Ten billion years of brightest cluster galaxy alignments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, Michael J.; de Propris, Roberto; Bremer, Malcolm N.; Phillipps, Steven

2017-07-01

A galaxy's orientation is one of its most basic observable properties. Astronomers once assumed that galaxies are randomly oriented in space; however, it is now clear that some have preferred orientations with respect to their surroundings. Chief among these are giant elliptical galaxies found in the centres of rich galaxy clusters. Numerous studies have shown that the major axes of these galaxies often share the same orientation as the surrounding matter distribution on larger scales1,2,3,4,5,6. Using Hubble Space Telescope observations of 65 distant galaxy clusters, we show that similar alignments are seen at earlier epochs when the Universe was only one-third of its current age. These results suggest that the brightest galaxies in clusters are the product of a special formation history, one influenced by development of the cosmic web over billions of years.

Early formation of the Moon 4.51 billion years ago

PubMed Central

Barboni, Melanie; Boehnke, Patrick; Keller, Brenhin; Kohl, Issaku E.; Schoene, Blair; Young, Edward D.; McKeegan, Kevin D.

2017-01-01

Establishing the age of the Moon is critical to understanding solar system evolution and the formation of rocky planets, including Earth. However, despite its importance, the age of the Moon has never been accurately determined. We present uranium-lead dating of Apollo 14 zircon fragments that yield highly precise, concordant ages, demonstrating that they are robust against postcrystallization isotopic disturbances. Hafnium isotopic analyses of the same fragments show extremely low initial 176Hf/177Hf ratios corrected for cosmic ray exposure that are near the solar system initial value. Our data indicate differentiation of the lunar crust by 4.51 billion years, indicating the formation of the Moon within the first ~60 million years after the birth of the solar system. PMID:28097222

Spend Billions and They Will Come

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Bette-Lee

2004-01-01

People look at one billion dollars in one of two ways: if it is the result of the long, hard effort of years of fundraising, they rejoice; if it signifies an astronomical budget deficit, they cringe. How, then, should people respond as a community to reaching the $1 billion mark ($1,242,436,438, to be exact) in this year's spending for public…

Rapid emergence of subaerial landmasses and onset of a modern hydrologic cycle 2.5 billion years ago.

PubMed

Bindeman, I N; Zakharov, D O; Palandri, J; Greber, N D; Dauphas, N; Retallack, G J; Hofmann, A; Lackey, J S; Bekker, A

2018-05-01

The history of the growth of continental crust is uncertain, and several different models that involve a gradual, decelerating, or stepwise process have been proposed 1-4 . Even more uncertain is the timing and the secular trend of the emergence of most landmasses above the sea (subaerial landmasses), with estimates ranging from about one billion to three billion years ago 5-7 . The area of emerged crust influences global climate feedbacks and the supply of nutrients to the oceans 8 , and therefore connects Earth's crustal evolution to surface environmental conditions 9-11 . Here we use the triple-oxygen-isotope composition of shales from all continents, spanning 3.7 billion years, to provide constraints on the emergence of continents over time. Our measurements show a stepwise total decrease of 0.08 per mille in the average triple-oxygen-isotope value of shales across the Archaean-Proterozoic boundary. We suggest that our data are best explained by a shift in the nature of water-rock interactions, from near-coastal in the Archaean era to predominantly continental in the Proterozoic, accompanied by a decrease in average surface temperatures. We propose that this shift may have coincided with the onset of a modern hydrological cycle owing to the rapid emergence of continental crust with near-modern average elevation and aerial extent roughly 2.5 billion years ago.

A redox-stratified ocean 3.2 billion years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satkoski, Aaron M.; Beukes, Nicolas J.; Li, Weiqiang; Beard, Brian L.; Johnson, Clark M.

2015-11-01

Before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) 2.4-2.2 billion years ago it has been traditionally thought that oceanic water columns were uniformly anoxic due to a lack of oxygen-producing microorganisms. Recently, however, it has been proposed that transient oxygenation of shallow seawater occurred between 2.8 and 3.0 billion years ago. Here, we present a novel combination of stable Fe and radiogenic U-Th-Pb isotope data that demonstrate significant oxygen contents in the shallow oceans at 3.2 Ga, based on analysis of the Manzimnyama Banded Iron Formation (BIF), Fig Tree Group, South Africa. This unit is exceptional in that proximal, shallow-water and distal, deep-water facies are preserved. When compared to the distal, deep-water facies, the proximal samples show elevated U concentrations and moderately positive δ56Fe values, indicating vertical stratification in dissolved oxygen contents. Confirmation of oxidizing conditions using U abundances is robustly constrained using samples that have been closed to U and Pb mobility using U-Th-Pb geochronology. Although redox-sensitive elements have been commonly used in ancient rocks to infer redox conditions, post-depositional element mobility has been rarely tested, and U-Th-Pb geochronology can constrain open- or closed-system behavior. The U abundances and δ56Fe values of the Manzimnyama BIF suggest the proximal, shallow-water samples record precipitation under stronger oxidizing conditions compared to the distal deeper-water facies, which in turn indicates the existence of a discrete redox boundary between deep and shallow ocean waters at this time; this work, therefore, documents the oldest known preserved marine redox gradient in the rock record. The relative enrichment of O2 in the upper water column is likely due to the existence of oxygen-producing microorganisms such as cyanobacteria. These results provide a new approach for identifying free oxygen in Earth's ancient oceans, including confirming the age of redox

Exploring for Galaxies in the First Billion Years with Hubble and Spitzer - Pathfinding for JWST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Illingworth, Garth D.

2017-01-01

Hubble has revolutionized the field of distant galaxies through its deep imaging surveys, starting with the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) in 1995. That first deep survey revealed galaxies at redshift z~1-3 that provided insights into the development of the Hubble sequence. Each new HST instrument has explored new regimes, through the peak of star formation at z~2-3, just 2-3 billion years after the Big Bang, to our first datasets at a billion years at z~6, and then earlier to z~11. HST's survey capabilities were enhanced by 40X with ACS, and then similarly with the WFC3/IR, which opened up the first billion years to an unforeseen degree. I will discuss what we have learned from the remarkable HST and Spitzer imaging surveys (HUDF, GOODS, HUDF09/12 and CANDELS), as well as surveys of clusters like the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF). Lensing clusters provide extraordinary opportunities for characterizing the faintest earliest galaxies, but also present extraordinary challenges. Together these surveys have resulted in the measurement of the volume density of galaxies in the first billion years down to astonishingly faint levels. The role of faint galaxies in reionizing the universe is still much-discussed, but there is no doubt that such galaxies contribute greatly to the UV ionizing flux, as shown by deep luminosity function studies. Together Hubble and Spitzer have also established the stellar-mass buildup over 97% of cosmic history. Yet some of the greatest surprises have come from the discovery of very luminous galaxies at z~8-11, around 400-650 million years after the Big Bang. Spectroscopic followup by Keck of some of these very rare, bright galaxies has confirmed redshifts from z~7 to z~9, and revealed, surprisingly, strong Lyα emission near the peak of reionization when the HI fraction in the IGM is high. The recent confirmation of a z=11.1 galaxy, just 400 million years after the Big Bang, by a combination of Hubble and Spitzer data, moved Hubble into JWST territory

A field like today's? The strength of the geomagnetic field 1.1 billion years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprain, Courtney J.; Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.; Fairchild, Luke M.; Gaastra, Kevin

2018-02-01

Paleomagnetic data from ancient rocks are one of the few types of observational data that can be brought to be bear on the long-term evolution of Earth's core. A recent compilation of paleointensity estimates from throughout Earth history has been interpreted to indicate that Earth's magnetic field strength increased in the Mesoproterozoic (between 1.5 and 1.0 billion years ago), with this increase taken to mark the onset of inner core nucleation. However, much of the data within the Precambrian paleointensity database are from Thellier-style experiments with non-ideal behavior that manifests in results such as double-slope Arai plots. Choices made when interpreting these data may significantly change conclusions about long-term trends in the intensity of Earth's geomagnetic field. In this study, we present new paleointensity results from volcanics of the ˜1.1 billion-year-old North American Midcontinent Rift. While most of the results exhibit non-ideal double-slope or sagging behavior in Arai plots, some flows have more ideal single-slope behavior leading to paleointensity estimates that may be some of the best constraints on the strength of Earth's field for this time. Taken together, new and previously published paleointensity data from the Midcontinent Rift yield a median field strength estimate of 56.0 ZAm2—very similar to the median for the past 300 million years. These field strength estimates are distinctly higher than those for the preceding billion years after excluding ca. 1.3 Ga data that may be biased by non-ideal behavior—consistent with an increase in field strength in the late Mesoproterozoic. However, given that ˜90 per cent of paleointensity estimates from 1.1 to 0.5 Ga come from the Midcontinent Rift, it is difficult to evaluate whether these high values relative to those estimated for the preceding billion years are the result of a stepwise, sustained increase in dipole moment. Regardless, paleointensity estimates from the Midcontinent

Orbital forcing of climate 1.4 billion years ago.

PubMed

Zhang, Shuichang; Wang, Xiaomei; Hammarlund, Emma U; Wang, Huajian; Costa, M Mafalda; Bjerrum, Christian J; Connelly, James N; Zhang, Baomin; Bian, Lizeng; Canfield, Donald E

2015-03-24

Fluctuating climate is a hallmark of Earth. As one transcends deep into Earth time, however, both the evidence for and the causes of climate change become difficult to establish. We report geochemical and sedimentological evidence for repeated, short-term climate fluctuations from the exceptionally well-preserved ∼1.4-billion-year-old Xiamaling Formation of the North China Craton. We observe two patterns of climate fluctuations: On long time scales, over what amounts to tens of millions of years, sediments of the Xiamaling Formation record changes in geochemistry consistent with long-term changes in the location of the Xiamaling relative to the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. On shorter time scales, and within a precisely calibrated stratigraphic framework, cyclicity in sediment geochemical dynamics is consistent with orbital control. In particular, sediment geochemical fluctuations reflect what appear to be orbitally forced changes in wind patterns and ocean circulation as they influenced rates of organic carbon flux, trace metal accumulation, and the source of detrital particles to the sediment.

Mars’ First Billion Years: Key Findings, Key Unsolved Paradoxes, and Future Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ehlmann, Bethany

2017-10-01

In the evolution of terrestrial planets, the first billion years are the period most shrouded in mystery: How vigorous is early atmospheric loss? How do planetary climates respond to a brightening sun? When and how are plate tectonic recycling processes initiated? How do voluminous volcanism and heavy impact bombardment influence the composition of the atmosphere? Under what conditions might life arise? Looking outward to terrestrial planets around other stars, the record from Venus, Earth and Mars in this solar system is crucial for developing models of physical can chemical processes. Of these three worlds, Mars provides the longest record of planetary evolution from the first billion years, comprising >50% of exposed geologic units, which are only lightly overprinted by later processes.Orbital observations of the last decade have revealed abundant evidence for surface waters in the form of lakes, valley networks, and evidence of chemically open-system near-surface weathering. Groundwaters at temperatures ranging from just above freezing to hydrothermal have also left a rich record of process in the mineralogical record. A rsuite of environments - similar in diversity to Earth’s - has been discovered on Mars with water pH, temperature, redox, and chemistries varying in space and time.Here, I will focus on the consequences of the aqueous alteration of the Martian crust on the composition of the atmosphere based on recent work studying aspects of the volatile budget (Usui et al., 2015; Edwards & Ehlmann, 2015; Hu et al., 2015; Jakosky et al., 2017, Wordsworth et al., 2017, and Ehlmann, in prep.). The solid crust and mantle of Mars act as volatile reservoirs and volatile sources through volcanism, mineral precipitation, and release of gases. We examine the extent to which the budget is understood or ill-understood for hydrogen and carbon, and associated phases H2O, CO2, and CH4. Additionally, I identify some key stratigraphies where a combination of focused in

Galaxy evolution. Evidence for mature bulges and an inside-out quenching phase 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Tacchella, S; Carollo, C M; Renzini, A; Förster Schreiber, N M; Lang, P; Wuyts, S; Cresci, G; Dekel, A; Genzel, R; Lilly, S J; Mancini, C; Newman, S; Onodera, M; Shapley, A; Tacconi, L; Woo, J; Zamorani, G

2015-04-17

Most present-day galaxies with stellar masses ≥10(11) solar masses show no ongoing star formation and are dense spheroids. Ten billion years ago, similarly massive galaxies were typically forming stars at rates of hundreds solar masses per year. It is debated how star formation ceased, on which time scales, and how this "quenching" relates to the emergence of dense spheroids. We measured stellar mass and star-formation rate surface density distributions in star-forming galaxies at redshift 2.2 with ~1-kiloparsec resolution. We find that, in the most massive galaxies, star formation is quenched from the inside out, on time scales less than 1 billion years in the inner regions, up to a few billion years in the outer disks. These galaxies sustain high star-formation activity at large radii, while hosting fully grown and already quenched bulges in their cores. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A field like today's? The strength of the geomagnetic field 1.1 billion years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprain, Courtney J.; Swanson-Hysell, Nicholas L.; Fairchild, Luke M.; Gaastra, Kevin

2018-06-01

Palaeomagnetic data from ancient rocks are one of the few types of observational data that can be brought to bear on the long-term evolution of Earth's core. A recent compilation of palaeointensity estimates from throughout Earth history has been interpreted to indicate that Earth's magnetic field strength increased in the Mesoproterozoic (between 1.5 and 1.0 billion years ago), with this increase taken to mark the onset of inner core nucleation. However, much of the data within the Precambrian palaeointensity database are from Thellier-style experiments with non-ideal behaviour that manifests in results such as double-slope Arai plots. Choices made when interpreting these data may significantly change conclusions about long-term trends in the intensity of Earth's geomagnetic field. In this study, we present new palaeointensity results from volcanics of the ˜1.1-billion-year-old North American Midcontinent Rift. While most of the results exhibit non-ideal double-slope or sagging behaviour in Arai plots, some flows have more ideal single-slope behaviour leading to palaeointensity estimates that may be some of the best constraints on the strength of Earth's field for this time. Taken together, new and previously published palaeointensity data from the Midcontinent Rift yield a median field strength estimate of 56.0 ZAm2—very similar to the median for the past 300 Myr. These field strength estimates are distinctly higher than those for the preceding billion years (Ga) after excluding ca. 1.3 Ga data that may be biased by non-ideal behaviour—consistent with an increase in field strength in the late Mesoproterozoic. However, given that ˜90 per cent of palaeointensity estimates from 1.1 to 0.5 Ga come from the Midcontinent Rift, it is difficult to evaluate whether these high values relative to those estimated for the preceding billion years are the result of a stepwise, sustained increase in dipole moment. Regardless, palaeointensity estimates from the Midcontinent

Cooling and exhumation of continents at billion-year time scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blackburn, T.; Bowring, S. A.; Perron, T.; Mahan, K. H.; Dudas, F. O.

2011-12-01

The oldest rocks on Earth are preserved within the continental lithosphere, where assembled fragments of ancient orogenic belts have survived erosion and destruction by plate tectonic and surface processes for billions of years. Though the rate of orogenic exhumation and erosion has been measured for segments of an orogenic history, it remains unclear how these exhumation rates have changed over the lifetime of any terrane. Because the exhumation of the lithospheric surface has a direct effect on the rate of heat loss within the lithosphere, a continuous record of lithosphere exhumation can be reconstructed through the use of thermochronology. Thermochronologic studies have typically employed systems sensitive to cooling at temperatures <300 °C, such as the (U-Th)/He and 40Ar/39Ar systems. This largely restricts their application to measuring cooling in rocks from the outer 10 km of the Earth's crust, resulting in a thermal history that is controlled by either upper crustal flexure and faulting and/or isotherm inflections related to surface topography. Combining these biases with the uplift, erosion and recycling of these shallow rocks results in a poor preservation potential of any long-term record. Here, an ancient and long-term record of lithosphere exhumation is constructed using U-Pb thermochronology, a geochronologic system sensitive to cooling at temperatures found at 20-50 km depth (400-650 °C). Lower crustal xenoliths provide material that resided at these depths for billions of years or more, recording a thermal history that is buried deep enough to remain insensitive to upper crustal deformation and instead is dominated by the vertical motions of the continents. We show how this temperature-sensitive system can produce a long-term integrated measure of continental exhumation and erosion. Preserved beneath Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks within Montana, USA, the Great Falls Tectonic Zone formed when two Archean cratons, the Wyoming Province and Medicine

Cheyletiella dermatitis: a report of fourteen cases.

PubMed

Lee, B W

1991-02-01

Cheyletiella dermatitis is an infrequently reported eruption caused by an ectoparasite whose normal hosts are household pets. Fourteen cases, documented over an eight-year period, are reported. All cases were found in one practice in a small community. Typical patients are female, aged forty years or younger, who experience pruritic papules in the winter months. Cheyletiella dermatitis is not a rare problem.

Searching for Organics Preserved in 4.5 Billion Year Old Salt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zolensky, Michael E.; Fries, M.; Steele, A.; Bodnar, R.

2012-01-01

Our understanding of early solar system fluids took a dramatic turn a decade ago with the discovery of fluid inclusion-bearing halite (NaCl) crystals in the matrix of two freshly fallen brecciated H chondrite falls, Monahans and Zag. Both meteorites are regolith breccias, and contain xenolithic halite (and minor admixed sylvite -- KCl, crystals in their regolith lithologies. The halites are purple to dark blue, due to the presence of color centers (electrons in anion vacancies) which slowly accumulated as 40K (in sylvite) decayed over billions of years. The halites were dated by K-Ar, Rb-Sr and I-Xe systematics to be 4.5 billion years old. The "blue" halites were a fantastic discovery for the following reasons: (1) Halite+sylvite can be dated (K is in sylvite and will substitute for Na in halite, Rb substitutes in halite for Na, and I substitutes for Cl). (2) The blue color is lost if the halite dissolves on Earth and reprecipitates (because the newly-formed halite has no color centers), so the color serves as a "freshness" or pristinity indicator. (3) Halite frequently contains aqueous fluid inclusions. (4) Halite contains no structural oxygen, carbon or hydrogen, making them ideal materials to measure these isotopic systems in any fluid inclusions. (5) It is possible to directly measure fluid inclusion formation temperatures, and thus directly measure the temperature of the mineralizing aqueous fluid. In addition to these two ordinary chondrites halite grains have been reliably reported in several ureilites, an additional ordinary chondrite (Jilin), and in the carbonaceous chondrite (Murchison), although these reports were unfortunately not taken seriously. We have lately found additional fluid inclusions in carbonates in several additional carbonaceous chondrites. Meteoritic aqueous fluid inclusions are apparently relatively widespread in meteorites, though very small and thus difficult to analyze.

Physical Properties of Massive, Star-Forming Galaxies When the Universe Was Only Two Billion Years Old

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Nicole Christina

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.

Rapid oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago.

PubMed

Luo, Genming; Ono, Shuhei; Beukes, Nicolas J; Wang, David T; Xie, Shucheng; Summons, Roger E

2016-05-01

Molecular oxygen (O2) is, and has been, a primary driver of biological evolution and shapes the contemporary landscape of Earth's biogeochemical cycles. Although "whiffs" of oxygen have been documented in the Archean atmosphere, substantial O2 did not accumulate irreversibly until the Early Paleoproterozoic, during what has been termed the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE). The timing of the GOE and the rate at which this oxygenation took place have been poorly constrained until now. We report the transition (that is, from being mass-independent to becoming mass-dependent) in multiple sulfur isotope signals of diagenetic pyrite in a continuous sedimentary sequence in three coeval drill cores in the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. These data precisely constrain the GOE to 2.33 billion years ago. The new data suggest that the oxygenation occurred rapidly-within 1 to 10 million years-and was followed by a slower rise in the ocean sulfate inventory. Our data indicate that a climate perturbation predated the GOE, whereas the relationships among GOE, "Snowball Earth" glaciation, and biogeochemical cycling will require further stratigraphic correlation supported with precise chronologies and paleolatitude reconstructions.

The nonprofit sector's $100 billion opportunity.

PubMed

Bradley, Bill; Jansen, Paul; Silverman, Les

2003-05-01

Imagine what an extra $100 billion a year could do for philanthropic and other nonprofit institutions. According to a new study, the nonprofit sector could free that amount--maybe even more--by making five changes in the way it operates. The study asked two central questions: Does the sector's money flow from its source to its ultimate use as efficiently and effectively as possible? If not, where are the big opportunities to increase social benefit? According to former senator Bill Bradley and McKinsey's Paul Jansen and Les Silverman, nonprofits could save roughly $25 billion a year by changing the way they raise funds. By distributing funds more quickly, they could put an extra $30 billion to work. Organizations could generate more than $60 billion a year by streamlining and restructuring the way in which they provide services and by reducing administrative costs. And they could free up even more money--an amount impossible to estimate--by better allocating funds among service providers. The authors admit that making those changes won't be easy. The nonprofit world, historically seen as a collection of locally focused charities, has become an enormous sector, but it lacks the managerial processes and incentives that help keep the for-profit world on track. And when the baby boomers start to retire in less than a decade, public budgets will be squeezed even more than they are today. If the nonprofit sector is to help the nation cope with the stresses ahead, it must become more efficient and challenge its traditional concepts of stewardship.

A massive galaxy in its core formation phase three billion years after the Big Bang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Erica; van Dokkum, Pieter; Franx, Marijn; Brammer, Gabriel; Momcheva, Ivelina; Schreiber, Natascha Förster; da Cunha, Elisabete; Tacconi, Linda; Bezanson, Rachel; Kirkpatrick, Allison; Leja, Joel; Rix, Hans-Walter; Skelton, Rosalind; van der Wel, Arjen; Whitaker, Katherine; Wuyts, Stijn

2014-09-01

Most massive galaxies are thought to have formed their dense stellar cores in early cosmic epochs. Previous studies have found galaxies with high gas velocity dispersions or small apparent sizes, but so far no objects have been identified with both the stellar structure and the gas dynamics of a forming core. Here we report a candidate core in the process of formation 11 billion years ago, at redshift z = 2.3. This galaxy, GOODS-N-774, has a stellar mass of 100 billion solar masses, a half-light radius of 1.0 kiloparsecs and a star formation rate of solar masses per year. The star-forming gas has a velocity dispersion of 317 +/- 30 kilometres per second. This is similar to the stellar velocity dispersions of the putative descendants of GOODS-N-774, which are compact quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2 (refs 8, 9, 10, 11) and giant elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe. Galaxies such as GOODS-N-774 seem to be rare; however, from the star formation rate and size of this galaxy we infer that many star-forming cores may be heavily obscured, and could be missed in optical and near-infrared surveys.

A massive galaxy in its core formation phase three billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Nelson, Erica; van Dokkum, Pieter; Franx, Marijn; Brammer, Gabriel; Momcheva, Ivelina; Schreiber, Natascha Förster; da Cunha, Elisabete; Tacconi, Linda; Bezanson, Rachel; Kirkpatrick, Allison; Leja, Joel; Rix, Hans-Walter; Skelton, Rosalind; van der Wel, Arjen; Whitaker, Katherine; Wuyts, Stijn

2014-09-18

Most massive galaxies are thought to have formed their dense stellar cores in early cosmic epochs. Previous studies have found galaxies with high gas velocity dispersions or small apparent sizes, but so far no objects have been identified with both the stellar structure and the gas dynamics of a forming core. Here we report a candidate core in the process of formation 11 billion years ago, at redshift z = 2.3. This galaxy, GOODS-N-774, has a stellar mass of 100 billion solar masses, a half-light radius of 1.0 kiloparsecs and a star formation rate of solar masses per year. The star-forming gas has a velocity dispersion of 317 ± 30 kilometres per second. This is similar to the stellar velocity dispersions of the putative descendants of GOODS-N-774, which are compact quiescent galaxies at z ≈ 2 (refs 8-11) and giant elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe. Galaxies such as GOODS-N-774 seem to be rare; however, from the star formation rate and size of this galaxy we infer that many star-forming cores may be heavily obscured, and could be missed in optical and near-infrared surveys.

A change in the geodynamics of continental growth 3 billion years ago.

PubMed

Dhuime, Bruno; Hawkesworth, Chris J; Cawood, Peter A; Storey, Craig D

2012-03-16

Models for the growth of continental crust rely on knowing the balance between the generation of new crust and the reworking of old crust throughout Earth's history. The oxygen isotopic composition of zircons, for which uranium-lead and hafnium isotopic data provide age constraints, is a key archive of crustal reworking. We identified systematic variations in hafnium and oxygen isotopes in zircons of different ages that reveal the relative proportions of reworked crust and of new crust through time. Growth of continental crust appears to have been a continuous process, albeit at variable rates. A marked decrease in the rate of crustal growth at ~3 billion years ago may be linked to the onset of subduction-driven plate tectonics.

Extraterrestrial demise of banded iron formations 1.85 billion years ago

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slack, J.F.; Cannon, W.F.

2009-01-01

In the Lake Superior region of North America, deposition of most banded iron formations (BIFs) ended abruptly 1.85 Ga ago, coincident with the oceanic impact of the giant Sudbury extraterrestrial bolide. We propose a new model in which this impact produced global mixing of shallow oxic and deep anoxic waters of the Paleoproterozoic ocean, creating a suboxic redox state for deep seawater. This suboxic state, characterized by only small concentrations of dissolved O2 (???1 ??M), prevented transport of hydrothermally derived Fe(II) from the deep ocean to continental-margin settings, ending an ???1.1 billion-year-long period of episodic BIF mineralization. The model is supported by the nature of Precambrian deep-water exhalative chemical sediments, which changed from predominantly sulfide facies prior to ca. 1.85 Ga to mainly oxide facies thereafter. ?? 2009 Geological Society of America.

Paleointensity, solar wind and magnetopause 3.45 billion years ago (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarduno, J. A.; Cottrell, R. D.; Watkeys, M. K.; Hofmann, A.; Doubrovine, P. V.; Nelson, J.; Usui, Y.

2009-12-01

The standoff of the solar wind by the magnetic field produced by a core dynamo defines atmospheric shielding and prevention of volatile loss important for the evolution of a habitable planet. Yet little is known about magnetic field strength for the earliest Earth. Therefore, the potential for intense radiation from the young, rapidly rotating Sun modifying the atmosphere is uncertain. We report Thellier paleointensity results from single silicate crystals bearing magnetic inclusions that indicate the presence of a Paleoarchean geodynamo between 3.40 and 3.45 billion years ago. The field is somewhat weaker than the current field and when combined with the a greater solar wind pressure suggest steady-state Paleoarchean magnetopause standoff distances similar to those observed during recent solar storms. We will discuss efforts to further extend the paleointensity record, using single crystals with magnetic inclusions, such as zircons, eroded from older igneous rocks and now found within Archean sedimentary units.

Prodigious degassing of a billion years of accumulated radiogenic helium at Yellowstone

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lowenstern, Jacob B.; Evans, William C.; Bergfeld, D.; Hunt, Andrew G.

2014-01-01

Helium is used as a critical tracer throughout the Earth sciences, where its relatively simple isotopic systematics is used to trace degassing from the mantle, to date groundwater and to time the rise of continents1. The hydrothermal system at Yellowstone National Park is famous for its high helium-3/helium-4 isotope ratio, commonly cited as evidence for a deep mantle source for the Yellowstone hotspot2. However, much of the helium emitted from this region is actually radiogenic helium-4 produced within the crust by α-decay of uranium and thorium. Here we show, by combining gas emission rates with chemistry and isotopic analyses, that crustal helium-4 emission rates from Yellowstone exceed (by orders of magnitude) any conceivable rate of generation within the crust. It seems that helium has accumulated for (at least) many hundreds of millions of years in Archaean (more than 2.5 billion years old) cratonic rocks beneath Yellowstone, only to be liberated over the past two million years by intense crustal metamorphism induced by the Yellowstone hotspot. Our results demonstrate the extremes in variability of crustal helium efflux on geologic timescales and imply crustal-scale open-system behaviour of helium in tectonically and magmatically active regions.

The evolution in the stellar mass of brightest cluster galaxies over the past 10 billion years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellstedt, Sabine; Lidman, Chris; Muzzin, Adam; Franx, Marijn; Guatelli, Susanna; Hill, Allison R.; Hoekstra, Henk; Kurinsky, Noah; Labbe, Ivo; Marchesini, Danilo; Marsan, Z. Cemile; Safavi-Naeini, Mitra; Sifón, Cristóbal; Stefanon, Mauro; van de Sande, Jesse; van Dokkum, Pieter; Weigel, Catherine

2016-08-01

Using a sample of 98 galaxy clusters recently imaged in the near-infrared with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) New Technology Telescope, WIYN telescope and William Herschel Telescope, supplemented with 33 clusters from the ESO archive, we measure how the stellar mass of the most massive galaxies in the universe, namely brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), increases with time. Most of the BCGs in this new sample lie in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.6, which has been noted in recent works to mark an epoch over which the growth in the stellar mass of BCGs stalls. From this sample of 132 clusters, we create a subsample of 102 systems that includes only those clusters that have estimates of the cluster mass. We combine the BCGs in this subsample with BCGs from the literature, and find that the growth in stellar mass of BCGs from 10 billion years ago to the present epoch is broadly consistent with recent semi-analytic and semi-empirical models. As in other recent studies, tentative evidence indicates that the stellar mass growth rate of BCGs may be slowing in the past 3.5 billion years. Further work in collecting larger samples, and in better comparing observations with theory using mock images, is required if a more detailed comparison between the models and the data is to be made.

Great Plains Project: at worst a $1. 7 billion squeeze

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maize, K.

1983-04-11

On January 29, 1982, seeking a loan guarantee for its coal-to-gas synfuels project, Great Plains Gasification Associates told the Department of Energy that they expected to reap $1.2 billion in net income to the partnership during the first 10 years of the venture. On March 31, 1983, Great Plains treasurer Rodney Boulanger had a different projection: a horrific loss of $773 million in the first decade. The Great Plains project, with construction 50% complete, is being built near Beulah, ND. The project has a design capacity of 137.5 million cubic feet a day of SNG. Great Plains' analysis assumes thatmore » the plant will operate at 70% of design capacity in 1985, 77% in 1986, 84% in 1987 and 91% thereafter. The company projects the total project cost at $2.1 billion, consisting of plant costs of $1.9 billion and coal mine costs of $156 million. In originally projecting a cumulative net income of better than $1 billion, the partners anticipated running losses in only three of the first 10 years, and cash distributions from the project of $893 million during the first decade. Under the new projections, even in the best case, the first four years would show losses and there would be no distribution to the partners. In the worst case, the project would run in the red every year for the first 10 years.« less

Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eigenbrode, Jennifer L.; Summons, Roger E.; Steele, Andrew; Freissinet, Caroline; Millan, Maëva; Navarro-González, Rafael; Sutter, Brad; McAdam, Amy C.; Franz, Heather B.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Archer, Paul D.; Mahaffy, Paul R.; Conrad, Pamela G.; Hurowitz, Joel A.; Grotzinger, John P.; Gupta, Sanjeev; Ming, Doug W.; Sumner, Dawn Y.; Szopa, Cyril; Malespin, Charles; Buch, Arnaud; Coll, Patrice

2018-06-01

Establishing the presence and state of organic matter, including its possible biosignatures, in martian materials has been an elusive quest, despite limited reports of the existence of organic matter on Mars. We report the in situ detection of organic matter preserved in lacustrine mudstones at the base of the ~3.5-billion-year-old Murray formation at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover. Diverse pyrolysis products, including thiophenic, aromatic, and aliphatic compounds released at high temperatures (500° to 820°C), were directly detected by evolved gas analysis. Thiophenes were also observed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Their presence suggests that sulfurization aided organic matter preservation. At least 50 nanomoles of organic carbon persists, probably as macromolecules containing 5% carbon as organic sulfur molecules.

Four billion people facing severe water scarcity

PubMed Central

Mekonnen, Mesfin M.; Hoekstra, Arjen Y.

2016-01-01

Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare. PMID:26933676

Four billion people facing severe water scarcity.

PubMed

Mekonnen, Mesfin M; Hoekstra, Arjen Y

2016-02-01

Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare.

A spin-down clock for cool stars from observations of a 2.5-billion-year-old cluster.

PubMed

Meibom, Søren; Barnes, Sydney A; Platais, Imants; Gilliland, Ronald L; Latham, David W; Mathieu, Robert D

2015-01-29

The ages of the most common stars--low-mass (cool) stars like the Sun, and smaller--are difficult to derive because traditional dating methods use stellar properties that either change little as the stars age or are hard to measure. The rotation rates of all cool stars decrease substantially with time as the stars steadily lose their angular momenta. If properly calibrated, rotation therefore can act as a reliable determinant of their ages based on the method of gyrochronology. To calibrate gyrochronology, the relationship between rotation period and age must be determined for cool stars of different masses, which is best accomplished with rotation period measurements for stars in clusters with well-known ages. Hitherto, such measurements have been possible only in clusters with ages of less than about one billion years, and gyrochronology ages for older stars have been inferred from model predictions. Here we report rotation period measurements for 30 cool stars in the 2.5-billion-year-old cluster NGC 6819. The periods reveal a well-defined relationship between rotation period and stellar mass at the cluster age, suggesting that ages with a precision of order 10 per cent can be derived for large numbers of cool Galactic field stars.

Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon.

PubMed

Bell, Elizabeth A; Boehnke, Patrick; Harrison, T Mark; Mao, Wendy L

2015-11-24

Evidence of life on Earth is manifestly preserved in the rock record. However, the microfossil record only extends to ∼ 3.5 billion years (Ga), the chemofossil record arguably to ∼ 3.8 Ga, and the rock record to 4.0 Ga. Detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia range in age up to nearly 4.4 Ga. From a population of over 10,000 Jack Hills zircons, we identified one >3.8-Ga zircon that contains primary graphite inclusions. Here, we report carbon isotopic measurements on these inclusions in a concordant, 4.10 ± 0.01-Ga zircon. We interpret these inclusions as primary due to their enclosure in a crack-free host as shown by transmission X-ray microscopy and their crystal habit. Their δ(13)CPDB of -24 ± 5‰ is consistent with a biogenic origin and may be evidence that a terrestrial biosphere had emerged by 4.1 Ga, or ∼ 300 My earlier than has been previously proposed.

Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon

PubMed Central

Bell, Elizabeth A.; Harrison, T. Mark; Mao, Wendy L.

2015-01-01

Evidence of life on Earth is manifestly preserved in the rock record. However, the microfossil record only extends to ∼3.5 billion years (Ga), the chemofossil record arguably to ∼3.8 Ga, and the rock record to 4.0 Ga. Detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia range in age up to nearly 4.4 Ga. From a population of over 10,000 Jack Hills zircons, we identified one >3.8-Ga zircon that contains primary graphite inclusions. Here, we report carbon isotopic measurements on these inclusions in a concordant, 4.10 ± 0.01-Ga zircon. We interpret these inclusions as primary due to their enclosure in a crack-free host as shown by transmission X-ray microscopy and their crystal habit. Their δ13CPDB of −24 ± 5‰ is consistent with a biogenic origin and may be evidence that a terrestrial biosphere had emerged by 4.1 Ga, or ∼300 My earlier than has been previously proposed. PMID:26483481

Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ames, Louise Bates; And Others

Although the basic growth changes for teenagers are the same as they were 20 or 30 years ago, the environment in which these changes occur has changed. This book describes the characteristic changes in human behavior which take place from year to year between the ages of 10 and 14. Part 1 of the book describes the longitudinal research, which…

Analogues of primeval galaxies two billion years after the Big Bang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amorín, Ricardo; Fontana, Adriano; Pérez-Montero, Enrique; Castellano, Marco; Guaita, Lucia; Grazian, Andrea; Le Fèvre, Olivier; Ribeiro, Bruno; Schaerer, Daniel; Tasca, Lidia A. M.; Thomas, Romain; Bardelli, Sandro; Cassarà, Letizia; Cassata, Paolo; Cimatti, Andrea; Contini, Thierry; de Barros, Stephane; Garilli, Bianca; Giavalisco, Mauro; Hathi, Nimish; Koekemoer, Anton; Le Brun, Vincent; Lemaux, Brian C.; Maccagni, Dario; Pentericci, Laura; Pforr, Janine; Talia, Margherita; Tresse, Laurence; Vanzella, Eros; Vergani, Daniela; Zamorani, Giovanni; Zucca, Elena; Merlin, Emiliano

2017-03-01

Deep observations are revealing a growing number of young galaxies in the first billion years of cosmic time1. Compared to typical galaxies at later times, they show more extreme emission-line properties2, higher star formation rates3, lower masses4, and smaller sizes5. However, their faintness precludes studies of their chemical abundances and ionization conditions, strongly limiting our understanding of the physics driving early galaxy build-up and metal enrichment. Here we study a rare population of ultraviolet-selected, low-luminosity galaxies at redshift 2.4 < z < 3.5 that exhibit all the rest-frame properties expected from primeval galaxies. These low-mass, highly compact systems are rapidly forming galaxies able to double their stellar mass in only a few tens of millions of years. They are characterized by very blue ultraviolet spectra with weak absorption features and bright nebular emission lines, which imply hard radiation fields from young hot massive stars6,7. Their highly ionized gas phase has strongly sub-solar carbon and oxygen abundances, with metallicities more than a factor of two lower than that found in typical galaxies of similar mass and star formation rate at z≤2.58. These young galaxies reveal an early and short stage in the assembly of their galactic structures and their chemical evolution, a vigorous phase that is likely to be dominated by the effects of gas-rich mergers, accretion of metal-poor gas and strong outflows.

Rapid oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago

PubMed Central

Luo, Genming; Ono, Shuhei; Beukes, Nicolas J.; Wang, David T.; Xie, Shucheng; Summons, Roger E.

2016-01-01

Molecular oxygen (O2) is, and has been, a primary driver of biological evolution and shapes the contemporary landscape of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Although “whiffs” of oxygen have been documented in the Archean atmosphere, substantial O2 did not accumulate irreversibly until the Early Paleoproterozoic, during what has been termed the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE). The timing of the GOE and the rate at which this oxygenation took place have been poorly constrained until now. We report the transition (that is, from being mass-independent to becoming mass-dependent) in multiple sulfur isotope signals of diagenetic pyrite in a continuous sedimentary sequence in three coeval drill cores in the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. These data precisely constrain the GOE to 2.33 billion years ago. The new data suggest that the oxygenation occurred rapidly—within 1 to 10 million years—and was followed by a slower rise in the ocean sulfate inventory. Our data indicate that a climate perturbation predated the GOE, whereas the relationships among GOE, “Snowball Earth” glaciation, and biogeochemical cycling will require further stratigraphic correlation supported with precise chronologies and paleolatitude reconstructions. PMID:27386544

Genetic code mutations: the breaking of a three billion year invariance.

PubMed

Mat, Wai-Kin; Xue, Hong; Wong, J Tze-Fei

2010-08-20

The genetic code has been unchanging for some three billion years in its canonical ensemble of encoded amino acids, as indicated by the universal adoption of this ensemble by all known organisms. Code mutations beginning with the encoding of 4-fluoro-Trp by Bacillus subtilis, initially replacing and eventually displacing Trp from the ensemble, first revealed the intrinsic mutability of the code. This has since been confirmed by a spectrum of other experimental code alterations in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. To shed light on the experimental conversion of a rigidly invariant code to a mutating code, the present study examined code mutations determining the propagation of Bacillus subtilis on Trp and 4-, 5- and 6-fluoro-tryptophans. The results obtained with the mutants with respect to cross-inhibitions between the different indole amino acids, and the growth effects of individual nutrient withdrawals rendering essential their biosynthetic pathways, suggested that oligogenic barriers comprising sensitive proteins which malfunction with amino acid analogues provide effective mechanisms for preserving the invariance of the code through immemorial time, and mutations of these barriers open up the code to continuous change.

$17 billion needed for population programme to year 2000: Dr. Nafis Sadik launches State of World Population Report.

PubMed

1995-01-01

Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in her address on July 11 to the Foreign Press Association in London on the occasion of the release of the "1995 State of the World Population Report," stated that governments needed to invest in people, and that the estimated amount needed to reduce population numbers in developing countries was $17 billion for the year 2000. Two-thirds of the cost would be supplied by the developing countries. She said that coordinating population policies globally through such documents as the Programme of Action from the Cairo Conference would aid in slowing population growth. World population, currently 5.7 billion, is projected to reach 7.1-7.83 billion in 2015 and 7.9-11.9 billion in 2050. She also noted that certain conditions faced by women bear upon unsustainable population growth. The cycle of poverty continues in developing countries because very young mothers, who face higher risks in pregnancy and childbirth than those who delay childbearing until after the age of 20, are less likely to continue their education, more likely to have lower-paying jobs, and have a higher rate of separation and divorce. The isolation of women from widespread political participation and the marginalization of women's concerns from mainstream topics has resulted in ineffective family planning programs, including prevention of illness or impairment related to pregnancy or childbirth. Women, in most societies, cannot fully participate in economic and public life, have limited access to positions of influence and power, have narrower occupational choices and lower earnings than men, and must struggle to reconcile activities outside the home with their traditional roles. Sustainable development can only be achieved when social development expands opportunities for individuals (men and women), and their families, empowering them in the attainment of their social, economic, political, and cultural aspirations.

