A Review of the Evolution of Termite Control: A Continuum of Alternatives to Termiticides in the United States with Emphasis on Efficacy Testing Requirements for Product Registration

The global economic impact of termites is estimated to be approximately USD 40 billion annually, and subterranean termites are responsible for about 80% of the total impact. Twenty-eight species of termites have been described as invasive, and these termites are spreading, partially due to global trade, making effective control methods essential. Termite control is complex, as is the biology and behavior of this social insect group. In the U.S., termite prevention and control (with claims of structural protection) is regulated by more than one industry (pest control and building construction), and at the federal and state levels. Termite prevention has historically relied on building construction practices that do not create conducive conditions for termite infestations, but as soil termiticides developed, heavy reliance on pesticides became the standard for termite control. The concern for human and environmental health has driven the development of termite control alternatives and regulation for products claiming structural protection. Product development has also provided unprecedented opportunities to study the biology and behavior of cryptobiotic termites. Technological advances have allowed for the re-examination of questions about termite behavior. Advances in communications via social media provide unrestricted access to information, creating a conundrum for consumers and science educators alike.

Usability of the G7 Open Government Data Portals and Lessons Learned

Recent advances in technology have made truly open and accessible government significantly more realisable. One of the ways in which governments are using this technology is in the implementation of online portals that allow open (i.e., public and unrestricted) access to data and use of data. Such portals can be used by citizens and professionals to facilitate improved decision-making across a wide range of areas, from car-parking to promoting entrepreneurialism. However, the existence of portals per se is not enough. To maximise their potential, users must also feel that they are both accessible and usable. To gain insights into the current state of usability of OGD portals for professionals working in data-related areas, a comparative study of the portals of the G7 group was carried out, using a mixed methodology. This is the first specific comparison of these portals for such users, as well as the first study to add a user-centred qualitative dimension to the research. The study’s findings showed that the G7 countries are not maximising the potential of their portals or collaborating effectively. Addressing these issues, and building better cross-national consistency, would help to improve the value delivered by investment in OGD portals. The study also further supported an existing user-centred, heuristic evaluation framework for application to a more specific user group, as well as more generally.

Review of the demographic pattern and outcomes of acute chemical poisoning in patients in a tertiary hospital in South-western Nigeria

Introduction: Acute chemical poisoning is a public health problem especially in developing countries where there is unrestricted access to chemical products, underreporting and absence of poisoning registers. Despite its importance, there is limited information on acute poisoning among adult population in Nigeria. The study was aimed at determining the demographic pattern and short term outcomes of acute chemical poisoning in patients in a tertiary health institution in South-western Nigeria over a 2 year period.Methodology: Records of cases of acute chemical poisoning over a 2-year period were retrieved and the following information extracted: socio-demographic data of patient, type of substance ingested, type of poisoning, reason for poisoning, intervention, and outcome of treatment. Results:There were 58 patients with a M:F ratio of 1:1.1. The mean age was 28.53±13.47 years. The most commonly ingested chemical was organophosphate seen in 31(53.4%). Poisoning was deliberate in 43 (74.1%); 36 patients (62.1%) had atropine; 16 patients (27.6%) had gastric lavage; one patient (1.7%) was dialyzed and 2 patients (3.4%) were admitted into ICU. Mortality rate was 8.6%. Conclusion: Deliberate acute chemical poisoning was common in young adults. Organophosphate is the most commonly ingested chemical. Government should enforce laws that that would restrict access to potentially harmful chemicals. French title: Schéma et résultats à court terme d'une intoxication chimique aiguë dans un hôpital tertiaire du sud-ouest du Nigéria Introduction : Les intoxications chimiques aiguës sont un problème de santé publique en particulier dans les pays en développement où il existe un accès illimité aux produits chimiques, une sous-déclaration et l'absence de registres des intoxications. Malgré son importance, il existe peu d'informations sur les intoxications aiguës parmi la population adulte au Nigéria.Objectif de l'étude: Déterminer le schéma démographique et les résultats à court terme des intoxications chimiques aiguës chez les patients d'un établissement de santé tertiaire du sud-ouest du Nigéria sur une période de 2 ans.Méthode de l'étude : Des dossiers de cas d'intoxication chimique aiguë sur une période de 2 ans ont été récupérés et les informations suivantes extraites : données sociodémographiques du patient, type de substance ingérée, type d'intoxication, raison de l'intoxication, intervention et résultat du traitement.Résultat de l'étude : Il y avait 58 patients avec un rapport M : F de 1:1,1. L'âge moyen était de 28,53 ± 13,47 ans. Le produit chimique le plus couramment ingéré était l'organophosphate vuswzsw3 dans 31 (53,4 %). L'empoisonnement était délibéré dans 43 (74,1 %); 36 patients (62,1%) avaient de l'atropine ; 16 patients (27,6 %) ont eu un lavage gastrique ; un patient (1,7%) a été dialysé et 2 patients (3,4%) ont été admis en réanimation. Le taux de mortalité était de 8,6%. Conclusion : Les intoxications chimiques aiguës délibérées étaient fréquentes chez les jeunes adultes. L'organophosphate est le produit chimique le plus couramment ingéré. Le gouvernement devrait appliquer des lois qui restreindraient l'accès aux produits chimiques potentiellement nocifs.

