Palo Alto College

Folk wisdom has long held that people become more politically conservative as they grow older, although several empirical studies suggest political attitudes are stable across time. Using data from the Michigan Youth-Parent Socialization Panel Study, we analyze attitudinal change over a major portion of the adult life span. We document changes in party identification, self-reported ideology, and selected issue positions over this time period and place these changes in context by comparing them with contemporaneous national averages. Consistent with previous research but contrary to folk wisdom, our results indicate that political attitudes are remarkably stable over the long term. In contrast to previous research, however, we also find support for folk wisdom: on those occasions when political attitudes do shift across the life span, liberals are more likely to become conservatives than conservatives are to become liberals, suggesting that folk wisdom has some empirical basis even as it overstates the degree of change.

Two blinded, controlled trials were done to evaluate the usefulness of fungal antigen detection for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. Detection of Aspergillus fumigatus carbohydrate by radioimmunoassay was compared with antibody detection by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and with diagnostic microbiologic and histopathologic procedures. In the first trial, antigenemia was detected in 4 of 6 leukemic patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, but not in 8 acute leukemic controls or in 24 normal controls. Fungal antigenemia persisted for 8 to 75 days in 4 patients and seroconversion occurred at the onset of pulmonary infiltrates in 3. Antibody to A. fumigatus was detected in 2 of the 6 patients with aspergillosis, but also in 2 leukemic controls and 6 normal controls. Aspergillus species were identified in four of seven bronchoscopies done in 5 patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Prospective nasal cultures grew Aspergillus species in 4 of the 6 patients with invasive aspergillosis, but in only 1 patient was this information available before a histologic diagnosis was made. In a second trial, antigenemia was detected in 2 patients with invasive aspergillosis, and in 1 with possible invasive aspergillosis, but not in 9 controls. This study indicates that the radioimmunoassay for A. fumigatus antigen is a highly specific and moderately sensitive serodiagnostic test for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Prospective nasal cultures grew Aspergillus species in 4 of the 6 patients with invasive aspergillosis, but in only 1 patient was this information available before a histologic diagnosis was made. In a second trial, antigenemia was detected in 2 patients with invasive aspergillosis, and in 1 with possible invasive aspergillosis, but not in 9 controls. This study indicates that the radioimmunoassay for A. fumigatus antigen is a highly specific and moderately sensitive serodiagnostic test for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Recent research indicates that by 4.5 months, infants use shape and size information as the basis for individuating objects but that it is not until 11.5 months that they use color information for this purpose. The present experiments investigated the extent to which infants' sensitivity to color information could be increased through select experiences. Five experiments were conducted with 10.5- and 9.5-month-olds. The results revealed that multimodal (visual and tactile), but not unimodal (visual only), exploration of the objects prior to the individuation task increased 10.5-month-olds' sensitivity to color differences. These results suggest that multisensory experience with objects facilitates infants' use of color information when individuating objects. In contrast, 9.5-month-olds did not benefit from the multisensory procedure; possible explanations for this finding are explored. Together, these results reveal how an everyday experience--combined visual and tactile exploration of objects--can promote infants' use of color information as the basis for individuating objects. More broadly, these results shed light on the nature of infants' object representations and the cognitive mechanisms that support infants' changing sensitivity to color differences.

This paper presents interim results of an ongoing study of building damage and losses likely to occur due to a repeat of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, using the HAZUS technology. Recent work by Boatwright et. al. (2006) provides MMI‐based ShakeMap estimates of spectral response accelerations derived from observations of intensities in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. This paper calculates damage and loss estimates using those estimated ground motions, then compares the resulting estimates with those calculated using a method parallel with that of current seismic provisions of building codes for a magnitude M7.9 event on the San Andreas Fault, and contrasts differences in damage and loss patterns for these two scenarios. The study region of interest comprises 19 counties of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and adjacent areas of Northern California, covering 24,000 square miles, with a population of more than ten million people and about $1.5 trillion of building and contents exposure. The majority of this property and population is within 40 km (25 miles) of the San Andreas Fault. The current population of this Northern California region is about ten times what it was in 1906, and the replacement value of buildings is about 500 times greater. Despite improvements in building codes and construction practices, the growth of the region over the past 100 years causes the range of estimated fatalities, approximately 800–3,400 depending on time of day and other variables, to be comparable to what it was in 1906. The forecast property loss to buildings for a repeat of the 1906 earthquake is in the range of approximately $90–120 billion; 7,000–10,000 commercial buildings in the region are estimated to be closed due to serious damage; and about 160,000–250,000 households calculated to be displaced from damaged residences. Losses due to fire following earthquake, as well as losses to utility and transportation systems, would be in addition to these estimates.