One billion year-old Mid-continent Rift leaves virtually no clues in the mantle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bollmann, T. A.; Frederiksen, A. W.; van der Lee, S.; Wolin, E.; Revenaugh, J.; Wiens, D.; Darbyshire, F. A.; Aleqabi, G. I.; Wysession, M. E.; Stein, S.; Jurdy, D. M.

2017-12-01

We measured the relative arrival times of more than forty-six thousand teleseismic P waves recorded by seismic stations of Earthscope's Superior Province Rifting Earthscope Experiment (SPREE) and combined them with a similar amount of such measurements from other seismic stations in the larger region. SPREE recorded seismic waves for two and a half years around the prominent, one billion year-old Mid-continent Rift structure. The curvilinear Mid-continent Rift (MR) is distinguished by voluminous one billion year-old lava flows, which produce a prominent gravity high along the MR. As for other seismic waves, these lava flows along with their underplated counterpart, slightly slow down the measured teleseismic P waves, on average, compared to P waves that did not traverse structures beneath the Mid-continent Rift. However, the variance in the P wave arrival times in these two groups is nearly ten times higher than their average difference. In a seismic-tomographic inversion, we mapped all measured arrival times into structures deep beneath the crust, in the Earth's mantle. Beneath the crust we generally find relatively high P velocities, indicating relatively cool and undeformable mantle structures. However, the uppermost mantle beneath the MR shows several patches of slightly decreased P velocities. These patches are coincident with where the gravity anomalies peak, in Iowa and along the northern Minnesota/Wisconsin border. We will report on the likelihood that these anomalies are indeed a remaining mantle-lithospheric signature of the MR or whether these patches indirectly reflect the presence of the lava flows and their underplated counterparts at the crust-mantle interface. Other structures of interest and of varying depth extent in our tomographic image locate at 1) the intersection of the Superior Craton with the Penokean Province and the Marshfield Terrane west of the MR in southern Minnesota, 2) the intersection of the Penokean, Yavapai, and Mazatzal Terranes

Regional Feedstock Partnership Summary Report: Enabling the Billion-Ton Vision

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Owens, Vance N.; Karlen, Douglas L.; Lacey, Jeffrey A.

2016-07-12

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Regional Feedstock Partnership (referred to as the Partnership) to address information gaps associated with enabling the vision of a sustainable, reliable, billion-ton U.S. bioenergy industry by the year 2030 (i.e., the Billion-Ton Vision). Over the past 7 years (2008–2014), the Partnership has been successful at advancing the biomass feedstock production industry in the United States, with notable accomplishments. The Billion-Ton Study identifies the technical potential to expand domestic biomass production to offset up to 30% of U.S. petroleum consumption, while continuing to meet demands for food, feed,more » fiber, and export. This study verifies for the biofuels and chemical industries that a real and substantial resource base could justify the significant investment needed to develop robust conversion technologies and commercial-scale facilities. DOE and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Partnership to demonstrate and validate the underlying assumptions underpinning the Billion-Ton Vision to supply a sustainable and reliable source of lignocellulosic feedstock to a large-scale bioenergy industry. This report discusses the accomplishments of the Partnership, with references to accompanying scientific publications. These accomplishments include advances in sustainable feedstock production, feedstock yield, yield stability and stand persistence, energy crop commercialization readiness, information transfer, assessment of the economic impacts of achieving the Billion-Ton Vision, and the impact of feedstock species and environment conditions on feedstock quality characteristics.« less

Geodynamo, solar wind, and magnetopause 3.4 to 3.45 billion years ago.

PubMed

Tarduno, John A; Cottrell, Rory D; Watkeys, Michael K; Hofmann, Axel; Doubrovine, Pavel V; Mamajek, Eric E; Liu, Dunji; Sibeck, David G; Neukirch, Levi P; Usui, Yoichi

2010-03-05

Stellar wind standoff by a planetary magnetic field prevents atmospheric erosion and water loss. Although the early Earth retained its water and atmosphere, and thus evolved as a habitable planet, little is known about Earth's magnetic field strength during that time. We report paleointensity results from single silicate crystals bearing magnetic inclusions that record a geodynamo 3.4 to 3.45 billion years ago. The measured field strength is approximately 50 to 70% that of the present-day field. When combined with a greater Paleoarchean solar wind pressure, the paleofield strength data suggest steady-state magnetopause standoff distances of < or = 5 Earth radii, similar to values observed during recent coronal mass ejection events. The data also suggest lower-latitude aurora and increases in polar cap area, as well as heating, expansion, and volatile loss from the exosphere that would have affected long-term atmospheric composition.

Molecular epidemiology and evolution of avian infectious bronchitis virus in Spain over a fourteen-year period.

PubMed

Dolz, Roser; Pujols, Joan; Ordóñez, German; Porta, Ramon; Majó, Natàlia

2008-04-25

An in-depth molecular study of infectious bronchitis viruses (IBV) with particular interest in evolutionary aspects of IBV in Spain was carried out in the present study based on the S1 gene molecular characterization of twenty-six Spanish strains isolated over a fourteen-year period. Four genotypes were identified based on S1 gene sequence analyses and phylogenetic studies. A drastic virus population shift was demonstrated along time and the novel Italy 02 serotype was shown to have displaced the previous predominant serotype 4/91 in the field. Detailed analyses of synonymous to non-synonymous ratio of the S1 gene sequences of this new serotype Italy 02 suggested positive selection pressures might have contributed to the successful establishment of Italy 02 serotype in our country. In addition, differences on the fitness abilities of new emergent genotypes were indicated. Furthermore, intergenic sequences (IGs)-like motifs within S1 gene sequences of IBV isolates were suggested to enhance the recombination abilities of certain serotypes.

Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon

DOE PAGES

Bell, Elizabeth A.; Boehnke, Patrick; Harrison, T. Mark; ...

2015-10-19

Here, evidence of life on Earth is manifestly preserved in the rock record. However, the microfossil record only extends to ~3.5 billion years (Ga), the chemofossil record arguably to ~3.8 Ga, and the rock record to 4.0 Ga. Detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia range in age up to nearly 4.4 Ga. From a population of over 10,000 Jack Hills zircons, we identified one >3.8-Ga zircon that contains primary graphite inclusions. Here, we report carbon isotopic measurements on these inclusions in a concordant, 4.10 ± 0.01-Ga zircon. We interpret these inclusions as primary due to their enclosure in amore » crack-free host as shown by transmission X-ray microscopy and their crystal habit. Their δ 13C PDB of –24 ± 5‰ is consistent with a biogenic origin and may be evidence that a terrestrial biosphere had emerged by 4.1 Ga, or ~300 My earlier than has been previously proposed.« less

Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bell, Elizabeth A.; Boehnke, Patrick; Harrison, T. Mark

Here, evidence of life on Earth is manifestly preserved in the rock record. However, the microfossil record only extends to ~3.5 billion years (Ga), the chemofossil record arguably to ~3.8 Ga, and the rock record to 4.0 Ga. Detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia range in age up to nearly 4.4 Ga. From a population of over 10,000 Jack Hills zircons, we identified one >3.8-Ga zircon that contains primary graphite inclusions. Here, we report carbon isotopic measurements on these inclusions in a concordant, 4.10 ± 0.01-Ga zircon. We interpret these inclusions as primary due to their enclosure in amore » crack-free host as shown by transmission X-ray microscopy and their crystal habit. Their δ 13C PDB of –24 ± 5‰ is consistent with a biogenic origin and may be evidence that a terrestrial biosphere had emerged by 4.1 Ga, or ~300 My earlier than has been previously proposed.« less

Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars.

PubMed

Eigenbrode, Jennifer L; Summons, Roger E; Steele, Andrew; Freissinet, Caroline; Millan, Maëva; Navarro-González, Rafael; Sutter, Brad; McAdam, Amy C; Franz, Heather B; Glavin, Daniel P; Archer, Paul D; Mahaffy, Paul R; Conrad, Pamela G; Hurowitz, Joel A; Grotzinger, John P; Gupta, Sanjeev; Ming, Doug W; Sumner, Dawn Y; Szopa, Cyril; Malespin, Charles; Buch, Arnaud; Coll, Patrice

2018-06-08

Establishing the presence and state of organic matter, including its possible biosignatures, in martian materials has been an elusive quest, despite limited reports of the existence of organic matter on Mars. We report the in situ detection of organic matter preserved in lacustrine mudstones at the base of the ~3.5-billion-year-old Murray formation at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover. Diverse pyrolysis products, including thiophenic, aromatic, and aliphatic compounds released at high temperatures (500° to 820°C), were directly detected by evolved gas analysis. Thiophenes were also observed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Their presence suggests that sulfurization aided organic matter preservation. At least 50 nanomoles of organic carbon persists, probably as macromolecules containing 5% carbon as organic sulfur molecules. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide: a driver of photosynthetic eukaryote evolution for over a billion years?

PubMed Central

Beerling, David J.

2012-01-01

Exciting evidence from diverse fields, including physiology, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, geosciences and molecular genetics, is providing an increasingly secure basis for robustly formulating and evaluating hypotheses concerning the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Such studies span over a billion years of evolutionary change, from the origins of eukaryotic algae through to the evolution of our present-day terrestrial floras, and have relevance for plant and ecosystem responses to future global CO2 increases. The papers in this issue reflect the breadth and depth of approaches being adopted to address this issue. They reveal new discoveries pointing to deep evidence for the role of CO2 in shaping evolutionary changes in plants and ecosystems, and establish an exciting cross-disciplinary research agenda for uncovering new insights into feedbacks between biology and the Earth system. PMID:22232760

Atmospheric carbon dioxide: a driver of photosynthetic eukaryote evolution for over a billion years?

PubMed

Beerling, David J

2012-02-19

Exciting evidence from diverse fields, including physiology, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, geosciences and molecular genetics, is providing an increasingly secure basis for robustly formulating and evaluating hypotheses concerning the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) in the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Such studies span over a billion years of evolutionary change, from the origins of eukaryotic algae through to the evolution of our present-day terrestrial floras, and have relevance for plant and ecosystem responses to future global CO(2) increases. The papers in this issue reflect the breadth and depth of approaches being adopted to address this issue. They reveal new discoveries pointing to deep evidence for the role of CO(2) in shaping evolutionary changes in plants and ecosystems, and establish an exciting cross-disciplinary research agenda for uncovering new insights into feedbacks between biology and the Earth system.

Constraint on a varying proton-electron mass ratio 1.5 billion years after the big bang.

PubMed

Bagdonaite, J; Ubachs, W; Murphy, M T; Whitmore, J B

2015-02-20

A molecular hydrogen absorber at a lookback time of 12.4 billion years, corresponding to 10% of the age of the Universe today, is analyzed to put a constraint on a varying proton-electron mass ratio, μ. A high resolution spectrum of the J1443+2724 quasar, which was observed with the Very Large Telescope, is used to create an accurate model of 89 Lyman and Werner band transitions whose relative frequencies are sensitive to μ, yielding a limit on the relative deviation from the current laboratory value of Δμ/μ=(-9.5 ± 5.4(stat)± 5.3(syst))×10(-6).

Could organic matter have been preserved on Mars for 3.5 billion years?

PubMed

Kanavarioti, A; Mancinelli, R L

1990-03-01

3.5 billion years (byr) ago, when it is thought that Mars and Earth had similar climates, biological evolution on Earth had made considerable progress, such that life was abundant. It is therefore surmised that prior to this time period the advent of chemical evolution and subsequent origin of life occurred on Earth and may have occurred on Mars. Analysis for organic compounds in the soil buried beneath the Martian surface may yield useful information regarding the occurrence of chemical evolution and possibly biological evolution. Calculations based on the stability of amino acids lead to the conclusion that remnants of these compounds, if they existed on Mars 3.5 byr ago, might have been preserved buried beneath the surface oxidizing layer. For example, if phenylalanine, an amino acid of average stability, existed on Mars 3.5 byr ago, then 1.6% would remain buried today, or 25 pg-2.5 ng of C g-1 Martian soil may exist from remnants of meteoritic and cometary bombardment, assuming that 1% of the organics survived impact.

First Fourteen Years of Lake Mead

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Harold E.

1954-01-01

This circular summarizes the results of recent studies of Lake Mead and its environs. Area-capacity tables, prepared on the basis of a hydrographic survey of the lake in 1948-49, show that the capacity of the reservoir was reduced 4.9 percent during the first 14 years after Hoover Dam was completed, but the usable capacity was reduced only 3.2 percent. Practically all of this reduction was caused by accumulation of sediment in the reservoir. Studies of inflow and outflow indicate that the reservoir has a total storage capacity about 12 percent greater than that shown by the area-capacity table, because of 'bank' storage, or ground-water storage in the bottom and sides of the reservoir. Thus the total capacity in 1949 was greater than the quantity shown by the original area-capacity table, even though large quantities of sediment had been deposited in the reservoir during the 14 years. According to computations of the volume and weight of the accumulated sediment, about 2,000 million tons were deposited in the reservoir by the Colorado River in 14 years; this is within 2 percent of the amount calculated from measurements of the suspended sediment carried by the in flowing rivers. It is estimated that the sediment capacity of the reservoir, when filled to the level of the permanent spillway crest, is about 75,000 million tons. The sediment contributed by the Colorado River averages about 45 percent sand and 55 percent silt and clay. If the sediment carried by the river in the years 1926-50 represents the long-term average rate of accumulation in Lake Mead, it will be a century before the sediment at the dam reaches the level of the lowest gates in the intake towers, and more than 4 centuries before the reservoir is filled with sediment to the level of the permanent spillway crest. The rate of sedimentation since the first year of Lake Mead (1935) has been about 20 percent lower, and if that rate continues in the future, the life of the reservoir will be

Summary and Comparison of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report with the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2016-06-01

In terms of the magnitude of the resource potential, the results of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16) are consistent with the original 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 report, U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry (BT2. An effort was made to reevaluate the potential forestland, agricultural, and waste resources at the roadside, then extend the analysis by adding transportation costs to a biorefinery under specified logistics assumptions to major resource fractions.

Microbially induced sedimentary structures recording an ancient ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia.

PubMed

Noffke, Nora; Christian, Daniel; Wacey, David; Hazen, Robert M

2013-12-01

Microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) result from the response of microbial mats to physical sediment dynamics. MISS are cosmopolitan and found in many modern environments, including shelves, tidal flats, lagoons, riverine shores, lakes, interdune areas, and sabkhas. The structures record highly diverse communities of microbial mats and have been reported from numerous intervals in the geological record up to 3.2 billion years (Ga) old. This contribution describes a suite of MISS from some of the oldest well-preserved sedimentary rocks in the geological record, the early Archean (ca. 3.48 Ga) Dresser Formation, Western Australia. Outcrop mapping at the meter to millimeter scale defined five sub-environments characteristic of an ancient coastal sabkha. These sub-environments contain associations of distinct macroscopic and microscopic MISS. Macroscopic MISS include polygonal oscillation cracks and gas domes, erosional remnants and pockets, and mat chips. Microscopic MISS comprise tufts, sinoidal structures, and laminae fabrics; the microscopic laminae are composed of primary carbonaceous matter, pyrite, and hematite, plus trapped and bound grains. Identical suites of MISS occur in equivalent environmental settings through the entire subsequent history of Earth including the present time. This work extends the geological record of MISS by almost 300 million years. Complex mat-forming microbial communities likely existed almost 3.5 billion years ago.

Titanium isotopic evidence for felsic crust and plate tectonics 3.5 billion years ago.

PubMed

Greber, Nicolas D; Dauphas, Nicolas; Bekker, Andrey; Ptáček, Matouš P; Bindeman, Ilya N; Hofmann, Axel

2017-09-22

Earth exhibits a dichotomy in elevation and chemical composition between the continents and ocean floor. Reconstructing when this dichotomy arose is important for understanding when plate tectonics started and how the supply of nutrients to the oceans changed through time. We measured the titanium isotopic composition of shales to constrain the chemical composition of the continental crust exposed to weathering and found that shales of all ages have a uniform isotopic composition. This can only be explained if the emerged crust was predominantly felsic (silica-rich) since 3.5 billion years ago, requiring an early initiation of plate tectonics. We also observed a change in the abundance of biologically important nutrients phosphorus and nickel across the Archean-Proterozoic boundary, which might have helped trigger the rise in atmospheric oxygen. Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Structure and function of a compound eye, more than half a billion years old.

PubMed

Schoenemann, Brigitte; Pärnaste, Helje; Clarkson, Euan N K

2017-12-19

Until now, the fossil record has not been capable of revealing any details of the mechanisms of complex vision at the beginning of metazoan evolution. Here, we describe functional units, at a cellular level, of a compound eye from the base of the Cambrian, more than half a billion years old. Remains of early Cambrian arthropods showed the external lattices of enormous compound eyes, but not the internal structures or anything about how those compound eyes may have functioned. In a phosphatized trilobite eye from the lower Cambrian of the Baltic, we found lithified remnants of cellular systems, typical of a modern focal apposition eye, similar to those of a bee or dragonfly. This shows that sophisticated eyes already existed at the beginning of the fossil record of higher organisms, while the differences between the ancient system and the internal structures of a modern apposition compound eye open important insights into the evolution of vision. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Decimetre-scale multicellular eukaryotes from the 1.56-billion-year-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation in North China

PubMed Central

Zhu, Shixing; Zhu, Maoyan; Knoll, Andrew H.; Yin, Zongjun; Zhao, Fangchen; Sun, Shufen; Qu, Yuangao; Shi, Min; Liu, Huan

2016-01-01

Fossils of macroscopic eukaryotes are rarely older than the Ediacaran Period (635–541 million years (Myr)), and their interpretation remains controversial. Here, we report the discovery of macroscopic fossils from the 1,560-Myr-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation, Yanshan area, North China, that exhibit both large size and regular morphology. Preserved as carbonaceous compressions, the Gaoyuzhuang fossils have statistically regular linear to lanceolate shapes up to 30 cm long and nearly 8 cm wide, suggesting that the Gaoyuzhuang fossils record benthic multicellular eukaryotes of unprecedentedly large size. Syngenetic fragments showing closely packed ∼10 μm cells arranged in a thick sheet further reinforce the interpretation. Comparisons with living thalloid organisms suggest that these organisms were photosynthetic, although their phylogenetic placement within the Eukarya remains uncertain. The new fossils provide the strongest evidence yet that multicellular eukaryotes with decimetric dimensions and a regular developmental program populated the marine biosphere at least a billion years before the Cambrian Explosion. PMID:27186667

Colleges' Billion-Dollar Campaigns Feel the Economy's Sting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masterson, Kathryn

2009-01-01

The economy's collapse has caught up with the billion-dollar campaign. In the past 12 months, the amount of money raised by a dozen of the colleges engaged in higher education's biggest fund-raising campaigns fell 32 percent from the year before. The decline, which started before the worst of the recession, has forced colleges to postpone…

The Big Bang left a permanent scare in the cosmic background, 5 billion light-years from Earth

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

The events surrounding the Big Bang were so cataclysmic that they left an indelible imprint on the fabric of the cosmos. We can detect these scars today by observing the oldest light in the universe. As it was created nearly 14 billion years ago, this light — which exists now as weak microwave radiation and is thus named the cosmic microwave background (CMB) — permeates the entire cosmos, filling it with detectable photons. The CMB can be used to probe the cosmos via something known as the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect, which was first observed over 30 years ago. We detect the CMB here on Earth when its constituent microwave photons travel to us through space. On their journey to us, they can pass through galaxy clusters that contain high-energy electrons. These electrons give the photons a tiny boost of energy. Detecting these boosted photons through our telescopes is challenging but important — they can help astronomers to understand some of the fundamental properties of the universe, such as the location and distribution of dense galaxy clusters. The NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) Hubble Space Telescope observed one of most massive known galaxy clusters, RX J1347.5–1145, seen in this Picture of the Week, as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). This observation of the cluster, 5 billion light-years from Earth, helped the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to study the cosmic microwave background using the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect. The observations made with ALMA are visible as the blue-purple hues. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Kitayama (Toho University, Japan)/ESA/Hubble & NASA NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to

Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia

PubMed Central

Christian, Daniel; Wacey, David; Hazen, Robert M.

2013-01-01

Abstract Microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) result from the response of microbial mats to physical sediment dynamics. MISS are cosmopolitan and found in many modern environments, including shelves, tidal flats, lagoons, riverine shores, lakes, interdune areas, and sabkhas. The structures record highly diverse communities of microbial mats and have been reported from numerous intervals in the geological record up to 3.2 billion years (Ga) old. This contribution describes a suite of MISS from some of the oldest well-preserved sedimentary rocks in the geological record, the early Archean (ca. 3.48 Ga) Dresser Formation, Western Australia. Outcrop mapping at the meter to millimeter scale defined five sub-environments characteristic of an ancient coastal sabkha. These sub-environments contain associations of distinct macroscopic and microscopic MISS. Macroscopic MISS include polygonal oscillation cracks and gas domes, erosional remnants and pockets, and mat chips. Microscopic MISS comprise tufts, sinoidal structures, and laminae fabrics; the microscopic laminae are composed of primary carbonaceous matter, pyrite, and hematite, plus trapped and bound grains. Identical suites of MISS occur in equivalent environmental settings through the entire subsequent history of Earth including the present time. This work extends the geological record of MISS by almost 300 million years. Complex mat-forming microbial communities likely existed almost 3.5 billion years ago. Key Words: Archean—Biofilms—Microbial mats—Early Earth—Evolution. Astrobiology 13, 1103–1124. PMID:24205812

Enhanced cellular preservation by clay minerals in 1 billion-year-old lakes.

PubMed

Wacey, David; Saunders, Martin; Roberts, Malcolm; Menon, Sarath; Green, Leonard; Kong, Charlie; Culwick, Timothy; Strother, Paul; Brasier, Martin D

2014-07-28

Organic-walled microfossils provide the best insights into the composition and evolution of the biosphere through the first 80 percent of Earth history. The mechanism of microfossil preservation affects the quality of biological information retained and informs understanding of early Earth palaeo-environments. We here show that 1 billion-year-old microfossils from the non-marine Torridon Group are remarkably preserved by a combination of clay minerals and phosphate, with clay minerals providing the highest fidelity of preservation. Fe-rich clay mostly occurs in narrow zones in contact with cellular material and is interpreted as an early microbially-mediated phase enclosing and replacing the most labile biological material. K-rich clay occurs within and exterior to cell envelopes, forming where the supply of Fe had been exhausted. Clay minerals inter-finger with calcium phosphate that co-precipitated with the clays in the sub-oxic zone of the lake sediments. This type of preservation was favoured in sulfate-poor environments where Fe-silicate precipitation could outcompete Fe-sulfide formation. This work shows that clay minerals can provide an exceptionally high fidelity of microfossil preservation and extends the known geological range of this fossilization style by almost 500 Ma. It also suggests that the best-preserved microfossils of this time may be found in low-sulfate environments.

Enhanced cellular preservation by clay minerals in 1 billion-year-old lakes

PubMed Central

Wacey, David; Saunders, Martin; Roberts, Malcolm; Menon, Sarath; Green, Leonard; Kong, Charlie; Culwick, Timothy; Strother, Paul; Brasier, Martin D.

2014-01-01

Organic-walled microfossils provide the best insights into the composition and evolution of the biosphere through the first 80 percent of Earth history. The mechanism of microfossil preservation affects the quality of biological information retained and informs understanding of early Earth palaeo-environments. We here show that 1 billion-year-old microfossils from the non-marine Torridon Group are remarkably preserved by a combination of clay minerals and phosphate, with clay minerals providing the highest fidelity of preservation. Fe-rich clay mostly occurs in narrow zones in contact with cellular material and is interpreted as an early microbially-mediated phase enclosing and replacing the most labile biological material. K-rich clay occurs within and exterior to cell envelopes, forming where the supply of Fe had been exhausted. Clay minerals inter-finger with calcium phosphate that co-precipitated with the clays in the sub-oxic zone of the lake sediments. This type of preservation was favoured in sulfate-poor environments where Fe-silicate precipitation could outcompete Fe-sulfide formation. This work shows that clay minerals can provide an exceptionally high fidelity of microfossil preservation and extends the known geological range of this fossilization style by almost 500 Ma. It also suggests that the best-preserved microfossils of this time may be found in low-sulfate environments. PMID:25068404

Congress OKs $2 Billion Boost for the NIH.

PubMed

2017-07-01

President Donald Trump last week signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2017, including a welcome $2 billion boost for the NIH that will support former Vice President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, among other priorities. However, researchers who rely heavily on NIH grant funding remain concerned about proposed cuts for 2018. ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Countdown to Six Billion Teaching Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zero Population Growth, Inc., Washington, DC.

This teaching kit features six activities focused on helping students understand the significance of the world population reaching six billion for our society and our environment. Featured activities include: (1) History of the World: Part Six Billion; (2) A Woman's Place; (3) Baby-O-Matic; (4) Earth: The Apple of Our Eye; (5) Needs vs. Wants; and…

A large neutral fraction of cosmic hydrogen a billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Wyithe, J Stuart B; Loeb, Abraham

2004-02-26

The fraction of ionized hydrogen left over from the Big Bang provides evidence for the time of formation of the first stars and quasar black holes in the early Universe; such objects provide the high-energy photons necessary to ionize hydrogen. Spectra of the two most distant known quasars show nearly complete absorption of photons with wavelengths shorter than the Lyman alpha transition of neutral hydrogen, indicating that hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) had not been completely ionized at a redshift of z approximately 6.3, about one billion years after the Big Bang. Here we show that the IGM surrounding these quasars had a neutral hydrogen fraction of tens of per cent before the quasar activity started, much higher than the previous lower limits of approximately 0.1 per cent. Our results, when combined with the recent inference of a large cumulative optical depth to electron scattering after cosmological recombination therefore suggest the presence of a second peak in the mean ionization history of the Universe.

Evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis half a billion years before the Great Oxidation Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Planavsky, Noah J.; Asael, Dan; Hofmann, Axel; Reinhard, Christopher T.; Lalonde, Stefan V.; Knudsen, Andrew; Wang, Xiangli; Ossa Ossa, Frantz; Pecoits, Ernesto; Smith, Albertus J. B.; Beukes, Nicolas J.; Bekker, Andrey; Johnson, Thomas M.; Konhauser, Kurt O.; Lyons, Timothy W.; Rouxel, Olivier J.

2014-04-01

The early Earth was characterized by the absence of oxygen in the ocean-atmosphere system, in contrast to the well-oxygenated conditions that prevail today. Atmospheric concentrations first rose to appreciable levels during the Great Oxidation Event, roughly 2.5-2.3 Gyr ago. The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis is generally accepted to have been the ultimate cause of this rise, but it has proved difficult to constrain the timing of this evolutionary innovation. The oxidation of manganese in the water column requires substantial free oxygen concentrations, and thus any indication that Mn oxides were present in ancient environments would imply that oxygenic photosynthesis was ongoing. Mn oxides are not commonly preserved in ancient rocks, but there is a large fractionation of molybdenum isotopes associated with the sorption of Mo onto the Mn oxides that would be retained. Here we report Mo isotopes from rocks of the Sinqeni Formation, Pongola Supergroup, South Africa. These rocks formed no less than 2.95 Gyr ago in a nearshore setting. The Mo isotopic signature is consistent with interaction with Mn oxides. We therefore infer that oxygen produced through oxygenic photosynthesis began to accumulate in shallow marine settings at least half a billion years before the accumulation of significant levels of atmospheric oxygen.

The updated billion-ton resource assessment

Treesearch

Anthony Turhollow; Robert Perlack; Laurence Eaton; Matthew Langholtz; Craig Brandt; Mark Downing; Lynn Wright; Kenneth Skog; Chad Hellwinckel; Bryce Stokes; Patricia Lebow

2014-01-01

This paper summarizes the results of an update to a resource assessment, published in 2005, commonly referred to as the Billion-Ton Study (BTS). The updated results are consistent with the 2005 BTS in terms of overall magnitude. The 2005 BTS projected between 860 and 1240 Tg of biomass available in the 2050 timeframe, while the Billion-Ton Update (BT2), for a price of...

Billion shot flashlamp for spaceborne lasers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richter, Linda; Schuda, Felix; Degnan, John

1990-01-01

A billion-shot flashlamp developed under a NASA contract for spaceborne laser missions is presented. Lifetime-limiting mechanisms are identified and addressed. Two energy loadings of 15 and 44 Joules were selected for the initial accelerated life testing. A fluorescence-efficiency test station was used for measuring the useful-light output degradation of the lamps. The design characteristics meeting NASA specifications are outlined. Attention is focused on the physical properties of tungsten-matrix cathodes, the chemistry of dispenser cathodes, and anode degradation. It is reported that out of the total 83 lamps tested in the program, 4 lamps reached a billion shots and one lamp is beyond 1.7 billion shots, while at 44 Joules, 4 lamps went beyond 100 million shots and one lamp reached 500 million shots.

Climate and Ocean Circulation During "The Boring Billion" Simulated by CCSM3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, P.; Hu, Y.; Liu, Y.

2017-12-01

The Boring Billion is referred to the era between approximately 1.8 and 0.8 billion years ago. Geological evidence suggests that no dramatic climate changes in the billions of years, at least in terms of permanent glaciation. The atmospheric oxygen maintained at a relatively low level without significant perturbations. Life had a certain degree of evolution with a quite gentle pace. Relative to the Great Oxidation Event occurred previously, and the Snowball Earth Event and Cambrian Explosion occurred afterwards, this billion years was calm in all aspects so it's often referred to as "the Boring Billion". Why were both the climate and oxygen concentration so stable, and how the anoxic condition in the deep ocean maintained are the questions that motivated our research. We use the Atmosphere Ocean General Circulation Model CCSM3 in this study. The climate of the Boring Billion is simulated for two distinct continental configurations reconstructed for 1540 Ma and 1420 Ma, with continental fragments concentrating towards the North Pole and equator, respectively. The solar constant is set to be 10% weaker than that of the present day. The results show that when the concentration of CO2 is 20 times the present atmospheric level (PAL), the global mean surface temperatures are 19 ° C and 20 ° C for the 1540 Ma and 1420 Ma continental configuration, respectively. Large scale permanent glaciers cannot develop in such a warm climate even for the continents at the polar region. The largest mixed-layer depth in the high-latitude ocean is approximately 1200 m and meridional overturning circulation can reach depth of 3000 m with strength of 40 Sv for both continental configuration. This implies that the material and energy exchange between shallow and deep ocean, as well as atmosphere and ocean, is efficient. When CO2 concentration is reduced to 10 PAL, 5 PAL or 2.5 PAL, global average temperature becomes 16 ° C, 13 ° C and 2 ° C respectively, and permanent glaciers start to

[Elastic sliding central medullary nailing with osteogenesis imperfecta. Fourteen cases at eight years follow-up].

PubMed

Boutaud, B; Laville, J-M

2004-06-01

Elastic sliding centromedullary nailing (ESCN) proposed by Métaizeau in 1987 for the prevention and treatment of limb fractures in osteogenesis imperfecta has never been evaluated. A multicentric serie was studied in order to evaluate results of these procedure. Thirty-six ESCN procedures were performed in fourteen patients. Percutaneous pinning was used for the femur and distal tibia and arthrotomy for the distal femur as needed and in all cases for the proximal tibia. The pins were bent in compliance with the principles of the ESCN system. The ends of the pins were bent back to form a U pushed into the epiphysis. Reaxing osteotomies required minimal incisions. Age at the first procedure, the number of procedures and complications, and time between procedures were recorded. Pin overlap and the angle formed were also recorded. Pin gliding was evaluated. Ability to walk with or without assistance was noted. The medullary canal measured 4 to 10 mm. The first procedure was performed at a mean age of four years (range 15 days to 10 years). Follow-up was eight years (range 1-12). There were 2.5 procedures per patient (range 1-5). Pins had to be changed in 75% of the bone segments. Mean time between two procedures was 3.2 years. There were no cases of defective sliding or infection. There were four cases of secondary fracture with a mean 30% pin overlap, two pin migrations, one nonunion, and one shortening. The majority of the complications occurred after the age of five years. At last follow-up, three patients could not walk, four walked with aids, and eight without aids. The advantages of the technique (size of the pins, nailing without reaming, pin sliding in all cases, low cost) must not overshadow the drawbacks (risk of pin deformation and migration, secondary fracture). Secondary fractures might be limited by discrete valgus of the femoral shaft and preventive pin change when the angle formed approaches 30 degrees and when there is only 30% overlap left. Use of

Organic-walled microfossils in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits.

PubMed

Javaux, Emmanuelle J; Marshall, Craig P; Bekker, Andrey

2010-02-18

Although the notion of an early origin and diversification of life on Earth during the Archaean eon has received increasing support in geochemical, sedimentological and palaeontological evidence, ambiguities and controversies persist regarding the biogenicity and syngeneity of the record older than Late Archaean. Non-biological processes are known to produce morphologies similar to some microfossils, and hydrothermal fluids have the potential to produce abiotic organic compounds with depleted carbon isotope values, making it difficult to establish unambiguous traces of life. Here we report the discovery of a population of large (up to about 300 mum in diameter) carbonaceous spheroidal microstructures in Mesoarchaean shales and siltstones of the Moodies Group, South Africa, the Earth's oldest siliciclastic alluvial to tidal-estuarine deposits. These microstructures are interpreted as organic-walled microfossils on the basis of petrographic and geochemical evidence for their endogenicity and syngeneity, their carbonaceous composition, cellular morphology and ultrastructure, occurrence in populations, taphonomic features of soft wall deformation, and the geological context plausible for life, as well as a lack of abiotic explanation falsifying a biological origin. These are the oldest and largest Archaean organic-walled spheroidal microfossils reported so far. Our observations suggest that relatively large microorganisms cohabited with earlier reported benthic microbial mats in the photic zone of marginal marine siliciclastic environments 3.2 billion years ago.

Billions for biodefense: federal agency biodefense funding, FY2009-FY2010.

PubMed

Franco, Crystal

2009-09-01

Since 2001, the United States government has spent substantial resources on preparing the nation against a bioterrorist attack. Earlier articles in this series analyzed civilian biodefense funding by the federal government for fiscal years (FY) 2001 through 2009. This article updates those figures with budgeted amounts for FY2010, specifically analyzing the budgets and allocations for biodefense at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and State; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the National Science Foundation. This year's article also provides an assessment of the proportion of the biodefense budget that serves multiple programmatic goals and benefits, including research into infectious disease pathogenesis and immunology, public health planning and preparedness, and disaster response efforts. The FY2010 federal budget for civilian biodefense totals $6.05 billion. Of that total, $4.96 billion is budgeted for programs that serve multiple goals and provide manifold benefits.

Multi-Billion Shot, High-Fluence Exposure of Cr(4+): YAG Passive Q-Switch

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephen, Mark A.; Dallas, Joseph L.; Afzal, Robert S.

1997-01-01

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is developing the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) employing a diode pumped, Q-Switched, ND:YAG laser operating at 40 Hz repetition rate. To meet the five-year mission lifetime goal, a single transmitter would accumulate over 6.3 billion shots. Cr(4+):YAG is a promising candidate material for passively Q-switching the laser. Historically, the performance of saturable absorbers has degraded over long-duration usage. To measure the multi-billion shot performance of Cr(4+):YAG, a passively Q-switched GLAS-like oscillator was tested at an accelerated repetition rate of 500 Hz. The intracavity fluence was calculated to be approximately 2.5 J/cm(exp 2). The laser was monitored autonomously for 165 days. There was no evidence of change in the material optical properties during the 7.2 billion shot test.. All observed changes in laser operation could be attributed to pump laser diode aging. This is the first demonstration of multi-billion shot exposure testing of Cr(4+):YAG in this pulse energy regime

The formation of submillimetre-bright galaxies from gas infall over a billion years.

PubMed

Narayanan, Desika; Turk, Matthew; Feldmann, Robert; Robitaille, Thomas; Hopkins, Philip; Thompson, Robert; Hayward, Christopher; Ball, David; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan

2015-09-24

Submillimetre-bright galaxies at high redshift are the most luminous, heavily star-forming galaxies in the Universe and are characterized by prodigious emission in the far-infrared, with a flux of at least five millijanskys at a wavelength of 850 micrometres. They reside in haloes with masses about 10(13) times that of the Sun, have low gas fractions compared to main-sequence disks at a comparable redshift, trace complex environments and are not easily observable at optical wavelengths. Their physical origin remains unclear. Simulations have been able to form galaxies with the requisite luminosities, but have otherwise been unable to simultaneously match the stellar masses, star formation rates, gas fractions and environments. Here we report a cosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulation that is able to form a submillimetre galaxy that simultaneously satisfies the broad range of observed physical constraints. We find that groups of galaxies residing in massive dark matter haloes have increasing rates of star formation that peak at collective rates of about 500-1,000 solar masses per year at redshifts of two to three, by which time the interstellar medium is sufficiently enriched with metals that the region may be observed as a submillimetre-selected system. The intense star formation rates are fuelled in part by the infall of a reservoir gas supply enabled by stellar feedback at earlier times, not through major mergers. With a lifetime of nearly a billion years, our simulations show that the submillimetre-bright phase of high-redshift galaxies is prolonged and associated with significant mass buildup in early-Universe proto-clusters, and that many submillimetre-bright galaxies are composed of numerous unresolved components (for which there is some observational evidence).

Oncology pharma costs to exceed $150 billion by 2020.

PubMed

2016-10-01

Worldwide costs of oncology drugs will rise above $150 billion by 2020, according to a report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. Many factors are in play, according to IMS, including the new wave of expensive immunotherapies. Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), priced at $150,000 per year per patient, and nivolumab (Opdivo), priced at $165,000, may be harbingers of the market for cancer immunotherapies.

29 CFR 570.119 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... orders lowering the age minimum to 14 years where he or she finds that such employment is confined to... their health and well-being. Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary has detailed in § 570.34 all... school hours and is confined to other specified limits. The Secretary, in order to provide clarity and...

29 CFR 779.507 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the age minimum to 14 years where he finds that such employment is confined to periods which will not... in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined... through 570.38 of this chapter), employment of minors in this age group is not permitted in the following...

29 CFR 779.507 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the age minimum to 14 years where he finds that such employment is confined to periods which will not... in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined... through 570.38 of this chapter), employment of minors in this age group is not permitted in the following...

29 CFR 779.507 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the age minimum to 14 years where he finds that such employment is confined to periods which will not... in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined... through 570.38 of this chapter), employment of minors in this age group is not permitted in the following...

29 CFR 570.119 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... orders lowering the age minimum to 14 years where he or she finds that such employment is confined to... their health and well-being. Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary has detailed in § 570.34 all... school hours and is confined to other specified limits. The Secretary, in order to provide clarity and...

29 CFR 570.119 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... orders lowering the age minimum to 14 years where he or she finds that such employment is confined to... their health and well-being. Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary has detailed in § 570.34 all... school hours and is confined to other specified limits. The Secretary, in order to provide clarity and...

29 CFR 779.507 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the age minimum to 14 years where he finds that such employment is confined to periods which will not... in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined... through 570.38 of this chapter), employment of minors in this age group is not permitted in the following...

29 CFR 570.119 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... orders lowering the age minimum to 14 years where he or she finds that such employment is confined to... their health and well-being. Pursuant to this authority, the Secretary has detailed in § 570.34 all... school hours and is confined to other specified limits. The Secretary, in order to provide clarity and...

A SWIRE Picture is Worth Billions of Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Figure 1: SWIRE View of Distant Galaxies [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Figure 2Figure 3 Figure 4

These spectacular images, taken by the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic (SWIRE) Legacy project, encapsulate one of the primary objectives of the Spitzer mission: to connect the evolution of galaxies from the distant, or early, universe to the nearby, or present day, universe.

The Tadpole galaxy (main image) is the result of a recent galactic interaction in the local universe. Although these galactic mergers are rare in the universe's recent history, astronomers believe that they were much more common in the early universe. Thus, SWIRE team members will use this detailed image of the Tadpole galaxy to help understand the nature of the 'faint red-orange specks' of the early universe.

The larger picture (figure 2) depicts one-sixteenth of the SWIRE survey field called ELAIS-N1. In this image, the bright blue sources are hot stars in our own Milky Way, which range anywhere from 3 to 60 times the mass of our Sun. The fainter green spots are cooler stars and galaxies beyond the Milky Way whose light is dominated by older stellar populations. The red dots are dusty galaxies that are undergoing intense star formation. The faintest specks of red-orange are galaxies billions of light-years away in the distant universe.

Figure 3 features an unusual ring-like galaxy called CGCG 275-022. The red spiral arms indicate that this galaxy is very dusty and perhaps undergoing intense star formation. The star-forming activity could have been initiated by a near head-on collision with another galaxy.

The most distant galaxies that SWIRE is able to detect are revealed in a zoom of deep space (figure 4). The colors in this feature represent the same objects as those in the larger field image of ELAIS

Transportation Enhancements: Status of the $2.4 Billion Authorized for Nonmotorized Transportation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-07-01

At least 10% of the $24 billion, 6-year authorization in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) that created the surface transportation program was required to be set aside exclusively for 10 categories of "transportatio...