Funding issues and development of digital libraries in Nigeria

Purpose Funding issues is observed to be the major stumbling block for the development of digital libraries in Nigeria. Hence, this paper aims to explore issues in obtaining and allocating funds for digital library development. Design/methodology/approach The review is an explorative report of the state of affairs of digital library development in Nigeria with the associated fundraising issues. Findings Digital library initiatives are coincidental development with transformational change in the technology-driven world of global information distribution. The desire of the information users to have better-unrestricted access to information becomes the hallmark of digital content development and web-based information services. The goal of making information accessible globally to large and diverse information users was achievable with the development of a digital library that provides enhanced information services, improves access and usability of digital information resources. Originality/value The library of the future has already materialized in form of digital library services, but the cost of developing a digital library is not foreseeable cheap, and if Nigerian libraries are to achieve digital library service goal, alternative sources of finance need to be sought after through fundraising scheme from friends of the library, rental services, consultation fees and collaboration effort on library consortia as well as advocacy for open access initiatives.

Design and Implementation of Efficient Transmission of Cloud Data in Wireless Media

Nowadays, information security is a challenge especially when transmitted or shared in public clouds. Many of researchers have been proposed technique which fails to provide data integrity, security, authentication and another issue related to sensitivity data. The most common techniques were used to protect data during transmission on public cloud are cryptography, steganography, and compression. The proposed scheme suggests an entirely new approach for data security on public cloud. Authors have suggested an entirely new approach that completely makes secret data invisible behind carrier object and it is not been detected with the image performance parameters like PSNR, MSE, entropy and others. The details of results are explain in result section of paper. Proposed technique have better outcome than any other existing technique as a security mechanism on a public cloud. Primary focus of suggested approach is to minimize integrity loss of public storage data due to unrestricted access rights by uses. To improve reusability of carrier even after data concealed is really a challenging task and achieved through suggested approach.

Toward Uncensorable, Anonymous and Private Access Over Satoshi Blockchains

Providing unrestricted access to sensitive content such as news and software is difficult in the presence of adaptive and resourceful surveillance and censoring adversaries. In this paper we leverage the distributed and resilient nature of commercial Satoshi blockchains to develop the first provably secure, censorship resistant, cost-efficient storage system with anonymous and private access, built on top of commercial cryptocurrency transactions. We introduce max-rate transactions, a practical construct to persist data of arbitrary size entirely in a Satoshi blockchain. We leverage max-rate transactions to develop UWeb, a blockchain-based storage system that charges publishers to self-sustain its decentralized infrastructure. UWeb organizes blockchain-stored content for easy retrieval, and enables clients to store and access content with provable anonymity, privacy and censorship resistance properties. We present results from UWeb experiments with writing 268.21 MB of data into the live Litecoin blockchain, including 4.5 months of live-feed BBC articles, and 41 censorship resistant tools. The max-rate writing throughput (183 KB/s) and blockchain utilization (88%) exceed those of state-of-the-art solutions by 2-3 orders of magnitude and broke Litecoin’s record of the daily average block size. Our simulations with up to 3,000 concurrent UWeb writers confirm that UWeb does not impact the confirmation delays of financial transactions.