Equivalent lateral force and modal analysis procedures for yielding buildings with damping systems were developed, validated, and incorporated in the 2000 NEHRP Provisions . Key to the implementation of the procedures was the validation process that demonstrated the accuracy of the proposed procedures. The procedures for implementing yielding, viscoelastic, linear viscous, and nonlinear viscous dampers were tested using the results of nonlinear response‐history analysis on sample three‐ and six‐story frames and were found to be robust.

Although a 22-kDa human growth hormone (hGH) is the predicted protein product of the hGH-N gene, a pleiotropic collection of uncharacterized molecular weight and charge isoforms is also produced. Using chromatography and preparative SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions we isolated an unusually stable mercaptoethanol-resistant (MER) 45-kDa hGH. A 5-h incubation at 100 degrees C in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol was required to convert approximately 90% of MER-45-kDa hGH into a 22-kDa hGH. Other reductants were not as effective in splitting MER-45-kDa hGH. After fracturing MER-45-kDa hGH, the 22-kDa hGH fragments would spontaneously reassociate if the reductant was removed; however, alkylation of cysteine residues prevented their reassociation. Identical amino acid sequences for the first six N-terminal residues were obtained for MER-45-kDa hGH and its 22-kDa hGH cleavage product. Structural identity of MER-45-kDa hGH and 22-kDa hGH was demonstrated by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of tryptic digests. MER-45-kDa hGH did not break up upon incubation with EDTA and EGTA. The significance of this work to our understanding of the structure of hGH isoforms is that it demonstrates that MER-45-kDa hGH is not a single chain polypeptide but is instead a homodimer of 22-kDa hGH monomers. The MER-45-kDa hGH dimer is held together by interchain disulfide bonds and not by divalent metal cation bridges. Additionally, MER-45-kDa hGH's interchain disulfide links are exceptionally resistant to reducing agents and thus confer extreme stability to the homodimer.

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is an infection of the peritoneal fluid in the absence of an obvious intra-abdominal source. It is most commonly diagnosed in patients with cirrhotic ascites, although it has been described in other syndromes as well. The organisms most frequently cultured from the peritoneum are those of intestinal flora; however, there are cases which have all the features of SBP, but remain culture negative. This article discusses 7 cases of SBP in patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunts; a combination which has previously not been described. The most significant features of these cases include: a remote history of shunt revision (mean 3.4 years), and cultures consistent with normal intestinal flora. None had a history of recent abdominal surgery, gastrostomy or wire-impregnated catheters. Cerebrospinal fluid cultures are often negative, and when positive, suggest SBP with an ascending shunt infection. While SBP is clearly differentiated from pseudocyst of the abdomen, it may represent a point on the continuum of intra-abdominal processes in the shunted patient. The precise etiology of SBP is unclear. A number of suggested theories are reviewed. It is proposed that patients with shunts may be predisposed to develop SBP because spinal fluid can behave as an ascitic fluid even in the absence of a peritoneal accumulation. Recommendations for the recognition and management of SBP in the shunted patient are discussed in detail.

The majority of children with myelomeningocele will have associated hydrocephalus. The management of hydrocephalus can be one of the most trying problems in this patient population. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion will be required in these children for the remainder of their lives. Blockage of the outlets of the fourth ventricle and communication of the fourth ventricle with the central canal provides a mechanism for compensation. The signs and symptoms of CSF diversion malfunction, either shunt or third ventriculostomy, can be quite subtle. The objective indications of these malfunctions are less available after third ventriculostomy than when using mechanical shunting. The ease with which the diagnosis of malfunction can be made becomes the major advantage of mechanical shunting over third ventriculostomy.