Ubiquitous Supercritical Wing Design Cuts Billions in Fuel Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2015-01-01

A Langley Research Center engineer’s work in the 1960s and ’70s to develop a wing with better performance near the speed of sound resulted in a significant increase in subsonic efficiency. The design was shared with industry. Today, Renton, Washington-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, as well as most other plane manufacturers, apply it to all their aircraft, saving the airline industry billions of dollars in fuel every year.

Universities Report $1.8-Billion in Earnings on Inventions in 2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blumenstyk, Goldie

2012-01-01

Universities and their inventors earned more than $1.8-billion from commercializing their academic research in the 2011 fiscal year, collecting royalties from new breeds of wheat, from a new drug for the treatment of HIV, and from longstanding arrangements over enduring products like Gatorade. Northwestern University earned the most of any…

The controversial "Cambrian" fossils of the Vindhyan are real but more than a billion years older.

PubMed

Bengtson, Stefan; Belivanova, Veneta; Rasmussen, Birger; Whitehouse, Martin

2009-05-12

The age of the Vindhyan sedimentary basin in central India is controversial, because geochronology indicating early Proterozoic ages clashes with reports of Cambrian fossils. We present here an integrated paleontologic-geochronologic investigation to resolve this conundrum. New sampling of Lower Vindhyan phosphoritic stromatolitic dolomites from the northern flank of the Vindhyans confirms the presence of fossils most closely resembling those found elsewhere in Cambrian deposits: annulated tubes, embryo-like globules with polygonal surface pattern, and filamentous and coccoidal microbial fabrics similar to Girvanella and Renalcis. None of the fossils, however, can be ascribed to uniquely Cambrian or Ediacaran taxa. Indeed, the embryo-like globules are not interpreted as fossils at all but as former gas bubbles trapped in mucus-rich cyanobacterial mats. Direct dating of the same fossiliferous phosphorite yielded a Pb-Pb isochron of 1,650 +/- 89 (2sigma) million years ago, confirming the Paleoproterozoic age of the fossils. New U-Pb geochronology of zircons from tuffaceous mudrocks in the Lower Vindhyan Porcellanite Formation on the southern flank of the Vindhyans give comparable ages. The Vindhyan phosphorites provide a window of 3-dimensionally preserved Paleoproterozoic fossils resembling filamentous and coccoidal cyanobacteria and filamentous eukaryotic algae, as well as problematic forms. Like Neoproterozoic phosphorites a billion years later, the Vindhyan deposits offer important new insights into the nature and diversity of life, and in particular, the early evolution of multicellular eukaryotes.

Winglets Save Billions of Dollars in Fuel Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2010-01-01

The upturned ends now featured on many airplane wings are saving airlines billions of dollars in fuel costs. Called winglets, the drag-reducing technology was advanced through the research of Langley Research Center engineer Richard Whitcomb and through flight tests conducted at Dryden Flight Research Center. Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing -- a partnership between Aviation Partners Inc., of Seattle, and The Boeing Company, of Chicago -- manufactures Blended Winglets, a unique design featured on Boeing aircraft around the world. These winglets have saved more than 2 billion gallons of jet fuel to date, representing a cost savings of more than $4 billion and a reduction of almost 21.5 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions.

Fourteen years of resonance of Vanguard orbits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, C. A.

1975-01-01

Tracking of Vanguard 3 and the Vanguard 2 rocket with Baker-Nunn cameras and the U.S. Navy's Space Surveillance (radio interferometer) system over a 14 year period revealed resonant fluctuations of up to 0.035 deg in inclination (peak to peak). Six geopotential terms (lumped coefficients) of 11th order and three of 22nd order were measured using orbit inclinations derived from this tracking record. The terms of 11th order are significantly smaller than Kaula's rule. (The lumped coefficients are sensitive to geopotential effects as high as 37th degree.) These observed terms are compatible with a recent 27-satellite geopotential solution whose formal coefficient errors are increased by a factor of 3.3.

A Massive Galaxy in Its Core Formation Phase Three Billion Years After the Big Bang

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, Erica; van Dokkum, Pieter; Franx, Marijn; Brammer, Gabriel; Momcheva, Ivelina; Schreiber, Natascha M. Forster; da Cunha, Elisabete; Tacconi, Linda; Bezanson, Rachel; Kirkpatrick, Allison;

Searching for the birthplaces of open clusters with ages of several billion years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acharova, I. A.; Shevtsova, E. S.

2016-01-01

We discuss the possibility of finding the birthplaces of open clusters (OC) with ages of several billion years. The proposed method is based on the comparison of the results of the chemical evolution modeling of the Galactic disk with the parameters of the cluster. Five OCs older than 7 Gyr are known: NGC6791, BH176, Collinder 261, Berkeley 17, and Berkeley 39. The oxygen and iron abundances in NGC6791 and the oxygen abundance in BH176 are twice the solar level, the heavy-element abundances in other clusters are close to the corresponding solar values. According to chemical evolution models, at the time of the formation of the objects considered the regions where the oxygen and iron abundances reached the corresponding levels extended out to 5 kpc from the Galactic center.At present time theOCs considered are located several kpc from the Galactic center. Some of these clusters are located extremely high, about 1 kpc above the disk midplane, i.e., they have been subject to some mechanism that has carried them into orbits uncharacteristic of this type of objects. It follows from a comparison with the results of chemical evolution that younger clusters with ages of 4-5 Gyr, e.g., NGC1193,M67, and others, may have formed in a broad range of Galactocentric distances. Their large heights above the disk midplane is sufficient to suggest that these clusters have moved away from their likely birthplaces. Clusters are carried far away from the Galactic disk until the present time: about 40 clusters with ages from 0 to 2 Gyr are observed at heights ranging from 300 to 750 pc.

Sulfur isotopes of organic matter preserved in 3.45-billion-year-old stromatolites reveal microbial metabolism

PubMed Central

Bontognali, Tomaso R. R.; Sessions, Alex L.; Allwood, Abigail C.; Fischer, Woodward W.; Grotzinger, John P.; Summons, Roger E.; Eiler, John M.

2012-01-01

The 3.45-billion-year-old Strelley Pool Formation of Western Australia preserves stromatolites that are considered among the oldest evidence for life on Earth. In places of exceptional preservation, these stromatolites contain laminae rich in organic carbon, interpreted as the fossil remains of ancient microbial mats. To better understand the biogeochemistry of these rocks, we performed microscale in situ sulfur isotope measurements of the preserved organic sulfur, including both Δ33S and . This approach allows us to tie physiological inference from isotope ratios directly to fossil biomass, providing a means to understand sulfur metabolism that is complimentary to, and independent from, inorganic proxies (e.g., pyrite). Δ33S values of the kerogen reveal mass-anomalous fractionations expected of the Archean sulfur cycle, whereas values show large fractionations at very small spatial scales, including values below -15‰. We interpret these isotopic patterns as recording the process of sulfurization of organic matter by H2S in heterogeneous mat pore-waters influenced by respiratory S metabolism. Positive Δ33S anomalies suggest that disproportionation of elemental sulfur would have been a prominent microbial process in these communities. PMID:22949693

LLNL's Big Science Capabilities Help Spur Over $796 Billion in U.S. Economic Activity Sequencing the Human Genome

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, Jeffrey S.

LLNL’s successful history of taking on big science projects spans beyond national security and has helped create billions of dollars per year in new economic activity. One example is LLNL’s role in helping sequence the human genome. Over $796 billion in new economic activity in over half a dozen fields has been documented since LLNL successfully completed this Grand Challenge.

Colleges Angle for Billions to Build Obama's Broadband Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parry, Marc

2009-01-01

As the federal government prepares to pour billions of stimulus dollars into increased broadband Internet access, colleges are trying to claim much of the money and shape the emerging national networking policy. Their focus is $4.7-billion that will be doled out under a new grant program administered by a small Commerce Department agency called…

$75 Billion in Formula Grants Failed to Drive Reform. Can $5 Billion in Competitive Grants Do the Job? Education Stimulus Watch. Special Report 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smarick, Andy

2009-01-01

In early 2009, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federal government's nearly $800 billion stimulus legislation. According to key members of Congress and the Obama administration, the education portions of the law, totaling about $100 billion, were designed both to…

The controversial “Cambrian” fossils of the Vindhyan are real but more than a billion years older

PubMed Central

Bengtson, Stefan; Belivanova, Veneta; Rasmussen, Birger; Whitehouse, Martin

2009-01-01

The age of the Vindhyan sedimentary basin in central India is controversial, because geochronology indicating early Proterozoic ages clashes with reports of Cambrian fossils. We present here an integrated paleontologic–geochronologic investigation to resolve this conundrum. New sampling of Lower Vindhyan phosphoritic stromatolitic dolomites from the northern flank of the Vindhyans confirms the presence of fossils most closely resembling those found elsewhere in Cambrian deposits: annulated tubes, embryo-like globules with polygonal surface pattern, and filamentous and coccoidal microbial fabrics similar to Girvanella and Renalcis. None of the fossils, however, can be ascribed to uniquely Cambrian or Ediacaran taxa. Indeed, the embryo-like globules are not interpreted as fossils at all but as former gas bubbles trapped in mucus-rich cyanobacterial mats. Direct dating of the same fossiliferous phosphorite yielded a Pb–Pb isochron of 1,650 ± 89 (2σ) million years ago, confirming the Paleoproterozoic age of the fossils. New U–Pb geochronology of zircons from tuffaceous mudrocks in the Lower Vindhyan Porcellanite Formation on the southern flank of the Vindhyans give comparable ages. The Vindhyan phosphorites provide a window of 3-dimensionally preserved Paleoproterozoic fossils resembling filamentous and coccoidal cyanobacteria and filamentous eukaryotic algae, as well as problematic forms. Like Neoproterozoic phosphorites a billion years later, the Vindhyan deposits offer important new insights into the nature and diversity of life, and in particular, the early evolution of multicellular eukaryotes. PMID:19416859

President Carter signs $227 billion excise tax measure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, C.J.; McAfee, J.; Dibona, C.J.

1980-04-07

According to President J. Carter, who signed into law a $227 billion excise tax (windfall profits tax) on revenue from decontrolled U.S. crude oil production, the new tax program will provide the U.S. with the incentive and the means to produce and conserve domestic oil and replace more oil with alternative sources of energy. According to C. DiBona (API), the new tax will discourage the increased amount of domestic production required to compensate, by the mid-to-late 1980's, for a 1.7 million bbl/day shortfall, which will have to be made up with imports from foreign producers. According to J. McAfee ofmore » Gulf Oil Corp., only a token amount, about $34 billion of the $227 billion which will be raised by the new tax over the next decade, will be devoted to energy development and mass transit. According to C. J. Miller of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the tax's complex and sometimes conflicting regulations will pose harsh problems for smaller producers.« less

Potential effects of the next 100 billion hamburgers sold by McDonald's.

PubMed

Spencer, Elsa H; Frank, Erica; McIntosh, Nichole F

2005-05-01

McDonald's has sold >100 billion beef-based hamburgers worldwide with a potentially considerable health impact. This paper explores whether there would be any advantages if the next 100 billion burgers were instead plant-based burgers. Nutrient composition of the beef hamburger patty and the McVeggie burger patty were obtained from the McDonald's website; sales data were obtained from the McDonald's customer service. Consuming 100 billion McDonald's beef burgers versus the same company's McVeggie burgers would provide, approximately, on average, an additional 550 million pounds of saturated fat and 1.2 billion total pounds of fat, as well as 1 billion fewer pounds of fiber, 660 million fewer pounds of protein, and no difference in calories. These data suggest that the McDonald's new McVeggie burger represents a less harmful fast-food choice than the beef burger.

Medicare, Medicaid fraud a billion-dollar art form in the US

PubMed Central

Korcok, M

1997-01-01

Medicare and Medicaid fraud costs billions of dollars each year in the US. Investigators have shown that fraud is found in all segments of the health care system. Even though the Canadian system has stricter regulations and tighter controls, can regulators here afford to be complacent about believing that such abuse would not happen here? One province has established an antifraud unit to monitor its health insurance scheme; it already has 1 prosecution under its belt. PMID:9141996

Seven Billion People: Fostering Productive Struggle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murawska, Jaclyn M.

2018-01-01

How can a cognitively demanding real-world task such as the Seven Billion People problem promote productive struggle "and" help shape students' mathematical dispositions? Driving home from school one evening, Jaclyn Murawska heard a commentator on the radio announce three statements: (1) experts had determined that the world population…

ACOSS Fourteen (Active Control of Space Structures)

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-03-01

M ^^^——^^^^ ACOSS FOURTEEN (ACTIVE CONTROL OF SPACE STRUCTURES) Robert J . Benhabib Henry K. Flashner Frank C. Tung Contractor: TRW...PMJILUIJIJ.IIJIIIJI’I.I J I ! ’i-’-ummwmwMu», "»,-’■ m «mpiiw WJPWI» on UJ <_) O cc Q- (_1 a o a. oo I 5 < 3 in ai c 0 in LU c...1 S- s_ a: 1^3 >+- 𔃺 c ■ ^—v O) 0) OJ >—< ( J M - C r? s- s- T3 OO 0 E ■f— a. O S- +.) i i. 0) 0 OJ 03 c _a OJ cn =3 O e 3 01

ALMA Shows that Gas Reservoirs of Star-forming Disks over the Past 3 Billion Years Are Not Predominantly Molecular

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cortese, Luca; Catinella, Barbara; Janowiecki, Steven, E-mail: luca.cortese@uwa.edu.au

Cold hydrogen gas is the raw fuel for star formation in galaxies, and its partition into atomic and molecular phases is a key quantity for galaxy evolution. In this Letter, we combine Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and Arecibo single-dish observations to estimate the molecular-to-atomic hydrogen mass ratio for massive star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 0.2 extracted from the HIGHz survey, i.e., some of the most massive gas-rich systems currently known. We show that the balance between atomic and molecular hydrogen in these galaxies is similar to that of local main-sequence disks, implying that atomic hydrogen has been dominating the coldmore » gas mass budget of star-forming galaxies for at least the past three billion years. In addition, despite harboring gas reservoirs that are more typical of objects at the cosmic noon, HIGHz galaxies host regular rotating disks with low gas velocity dispersions suggesting that high total gas fractions do not necessarily drive high turbulence in the interstellar medium.« less

The earth: can it support 5.2 billion people?

PubMed

Sadik, N

1989-12-01

In the last 20 years the world's population has grown by 1.6 billion and has reached 5.2 billion. The gap in population growth between developing and developed areas will increase in the next decade: at present 77% of the earth's population lives in developing countries. A major demographic factor is the future of urban growth where the number of cities over 5 million will increase to 45 by the end of the century. The aging of the population is another demographic factor found worldwide. By the year 2000, 13% of the population will be over 60: 70% of those will be in developed areas. Most developing countries now have a population policy. The total fertility rate has dropped more than 20% in developing countries since 1970. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has devoted a recent report to the purpose of investing in women. The key to the future of mankind is related directly to the extent that women can make decisions affecting their lives. It is apparent that the effects of resource misuse, environmental damage, and population growth crosses national borders indiscriminately. The key elements to a new approach of development are population, environment, and the role and status of women. In the development of national conservation policies and in the implementing a world strategy, the population environmental relationship will need to be addressed. Since women are directly and indirectly related to the environment by the tasks they perform they are also the most directly effected by environmental degradation. A new approach is needed for balanced development that recognized social, economic, population and environmental relationships. A realistic set of goals for population policy would be to slow the rapid population growth, decrease infant, child and maternal mortality, raise the status of women, and regulate the migration and distribution of population.

Effective interventions for unintentional injuries: a systematic review and mortality impact assessment among the poorest billion.

PubMed

Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I; Jafri, Aisha; Hyder, Adnan A

2018-05-01

Between 1990 and 2015, the global injury mortality declined, but in countries where the poorest billion live, injuries are becoming an increasingly prevalent cause of death. The vulnerability of this population requires immediate attention from policy makers to implement effective interventions that lessen the burden of injuries in these countries. Our aim was two-fold; first, to review all the evidence on effective interventions for the five main types of unintentional injury; and second, to estimate the potential number of lives saved by effective injury interventions among the poorest billion. For our systematic review we used references in the Disability Control Priorities third edition, and searched PubMed and the Cochrane database for papers published until Sept 10, 2016, using a comprehensive search strategy to find interventions for the five major causes of unintentional injuries: road traffic crashes, falls, drowning, burns, and poisoning. Studies were included if they presented evidence with significant effects sizes for any outcome; no inclusions or exclusions made on the basis of where the study was carried out (ie, low-income, middle-income, or high-income country). Then we used data from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study and a Monte Carlo simulation technique to estimate the potential annual attributable number of lives saved among the poorest billion by these evidence-based injury interventions. We estimated results for 84 countries where the poorest billion live. From the 513 papers identified, 47 were eligible for inclusion. We identified 11 interventions that had an effect on injury mortality. For road traffic deaths, the most successful interventions in preventing deaths are speed enforcement (>80 000 lives saved per year) and drink-driving enforcement (>60 000 lives saved per year). Interventions potentially most effective in preventing deaths from drowning are formal swimming lessons for children younger than 14 years (>25 000 lives

Human fatalities from wild elephant attacks--a study of fourteen cases.

PubMed

Das, Sobhan Kr; Chattopadhyay, Saurabh

2011-05-01

Human-wild elephant conflicts are frequently reported from various parts of the country. Encroaching of animal habitat by human civilization is a primary reason for this. The present study comprises of fourteen autopsy cases conducted at the department of Forensic Medicine, B.S Medical College, Bankura, West Bengal, India over a period of three years. The study attempts to find out the nature of injuries caused by wild elephant attack and the common factors contributing to human-wild elephant conflict so that vulnerable population can be cautioned to avoid conflicts. A distinct seasonal as well as diurnal variation of attack incidences was noted. Attacks were sudden and unprovoked. Killer elephants were wild tuskers in all the cases. Victims were from the low socioeconomic group and the cause of death was due to trampling on the vital organs like chest and head. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

White Nail Radio Transmitter: Billion Dollar Savings through Energy Efficiency

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-10

increase efficiency and reduce overall energy consumption ashore by 50 percent CNO, Navy Energy Vision, P 10 White Nail Vision Your Cell Phone Cell...Estimated Total Number of transmitters 3,000,000 Estimated total power saved Watt 1,250,000,000 Cell Phone Transmitter Efficiency 1.25 Gigawatts saved...Greenhouse Gas Power 4 1 Energy Navy Use 7.3 Billion kWh White Nail Cell Phone Savings 11 Billion kWh One and a half times!!! Saves the output of four of

Initial Costs vs. Operational Costs. A Study of Building Improvement Projects in Fourteen Schools in the School District of Greenville County, South Carolina.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Tak Cheung

To determine whether initial facility improvement costs were paid back by the reduced operational costs resulting from the improvement projects, this study examined the relationship between initial costs and operational costs of fourteen school buildings improved during the 1978-79 school year in Greenville County, South Carolina. With energy…

2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Langholtz, M. H.; Stokes, B. J.; Eaton, L. M.

This product builds on previous efforts, namely the 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update (BT2).With each report, greater perspective is gained on the potential of biomass resources to contribute to a national energy strategy. Similarly, each successive report introduces new questions regarding commercialization challenges. BTS quantified the broad biophysical potential of biomass nationally, and BT2 elucidated the potential economic availability of these resources. These reports clearly established the potential availability of up to one billion tons of biomass resources nationally. However, many questions remain, including but not limited to crop yields, climate change impacts, logistical operations,more » and systems integration across production, harvest, and conversion. The present report aims to address many of these questions through empirically modeled energy crop yields, scenario analysis of resources delivered to biorefineries, and the addition of new feedstocks. Volume 2 of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report is expected to be released by the end of 2016. It seeks to evaluate environmental sustainability indicators of select scenarios from volume 1 and potential climate change impacts on future supplies.« less

Corporations Give Record $1.6 Billion to Colleges and Universities in 1984-85; Total Giving Reaches $6.3 Billion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

CFAE Newsletter, 1986

1986-01-01

Findings from the publication, "Voluntary Support of Education 1984-85," are summarized. The survey report includes contributions to 1,114 colleges and universities. Highlights of findings show that: total estimated voluntary support was $6.32 billion in 1984-1985; for the first time, corporations contributed more than any other donor group ($1.57…

Building a Billion Spatio-Temporal Object Search and Visualization Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kakkar, D.; Lewis, B.

2017-10-01

With funding from the Sloan Foundation and Harvard Dataverse, the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) has developed a prototype spatio-temporal visualization platform called the Billion Object Platform or BOP. The goal of the project is to lower barriers for scholars who wish to access large, streaming, spatio-temporal datasets. The BOP is now loaded with the latest billion geo-tweets, and is fed a real-time stream of about 1 million tweets per day. The geo-tweets are enriched with sentiment and census/admin boundary codes when they enter the system. The system is open source and is currently hosted on Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC), an OpenStack environment with all components deployed in Docker orchestrated by Kontena. This paper will provide an overview of the BOP architecture, which is built on an open source stack consisting of Apache Lucene, Solr, Kafka, Zookeeper, Swagger, scikit-learn, OpenLayers, and AngularJS. The paper will further discuss the approach used for harvesting, enriching, streaming, storing, indexing, visualizing and querying a billion streaming geo-tweets.

Data from: An Analysis of Nearly One Billion Dollars of Aquaculture Grants

Science.gov Websites

Us Search  Log inRegister Home Home Datasets Data from: An Analysis of Nearly One Billion Dollars : An Analysis of Nearly One Billion Dollars of Aquaculture Grants made by the United States Federal , or other details for analysis. A limited number of umbrella grants were issued to one institution

Harnessing Energy from the Sun for Six Billion People

ScienceCinema

Nocera, Daniel

2018-05-24

Daniel Nocera, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor whose recent research focuses on solar-powered fuels, presents a Brookhaven Science Associates Distinguished Lecture, titled "Harnessing Energy from the Sun for Six Billion People -- One at a Time."

An ultraluminous quasar with a twelve-billion-solar-mass black hole at redshift 6.30.

PubMed

Wu, Xue-Bing; Wang, Feige; Fan, Xiaohui; Yi, Weimin; Zuo, Wenwen; Bian, Fuyan; Jiang, Linhua; McGreer, Ian D; Wang, Ran; Yang, Jinyi; Yang, Qian; Thompson, David; Beletsky, Yuri

2015-02-26

So far, roughly 40 quasars with redshifts greater than z = 6 have been discovered. Each quasar contains a black hole with a mass of about one billion solar masses (10(9) M Sun symbol). The existence of such black holes when the Universe was less than one billion years old presents substantial challenges to theories of the formation and growth of black holes and the coevolution of black holes and galaxies. Here we report the discovery of an ultraluminous quasar, SDSS J010013.02+280225.8, at redshift z = 6.30. It has an optical and near-infrared luminosity a few times greater than those of previously known z > 6 quasars. On the basis of the deep absorption trough on the blue side of the Lyman-α emission line in the spectrum, we estimate the proper size of the ionized proximity zone associated with the quasar to be about 26 million light years, larger than found with other z > 6.1 quasars with lower luminosities. We estimate (on the basis of a near-infrared spectrum) that the black hole has a mass of ∼1.2 × 10(10) M Sun symbol, which is consistent with the 1.3 × 10(10) M Sun symbol derived by assuming an Eddington-limited accretion rate.

Two Billion Years of Magmatism in One Place on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, G. J.

2017-05-01

Thomas Lapen and Minako Righter (University of Houston), and colleagues at Aarhus University (Denmark), the Universities of Washington (Seattle), Wisconsin (Madison), California (Berkeley), and Arizona (Tucson), and Purdue University (Indiana) show that a geochemically-related group of Martian meteorites formed over a much longer time span than thought previously. So-called depleted shergottites formed during the time interval 325 to 600 million years ago, but now age dating on a recently discovered Martian meteorite, Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635, extends that interval by 1800 million years to 2400 million years. NWA 7635 and almost all other depleted shergottites were ejected from Mars in the same impact event, as defined by their same cosmic-ray exposure age of 1 million years, so all resided in one small area on Mars. This long time span of volcanic activity in the same place on the planet indicates that magma production was continuous, consistent with geophysical calculations of magma generation in plumes of hot mantle rising from the core-mantle boundary deep inside Mars.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Settlement With NYCHA and NYC To Fundamentally Reform NYCHA Through the Appointment Of a Federal Monitor and the Payment By NYC Of $1.2 Billion Of Additional Capital Money Over the Next Five Years

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA News Release: Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Settlement With NYCHA and NYC To Fundamentally Reform NYCHA Through the Appointment Of a Federal Monitor and the Payment By NYC Of $1.2 Billion Of Additional Capital Money Over the Next Five Years

A 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a group galaxy with a diffuse core.

PubMed

Thomas, Jens; Ma, Chung-Pei; McConnell, Nicholas J; Greene, Jenny E; Blakeslee, John P; Janish, Ryan

2016-04-21

Quasars are associated with and powered by the accretion of material onto massive black holes; the detection of highly luminous quasars with redshifts greater than z = 6 suggests that black holes of up to ten billion solar masses already existed 13 billion years ago. Two possible present-day 'dormant' descendants of this population of 'active' black holes have been found in the galaxies NGC 3842 and NGC 4889 at the centres of the Leo and Coma galaxy clusters, which together form the central region of the Great Wall--the largest local structure of galaxies. The most luminous quasars, however, are not confined to such high-density regions of the early Universe; yet dormant black holes of this high mass have not yet been found outside of modern-day rich clusters. Here we report observations of the stellar velocity distribution in the galaxy NGC 1600--a relatively isolated elliptical galaxy near the centre of a galaxy group at a distance of 64 megaparsecs from Earth. We use orbit superposition models to determine that the black hole at the centre of NGC 1600 has a mass of 17 billion solar masses. The spatial distribution of stars near the centre of NGC 1600 is rather diffuse. We find that the region of depleted stellar density in the cores of massive elliptical galaxies extends over the same radius as the gravitational sphere of influence of the central black holes, and interpret this as the dynamical imprint of the black holes.

Strongly baryon-dominated disk galaxies at the peak of galaxy formation ten billion years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genzel, R.; Schreiber, N. M. Förster; Übler, H.; Lang, P.; Naab, T.; Bender, R.; Tacconi, L. J.; Wisnioski, E.; Wuyts, S.; Alexander, T.; Beifiori, A.; Belli, S.; Brammer, G.; Burkert, A.; Carollo, C. M.; Chan, J.; Davies, R.; Fossati, M.; Galametz, A.; Genel, S.; Gerhard, O.; Lutz, D.; Mendel, J. T.; Momcheva, I.; Nelson, E. J.; Renzini, A.; Saglia, R.; Sternberg, A.; Tacchella, S.; Tadaki, K.; Wilman, D.

2017-03-01

In the cold dark matter cosmology, the baryonic components of galaxies—stars and gas—are thought to be mixed with and embedded in non-baryonic and non-relativistic dark matter, which dominates the total mass of the galaxy and its dark-matter halo. In the local (low-redshift) Universe, the mass of dark matter within a galactic disk increases with disk radius, becoming appreciable and then dominant in the outer, baryonic regions of the disks of star-forming galaxies. This results in rotation velocities of the visible matter within the disk that are constant or increasing with disk radius—a hallmark of the dark-matter model. Comparisons between the dynamical mass, inferred from these velocities in rotational equilibrium, and the sum of the stellar and cold-gas mass at the peak epoch of galaxy formation ten billion years ago, inferred from ancillary data, suggest high baryon fractions in the inner, star-forming regions of the disks. Although this implied baryon fraction may be larger than in the local Universe, the systematic uncertainties (owing to the chosen stellar initial-mass function and the calibration of gas masses) render such comparisons inconclusive in terms of the mass of dark matter. Here we report rotation curves (showing rotation velocity as a function of disk radius) for the outer disks of six massive star-forming galaxies, and find that the rotation velocities are not constant, but decrease with radius. We propose that this trend arises because of a combination of two main factors: first, a large fraction of the massive high-redshift galaxy population was strongly baryon-dominated, with dark matter playing a smaller part than in the local Universe; and second, the large velocity dispersion in high-redshift disks introduces a substantial pressure term that leads to a decrease in rotation velocity with increasing radius. The effect of both factors appears to increase with redshift. Qualitatively, the observations suggest that baryons in the early

Strongly baryon-dominated disk galaxies at the peak of galaxy formation ten billion years ago.

PubMed

Genzel, R; Schreiber, N M Förster; Übler, H; Lang, P; Naab, T; Bender, R; Tacconi, L J; Wisnioski, E; Wuyts, S; Alexander, T; Beifiori, A; Belli, S; Brammer, G; Burkert, A; Carollo, C M; Chan, J; Davies, R; Fossati, M; Galametz, A; Genel, S; Gerhard, O; Lutz, D; Mendel, J T; Momcheva, I; Nelson, E J; Renzini, A; Saglia, R; Sternberg, A; Tacchella, S; Tadaki, K; Wilman, D

2017-03-15

In the cold dark matter cosmology, the baryonic components of galaxies-stars and gas-are thought to be mixed with and embedded in non-baryonic and non-relativistic dark matter, which dominates the total mass of the galaxy and its dark-matter halo. In the local (low-redshift) Universe, the mass of dark matter within a galactic disk increases with disk radius, becoming appreciable and then dominant in the outer, baryonic regions of the disks of star-forming galaxies. This results in rotation velocities of the visible matter within the disk that are constant or increasing with disk radius-a hallmark of the dark-matter model. Comparisons between the dynamical mass, inferred from these velocities in rotational equilibrium, and the sum of the stellar and cold-gas mass at the peak epoch of galaxy formation ten billion years ago, inferred from ancillary data, suggest high baryon fractions in the inner, star-forming regions of the disks. Although this implied baryon fraction may be larger than in the local Universe, the systematic uncertainties (owing to the chosen stellar initial-mass function and the calibration of gas masses) render such comparisons inconclusive in terms of the mass of dark matter. Here we report rotation curves (showing rotation velocity as a function of disk radius) for the outer disks of six massive star-forming galaxies, and find that the rotation velocities are not constant, but decrease with radius. We propose that this trend arises because of a combination of two main factors: first, a large fraction of the massive high-redshift galaxy population was strongly baryon-dominated, with dark matter playing a smaller part than in the local Universe; and second, the large velocity dispersion in high-redshift disks introduces a substantial pressure term that leads to a decrease in rotation velocity with increasing radius. The effect of both factors appears to increase with redshift. Qualitatively, the observations suggest that baryons in the early (high

2016 Billion-Ton Report: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from Volume 1 (Volume 2)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Efroymson, R. A.; Langholtz, M. H.; Johnson, K. E.

On behalf of all the authors and contributors, it is a great privilege to present the 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16), volume 2: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from volume 1. This report represents the culmination of several years of collaborative effort among national laboratories, government agencies, academic institutions, and industry. BT16 was developed to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s efforts towards national goals of energy security and associated quality of life.

Deep space communication - A one billion mile noisy channel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, J. G.

1982-01-01

Deep space exploration is concerned with the study of natural phenomena in the solar system with the aid of measurements made at spacecraft on deep space missions. Deep space communication refers to communication between earth and spacecraft in deep space. The Deep Space Network is an earth-based facility employed for deep space communication. It includes a network of large tracking antennas located at various positions around the earth. The goals and achievements of deep space exploration over the past 20 years are discussed along with the broad functional requirements of deep space missions. Attention is given to the differences in space loss between communication satellites and deep space vehicles, effects of the long round-trip light time on spacecraft autonomy, requirements for the use of massive nuclear power plants on spacecraft at large distances from the sun, and the kinds of scientific return provided by a deep space mission. Problems concerning a deep space link of one billion miles are also explored.

Photometric Study of Fourteen Low-mass Binaries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Korda, D.; Zasche, P.; Wolf, M.

2017-07-01

New CCD photometric observations of fourteen short-period low-mass eclipsing binaries (LMBs) in the photometric filters I, R, and V were used for a light curve analysis. A discrepancy remains between observed radii and those derived from the theoretical modeling for LMBs, in general. Mass calibration of all observed LMBs was performed using only the photometric indices. The light curve modeling of these selected systems was completed, yielding the new derived masses and radii for both components. We compared these systems with the compilation of other known double-lined LMB systems with uncertainties of masses and radii less then 5%, which includesmore » 66 components of binaries where both spectroscopy and photometry were combined together. All of our systems are circular short-period binaries, and for some of them, the photospheric spots were also used. A purely photometric study of the light curves without spectroscopy seems unable to achieve high enough precision and accuracy in the masses and radii to act as meaningful test of the M–R relation for low-mass stars.« less

Cavernous sinus hemangioma: a fourteen year single institution experience.

PubMed

Bansal, Sumit; Suri, Ashish; Singh, Manmohan; Kale, Shashank Sharad; Agarwal, Deepak; Sharma, Manish Singh; Mahapatra, Ashok Kumar; Sharma, Bhawani Shankar

2014-06-01

Cavernous sinus hemangioma (CSH) is a rare extra-axial vascular neoplasm that accounts for 2% to 3% of all cavernous sinus tumors. Their location, propensity for profuse bleeding during surgery, and relationship to complex neurovascular structures are factors which present difficulty in excising these lesions. The authors describe their experience of 22 patients with CSH over 14 years at a tertiary care center. Patients were managed with microsurgical resection using a purely extradural transcavernous approach (13 patients) and with Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS; Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) (nine patients). Retrospective data analysis found headache and visual impairment were the most common presenting complaints, followed by facial hypesthesia and diplopia. All but one patient had complete tumor excision in the surgical series. Transient ophthalmoparesis (complete resolution in 6-8 weeks) was the most common surgical complication. In the GKRS group, marked tumor shrinkage (>50% tumor volume reduction) was achieved in two patients, slight shrinkage in five and no change in two patients, with symptom improvement in the majority of patients. To our knowledge, we describe one of the largest series of CSH managed at a single center. Although microsurgical resection using an extradural transcavernous approach is considered the treatment of choice in CSH and allows complete excision with minimal mortality and long-term morbidity, GKRS is an additional tool for treating residual symptomatic lesions or in patients with associated comorbidities making surgical resection unsuitable. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Fourteen-year outcomes of abdominal aortic endovascular repair with the Zenith stent graft.

PubMed

Verzini, Fabio; Romano, Lydia; Parlani, Gianbattista; Isernia, Giacomo; Simonte, Gioele; Loschi, Diletta; Lenti, Massimo; Cao, Piergiorgio

2017-02-01

Long-term results of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) endovascular repair are affected by graft design renewals that tend to improve the performance of older generation prostheses but usually reset the follow-up times to zero. The present study investigated the long-term outcomes of endovascular AAA repair (EVAR) using the Zenith graft, still in use without major modification, in a single center experience. Between 2000 and 2011, 610 patients underwent elective EVAR using the Zenith endograft (Cook Inc, Bloomington, Ind) and represent the study group. Primary outcomes were overall survival, freedom from AAA rupture, and freedom from AAA-related death. Secondary outcomes included freedom from late (>30 days) reintervention, freedom from late (>30 days) conversion to open repair, freedom from aneurysm sac enlargement >5.0 mm and freedom from EVAR failure, defined as a composite of AAA-related death, AAA rupture, AAA growth >5 mm, and any reintervention. Mean age was 73.2 years. Mean aneurysm diameter was 55.3 mm. There were five perioperative deaths (0.8%) and three intraoperative conversions. At a mean follow-up of 99.2 (range, 0-175) months, seven AAA ruptures occurred, all fatal except one. Overall survival was 92.8% ± 1.1% at 1 year, 70.1% ± 1.9% at 5 years, 37.8% ± 2.9% at 10 years, and 24 ± 4% at 14 years. Freedom from AAA-rupture was 99.8% ± 0.02 at 1 year (one case), 99.4% ± 0.04 at 5 years (three cases), and 98.1% ± 0.07 at 10 and 14 years. Freedom from late reintervention and conversion was 98% ± 0.6 at 1 year, 87.7% ± 1.5 at 5 years, 75.7% ± 3.2 at 10 years, and 69.9% ± 5.2 at 14 years. Freedom from aneurysm sac growth >5.0 mm was 99.8% at 1 year, 96.6% ± 0.7 at 5 years, 81.0% ± 3.4 at 10 years, and 74.1% ± 5.8% at 14 years. EVAR failure occurred in 132 (21.6%) patients at 14 years. At multivariate analysis, independent predictors of EVAR failure resulted type I and III endoleak (hazard ratio [HR], 6.7; 95

Discovering the Meaning of Unity of Purpose: A Case Study of Fourteen Accelerated Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidson, Betty M.; Dell, Geralyn L.

This paper presents findings of a study that examined how teachers restructuring schools came to understand the meaning of the term "unity of purpose." Fourteen Louisiana schools, comprised primarily of high-risk student populations, implemented the accelerated-schools model of restructuring. The accelerated school model is based on…

Stimulus Plan Aids Education: House Bill Could Provide $100 Billion to K-12 Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Alyson

2009-01-01

Cash-strapped school districts could see an unprecedented $100 billion infusion of federal aid under a massive economic-stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats this week. The overall measure, put forth January 15 by the House Appropriations Committee, is aimed at providing a $825 billion jolt to the stumbling U.S. economy, and to help avert…

Skeptics Say Billions for Education Won't Stimulate Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, Kelly

2009-01-01

Skeptics question whether infusion of billions of dollars for education in the economic-stimulus bill before Congress would actually give a healthy jolt to the economy. The bill would help thousands of students pay for college and could give colleges money to fix crumbling buildings. Some members of Congress are calling for the removal of…

Behavioral outcomes for substance-exposed adopted children: fourteen years postadoption.

PubMed

Crea, Thomas M; Barth, Richard P; Guo, Shenyang; Brooks, Devon

2008-01-01

From a life course perspective, studies of cumulative disadvantage often identify early risk factors as predictors of poor outcomes. This study examined the influence of prenatal substance exposure on children's externalizing behaviors at 14 years postadoption. Using Wave 4 data from the California Long-Range Adoption Study, the authors employed growth curve modeling to examine behavioral trajectories of 275 children as influenced by foster care status, age at adoption, and gender. Outcomes are measured using a shortened Behavioral Problem Index. Prenatal exposure predicted elevated behavior problems that increased normatively compared with nonexposed children, and were not found to trigger the negative behavior sequelae once feared. Foster children tended to fare better over the life course than those adopted through other means, except for children adopted at older ages. Adopted children's problem behaviors may be directly associated with the success of their placements. The authors discuss implications for practice and future research. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved

An assessment of the potential products and economic and environmental impacts resulting from a billion ton bioeconomy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rogers, Jonathan N.; Stokes, Bryce; Dunn, Jennifer

This study is the summation of several analyses to assess the size and benefits of a Billion Ton Bioeconomy, a vision to enable a sustainable market for producing and converting a billion tons of US biomass to bio-based energy, fuels, and products by 2030. Two alternative biomass availability scenarios in 2030, defined as the (i) Business-as-usual (598 million dry tons) and (ii) Billion Ton (1042 million dry tons), establish a range of possible outcomes for the future bioeconomy. The biomass utilized in the current (2014) (365 million dry tons) economy is estimated to displace approximately 2.4% of fossil energy consumptionmore » and avoid 116 million tons of CO 2-equivalent (CO 2e) emissions, whereas the Billion Ton bioeconomy of 2030 could displace 9.5% of fossil energy consumption and avoid as much as 446 million tons of CO 2 equivalent emissions annually. Developing the integrated systems, supply chains, and infrastructure to efficiently grow, harvest, transport, and convert large quantities of biomass in a sustainable way could support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Bio-based activities in the current (2014) economy are estimated to have directly generated more than 48 billion in revenue and 285 000 jobs. Our estimates show that developing biomass resources and addressing current limitations to achieve a Billion Ton bioeconomy could expand direct bioeconomy revenue by a factor of 5 to contribute nearly 259 billion and 1.1 million jobs to the US economy by 2030.« less

An assessment of the potential products and economic and environmental impacts resulting from a billion ton bioeconomy

DOE PAGES

Rogers, Jonathan N.; Stokes, Bryce; Dunn, Jennifer; ...

2016-11-21

This study is the summation of several analyses to assess the size and benefits of a Billion Ton Bioeconomy, a vision to enable a sustainable market for producing and converting a billion tons of US biomass to bio-based energy, fuels, and products by 2030. Two alternative biomass availability scenarios in 2030, defined as the (i) Business-as-usual (598 million dry tons) and (ii) Billion Ton (1042 million dry tons), establish a range of possible outcomes for the future bioeconomy. The biomass utilized in the current (2014) (365 million dry tons) economy is estimated to displace approximately 2.4% of fossil energy consumptionmore » and avoid 116 million tons of CO 2-equivalent (CO 2e) emissions, whereas the Billion Ton bioeconomy of 2030 could displace 9.5% of fossil energy consumption and avoid as much as 446 million tons of CO 2 equivalent emissions annually. Developing the integrated systems, supply chains, and infrastructure to efficiently grow, harvest, transport, and convert large quantities of biomass in a sustainable way could support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Bio-based activities in the current (2014) economy are estimated to have directly generated more than 48 billion in revenue and 285 000 jobs. Our estimates show that developing biomass resources and addressing current limitations to achieve a Billion Ton bioeconomy could expand direct bioeconomy revenue by a factor of 5 to contribute nearly 259 billion and 1.1 million jobs to the US economy by 2030.« less

Rules Set for $4 Billion Race to Top Contest: Final Rules Give States Detailed Map in Quest for $4 Billion in Education Stimulus Aid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeil, Michele

2009-01-01

For a good shot at $4 billion in grants from the federal Race to the Top Fund, states will need to make a persuasive case for their education reform agendas, demonstrate significant buy-in from local school districts, and devise plans to evaluate teachers and principals based on student performance, according to final regulations released last…

Medicare overpayments to private plans, 1985-2012: shifting seniors to private plans has already cost Medicare US$282.6 billion.

