Banning of Handguns on College Campuses in the State of Texas

The State of Texas does not allow the carrying of handguns on the campuses of institutions of higher education at this time. Some feel they should be allowed to carry handguns for the safety and security of the people; however, firearms cause more of a problem, rather than a solution. The allowance of handguns on the campuses of institutions of higher education can hinder the learning process in classrooms, place students with mental illness in reach of handguns, place untrained people with handguns in situations they are not prepared for, and, if an emergency situation arises, such as an active shooter, can cause confusion among police officers when responding. There are many counter points argued when discussing this issue. Some of these counter points would be that it would make the institution of higher education a safer place. Another counter point to banning handguns on campus would be that it is the 2nd amendment right of each citizen to carry a handgun. While these are valid points, there are other arguments that would suggest otherwise. Taking into consideration that institutions of higher education are primarily for learning, the safety of the students and staff need to be considered. The learning environment needs to remain free from the threat of weapons in the classroom. After researching the topic of handguns on campuses of institutes of higher education, the State of Texas should continue to ban the possession of firearms on the campuses of institutions of higher education

Effects of Personality on Social Status A Study on Perceived Social Dominance Among Adolescent Single Sex Social Groups

This study intends to ascertain the relationship between personality traits and perceived social dominance in a peer group setting among Senior High School Students. There are many factors that affect the perceived social dominance of individuals, and so the research aimed to solve which factors these are among the current generation of senior high students. A total of 46 participants answered a google forms survey. It was found that the personalities all had similar measures, such as agreeableness and openness, and conscientiousness and neuroticism. Extroversion gave the most interesting results, with a half and half split for introverted(f=24, %=52.2%) and extroverted(f=22, %=47.8%). It was found that communication (m=3.24, sd= 0.85) and to be there when a friend is needed(m=3.15, sd=0.87) are the most important domains to peer relationship. Interestingly, there is no statistical relationship between age (x2=4.67, p=0.197), and gender(x2=0.186, p=0.666) with perceived social dominance. However statistical relationship is established between extraversion measure (x2=8.9, p=0.003) and quality of peer relationship (x2=4.63, p=0.031) and perceived dominance. The presented evidence warrants assumption that certain personality traits influence social dominance, and it is not related to age, gender, or quality of peer relationships

As interações entre os sindicatos de professores e o estado da Província de Buenos Aires entre 2000 e 2007

This article compares school experiences of Latin American immigrants in the cities of Buenos Aires and Madrid, by analyzing migration profiles in each city, migration and educational policies, and a series of interviews that were made with teachers and students in state schools that had a high percentage of foreign students. Both Madrid and Buenos Aires City have experienced substantial changes in the profile of migration trajectories. The growth and visibility of ethnic plurality in two cities that saw themselves as having certain cultural and ethnic homogeneity has created tensions in their educational systems. The article shows that in both cities the overall approach to the education of immigrants is based on the notion of assimilation to an imagined mainstream culture. Within this general approach, misrecognition of the specific needs of immigrant students takes place in schools in both cities, although in very different ways in each location. Este trabajo compara las experiencias escolares de los hijos de inmigrantes de origen latinoamericano en Madrid y en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires a partir del análisis de los perfiles migratorios de las dos ciudades, de las políticas migratorias, las políticas educativas y de una serie de entrevistas que se hicieron con docentes y alumnos en escuelas estatales con altos porcentajes de estudiantes extranjeros. Tanto Madrid como la Ciudad de Buenos Aires han sufrido importantes cambios en sus perfiles y dinámicas migratorias en las últimas décadas. El crecimiento y mayor visibilidad de la pluralidad étnica en ciudades que se veían a sí mismas como homogéneas en términos culturales y étnicos han generado tensiones en los sistemas educativos. El artículo muestra que en ambas ciudades el enfoque general a través del cual se resuelve la educación de los estudiantes inmigrantes se basa en la idea de la asimilación de los extranjeros a una cultura dominante imaginaria que se percibe como cerrada y estática. Dentro de este abordaje general, en ambas ciudades se da una falta de reconocimiento de las necesidades especiales de los alumnos inmigrantes, aunque de formas muy diferentes en cada uno de estos lugares. Este artigo compara as experiências escolares dos filhos de imigrantes latino-americanos em Madrid e Buenos Aires a partir da análise dos perfis de migração das duas cidades, as políticas de imigração, as políticas de educação e de uma série de entrevistas que foram feitas com professores e alunos de escolas públicas com altas porcentagens de estudantes estrangeiros. Ambos Madrid e Buenos Aires sofreram mudanças significativas em seus perfis e nas dinâmicas migratórias nas últimas décadas. O crescimento e a visibilidade da diversidade étnica nas cidades que se viam como tensões culturalmente homogêneas e étnicas resultaram em sistemas de ensino. O artigo mostra que, em ambas as cidades a abordagem geral através do qual a educação de estudantes imigrantes é resolvido com base na idéia de assimilação de estrangeiros a uma cultura dominante é percebido como fechado e estático. Dentro desta abordagem geral, em ambas as cidades a falta de reconhecimento das necessidades especiais dos estudantes imigrantes teim maneiras muito diferentes.

