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To explore current and future implications of the economic downturn, "EDUCAUSE Review" assembled a panel of senior IT leaders: (1) Bruce Maas, CIO, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; (2) Fredrick Miller, CIO, Furman University; (3) Pattie Orr, Vice President for IT and Dean of University Libraries, Baylor University; (4) Julie Ouska, CIO and Vice President of Information Technologies, Colorado Community College System; and (5) Shelton M. Waggener, Associate Vice Chancellor and CIO, University of California, Berkeley. These leaders answer questions regarding their IT budgets, possible structural changes and cost models, and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Rhizobacteria have huge potential for biocontrol activity against many plant pathogens. Isolation and identification are therefore crucial to understand their microbial diversity and ecological importance. The study sought to identify eight yam (Dioscorea sp.) rhizobacterial isolates found to be inhibitory in a previous study to several fungal pathogens, using polyphasic approach (morphological, biochemical, and molecular approaches). Morphological and biochemical characterizations were carried out at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), Legon-Accra, Ghana while the Molecular characterization was done at Functional Biosciences Inc., Wisconsin, USA. Morphological and biochemical characters determined were texture, consistency, the morphology of cell growth on nutrient agar, citrate utilization, catalase reaction, Gram reaction, and endospore formation. Molecular identification was achieved through the amplification and sequencing of the 16SrRNA and gyrB regions of the eight rhizobacterial genomic DNA followed by BLAST analysis. Sequencing data were also deposited at GenBank to obtain accession numbers for the rhizobacteria. All the eight bacterial isolates were shown to possess rod-shaped bacilli cells, Gram-positive, and were endospore producers. The amplification of the 16SrRNA and the gyrB regions of the bacterial DNA and subsequent BLAST of these two regions revealed that they were all members of the Bacillus subtilis group at percentage similarity between 99-100%. Four out of the eight isolates were, Bacillus subtilis, three were B. amyloliquefaciens and the last, B. velezensis. Sequence data of both the 16SrRNA and gyrB deposited at the GenBank provided GenBank accession numbers for nucleotide sequence of 16SrRNA as GenBank MT535846-MT535853 and gyrB as GenBank MT908225-MT908232 respectively. This is the first attempt to identify these rhizobacteria, which have huge potential as fungal antagonists of many plant pathogens in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a study investigating how adult students attending the two-year University of Wisconsin Centers compared to younger students in terms of their characteristics, goals, academic performance, where they went to college or the barriers to going on, educational plans, and evaluation of the Centers. (AYC)

Background: Few studies have directly compared dental procedures provided in public and private insurance plans for enrollees living in dental health professional shortage areas (DHPSAs). We examined the rates for the different types of dental procedures received by 0-18-year-old children living in DHPSAs and non-DHPSAs who were enrolled in Medicaid and those enrolled under Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDW) for years 2002 to 2008.Methods: Medicaid and DDW dental claims data for 2002 to 2008 was analyzed. Enrollees were divided into DDW-DHPSA and non-DHPSA and Medicaid-DHPSA and non-DHPSA groups. Descriptive and multivariable analyses using over-dispersed Poisson regression were performed to examine the effect of living in DHPSAs and insurance type in relation to the number of procedures received.Results: Approximately 49 and 65 percent of children living in non-DHPSAs that were enrolled in Medicaid and DDW received at least one preventive dental procedure annually, respectively. Children in DDW non-DHPSA group had 1.79 times as many preventive, 0.27 times fewer complex restorative and 0.51 times fewer endodontic procedures respectively, compared to those in Medicaid non-DHPSA group. Children enrolled in DDW-DHPSA group had 1.53 times as many preventive and 0.25 times fewer complex restorative procedures, compared to children in Medicaid-DHPSA group.Conclusions: DDW enrollees had significantly higher utilization rates for preventive procedures than children in Medicaid. There were significant differences across Medicaid and DDW between non-DHPSA and DHPSA for most dental procedures received by enrollees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common guideline for attaching or imbedding transmitters for fish is that the transmitter weight should not exceed 2% of the total weight in air of a fish. This guideline is thought to limit the negative effects of tagging, but little research supports it. Our objectives were to compare the postrelease dispersal rates of 48 hatchery-reared fingerling Lake SturgeonAcipenser fulvescens(265–305 mm, 80–100 g) surgically implanted with sonic transmitters equating to 2% and 4% of fish body weight, and to compare the dispersal rates between fish stocked in two river systems in Wisconsin. Downstream dispersal rates of the 2% and 4% treatments were not significantly different within the individual rivers but were