PubMed

Hellander, Ida; Himmelstein, David U; Woolhandler, Steffie

2013-01-01

Previous research has documented Medicare overpayments to the private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that compete with traditional fee-for-service Medicare. This research has assessed individual categories of overpayment for, at most, a few years. However, no study has calculated the total overpayments to private plans since the program's inception. Prior to 2004, selective enrollment of healthier seniors was the major source of excess payments. We estimate this has added US$41 billion to Medicare's costs since 1985. Medicare adopted a risk-adjustment scheme in 2004, but this has not curbed private plans' ability to game the payment system. This has added US$122.5 billion to Medicare's costs since 2004. Congress mandated increased payment to private plans in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which was mitigated, to a degree, by the subsequent Affordable Care Act. In total, we find that Medicare has overpaid private insurers by US$282.6 billion since 1985. Risk adjustment does not work in for-profit MA plans, which have a financial incentive, the data, and the ingenuity to game whatever system Medicare devises. It is time to end Medicare's costly experiment with privatization. The U.S. needs to adopt a single-payer national health insurance program with effective methods for controlling costs.

78 FR 19075 - Identification of One Individual, Fourteen Entities, and Eight Vessels Pursuant to the Iranian...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-28

... and fourteen entities identified as the Government of Iran, and eight vessels identified as the property of the Government of Iran under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part... President issued Executive Order 13599, ``Blocking Property of the Government of Iran and Iranian Financial...

29 CFR 779.507 - Fourteen-year minimum.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... RETAILERS OF GOODS OR SERVICES Other Provisions Which May Affect Retail Enterprises Child Labor Provisions... interfere with the minors' schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well... in a limited number of occupations where the work is performed outside school hours and is confined...

Fourteen Years of Assessment: Regents' Testing Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridges, Jean Bolen

In 1972, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia instituted the Regents' Testing Program (RTP) to provide systemwide information on the status of student competence in reading and writing and to provide a uniform means of identifying those students who fail to attain minimum levels of competence in these areas. Since 1972, some…

The thesis of stages fourteen years later

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beeby, C. E.

1980-12-01

The author indicates the changes and additions he would make to his book ` The Quality of Education in Developing Countries' (1966) if he were re-writing it in 1980. He would make clearer that his primary interest is in a continuum of change, the process of growth of a school system, and that the `stages' are only a convenient non-mathematical artifact to make the thesis more useful to administrators and planners. In the light of more recent developments and experiences, he now gives new stress to the pluralism of objectives at the stage of Meaning, and discusses the political, social, cultural and financial reasons why a country may choose not to take the difficult step from stage III to stage IV. Recent forms of alternative education, particularly those embodying plans for lifelong education, offer some hope of bypassing his thesis of stages. More consideration is given to constraints other than that of teacher qualification, though the difficulty of changing the skills, habits, attitudes and purposes in the teaching profession remain the chief obstacle to qualitative growth. Particular attention is paid to `crash' programmes where processes that are, by their very nature, successive are compressed into simultaneous or almost simultaneous ones. Some implications of the thesis of stages for teacher training are briefly dealt with. Regarding the application of the thesis to secondary education, he maintains that a better model of growth would be one based on the capacity of secondary education to respond to the changing economic and social demands of the community. Finally, he suggests three methods of testing his hypotheses and pleads that more consideration be given to building up a body of educational, theory based on the experience of developing countries over the past three decades.

Four laser companies to exceed $1 billion revenue in 2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thoss, Andreas F.

2017-02-01

It seems very likely that for first time four companies will exceed the revenue of 1 billion in 2016. This comes along with substantial changes in the market for lasers and laser systems. The article analyzes some of the changes and looks at the individual success strategies of the major players in these markets.

Two Billion Cars: What it Means for Climate and Energy Policy

ScienceCinema

Daniel Sperling

2017-12-09

April 13, 2009: Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis, presents the next installment of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Divisions Distinguished Lecture series. He discusses Two Billion Cars and What it Means for Climate and Energy Policy.

Two Billion Cars: What it Means for Climate and Energy Policy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Daniel Sperling

2009-04-15

April 13, 2009: Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis, presents the next installment of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Divisions Distinguished Lecture series. He discusses Two Billion Cars and What it Means for Climate and Energy Policy.

Field development will cost $1 billion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rintoul, B.

1980-10-01

The development of the Belridge property 40 miles west of Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley is not only one of the biggest production developments of this decade in California but also is one of the msot challenging. It will call on advanced expertise and, ultimately, on techniques that are still in the research stage. The program calls for drilling at least 3000 wells and reworking another 2200 wells. In excess of $100 million is being committed in 1980 alone. Since acquiring the property, Shell has increased the estimate of proved developed and undeveloped reserves to approximately 598 million bblmore » of hydrocarbon liquids and 364 billion cu ft of natural gas. The higher estimates mirror the company's confidence in its capability to recover a larger amount of the in-place oil and gas than previously expected.« less

The First Billion Years project: constraining the dust attenuation law of star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cullen, F.; McLure, R. J.; Khochfar, S.; Dunlop, J. S.; Dalla Vecchia, C.

2017-09-01

We present the results of a study investigating the dust attenuation law at z ≃ 5, based on synthetic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) calculated for a sample of N = 498 galaxies drawn from the First Billion Years (FiBY) simulation project. The simulated galaxies at z ≃ 5, which have M1500 ≤ -18.0 and 7.5 ≤ log(M/M}_{⊙}) ≤ 10.2, display a mass-dependent α-enhancement, with a median value of [α /{Fe}]_{z=5} ˜eq 4 × [α /{Fe}]_{Z_{⊙}}. The median Fe/H ratio of the simulated galaxies is 0.14 ± 0.05 which produces steep intrinsic ultraviolet (UV) continuum slopes; 〈βI〉 = -2.4 ± 0.05. Using a set of simple dust attenuation models, in which the wavelength-dependent attenuation is assumed to be of the form A(λ) ∝ λn, we explore the parameter values which best reproduce the observed z = 5 luminosity function (LF) and colour-magnitude relation (CMR). We find that a simple model in which the absolute UV attenuation is a linearly increasing function of log stellar mass (A1500 = 0.5 × log(M/M⊙) - 3.3), and the dust attenuation slope (n) is within the range -0.7 ≤ n ≤ -0.3, can successfully reproduce the LF and CMR over a wide range of stellar population synthesis model assumptions, including the effects of massive binaries. This range of attenuation curves is consistent with a power-law fit to the Calzetti attenuation law in the UV (n = -0.55). In contrast, curves as steep as the Small Magellanic Cloud extinction curve (n = -1.24) are formally ruled out. Finally, we show that our models are consistent with recent 1.3 mm Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and predict the form of the z ≃ 5 infrared excess (IRX)-β relation.

Interactive (statistical) visualisation and exploration of a billion objects with vaex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breddels, M. A.

2017-06-01

With new catalogues arriving such as the Gaia DR1, containing more than a billion objects, new methods of handling and visualizing these data volumes are needed. We show that by calculating statistics on a regular (N-dimensional) grid, visualizations of a billion objects can be done within a second on a modern desktop computer. This is achieved using memory mapping of hdf5 files together with a simple binning algorithm, which are part of a Python library called vaex. This enables efficient exploration or large datasets interactively, making science exploration of large catalogues feasible. Vaex is a Python library and an application, which allows for interactive exploration and visualization. The motivation for developing vaex is the catalogue of the Gaia satellite, however, vaex can also be used on SPH or N-body simulations, any other (future) catalogues such as SDSS, Pan-STARRS, LSST, etc. or other tabular data. The homepage for vaex is http://vaex.astro.rug.nl.

The Economic Burden of Vision Loss and Eye Disorders among the United States Population Younger than 40 Years

PubMed Central

Wittenborn, John S.; Zhang, Xinzhi; Feagan, Charles W.; Crouse, Wesley L.; Shrestha, Sundar; Kemper, Alex R.; Hoerger, Thomas J.; Saaddine, Jinan B.

2017-01-01

Objective To estimate the economic burden of vision loss and eye disorders in the United States population younger than 40 years in 2012. Design Econometric and statistical analysis of survey, commercial claims, and census data. Participants The United States population younger than 40 years in 2012. Methods We categorized costs based on consensus guidelines. We estimated medical costs attributable to diagnosed eye-related disorders, undiagnosed vision loss, and medical vision aids using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and MarketScan data. The prevalence of vision impairment and blindness were estimated using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. We estimated costs from lost productivity using Survey of Income and Program Participation. We estimated costs of informal care, low vision aids, special education, school screening, government spending, and transfer payments based on published estimates and federal budgets. We estimated quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) lost based on published utility values. Main Outcome Measures Costs and QALYs lost in 2012. Results The economic burden of vision loss and eye disorders among the United States population younger than 40 years was $27.5 billion in 2012 (95% confidence interval, $21.5–$37.2 billion), including $5.9 billion for children and $21.6 billion for adults 18 to 39 years of age. Direct costs were $14.5 billion, including $7.3 billion in medical costs for diagnosed disorders, $4.9 billion in refraction correction, $0.5 billion in medical costs for undiagnosed vision loss, and $1.8 billion in other direct costs. Indirect costs were $13 billion, primarily because of $12.2 billion in productivity losses. In addition, vision loss cost society 215 000 QALYs. Conclusions We found a substantial burden resulting from vision loss and eye disorders in the United States population younger than 40 years, a population excluded from previous studies. Monetizing quality-of-life losses at $50 000 per QALY would

Conservation in a World of Six Billion: A Grassroots Action Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hren, Benedict J.

This grassroots action guide features a conservation initiative working to bring the impacts of human population growth, economic development, and natural resource consumption into balance with the limits of nature for the benefit of current and future generations. Contents include information sheets entitled "Six Billion People and Growing,""The…

Residence Life Programs and the First-Year Experience. The Freshman Year Experience. Monograph Series No. 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeller, William, Ed.; And Others

This monograph contains papers which suggest means of implementing residential programs, services, and facilities that will help to meet the needs of first-year college students. Fourteen papers are presented and are as follows: "Reflections on the First Year Residential Experience" (John N. Gardner); "The Role of Residential Programs in the…

2016 Billion-ton report: Advancing domestic resources for a thriving bioeconomy, Volume 1: Economic availability of feedstock

Treesearch

M.H. Langholtz; B.J. Stokes; L.M. Eaton

2016-01-01

This product builds on previous efforts, namely the 2005 Billion-Ton Study (BTS) and the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update (BT2).With each report, greater perspective is gained on the potential of biomass resources to contribute to a national energy strategy. Similarly, each successive report introduces new questions regarding commercialization challenges. BTS quantified...

Gaia: Science with 1 billion objects in three dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prusti, Timo

2018-02-01

Gaia is an operational satellite in the ESA science programme. It is gathering data for more than a billion objects. Gaia measures positions and motions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, but captures many asteroids and extragalactic sources as well. The first data release has already been made and exploitation by the world-wide scientific community is underway. Further data releases will be made with further increasing accuracy. Gaia is well underway to provide its promised set of fundamental astronomical data.

Companies' Gifts to Colleges, Other Non-Profit Groups Top $6.45-Billion for 1989, New Estimate Indicates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grassmuck, Karen

1990-01-01

The Council for Aid to Education, citing 1989 data compiled by the Internal Revenue Service, reported that the nation's companies had given $6.16-billion to charitable causes in 1987 of which $2.6-billion went to education. Companies are continuing to direct an increasing share (10.5 percent up from 6 percent in 1987) of money to precollegiate…

High-Stakes Hustle: Public Schools and the New Billion Dollar Accountability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baines, Lawrence A.; Stanley, Gregory Kent

2004-01-01

High-stakes testing costs up to $50 billion per annum, has no impact on student achievement, and has changed the focus of American public schools. This article analyzes the benefits and costs of the accountability movement, as well as discusses its roots in the eugenics movements of the early 20th century.

Maintenance and Operations and the School Business Administrator: A Compilation of Articles from "School Business Affairs." The Professional Development Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of School Business Officials International, Reston, VA.

Fourteen million students attend schools needing extensive repair or remodeling. It is estimated that U.S. schools will require as much as $112 billion to bring them up to a good overall condition and an additional $12 billion to comply with federal mandates. This book compiles what is considered the best maintenance and operations articles that…

National mandatory motorcycle helmet laws may save $2.2 billion annually: An inpatient and value of statistical life analysis.

PubMed

Dua, Anahita; Wei, Shuyan; Safarik, Justin; Furlough, Courtney; Desai, Sapan S

2015-06-01

While statistics exist regarding the overall rate of fatalities in motorcyclists with and without helmets, a combined inpatient and value of statistical life (VSL) analysis has not previously been reported. Statistical data of motorcycle collisions were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control, National Highway Transportation Safety Board, and Governors Highway Safety Association. The VSL estimate was obtained from the 2002 Department of Transportation calculation. Statistics on helmeted versus nonhelmeted motorcyclists, death at the scene, and inpatient death were obtained using the 2010 National Trauma Data Bank. Inpatient costs were obtained from the 2010 National Inpatient Sample. Population estimates were generated using weighted samples, and all costs are reported using 2010 US dollars using the Consumer Price Index. A total of 3,951 fatal motorcycle collisions were reported in 2010, of which 77% of patients died at the scene, 10% in the emergency department, and 13% as inpatients. Thirty-seven percent of all riders did not wear a helmet but accounted for 69% of all deaths. Of those motorcyclists who survived to the hospital, the odds ratio of surviving with a helmet was 1.51 compared with those without a helmet (p < 0.001). Total costs for nonhelmeted motorcyclists were 66% greater at $5.5 billion, compared with $3.3 billion for helmeted motorcyclists (p < 0.001). Direct inpatient costs were 16% greater for helmeted riders ($203,248 vs. $175,006) but led to more than 50% greater VSL generated (absolute benefit, $602,519 per helmeted survivor). A cost analysis of inpatient care and indirect costs of motorcycle riders who do not wear helmets leads to nearly $2.2 billion in losses per year, with almost 1.9 times as many deaths compared with helmeted motorcyclists. The per capita cost per fatality is more than $800,000. Institution of a mandatory helmet law could lead to an annual cost savings of almost $2.2 billion. Economic analysis, level III.

Fourteen years of progress testing in radiology residency training: experiences from The Netherlands.

PubMed

Rutgers, D R; van Raamt, F; van Lankeren, W; Ravesloot, C J; van der Gijp, A; Ten Cate, Th J; van Schaik, J P J

2018-05-01

To describe the development of the Dutch Radiology Progress Test (DRPT) for knowledge testing in radiology residency training in The Netherlands from its start in 2003 up to 2016. We reviewed all DRPTs conducted since 2003. We assessed key changes and events in the test throughout the years, as well as resident participation and dispensation for the DRPT, test reliability and discriminative power of test items. The DRPT has been conducted semi-annually since 2003, except for 2015 when one digital DRPT failed. Key changes in these years were improvements in test analysis and feedback, test digitalization (2013) and inclusion of test items on nuclear medicine (2016). From 2003 to 2016, resident dispensation rates increased (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.74, P-value <0.01) to maximally 16 %. Cronbach´s alpha for test reliability varied between 0.83 and 0.93. The percentage of DRPT test items with negative item-rest-correlations, indicating relatively poor discriminative power, varied between 4 % and 11 %. Progress testing has proven feasible and sustainable in Dutch radiology residency training, keeping up with innovations in the radiological profession. Test reliability and discriminative power of test items have remained fair over the years, while resident dispensation rates have increased. • Progress testing allows for monitoring knowledge development from novice to senior trainee. • In postgraduate medical training, progress testing is used infrequently. • Progress testing is feasible and sustainable in radiology residency training.

Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite markers for the threatened Arnica montana (Asteraceae)1

PubMed Central

Duwe, Virginia K.; Ismail, Sascha A.; Buser, Andres; Sossai, Esther; Borsch, Thomas; Muller, Ludo A. H.

2015-01-01

• Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed to investigate population genetic structure in the threatened species Arnica montana. • Methods and Results: Fourteen microsatellite markers with di-, tetra-, and hexanucleotide repeat motifs were developed for A. montana using 454 pyrosequencing without and with library-enrichment methods, resulting in 56,545 sequence reads and 14,467 sequence reads, respectively. All loci showed a high level of polymorphism, with allele numbers ranging from four to 11 in five individuals from five populations (25 samples) and an expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.192 to 0.648 across the loci. • Conclusions: This set of microsatellite markers is the first one described for A. montana and will facilitate conservation genetic applications as well as the understanding of phylogeographic patterns in this species. PMID:25606354

The Boring Billion, a slingshot for Complex Life on Earth.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Indrani; Large, Ross R; Corkrey, Ross; Danyushevsky, Leonid V

2018-03-13

The period 1800 to 800 Ma ("Boring Billion") is believed to mark a delay in the evolution of complex life, primarily due to low levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. Earlier studies highlight the remarkably flat C, Cr isotopes and low trace element trends during the so-called stasis, caused by prolonged nutrient, climatic, atmospheric and tectonic stability. In contrast, we suggest a first-order variability of bio-essential trace element availability in the oceans by combining systematic sampling of the Proterozoic rock record with sensitive geochemical analyses of marine pyrite by LA-ICP-MS technique. We also recall that several critical biological evolutionary events, such as the appearance of eukaryotes, origin of multicellularity & sexual reproduction, and the first major diversification of eukaryotes (crown group) occurred during this period. Therefore, it appears possible that the period of low nutrient trace elements (1800-1400 Ma) caused evolutionary pressures which became an essential trigger for promoting biological innovations in the eukaryotic domain. Later periods of stress-free conditions, with relatively high nutrient trace element concentration, facilitated diversification. We propose that the "Boring Billion" was a period of sequential stepwise evolution and diversification of complex eukaryotes, triggering evolutionary pathways that made possible the later rise of micro-metazoans and their macroscopic counterparts.

Airsacculitis in fourteen juvenile southern Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii).

PubMed

Lawson, Becki; Garriga, Rosa; Galdikas, Biruté M F

2006-06-01

Airsacculitis is a clinical condition which has been reported in a range of primates species, including orangutans. This report describes the occurence and management of airsacculitis in fourteen juvenile Southern Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) that presented beween January 1st 1999 and January 31st 2001 at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCC&Q), Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia (S 2 degrees 43' 49.2"; E 111 degrees 38' 54.2"). Details of the signalment, clinical history, presenting clinical signs, clinicopathological findings and bacterial isolates in each case were reviewed. Cough, halitosis and nasal discharge were the most frequently observed clinical signs. A range of Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from infected air sacs, including Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacter sp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae. A simple drainage and lavage technique was used in cases where surgical intervention was indicated, in combination with local and systemic antibiotic therapy. The importance of early diagnosis, prompt management and antibiotic selection, based on bacterial culture and sensitivity profiles, is outlined.

Dipolar geomagnetic field and low orbital obliquity during the last two billion years: Evidence from paleomagnetism of evaporite basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, D. A.

2006-05-01

Paleomagnetism of climatically sensitive sedimentary rock types, such as glacial deposits and evaporites, can test the uniformitarianism of ancient geomagnetic fields and paleoclimatic zones. Precambrian glacial deposits laid down in near-equatorial paleomagnetic latitudes indicate a paleoclimatic paradox that can be explained either by Snowball Earth episodes, or high orbital obliquity, or dramatically non-uniformitarian geomagnetic fields. Here I present the first global paleomagnetic compilation of the Earth's entire basin-scale evaporite record. Evaporation exceeds precipitation in today's subtropical desert belts, generally within a zone of 15-35° from the equator. Assuming a geocentric axial dipole (GAD) magnetic field for Cenozoic- Mesozoic time, evaporite basins of the past 250 Myr have a volume-weighted mean paleolatitude of 23±4°, also squarely within the subtropics. Carboniferous-Permian evaporites have an indistinguishable weighted-mean paleolatitude of 22±4°, which does not change significantly when recently hypothesized octupolar field components are included in the calculations. Early Paleozoic (including late Ediacaran) evaporites are lower-latitude (weighted mean 10±5°), but detailed analyses of individual examples show this cannot be attributed solely to nondipolar field components or sedimentary inclination biases; the cause may be due to particular paleogeographic effects on regional tropical climates, or incomplete sampling by the paleomagnetic data. Proterozoic (pre-Ediacaran) evaporite basins have a volume- weighted mean inclination of 33±4°, which would correspond to a mean paleolatitude of 18±3° for a pure GAD field. This latter mean is indistinguishable, within error, from the Cenozoic-Mesozoic mean and demonstrates the success of the GAD model as a first-order description of the geomagnetic field for the last two billion years. Also, general circulation climate models of a high-obliquity Earth predict either no strong zonal

U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Downing, Mark; Eaton, Laurence M; Graham, Robin Lambert

2011-08-01

The report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of 'potential' biomass based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory, production capacity, availability, and technology. The analysis was made to determine if conterminous U.S. agriculture and forestry resources had the capability to produce at least one billion dry tons of sustainable biomass annually to displace 30% or more of the nation's present petroleum consumption. An effort was made to use conservative estimates to assure confidence inmore » having sufficient supply to reach the goal. The potential biomass was projected to be reasonably available around mid-century when large-scale biorefineries are likely to exist. The study emphasized primary sources of forest- and agriculture-derived biomass, such as logging residues, fuel treatment thinnings, crop residues, and perennially grown grasses and trees. These primary sources have the greatest potential to supply large, reliable, and sustainable quantities of biomass. While the primary sources were emphasized, estimates of secondary residue and tertiary waste resources of biomass were also provided. The original Billion-Ton Resource Assessment, published in 2005, was divided into two parts-forest-derived resources and agriculture-derived resources. The forest resources included residues produced during the harvesting of merchantable timber, forest residues, and small-diameter trees that could become available through initiatives to reduce fire hazards and improve forest health; forest residues from land conversion; fuelwood extracted from forests; residues generated at primary forest product processing mills; and urban wood wastes, municipal solid wastes (MSW), and construction and demolition (C&D) debris. For these forest resources, only residues, wastes, and small-diameter trees

Unsuccessful therapy with adefovir and entecavir-tenofovir in a patient with chronic hepatitis B infection with previous resistance to lamivudine: a fourteen-year evolution of hepatitis B virus mutations

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Complex mutants can be selected under sequential selective pressure by HBV therapy. To determine hepatitis B virus genomic evolution during antiviral therapy we characterized the HBV quasi-species in a patient who did no respond to therapy following lamivudine breakthrough for a period of 14 years. Case Presentation The polymerase and precore/core genes were amplified and sequenced at determined intervals in a period of 14 years. HBV viral load and HBeAg/Anti-HBe serological profiles as well as amino transferase levels were also measured. A mixture of lamivudine-resistant genotype A2 HBV strains harboring the rtM204V mutation coexisted in the patient following viral breakthrough to lamivudine. The L180M+M204V dominant mutant displayed strong lamivudine-resistance. As therapy was changed to adefovir, then to entecavir, and finally to entecavir-tenofovir the viral load showed fluctuations but lamivudine-resistant strains continued to be selected, with minor contributions to the HBV quasi-species composition of additional resistance-associated mutations. At the end of the 14-year follow up period, high viral loads were predominant, with viral strains harboring the lamivudine-resistance signature rtL180M+M204V. The precore/core frame A1762T and G1764A double mutation was detected before treatment and remaining in this condition during the entire follow-up. Specific entecavir and tenofovir primary resistance-associated mutations were not detected at any time. Plasma concentrations of tenofovir indicated adequate metabolism of the drug. Conclusions We report the selection of HBV mutants carrying well-defined primary resistance mutations that escaped lamivudine in a fourteen-year follow-up period. With the exception of tenofovir resistance mutations, subsequent unselected primary resistance mutations were detected as minor populations into the HBV quasispecies composition during adefovir or entecavir monotherapies. Although tenofovir is considered an

Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of giant elliptical galaxies.

PubMed

McConnell, Nicholas J; Ma, Chung-Pei; Gebhardt, Karl; Wright, Shelley A; Murphy, Jeremy D; Lauer, Tod R; Graham, James R; Richstone, Douglas O

2011-12-08

Observational work conducted over the past few decades indicates that all massive galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres. Although the luminosities and brightness fluctuations of quasars in the early Universe suggest that some were powered by black holes with masses greater than 10 billion solar masses, the remnants of these objects have not been found in the nearby Universe. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 hosts the hitherto most massive known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion solar masses. Here we report that NGC 3842, the brightest galaxy in a cluster at a distance from Earth of 98 megaparsecs, has a central black hole with a mass of 9.7 billion solar masses, and that a black hole of comparable or greater mass is present in NGC 4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster (at a distance of 103 megaparsecs). These two black holes are significantly more massive than predicted by linearly extrapolating the widely used correlations between black-hole mass and the stellar velocity dispersion or bulge luminosity of the host galaxy. Although these correlations remain useful for predicting black-hole masses in less massive elliptical galaxies, our measurements suggest that different evolutionary processes influence the growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes.

Cypress pollen: botanic aspects in fourteen cypress species and prospects for research.

PubMed

Raddi, P; Moricca, S; Andréoli, C

2000-03-01

The two Research Institutes, the CNR (National Research Institute, Italy) and the INRA (Institut National de Recherche Agronomique, France) which have been collaborating on the problem of cypress canker from Seiridium cardinale since 1975 in the context of EU projects, have measured in the SEM the pollen size of fourteen species of cypress, determining the differences between the maximum diameter of 100 granules per species and noting differences in pollen colour. A research strategy based on the use of material previously selectively bred for canker resistance is proposed to maintain the cypress in its Mediterranean habitat with a reduced risk of pollinosis. For the success of the project it is stressed that close collaboration between Forest research institutions and the medical profession will be necessary.

U.S. Wind projected to Be $60 billion business by 2013

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

2008-11-15

A recent U.S. Department of Energy report concluded that there are no insurmountable barriers to meeting 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation from wind by 2030, but identified upgrading of the transmission grid as a major challenge, requiring a $60+ billion investment. One major obstacle is the highly fragmented ownership of the 200,000-mile network among some 500 diverse, intensely territorial entities.

Fourteen Years of R/qtl: Just Barely Sustainable

PubMed Central

Broman, Karl W.

2014-01-01

R/qtl is an R package for mapping quantitative trait loci (genetic loci that contribute to variation in quantitative traits) in experimental crosses. Its development began in 2000. There have been 38 software releases since 2001. The latest release contains 35k lines of R code and 24k lines of C code, plus 15k lines of code for the documentation. Challenges in the development and maintenance of the software are discussed. A key to the success of R/qtl is that it remains a central tool for the chief developer's own research work, and so its maintenance is of selfish importance. PMID:25364504

Educational Assistance Overpayments, A Billion Dollar Problem--A Look at the Causes, Solutions, and Collection Efforts. Veterans Administration. Report to the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comptroller General of the U.S., Washington, DC.

Overpayments to veterans and veterans' dependents under the VA's educational assistance programs have increased dramatically in recent years; as of the end of 1975, cumulative overpayments totaled almost $1.4 billion. In fiscal year 1967, overpayments represented 0.7 percent of VA's total educational benefits paid, whereas in the first six months…

Identification of a testis-enriched heat shock protein and fourteen members of Hsp70 family in the swamp eel.

PubMed

He, Yan; Luo, Majing; Yi, Minhan; Sheng, Yue; Cheng, Yibin; Zhou, Rongjia; Cheng, Hanhua

2013-01-01

Gonad differentiation is one of the most important developmental events in vertebrates. Some heat shock proteins are associated with gonad development. Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in the teleost fish and its roles in sex differentiation are poorly understood. We have identified a testis-enriched heat shock protein Hspa8b2 in the swamp eel using Western blot analysis and Mass Spectrometry (MS). Fourteen Hsp70 family genes were further identified in this species based on transcriptome information. The phylogenetic tree of Hsp70 family was constructed using the Maximum Likelihood method and their expression patterns in the swamp eel gonads were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). There are fourteen gene members in the Hsp70 family in the swamp eel genome. Hsp70 family, particularly Hspa8, has expanded in the species. One of the family members Hspa8b2 is predominantly expressed in testis of the swamp eel.

Future of American oil: the experts testify. [Fourteen professors, economists, ang financial experts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wyman, H. Jr.; Markun, P.M.

In this volume, the American Petroleum Institute has gathered from the record the Congressional testimony of fourteen authorities on two burning issues that deeply affect the petroleum industry. One is a bill to legalize divestiture/dismemberment of integrated oil companies of the United States--to limit these companies to just one aspect of petroleum development: exploration/production, transportation, refining, or marketing. The other proposal would prevent the oil companies, the nation's most experienced energy producers, from participating in developing other sources of energy. Ten testimonies on vertical divestiture are included: Legal Consequences of Dismemberment, Bator, Peter A.; The Energy Crisis and the Oilmore » Industry, Erickson, Edward W.; The Effect of Petroleum Divestiture on Price and Supply, Friedman, Barry A.; Twenty Years of Chaos, Gary, Raymond B.; International Aspects of Divestiture, Jacoby, Neil H.; Competition in the Petroleum Industry, Mancke, Richard B.; The Case for Vertical Integration, Mitchell, Edward J.; Pipelines: The Cost of Capital, Myers, Stewart C.; Vertical Integration into Oil Pipelines, Swenson, Gary L.; and Financing the Oil Industry, Wilson, Wallace W. Six testimonials on horizontal divestiture are entitled: Public Policy and the Monopoly Myth, Erickson, Edward W.; Justice Looks at Energy Diversification, Kauper, Thomas E.; Horizontal Diversification by Oil Companies, Moore, Thomas Gale; Oil Companies in the Coal Industry, Moyer, Reed; Oil Companies in the Uranium Industry, Ray, Dixy Lee; and Who's Mining the Coal, Wilson, Wallace W. (MCW)« less

European VLBI network observations of fourteen GHz-peaked-spectrum radio sources at 5 GHz

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, L.; Reynolds, C.; Strom, R. G.; Dallacasa, D.

2006-08-01

We present the results of EVN polarization observations of fourteen GHz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) radio sources at 5 GHz. These sources were selected from bright GPS source samples and we aimed at finding Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs). We have obtained full polarization 5 GHz VLBI observations of 14 sources providing information on their source structure and spectral indices. The results show that two core-jet sources 1433-040 and DA193, out of 14 GPS sources, exhibit integrated fractional polarizations of 3.6% and 1.0% respectively. The other 12 sources have no clear detection of pc-scale polarization. The results confirm that the GPS sources generally have very low polarization at 5 GHz. The sources 1133+432, 1824+271 and 2121-014 are confirmed as CSOs. Three new CSOs 0914+114, 1518+046 and 2322-040 (tentative) have been classified on the basis of 5 GHz images and spectral indices. The sources 1333+589, 1751+278 and 2323+790 can be classified either as compact doubles, and then they are likely CSO candidates or core-jet sources; further observations are needed for an appropriate classification; 0554-026, 1433-040 and 1509+054 are core-jet sources. In addition, we estimate that a component in the jet of quasar DA193 has superluminal motion of 3.3±0.6 h-1 c in 5.5 years.

Reducing the staggering costs of environmental disease in children, estimated at $76.6 billion in 2008.

PubMed

Trasande, Leonardo; Liu, Yinghua

2011-05-01

A 2002 analysis documented $54.9 billion in annual costs of environmentally mediated diseases in US children. However, few important changes in federal policy have been implemented to prevent exposures to toxic chemicals. We therefore updated and expanded the previous analysis and found that the costs of lead poisoning, prenatal methylmercury exposure, childhood cancer, asthma, intellectual disability, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were $76.6 billion in 2008. To prevent further increases in these costs, efforts are needed to institute premarket testing of new chemicals; conduct toxicity testing on chemicals already in use; reduce lead-based paint hazards; and curb mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Fluid-chemical evidence for one billion years of fluid flow through Mesoproterozoic deep-water carbonate mounds (Nanisivik zinc district, Nunavut)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahn, K. E.; Turner, E. C.; Kontak, D. J.; Fayek, M.

2018-02-01

-filling mineral phases spans over 1 billion years, and was decipherable only because of the in situ protocol used. The multiple-method in situ analytical protocol employed in this study substantially augments the knowledge of an area's geological history, parts of which cannot be discerned by means other than meticulous study of diagenetic phases, and should become routine in similar studies.

A parts-per-billion measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smorra, C.; Sellner, S.; Borchert, M. J.; Harrington, J. A.; Higuchi, T.; Nagahama, H.; Tanaka, T.; Mooser, A.; Schneider, G.; Bohman, M.; Blaum, K.; Matsuda, Y.; Ospelkaus, C.; Quint, W.; Walz, J.; Yamazaki, Y.; Ulmer, S.

2017-10-01

Precise comparisons of the fundamental properties of matter-antimatter conjugates provide sensitive tests of charge-parity-time (CPT) invariance, which is an important symmetry that rests on basic assumptions of the standard model of particle physics. Experiments on mesons, leptons and baryons have compared different properties of matter-antimatter conjugates with fractional uncertainties at the parts-per-billion level or better. One specific quantity, however, has so far only been known to a fractional uncertainty at the parts-per-million level: the magnetic moment of the antiproton, . The extraordinary difficulty in measuring with high precision is caused by its intrinsic smallness; for example, it is 660 times smaller than the magnetic moment of the positron. Here we report a high-precision measurement of in units of the nuclear magneton μN with a fractional precision of 1.5 parts per billion (68% confidence level). We use a two-particle spectroscopy method in an advanced cryogenic multi-Penning trap system. Our result  = -2.7928473441(42)μN (where the number in parentheses represents the 68% confidence interval on the last digits of the value) improves the precision of the previous best measurement by a factor of approximately 350. The measured value is consistent with the proton magnetic moment, μp = 2.792847350(9)μN, and is in agreement with CPT invariance. Consequently, this measurement constrains the magnitude of certain CPT-violating effects to below 1.8 × 10-24 gigaelectronvolts, and a possible splitting of the proton-antiproton magnetic moments by CPT-odd dimension-five interactions to below 6 × 10-12 Bohr magnetons.

A parts-per-billion measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment.

PubMed

Smorra, C; Sellner, S; Borchert, M J; Harrington, J A; Higuchi, T; Nagahama, H; Tanaka, T; Mooser, A; Schneider, G; Bohman, M; Blaum, K; Matsuda, Y; Ospelkaus, C; Quint, W; Walz, J; Yamazaki, Y; Ulmer, S

2017-10-18

Precise comparisons of the fundamental properties of matter-antimatter conjugates provide sensitive tests of charge-parity-time (CPT) invariance, which is an important symmetry that rests on basic assumptions of the standard model of particle physics. Experiments on mesons, leptons and baryons have compared different properties of matter-antimatter conjugates with fractional uncertainties at the parts-per-billion level or better. One specific quantity, however, has so far only been known to a fractional uncertainty at the parts-per-million level: the magnetic moment of the antiproton, . The extraordinary difficulty in measuring with high precision is caused by its intrinsic smallness; for example, it is 660 times smaller than the magnetic moment of the positron. Here we report a high-precision measurement of in units of the nuclear magneton μ N with a fractional precision of 1.5 parts per billion (68% confidence level). We use a two-particle spectroscopy method in an advanced cryogenic multi-Penning trap system. Our result  = -2.7928473441(42)μ N (where the number in parentheses represents the 68% confidence interval on the last digits of the value) improves the precision of the previous best measurement by a factor of approximately 350. The measured value is consistent with the proton magnetic moment, μ p  = 2.792847350(9)μ N , and is in agreement with CPT invariance. Consequently, this measurement constrains the magnitude of certain CPT-violating effects to below 1.8 × 10 -24 gigaelectronvolts, and a possible splitting of the proton-antiproton magnetic moments by CPT-odd dimension-five interactions to below 6 × 10 -12 Bohr magnetons.

Bringing the Bottom Billion into Basic Literacy: How We Can and Why We Must

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottwald, Stephanie; Morris, Robin; Wolf, Maryanne; Galyean, Tinsley

2017-01-01

Close to one billion people in the world do not have basic literacy skills. A key challenge is reaching children in the midst of circumstances that make a traditional school-based approach impractical. This chapter will describe a cross-disciplinary, mobile technology approach to literacy education. The Curious Learning approach distributes…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Budget Estimates, Fiscal Year 2011

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2010-01-01

The Budget includes three new robust exploration programs: (1) Technology demonstration program, $7.8 five years. Funds the development and demonstration of technologies that reduce the cost and expand the capabilities of future exploration activities, including in-orbit refueling and storage. (2) Heavy-Lift and Propulsion R&D, $3.1 billion over five years. Funds R&D for new launch systems, propellants, materials, and combustion processes. (3) Robotic precursor missions, $3.0 billion over five years. Funds cost-effective means to scout exploration targets and identify hazards and resources for human visitation and habitation. In addition, the Budget enhances the current Human Research Program by 42%; and supports the Participatory Exploration Program at 5 million per year for activities across many NASA programs.

Plate tectonics 2.5 billion years ago: evidence at kolar, South India.

PubMed

Krogstad, E J; Balakrishnan, S; Mukhopadhyay, D K; Rajamani, V; Hanson, G N

1989-03-10

The Archean Kolar Schist Belt, south India, is a suture zone where two gneiss terranes and at least two amphibolite terranes with distinct histories were accrted. Amphibolites from the eastern and western sides of the schist belt have distinct incompatible element and isotopic characteristics sugesting that their volcanic protoliths were derived from dint mantle sources. The amphibolite and gneiss terranes were juxtaposed by horizontal compression and shearing between 2530 and 2420 million years ago (Ma) along a zone marked by the Kolar Schist Belt. This history of accretion of discrete crustal terranes resembles those of Phanerozoic convergent margins and thus suggests that plate tectonics operated on Earth by 2500 Ma.

Plate tectonics 2.5 billion years ago - Evidence at Kolar, south India

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krogstad, E. J.; Hanson, G. N.; Balakrishnan, S.; Rajamani, V.; Mukhopadhyay, D. K.

1989-01-01

The Archean Kolar Schist Belt, south India, is a suture zone where two gneiss terranes and at least two amphibolite terranes with distinct histories were accreted. Amphibolites from the eastern and western sides of the schist belt have distinct incompatible element and isotopic characteristics suggesting that their volcanic protoliths were derived from different mantle sources. The amphibolite and gneiss terranes were juxtaposed by horizontal compression and shearing between 2530 and 2420 million years ago (Ma) along a zone marked by the Kolar Schist Belt. This history of accretion of discrete crustal terranes resembles those of Phanerozoic convergent margins and thus suggests that plate tectonics operated on earth by 2500 Ma.

Life with Four Billion Atoms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Knight, Thomas

2013-04-10

Today it is commonplace to design and construct single silicon chips with billions of transistors. These are complex systems, difficult (but possible) to design, test, and fabricate. Remarkably, simple living systems can be assembled from a similar number of atoms, most of them in water molecules. In this talk I will present the current status of our attempts at full understanding and complexity reduction of one of the simplest living systems, the free-living bacterial species Mesoplasma florum. This 400 nm diameter cell thrives and replicates every 40 minutes with a genome of only 800 kilobases. Our recent experiments using transposonmore » gene knockouts identified 354 of 683 annotated genes as inessential in laboratory culture when inactivated individually. While a functional redesigned genome will certainly not remove all of those genes, this suggests that roughly half the genome can be removed in an intentional redesign. I will discuss our recent knockout results and methodology, and our future plans for Genome re-engineering using targeted knock-in/knock-out double recombination; whole cell metabolic models; comprehensive whole cell metabolite measurement techniques; creation of plug-and-play metabolic modules for the simplified organism; inherent and engineered biosafety control mechanisms. This redesign is part of a comprehensive plan to lay the foundations for a new discipline of engineering biology. Engineering biological systems requires a fundamentally different viewpoint from that taken by the science of biology. Key engineering principles of modularity, simplicity, separation of concerns, abstraction, flexibility, hierarchical design, isolation, and standardization are of critical importance. The essence of engineering is the ability to imagine, design, model, build, and characterize novel systems to achieve specific goals. Current tools and components for these tasks are primitive. Our approach is to create and distribute standard biological parts

Living unrelated donor kidney transplantation--a fourteen-year experience.

