restricting decision-making down the road. The research presented here addresses this problem by providing low-fidelity models for the automated, rapid design of atmospheric trajectories and probe's models which may be solved concur-rently with the interplanetary trajectory

Differences between normal and demineralized dentine pretreated with silver fluoride and potassium iodide after an in vitro challenge by Streptococcus mutans

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association (8 March 2008). An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: The application of diamine silver fluoride (Ag(NH3)2F) and potassium iodide (KI) to demineralized dentine has been shown to inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans. The purpose of this study was to observe the differences between demineralized and non-demineralized dentine treated with AgF/KI. Methods: Thirty-five dentine discs were bonded to the bases of 5mL polycarbonate screw top vials which were filled with nutrient medium, sterilized and placed into the overflow from a continuous culture of S. mutans. Samples were divided as follows: 10 samples of demineralized dentine; 10 samples of demineralized dentine treated with AgF/KI; 5 samples of non-demineralized dentine; and 10 samples of non-demineralized dentine treated with AgF/KI. Following two weeks connected to the Chemostat, an electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) of percentage weights and penetration depths of calcium, phosphorous silver and fluoride was conducted. Bacterial growth was monitored by taking optical density readings of the growth medium in each vial and outer surfaces of the specimens were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results: AgF/KI treatment of demineralized and non-demineralized dentine prevented biofilm formation and reduced further demineralization by S. mutans. AgF/KI treatment of demineralized dentine was more effective in reducing dentine breakdown and the growth of S. mutans. Significantly higher levels of silver and fluoride were deposited within demineralized dentine. Conclusions: A topical treatment with AgF/KI on dentine reduced in vitro caries development and inhibited surface biofilm formation. Reduction of in vitro caries development and viability of S. mutans was more pronounced on the dentine samples that had been demineralized prior to the application of AgF/KI.GM Knight, JM McIntyre, GG Craig, Mulyani, PS Zilm and NJ Gull

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometric detection of small Ca2+-induced conformational changes in the regulatory domain of human cardiac troponin C

AbstractTroponin C (TnC), a calcium-binding protein of the thin filament of muscle, plays a regulatory role in skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction. NMR reveals a small conformational change in the cardiac regulatory N-terminal domain of TnC (cNTnC) on binding of Ca2+ such that the total exposed hydrophobic surface area increases very slightly from 3090 ± 86 Å2 for apo-cNTnC to 3108 ± 71 Å2 for Ca2+-cNTnC. Here, we show that measurement of solvent accessibility for backbone amide protons by means of solution-phase hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange followed by pepsin digestion, high-performance liquid chromatography, and electrospray ionization high-field (9.4 T) Fourier transform Ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry is sufficiently sensitive to detect such small ligand binding-induced conformational changes of that protein. The extent of deuterium incorporation increases significantly on binding of Ca2+ for each of four proteolytic segments derived from pepsin digestion of the apo- and Ca2+-saturated forms of cNTnC. The present results demonstrate that H/D exchange monitored by mass spectrometry can be sufficiently sensitive to detect and identify even very small conformational changes in proteins, and should therefore be especially informative for proteins too large (or too insoluble or otherwise intractable) for NMR analysis