significantly different between rivers. We recommend that transmitters weighing up to 4% of total body weight can be used without effects on the movement of fingerling Lake Sturgeon. Received January 6, 2015; accepted June 29, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Most studies on the provision of dental procedures have focused on Medicaid enrollees known to have inadequate access to dental care. Little information on private insurance enrollees exists. This study documents the rates of preventive, restorative, endodontic, and surgical dental procedures provided to children enrolled in Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDWI) in Milwaukee. Methods: We analyzed DDWI claims data for Milwaukee children aged 0-18 years between 2002 and 2008. We linked the ZIP codes of enrollees to the 2000 US Census information to derive racial/ethnic estimates in the different ZIP codes. We estimated the rates of preventive, restorative, endodontic, and surgical procedures provided to children in different racial/ethnic groups based on the population estimates derived from the US Census data. Descriptive and multivariable analysis was done using Poisson regression modeling on dental procedures per year. Results: In 7 years, a total of 266,380 enrollees were covered in 46 ZIP codes in the database. Approximately, 64 percent, 44 percent, and 49 percent of White, African American, and Hispanic children had at least one dental visit during the study period, respectively. The rates of preventive procedures increased up to the age of 9 years and decreased thereafter among children in all three racial groups included in the analysis. African American and Hispanic children received half as many preventive procedures as White children. Conclusion: Our study shows that substantial racial disparities may exist in the types of dental procedures that were received by children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies on rural-urban differences in dental care have primarily focused on differences in utilization rates and preventive dental services. Little is known about rural-urban differences in the use of wider range of dental procedures. This study examined patterns of preventive, restorative, endodontic, and extraction procedures provided to children enrolled in Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDWI).Methods: We analyzed DDWI enrollment and claims data for children aged 0-18 years from 2002 to 2008. We modified and used a rural and urban classification based on ZIP codes developed by the Wisconsin Area Health Education Center (AHEC). We categorized the ZIP codes into 6 AHEC categories (3 rural and 3 urban). Descriptive and multivariable analysis using generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were used to examine the patterns of dental procedures provided to children. Tukey-Kramer adjustment was used to control for multiple comparisons. Results: Approximately, 50%, 67% and 68 % of enrollees in inner-city Milwaukee, Rural 1 (less than 2500 people),and suburban-Milwaukee had at least one annual dental visit, respectively. Children in inner city-Milwaukee had the lowest utilization rates for all procedures examined, except for endodontic procedures. Compared to children from inner-city Milwaukee, children in other locations had significantly more preventive procedures. Children in Rural1-ZIP codes had more restorative, endodontic and extraction procedures, compared to children from all other regions. Conclusions: We found significant geographic variation in dental procedures received by children enrolled in DDWI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytic-element method (AEM) is an appealing technique for modeling steady-state groundwater flow at the supraregional scale (defined here as >10,000 km2) because the computational demand is determined primarily by the number of modeled hydrologic features and not constrained by the size of the domain. In this paper, we introduce AEM to practitioners unfamiliar with the approach and present modeling concepts and new tools designed to facilitate the automated processing of AEM models containing thousands of hydrologic features. Topics include assignment of element types for surface water features, automated simplification of lines and polygons, conversion of polygonal elements to less computationally demanding circles and ellipses, iterative solution algorithms for models that include nonlinear resistance elements, software implementation, and integration of AEM simulators with calibration utilities and GIS. Software implementation of the concepts and tools is discussed and demonstrated for a case study of Wisconsin’s Northern Highland Lakes region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented which is concerned with a 2012 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision which ruled that individuals with dementia cannot be placed involuntarily into units for the acutely mentally ill.

The article discusses a study to detect cases of legionellosis in southeastern Wisconsin initiated by the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD). The increase in legionellosis in Milwaukee during June-September 2013 indicates that cases were community-acquired from multiple environmental sources including contaminated cooling towers. It suggests for local public health authorities to coordinate with the private sector to mitigate environmental transmission of Legionella within a community.