PubMed

Ignjatović, Ljiljana; Jovanović, Dragan; Kronja, Goran; Dujić, Aleksandar; Marić, Mihailo; Ignjatović, Dragan; Hrvacević, Rajko; Kovacević, Zoran; Petrović, Milija; Elaković, Dejan; Marenović, Tomislav; Lukić, Zoran; Trkuljić, Miroljub; Stanković, Bratislav; Maksić, Doko; Butorajac, Josip; Colić, Miodrag; Drasković-Pavlović, Biljana; Kapulica-Kuljić, Nada; Drasković, Nada; Misović, Sidor; Stijelja, Borislav; Milović, Novak; Tosevski, Perica; Filipović, Nikola; Romić, Predrag; Jevtić, Miodrag; Drasković, Miroljub; Vavić, Neven; Rabrenović, Violeta; Paunić, Zoran; Radojević, Milorad; Bjelanović, Zoran; Tomić, Aleksandar; Aleksić, Predrag; Kosević, Branko; Mocović, Dejan; Bancević, Vladimir; Magić, Zvonko; Vojvodić, Danilo; Balint, Bela; Ostojić, Gordana; Tukić, Ljiljana; Murgić, Jadranka; Pervulov, Svetozar; Rusović, Sinisa; Sjenicić, Goran; Vesna, Bućan; Milavić-Vujković, Merica; Jandrić, Dusan; Raicević, Ranko; Mijusković, Mirjana; Obrencević, Katarina; Pilcević, Dejan; Cukić, Zoran; Petrović, Marijana; Petrović, Milica; Tadić, Jelena; Terzić, Brankica; Karan, Zeljko; Bokonjić, Dubravko; Dobrić, Silva; Antunović, Mirjana; Bokun, Radmila; Dimitrijević, Jovan; Vukomanović-Djurdjević, Biserka

2010-12-01

In countries without a national organization for retrieval and distribution of organs of the deceased donors, problem of organ shortage is still not resolved. In order to increase the number of kidney transplantations we started with the program of living unrelated - spousal donors. The aim of this study was to compare treatment outcome and renal graft function in patients receiving the graft from spousal and those receiving ghe graft from living related donors. We retrospectively identified 14 patients who received renal allograft from spousal donors between 1996 and 2009 (group I). The control group consisted of 14 patients who got graft from related donor retrieved from the database and matched than with respect to sex, age, kidney disease, immunological and viral pretransplant status, the initial method of the end stage renal disease treatment and ABO compatibility. In the follow-up period of 41 +/- 38 months we recorded immunosuppressive therapy, surgical complications, episodes of acute rejection, CMV infection and graft function, assessed by serum creatinine levels at the beginning and in the end of the follow-up period. All patients had pretransplant negative cross-match. In ABO incompatible patients pretransplant isoagglutinine titer was zero. The patients with a spousal donor had worse HLA matching. There were no significant differences between the groups in surgical, infective, immunological complications and graft function. Two patients from the group I returned to hemodialysis after 82 and 22 months due to serious comorbidities. In spite of the worse HLA matching, graft survival and function of renal grafts from spousal donors were as good as those retrieved from related donors.

Another Record Year for Academic Pork.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brainard, Jeffrey

2002-01-01

Discusses how, fueled by the war on terrorism, Congress has awarded a record $1.8 billion in academic earmarks in the 2002 fiscal year. Profiles several recipient programs and includes a campus-by-campus list of projects. (EV)

On the constancy of the lunar cratering flux over the past 3.3 billion yr

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guinness, E. A.; Arvidson, R. E.

1977-01-01

Utilizing a method that minimizes random fluctuations in sampling crater populations, it can be shown that the ejecta deposit of Tycho, the floor of Copernicus, and the region surrounding the Apollo 12 landing site have incremental crater size-frequency distributions that can be expressed as log-log linear functions over the diameter range from 0.1 to 1 km. Slopes are indistinguishable for the three populations, probably indicating that the surfaces are dominated by primary craters. Treating the crater populations of Tycho, the floor of Copernicus, and Apollo 12 as primary crater populations contaminated, but not overwhelmed, with secondaries, allows an attempt at calibration of the post-heavy bombardment cratering flux. Using the age of Tycho as 109 m.y., Copernicus as 800 m.y., and Apollo 12 as 3.26 billion yr, there is no basis for assuming that the flux has changed over the past 3.3 billion yr. This result can be used for dating intermediate aged surfaces by crater density.

Economic costs of chronic disease through lost productive life years (PLYs) among Australians aged 45-64 years from 2015 to 2030: results from a microsimulation model.

PubMed

Schofield, Deborah; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Cunich, Michelle M; Tanton, Robert; Veerman, Lennert; Kelly, Simon J; Passey, Megan E

2016-09-22

To project the number of older workers with lost productive life years (PLYs) due to chronic disease and resultant lost income; and lost taxes and increased welfare payments from 2015 to 2030. Using a microsimulation model, Health&WealthMOD2030, the costs of chronic disease in Australians aged 45-64 were projected to 2030. The model integrates household survey data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDACs) 2003 and 2009, output from long-standing microsimulation models (STINMOD (Static Incomes Model) and APPSIM (Australian Population and Policy Simulation Model)) used by various government departments, population and labour force growth data from Treasury, and disease trends data from the Australian Burden of Disease and Injury Study (2003). Respondents aged 45-64 years in the SDACs 2003 and 2009 formed the base population. Lost PLYs due to chronic disease; resultant lost income, lost taxes and increased welfare payments in 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030. We projected 380 000 (6.4%) people aged 45-64 years with lost PLYs in 2015, increasing to 462 000 (6.5%) in 2030-a 22% increase in absolute numbers. Those with lost PLYs experience the largest reduction in income than any other group in each year compared to those employed full time without a chronic disease, and this income gap widens over time. The total economic loss due to lost PLYs consisted of lost income modelled at $A12.6 billion in 2015, increasing to $A20.5 billion in 2030-a 62.7% increase. Additional costs to the government consisted of increased welfare payments at $A6.2 billion in 2015, increasing to $A7.3 billion in 2030-a 17.7% increase; and a loss of $A3.1 billion in taxes in 2015, increasing to $A4.7 billion in 2030-a growth of 51.6%. There is a need for greater investment in effective preventive health interventions which improve workers' health and work capacity. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not

House dust mite sensitization in toddlers predict persistent wheeze in children between eight to fourteen years old

PubMed Central

Llanora, Genevieve V.; Ming, Low Jia; Wei, Lee Ming

2012-01-01

Background Identifying toddlers at increased risk of developing persistent wheeze provides an opportunity for risk-reducing interventions. House dust mite (HDM) allergen sensitization might identify this group of high-risk children. Objective We examined whether a positive skin prick test (SPT) to at least 1 of the 3 HDMs in wheezing toddlers, would serve as a predictor for persistent wheeze at age 8 to 14 years old. Methods A cohort of 78 children, who had wheezing episodes, and underwent SPT to 3 HDMs between the ages of 2 to 5 years old, were enrolled. SPT results were obtained from the National University Hospital database. Four to 9 years later, the children, currently between 8 to 14 years old, were re-assessed for persistence of asthma symptoms and other atopic disorders via a telephone interview. A validated questionnaire on current wheezing and asthma, developed by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, was used. Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate the association between persistence of asthma and a positive SPT. Results Of the 78 children who participated in the study, 42 (53.8%) had a positive SPT and 36 (46.2%) had a negative SPT. Of these, 18 (42.9%) of SPT positive and 7 (19.4%) of SPT negative children had persistence of asthma symptoms. There is a significant association between a positive SPT during the preschool years, and persistence of asthma (p = 0.0314 [<0.05]). Conclusion HDM sensitization at ages 2 to 5 years old in wheezing children predicts persistence of asthma after 4 to 9 years. This in turn may have benefits for management of asthma in this high-risk group. PMID:22872820

Greenhouse gas implications of a 32 billion gallon bioenergy landscape in the US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeLucia, E. H.; Hudiburg, T. W.; Wang, W.; Khanna, M.; Long, S.; Dwivedi, P.; Parton, W. J.; Hartman, M. D.

2015-12-01

Sustainable bioenergy for transportation fuel and greenhouse gas (GHGs) reductions may require considerable changes in land use. Perennial grasses have been proposed because of their potential to yield substantial biomass on marginal lands without displacing food and reduce GHG emissions by storing soil carbon. Here, we implemented an integrated approach to planning bioenergy landscapes by combining spatially-explicit ecosystem and economic models to predict a least-cost land allocation for a 32 billion gallon (121 billion liter) renewable fuel mandate in the US. We find that 2022 GHG transportation emissions are decreased by 7% when 3.9 million hectares of eastern US land are converted to perennial grasses supplemented with corn residue to meet cellulosic ethanol requirements, largely because of gasoline displacement and soil carbon storage. If renewable fuel production is accompanied by a cellulosic biofuel tax credit, CO2 equivalent emissions could be reduced by 12%, because it induces more cellulosic biofuel and land under perennial grasses (10 million hectares) than under the mandate alone. While GHG reducing bioenergy landscapes that meet RFS requirements and do not displace food are possible, the reductions in GHG emissions are 50% less compared to previous estimates that did not account for economically feasible land allocation.

Economic costs of chronic disease through lost productive life years (PLYs) among Australians aged 45–64 years from 2015 to 2030: results from a microsimulation model

PubMed Central

Schofield, Deborah; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Cunich, Michelle M; Tanton, Robert; Veerman, Lennert; Kelly, Simon J

2016-01-01

Objectives To project the number of older workers with lost productive life years (PLYs) due to chronic disease and resultant lost income; and lost taxes and increased welfare payments from 2015 to 2030. Design, setting and participants Using a microsimulation model, Health&WealthMOD2030, the costs of chronic disease in Australians aged 45–64 were projected to 2030. The model integrates household survey data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDACs) 2003 and 2009, output from long-standing microsimulation models (STINMOD (Static Incomes Model) and APPSIM (Australian Population and Policy Simulation Model)) used by various government departments, population and labour force growth data from Treasury, and disease trends data from the Australian Burden of Disease and Injury Study (2003). Respondents aged 45–64 years in the SDACs 2003 and 2009 formed the base population. Main outcome measures Lost PLYs due to chronic disease; resultant lost income, lost taxes and increased welfare payments in 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030. Results We projected 380 000 (6.4%) people aged 45–64 years with lost PLYs in 2015, increasing to 462 000 (6.5%) in 2030—a 22% increase in absolute numbers. Those with lost PLYs experience the largest reduction in income than any other group in each year compared to those employed full time without a chronic disease, and this income gap widens over time. The total economic loss due to lost PLYs consisted of lost income modelled at $A12.6 billion in 2015, increasing to $A20.5 billion in 2030—a 62.7% increase. Additional costs to the government consisted of increased welfare payments at $A6.2 billion in 2015, increasing to $A7.3 billion in 2030—a 17.7% increase; and a loss of $A3.1 billion in taxes in 2015, increasing to $A4.7 billion in 2030—a growth of 51.6%. Conclusions There is a need for greater investment in effective preventive health interventions which improve workers’ health

K-12 Budget Picture: Lean Years Ahead. Education Outlook. No. 10

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Frederick M.; Downs, Whitney

2010-01-01

While educators are eager to forget the financial woes of the past two years and return to the familiar routine of steady budget increases, the fiscal outlook for America's fourteen thousand school districts is bleak--not just for next year, but for a half decade or more. This calls for a new mindset among educators and an unfamiliar,…

Polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of fourteen wild edible fruits from Burkina Faso.

PubMed

Lamien-Meda, Aline; Lamien, Charles Euloge; Compaoré, Moussa M Y; Meda, Roland N T; Kiendrebeogo, Martin; Zeba, Boukare; Millogo, Jeanne F; Nacoulma, Odile G

2008-03-06

A total of fourteen (14) species of wild edible fruits from Burkina Faso were analyzed for their phenolic and flavonoid contents, and their antioxidant activities using the DPPH, FRAP and ABTS methods. The data obtained show that the total phenolic and total flavonoid levels were significantly higher in the acetone than in the methanol extracts.Detarium microcarpum fruit had the highest phenolic and the highest flavonoid content,followed by that of Adansonia digitata, Ziziphus mauritiana, Ximenia americana and Lannea microcarpa. Significant amounts of total phenolics were also detected in the other fruit species in the following order of decreasing levels: Tamarindus indica > Sclerocaryabirrea > Dialium guineense > Gardenia erubescens > Diospyros mespiliformis > Parkiabiglobosa > Ficus sycomorus > Vitellaria paradoxa. Detarium microcarpum fruit also showed the highest antioxidant activity using the three antioxidant assays. Fruits with high antioxidant activities were also found to possess high phenolic and flavonoid contents. There was a strong correlation between total phenolic and flavonoid levels and antioxidant activities.

Chlorine isotopic compositions of apatite in Apollo 14 rocks: Evidence for widespread vapor-phase metasomatism on the lunar nearside ∼4 billion years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potts, Nicola J.; Barnes, Jessica J.; Tartèse, Romain; Franchi, Ian A.; Anand, Mahesh

2018-06-01

Compared to most other planetary materials in the Solar System, some lunar rocks display high δ37Cl signatures. Loss of Cl in a H ≪ Cl environment has been invoked to explain the heavy signatures observed in lunar samples, either during volcanic eruptions onto the lunar surface or during large scale degassing of the lunar magma ocean. To explore the conditions under which Cl isotope fractionation occurred in lunar basaltic melts, five Apollo 14 crystalline samples were selected (14053,19, 14072,13, 14073,9, 14310,171 along with basaltic clast 14321,1482) for in situ analysis of Cl isotopes using secondary ion mass spectrometry. Cl isotopes were measured within the mineral apatite, with δ37Cl values ranging from +14.6 ± 1.6‰ to +40.0 ± 2.9‰. These values expand the range previously reported for apatite in lunar rocks, and include some of the heaviest Cl isotope compositions measured in lunar samples to date. The data here do not display a trend between increasing rare earth elements contents and δ37Cl values, reported in previous studies. Other processes that can explain the wide inter- and intra-sample variability of δ37Cl values are explored. Magmatic degassing is suggested to have potentially played a role in fractionating Cl isotope in these samples. Degassing alone, however, could not create the wide variability in isotopic signatures. Our favored hypothesis, to explain small scale heterogeneity, is late-stage interaction with a volatile-rich gas phase, originating from devolatilization of lunar surface regolith rocks ∼4 billion years ago. This period coincides with vapor-induced metasomastism recorded in other lunar samples collected at the Apollo 16 and 17 landing sites, pointing to the possibility of widespread volatile-induced metasomatism on the lunar nearside at that time, potentially attributed to the Imbrium formation event.

A Record Year at the Federal Trough: Colleges Feast on $1.67-Billion in Earmarks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brainard, Jeffrey; Southwick, Ron

2001-01-01

Discusses how for fiscal year 2001, Congress earmarked more money for federal projects for specific colleges than ever before. It provided a 60 percent increase over the previous year, although such earmarks have drawn criticism as wasteful and harmful to merit-based competition for funds. Includes a list of top recipients of "pork." (EV)

Heterogeneity in homogeneous nucleation from billion-atom molecular dynamics simulation of solidification of pure metal.

PubMed

Shibuta, Yasushi; Sakane, Shinji; Miyoshi, Eisuke; Okita, Shin; Takaki, Tomohiro; Ohno, Munekazu

2017-04-05

Can completely homogeneous nucleation occur? Large scale molecular dynamics simulations performed on a graphics-processing-unit rich supercomputer can shed light on this long-standing issue. Here, a billion-atom molecular dynamics simulation of homogeneous nucleation from an undercooled iron melt reveals that some satellite-like small grains surrounding previously formed large grains exist in the middle of the nucleation process, which are not distributed uniformly. At the same time, grains with a twin boundary are formed by heterogeneous nucleation from the surface of the previously formed grains. The local heterogeneity in the distribution of grains is caused by the local accumulation of the icosahedral structure in the undercooled melt near the previously formed grains. This insight is mainly attributable to the multi-graphics processing unit parallel computation combined with the rapid progress in high-performance computational environments.Nucleation is a fundamental physical process, however it is a long-standing issue whether completely homogeneous nucleation can occur. Here the authors reveal, via a billion-atom molecular dynamics simulation, that local heterogeneity exists during homogeneous nucleation in an undercooled iron melt.

Child Development and Molecular Genetics: 14 Years Later

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plomin, Robert

2013-01-01

Fourteen years ago, the first article on molecular genetics was published in this journal: "Child Development, Molecular Genetics, and What to Do With Genes Once They Are Found" (R. Plomin & M. Rutter, 1998). The goal of the article was to outline what developmentalists can do with genes once they are found. These new directions for developmental…

How to Bring Solar Energy to Seven Billion People (LBNL Science at the Theater)

ScienceCinema

Wadia, Cyrus [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2018-05-24

By exploiting the powers of nanotechnology and taking advantage of non-toxic, Earth-abundant materials, Berkeley Lab's Cyrus Wadia has fabricated new solar cell devices that have the potential to be several orders of magnitude less expensive than conventional solar cells. And by mastering the chemistry of these materials-and the economics of solar energy-he envisions bringing electricity to the 1.2 billion people now living without it.

Saving billions of dollars--and physicians' time--by streamlining billing practices.

PubMed

Blanchfield, Bonnie B; Heffernan, James L; Osgood, Bradford; Sheehan, Rosemary R; Meyer, Gregg S

2010-06-01

The U.S. system of billing third parties for health care services is complex, expensive, and inefficient. Physicians end up using nearly 12 percent of their net patient service revenue to cover the costs of excessive administrative complexity. A single transparent set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form, and standard rules of submission, among other innovations, would reduce the burden on the billing offices of physician organizations. On a national scale, our hypothetical modeling of these changes would translate into $7 billion of savings annually for physician and clinical services. Four hours of professional time per physician and five hours of practice support staff time could be saved each week.

Fourteen-year survival of Pseudomonas cepacia in a salts solution preserved with benzalkonium chloride.

PubMed Central

Geftic, S G; Heymann, H; Adair, F W

1979-01-01

A strain of Pseudomonas cepacia that survived for 14 years (1963 to 1977) as a contaminant in an inorganic salt solution which contained commercial 0.05% benzalkonium chloride (CBC) as an antimicrobial preservative, was compared to a recent clinical isolate of P. cepacia. Ammonium acetate was present in the concentrated stock CBC solution, and served as a carbon and nitrogen source for growth when carried over into the salts solution with the CBC. The isolate's resistance to pure benzalkonium chloride was increased step-wise to a concentration of 16%. Plate counts showed 4 x 10(3) colony-forming units per ml in the salts solution. Comparison of growth rates, mouse virulence, antibiotics resistance spectra, and substrate requirements disclosed no differences between the contaminant and a recently isolated clinical strain of P. cepacia. The results indicate that it is critical that pharmaceutical solutions containing benzalkonium chloride as an antimicrobial preservative be formulated without extraneous carbon and nitrogen sources or be preserved with additional antimicrobial agents. PMID:453827

Snoring during early childhood and academic performance at ages thirteen to fourteen years.

PubMed

Gozal, D; Pope, D W

2001-06-01

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in young children is associated with an adverse effect on learning. However, the long-term impact of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) during early childhood on learning remains unknown. Questionnaires were mailed to seventh and eighth graders attending public schools whose class ranking was either in the top 25% (high performance [HP]) or bottom 25% of their class (low performance [LP]), and who were matched for age, gender, race, school, and street of residence. Snoring frequency and loudness at 2 to 6 years of age, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) for snoring or recurrent infection, school grades, and parental smoking and snoring were assessed. The questionnaire response rate was 82.8%. Because of ongoing ring, 13 responders were excluded, such that 1588 questionnaires could be analyzed (797 in LP and 791 in HP group). Frequent and loud snoring during early childhood was reported in 103 LP children (12.9%) compared with 40 HP children (5.1%; odds ratio: 2.79; confidence interval: 1.88-4.15). Furthermore, 24 LP and 7 HP children underwent T&A for snoring (odds ratio: 3.40; confidence interval: 1.47-7.84), while 21 LP and 19 HP children required surgery for recurrent tonsillitis. Children with lower academic performance in middle school are more likely to have snored during early childhood and to require T&A for snoring compared with better performing schoolmates. These findings support the concept that SDB-associated neurocognitive morbidity may be only partially reversible or that a "learning debt" may develop with SDB during early childhood and hamper subsequent school performance.

The Value Of The Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemption Was $24.6 Billion In 2011.

PubMed

Rosenbaum, Sara; Kindig, David A; Bao, Jie; Byrnes, Maureen K; O'Laughlin, Colin

2015-07-01

The federal government encourages public support for charitable activities by allowing people to deduct donations to tax-exempt organizations on their income tax returns. Tax-exempt hospitals are major beneficiaries of this policy because it encourages donations to the hospitals while shielding them from federal and state tax liability. In exchange, these hospitals must engage in community benefit activities, such as providing care to indigent patients and participating in Medicaid. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the value of the nonprofit hospital tax exemption at $12.6 billion in 2002--a number that included forgone taxes, public contributions, and the value of tax-exempt bond financing. In this article we estimate that the size of the exemption reached $24.6 billion in 2011. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) brings a new focus on community benefit activities by requiring tax-exempt hospitals to engage in communitywide planning efforts to improve community health. The magnitude of the tax exemption, coupled with ACA reforms, underscores the public's interest not only in community benefit spending generally but also in the extent to which nonprofit hospitals allocate funds for community benefit expenditures that improve the overall health of their communities. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

The rapid assembly of an elliptical galaxy of 400 billion solar masses at a redshift of 2.3.

PubMed

Fu, Hai; Cooray, Asantha; Feruglio, C; Ivison, R J; Riechers, D A; Gurwell, M; Bussmann, R S; Harris, A I; Altieri, B; Aussel, H; Baker, A J; Bock, J; Boylan-Kolchin, M; Bridge, C; Calanog, J A; Casey, C M; Cava, A; Chapman, S C; Clements, D L; Conley, A; Cox, P; Farrah, D; Frayer, D; Hopwood, R; Jia, J; Magdis, G; Marsden, G; Martínez-Navajas, P; Negrello, M; Neri, R; Oliver, S J; Omont, A; Page, M J; Pérez-Fournon, I; Schulz, B; Scott, D; Smith, A; Vaccari, M; Valtchanov, I; Vieira, J D; Viero, M; Wang, L; Wardlow, J L; Zemcov, M

2013-06-20

Stellar archaeology shows that massive elliptical galaxies formed rapidly about ten billion years ago with star-formation rates of above several hundred solar masses per year. Their progenitors are probably the submillimetre bright galaxies at redshifts z greater than 2. Although the mean molecular gas mass (5 × 10(10) solar masses) of the submillimetre bright galaxies can explain the formation of typical elliptical galaxies, it is inadequate to form elliptical galaxies that already have stellar masses above 2 × 10(11) solar masses at z ≈ 2. Here we report multi-wavelength high-resolution observations of a rare merger of two massive submillimetre bright galaxies at z = 2.3. The system is seen to be forming stars at a rate of 2,000 solar masses per year. The star-formation efficiency is an order of magnitude greater than that of normal galaxies, so the gas reservoir will be exhausted and star formation will be quenched in only around 200 million years. At a projected separation of 19 kiloparsecs, the two massive starbursts are about to merge and form a passive elliptical galaxy with a stellar mass of about 4 × 10(11) solar masses. We conclude that gas-rich major galaxy mergers with intense star formation can form the most massive elliptical galaxies by z ≈ 1.5.

2 Years of Science, One-of-a-Kind Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashburn, Elyse

2007-01-01

Fourteen years ago, Bruce A. Jackson was doing his postdoctoral work at the Boston University School of Medicine and working nights teaching at nearby Roxbury Community College. But his exhausting shuttle between two colleges was about to come to an end. Mr. Jackson, a biochemist, had recently received word from the National Science Foundation…

Fourteen Thousand Solar Systems and Growing: Results From the Starchitect Online Game at One Year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harold, J. B.

2015-12-01

Starchitect (www.starchitect.net) is an online, end-to-end stellar and planetary evolution game designed to teach players about a variety of astronomy and planetary topics. Supported by NASA and NSF, and developed at the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute, the game uses the "sporadic play" model of games such as Farmville, where players might only take actions a few times a day, but continue playing for months. This framework is a natural fit for teaching about the evolution of stars and planets. Starchitect's systems evolve at a million years a minute, so that while massive stars will supernova almost immediately, lower mass stars like our sun will live for weeks of game time, possibly evolving life before passing through a red giant stage and ending their lives as white dwarfs. The game has now been live for over a year, playable both on Facebook and externally, and over 14,000 solar systems have been created by over 11,000 players. Since the game itself is heavily instrumented we now have access to a wealth of data that can be used to examine how people are playing the game and what tasks they are successfully engaging with. Through an embedded quiz game we are even in the position to assess the prior knowledge of our audience and execute pre/post assessments tied to game play. This paper will briefly describe the game and its educational strategies, then summarize some of our current results.

Toward the year 2000.

PubMed

1973-12-01

If the world population continues to grow at its present rate, in only about 35 more years there will be an additional 3.5 billion people. Although it is likely that the growth rate will slow down in the future, there will be an increase of between 2.3-3.5 billion people by the year 2000. At that time the Asian, African, and Latin American regions of the world will account for between 81-84% of world population, regardless of whether there is a fertility decline. Simultaneously, the populations of Europe and North America will decrease from 26 to between 16-19%. The People's Republic of China is now working to contain population increase, but despite the efforts for every 10 Chinese alive in 1970 there will be 15 in the year 2000. For the other 9 most populous less developed countries, there will be nearly 20 persons for every 10. As this figure is 12 in the year 2000 for every 10 Russians or Americans in 1970, a significant reduction in the growth rate of population in the 10 largest less developed countries would do much to reduce the world's population problems. The number of children born between now and the year 2000 depends on the fertility of all women in the childbearing ages during that period. Finally, as the population of the world continues to increase, there will be a marked concentration of the world's children in the poorer nations, and this will be a major problem in these developing countries.

Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-02-06

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, seated center, outlines the President's budget for fiscal year 2007 during a news conference, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The administrator was joined by the heads of NASA's four mission directorates to explain how the proposed $16.8 billion dollar budget supports the Vision for Space Exploration. The budget represents a 3.2% increase above the Fiscal Year 2006 appropriated budget. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Institutional Characteristics Contributing to the Effectiveness of 4-Year Business Degrees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Book-Ellard, Tracy Lynn

2012-01-01

Over $8 billion is spent yearly, on college education in one Southern U.S. state, yet the employment effectiveness of public and private 4-year undergraduate business degrees (effectiveness defined as obtaining employment or entering into a degree program requiring a 4-year business degree by the end of Year 1 and remaining employed or in a degree…

$100 Billion: For Reform...or to Subsidize the Status Quo? Education Stimulus Watch. Special Report 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smarick, Andy

2009-01-01

This is the first in a quarterly series of special reports on the K-12 education implications of the federal government's economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). That the ARRA, which was signed into law in February, will pump nearly $100 billion--an unprecedented sum of federal money--into K-12 education is…

State Implementation and Perceptions of Title I School Improvement Grants under the Recovery Act: One Year Later

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMurrer, Jennifer; McIntosh, Shelby

2012-01-01

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus package, appropriated $100 billion for education and included $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to help reform low-performing schools. This amount was in addition to the $546 million provided by the regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill for…

Megacity Green Infrastructure Converts Water into Billions of Dollars in Ecosystem Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endreny, T. A.; Ulgiati, S.; Santagata, R.

2016-12-01

Cities can invest in green infrastructure to purposefully couple water with urban tree growth, thereby generating ecosystem services and supporting human wellbeing as advocated by United Nations sustainable development initiatives. This research estimates the value of tree-based ecosystem services in order to help megacities assess the benefits relative to the costs of such investments. We inventoried tree cover across the metropolitan area of 10 megacities, in 5 continents and biomes, and developed biophysical scaling equations using i-Tree tools to estimate the tree cover value to reductions in air pollution, stormwater, building energy, and carbon emissions. Metropolitan areas ranged from 1173 to 18,720 sq km (median value 2530 sq km), with median tree cover 21%, and potential additional tree cover 19%, of this area. Median tree cover density was 39 m2/capita (compared with global value of 7800 m2/capita), with lower density in desert and tropical biomes, and higher density in temperate biomes. Using water to support trees led to median benefits of 1.2 billion/yr from reductions in CO, NO2, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5, 27 million/yr in avoided stormwater processing by wastewater facilities, 1.2 million/yr in building energy heating and cooling savings, and 20 million/yr in CO2 sequestration. These ecosystem service benefits contributed between 0.1% and 1% of megacity GDP, with a median contribution of 0.3%. Adjustment of benefit value between different city economies considered factors such as purchasing power parity and emergy to money ratio conversions. Green infrastructure costs billions of dollars less than grey infrastructure, and stormwater based grey infrastructure provides fewer benefits. This analysis suggests megacities should invest in tree-based green infrastructure to maintain and increase ecosystem service benefits, manage their water resources, and improve human wellbeing.

Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-02-06

NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research Lisa J. Porter answers reporters questions during the fiscal year 2007 news conference, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was joined by the heads of NASA's four mission directorates to explain how the proposed $16.8 billion dollar budget supports the Vision for Space Exploration. The budget represents a 3.2% increase above the fiscal year 2006 appropriated budget. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Crustal growth and episodic reworking over one billion years in the Capricorn Orogen, Western Australia: evidence from Lu-Hf and O isotope data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jahn, Inalee; Clark, Chris; Reddy, Steve; Taylor, Rich

2017-04-01

Fundamental to understanding the generation and evolution of a crustal block is knowledge of the relationship between additions of new material from the mantle, and the extent of crustal recycling [1]. Hafnium isotope ratios can be used to characterise relative contributions from mantle, crustal and recycled reservoirs within magmas. Oxygen isotopes can be used to constrain the extent of crustal interaction during magma emplacement. When used in conjunction, they can help unravel multiple crystallisation histories of a crustal block, and follow the source composition through magma evolution. The Capricorn Orogen records the Paleoproterozoic collision of the Yilgarn and Pilbara Cratons to form the West Australian Craton, and over one billion years of subsequent intracontinental crustal reworking. U-Pb zircon geochronology records three discrete tectono-magmatic events which resulted in voluminous granitic magmatism: the 2005-1975 Ma Glenburgh Orogeny, the 1820-1770 Ma Capricorn Orogeny, and the 1680-1620 Ma Durlacher Orogeny [2]. We present U-Pb, Lu-Hf and δ18O isotopic data from zircon from 50 samples of granites and granitoids from the Capricorn Orogen to provide constraints on the crustal evolution of the Paleoproterozoic crust. Our results confirm crustal growth by juvenile mantle input was limited to the Glenburgh Orogeny associated with the amalgamation of the West Australian Craton, while all subsequent Paleoproterozoic magmatism was primarily derived from significant reworking of the pre-existing crustal components. Time-sliced maps showing the variation in Hf and O isotopes can be used to image crustal evolution in space and time, and are particularly useful in constraining the spatial and temporal extent of juvenile magmatic additions to the crust. These maps suggest that crustal growth was concentrated along, or in the terranes adjacent to, the Yilgarn Craton margin. Our results are in agreement with previous isotopic studies [3], and provide additional

Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Extremely Well-Preserved 2.45-Billion-Year-Old Hydrothermal Systems in the Vetreny Belt, Baltic Shield: Insights into Paleohydrosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakharov, D. O.; Bindeman, I. N.

2015-12-01

The early Paleoproterozoic was an eventful period in the Earth's history. The first portions of free oxygen emerged in the atmosphere, Snowball Earth glaciations happened several times and the first supercontinent broke up due to extensive rifting. These events should have affected the stable isotopic composition of the hydrosphere. In this study, we use rocks that were altered in underwater hydrothermal systems to investigate the stable isotopic composition of the hydrosphere 2.39-2.45 billion years ago (hereinafter, Ga). Extremely low-δ18O (down to -27.5‰ SMOW) rocks from 2.39 Ga metamorphosed subglacial hydrothermal systems of the Belomorian belt, Baltic Shield formed at near-equatorial latitudes suggesting a Snowball (or Slushball) Earth glaciation. These results motivated us to look at temporally and geographically close hydrothermal systems from the unmetamorhposed 2.45 Ga Vetreny Belt rift. The length of the rift is 250 km and it is composed of high-Mg basalts, mafic-ultramafic intrusions and sedimentary successions. We examined several localities of high-Mg basalt flows that include astonishingly fresh pillow lavas, often with preserved volcanic glass, eruptive breccias, and hydrothermal alteration zones. Collected samples serve a great textural evidence of water-rock interaction that occurred in situ while basalts were cooling. The preliminary results from coexisting quartz and epidote (T, D18O=311°C), and from coexisting calcite and quartz (T, D18O=190°C) yield values of δ18O of involved water between -1.6 and -0.9 ‰. The values of δ13C in calcites vary between -4.0 and -2.3 ‰. It is likely that hydrothermal fluids operated in the Vetreny Belt rift were derived from seawater that is no different from modern oceanic water in terms of δ18O. Apparently, the rift was a Paleoproterozoic analog of the modern Red Sea, filled with oceanic water. The result is important because the Vetreny Belt rift predates the onset of Snowball Earth glaciation at 2

American Health Lawyers Association: the year in review 2002-2003.

PubMed

Leibold, Peter

2003-01-01

Every year, the Practice Groups of the American Health Lawyers Association assemble a Year in Review summary of the leading developments in case law, legislation, and administrative actions affecting healthcare. This Article provides a comprehensive overview of these developments. The introduction presents a "Top Ten" list of the year's most noteworthy developments. The remainder of the Article is divided into fourteen topical areas, and offers a brief overview of issues in those areas. Overall, these various developments demonstrate society's efforts to balance accountability, efficiency, and affordability in the delivery of healthcare.

The Other Inconvenient Truth: Feeding 9 Billion While Sustaining the Earth System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foley, J. A.

2010-12-01

As the international community focuses on climate change as the great challenge of our era, we have been largely ignoring another looming problem — the global crisis in agriculture, food security and the environment. Our use of land, particularly for agriculture, is absolutely essential to the success of the human race: we depend on agriculture to supply us with food, feed, fiber, and, increasingly, biofuels. Without a highly efficient, productive, and resilient agricultural system, our society would collapse almost overnight. But we are demanding more and more from our global agricultural systems, pushing them to their very limits. Continued population growth (adding more than 70 million people to the world every year), changing dietary preferences (including more meat and dairy consumption), rising energy prices, and increasing needs for bioenergy sources are putting tremendous pressure on the world’s resources. And, if we want any hope of keeping up with these demands, we’ll need to double the agricultural production of the planet in the next 30 to 40 years. Meeting these huge new agricultural demands will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. At present, it is completely unclear how (and if) we can do it. If this wasn’t enough, we must also address the massive environmental impacts of our current agricultural practices, which new evidence indicates rival the impacts of climate change. Simply put, providing for the basic needs of 9 billion-plus people, without ruining the biosphere in the process, will be one of the greatest challenges our species has ever faced. In this presentation, I will present a new framework for evaluating and assessing global patterns of agriculture, food / fiber / fuel production, and their relationship to the earth system, particularly in terms of changing stocks and flows of water, nutrients and carbon in our planetary environment. This framework aims to help us manage the challenges of increasing global food

A simple change to the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy program could save $5 billion.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuting; Zhou, Chao; Baik, Seo Hyon

2014-06-01

Medicare Part D provides a subsidy to beneficiaries with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Enrollees with the low-income subsidy accounted for 75 percent of the $60 billion in total federal Part D spending in 2013. The government randomly assigns any new beneficiary who automatically qualifies for the subsidy, or who successfully applies for it without indicating a preferred plan, to a stand-alone Part D plan whose premium is equal to or below the average premium for the basic Part D benefit in the region. We used an intelligent reassignment algorithm and 2008-09 Part D drug use and spending data to match enrollees to available plans according to their medication needs. We found that such a reassignment approach could have saved the federal government over $5 billion in 2009, for mean government savings of $710 (median: $368) per enrollee with a low-income subsidy. Implementing that simple change to reassign beneficiaries would have also lowered the proportion of prescriptions that required utilization review from 29 percent to 20 percent, and the proportion of prescriptions with quantity limits from 27 percent to 19 percent. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Industrial R&D Expenditures Rise to $22 Billion in 1974. Science Resources Studies Highlights, January 14, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Div. of Science Resources Studies.

Reported in this newsletter in narrative, graphical, and tabular form are data related to industrial research and development expenditures in 1974, showing a seven percent increase over 1973. It is noted that more than 80 percent of a total of $22.3 billion was spent by five industries; these included electrical equipment and communication,…

Industrial R&D Spending Reached $26.6 Billion in 1976. Science Resources Studies Highlights, May 5, 1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Div. of Science Resources Studies.

This report presents data compiled as part of a comprehensive program to measure and analyze the nation's resources expended for research and development (R&D). Industry, which carries out 69% of the R&D in the United States, spent $26.6 billion on these activities in 1976, 10% above the 1975 level. In constant dollars, this presents an…

A Divide-and-Conquer/Cellular-Decomposition Framework for Million-to-Billion Atom Simulations of Chemical Reactions

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

as a function of the particle velocity that drives the shock [7]. The MD and experimen- tal data agree very well. Furthermore, the simulation shows...topological anomalies in multimillion - node chemical bond networks in materials [48]. At the Col- laboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations ...to-billion atom simulations of chemical reactions Aiichiro Nakano a,*, Rajiv K. Kalia a, Ken-ichi Nomura a, Ashish Sharma a, Priya Vashishta a, Fuyuki

If slow rate of health care spending growth persists, projections may be off by $770 billion.

PubMed

Cutler, David M; Sahni, Nikhil R

2013-05-01

Despite earlier forecasts to the contrary, US health care spending growth has slowed in the past four years, continuing a trend that began in the early 2000s. In this article we attempt to identify why US health care spending growth has slowed, and we explore the spending implications if the trend continues for the next decade. We find that the 2007-09 recession, a one-time event, accounted for 37 percent of the slowdown between 2003 and 2012. A decline in private insurance coverage and cuts to some Medicare payment rates accounted for another 8 percent of the slowdown, leaving 55 percent of the spending slowdown unexplained. We conclude that a host of fundamental changes--including less rapid development of imaging technology and new pharmaceuticals, increased patient cost sharing, and greater provider efficiency--were responsible for the majority of the slowdown in spending growth. If these trends continue during 2013-22, public-sector health care spending will be as much as $770 billion less than predicted. Such lower levels of spending would have an enormous impact on the US economy and on government and household finances.

Fourteen Years of Diverse Annual No-Till Cropping in Washington’s Winter Wheat – Summer Fallow Region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We have completed the 14th year of a cropping systems experiment to evaluate diverse annual (i.e., no summer fallow) cropping systems using no-till as an alternative to tillage-intensive winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) – summer fallow (WW-SF). Soft white and hard white classes of winter and spri...

Galaxies 800 million years after the Big Bang seen with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, Renske

2018-01-01

The identification of galaxies in the first billion years after the Big Bang presents a challenge for even the largest optical telescopes. When the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) started science operations in 2011 it presented a tantalising opportunity to identify and characterise these first sources of light in a new window of the electromagnetic spectrum. I will present new sources successfully identified at z=6.8 using ALMA; the first spectroscopic confirmations of typical star-forming galaxies during the Epoch or Reionization using a sub-millimetre telescope. Moreover, these observations reveal the gas kinematics of such distant sources for the first time. The velocity gradient in these galaxies indicate that these galaxies likely have similar dynamical properties as the turbulent, yet rotation-dominated disks that have been observed for Hα emitting galaxies 2 billion years later at cosmic noon. This novel approach for confirming galaxies during Reionization paves the way for larger studies of distant galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. Particularly important, this opens up opportunities for the measurement of high angular-resolution dynamics in galaxies less than one billion years after the Big Bang.

ICI bites demerger bullet, Zeneca guns for [Brit pounds]1. 3-billion rights issue

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jackson, D.; Alperowicz, N.

1993-03-03

Any lingering doubts as to ICI's (London) intentions to follow through its demerger proposals were dispelled last week. The company will hive off its bioscience business into Zeneca Group plc, which will make a [Brit pounds]1.3-billion ($1.9 billion) rights issue in June 1993. Shareholders, whose approval for the historic move will be sought in late May, will receive one fully paid Zeneca share for each ICI share. Proceeds from the rights issue will be used to reduce Zeneca's indebtedness to ICI by about 70%. Acknowledging that ICI had spread the jam too thinly' during its expansion in the 1980s, chiefmore » executive Ronnie Hampel says the new ICI will be a cost-conscious, no-frills' organization and that businesses that failed to perform would be restructured or closed. He is not expecting any help from the economy' in 1993. Of ICI's remaining petrochemicals and plastics businesses, Hampel says that despite stringent measures to reduce the cost base[hor ellipsis]it is clear they will not reach a return on capital that will justify reinvestment by ICI.' He does not see them as closure candidates but as 'businesses that will require further restructuring.' Hampel notes a dozen clearly identified areas for expansion,' including paints, catalysts, titanium dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbon replacements. Losses in materials, where substantial rationalization has failed to halt the slide, will be reduced on completion of the DuPont deal - expected by midyear. Further measures' would be necessary for the residual bit of advanced materials in the US,' he says.« less

US Adults Drink 17 Billion Binge Drinks a Year

MedlinePlus

... Emergency Preparedness & Response Environmental Health Healthy Living Injury, Violence & Safety Life Stages & Populations Travelers’ Health Workplace Safety & Health Features Media Sign up for Features Get Email Updates To ...

Gamma-ray blazars within the first 2 billion years

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Baldini, L.; ...