Utterance Augmentation for Speaker Recognition

The speaker recognition problem is to automatically recognize a person from their voice. The training of a speaker recognition model typically requires a very large training corpus, e.g., multiple voice samples from a very large number of individuals. In the diverse domains of application of speaker recognition, it is often impractical to obtain a training corpus of the requisite size. This disclosure describes techniques that augment utterances, e.g., by cutting, splitting, shuffling, etc., such that the need for collections of raw voice samples from individuals is substantially reduced. In effect, the original model works better on the augmented utterances on the target domain

Development of a High Resolution Weather Forecast Model for Mesoamerica Using the NASA Nebula Cloud Computing Environment

Over the past two years, scientists in the Earth Science Office at NASA fs Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have explored opportunities to apply cloud computing concepts to support near real ]time weather forecast modeling via the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Collaborators at NASA fs Short ]term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center and the SERVIR project at Marshall Space Flight Center have established a framework that provides high resolution, daily weather forecasts over Mesoamerica through use of the NASA Nebula Cloud Computing Platform at Ames Research Center. Supported by experts at Ames, staff at SPoRT and SERVIR have established daily forecasts complete with web graphics and a user interface that allows SERVIR partners access to high resolution depictions of weather in the next 48 hours, useful for monitoring and mitigating meteorological hazards such as thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, and tropical weather that can lead to other disasters such as flooding and landslides. This presentation will describe the framework for establishing and providing WRF forecasts, example applications of output provided via the SERVIR web portal, and early results of forecast model verification against available surface ] and satellite ]based observations

