Identifying Disinformation in Scholarly Publishing

This paper examines the pro-Confederacy movement’s attempt to distort history through textbook revision and the anti-vaccine movement’s attempt at legitimacy through Dr. Andrew Wakefield, to argue in favor of strengthened media literacy as a brace against the effects of disinformation and propaganda. Previous definitions of misinformation and disinformation overlap and are as yet unclear and therefore should be further studied. Lost Cause mythologists worked diligently to propagate school textbooks that portrayed skewed versions of history that cast Southern Confederates’ cause as noble and honorable while obscuring the real reason for the Civil War. Similarly, Dr. Andrew Wakefield falsified data to publish an anti-vaccine study that took years to discredit and to be retracted. While undergraduate students can rely on the CRAAP and BEAM methods of identifying problematic texts, they should be prepared to also engage in lateral reading to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest. Lateral reading is used in this essay to analyze a conspiracy theorist’s links to Russian governmental propaganda outlets

The History and Significance of Japanese Earthquake Countermeasures

Japan is well known for its earthquakes; the damage that they cause sometimes makes international headlines, one example being the disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011. Through my research, I found that although Japan has always been plagued by earthquakes, the Japanese government only started to seriously create and enforce building regulations in the past 50 years. Also, there is a clear pattern ofrevisions and new building codes being added soon after highly destructive earthqualces strike. Since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake no new regulations have been enforced, but researchers are undoubtedly striving to discover new and better earthqualce countermeasure technology. This paper discusses an overall view of the anti-earthquake technologies that Japan already has and how they work, regulations that are in place, differences between small buildings and skyscrapers, as well as new technology and the future of anti­ earthquake measures. It also compares and contrasts Japan with other cotmtries that experience regular earthquakes, such as Chile and Mexico, while showcasing the technology and procedures that are unique to Japan. Although my research focuses on earthquakes, the main topic is people. Anti­ earthqualce technology is created to save people and is essential in Japan, a country which already has a population crisis and a growing number of elders who may struggle in the event of a natural disaster. With international help, Japan and other earthqualce-riddled countries can use technology to become safe countries where no one is fazed - much less afraid of - natural disasters such as earthquakes

Parental Roles and Behavior in Children

This investigation was concerned with the goals parents set for their children, the child-rearing methods parents use to instill their goals in the child, and the behavioral and personality characteristics of the child. To measure these dimensions, participation was solicited from parents who had children enrolled in the North Texas State University Laboratory School

Differences in Rates Of First-Time in College Students Who Did Not Persist Or Graduate By Their Ethnicity/Race and Enrollment Status in Texas Community Colleges: A Multiyear, Statewide Study

The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which the rates of students who did not persist or graduate had changed from the 2014-2015 academic year through the 2019-2020 academic year for first-time in college students by their ethnicity/race (i.e., Hispanic, Black, White, and Asian) and enrollment status (i.e., full-time and part-time) in Texas community colleges. Any trends that were present in the rates of students who did not persist or graduate of Texas community college students by their ethnicity/race and enrollment status were determined. METHOD A non-experimental causal-comparative research design was used (Johnson & Christensen, 2020) in this journal-ready dissertation. Archival data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Interactive Accountability System were obtained and analyzed for six academic years by student enrollment status and ethnicity/race. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board links student ethnicity/race and enrollment status with the academic year and first-time in college status; therefore, parametric paired samples t-tests were calculated. FINDINGS Statistically significant increases were documented in the rates of Hispanic and Black first-time in college students who did not persist or graduate in Texas community colleges over six academic years. The rates of Hispanic and Black first-time in college students with full-time enrollment status who did not persist or graduate were 43% and 49%, respectively. The rates of Hispanic and Black first-time in college students with part-time enrollment status fluctuated at 30% and 50%, respectively. Hispanic and Black first-time in college students did not persist or graduate at about 40% and 50%, respectively, regardless of their enrollment status. The rates of White and Asian first-time in college students with full-time enrollment status who did not persist or graduate were 33% and 26%, respectively. The rates of White and Asian first-time in college students with part-time enrollment status varied at 47% and 28%, respectively. White and Asian first-time in college students did not persist or graduate at about 40% and 27%, respectively, regardless of their enrollment status. Overall, the rates of Hispanic, Black, White, and Asian students were highest in the 2019-2020 academic year at 41.35%, 52.43%, 42.13%, 27.92%, respectively