This paper describes procedures that may be used by experienced structural engineers to develop earthquake damage and related loss functions for welded steel moment‐frame (WSMF) buildings. The damage and loss functions are based on and compatible with the loss estimation methods of HAZUS , a technology developed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for assessing regional impacts of earthquakes. The loss estimation procedures were developed by the SAC Steel Program as described in SAC Joint Venture Topical Report SAC/BD‐99/13 . These procedures form the basis for Appendix B of FEMA‐351 , Recommended Seismic Evaluation and Upgrade Criteria for Existing Welded Steel Moment‐Frame Buildings . The procedures for developing damage and loss functions for WSMF building response are general in nature and applicable to WSMF buildings designed to different seismic criteria and having different connection details. Default values of damage and loss function parameters are provided for typical 3‐story, 9‐story, and 20‐story WSMF buildings, designed for Los Angeles, Seattle, or Boston seismic criteria and having pre‐Northridge, post‐Northridge, or damaged pre‐Northridge connection conditions.

The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the number of studies employing psychophysiological methods to explain variation in political attitudes and behavior. However, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of physiological data present novel challenges for political scientists unfamiliar with the underlying biological concepts and technical skills necessary for utilizing this approach. Our objective in this article is to maximize the effectiveness of future work utilizing psychophysiological measurement by providing guidance on how the techniques can be employed most fruitfully as a complement to, not a replacement for, existing methods. We develop clear, step-by-step instructions for how physiological research should be conducted and provide a discussion of the issues commonly faced by scholars working with these measures. Our hope is that this article will be a useful resource for both neophytes and experienced scholars in lowering the start-up costs to doing this work and assessing it as part of the peer review process. More broadly, in the spirit of the open science framework, we aim to foster increased communication, collaboration, and replication of findings across political science labs utilizing psychophysiological methods.

Students at two-year colleges and small four-year colleges have often obtained their exposure to NMR spectroscopy through “canned” spectra because the cost of an NMR spectrometer, particularly a high-field spectrometer, is prohibitive in these environments. This article describes the design of a NMR site at Trinity University in which spectral data from student samples from community colleges and several four-year colleges are obtained on a 300 MHz NMR spectrometer. The unprocessed free induction decay (FID) is distributed to the students via the Internet and then processed by the students at their local institutions. The success of the NMR site at one two-year college, Palo Alto College, is described along with details of the experiments chosen for analysis. Two other two-year colleges, San Antonio College and Northwest Vista College, provide additional information about the effectiveness of the site.

Grounded in feminist research methodology, the following reader's theater script seeks to represent the complex ways in which women teachers construct their life and work histories. The authors have chosen to ''represent'' their data (gathered primarily from oral history interviews and document analysis) in a way that dramatizes how women story their lives and how women teachers' narratives disrupt the monolithic master narrative typically told about teaching. Although the life histories have been collected individually, they have been orchestrated into a chorus of voices that express multiple ways of knowing and being, the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts.

Using powerful Computer Algebra programs for mathematics education has been steadily gaining popularity, regardless of inherent user-unfriendliness exhibited by such systems. Algebrator [4, 5] is a CAS specifically designed to teach high-school algebra. Despite its limited domain (or may be because of it), it has proven to be useful to students requiring mastery of basic algebra skills. Algebrator's CA engine is but a small part of the whole system; larger portion of it deals with the way in which the system as an electronic tutor engages the student in the learning process. In this paper we will focus on Algebrator's error diagnostic capability and teacher-directed generation of appropriate remedial tutoring sessions.

Accurate classification of lung requires overcoming limited availability of labeled data, particularly for rare conditions like COVID-19, and the risk of overfitting due to the high dimensionality of medical images. The use of transfer learning with VGG16, VGG19, and DenseNet201 architectures enables leveraging pre-trained models' knowledge of general image features, allowing effective learning on a smaller medical image dataset and reducing the risk of overfitting. This project proposes three deep learning methods based on the VGG16, VGG19, and DenseNet201 architectures. These approaches aim to automatically classify these three lung diseases using chest X-ray images. To enhance the data, preprocessing techniques and image augmentation methods were employed. The VGG16, VGG19, and DenseNet201 models were trained using transfer learning on this dataset, and performance was evaluated on a separate test set. The achieved accuracies for VGG16, VGG19, and DenseNet201 models were 95%, 96%, and 97%, respectively. These impressive accuracies demonstrate the capacity of the approaches for precise and early detection of lung diseases. Among the three architectures, DenseNet201 consistently exhibited the highest performance for all three disease classifications. In summary, the proposed deep learning techniques utilizing VGG16, VGG19, and DenseNet201 architectures offer promising tools for the automated classification of lung diseases based on chest X-ray images. Their implementation can greatly assist medical professionals in promptly diagnosing and treating these diseases. DenseNet201, in particular, showcased superior performance among the three architectures.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how, in news articles published in online versions of print newspapers from both the United States and Mexico, media represent Mexican immigrants based on the wording they use in articles about immigration issues. The study was done by analyzing, counting and comparing the words used by newspapers. Using critical discourse analysis as methodology, this study aims to contribute to a growing body of literature on the language used by the media and its influence on media consumers.