Empowering Equitable Data Use Partnerships and Indigenous Data Sovereignties Amid Pandemic Genomics

The COVID-19 pandemic has inequitably impacted Indigenous communities in the United States. In this emergency state that highlighted existing inadequacies in US government and tribal public health infrastructures, many tribal nations contracted with commercial entities and other organization types to conduct rapid diagnostic and antibody testing, often based on proprietary technologies specific to the novel pathogen. They also partnered with public-private enterprises on clinical trials to further the development of vaccines. Indigenous people contributed biological samples for assessment and, in many cases, broadly consented for indefinite use for future genomics research. A concern is that the need for crisis aid may have placed Indigenous communities in a position to forego critical review of data use agreements by tribal research governances. In effect, tribal nations were placed in the unenviable position of trading short-term public health assistance for long-term, unrestricted access to Indigenous genomes that may disempower future tribal sovereignties over community members' data. Diagnostic testing, specimen collection, and vaccine research is ongoing; thus, our aim is to outline pathways to trust that center current and future equitable relationship-building between tribal entities and public-private interests. These pathways can be utilized to increase Indigenous communities' trust of external partners and share understanding of expectations for and execution of data protections. We discuss how to navigate genomic-based data use agreements in the context of pathogen genomics. While we focus on US tribal nations, Indigenous genomic data sovereignties relate to global Indigenous nations regardless of colonial government recognition.

The Challenge of Spatial Information Accessibility for Agricultural Policies: Case of Pakistan

Agriculture is directly linked to the socioeconomic development of every region. Agriculture impacts us all, whether we are seeking food security, better health or striving to conserve natural resources. Goal 2 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underlines the significance of agriculture as a means to achieve food security. United Nations in its recently published report titled "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020"(UN, 2020) has declared agriculture as one of the global priorities for achieving high-quality health care and formal employment opportunities. Agriculture is a spatial subject. Policy makers demand unrestricted access to spatial data of various kinds in order to address agricultural issues and for evidence-based policy-making. Therefore, what types of spatial datasets are required for agricultural policy-making is a relevant question which is the objective of this paper. This paper also explores agriculture in Pakistan, main challenges faced by the agriculture sector of the country, and how many as well as what kind of spatial datasets are required to address these policy challenges.

Neurocognitive Behavior Analysis of Sexting Phenomenon in Young Adults

Recent advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) and the growing use of technological equipment by young adults, combined with unrestricted access to the Internet and social media and the unrestricted use of smartphones and computers, have resulted in the emergence of social phenomena such as sexting. This article serves two purposes: To capture the phenomenon of sexting to investigate young adults' perceptions of sexting and the frequency with which social media users exchange sexual messages via a self-report questionnaire and to describe the behavioral profile of social media users network users via a cognitive decision-making detection test. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis methods from a sample of young adults, students, and social network users (N = 377, Age: 18-39 years). The findings indicated that the sexting phenomenon is gaining traction among young adults, based on data processing and analysis from the administration of the reference questionnaire. Simultaneously, it appears to be related to participants' behavioral profiles in the cognitive dimension of decision-making. The current study's findings, which are being piloted, may aid in developing broad conclusions that can be accepted and affect policy and decision-making in the disciplines of clinical psychology, and cognitive neuroscience and education. In summary, sexting poses numerous risks to young adults in Greece and must be addressed more effectively in the interests of stakeholders and the larger community. Additionally, lawmakers, legislators, and authorities should take steps to safeguard children, adolescents, and young people who are heavily interested in social media and have integrated it into their daily life.