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The field phase of the Lake Michigan Ozone Study in 1991 revealed that ozone levels in the region are directly impacted by polluted air mass in a radius of 1000 to 2000 km from the experimental site and that these ozone levels are depleted significantly by rain or weather fronts. The sources of ozone, haze and other pollutants originate from St. Louis through the Ohio River Valley into the Lake Michigan region.

In this article, we seek to establish a causal connection between border-enforcement actions or policies and metrics that might be used to measure relevant outcomes at the border. Applying quasi-experimental methods, we investigate the impact of surveillance technology on levels of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions of unlawful border-crossers between ports of entry along the southwest border. Our analysis offers insights into some of the effects of surveillance technology and serves as a demonstration of concept for the usefulness of such statistical methods. The most robust finding is that deploying one type of technology – integrated fixed towers (IFTs) – is associated with decreased apprehension levels in the zones of deployment. Although we emphasize ambiguity in the meaning of the results and the uncertainty in statistical inference with relatively small numbers of deployments, we conclude that there is strong evidence that some migrants were deterred from crossing surveilled areas of the border. The results are more inconclusive for other surveillance assets, but there are suggestions that some may elevate apprehension levels, pointing to a boost to the U.S. Border Patrol’s situational awareness. Statistical methods both hold promise and have limitations for the study of the impact of border-enforcement measures beyond the analysis in this study. Although these methods cannot, on their own, yield clear answers in every case, they do have the potential to help policymakers understand and anticipate the impact and effectiveness of different border-enforcement measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Helge Rordam Olesen, Joseph C. Chang An overview is provided of some central tools and data sets that are currently available for evaluation of atmospheric dispersion models. The paper serves as a guide to the Model Validation Kit, which was introduced already in 1993, but has undergone a recent revision. The Model Validation Kit is a package of field data sets and software for model evaluation plus various supplementary materials. Further, the paper outlines main features of a corresponding package that implements the evaluation methodology of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), as specified in its standard guide D6589 on statistical evaluation of dispersion models. The paper gives a review of features and limitations of the two packages.

Objective: Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant agent, has been implicated in learning and memory. Here, we report four cases from the same family of fluoxetine-related memory-impairment. Results: Memory-impairment resulted after fluoxetine treatment and disappeared after changing to another selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Conclusions: There may be a relationship between fluoxetine-related memory impairment and genetic factors, and this side-effect appears to be specific to fluoxetine treatment. Possible mechanisms underlying this effect may be the drug's influence on the central serotonergic system or brain-derived neurotrophic factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]