Ion Implantation of Porous Silicon

Investigates the ion implantation of porous silicon (Si). Properties of light-emitting Si; Application of continuous-wave and time dependent photoluminescence spectroscopies; Comparison of dopant implantation effect in varying doses

Cancer gene prioritization by integrative analysis of mRNA expression and DNA copy number data: a comparative review

A variety of genome-wide profiling techniques are available to probe complementary aspects of genome structure and function. Integrative analysis of heterogeneous data sources can reveal higher-level interactions that cannot be detected based on individual observations. A standard integration task in cancer studies is to identify altered genomic regions that induce changes in the expression of the associated genes based on joint analysis of genome-wide gene expression and copy number profiling measurements. In this review, we provide a comparison among various modeling procedures for integrating genome-wide profiling data of gene copy number and transcriptional alterations and highlight common approaches to genomic data integration. A transparent benchmarking procedure is introduced to quantitatively compare the cancer gene prioritization performance of the alternative methods. The benchmarking algorithms and data sets are available at http://intcomp.r-forge.r-project.orgComment: PDF file including supplementary material. 9 pages. Preprin

Microplastics, Macro-Problems: Abundance of Man-Made Materials in the Waters and Sediments of Florida State Parks

Man-made materials (MMM) are pollutants introduced to the environment by human activity. Microplastics (MP) are a type of MMM that threaten living organisms through bioaccumulation. The term MMM also encompasses pollutants produced from natural materials, such as rayon and microfibrillated cellulose, which are used in food packaging. This study aims to determine the extent of MMM pollution within estuaries in two of Florida’s state parks, as well as the effectiveness of using restored vegetation on shorelines to reduce MMM pollution. Tomoka State Park and Gamble Rogers State Park were selected at the request of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. At each park, we compared MMM in sediments of replicate intertidal areas with bare sand (control) vs. sites with restored vegetation (mangroves, marshgrass). Additionally, MMM in estuarine water directly seaward of control and vegetated areas were compared. Restoration occurred two years prior to this study. MMM were extracted from sediments and water samples and then examined by microscopy. A total of 341 MMM were found; 120 were collected from water samples and 221 from sediments. More MMM (58%) of the total were found in Tomoka State Park samples. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed 15% of collected samples were plastic polymers (e.g., polysulfone and polystyrene). More MMM (78) were found in Tomoka State Park water samples than in Gamble Rogers State Park water samples (42) (Kruskal-Wallis: p = 0.05). MMM abundance within sediments was not different between parks, or between control and restored sites (Kruskal-Wallis, all comparisons: p \u3e 0.26). Our research provides the first documentation of MMM pollution, including MP pollution, in these state parks, thereby giving park managers insight on the resources they manage and the impact of human activity on conserved land

Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Utilizes Cell-Specific Infectious Entry Mechanisms

Understanding the entry and trafficking mechanism(s) of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) into host cells can lead to evolution in capsid and vector design and delivery methods, resulting in enhanced transduction and therapeutic gene expression. Variability of findings regarding the early entry pathway of rAAV supports the possibility that rAAV, like other viruses, can utilize more than one infectious entry pathway. We tested whether inhibition of macropinocytosis impacted rAAV transduction of HeLa cells compared to hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. We found that macropinocytosis inhibitor cytochalasin D blocked rAAV transduction of HeLa cells (>2-fold) but enhanced (10-fold) transduction in HepG2 and Huh7 lines. Similar results were obtained with another macropinocytosis inhibitor, 5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl) amiloride (EIPA). The augmented transduction was due to neither viral binding nor promoter activity, affected multiple rAAV serotypes (rAAV2, rAAV2-R585E, and rAAV8), and influenced single-stranded and self-complementary virions to comparable extents. Follow-up studies using CDC42 inhibitor ML141 and p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) siRNA knockdown also resulted in enhanced HepG2 transduction. Microscopy revealed that macropinocytosis inhibition correlated with expedited nuclear entry of the rAAV virions into HepG2 cells. Enhancement of hepatocellular rAAV transduction extended to the mouse liver in vivo (4-fold enhancement) but inversely blocked heart tissue transduction (13-fold). This evidence of host cell-specific rAAV entry pathways confers a potent means for controlling and enhancing vector delivery and could help unify the divergent accounts of rAAV cellular entry mechanisms