2017-02-27

Here, the detection of high-redshift (more » $$z\\,\\gt 3$$) blazars enables the study of the evolution of the most luminous relativistic jets over cosmic time. More importantly, high-redshift blazars tend to host massive black holes and can be used to constrain the space density of heavy black holes in the early universe. Here, we report the first detection with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope of five γ-ray-emitting blazars beyond z = 3.1, more distant than any blazars previously detected in γ-rays. Among these five objects, NVSS J151002+570243 is now the most distant known γ-ray-emitting blazar at z = 4.31. These objects have steeply falling γ-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and those that have been observed in X-rays have a very hard X-ray spectrum, both typical of powerful blazars. Their Compton dominance (ratio of the inverse Compton to synchrotron peak luminosities) is also very large ($$\\gt 20$$). All of these properties place these objects among the most extreme members of the blazar population. Their optical spectra and the modeling of their optical-UV SEDs confirm that these objects harbor massive black holes ($${M}_{\\mathrm{BH}}\\sim {10}^{8-10}\\,{M}_{\\odot }$$). We find that, at $$z\\approx 4$$, the space density of $$\\gt {10}^{9}\\,{M}_{\\odot }$$ black holes hosted in radio-loud and radio-quiet active galactic nuclei are similar, implying that radio-loudness may play a key role in rapid black hole growth in the early universe.« less

White Light Demonstration of One Hundred Parts per Billion Irradiance Suppression in Air by New Starshade Occulters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levinton, Douglas B.; Cash, Webster C.; Gleason, Brian; Kaiser, Michael J.; Levine, Sara A.; Lo, Amy S.; Schindhelm, Eric; Shipley, Ann F.

2007-01-01

A new mission concept for the direct imaging of exo-solar planets called the New Worlds Observer (NWO) has been proposed. The concept involves flying a meter-class space telescope in formation with a newly-conceived, specially-shaped, deployable star-occulting shade several meters across at a separation of some tens of thousands of kilometers. The telescope would make its observations from behind the starshade in a volume of high suppression of incident irradiance from the star around which planets orbit. The required level of irradiance suppression created by the starshade for an efficacious mission is of order 0.1 to 10 parts per billion in broadband light. This paper discusses the experimental setup developed to accurately measure the suppression ratio of irradiance produced at the null position behind candidate starshade forms to these levels. It also presents results of broadband measurements which demonstrated suppression levels of just under 100 parts per billion in air using the Sun as a light source. Analytical modeling of spatial irradiance distributions surrounding the null are presented and compared with photographs of irradiance captured in situ behind candidate starshades.

During the 'decade of vaccines,' the lives of 6.4 million children valued at $231 billion could be saved.

PubMed

Ozawa, Sachiko; Stack, Meghan L; Bishai, David M; Mirelman, Andrew; Friberg, Ingrid K; Niessen, Louis; Walker, Damian G; Levine, Orin S

2011-06-01

Governments constantly face the challenge of determining how much they should spend to prevent premature deaths and suffering in their populations. In this article we explore the benefits of expanding the delivery of life-saving vaccines in seventy-two low- and middle-income countries, which we estimate would prevent the deaths of 6.4 million children between 2011 and 2020. We present the economic benefits of vaccines by using a "value of statistical life" approach, which is based on individuals' perceptions regarding the trade-off between income and increased risk of mortality. Our analysis shows that the vaccine expansion described above corresponds to $231 billion (uncertainty range: $116-$614 billion) in the value of statistical lives saved. This analysis complements results from analyses based on other techniques and is the first of its kind for immunizations in the world's poorest countries. It highlights the major economic benefits made possible by improving vaccine coverage.

[Analysis of fourteen French national programmes on physical activity and sports as determinants of health from 2001 to 2006].

PubMed

Bréchat, Pierre-Henri; Vogel, Thomas; Berthel, Marc; Kaltenbach, Georges; Le Divenah, Aude; Segouin, Christophe; Rymer, Roland; Lonsdorfer, Jean

2009-01-01

Physical activity and sports are considered as one of the determinants of health. The aim of this study is to review the rationale for the formulation of this public health issue and its integration in national action plans. The study shows that fourteen national programmes were drafted and implemented between 2001 and 2006 by seven institutions. The research methodology was based on crossing data obtained from semi-directed interviews and documents regarding the design, implementation and follow-up of these programmes. For the conditions of the success, the fourteen actions scored an average of 175.0 +/- 66.9 out of 300%. Public health actors and professionals must be given more opportunities to involve themselves and engage in developing stronger relationships and linkages, in particular with the institutional and community settings. In general, the most invested parts of a programme are the structural and operational aspects of activities. Six significant points surfaced from the study: consideration of drug use as an addictive behaviour; recognition of the psychological stress of professional athletes; acknowledgment of youth as being at high risk for doping behaviour; integration of the concept that physical activity and sports must take the benefit/risk perspective into account; and the necessity to promote health. Through the exchange of numerous local and regional experiences, an optimisation of their synergistic connections was made possible on a continuum extending from "health promotion through physical activity and sports" to "prevention of drug-use and doping behaviours". Professionals have been able to develop actions in the above-mentioned domains across this continuum that have, to date, remained isolated. Proposals are made to strengthen these dynamics. Other health determinants and public health priorities could be investigated with the same methodology.

Interaction, at Ambient Temperature and 80 °C, between Minerals and Artificial Seawaters Resembling the Present Ocean Composition and that of 4.0 Billion Years Ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carneiro, Cristine E. A.; Stabile, Antonio C.; Gomes, Frederico P.; da Costa, Antonio C. S.; Zaia, Cássia T. B. V.; Zaia, Dimas A. M.

2017-09-01

Probably one of the most important roles played by minerals in the origin of life on Earth was to pre-concentrate biomolecules from the prebiotic seas. There are other ways to pre concentrate biomolecules such as wetting/drying cycles and freezing/sublimation. However, adsorption is most important. If the pre-concentration did not occur—because of degradation of the minerals—other roles played by them such as protection against degradation, formation of polymers, or even as primitive cell walls would be seriously compromised. We studied the interaction of two artificial seawaters with kaolinite, bentonite, montmorillonite, goethite, ferrihydrite and quartz. One seawater has a major cation and anion composition similar to that of the oceans of the Earth 4.0 billion years ago (ASW 4.0 Ga). In the other, the major cations and anions are an average of the compositions of the seawaters of today (ASWT). When ASWT, which is rich in Na+ and Cl-, interacted with bentonite and montmorrilonite structural collapse occurred on the 001 plane. However, ASW 4.0 Ga, which is rich in Mg2+ and SO4 2-, did not induce this behavior. When ASW 4.0 Ga was reacted with the minerals for 24 h at room temperature and 80 °C, the release of Si and Al to the fluid was below 1 % of the amount in the minerals—meaning that dissolution of the minerals did not occur. In general, minerals adsorbed Mg2+ and K+ from the ASW 4.0 Ga and these cations could be used for the formation of polymers. Also, when the minerals were mixed with ASW 4.0 Ga at 80 °C and ASWT at room temperature or 80 °C it caused the precipitation of CaSO4•2H2O and halite, respectively. Finally, further experiments (adsorption, formation of polymers, protection of molecules against degradation, primitive cell wall formation) performed under the conditions described in this paper will probably be more representative of what happened on the prebiotic Earth.

Fuel efficient stoves for the poorest two billion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gadgil, Ashok

2012-03-01

About 2 billion people cook their daily meals on generally inefficient, polluting, biomass cookstoves. The fuels include twigs and leaves, agricultural waste, animal dung, firewood, and charcoal. Exposure to resulting smoke leads to acute respiratory illness, and cancers, particularly among women cooks, and their infant children near them. Resulting annual mortality estimate is almost 2 million deaths, higher than that from malaria or tuberculosis. There is a large diversity of cooking methods (baking, boiling, long simmers, brazing and roasting), and a diversity of pot shapes and sizes in which the cooking is undertaken. Fuel-efficiency and emissions depend on the tending of the fire (and thermal power), type of fuel, stove characteristics, and fit of the pot to the stove. Thus, no one perfect fuel-efficient low-emitting stove can suit all users. Affordability imposes a further severe constraint on the stove design. For various economic strata within the users, a variety of stove designs may be appropriate and affordable. In some regions, biomass is harvested non-renewably for cooking fuel. There is also increasing evidence that black carbon emitted from stoves is a significant contributor to atmospheric forcing. Thus improved biomass stoves can also help mitigate global climate change. The speaker will describe specific work undertaken to design, develop, test, and disseminate affordable fuel-efficient stoves for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Darfur, Sudan, where the IDPs face hardship, humiliation, hunger, and risk of sexual assault owing to their dependence on local biomass for cooking their meals.

Review of the Berosus Leach of Venezuela (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Berosini) with description of fourteen new species

PubMed Central

Oliva, Adriana; Short, Andrew E. Z.

2012-01-01

Abstract The species of the water scavenger beetle genus Berosus Leach occurring in Venezuela are reviewed. Thirty-six species are recorded, including fifteen new species, fourteen of which are described here as new: Berosus aragua sp. n., Berosus asymmetricus sp. n., Berosus capanaparo sp. n., Berosus castaneus sp. n., Berosus corozo sp. n., Berosus ebeninus sp. n., Berosus garciai sp. n., Berosus humeralis sp. n., Berosus jolyi sp. n., Berosus llanensis sp. n., Berosus megaphallus sp. n., Berosus ornaticollis sp. n., Berosus repertus sp. n., and Berosus tramidrum sp. n. The fifteenth new species, known from a single female, is left undescribed pending the collection of males. Twelve species are recorded from Venezuela for the first time: Berosus ambogynus Mouchamps, Berosus consobrinus Knisch, Berosus elegans Knisch, Berosus geayi d’Orchymont, Berosus ghanicus d’Orchymont, Berosus guyanensis Queney, Berosus holdhausi Knisch, Berosus marquardti Knisch, Berosus olivae Queney, Berosus reticulatus Knisch, Berosus wintersteineri Knisch, and Berosus zimmermanni Knisch. PMID:22811607

Venezuela’s Corruption On the Rise: Fourteen Years of Chavismo

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

the Pérez administration, including increases in food and oil prices and decline in social programs.19 According to Julia Buxton, the austerity...level, and systematic corruption at the “interaction of the state and private actors in a contaminated social system.”45...corruption penetrating several aspects of Venezuelan society from food programs, healthcare, and the bureaucracies that control those basic goods

To reactivate or not to reactivate: nature and varied behavior of structural inheritance in the Proterozoic basement of the Eastern Colorado mineral belt over 1.7 billion years of earth history

USGS Publications Warehouse

Caine, Jonathan S.; Ridley, John; Wessel, Zachary R.

2010-01-01

The eastern central Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado has long been a region of geologic interest because of Laramide-age hydrothermal polymetallic vein-related ores. The region is characterized by a well-exposed array of geologic structures associated with ductile and brittle deformation, which record crustal strain over 1.7 billion years of continental growth and evolution. The mineralized areas lie along a broad linear zone termed the Colorado Mineral Belt. This lineament has commonly been interpreted as following a fundamental boundary, such as a suture zone, in the North American Proterozoic crust that acted as a persistent zone of weakness localizing the emplacement of magmas and associated hydrothermal fluid flow. However, the details on the controls of the location, orientation, kinematics, density, permeability, and relative strength of various geological structures and their specific relationships to mineral deposit formation are not related to Proterozoic ancestry in a simple manner. The objectives of this field trip are to show key localities typical of the various types of structures present, show recently compiled and new data, offer alternative conceptual models, and foster dialogue. Topics to be discussed include: (1) structural history of the eastern Front Range; (2) characteristics, kinematics, orientations, and age of ductile and brittle structures and how they may or may not relate to one another and mineral deposit permeability; and (3) characteristics, localization, and evolution of the metal and non–metal-bearing hydrothermal systems in the eastern Colorado Mineral Belt.

Marine Gastrotricha of the Near East: 1. Fourteen new species of Macrodasyida and a redescription of Dactylopodola agadasys Hochberg, 2003

PubMed Central

Hummon, William D.

2011-01-01

Abstract The near eastern geographical region is almost devoid of reports of macrodasyidan gastrotrichs, the exceptions themselves being part of this study. Here, as Part 1 are described fourteen new Macrodasyida from countries of the Near East (Cyprus, Egypt and Israel, representing both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas), and a redescription of the previously described Dactylopodolidae: Dactylopodola agadasys Hochberg, 2002. The new species are: Cephalodasyidae (2) - Cephalodasys dolichosomus; Cephalodasys saegailus; Dactylopodolidae (1) Dendrodasys rubomarinus; Macrodasyidae (5) - Macrodasys imbricatus; Macrodasys macrurus; Macrodasys nigrocellus; Macrodasys scleracrus; Urodasys toxostylus; Thaumastodermatidae(4) - Tetranchyroderma corallium; Tetranchyroderma rhopalotum; Tetranchyroderma sinaiensis; Tetranchyroderma xenodactylum; Turbanellidae(2) - Paraturbanella levantia; Turbanella erythrothalassia - spp. n. PMID:21594074

Synthetic, Spectroscopic and Biocidal Aspects of Heterobimetallic Complexes Comprising Platinum(II) and a Group Four or Fourteen Element

PubMed Central

Sharma, Kripa

2000-01-01

Heterobimetallic complexes with varying amines have been synthesized by the reaction of [Pt(C2H8N2)2]Cl2 with group four or fourteen organometallic dichlorides, viz., R2MCl2 and Cp2M'Cl2 in a 1:2 molar ratio in MeOH (where M=Si or Sn, M'= Ti or Zr and R=Ph or Me). These complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, molecular weight determinations, magnetic measurements, conductance, IR, 1H NMR and electronic spectra. The spectral data suggest a square planar geometry for all the complexes. Conductivity data suggest that they behave as electrolytes. These monometallic precursors along with their complexes have been screened in vitro against a number of pathogenic fungi and bacteria to assess their growth inhibiting potential. PMID:18475917

Unexpected mechanisms of resistance in Dutch Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates collected during fourteen years of surveillance.

PubMed

Croughs, P D; Klaassen, C H W; van Rosmalen, J; Maghdid, D M; Boers, S A; Hays, J P; Goessens, W H F

2018-05-14

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important causes of infection in the intensive care unit. It is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics and easily acquires additional resistance genes via horizontal gene transfer of mobile genetic elements. In the present study, 1,528 P. aeruginosa isolates, obtained from a Dutch national surveillance program between the years 1998 and 2011, were analyzed for the presence of Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) genes bla CTX-M , bla SHV , bla TEM , bla BEL , bla PER , bla VEB , bla OXA-10 and metallo-β-Lactamase (MBL) genes bla IMP , bla VIM and bla NDM . Six percent of ceftazidime-resistant isolates tested positive for ESBL and a Verona Integron-Encoded Metallo-β-Lactamase (VIM) gene was found in 3% of the isolates that were phenotypically resistant to imipenem, and/or meropenem. Genotyping of ESBL-positive isolates indicated ST1216, ST111, and ST622 genotypes, with all VIM-positive isolates belonging to the ST111 clone. Although the prevalence of ESBL and MBL phenotypes in this Dutch national surveillance collection of over 1500 ICU P. aeruginosa isolates was very low, all VIM-producing isolates belonged to the high risk-associated, international, clonal complex CC111 and most ESBL-producing isolates belonged to clonal complexes known for their successful spread e.g. CC111 and CC235. The current data indicates that high risk clones of P. aeruginosa were present in the Netherlands between 1998-2011 and probably spread unnoticed throughout Dutch hospitals. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Prevalence of hypodontia in nine- to fourteen-year-old children who attended the Mashhad School of Dentistry.

PubMed

Ajami, Behgat-al-molok; Shabzendedar, Mahboobeh; Mehrjerdian, Maryam

2010-01-01

Hypodontia is defined as the congenital absence of one or a few teeth, and is also the most common anomaly in dental development. This condition occurs either individually or as part of the symptoms of a syndrome, and it is more common in permanent teeth than in deciduous teeth, reporting a prevalence of between 1.6 and 9.6%. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of hypodontia for permanent teeth in nine- to 14-year-old children who attended the Mashhad School of Dentistry in 2007. We conducted this descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study, to determine the mentioned aims. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, panoramic radiographs belonging to 600 children (351 girls and 249 boys), aged nine to 14 years, were available for examination. All related findings were recorded in the respective forms. The data were processed using Exact and Chi-square tests. The prevalence of hypodontia in the girls was 9.2%, in the boys 8.8%, and in both sexes combined 9%. The most and the least frequent cases of absent teeth were the mandibular second premolars and the maxillary central incisor (only one child), respectively. The most commonly absent teeth were the mandibular second premolars, the maxillary lateral incisors, the mandibular central incisor, and the maxillary second premolars, in that order. This study showed a high frequency of hypodontia among the understudied population. Thus, due to the complicated treatment, accurate examination of children for on-time diagnosis of this developmental anomaly is crucial.

Drug Prohibition and Public Health: 25 Years of Evidence

PubMed Central

Drucker, Ernest

1999-01-01

FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS, the US has pursued a drug policy based on prohibition and the vigorous application of criminal sanctions for the use and sale of illicit drugs. The relationship of a prohibition-based drug policy to prevalence patterns and health consequences of drug use has never been fully evaluated. To explore that relationship, the author examines national data on the application of criminal penalties for illegal drugs and associated trends in their patterns of use and adverse health outcomes for 1972–1997. Over this 25-year period, the rate at which criminal penalties are imposed for drug offenses has climbed steadily, reaching 1.5 million arrests for drug offenses in 1996, with a tenfold increase in imprisonment for drug charges since 1979. Today, drug enforcement activities constitute 67% of the $16 billion Federal drug budget and more than $20 billion per year in state and local enforcement expenditures, compared with $7.6 billion for treatment, prevention, and research. Despite an overall decline in the prevalence of drug use since 1979, we have seen dramatic increases in drugrelated emergency department visits and drug-related deaths coinciding with this period of increased enforcement. Further, while black, Hispanic, and white Americans use illegal drugs at comparable rates, there are dramatic differences in the application of criminal penalties for drug offenses. African Americans are more than 20 times as likely as whites to be incarcerated for drug offenses, and drug-related emergency department visits, overdose deaths, and new HIV infections related to injecting drugs are many times higher for blacks than whites. These outcomes may be understood as public health consequences of policies that criminalize and marginalize drug users and increase drug-related risks to life and health. Imagesp14-ap15-ap16-ap21-ap24-a PMID:9925168

GERLUMPH Data Release 2: 2.5 Billion Simulated Microlensing Light Curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vernardos, G.; Fluke, C. J.; Bate, N. F.; Croton, D.; Vohl, D.

2015-04-01

In the upcoming synoptic all-sky survey era of astronomy, thousands of new multiply imaged quasars are expected to be discovered and monitored regularly. Light curves from the images of gravitationally lensed quasars are further affected by superimposed variability due to microlensing. In order to disentangle the microlensing from the intrinsic variability of the light curves, the time delays between the multiple images have to be accurately measured. The resulting microlensing light curves can then be analyzed to reveal information about the background source, such as the size of the quasar accretion disk. In this paper we present the most extensive and coherent collection of simulated microlensing light curves; we have generated \\gt 2.5 billion light curves using the GERLUMPH high resolution microlensing magnification maps. Our simulations can be used to train algorithms to measure lensed quasar time delays, plan future monitoring campaigns, and study light curve properties throughout parameter space. Our data are openly available to the community and are complemented by online eResearch tools, located at http://gerlumph.swin.edu.au.

Lost productive life years caused by chronic conditions in Australians aged 45-64 years, 2010-2030.

PubMed

Schofield, Deborah J; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Cunich, Michelle; Tanton, Robert; Kelly, Simon; Passey, Megan E; Veerman, Lennert J

2015-09-21

To estimate (1) productive life years (PLYs) lost because of chronic conditions in Australians aged 45-64 years from 2010 to 2030, and (2) the impact of this loss on gross domestic product (GDP) over the same period. A microsimulation model, Health&WealthMOD2030, was used to project lost PLYs caused by chronic conditions from 2010 to 2030. The base population consisted of respondents aged 45-64 years to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2003 and 2009. The national impact of lost PLYs was assessed with Treasury's GDP equation. Lost PLYs due to chronic disease at 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030 (ie, whole life years lost because of chronic disease); the national impact of lost PLYs at the same time points (GDP loss caused by PLYs); the effects of population growth, labour force trends and chronic disease trends on lost PLYs and GDP at each time point. Using Health&WealthMOD2030, we estimated a loss of 347,000 PLYs in 2010; this was projected to increase to 459,000 in 2030 (32.28% increase over 20 years). The leading chronic conditions associated with premature exits from the labour force were back problems, arthritis and mental and behavioural problems. The percentage increase in the number of PLYs lost by those aged 45-64 years was greater than that of population growth for this age group (32.28% v 27.80%). The strongest driver of the increase in lost PLYs was population growth (accounting for 89.18% of the increase), followed by chronic condition trends (8.28%). Our study estimates an increase of 112 000 lost PLYs caused by chronic illness in older workers in Australia between 2010 and 2030, with the most rapid growth projected to occur in men aged 55-59 years and in women aged 60-64 years. The national impact of this lost labour force participation on GDP was estimated to be $37.79 billion in 2010, increasing to $63.73 billion in 2030.

Compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotope analysis of sub-parts per billion level waterborne petroleum hydrocarbons

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wang, Y.; Huang, Y.; Huckins, J.N.; Petty, J.D.

2004-01-01

Compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotope analysis (CSCIA and CSHIA) has been increasingly used to study the source, transport, and bioremediation of organic contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons. In natural aquatic systems, dissolved contaminants represent the bioavailable fraction that generally is of the greatest toxicological significance. However, determining the isotopic ratios of waterborne hydrophobic contaminants in natural waters is very challenging because of their extremely low concentrations (often at sub-parts ber billion, or even lower). To acquire sufficient quantities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with 10 ng/L concentration for CSHIA, more than 1000 L of water must be extracted. Conventional liquid/liquid or solid-phase extraction is not suitable for such large volume extractions. We have developed a new approach that is capable of efficiently sampling sub-parts per billion level waterborne petroleum hydrocarbons for CSIA. We use semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) to accumulate hydrophobic contaminants from polluted waters and then recover the compounds in the laboratory for CSIA. In this study, we demonstrate, under a variety of experimental conditions (different concentrations, temperatures, and turbulence levels), that SPMD-associated processes do not induce C and H isotopic fractionations. The applicability of SPMD-CSIA technology to natural systems is further demonstrated by determining the ??13C and ??D values of petroleum hydrocarbons present in the Pawtuxet River, RI. Our results show that the combined SPMD-CSIA is an effective tool to investigate the source and fate of hydrophobic contaminants in the aquatic environments.

State-Funded Scholarship/Grant Programs for Students to Attend Postsecondary Education Institutions. National Association of Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) 27th Annual Survey Report, 1995-96 Academic Year.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeSalvatore, Kristen; Hughes, Linda

This report presents data for the 1995-96 academic year on state-funded student scholarship and grant programs in 14 tables. States awarded over $2.9 billion in student aid to over 2 million students in 1995-96, an increase of 1.6 percent over the amount awarded the previous year. Of the $2.5 billion in need-based grant aid available, 99 percent…

Evaluation of carcinogenic potential of the herbicide glyphosate, drawing on tumor incidence data from fourteen chronic/carcinogenicity rodent studies

PubMed Central

Greim, Helmut; Saltmiras, David; Mostert, Volker; Strupp, Christian

2015-01-01

Abstract Glyphosate, an herbicidal derivative of the amino acid glycine, was introduced to agriculture in the 1970s. Glyphosate targets and blocks a plant metabolic pathway not found in animals, the shikimate pathway, required for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants. After almost forty years of commercial use, and multiple regulatory approvals including toxicology evaluations, literature reviews, and numerous human health risk assessments, the clear and consistent conclusions are that glyphosate is of low toxicological concern, and no concerns exist with respect to glyphosate use and cancer in humans. This manuscript discusses the basis for these conclusions. Most toxicological studies informing regulatory evaluations are of commercial interest and are proprietary in nature. Given the widespread attention to this molecule, the authors gained access to carcinogenicity data submitted to regulatory agencies and present overviews of each study, followed by a weight of evidence evaluation of tumor incidence data. Fourteen carcinogenicity studies (nine rat and five mouse) are evaluated for their individual reliability, and select neoplasms are identified for further evaluation across the data base. The original tumor incidence data from study reports are presented in the online data supplement. There was no evidence of a carcinogenic effect related to glyphosate treatment. The lack of a plausible mechanism, along with published epidemiology studies, which fail to demonstrate clear, statistically significant, unbiased and non-confounded associations between glyphosate and cancer of any single etiology, and a compelling weight of evidence, support the conclusion that glyphosate does not present concern with respect to carcinogenic potential in humans. PMID:25716480

Evaluation of carcinogenic potential of the herbicide glyphosate, drawing on tumor incidence data from fourteen chronic/carcinogenicity rodent studies.

PubMed

Greim, Helmut; Saltmiras, David; Mostert, Volker; Strupp, Christian

2015-03-01

Abstract Glyphosate, an herbicidal derivative of the amino acid glycine, was introduced to agriculture in the 1970s. Glyphosate targets and blocks a plant metabolic pathway not found in animals, the shikimate pathway, required for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants. After almost forty years of commercial use, and multiple regulatory approvals including toxicology evaluations, literature reviews, and numerous human health risk assessments, the clear and consistent conclusions are that glyphosate is of low toxicological concern, and no concerns exist with respect to glyphosate use and cancer in humans. This manuscript discusses the basis for these conclusions. Most toxicological studies informing regulatory evaluations are of commercial interest and are proprietary in nature. Given the widespread attention to this molecule, the authors gained access to carcinogenicity data submitted to regulatory agencies and present overviews of each study, followed by a weight of evidence evaluation of tumor incidence data. Fourteen carcinogenicity studies (nine rat and five mouse) are evaluated for their individual reliability, and select neoplasms are identified for further evaluation across the data base. The original tumor incidence data from study reports are presented in the online data supplement. There was no evidence of a carcinogenic effect related to glyphosate treatment. The lack of a plausible mechanism, along with published epidemiology studies, which fail to demonstrate clear, statistically significant, unbiased and non-confounded associations between glyphosate and cancer of any single etiology, and a compelling weight of evidence, support the conclusion that glyphosate does not present concern with respect to carcinogenic potential in humans.

Large data analysis: automatic visual personal identification in a demography of 1.2 billion persons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daugman, John

2014-05-01

The largest biometric deployment in history is now underway in India, where the Government is enrolling the iris patterns (among other data) of all 1.2 billion citizens. The purpose of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to ensure fair access to welfare benefits and entitlements, to reduce fraud, and enhance social inclusion. Only a minority of Indian citizens have bank accounts; only 4 percent possess passports; and less than half of all aid money reaches its intended recipients. A person who lacks any means of establishing their identity is excluded from entitlements and does not officially exist; thus the slogan of UIDAI is: To give the poor an identity." This ambitious program enrolls a million people every day, across 36,000 stations run by 83 agencies, with a 3-year completion target for the entire national population. The halfway point was recently passed with more than 600 million persons now enrolled. In order to detect and prevent duplicate identities, every iris pattern that is enrolled is first compared against all others enrolled so far; thus the daily workflow now requires 600 trillion (or 600 million-million) iris cross-comparisons. Avoiding identity collisions (False Matches) requires high biometric entropy, and achieving the tremendous match speed requires phase bit coding. Both of these requirements are being delivered operationally by wavelet methods developed by the author for encoding and comparing iris patterns, which will be the focus of this Large Data Award" presentation.

Monte Carlo Study of Four-Dimensional Self-avoiding Walks of up to One Billion Steps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clisby, Nathan

2018-04-01

We study self-avoiding walks on the four-dimensional hypercubic lattice via Monte Carlo simulations of walks with up to one billion steps. We study the expected logarithmic corrections to scaling, and find convincing evidence in support the scaling form predicted by the renormalization group, with an estimate for the power of the logarithmic factor of 0.2516(14), which is consistent with the predicted value of 1/4. We also characterize the behaviour of the pivot algorithm for sampling four dimensional self-avoiding walks, and conjecture that the probability of a pivot move being successful for an N-step walk is O([ log N ]^{-1/4}).

Experience Based Career Education at Wichita East High School: A Third-Party Evaluation for Year Two, 1977-78.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, George; Miskel, Cecil

A third-party evaluation was conducted to assess the second year's operation of the Experience Based Career Education (EBCE) program at Wichita (Kansas) High School East. The program proposal contained fourteen process objectives and twelve outcome objectives. The status of the process objective achievement was determined by interviewing program…

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations before 2.2 billion years ago

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rye, R.; Kuo, P. H.; Holland, H. D.

1995-01-01

The composition of the Earth's early atmosphere is a subject of continuing debate. In particular, it has been suggested that elevated concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide would have been necessary to maintain normal surface temperatures in the face of lower solar luminosity in early Earth history. Fossil weathering profiles, known as palaeosols, have provided semi-quantitative constraints on atmospheric oxygen partial pressure (pO2) before 2.2 Gyr ago. Here we use the same well studied palaeosols to constrain atmospheric pCO2 between 2.75 and 2.2 Gyr ago. The observation that iron lost from the tops of these profiles was reprecipitated lower down as iron silicate minerals, rather than as iron carbonate, indicates that atmospheric pCO2 must have been less than 10(-1.4) atm--about 100 times today's level of 360 p.p.m., and at least five times lower than that required in one-dimensional climate models to compensate for lower solar luminosity at 2.75 Gyr. Our results suggest that either the Earth's early climate was much more sensitive to increases in pCO2 than has been thought, or that one or more greenhouse gases other than CO2 contributed significantly to the atmosphere's radiative balance during the late Archaean and early Proterozoic eons.

Expression of fourteen novel obesity-related genes in Zucker diabetic fatty rats.

PubMed

Schmid, Peter M; Heid, Iris; Buechler, Christa; Steege, Andreas; Resch, Markus; Birner, Christoph; Endemann, Dierk H; Riegger, Guenter A; Luchner, Andreas

2012-07-13

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are useful to reveal an association between single nucleotide polymorphisms and different measures of obesity. A multitude of new loci has recently been reported, but the exact function of most of the according genes is not known. The aim of our study was to start elucidating the function of some of these genes. We performed an expression analysis of fourteen genes, namely BDNF, ETV5, FAIM2, FTO, GNPDA2, KCTD15, LYPLAL1, MCR4, MTCH2, NEGR1, NRXN3, TMEM18, SEC16B and TFAP2B, via real-time RT-PCR in adipose tissue of the kidney capsule, the mesenterium and subcutaneum as well as the hypothalamus of obese Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) and Zucker lean (ZL) rats at an age of 22 weeks. All of our target genes except for SEC16B showed the highest expression in the hypothalamus. This suggests a critical role of these obesity-related genes in the central regulation of energy balance. Interestingly, the expression pattern in the hypothalamus showed no differences between obese ZDF and lean ZL rats. However, LYPLAL1, TFAP2B, SEC16B and FAIM2 were significantly lower expressed in the kidney fat of ZDF than ZL rats. NEGR1 was even lower expressed in subcutaneous and mesenterial fat, while MTCH2 was higher expressed in the subcutaneous and mesenterial fat of ZDF rats. The expression pattern of the investigated obesity genes implies for most of them a role in the central regulation of energy balance, but for some also a role in the adipose tissue itself. For the development of the ZDF phenotype peripheral rather than central mechanisms of the investigated genes seem to be relevant.

Mixed-reproductive strategies, competitive mating-type distribution and life cycle of fourteen black morel species.

PubMed

Du, Xi-Hui; Zhao, Qi; Xia, En-Hua; Gao, Li-Zhi; Richard, Franck; Yang, Zhu L

2017-05-04

Morchella species are well known world-round as popular and prized edible fungi due to their unique culinary flavor. Recently, several species have been successfully cultivated in China. However, their reproductive modes are still unknown, and their basic biology needs to be elucidated. Here, we use the morel genome information to investigate mating systems and life cycles of fourteen black morel species. Mating type-specific primers were developed to screen and genotype ascospores, hymenia and stipes from 223 ascocarps of the 14 species from Asia and Europe. Our data indicated that they are all heterothallic and their life cycles are predominantly haploid, but sterile haploid fruiting also exists. Ascospores in all species are mostly haploid, homokaryotic, and multinuclear, whereas aborted ascospores without any nuclei were also detected. Interestingly, we monitored divergent spatial distribution of both mating types in natural morel populations and cultivated sites, where the fertile tissue of fruiting bodies usually harbored both mating types, whereas sterile tissue of wild morels constantly had one MAT allele, while the sterile tissue of cultivated strains always exhibited both MAT alleles. Furthermore, MAT1-1-1 was detected significantly more commonly than MAT1-2-1 in natural populations, which strongly suggested a competitive advantage for MAT1-1 strains.

Retrobulbar optic neuritis and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in a fourteen-year-old girl with retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento.

PubMed

Hatta, M; Hayasaka, S; Kato, T; Kadoi, C

2000-01-01

A 14-year-old girl complained of a sudden decrease in right visual acuity. The patient had night blindness, a mottled retina but no pigments, extinguished scotopic electroretinographic response, central scotoma in the right eye and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. She had initially received laser photocoagulation around the retinal tear and then corticosteroid therapy, cryoretinopexy and segmental buckling. Her right visual acuity increased to 1.0. The association of retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento, retrobulbar optic neuritis and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, as demonstrated in our patient, may be uncommon. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Visiting the cinema, concerts, museums or art exhibitions as determinant of survival: a Swedish fourteen-year cohort follow-up.

PubMed

Konlaan, B B; Bygren, L O; Johansson, S E

2000-09-01

The aim of this study was to ascertain the possible influence of attending various kinds of cultural events or visiting cultural institutions as a determinant of survival. A cohort of individuals aged 25-74 years from a random sample were interviewed by trained non-medical interviewers in 1982 and 1983. The interviews covered standard-of-living variables. Our independent variables covered visiting cultural institutions and attendance at cultural events, reading books or periodicals, and music making. The non-response rate was about 25%. The cohort was followed with respect to survival for 14 years up to 31st December 1996. The background covariates that were used for control purposes were age, sex, cash buffer, educational standard, long-term disease, smoking, and physical exercise. Our setting was the Swedish survey of living conditions among the adult Swedish population aged 25-74 years. About 10,609 individuals were interviewed in 1982 and 1983. The outcome measure was survival until 31st December 1996. In all, 916 men and 600 women died during this period. We found a higher mortality risk for those people who rarely visited the cinema, concerts, museums, or art exhibitions compared with those visiting them most often. The significant relative risks ranging between RR 1.14 (95% CI. 1.01-1.31) of attending art exhibitions, and RR 1.42 (CI. 1.25-1.60) of attending museums, when adjusting for the nine other variables. Visits to the cinema and concerts gave significant RR in between. We could not discern any beneficial effect of attending the theatre, church service or sports event as a spectator or any effect of reading or music making. Our conclusion is that attendance at certain kinds of cultural events may have a beneficial effect on longevity.

An Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2015 Shipbuilding Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

include 17 new oilers (which provide fuel and a few other supplies to ships at sea) at a rate of 1 per year through the 2020s; that program would con...Photo by Ensign Joseph Pfaff, U.S. Navy.www.cbo.gov/publication/49818 ContentsSummary 1 The Navy Plans to Buy 264 Ships Over the Next 30 Years 1 CBO...Estimates the New-Ship Construction Costs in the Navy’s Plan At About $19 Billion per Year 1 CBO’s Estimate of Costs Over the Next 30 Years Is One-Third

Interaction, at Ambient Temperature and 80 °C, between Minerals and Artificial Seawaters Resembling the Present Ocean Composition and that of 4.0 Billion Years Ago.

PubMed

Carneiro, Cristine E A; Stabile, Antonio C; Gomes, Frederico P; da Costa, Antonio C S; Zaia, Cássia T B V; Zaia, Dimas A M

2017-09-01

Probably one of the most important roles played by minerals in the origin of life on Earth was to pre-concentrate biomolecules from the prebiotic seas. There are other ways to pre concentrate biomolecules such as wetting/drying cycles and freezing/sublimation. However, adsorption is most important. If the pre-concentration did not occur-because of degradation of the minerals-other roles played by them such as protection against degradation, formation of polymers, or even as primitive cell walls would be seriously compromised. We studied the interaction of two artificial seawaters with kaolinite, bentonite, montmorillonite, goethite, ferrihydrite and quartz. One seawater has a major cation and anion composition similar to that of the oceans of the Earth 4.0 billion years ago (ASW 4.0 Ga). In the other, the major cations and anions are an average of the compositions of the seawaters of today (ASWT). When ASWT, which is rich in Na + and Cl - , interacted with bentonite and montmorrilonite structural collapse occurred on the 001 plane. However, ASW 4.0 Ga, which is rich in Mg 2+ and SO 4 2- , did not induce this behavior. When ASW 4.0 Ga was reacted with the minerals for 24 h at room temperature and 80 °C, the release of Si and Al to the fluid was below 1 % of the amount in the minerals-meaning that dissolution of the minerals did not occur. In general, minerals adsorbed Mg 2+ and K + from the ASW 4.0 Ga and these cations could be used for the formation of polymers. Also, when the minerals were mixed with ASW 4.0 Ga at 80 °C and ASWT at room temperature or 80 °C it caused the precipitation of CaSO 4 ∙2H 2 O and halite, respectively. Finally, further experiments (adsorption, formation of polymers, protection of molecules against degradation, primitive cell wall formation) performed under the conditions described in this paper will probably be more representative of what happened on the prebiotic Earth.

Outcomes of Metastatic Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia: Fourteen Year Experience from a Northern Thailand Tertiary Care Center.

PubMed

Suprasert, Prapaporn; Siriaree, Sitthicha; Manopunya, Manatsawee

2016-01-01

Metastatic gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is an uncommon cancer. The principal treatment consists of chemotherapy with or without surgery or radiotherapy. We here retrospectively reviewed the outcomes of metastatic GTN treated at our institute between January, 1999 and December, 2013. Sixty-three patients met the criteria. The median age was 30.0 years and almost 90% were referral cases. Nearly 40% of the studied patients presented with vaginal bleeding while 22.2% were asymptomatic. The most common antecedent pregnancy was hydatidiform mole (57.1%) followed by term pregnancy (20.6%). The median interval time from antecedent pregnancy to the development of GTN was three months and the median pretreatment B-hCG was 58,274 mIU/ ml. Stage III (74.6%) was the most common staging followed by stage IV (20.6%) and stage II (4.8%). The most frequent surgery was hysterectomy (31.7%). Thoracotomy and craniotomy were performed in three and two patients, respectively. The most common first line chemotherapy regimen was methotrexate and folinic acid (36.5%) followed by EMA (etoposide, methotrexate, actinomycin D) (34.9%), EMACO (etoposide, methotrexate, actinomycin D, cyclophosphamide, vincristine) (17.5%) with the remission rate of 66.7%. Nearly one-third of the patients were given a subsequent chemotherapy regimen after failure with the first line therapy and showed a final response rate of 73.0%. However, in stage IV, the response to first line treatment was only 38.5%. In conclusion, the outcomes of metastatic GTN were poor especially with the higher stages.

A "Politics against Social Submission": Of Early Years Teachers' Accessibility and Work with Children in Québec

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang-Kredl, Sandra

2017-01-01

In this paper, I examine the claim that teachers' subjective experiences can lead to social change through the perspective of the early years teacher in Quebec. Fourteen early childhood teachers participated in memory writing and individual interviews. Data were inductively coded and analysed in terms of the teachers' subjective experiences of:…

Thyroid Follicular Carcinoma in a Fourteen-year-old Girl with Graves’ Disease

PubMed Central

Kojima-Ishii, Kanako; Ihara, Kenji; Ohkubo, Kazuhiro; Matsuo, Terumichi; Toda, Naoko; Yamashita, Hiroyuki; Kono, Shinji; Hara, Toshiro

2014-01-01

Abstract Here we present the case of a 14-yr-old girl who developed thyroid follicular carcinoma accompanied by Graves’ disease. She was diagnosed with Graves’ disease at 10 yr of age and soon achieved a euthyroid state after starting treatment. When she was 13 yr of age, her hyperthyroidism and goiter worsened despite medical therapy. Multiple nodules were found in her enlarged thyroid gland by ultrasonography. Her serum Tg level seemed within the normal range. She underwent near-total thyroidectomy for control of thyroid function. Histopathological study demonstrated that multiple oxyphilic follicular neoplasms were surrounded by the thyroid tissue compatible with Graves’ disease. Capsular invasion was identified in one of the nodules, and thus the histological diagnosis was minimally invasive follicular carcinoma. She did not have signs suggesting metastasis, and has had no relapse for 18 mo after the operation. Although some previous studies showed a high prevalence of thyroid cancer with an aggressive nature in adult patients with Graves’ disease, few reports about thyroid cancer accompanied by Graves’ disease are available in children. The present case, however, suggests that careful investigation is needed when we detect thyroid nodules or progressive thyroid enlargement, especially in children with Graves’ disease. PMID:24790388

Thyroid Follicular Carcinoma in a Fourteen-year-old Girl with Graves' Disease.

