The statistics show that the number of Computer Science majors is dropping across the United States. Possible reasons include a reduced number of jobs in the field, an incorrect perception of what Computer Scientists do, and the students' disinterest due to a lack of familiarity with the subject. The reasons may be different for males and females. This paper reports on a study in which 836 high school calculus and pre-calculus students were surveyed to try to determine why students with an apparent aptitude for CS did not pursue a major in Computer Science. The results supported some of the hypotheses for declining enrollment, and rejected others. The top reasons for rejecting the major were the same for both genders, but the reasons for choosing the major differed.
Soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and organization are important to students' future success in the working world. Faculty members know it, students know it, and employers are explicitly asking for these skills. Are computer science departments responsible to teach these skills? If so, where in the curriculum should they be covered? This paper explores the soft skills that employers want, and possible places to include the teaching of those skills in the curriculum. It then shows how an extensive set of soft skills were incorporated into a service learning course for the students in the Mathematical, Information and Computer Sciences department at Point Loma Nazarene University. Finally, it makes suggestions as to how other service learning or capstone courses could be altered to afford more opportunity for soft skill education.
The efficacy of a single oral treatment with sarolaner (Simparica™, Zoetis), a novel isoxazoline compound, was evaluated against five tick species known to infest dogs in the United States. A total of 10 laboratory studies, two against each species, were conducted using adult purpose-bred mongrels or Beagle dogs. In each study, 16 dogs were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups based on pre-treatment host-suitability tick counts. Dogs were infested with approximately 50 unfed adult Amblyomma americanum, Amblyomma maculatum, Dermacentor variabilis, Ixodes scapularis or Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks on Days -2, 5, 12, 19, 26 and 33. On Day 0, dogs were treated with a placebo or a sarolaner tablet providing a minimum dose of 2 mg/kg. Tick counts were conducted 48h after treatment and after each subsequent weekly re-infestation. There were no treatment-related adverse reactions during any of the studies. Dogs in the placebo-treated group maintained tick infestations throughout the studies. Geometric mean live tick counts were significantly lower (P≤0.0001) in the sarolaner-treated group compared to the tick counts in the placebo group at all timepoints. Treatment with sarolaner resulted in ≥99.6% efficacy against existing infestations of all five tick species within 48h. The efficacy against weekly post-treatment re-infestations of all tick species was ≥96.9% for at least 35 days after treatment. Thus, a single dose of sarolaner administered orally at the minimum dosage of 2mg/kg, resulted in excellent efficacy within 48h against existing tick infestations, and against weekly re-infestations for 35 days after treatment. These studies confirmed that administration of the minimum dose of sarolaner will provide rapid treatment of existing infestations and give at least one month of control against re-infestation by the common tick species affecting dogs in the US.
The rapid speed of kill of sarolaner (Simparica™, Zoetis), a novel isoxazoline compound, was demonstrated against three tick species known to infest dogs in Europe or the United States. Efficacy was measured against an existing infestation and against subsequent weekly re-infestations for 35 days after treatment. Dogs were randomly allocated to treatment with a single oral dose of either placebo or sarolaner (2mg/kg) based on pre-treatment host-suitability tick counts. Dogs were infested with approximately 50 unfed adult Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes ricinus or Amblyomma maculatum ticks on Days-2, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35. Tick counts were conducted at 4 (I. scapularis only), 8, 12 and 24h after treatment on Day 0 and after each subsequent re-infestation. No treatment-related adverse reactions occurred during any of these studies. Dogs in the placebo-treated groups maintained adequate tick infestations (recovery of 20-70% of applied ticks) throughout the duration of the studies. Following treatment, live tick counts were significantly reduced relative to placebo at the 8h post treatment counts indicating that sarolaner started killing existing infestations of ticks rapidly after treatment. Efficacy was 90.1% against I. ricinus, 98.8% against I. scapularis, and 99.2% against A. maculatum within 12h, and 100% efficacy was achieved at 24h after treatment against all three tick species. This speed of kill was maintained throughout the month with ≥95.7%, ≥98.7% and ≥89.6% efficacy against I. scapularis, I. ricinus, and A. maculatum, respectively, at 24h after re-infestation at least through Day 28.
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