Wearable Positive End-Expiratory Pressure Valve Improves Exercise Performance

Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) provides benefits to pulmonary patients, yet effects in healthy, exercising adults are unknown. PURPOSE: We designed two experiments (EXP) to test a novel PEEP (4.2 cmH2O PEEP) mouthpiece (PMP) on maximal cycling performance of physically active volunteers. METHODS: EXP-1 PMP vs. control (CON) mouthpiece (N=9, Age=30±2 yr, Weight=72.2±3.7 kg, BMI=24.4±1.2, 5♂); and EXP-2 PMP vs. no mouthpiece (NMP) (N=10, Age=27±1 yr, Weight=76.7±3.6 kg, BMI=23.9±0.8, ♂). Exercise test procedures for both experiments were identical. On Day 1, under the first mouthpiece condition assigned at random subjects performed graded exercise cycling testing (GXT) (Corival®) for VO2peak (ml*kg*min-1), oxygen pulse (mlO2*bt) (O2pulse), GXT endurance time (s) (GXT-T), and VO2(ml*kg*min-1)-at-ventilatory-threshold (VO2 @VT). Subjects returned 72 h later (Day 2), to complete an endurance ride timed (s)to exhaustion (VTER) at an intensity equivalent to their VO2 @VT power (W). One week later, subjects repeated exercise testing protocols (Days 3 & 4, time-of-day controlled) under the alternate mouthpiece condition. RESULTS: Selected outcomes were as follows (paired T-test, *PMP vs. CON, respectively: VO2peak=45.2±2.4* vs. 42.4±2.3; VO2@VT=33.7±2.0 vs. 32.3±1.6; GXT-T=521.7±73.4* vs. 495.3±72.8; VTER=846.2±166.0 vs. 743.1±124.7; O2pulse=24.5±1.4* vs. 23.1±1.3. PMP vs. NMP, respectively: VO2peak=43.3±1.6* vs. 41.7±1.6; VO2@AT=31.1±1.2* vs. 29.1±1.3; GXT-T=511.7*±49.6 vs. 486.4±49.6; VTER 872.4±134.0 vs. 792.9 ± 122.4; O2pulse=24.1±0.9* vs. 23.4±0.9. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the novel PEEP mouthpiece we tested confers a significant performance benefit to cyclists completing high intensity exercise. By extension, it is likely to be an advantage in any physical activity having an aerobic component

Dual targeting of MDM2 and BCL2 as a therapeutic strategy in neuroblastoma

Wild-type p53 tumor suppressor activity in neuroblastoma tumors is hampered by increased MDM2 activity, making selective MDM2 antagonists an attractive therapeutic strategy for this childhood malignancy. Since monotherapy in cancer is generally not providing long-lasting clinical responses, we here aimed to identify small molecule drugs that synergize with idasanutlin (RG7388). To this purpose we evaluated 15 targeted drugs in combination with idasanutlin in three p53 wild type neuroblastoma cell lines and identified the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax (ABT-199) as a promising interaction partner. The venetoclax/idasanutlin combination was consistently found to be highly synergistic in a diverse panel of neuroblastoma cell lines, including cells with high MCL1 expression levels. A more pronounced induction of apoptosis was found to underlie the synergistic interaction, as evidenced by caspase-3/7 and cleaved PARP measurements. Mice carrying orthotopic xenografts of neuroblastoma cells treated with both idasanutlin and venetoclax had drastically lower tumor weights than mice treated with either treatment alone. In conclusion, these data strongly support the further evaluation of dual BCL2/MDM2 targeting as a therapeutic strategy in neuroblastoma

Aspectos epidemiológicos de la cetosis subclínica en ovejas, durante el último tercio de gestación en el municipio de Valledupar (Cesar)

La cetosis subclínica es una alteración metabólica con impacto desconocido en la salud de las ovejas. Este trabajo hace una primera aproximación epidemiológica de la cetosis subclínica en algunos rebaños del municipio de Valledupar, por medio de la prueba de Rothera. Se analizaron niveles de cuerpos cetónicos en la orina de 41 hembras seleccionadas a partir de la edad gestacional. Las mediciones se hicieron cada semana, junto con la condición corporal durante el último tercio de gestación hasta la fecha esperada de parto, cuando también se registró la cantidad de fetos gestantes por hembra. La presencia de más de un feto se asoció significativamente (p<0,05) a la cetosis subclínica, en particular durante las semanas 1ᵃ, 5ᵃ y 6ᵃ preparto. La condición corporal no se asoció (p>0,05) a cetosis subclínica, no obstante, se encontró una relación inversamente proporcional entre la condición corporal inferior a 3,5 puntos y la presencia de cetosis subclínica, durante las semanas 6ᵃ (r=-0,85) y 7ᵃ (r=-0,62) preparto. Adicionalmente, la cetosis subclínica también tuvo una correlación alta (r=1.00) con hembras con partos dobles y condiciones corporales inferiores a 3.5 puntos. Se concluye que el número de fetos afecta sustancialmente la manifestación de cetosis subclínica