Educational Approach to Cyber Foundations in an Undergraduate Core Program

Maximizing a student\u27s learning in a general education information technology course is critical when teachers have only a little time to cover numerous topics within the discipline. It is therefore paramount that programs utilize the most effective pedagogical approach to educating students on these topics. This allows teachers to take full advantage of this limited time per topic. The principal contribution of this paper is a statistical analysis of student performance in an intermediate-level information technology course when exposed to two popular methods of teaching information technology concepts. This course is part of the larger cyber education model at the United States Military Academy. Our study implemented and analyzed the results from a control group educated with systematic, skills-based instruction versus a treatment group where a problem-centered learning approach was utilized. Our experimental results provide statistically significant reinforcement of the idea that problem-centered learning is superior to skills-based instruction for educating students in information technology topics as a part of their cyber education

Persistent misconceptions about HIV transmission among males and females in Malawi

Background: The prevalence of HIV in Malawi is one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and misconceptions about its mode of transmission are considered a major contributor to the continued spread of the virus. Methods: Using the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey, the current study explored factors associated with misconceptions about HIV transmission among males and females. Results: We found that higher levels of ABC prevention knowledge were associated with lower likelihood of endorsing m

The Tuberculin Skin Test versus QuantiFERON TB Gold® in Predicting Tuberculosis Disease in an Adolescent Cohort Study in South Africa

Setting: This study was conducted in a high tuberculosis (TB) burden area in Worcester, South Africa, with a notified all TB incidence rate of 1,400/100,000. Main Objective: To compare the predictive value of a baseline tuberculin skin test (TST) with that of the QuantiFERON TB Gold (In-tube) assay (QFT) for subsequent microbiologically confirmed TB disease among adolescents. Methods: Adolescents aged 12-18 years were recruited from high schools in the study area. At baseline, blood was drawn for QFT and a TST administered. Participants were followed up for up to 3.8 years for incident TB disease (median 2.4 years). Results: After exclusions, 5244 (82.4%) of 6,363 adolescents enrolled, were analysed. The TB incidence rate was 0.60 cases per 100 person years (pyrs) (95% CI 0.43-0.82) for baseline TST positive (>= 5 mm) participants and 0.64 cases per 100 pyrs (95% CI 0.45-0.87) for baseline QFT positive participants. TB incidence rates were 0.22 per 100 pyrs (0.11-0.39) and 0.22 per 100 pyrs (0.12-0.38) among those with a negative baseline TST and QFT respectively. Sensitivity for incident TB disease was 76.9% for TST and 75.0% for QFT (p = 0.81). Positive predictive value was 1.4% for TST and 1.5% for QFT. Conclusion: Positive TST and QFT tests were moderately sensitive predictors of progression to microbiologically confirmed TB disease. There was no significant difference in the predictive ability of these tests for TB disease amongst adolescents in this high burden setting. Therefore, these findings do not support use of QFT in preference to TST to predict the risk of TB disease in this study populatio

Localization of type 1 diabetes susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6 is associated with susceptibility to more common diseases than any other region of the human genome, including almost all disorders classified as autoimmune. In type 1 diabetes the major genetic susceptibility determinants have been mapped to the MHC class II genes HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1 (refs 1-3), but these genes cannot completely explain the association between type 1 diabetes and the MHC region. Owing to the region's extreme gene density, the multiplicity of disease-associated alleles, strong associations between alleles, limited genotyping capability, and inadequate statistical approaches and sample sizes, which, and how many, loci within the MHC determine susceptibility remains unclear. Here, in several large type 1 diabetes data sets, we analyse a combined total of 1,729 polymorphisms, and apply statistical methods - recursive partitioning and regression - to pinpoint disease susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A (risk ratios >1.5; Pcombined = 2.01 × 10-19 and 2.35 × 10-13, respectively) in addition to the established associations of the MHC class II genes. Other loci with smaller and/or rarer effects might also be involved, but to find these, future searches must take into account both the HLA class II and class I genes and use even larger samples. Taken together with previous studies, we conclude that MHC-class-I-mediated events, principally involving HLA-B*39, contribute to the aetiology of type 1 diabetes. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group

Using Neutron Radiography to Quantify Water Transport and the Degree of Saturation in Entrained Air Cement Based Mortar

AbstractAir entrainment is commonly added to concrete to help in reducing the potential for freeze thaw damage. It is hypothesized that the entrained air voids remain unsaturated or partially saturated long after the smaller pores fill with water. Small gel and capillary pores in the cement matrix fill quickly on exposure to water, but larger pores (entrapped and entrained air voids) require longer times or other methods to achieve saturation. As such, it is important to quantitatively determine the water content and degree of saturation in air entrained cementitious materials. In order to further investigate properties of cement-based mortar, a model based on Beer's Law has been developed to interpret neutron radiographs. This model is a powerful tool for analyzing images acquired from neutron radiography. A mortar with a known volume of aggregate, water to cement ratio and degree of hydration can be imaged and the degree of saturation can be estimated

Break-Induced Loss of Heterozygosity in Fission Yeast: Dual Roles for Homologous Recombination in Promoting Translocations and Preventing De Novo Telomere Addition▿ †

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH), a causal event in tumorigenesis, frequently encompasses multiple genetic loci and whole chromosome arms. However, the mechanisms leading to such extensive LOH are poorly understood. We investigated the mechanisms of DNA double-strand break (DSB)-induced extensive LOH by screening for auxotrophic marker loss ∼25 kb distal to an HO endonuclease break site within a nonessential minichromosome in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Extensive break-induced LOH was infrequent, resulting from large translocations through both allelic crossovers and break-induced replication. These events required the homologous recombination (HR) genes rad32+, rad50+, nbs1+, rhp51+, rad22+, rhp55+, rhp54+, and mus81+. Surprisingly, LOH was still observed in HR mutants, which resulted predominantly from de novo telomere addition at the break site. De novo telomere addition was most frequently observed in rad22Δ and rhp55Δ backgrounds, which disrupt HR following end resection. Further, levels of de novo telomere addition, while increased in ku70Δ rhp55Δ strains, were reduced in exo1Δ rhp55Δ and an rhp55Δ strain overexpressing rhp51. These findings support a model in which HR prevents de novo telomere addition at DSBs by competing for resected ends. Together, these results suggest that the mechanisms of break-induced LOH may be predicted from the functional status of the HR machinery

The 2002 BFA Graduating Class Department of Visual Arts

The exhibition of works produced by the fourth-year class marks the end of an exciting journey for these students. This show is indicative of the high caliber of work that results when faculty and staff are committed to the full development of the talented students accepted into the program. It is by the accomplishments of our students that our program will be known. These students and their work speak well for the program. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to show these works to the college community and the general public