PubMed

Kojima-Ishii, Kanako; Ihara, Kenji; Ohkubo, Kazuhiro; Matsuo, Terumichi; Toda, Naoko; Yamashita, Hiroyuki; Kono, Shinji; Hara, Toshiro

2014-04-01

Here we present the case of a 14-yr-old girl who developed thyroid follicular carcinoma accompanied by Graves' disease. She was diagnosed with Graves' disease at 10 yr of age and soon achieved a euthyroid state after starting treatment. When she was 13 yr of age, her hyperthyroidism and goiter worsened despite medical therapy. Multiple nodules were found in her enlarged thyroid gland by ultrasonography. Her serum Tg level seemed within the normal range. She underwent near-total thyroidectomy for control of thyroid function. Histopathological study demonstrated that multiple oxyphilic follicular neoplasms were surrounded by the thyroid tissue compatible with Graves' disease. Capsular invasion was identified in one of the nodules, and thus the histological diagnosis was minimally invasive follicular carcinoma. She did not have signs suggesting metastasis, and has had no relapse for 18 mo after the operation. Although some previous studies showed a high prevalence of thyroid cancer with an aggressive nature in adult patients with Graves' disease, few reports about thyroid cancer accompanied by Graves' disease are available in children. The present case, however, suggests that careful investigation is needed when we detect thyroid nodules or progressive thyroid enlargement, especially in children with Graves' disease.

Galaxy Evolution Explorer Celebrates Five Years in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-04-28

Since its launch five years ago, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has photographed hundreds of millions of galaxies in ultraviolet light. M106 is one of those galaxies, 22 light years away, it strikes a pose in blue and gold for this new commemorative portrait. The galaxy's extended arms are the blue filaments that curve around its edge, creating its outer disk. Tints of blue in M106's arms reveal hot, young massive stars. Traces of gold toward the center show an older stellar population and indicate the presence of obscuring dust. From 24 million light-years away, neighboring galaxy NGC 4248 also makes a memorable appearance, sitting just right of M106. The irregular galaxy looks like a yellow smudge, with a bluish-white bar in the center. The galaxy's outer golden glow indicates a population of older stars, while the blue central region shows a younger stellar demographic. Dwarf galaxy UGC 7365 emerges at the bottom center of this image, as a faint yellow smudge directly below M106. This galaxy is not forming any new stars, and looks much smaller than M106 despite being closer to Earth, at 14 million light-years away. Over the past five years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has imaged half a billion objects over 27,000 square degrees of sky —equivalent to an area that would be covered by 138,000 full moons. The telescope orbits Earth every 94 minutes and travels approximately 408,470 million miles per day. Its overarching question is: how do galaxies grow and change over 10 billion years of cosmic history? M106, also known as NGC 4258, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image is a two-color composite, where far-ultraviolet light is blue, and near-ultraviolet light is red. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10600

Life under the Spending Caps: The Clinton Fiscal Year 1995 Budget.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Paul; Greenstein, Robert

The stage for the introduction of the Clinton Administration's fiscal year 1995 budget was largely set by the passage of the budget reconciliation bill signed into law in August 1993. In developing the budget, the Administration had to come up with enough spending cuts to meet the spending caps--as well as billions of dollars in additional cuts to…

Development of an Item Unique Identification Strategy for the Legacy Components of the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams Tank

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

than $1 billion is at risk) and qualitative (i.e., significantly reduced effectiveness and efficiency) criteria will merit a high-risk designation ...management,3 is not only one of the fourteen charter designations on the first high- risk list issued in 1993, it has also been on every biennial...Furthermore, the top-down design of the centralized information repository (IUID Registry) is perhaps the greatest benefit of the IUID vision, as it

Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-02-06

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin outlines the President's budget for fiscal year 2007 during a news conference, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Griffin was joined by the heads of NASA's four mission directorates to explain how the proposed $16.8 billion dollar budget supports the Vision for Space Exploration. Seated left to right: Scott Horowitz, NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Lisa Porter, NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research and Mary Cleave, NASA Associate Administrator for Science. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

[New projections for the world population to the year 2025].

PubMed

Srb, V

1988-03-01

The 1982 and 1984 population projection program of the United Nations containing estimations for the world's population for 2000-2025 had 3 variations: the median projection figure for 2000 was 6.122 billion and for 2025 8.025 billion. The respective figures of the high estimate were 6.340 and 9.088 billion, and the low estimate envisioned 5.927 and 7.358 billion people, respectively. THe corresponding rate of growth is expected to slow down from 1.67% during 1980-1985 to 1.38% during 2000- 2005, and to drop to 0.96% during 2020-2025. The rate of growth of the global population is to decrease from 37.6% during 1980-2000 to 27.4% during 2000-2020. The difference of the projections of 1982 and 1984 is only 29 million people (8.177 and 8.206, respectively). During the period 2000-2020 the population of Africa is expected to grow to make up 11.5% of the world's population, Europe would make up 10.20% and Asia 58.2%. By 2025 the respective figures would be 19.7%, 6.4%, and 55.3%. The rate of growth of 4 European regions would vary during 1980-2000 and 2000-2025: in Eastern Europe 10% and 7.3%, respectively, in Western Europe 2.0% and 0.0%, in Southern Europe 9.2% and 3.9%, and in Northern Europe 1.6% and -2.8%, respectively. The negative growth figures of the German Democratic Republic were revised from 1982 estimates to show a 2.5% and 2.4% increase during the respective periods. The slight increases (1.8% and 0.2%) projected for Hungary were reversed to zero or negative growth (0.0% and -0.8%). During these periods the growth figures for Czechoslovakia would be 8.3% and 8.0%, for Poland 14.7% and 9.2%, for Romania 15.2% and 11.4%, and for Bulgaria 7.6% and 4.6%, respectively. Life expectancy for the periods 1985-1990 and 2010-2025 is estimated at 61.1 and 70.5 years for the world, and 74.0 and 77.2 years for Europe.

The Effect of Text Messaging on 9- and 10-Year-Old Children's Reading, Spelling and Phonological Processing Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, C.; Jackson, E.; Hart, L.; Plester, B.; Wilde, L.

2011-01-01

This paper reports on an intervention study that considered the impact of text messaging on 9- to 10-year-old children's literacy skills. One hundred and fourteen children who had never owned a mobile phone before were recruited and randomly allocated to either the intervention or control conditions. All children were pre- and post-tested on a…

Fourteen Times the Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-08-01

light years away. This solar-like star is located in the southern constellation Ara (the Altar) and is bright enough (5th magnitude) to be observed with the unaided eye. Mu Arae was already known to harbour a Jupiter-sized planet with a 650 days orbital period. Previous observations also hinted at the presence of another companion (a planet or a star) much further away. The new measurements obtained by the astronomers on this object, combined with data from other teams confirm this picture. But as François Bouchy, member of the team, states: "Not only did the new HARPS measurements confirm what we previously believed to know about this star but they also showed that an additional planet on short orbit was present. And this new planet appears to be the smallest yet discovered around a star other than the sun. This makes mu Arae a very exciting planetary system." "Listening" to the star ESO PR Photo 25b/04 ESO PR Photo 25b/04 Observed Velocity Variation of mu Arae [Preview - JPEG: 440 x 400 pix - 98k] [Normal - JPEG: 879 x 800 pix - 230k] ESO PR Photo 25c/04 ESO PR Photo 25c/04 Velocity Variation of mu Arae Observed by HARPS [Preview - JPEG: 460 x 400 pix - 90k] [Normal - JPEG: 919 x 800 pix - 215k] Captions: ESO PR Photo 25b/04 shows the measurements of the radial velocity of the star mu Arae obtained by HARPS on the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla (green triangles), CORALIE on the Swiss Leonhard Euler 1.2m telescope also on La Silla (red dots) and UCLES on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (blue circles). The solid line shows the best fit to the measurements, assuming the existence of two planets and an additional long-period companion. The fact that the line happens to have a given width is related to the existence of the newly found short period planet. The data shown span the interval from July 1998 to August 2004. ESO PR Photo 25c/04 illustrates the high-quality radial velocity measurements obtained with HARPS. Here also, the solid line shows the best fit to the

Fourteen new species, one new genus, and eleven new country or state records for New World Lamiinae (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae).

PubMed

Martins, Ubirajara R; Santos-Silva, Antonio; Galileo, Maria Helena M

2015-06-26

Fourteen new species and one new genus are described from the New World in Lamiinae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae): Bisaltes (Bisaltes) lingafelteri sp. nov., Trestonia skelleyi sp. nov. and Psapharochrus langeri sp. nov. from Bolivia; Eupogonius azteca sp. nov., Aegomorphus mexicanus sp. nov., Lamacoscylus albatus sp. nov., Lamacoscylus obscurus sp. nov. and Piruanycha wappesi sp. nov. from Mexico; Dolichestola egeri sp. nov. and Wappesellus cavus gen. nov., sp. nov. from Brazil (Rondônia); Scleronotus virgatus sp. nov. from Venezuela; Oreodera casariae sp. nov. from Panama; Alampyris bicolor sp. nov. from Costa Rica; and Emphytoeciosoma flava sp. nov. from Peru. Additionally, eleven new country/state records are established in Lamiinae: three for Peru; three for Bolivia; one for Mexico; one for Uruguay; and two for Brazil (Rondônia) (state records). Bisaltes (Bisaltes) lingafelteri, Eupogonius azteca, Aegomorphus mexicanus, Lamacoscylus albatus, Lamacoscylus obscurus, Piruanycha wappesi, Scleronotus virgatus, Alampyris bicolor, Emphytoeciosoma flava and Wappesellus are included in new or known keys.

Vizualization Challenges of a Subduction Simulation Using One Billion Markers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudolph, M. L.; Gerya, T. V.; Yuen, D. A.

2004-12-01

Recent advances in supercomputing technology have permitted us to study the multiscale, multicomponent fluid dynamics of subduction zones at unprecedented resolutions down to about the length of a football field. We have performed numerical simulations using one billion tracers over a grid of about 80 thousand points in two dimensions. These runs have been performed using a thermal-chemical simulation that accounts for hydration and partial melting in the thermal, mechanical, petrological, and rheological domains. From these runs, we have observed several geophysically interesting phenomena including the development of plumes with unmixed mantle composition as well as plumes with mixed mantle/crust components. Unmixed plumes form at depths greater than 100km (5-10 km above the upper interface of subducting slab) and consist of partially molten wet peridotite. Mixed plumes form at lesser depth directly from the subducting slab and contain partially molten hydrated oceanic crust and sediments. These high resolution simulations have also spurred the development of new visualization methods. We have created a new web-based interface to data from our subduction simulation and other high-resolution 2D data that uses an hierarchical data format to achieve response times of less than one second when accessing data files on the order of 3GB. This interface, WEB-IS4, uses a Javascript and HTML frontend coupled with a C and PHP backend and allows the user to perform region of interest zooming, real-time colormap selection, and can return relevant statistics relating to the data in the region of interest.

Sharing global CO2 emission reductions among one billion high emitters

PubMed Central

Chakravarty, Shoibal; Chikkatur, Ananth; de Coninck, Heleen; Pacala, Stephen; Socolow, Robert; Tavoni, Massimo

2009-01-01

We present a framework for allocating a global carbon reduction target among nations, in which the concept of “common but differentiated responsibilities” refers to the emissions of individuals instead of nations. We use the income distribution of a country to estimate how its fossil fuel CO2 emissions are distributed among its citizens, from which we build up a global CO2 distribution. We then propose a simple rule to derive a universal cap on global individual emissions and find corresponding limits on national aggregate emissions from this cap. All of the world's high CO2-emitting individuals are treated the same, regardless of where they live. Any future global emission goal (target and time frame) can be converted into national reduction targets, which are determined by “Business as Usual” projections of national carbon emissions and in-country income distributions. For example, reducing projected global emissions in 2030 by 13 GtCO2 would require the engagement of 1.13 billion high emitters, roughly equally distributed in 4 regions: the U.S., the OECD minus the U.S., China, and the non-OECD minus China. We also modify our methodology to place a floor on emissions of the world's lowest CO2 emitters and demonstrate that climate mitigation and alleviation of extreme poverty are largely decoupled. PMID:19581586

Fourteen coprophilous species of Psathyrella identified in the Nordic countries using morphology and nuclear rDNA sequence data.

PubMed

Larsson, Ellen; Orstadius, Leif

2008-10-01

Psathyrella species growing on dung or occasionally on dung in the Nordic countries were studied using morphological characters and nu-rDNA sequence data and type collections were examined when available. Fourteen species capable of growing on dung were identified. Descriptions are given of all dung-inhabiting species and to a lesser extent of the species occasionally growing on dung. Three new species are described: Psathyrella fimiseda, P. merdicola, and P. scatophila. P. stercoraria is described as a new species in order to validate the name. A key to the coprophilous species in Europe including the species described by Peck & Smith from North America is provided. The phylogenetic analyses recovered four major supported clades within Psathyrellaceae corresponding to Parasola, Coprinopsis, Lacrymaria/Spadiceae pro parte, and Psathyrella. The status of Coprinellus was ambiguous. The current morphology-based infrageneric classification of Psathyrella was not supported by the phylogenetic analyses and a coprophilous habit has apparently evolved on multiple occasions. Three new combinations are proposed: Parasola conopilus, Coprinopsis marcescibilis, and Coprinopsis pannucioides.

Follow the money: how the billions of dollars that flow from smokers in poor nations to companies in rich nations greatly exceed funding for global tobacco control and what might be done about it.

PubMed

Callard, Cynthia

2010-08-01

The business of selling cigarettes is increasingly concentrated in the hands of five tobacco companies that collectively control almost 90% of the world's cigarette market, four of which are publicly traded corporations. The economic activities of these cigarette manufacturers can be monitored through their reports to shareholders and other public documents. Reports for 2008 show that the revenues of these five companies exceeded $300 billion, of which more than $160 billion was provided to governments as taxes, and that corporate earnings of the four publicly traded companies were over $25 billion, of which $14 billion was retained after corporate income taxes were paid. By contrast, funding for domestic and international tobacco control is not reliably reported. Estimated funding for global tobacco control in 2008, at $240 million, is significantly lower than resources provided to address other highmortality global health challenges. Tobacco control has not yet benefited from the innovative finance mechanisms that are in place for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Framework Convention On Tobacco Control (FCTC) process could be used to redirect some of the earnings from transnational tobacco sales to fund FCTC implementation or other global health efforts.

Follow the money: How the billions of dollars that flow from smokers in poor nations to companies in rich nations greatly exceed funding for global tobacco control and what might be done about it

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

The business of selling cigarettes is increasingly concentrated in the hands of five tobacco companies that collectively control almost 90% of the world's cigarette market, four of which are publicly traded corporations. The economic activities of these cigarette manufacturers can be monitored through their reports to shareholders and other public documents. Reports for 2008 show that the revenues of these five companies exceeded $300 billion, of which more than $160 billion was provided to governments as taxes, and that corporate earnings of the four publicly traded companies were over $25 billion, of which $14 billion was retained after corporate income taxes were paid. By contrast, funding for domestic and international tobacco control is not reliably reported. Estimated funding for global tobacco control in 2008, at $240 million, is significantly lower than resources provided to address other high-mortality global health challenges. Tobacco control has not yet benefited from the innovative finance mechanisms that are in place for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Framework Convention On Tobacco Control (FCTC) process could be used to redirect some of the earnings from transnational tobacco sales to fund FCTC implementation or other global health efforts. PMID:20610436

Increase in observed net carbon dioxide uptake by land and oceans during the past 50 years.

PubMed

Ballantyne, A P; Alden, C B; Miller, J B; Tans, P P; White, J W C

2012-08-02

One of the greatest sources of uncertainty for future climate predictions is the response of the global carbon cycle to climate change. Although approximately one-half of total CO(2) emissions is at present taken up by combined land and ocean carbon reservoirs, models predict a decline in future carbon uptake by these reservoirs, resulting in a positive carbon-climate feedback. Several recent studies suggest that rates of carbon uptake by the land and ocean have remained constant or declined in recent decades. Other work, however, has called into question the reported decline. Here we use global-scale atmospheric CO(2) measurements, CO(2) emission inventories and their full range of uncertainties to calculate changes in global CO(2) sources and sinks during the past 50 years. Our mass balance analysis shows that net global carbon uptake has increased significantly by about 0.05 billion tonnes of carbon per year and that global carbon uptake doubled, from 2.4 ± 0.8 to 5.0 ± 0.9 billion tonnes per year, between 1960 and 2010. Therefore, it is very unlikely that both land and ocean carbon sinks have decreased on a global scale. Since 1959, approximately 350 billion tonnes of carbon have been emitted by humans to the atmosphere, of which about 55 per cent has moved into the land and oceans. Thus, identifying the mechanisms and locations responsible for increasing global carbon uptake remains a critical challenge in constraining the modern global carbon budget and predicting future carbon-climate interactions.

United States Department of Defense: Agency Financial Report Fiscal Year 2014

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

Defense Review (QDR) 2014 to Congress in March 2014. The QDR is a legislatively -mandated report, issued every four years, that evaluates the...Operational Test & Evaluation General Counsel, DoD ASD ( Legislative Affairs) ATSD (Public Affairs) DoD Chief Information Officer Director, Net...in Billions Breakout Accounts Payable $19.8 1% Military Retirement and Employment Benefits $2,334.0 95% Environmental and Disposal Liabilities

Hospitals as budget target. Bush's proposed budget has hospitals crying foul over a 'savings' plan that reduces Medicare, Medicaid funding by $200 billion.

PubMed

Lubell, Jennifer

2008-02-11

President Bush's fiscal 2009 budget proposal comes equipped with $200 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings. While the Bush administration deems the figure necessary to ensure the programs remain solvent, hospitals are crying foul. Michael Connelly, left, president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare Partners, said Bush's budget proposal "fundamentally missed the point."

Current Perspective in the International Trade of Medicinal Plants Material: An Update.

PubMed

Vasisht, Karan; Sharma, Neetika; Karan, Maninder

2016-01-01

The recent years have seen an increased interest in medicinal plants together with the therapeutic use of phytochemicals. Medicinal plants are utilized by the industry for the production of extracts, phytopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals and their use is expected to grow faster than the conventional drugs. The enormous demand of medicinal plant material has resulted in huge trade both at domestic and international levels. The trade data of medicinal plant material with commodity code HS 1211 (SITC.4, code 292.4) and their derived/related products which are traded under different commodity codes has been acquired from COMTRADE, Trade Map, country reports, technical documents etc for the period 2001 to 2014. The data was analyzed using statistical tools to draw conclusions. The significant features of the global trade; the leading source, consumer, import and export countries; and the striking trends are presented. The trade of the ten key countries and the selected important items is also discussed in detail. The conservative figure of trade of medicinal plants materials and their derived/related products including extracts, essential oils, phytopharmaceuticals, gums, spices used in medicine, tannins for pharmaceutical use, ingredients for cosmetics etc. as calculated from the global export data for the year 2014 is estimated at USD 33 billion. The average global export in medicinal plants under HS 1211 for the fourteen year period was USD 1.92 billion for 601,357 tons per annum and for the year 2014 it stood at 702,813 tons valued at USD 3.60 billion. For the studied period, an annual average growth rate (AAGR) of 2.4% in volumes and 9.2% in values of export was observed. Nearly 30% of the global trade is made up by top two countries of the import and export. China and India from Asia; Egypt and Morocco from Africa; Poland, Bulgaria and Albania from Europe; Chile and Peru from South America are important supply sources. The USA, Japan and Europe

Bioinspired architecture approach for a one-billion transistor smart CMOS camera chip

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fey, Dietmar; Komann, Marcus

2007-05-01

In the paper we present a massively parallel VLSI architecture for future smart CMOS camera chips with up to one billion transistors. To exploit efficiently the potential offered by future micro- or nanoelectronic devices traditional on central structures oriented parallel architectures based on MIMD or SIMD approaches will fail. They require too long and too many global interconnects for the distribution of code or the access to common memory. On the other hand nature developed self-organising and emergent principles to manage successfully complex structures based on lots of interacting simple elements. Therefore we developed a new as Marching Pixels denoted emergent computing paradigm based on a mixture of bio-inspired computing models like cellular automaton and artificial ants. In the paper we present different Marching Pixels algorithms and the corresponding VLSI array architecture. A detailed synthesis result for a 0.18 μm CMOS process shows that a 256×256 pixel image is processed in less than 10 ms assuming a moderate 100 MHz clock rate for the processor array. Future higher integration densities and a 3D chip stacking technology will allow the integration and processing of Mega pixels within the same time since our architecture is fully scalable.

Survival Of Pure Disc Galaxies Over The Last 8 Billion Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sachdeva, Sonali

2016-09-01

The presence of pure disk galaxies without any bulge component, i.e., neither classical nor pseudo, poses a severe challenge not just to the hierarchical galaxy formation models but also to the theories of internal secular evolution. We discover that a significant fraction of disk galaxies ( 15-18 %) in the Hubble Deep Field (0.4 < z < 1.0) as well as in the local Universe (0.02 < z < 0.05) are such pure disk systems (PDS). We trace the evolution of this population to find how they survived the merger violence and other disk instabilities to remain dynamically undisturbed. We find that smooth accretion of cold gas via cosmic filaments is the most probable mode of their growth in mass and size since z 1. We speculate that PDSs are dynamically hotter and cushioned in massive dark matter haloes which may prevent them from undergoing strong secular evolution.

Detection of pristine gas two billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Fumagalli, Michele; O'Meara, John M; Prochaska, J Xavier

2011-12-02

In the current cosmological model, only the three lightest elements were created in the first few minutes after the Big Bang; all other elements were produced later in stars. To date, however, heavy elements have been observed in all astrophysical environments. We report the detection of two gas clouds with no discernible elements heavier than hydrogen. These systems exhibit the lowest heavy-element abundance in the early universe, and thus are potential fuel for the most metal-poor halo stars. The detection of deuterium in one system at the level predicted by primordial nucleosynthesis provides a direct confirmation of the standard cosmological model. The composition of these clouds further implies that the transport of heavy elements from galaxies to their surroundings is highly inhomogeneous.

Galaxy Evolution Explorer Celebrates Five Years in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version

Since its launch five years ago, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has photographed hundreds of millions of galaxies in ultraviolet light. M106 is one of those galaxies, and from 22 light years away, it strikes a pose in blue and gold for this new commemorative portrait.

The galaxy's extended arms are the blue filaments that curve around its edge, creating its outer disk. Tints of blue in M106's arms reveal hot, young massive stars. Traces of gold toward the center show an older stellar population and indicate the presence of obscuring dust.

From 24 million light-years away, neighboring galaxy NGC 4248 also makes a memorable appearance, sitting just right of M106. The irregular galaxy looks like a yellow smudge, with a bluish-white bar in the center. The galaxy's outer golden glow indicates a population of older stars, while the blue central region shows a younger stellar demographic.

Dwarf galaxy UGC 7365 emerges at the bottom center of this image, as a faint yellow smudge directly below M106. This galaxy is not forming any new stars, and looks much smaller than M106 despite being closer to Earth, at 14 million light-years away.

Over the past five years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has imaged half a billion objects over 27,000 square degrees of sky equivalent to an area that would be covered by 138,000 full moons. The telescope orbits Earth every 94 minutes and travels approximately 408,470 million miles per day. Its overarching question is: how do galaxies grow and change over 10 billion years of cosmic history?

M106, also known as NGC 4258, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image is a two-color composite, where far-ultraviolet light is blue, and near-ultraviolet light is red.

The economic benefits resulting from the first 8 years of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (2000-2007).

PubMed

Chu, Brian K; Hooper, Pamela J; Bradley, Mark H; McFarland, Deborah A; Ottesen, Eric A

2010-06-01

Between 2000-2007, the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) delivered more than 1.9 billion treatments to nearly 600 million individuals via annual mass drug administration (MDA) of anti-filarial drugs (albendazole, ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine) to all at-risk for 4-6 years. Quantifying the resulting economic benefits of this significant achievement is important not only to justify the resources invested in the GPELF but also to more fully understand the Programme's overall impact on some of the poorest endemic populations. To calculate the economic benefits, the number of clinical manifestations averted was first quantified and the savings associated with this disease prevention then analyzed in the context of direct treatment costs, indirect costs of lost-labor, and costs to the health system to care for affected individuals. Multiple data sources were reviewed, including published literature and databases from the World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, and International Labour Organization An estimated US$21.8 billion of direct economic benefits will be gained over the lifetime of 31.4 million individuals treated during the first 8 years of the GPELF. Of this total, over US$2.3 billion is realized by the protection of nearly 3 million newborns and other individuals from acquiring lymphatic filariasis as a result of their being born into areas freed of LF transmission. Similarly, more than 28 million individuals already infected with LF benefit from GPELF's halting the progression of their disease, which results in an associated lifetime economic benefit of approximately US$19.5 billion. In addition to these economic benefits to at-risk individuals, decreased patient services associated with reduced LF morbidity saves the health systems of endemic countries approximately US$2.2 billion. MDA for LF offers significant economic benefits. Moreover, with favorable program implementation costs (largely a result of the sustained

Broadcasts for a billion: the growth of commercial television in China.

PubMed

Schmuck, C

1987-01-01

At present, Chinese television reaches 35% of the population (80-90% in urban areas) and is used by the government as a source of education and information. In recognition of the potential market represented by 1.1 billions consumers, Western advertisers have commissioned elaborate market research studies. Drama, sports, news, and movies are consistently identified as the favorite type of programming among Chinese television viewers. About 75% of Beijing adults watch television daily, making the medium both an important target for advertising campaigns and a way for Westerners to influence Chinese business and government leaders. Western advertisers have tended to concentrate their investments in the more urban, affluent regions where products have the greatest likelihood of being sold. There has been a recent trend, however, toward industrial commercials, with British and French companies buying television time to promote their image as partners in China's modernization. Key to the future of commercial advertising on Chinese Television. In many provinces, local television stations have developed a unique character and portray different sociocultural values than the national channel. Outside advertisers have sometimes experienced problems with local networks that substitute local advertising without informing the network. To correct this situation, the government is enacting pro-sponsor regulations that forbid the preemption of the national channel and its advertisements. At the same time, efforts are being made to improve relationships with local television stations by either paying them a fee or airing local commercials on the national network.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hichwa, B.P.; Pun, D.D.; Wang, D.

A multielemental analysis to determine the trace metal content of generic and name-brand aspirins and name-brand lipsticks was done via proton induced x-ray (PIXE) measurements. The Hope College PIXE system is described as well as the target preparation methods. The trace metal content of twelve brands of aspirin and aspirin substitutes and fourteen brands of lipstick are reported. Detection limits for most elements are in the range of 100 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 parts per million (ppm).

Phosphogenesis in the 2460 and 2728 million-year-old banded iron formations as evidence for biological cycling of phosphate in the early biosphere

PubMed Central

Li, Yi-Liang; Sun, Si; Chan, Lung S

2013-01-01

The banded iron formation deposited during the first 2 billion years of Earth's history holds the key to understanding the interplay between the geosphere and the early biosphere at large geological timescales. The earliest ore-scale phosphorite depositions formed almost at ∼2.0–2.2 billion years ago bear evidence for the earliest bloom of aerobic life. The cycling of nutrient phosphorus and how it constrained primary productivity in the anaerobic world of Archean–Palaeoproterozoic eons are still open questions. The controversy centers about whether the precipitation of ultrafine ferric oxyhydroxide due to the microbial Fe(II) oxidation in oceans earlier than 1.9 billion years substantially sequestrated phosphate, and whether this process significantly limited the primary productivity of the early biosphere. In this study, we report apatite radial flowers of a few micrometers in the 2728 million-year-old Abitibi banded iron formation and the 2460 million-year-old Kuruman banded iron formation and their similarities to those in the 535 million-year-old Lower Cambrian phosphorite. The lithology of the 535 Million-year-old phosphorite as a biosignature bears abundant biomarkers that reveal the possible similar biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the Later Archean and Palaeoproterozoic oceans. These apatite radial flowers represent the primary precipitation of phosphate derived from the phytoplankton blooms in the euphotic zones of Neoarchean and Palaoeproterozoic oceans. The unbiased distributions of the apatite radial flowers within sub-millimeter bands do not support the idea of an Archean Crisis of Phosphate. This is the first report of the microbial mediated mineralization of phosphorus before the Great Oxidation Event when the whole biosphere was still dominated by anaerobic microorganisms. PMID:23404127

Phosphogenesis in the 2460 and 2728 million-year-old banded iron formations as evidence for biological cycling of phosphate in the early biosphere.

PubMed

Li, Yi-Liang; Sun, Si; Chan, Lung S

2012-01-01

The banded iron formation deposited during the first 2 billion years of Earth's history holds the key to understanding the interplay between the geosphere and the early biosphere at large geological timescales. The earliest ore-scale phosphorite depositions formed almost at ∼2.0-2.2 billion years ago bear evidence for the earliest bloom of aerobic life. The cycling of nutrient phosphorus and how it constrained primary productivity in the anaerobic world of Archean-Palaeoproterozoic eons are still open questions. The controversy centers about whether the precipitation of ultrafine ferric oxyhydroxide due to the microbial Fe(II) oxidation in oceans earlier than 1.9 billion years substantially sequestrated phosphate, and whether this process significantly limited the primary productivity of the early biosphere. In this study, we report apatite radial flowers of a few micrometers in the 2728 million-year-old Abitibi banded iron formation and the 2460 million-year-old Kuruman banded iron formation and their similarities to those in the 535 million-year-old Lower Cambrian phosphorite. The lithology of the 535 Million-year-old phosphorite as a biosignature bears abundant biomarkers that reveal the possible similar biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the Later Archean and Palaeoproterozoic oceans. These apatite radial flowers represent the primary precipitation of phosphate derived from the phytoplankton blooms in the euphotic zones of Neoarchean and Palaoeproterozoic oceans. The unbiased distributions of the apatite radial flowers within sub-millimeter bands do not support the idea of an Archean Crisis of Phosphate. This is the first report of the microbial mediated mineralization of phosphorus before the Great Oxidation Event when the whole biosphere was still dominated by anaerobic microorganisms.

Double-trap measurement of the proton magnetic moment at 0.3 parts per billion precision.

PubMed

Schneider, Georg; Mooser, Andreas; Bohman, Matthew; Schön, Natalie; Harrington, James; Higuchi, Takashi; Nagahama, Hiroki; Sellner, Stefan; Smorra, Christian; Blaum, Klaus; Matsuda, Yasuyuki; Quint, Wolfgang; Walz, Jochen; Ulmer, Stefan

2017-11-24

Precise knowledge of the fundamental properties of the proton is essential for our understanding of atomic structure as well as for precise tests of fundamental symmetries. We report on a direct high-precision measurement of the magnetic moment μ p of the proton in units of the nuclear magneton μ N The result, μ p = 2.79284734462 (±0.00000000082) μ N , has a fractional precision of 0.3 parts per billion, improves the previous best measurement by a factor of 11, and is consistent with the currently accepted value. This was achieved with the use of an optimized double-Penning trap technique. Provided a similar measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment can be performed, this result will enable a test of the fundamental symmetry between matter and antimatter in the baryonic sector at the 10 -10 level. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

University Environment Experience of the First Two Years of University Graduates at a Newly Established Small University Located in Suburban Area in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Yii-Nii

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to describe students' university environment experience from the perspectives of the first two years of university graduates of a newly established small university located in suburban area in Taiwan. A qualitative method of phenomenology with in-depth interviews is adopted. Fourteen male and sixteen female seniors,…

Herbicide treatment effects on properties of mountain big sagebrush soils after fourteen years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burke, I. C.; Reiners, W. A.; Sturges, D. L.; Matson, P. A.

1987-01-01

The effects of sagebrush conversion on the soil properties of a high-elevation portion of the Western Intermountain Sagebrush Steppe (West, 1983) are described. Changes were found in only a few soil chemical properties after conversion to grassland. It was found that surface concentrations of N were lower under grass vegetation than under undisturbed vegetation. Undershrub net N mineralization rates were higher under shrubs in the sagebrush vegetation than under former shrubs in the grass vegetation.

Fourteen years of forage monitoring on the California Central Coast shows tremendous variation

Treesearch

Royce Larsen; Karl Striby; Marc Horney

2015-01-01

To better understand forage production (above ground biomass) and precipitation patterns in the Central Coast region of California, the first in a growing network of primary production monitoring sites were established in 2001. The California Central Coast has a Mediterranean climate with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers, and is dominated by annual grasslands...

Reaction of 5 and 6 year olds to dental injection after viewing the needle: pilot study.

PubMed

Maragakis, G M; Musselman, R J; Ho, C C

2006-01-01

The aim was to evaluate the practice of hiding the needle prior to dental anesthesia administration to children. Fourteen 5 and 6 year olds received dental treatment in two sessions. The needle was shown in one session and hidden in the other. Eleven children were cooperative and 3 uncooperative irrespective of approach. The children's behavior correlated with fears expressed by the mothers. Our initial fndintgs do not support the practice of hiding the needle.

One-Year Health Care Costs Associated with Delirium in the Elderly

PubMed Central

Leslie, Douglas L.; Marcantonio, Edward R.; Zhang, Ying; Leo-Summers, Linda; Inouye, Sharon K.

2015-01-01

Background While delirium has been increasingly recognized as a serious and potentially preventable source of morbidity and mortality for hospitalized older persons, its long-term implications are not well understood. The objective of this study is to determine the total 1-year health care costs associated with delirium. Methods Hospitalized patients aged 70 years and older who participated in a previous controlled clinical trial of a delirium prevention intervention at an academic medical center between 1995 and 1998 were followed for 1 year after discharge. Total inflation-adjusted healthcare costs were computed using data from Medicare administrative files, hospital billing records, and the Connecticut Long-Term Care Registry. Regression models were used to determine costs associated with delirium after adjusting for patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Results During the index hospitalization, 109 (13%) patients developed delirium while 732 did not. Patients with delirium had significantly higher unadjusted healthcare costs than non-delirious patients and survived fewer days. After adjusting for pertinent demographic and clinical characteristics, average costs per day survived among patients with delirium were over two and a half times the costs among patients without delirium. Total cost estimates attributable to delirium ranged from $16,303 to $64,421 per patient, implying that the national burden of delirium on the health care system ranges from $38 billion to $152 billion each year. Conclusions The economic impact of delirium is substantial, rivaling the health care costs of falls and diabetes. These results highlight the need for increased efforts to mitigate this clinically significant and costly disorder. PMID:18195192

FAA Aviation Forecasts, Fiscal Years 1981-1992

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

34" 0 -~~ < ~ -<. .• • • 1at1 Sep;ember 1980 . ; I f’,AA LEV· ~=~~ ~ ~ l~i; n Forecasts Fiscal Years 1981-1992 I!:-, I )r• p ulll\\1𔃻...212. No. of Pages 22. Prie Unclassified ] Unclassified 69 /V 0 Neil E. Goldschmidt, T Secretary, Department of Transportation _ o Langhorne Bond...percentTese lareficraft are poing ar eto above 1979 levels at 2.1 billion miles according toT h e s e la rg e r a irc ra f t a re p ro v in g a tt ra

Vehicle Technologies and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Research and Development Programs: Prospective Benefits Assessment Report for Fiscal Year 2018

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stephens, T. S.; Birky, A.; Gohlke, David

Under a diverse set of programs, the Vehicle Technologies and Fuel Cell Technologies Offices of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invest in early-stage research of advanced batteries and electrification, engines and fuels, materials, and energy-efficient mobility systems; hydrogen production, delivery, and storage; and fuel cell technologies. This report documents the estimated benefits of successful development and implementation of advanced vehicle technologies. It presents a comparison of a scenario with completely successful implementation of Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) technologies (the Program Success case) to a future in whichmore » there is no contribution after Fiscal Year 2017 by the VTO or FCTO to these technologies (the No Program case). Benefits were attributed to individual program technology areas, which included FCTO research and development and the VTO programs of electrification, advanced combustion engines and fuels, and materials technology. Projections for the Program Success case indicate that by 2035, the average fuel economy of on-road, light-duty vehicle stock could be 24% to 30% higher than in the No Program case, while fuel economy for on-road medium- and heavy-duty vehicle stock could be as much as 13% higher. The resulting petroleum savings in 2035 were estimated to be as high as 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were estimated to be as high as 320 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Projections of light-duty vehicle adoption indicate that although advanced-technology vehicles may be somewhat more expensive to purchase, the fuel savings result in a net reduction of consumer cost. In 2035, reductions in annual fuel expenditures for vehicles (both light- and heavy-duty) are projected to range from $86 billion to $109 billion (2015$), while the projected increase in new

Technical challenges, past and future, in implementing THERESA: a one million patient, one billion item computer-based patient record and decision support system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camp, Henry N.

1996-02-01

Challenges in implementing a computer-based patient record (CPR)--such as absolute data integrity, high availability, permanent on-line storage of very large complex records, rapid search times, ease of use, commercial viability, and portability to other hospitals and doctor's offices--are given along with their significance, the solutions, and their successes. The THERESA CPR has been used sine 1983 in direct patient care by a public hospital that is the primary care provider to 350,000 people. It has 1000 beds with 45,000 admissions and 750,000 outpatient visits annually. The system supports direct provider entry, including by physicians, of complete medical `documents'. Its demonstration site currently contains 1.1 billion data items on 1 million patients. It is also a clinical decision-aiding tool used for quality assurance and cost containment, for teaching as faculty and students can easily find and `thumb through' all cases similar to a particular study, and for research with over a billion medical items that can be searched and analyzed on-line within context and with continuity. The same software can also run in a desktop microcomputer managing a private practice physician's office.

The DECam Plane Survey: Optical photometry of two billion objects in the southern Galactic plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlafly, Edward; Green, Gregory M.; Lang, Dustin; Daylan, Tansu; Finkbeiner, Douglas; Lee, Albert; Meisner, Aaron; Schlegel, David; Valdes, Francisco

2018-01-01

The DECam Plane Survey is a five-band optical and near-infrared survey of the southern Galactic plane with the Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo. The survey is designed to reach past the main-sequence turn-off at the distance of the Galactic center through a reddening E(B-V) of 1.5 mag. Typical single-exposure depths are 23.7, 22.8, 22.3, 21.9, and 21.0 mag in the grizY bands, with seeing around 1 arcsecond. The footprint covers the Galactic plane with |b| < 4°, 5° > l > -120°. The survey pipeline simultaneously solves for the positions and fluxes of tens of thousands of sources in each image, delivering positions and fluxes of roughly two billion stars with better than 10 mmag precision. Most of these objects are highly reddened and deep in the Galactic disk, probing the structure and properties of the Milky Way and its interstellar medium. The full survey is publicly available.

Frequent Shifts in Aspergillus flavus Populations Associated with Maize Production in Sonora, Mexico.

PubMed

Ortega-Beltran, A; Cotty, P J

2018-03-01

Aspergillus flavus frequently contaminates maize, a critical staple for billions of people, with aflatoxins. Diversity among A. flavus L morphotype populations associated with maize in Sonora, Mexico was assessed and, in total, 869 isolates from 83 fields were placed into 136 vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) using nitrate-nonutilizing mutants. VCG diversity indices did not differ in four agroecosystems (AES) but diversity significantly differed among years. Frequencies of certain VCGs changed manyfold over single years in both multiple fields and multiple AES. Certain VCGs were highly frequent (>1%) in 2006 but frequencies declined repeatedly in each of the two subsequent years. Other VCGs that had low frequencies in 2006 increased in 2007 and subsequently declined. None of the VCGs were consistently associated with any AES. Fourteen VCGs were considered dominant in at least a single year. However, frequencies often varied significantly among years. Only 9% of VCGs were detected all 3 years whereas 66% were detected in only 1 year. Results suggest that the most realistic measurements of both genetic diversity and the frequency of A. flavus VCGs are obtained by sampling multiple locations in multiple years. Single-season sampling in many locations should not be substituted for sampling over multiple years.

Societal costs of exposure to toxic substances: economic and health costs of four case studies that are candidates for environmental causation.

PubMed Central

Muir, T; Zegarac, M

2001-01-01

Four outcomes that evidence suggests are candidates for "environmental causation" were chosen for analysis: diabetes, Parkinson's disease (PD), neurodevelopmental effects and hypothyroidism, and deficits in intelligence quotient (IQ). These are an enormous burden in the United States, Canada, and other industrial countries. We review findings on actual social and economic costs, construct estimates of some of the costs from pertinent sources, and provide several hypothetical examples consistent with published evidence. Many detailed costs are estimated, but these are fragmented and missing in coverage and jurisdiction. Nonetheless, the cumulative costs identified are very large, totaling $568 billion to $793 billion per year for Canada and the United States combined. Partial Canadian costs alone are $46 billion to $52 billion per year. Specifics include diabetes (United States and Canada), $128 billion per year; PD in the United States, $13 billion to $28.5 billion per year; neurodevelopmental deficits and hypothryoidism are endemic and, including estimates of costs of childhood disorders that evidence suggests are linked, amount to $81.5 billion to $167 billion per year for the United States and $2 billion per year in Ontario; loss of 5 IQ points cost $30 billion per year in Canada and $275 billion to $326 billion per year in the United States; and hypothetical dynamic economic impacts cost another $19 billion to $92 billion per year for the United States and Canada combined. Reasoned arguments based on the weight of evidence can support the hypothesis that at least 10%, up to 50% of these costs are environmentally induced--between $57 billion and $397 billion per year. PMID:11744507

Reaping healthy profits. 100 hospitals manage to come out on top even in year plagued by financial ills.