A novel and low-cost micro via-in-pad (VIP) substrate for supporting a solder bumped flip chip is presented in this study. Emphasis is placed on the design, materials, process, manufacturing, and reliability of the micro VIP substrate of a chip scale package (CSP), and of the micro VIP CSP printed circuit board (PCB) assembly. Cross-sections of samples are examined for a better understanding of the solder bump, CSP redistribution, VIP, and solder joint. Non-linear finite element analyses are used to determine the stress and strain in the copper VIP and the solder joint. Time-dependent non-linear analysis is used to predict the thermal-fatigue life of the VIP solder joint.

Abstract This article describes the Catch the Next Ascender model, developed under the aegis of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as a corrective to increase persistence and completion rates among the Texas Latinx college population.

General life stress and test anxiety are often viewed by educators as separate concerns that affect the performance of students. Jeri Wine (1982), however, views many common elements of life as situations for eval uation People are continually being evalu ated in many circumstances that can produce speech anxiety, social anxiety, dating anxiety, sexual performance anxiety, and test anxiety. Persons high in evaluation anxiety internally react to cues with habitual, overlearned, self oriented cognitions. These people may begin to tell themselves such things as: I can't do this.'' I'm not smart enough.'' I never was a good student.

Abstract The Early Cretaceous is an important time of transition in Earth history, marked by a succession of oceanic anoxic events and carbon cycle perturbations that drove changes on land and in the ocean. The need for more precise geochronologic constraints in terrestrial sediments of Early Cretaceous age that record faunal and floral transitions is especially critical. The Cedar Mountain Formation (CMF) is a continental lithostratigraphic unit that hosts a trove of paleoclimate archives and important dinosaurian fossil localities. Determining the timing of deposition of CMF strata has been an ongoing effort for many years. Here, we present new lithostratigraphic and carbon isotope chemostratigraphic data along with high‐precision radiometric ages to further constrain the Ruby Ranch Member of the CMF at a unique locality referred to as “Lake Carpenter,” where a thick section of dominantly lacustrine strata overlies fluvial‐overbank to palustrine strata more typical of other Ruby Ranch Member outcrops. A bentonite bed near the base of the section provides one of the most precise ages yet determined within the Ruby Ranch Member of 115.92 ± 0.14 Ma via CA‐ID‐TIMS U‐Pb analysis of zircons. The age and the trends in the carbon isotope record indicate that the Lake Carpenter sediments were deposited entirely within the late Aptian Stage. These unique new data provide an important step toward improving our understanding of the timing of Early Cretaceous evolutionary and paleoclimate events.

Apple is a type of fruit, which is very nutrient-rich and offers a variety of health advantages. They are also rich in antioxidants and fiber. Consuming them is associated with a reduced chance of developing many chronic conditions, including diabetes, a condition coronary heart disease, as well as cancer. Aside from aiding in weight loss, apples may also enhance digestive and cognitive well-being. Apple Leaf, on the other hand, has a lot of fiber and can be helpful when you're sick to increase your appetite. Apple leaf is thought to have anti-inflammatory qualities and is high in antioxidants. The methods of detecting apple leaf disease are presented in this research. It is dependent on a study that develops a CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) to categorize a completely distinct variety of apple leaf diseases. If a diseased leaf is discovered, this program will detect the type of the disease. The system in question uses cutting-edge deep learning techniques as well as transfer learning and convolutional neural networks. The outcome demonstrates the CNN model that has been retrained performs better when detecting the disease of the leaf. The conventional methods to classify leaf disease have had an accuracy ranging around 95%. Hence, to classify the leaf disease more accurately and preferably, Convolutional neural networks-based deep learning for image recognition is proposed. This is a lightweight PlantifyDr Dataset on Kaggle that serves to identify leaf photos using the DNN. With the help of VGG16, the accuracy achieved in this work is about 97.50% on the Apple Leaf Dataset. It presents good accuracy in classifying the type of disease when it is compared with many other approaches found in the literature