PubMed

Lovern, E

2000-12-11

The 100 Top Hospitals financially outperformed their peers this year by the widest margin ever, posting an 8.7% total profit margin. If hospitals nationwide performed at the level of the top facilities, hospital expenses would decline by $12 billion a year, deaths would go down by nearly 87,000 and complications would be cut by 57,000. Some 63 of this year's top performers have been on the list before. Knowing their secrets is valuable.

[Implementation of the program of "Collaborative Development of Advanced Practical Education to Train Pharmacists in Leadership" under the joint operation of the pharmaceutical departments in fourteen national universities].

PubMed

Hirata, Kazumasa; Tamura, Satoru; Kobayashi, Motomasa

2012-01-01

"Collaborative Development of Advanced Practical Education Program to Train Pharmacists with Leadership" applied jointly by the pharmaceutical departments of fourteen national universities was selected to receive the special expenditure support of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for fiscal year 2010 under "the Training of Highly Skillful Professionals and Improvement of the Quality of the Function of Professional Education". This project is to promote the collaborative development of the educational program which will make it possible to further advance and substantiate the education of pharmacists in the six year course of the pharmaceutical department for the ultimate purpose to introduce pharmacists with leadership who can play an active role and fill in a leadership position in a wide range of responsibilities into the society which, more and more, has come to expect pharmacy to take the initiative in acting against health hazards caused by infections, foods and environmental pollution as well as to meet the diversification of healthcare. To be more specific, this project is to try and evaluate the following programs repeatedly based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle: 1) Practical medical and pharmaceutical education program; 2) Program concerning research on long term themes and advanced education; 3) Program concerning training and education of SPs (standardized patients or simulated patients) and PBL (problem-based learning) tutorial education; and 4) Program concerning the method of evaluation of education. Through this repeated trial and evaluation, this project ultimately seeks to construct a highly effective practical educational program which integrates each university's achievements and educational attempts rich in originality.

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

Unemployment Rate (Percent) Tax Bases (Percentage of GDP) Domestic economic profits Year to Year (Percentage change) Fourth-Quarter Level (Percent...effect of inflation on the value of inventories. Domestic economic profits exclude certain income of U.S.- based multinational corporations that is...salaries 44.1 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.5 44.8 45.1 45.3 45.4 45.5 45.5 Domestic economic profits 10.4 9.0 9.4 9.8 9.7 9.3 8.7 8.0 7.6 7.4 7.3 Tax Bases (Billions

Fourteen-year trends in sodium content of menu offerings at eight leading fast-food restaurants in the USA.

PubMed

Rudelt, Amanda; French, Simone; Harnack, Lisa

2014-08-01

To examine changes in the Na content of lunch/dinner menu offerings at eight of the leading fast-food restaurants in the USA between 1997/1998 and 2009/2010. Menu offerings and nutrient composition information for the menu items were obtained from archival versions of the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCC) Food and Nutrient Database. Nutrient composition information for lunch/dinner menu items sold by the fast-food restaurants included in the present study was updated in the database biannually. Menus were analysed for changes in mean Na content of all menu offerings (except beverages) and specific categories of menu items among all restaurants and for each individual restaurant. Lunch/dinner food menu of eight leading US fast-food restaurants. Between 1997/1998 and 2009/2010 the mean Na content of menu offerings across the eight restaurants increased by 23·4 %. Examining specific food categories, mean Na content of entrées by increased 17·2 % and that of condiments increased by 26·1 %. Only side dishes showed a decrease of 6·6 %. None of the restaurants examined had a decrease in Na across the lunch/dinner menu offerings over the 14 years examined. Results suggest that over the time period studied there has been no meaningful reduction in the Na content of lunch/dinner menu offerings at the leading fast-food restaurants examined in the present study.

Who'll have to pay? The cost of dealing with AIDS in Asia will run into the billions.

PubMed

1993-11-03

In September 1993, at a meeting funded by the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program, researchers, economists, and government health officials from China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Burma, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand met to discuss the economic effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on Asia. The World Health Organization (WHO) places the estimate of the number of people in India who are infected with HIV at around 1 million. However, Jacob John of Vellore Medical College (who first discovered the virus in India) places the estimate at higher than 2.5 million with an increase to 9-18 million by the year 2000. Charles Myers of Harvard University, Mechai Viravaidya of Bangkok's Population and Community Development Association, and Stasia Obremskey ( a health and development consultant) predict 3.4-4.3 million Thais will be infected by that year. According to Obremskey, the number of AIDS cases will reach 650,000, of which 500,000 will die. Health care for full-blown AIDS costs $1016/yr, while lost productivity due to early death costs $22,000 per victim. Myers, Mechai and Obremskey state that Thailand could prevent 3.5 million cases and save $5.1 billion, if people ceased high-risk behavior and the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases was given the highest priority. In the Philippines there are only 416 reported cases of HIV and AIDS, but Dennis Maducduc of the Department of Health AIDS program states that Filipinos are secretive about this, and Orville Solon of the University of the Philippines suggests there are 100 cases for each reported case. Solon believes $15 million has been lost due to infection and death of overseas contract workers who account for 8% of the country's foreign exchange earnings. New studies in Africa, where, as in Thailand, mortality is less than predicted, suggest a less virulent strain of HIV. This apparent fact and prevention, especially

Genetic predisposition to obesity and lifestyle factors--the combined analyses of twenty-six known BMI- and fourteen known waist:hip ratio (WHR)-associated variants in the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study.

PubMed

Jääskeläinen, Tiina; Paananen, Jussi; Lindström, Jaana; Eriksson, Johan G; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Uusitupa, Matti

2013-11-01

Recent genome-wide association studies have identified multiple loci associated with BMI or the waist:hip ratio (WHR). However, evidence on gene-lifestyle interactions is still scarce, and investigation of the effects of well-documented dietary and other lifestyle data is warranted to assess whether genetic risk can be modified by lifestyle. We assessed whether previously established BMI and WHR genetic variants associate with obesity and weight change in the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study, and whether the associations are modified by dietary factors or physical activity. Individuals (n 459) completed a 3 d food record and were genotyped for twenty-six BMI- and fourteen WHR-related variants. The effects of the variants individually and in combination were investigated in relation to obesity and to 1- and 3-year weight change by calculating genetic risk scores (GRS). The GRS were separately calculated for BMI and the WHR by summing the increasing alleles weighted by their published effect sizes. At baseline, the GRS were not associated with total intakes of energy, macronutrients or fibre. The mean 1- and 3-year weight changes were not affected by the BMI or WHR GRS. During the 3-year follow-up, a trend for higher BMI by the GRS was detected especially in those who reported a diet low in fibre (P for interaction=0·065). Based on the present findings, it appears unlikely that obesity-predisposing variants substantially modify the effect of lifestyle modification on the success of weight reduction in the long term. In addition, these findings suggest that the association between the BMI-related genetic variants and obesity could be modulated by the diet.

U.S. Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2004 Budget in Brief

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

The Department's FY 2004 budget request totals $54.3 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding. This represents an overall increase of $2.9 billion or 6 percent when compared to the President's FY 2003 request. The Department's five key performa...

Multimillion to billion atom simulations of nanosystems under extreme conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vashishta, P.

2008-12-01

Advanced materials and devices with nanometer grain/feature sizes are being developed to achieve higher strength and toughness in ceramic materials and greater speeds in electronic devices. Below 100 nm, however, continuum description of materials and devices must be supplemented by atomistic descriptions. Current state of the art atomistic simulations involve 10 million - 1 billion atoms. We investigate initiation, growth and healing of wing cracks in confined silica glass by multimillion atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Under dynamic compression, frictional sliding of pre-crack surfaces nucleates nanovoids, which evolve into nanocrack columns at the pre-crack tip. Nanocrack columns merge to form a wing crack, which grows via coalescence with nanovoids in the direction of maximum compression. Lateral confinement arrests the growth and partially heals the wing crack. Growth and arrest of the wing crack occur repeatedly, as observed in dynamic compression experiments on brittle solids under lateral confinement. MD simulation of hypervelocity projectile impact in aluminum nitride and alumina has also been studied. The simulations reveal strong interplay between shock- induced structural phase transformation, plastic deformation and brittle cracks. The shock wave splits into an elastic precursor and a wurtzite-to-rocksalt structural transformation wave. When the elastic wave reflected from the boundary of the sample interacts with the transformation wave front, nanocavities are generated along the penetration path of the projectile and dislocations in adjacent regions. The nanocavities coalesce to form mode I brittle cracks while dislocations generate kink bands that give rise to mode II cracks. These simulations provide a microscopic view of defects associated with simultaneous tensile and shear cracking at the structural phase transformation boundary due to shock impact in high-strength ceramics. Initiation of chemical reactions at shock fronts prior to

Fourteen Writing Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Thomas; Broemmel, Amy

2006-01-01

Any science teacher who wants his or her students to be engaged in real science is going to engage them in real science writing. Writing in science should begin with clear, imaginative writing purposes and stimuli that are then scaffolded in such a way that students are able to find an organizational structure for their writing. Writing fluency is…

Fourteen Beautiful People.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doviak, Joan

Brief biographies are given of 14 Mexican Americans who are representative of the accomplishments of the Mexican American community in the United States in such areas as sports, politics, labor, and entertainment. These particular Mexican Americans were selected because they are either internationally famous or because of what they represent in…

Fourteen short tandem repeat loci Y chromosome haplotypes: Genetic analysis in populations from northern Brazil.

PubMed

Palha, Teresinha; Ribeiro-Rodrigues, Elzemar; Ribeiro-dos-Santos, Andrea; Santos, Sidney

2012-05-01

Fourteen Y-STR loci (DYS458, DYS439, Y-GATA H4, DYS576, DYS447, DYS460, DYS456, YGATA A10, DYS437, DYS449, DYS570, DYS635 or Y-GATA C4, DYS448 and DYS438) were analysed in 873 males from eight northern Brazil populations: Belém (N=400), Santarém (N=69), Manaus (N=75), Macapá (N=65), Palmas (N=30), Rio Branco (N=32), Porto Velho (N=135) and Boa Vista (N=67). A total of 871 different haplotypes were identified, of which 869 were unique. The panel's estimated total haplotype diversity (HD) is 0.9988, and its discrimination capacity (DC) is 0.9980. The lowest estimates of genetic diversity correspond to markers Y-GATA H4 (0.550) and DYS460 (0.581), and the greatest (above 0.700) to markers DYS458, DYS576, DYS447, YS449, DYS570 and DYS635. The genetic parameters obtained were higher for the 14-Y-STR panel than that for the minimum haplotype set (HD=0.9969; DC=0.76) and the parameters were similar to those obtained with the panel of 17 YSTR of YHRD (HD=0.9987; DC=0. 9870). The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the genetic variance is found within populations and a smaller, but significant part, is found among populations (R(ST)=0.027, p value=0.009). The data when compared with those from African, Amerindian and European populations have shown no significant genetic distance between northern Brazil populations and Europeans, but there is a significant genetic distance when compared to Africans and Amerindians. The discrimination capacity of the markers shows a high potential for forensic analysis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

In-house preparation of iodine -131 metaiodo benzyl guanidine for scintigraphy of neuroendocrine tumors. Fourteen years experience in South India.

PubMed

Oommen, Regi; Shanthly, Nylla; Subramani, Narasimhan; Devadhas, Devakumar; Hephzibah, Julie; Theodore, Bernice; Srinivasan, Jayashankar

2007-01-01

Iodine-131 metaiodobenzyl guanidine ((131)I-MIBG) is routinely used for imaging and treatment of neuroendocrine tumors (NET). As the commercially available radiopharmaceutical was very expensive, we developed an in-house method of labeling MIBG with (131)I in 1993. A total of 247 batches of (131)I-MIBG were prepared and used in our hospital between April 1993 and September 2006. We report our experience over these 14 years of preparation of this tracer in our hospital radiopharmacy, for the scintigraphy of NET. The technique of preparation is simple and the labeled product was found to be of acceptable quality. With the routine availability and cost effectiveness, the utilization of this radiopharmaceutical for scintigraphy increased remarkably in our institution.

The DECam Plane Survey: Optical Photometry of Two Billion Objects in the Southern Galactic Plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlafly, E. F.; Green, G. M.; Lang, D.; Daylan, T.; Finkbeiner, D. P.; Lee, A.; Meisner, A. M.; Schlegel, D.; Valdes, F.

2018-02-01

The DECam Plane Survey is a five-band optical and near-infrared survey of the southern Galactic plane with the Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo. The survey is designed to reach past the main-sequence turn-off of old populations at the distance of the Galactic center through a reddening E(B-V) of 1.5 mag. Typical single-exposure depths are 23.7, 22.8, 22.3, 21.9, and 21.0 mag (AB) in the grizY bands, with seeing around 1\\prime\\prime . The footprint covers the Galactic plane with | b| ≲ 4^\\circ , 5^\\circ > l> -120^\\circ . The survey pipeline simultaneously solves for the positions and fluxes of tens of thousands of sources in each image, delivering positions and fluxes of roughly two billion stars with better than 10 mmag precision. Most of these objects are highly reddened and deep in the Galactic disk, probing the structure and properties of the Milky Way and its interstellar medium. The fully-processed images and derived catalogs are publicly available.

County Poverty Concentration and Disparities in Unintentional Injury Deaths: A Fourteen-Year Analysis of 1.6 Million U.S. Fatalities

PubMed Central

Karb, Rebecca A.; Subramanian, S. V.; Fleegler, Eric W.

2016-01-01

Unintentional injury is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and mortality due to injury has risen over the past decade. The social determinants behind these rising trends have not been well documented. This study examines the relationship between county-level poverty and unintentional injury mortality in the United States from 1999–2012. Complete annual compressed mortality and population data for 1999–2012 were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics and linked with census yearly county poverty measures. The outcomes examined were unintentional injury fatalities, overall and by six specific mechanisms: motor vehicle collisions, falls, accidental discharge of firearms, drowning, exposure to smoke or fire, and unintentional poisoning. Age-adjusted mortality rates and time trends for county poverty categories were calculated, and multivariate negative binomial regression was used to determine changes over time in both the relative risk of living in high poverty concentration areas and the population attributable fraction. Age-adjusted mortality rates for counties with > 20% poverty were 66% higher mortality in 1999 compared with counties with < 5% poverty (45.25 vs. 27.24 per 100,000; 95% CI for rate difference 15.57,20.46), and that gap widened in 2012 to 79% (44.54 vs. 24.93; 95% CI for rate difference 17.13,22.09). The relative risk of living in the highest poverty counties has increased for all injury mechanisms with the exception of accidental discharge of firearms. The population attributable fraction for all unintentional injuries rose from 0.22 (95% CI 0.13,0.30) in 1999 to 0.35 (95% CI 0.22,0.45) in 2012. This is the first study that uses comprehensive mortality data to document the associations between county poverty and injury mortality rates for the entire US population over a 14 year period. This study suggests that injury reduction interventions should focus on areas of high or increasing poverty. PMID:27144919

County Poverty Concentration and Disparities in Unintentional Injury Deaths: A Fourteen-Year Analysis of 1.6 Million U.S. Fatalities.

PubMed

Karb, Rebecca A; Subramanian, S V; Fleegler, Eric W

2016-01-01

Unintentional injury is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and mortality due to injury has risen over the past decade. The social determinants behind these rising trends have not been well documented. This study examines the relationship between county-level poverty and unintentional injury mortality in the United States from 1999-2012. Complete annual compressed mortality and population data for 1999-2012 were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics and linked with census yearly county poverty measures. The outcomes examined were unintentional injury fatalities, overall and by six specific mechanisms: motor vehicle collisions, falls, accidental discharge of firearms, drowning, exposure to smoke or fire, and unintentional poisoning. Age-adjusted mortality rates and time trends for county poverty categories were calculated, and multivariate negative binomial regression was used to determine changes over time in both the relative risk of living in high poverty concentration areas and the population attributable fraction. Age-adjusted mortality rates for counties with > 20% poverty were 66% higher mortality in 1999 compared with counties with < 5% poverty (45.25 vs. 27.24 per 100,000; 95% CI for rate difference 15.57,20.46), and that gap widened in 2012 to 79% (44.54 vs. 24.93; 95% CI for rate difference 17.13,22.09). The relative risk of living in the highest poverty counties has increased for all injury mechanisms with the exception of accidental discharge of firearms. The population attributable fraction for all unintentional injuries rose from 0.22 (95% CI 0.13,0.30) in 1999 to 0.35 (95% CI 0.22,0.45) in 2012. This is the first study that uses comprehensive mortality data to document the associations between county poverty and injury mortality rates for the entire US population over a 14 year period. This study suggests that injury reduction interventions should focus on areas of high or increasing poverty.

Source Regions for the Earth's Magnetic Field During the First Billion Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stegman, D. R.; Badro, J.

2018-05-01

Earth's early magnetic field places a severe constraint on the thermal evolution of the mantle and core. We will present how a dynamo in a basal magma ocean can reconcile major outstanding issues with present models.

The Stability Of Disk Barred Galaxies Over the Past 7 Billion Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapia, Amauri; Simmons, Brooke

2017-01-01

A recently released model of interacting disk galaxies provides a hypothesis for the origins of off center bars in disks. No systematic search for offset bars in the early universe has yet been undertaken. The Galaxy Zoo project has produced data regarding the large-scale bars of many galaxies. Using this data alongside images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources, we have examined 5190 galaxies for signatures of off-centered bars. Less than 5 percent of the sample shows clear signs of an offset bar. We describe their overall properties of this sub-sample and compare the properties of galaxies with offset bars to those with centered bars. We assess the feasibility of the proposed model and place these galaxies in the context of the overall evolution of galaxies.

How Long Is a Piece of String? 4.5 Billion Years Perhaps!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Terry; McGuigan, Linda

2014-01-01

As reported in an earlier article (Russell and McGuigan, 2014), with Nuffield Foundation support, the authors of this article have been exploring with a group of primary teachers the teaching and learning of evolution and inheritance, focusing on conceptual progression. The new National Curriculum for England requires learners to access knowledge…

Billion-scale production of hepatocyte-like cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

PubMed

Yamashita, Tomoki; Takayama, Kazuo; Sakurai, Fuminori; Mizuguchi, Hiroyuki

2018-02-19

Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells are expected to be utilized in drug screening and regenerative medicine. However, hepatocyte-like cells have not been fully used in such applications because it is difficult to produce such cells on a large scale. In this study, we tried to establish a method to mass produce hepatocyte-like cells using a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture bioreactor called the Rotary Cell Culture System (RCCS). RCCS enabled us to obtain homogenous hepatocyte-like cells on a billion scale (>10 9  cells). The gene expression levels of some hepatocyte markers (alpha-1 antitrypsin, cytochrome (CYP) 1A2, CYP2D6, and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha) were higher in 3D-cultured hepatocyte-like cells than in 2D-cultured hepatocyte-like cells. This result suggests that RCCS could provide more suitable conditions for hepatocyte maturation than the conventional 2D cell culture conditions. In addition, more than 90% of hepatocyte-like cells were positive for albumin and could uptake low-density lipoprotein in the culture medium. We succeeded in the large-scale production of homogenous and functional hepatocyte-like cells from human iPS cells. This technology will be useful in drug screening and regenerative medicine, which require enormous numbers of hepatocyte-like cells. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biologic agents in rheumatology: unmet issues after 200 trials and $200 billion sales.

PubMed

Ioannidis, John P A; Karassa, Fotini B; Druyts, Eric; Thorlund, Kristian; Mills, Edward J

2013-11-01

Anti-TNF agents and other biologic therapies are widely prescribed for a variety of indications, with total sales that exceed $200 billion to date. In rheumatic diseases, biologic agents have now been studied in more than 200 randomized clinical trials and over 100 subsequent meta-analyses; however, the information obtained does not always meet the needs of patients and clinicians. In this Review, we discuss the current issues concerning the evidence derived from such studies: potential biases favouring positive results; a paucity of head-to-head comparisons between biologically active agents; overwhelming involvement of manufacturer sponsors in trials and in the synthesis of the evidence; the preference for trials with limited follow-up; and the potential for spurious findings on adverse events, leading to endless debates about malignancy risk. We debate the responsibilities of regulatory authorities, the pharmaceutical industry and academia in attempting to solve these shortcomings and challenges. We propose that improvements in the evidence regarding biologic treatments that are continually being added to the therapeutic armamentarium for rheumatic diseases might require revisiting the design and conduct of studies. For example, trials with long-term follow-up that are independent of the pharmaceutical industry, head-to-head comparisons of therapeutic agents and the use of rigorous clinical outcomes should be considered, and public availability of raw data endorsed.

An Analysis of the President’s Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 1979

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-01-28

1.1 billion in reforms, for a net corporate income tax reduction of $5.1 billion. These reductions are in addition to the $8.3 billion reduction that...treatment of capital gains and income from unemployment insurance benefits. The cuts in business taxes would include: o reducing the maximum corporate income tax rate...impact on business investment per dollar than the change in the corporate income tax rate. In addition, tax cuts that lower costs—such as the proposed

Layout finishing of a 28nm, 3 billions transistors, multi-core processor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morey-Chaisemartin, Philippe; Beisser, Eric

2013-06-01

Designing a fully new 256 cores processor is a great challenge for a fabless startup. In addition to all architecture, functionalities and timing issues, the layout by itself is a bottleneck due to all the process constraints of a 28nm technology. As developers of advanced layout finishing solutions, we were involved in the design flow of this huge chip with its 3 billions transistors. We had to face the issue of dummy patterns instantiation with respect to design constraints. All the design rules to generate the "dummies" are clearly defined in the Design Rule Manual, and some automatic procedures are provided by the foundry itself, but these routines don't take care of the designer requests. Such a chip, embeds both digital parts and analog modules for clock and power management. These two different type of designs have each their own set of constraints. In both cases, the insertion of dummies should not introduce unexpected variations leading to malfunctions. For example, on digital parts were signal race conditions are critical on long wires or bus, introduction of uncontrolled parasitic along these nets are highly critical. For analog devices such as high frequency and high sensitivity comparators, the exact symmetry of the two parts of a current mirror generator should be guaranteed. Thanks to the easily customizable features of our dummies insertion tool, we were able to configure it in order to meet all the designer requirements as well as the process constraints. This paper will present all these advanced key features as well as the layout tricks used to fulfill all requirements.

Generating Billion-Edge Scale-Free Networks in Seconds: Performance Study of a Novel GPU-based Preferential Attachment Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perumalla, Kalyan S.; Alam, Maksudul

A novel parallel algorithm is presented for generating random scale-free networks using the preferential-attachment model. The algorithm, named cuPPA, is custom-designed for single instruction multiple data (SIMD) style of parallel processing supported by modern processors such as graphical processing units (GPUs). To the best of our knowledge, our algorithm is the first to exploit GPUs, and also the fastest implementation available today, to generate scale free networks using the preferential attachment model. A detailed performance study is presented to understand the scalability and runtime characteristics of the cuPPA algorithm. In one of the best cases, when executed on an NVidiamore » GeForce 1080 GPU, cuPPA generates a scale free network of a billion edges in less than 2 seconds.« less

First year medical student experiences with being discouraged from entering medical school.

PubMed

Imperato, P J; Nayeri, K

1991-06-01

Three hundred and fourteen first year medical students from two consecutive classes were surveyed for their experiences with being discouraged from entering medical school. Sixty-eight percent (215) had been discouraged from becoming physicians. The sources of discouragement were varied, with 43% citing physician acquaintances and 40% friends and neighbors. Parents were the principal source of encouragement (58%) followed by friends and neighbors (47%). More students (34%) were encouraged by undergraduate professors and advisors than by their family doctor (23%), a physician relative (18%), or a physician acquaintance (31%). Discouragement centered on three broad areas: diminished financial rewards, increased financial costs, and quality of life.

Evolution of the moon: The 1974 model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmitt, H. H.

1977-01-01

The interpretive evolution of the moon can be divided now into seven major stages beginning sometime near the end of the formation of the solar system. These stages and their approximate durations in time are as follows: (1) The Beginning: 4.6 billion years ago, (2) The Melted Shell: 4.6 to 4.4 billion years ago, (3) The Cratered Highlands: 4.4 to 4.1 billion years ago, (4) The Large Basins: 4.1 to 3.9 billion years ago, (5) The Light-colored Plains: 3.9 to 3.8 billion years ago, (6) The Basaltic Maria: 3.8 to 3.0(?) billion years ago, and (7) The Quiet Crust: 3.0(?) billion years ago to the present. The contributions of the Apollo and Luna exploration toward the study of those stages of evolution are reviewed.

Evolving Cosmos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schilling, Govert

2005-02-01

Science journalist Govert Schilling takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through time by describing the evolution of the cosmos, from the beginning of space and time fourteen billion years ago, to the creation of the Earth and humankind. Ending with a glance into the distant future of the universe, the book's combination of compelling text and breathtaking photographs provides an impressive vision of the place of man in the cosmos. Govert Schilling is a Dutch science writer and astronomy publicist. He is a contributing editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, and regularly writes for the news sections of Science and New Scientist. Schilling is the astronomy writer for de Volkskrant, one of the largest national daily newspapers in The Netherlands, and frequently talks about the Universe on Dutch radio broadcasts. He is the author of more than twenty popular astronomy books, including Flash! (Cambridge, 2002), and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on astronomy.

2009 rail safety statistics report : an analysis of safety data reported by state safety oversight agencies and rail transit agencies for the years 2003-2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-01

In calendar year 2008, the rail transit industry provided over 18.5 billion passenger : miles, a 5% increase from 2007 service numbers. Growth in ridership at the rail : transit agencies in the Federal Transit Administrations (FTA) State Safety Ov...

An Analysis of Medicare Reimbursement to Ophthalmologists: Years 2012 to 2013.

PubMed

Han, Everett; Baisiwala, Shivani; Jain, Atul; Bundorf, M Kate; Pershing, Suzann

2017-10-01

To analyze trends in utilization and payment of ophthalmic services in the Medicare population for years 2012 and 2013. Retrospective, cross-sectional study. A retrospective cross-sectional observational analysis was performed using publicly available Medicare Physician and Other Supplier aggregate file and the Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File. Variables analyzed included aggregate beneficiary demographics, Medicare payments to ophthalmologists, ophthalmic medical services provided, and the most common Medicare-reimbursed ophthalmic services. In 2013, total Medicare Part B reimbursement for ophthalmology was $5.8 billion, an increase of 3.6% from the previous year. From 2012 to 2013, the total number of ophthalmology services rendered increased by 2.2%, while average dollar amount reimbursed per ophthalmic service decreased by 5.4%. The top 5 highest reimbursed services accounted for 85% of total ophthalmic Medicare payments in 2013, an 11% increase from 2012. During 2013, drug reimbursement represented 32.8% of the total Medicare payments to ophthalmologists. Ranibizumab and aflibercept alone accounted for 95% of the entire $1.9 billion in drug reimbursements ophthalmologists in 2013. Medicare Part B reimbursement for ophthalmologists was primarily driven by use of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections from 2012 to 2013. Of the total drug payments to ophthalmologists, biologic anti-VEGF agents ranibizumab and aflibercept accounted for 95% of all drug reimbursement. This is in contrast to other specialties, in which drug reimbursement represented only a small portion of Medicare reimbursement. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Rapid analysis of perchlorate in drinking water at parts per billion levels using microchip electrophoresis.

PubMed

Gertsch, Jana C; Noblitt, Scott D; Cropek, Donald M; Henry, Charles S

2010-05-01

A microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) system has been developed for the determination of perchlorate in drinking water. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recently proposed a health advisory limit for perchlorate in drinking water of 15 parts per billion (ppb), a level requiring large, sophisticated instrumentation, such as ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (IC-MS), for detection. An inexpensive, portable system is desired for routine online monitoring applications of perchlorate in drinking water. Here, we present an MCE method using contact conductivity detection for perchlorate determination. The method has several advantages, including reduced analysis times relative to IC, inherent portability, high selectivity, and minimal sample pretreatment. Resolution of perchlorate from more abundant ions was achieved using zwitterionic, sulfobetaine surfactants, N-hexadecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propane sulfonate (HDAPS) and N-tetradecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propane sulfonate (TDAPS). The system performance and the optimization of the separation chemistry, including the use of these surfactants to resolve perchlorate from other anions, are discussed in this work. The system is capable of detection limits of 3.4 +/- 1.8 ppb (n = 6) in standards and 5.6 +/- 1.7 ppb (n = 6) in drinking water.

Half a billion surgical cases: Aligning surgical delivery with best-performing health systems.

PubMed

Shrime, Mark G; Daniels, Kimberly M; Meara, John G

2015-07-01

Surgical delivery varies 200-fold across countries. No direct correlation exists, however, between surgical delivery and health outcomes, making it difficult to pinpoint a goal for surgical scale-up. This report determines the amount of surgery that would be delivered worldwide if the world aligned itself with countries providing the best health outcomes. Annual rates of surgical delivery have been published previously for 129 countries. Five health outcomes were plotted against reported surgical delivery. Univariate and multivariate polynomial regression curves were fit, and the optimal point on each regression curve was determined by solving for first-order conditions. The country closest to the optimum for each health outcome was taken as representative of the best-performing health system. Monetary inputs to and surgical procedures provided by these systems were scaled to the global population. For 3 of the 5 health outcomes, optima could be found. Globally, 315 million procedures currently are provided annually. If global delivery mirrored the 3 best-performing countries, between 360 million and 460 million cases would be provided annually. With population growth, this will increase to approximately half a billion cases by 2030. Health systems delivering these outcomes spend approximately 10% of their GDP on health. This is the first study to provide empirical evidence for the surgical output that an ideal health system would provide. Our results project ideal delivery worldwide of approximately 550 million annual surgical cases by 2030. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Half a billion surgical cases: Aligning surgical delivery with best-performing health systems

PubMed Central

Shrime, Mark G.; Daniels, Kimberly M.; Meara, John G.

2015-01-01

Background Surgical delivery varies 200-fold across countries. No direct correlation exists, however, between surgical delivery and health outcomes, making it difficult to pinpoint a goal for surgical scale-up. This report determines the amount of surgery that would be delivered worldwide if the world aligned itself with countries providing the best health outcomes. Methods Annual rates of surgical delivery have been published previously for 129 countries. Five health outcomes were plotted against reported surgical delivery. Univariate and multivariate polynomial regression curves were fit, and the optimal point on each regression curve was determined by solving for first-order conditions. The country closest to the optimum for each health outcome was taken as representative of the best-performing health system. Monetary inputs to and surgical procedures provided by these systems were scaled to the global population. Results For 3 of the 5 health outcomes, optima could be found. Globally, 315 million procedures currently are provided annually. If global delivery mirrored the 3 best-performing countries, between 360 million and 460 million cases would be provided annually. With population growth, this will increase to approximately half a billion cases by 2030. Health systems delivering these outcomes spend approximately 10% of their GDP on health. Conclusion This is the first study to provide empirical evidence for the surgical output that an ideal health system would provide. Our results project ideal delivery worldwide of approximately 550 million annual surgical cases by 2030. PMID:25934078

Stabilization Wedges and the Management of Global Carbon for the next 50 years

ScienceCinema

Socolow, Robert

2018-05-24

More than 40 years after receiving a Ph.D. in physics, I am still working on problems where conservation laws matter. In particular, for the problems I work on now, the conservation of the carbon atom matters. I will tell the saga of an annual flow of 8 billion tons of carbon associated with the global extraction of fossil fuels from underground. Until recently, it was taken for granted that virtually all of this carbon will move within weeks through engines of various kinds and then into the atmosphere. For compelling environmental reasons, I and many others are challenging this complacent view, asking whether the carbon might wisely be directed elsewhere. To frame this and similar discussions, Steve Pacala and I introduced the 'stabilization wedge' in 2004 as a useful unit for discussing climate stabilization. Updating the definition, a wedge is the reduction of CO2 emissions by one billion tons of carbon per year in 2057, achieved by any strategy generated as a result of deliberate attention to global carbon. Each strategy uses already commercialized technology, generally at much larger scale than today. Implementing seven wedges should enable the world to achieve the interim goal of emitting no more CO2 globally in 2057 than today. This would place humanity, approximately, on a path to stabilizing CO2 at less than double the pre-industrial concentration, and it would put those at the helm in the following 50 years in a position to drive CO2 emissions to a net of zero in the following 50 years. Arguably, the tasks of the two half-centuries are comparably difficult.

NIH and NCI grant-related changes during fiscal years 2014 and 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Rosemary S. L.

2015-03-01

The 2014 fiscal year (FY) continued to be a challenging one for all federal agencies despite the many Congressional strategies proposed to address the U.S. budget deficit. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 passed by the House and Senate in December 2013 approved a two-year spending bill which cancelled the FY2014 and FY2015 required sequestration cuts (i.e., 4-5% National Institute of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI) budget reduction initiated on March 1, 2013), but extended the sequestration period through FY2023. This bill passage helped minimize any further budget reductions and resulted in a final FY2014 NIH budget of 29.9 billion and a NCI budget of 4.9 billion. Both NIH and NCI worked hard to maintain awarding the same number of NIH/NCI investigator-initiated R01 and exploratory R21 grants funded in FY2014 and similar to the level seen in FY2013 and previous years (see Tables 1 and 2). Since Congress only recently passed the 2015 spending bill in December 16, 2014, the final NIH and NCI budget appropriations for FY2015 remains unknown at this time and most likely will be similar to the FY2014 budget level. The NCI overall success and funding rates for unsolicited investigator-initiated R01 applications remained at 15%, while the success rate for exploratory R21 applications was 12% in FY2014 with similar rates seen in FY2013 (see Tables 1 and 2). The success rate for biomedical research applications in the Photodynamic Therapy and laser research field will be provided for the past few years. NIH provides numerous resources to help inform the extramural biomedical research community of new and current grant applicants about new grant policy changes and the grant submission and review processes.

Anti-bacterial activity and brine shrimp lethality bioassay of methanolic extracts of fourteen different edible vegetables from Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Ullah, M. Obayed; Haque, Mahmuda; Urmi, Kaniz Fatima; Zulfiker, Abu Hasanat Md.; Anita, Elichea Synthi; Begum, Momtaj; Hamid, Kaiser

2013-01-01

Objective To investigate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of fourteen different edible vegetables methanolic extract from Bangladesh. Methods The antibacterial activity was evaluated using disc diffusion assay method against 12 bacteria (both gram positive and gram negative). The plant extracts were also screened for cytotoxic activity using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay method and the lethal concentrations (LC50) were determined at 95% confidence intervals by analyzing the data on a computer loaded with “Finney Programme”. Results All the vegetable extracts showed low to elevated levels of antibacterial activity against most of the tested strains (zone of inhibition=5-28 mm). The most active extract against all bacterial strains was from Xanthium indicum which showed remarkable antibacterial activity having the diameter of growth inhibition zone ranging from 12 to 28 mm followed by Alternanthera sessilis (zone of inhibition=6-21 mm). All extracts exhibited considerable general toxicity towards brine shrimps. The LC50 value of the tested extracts was within the range of 8.447 to 60.323 µg/mL with respect to the positive control (vincristine sulphate) which was 0.91 µg/mL. Among all studied extracts, Xanthium indicum displayed the highest cytotoxic effect with LC50 value of 8.447 µg/mL. Conclusions The results of the present investigation suggest that most of the studied plants are potentially good source of antibacterial and anticancer agents. PMID:23570009

By the Year 2000: First in the World. Report of the FCCSET Committee on Education and Human Resources. FY 1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

President Bush's budget for fiscal year (FY) 1992 includes $1.94 billion for mathematics, science, and engineering education at the precollege through postdoctoral levels. This is an increase of $225 million or 13 percent over FY 1991. This report from the Committee on Education and Human Resources of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science,…

Age differences in health care spending, fiscal year 1977.

PubMed

Gibson, R M; Fisher, C R

1979-01-01

This report of health care spending in fiscal year 1977 reveals that of the $142.6 billion spent by the Nation for personal health care in fiscal year 1977, 29 percent was spent for those aged 65 or older, 59 percent for those aged 19-64, and 13 percent for those below age 19. The average health bill reached $1,745 for the aged, $661 for the intermediate age group, and $253 for the young. Public funds financed 67 percent of the health expenses of the aged, with Medicare and Medicaid together accounting for 61 percent. More than two-thirds of the health expenses of the young and 71 percent of the expenses of those aged 19-64 were paid by private sources. Third-party payments met 68 percent of the health expenditures of all those under age 65.

[Nutritional interventions and child growth among under-two-year-olds: a systematic review].

PubMed

Valle, Neiva J; Santos, Iná S dos; Gigante, Denise P

2004-01-01

The aim of this study was to collect evidence of the impact of nutritional interventions on child growth. A systematic review of the literature on nutritional interventions in under-two-year-old children from 1980 to 2002 was conducted in the electronic databases (MEDLINE, LILACS, and MedCarib). The following descriptors were used: "nutrition", "child", "trial", "intervention", "growth", "infant", "programs", "impact", "counseling", "support", "body height", and "body weight". A complementary search was implemented by screening the bibliography cited in the previously located articles. Fourteen publications were found. The strategies used in the studies included distribution of nutritional supplements and/or nutritional counseling. Publication bias aside, most interventions presented a positive impact on child growth when applied during the first year of life. Nutritional counseling had the additional advantage of improving maternal and health professional practices on child nutrition and feeding.

Fiscal Year 2010 U.S. Government Financial Statements: Federal Government Continues To Face Financial Management And Long-Term Fiscal Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-09

effective oversight of federal government programs and policies. Over the years, certain material weaknesses in internal control over...ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements. In addition to the material weaknesses underlying these major impediments, GAO...noted material weaknesses involving billions of dollars in improper payments, information security, and tax collection activities. With regard to the

Fiscal year 2013 energy department budget: Proposed investments in clean energy research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balcerak, Ernie

2012-03-01

Energy and environmental research programs generally fared well in President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the Department of Energy (DOE) for fiscal year (FY) 2013. In his State of the Union address, Obama called for the United States to pursue an "all of the above" energy strategy that includes fossil fuels, as well as a variety of renewable sources of energy. The DOE budget request supports that strategy, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a 13 February press briefing announcing the budget proposal. The proposed budget gives DOE 27.2 billion overall, a 3.2% increase from the FY 2012 enacted budget (see Table 1). This budget "reflects some tough choices," Chu said. The proposed budget would cut 4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies; many Republican members of Congress have already indicated that they oppose such cuts, suggesting that congressional approval of this budget may run into stumbling blocks. The budget would also cut funding for research and development projects that are already attracting private-sector investment or that are not working, and would reduce some of the department's operational costs.

Three-dimensional preservation of cellular and subcellular structures suggests 1.6 billion-year-old crown-group red algae

PubMed Central

Bengtson, Stefan; Sallstedt, Therese; Belivanova, Veneta; Whitehouse, Martin

2017-01-01

The ~1.6 Ga Tirohan Dolomite of the Lower Vindhyan in central India contains phosphatized stromatolitic microbialites. We report from there uniquely well-preserved fossils interpreted as probable crown-group rhodophytes (red algae). The filamentous form Rafatazmia chitrakootensis n. gen, n. sp. has uniserial rows of large cells and grows through diffusely distributed septation. Each cell has a centrally suspended, conspicuous rhomboidal disk interpreted as a pyrenoid. The septa between the cells have central structures that may represent pit connections and pit plugs. Another filamentous form, Denaricion mendax n. gen., n. sp., has coin-like cells reminiscent of those in large sulfur-oxidizing bacteria but much more recalcitrant than the liquid-vacuole-filled cells of the latter. There are also resemblances with oscillatoriacean cyanobacteria, although cell volumes in the latter are much smaller. The wider affinities of Denaricion are uncertain. Ramathallus lobatus n. gen., n. sp. is a lobate sessile alga with pseudoparenchymatous thallus, “cell fountains,” and apical growth, suggesting florideophycean affinity. If these inferences are correct, Rafatazmia and Ramathallus represent crown-group multicellular rhodophytes, antedating the oldest previously accepted red alga in the fossil record by about 400 million years. PMID:28291791

Three-dimensional preservation of cellular and subcellular structures suggests 1.6 billion-year-old crown-group red algae.

PubMed

Bengtson, Stefan; Sallstedt, Therese; Belivanova, Veneta; Whitehouse, Martin

2017-03-01

The ~1.6 Ga Tirohan Dolomite of the Lower Vindhyan in central India contains phosphatized stromatolitic microbialites. We report from there uniquely well-preserved fossils interpreted as probable crown-group rhodophytes (red algae). The filamentous form Rafatazmia chitrakootensis n. gen, n. sp. has uniserial rows of large cells and grows through diffusely distributed septation. Each cell has a centrally suspended, conspicuous rhomboidal disk interpreted as a pyrenoid. The septa between the cells have central structures that may represent pit connections and pit plugs. Another filamentous form, Denaricion mendax n. gen., n. sp., has coin-like cells reminiscent of those in large sulfur-oxidizing bacteria but much more recalcitrant than the liquid-vacuole-filled cells of the latter. There are also resemblances with oscillatoriacean cyanobacteria, although cell volumes in the latter are much smaller. The wider affinities of Denaricion are uncertain. Ramathallus lobatus n. gen., n. sp. is a lobate sessile alga with pseudoparenchymatous thallus, "cell fountains," and apical growth, suggesting florideophycean affinity. If these inferences are correct, Rafatazmia and Ramathallus represent crown-group multicellular rhodophytes, antedating the oldest previously accepted red alga in the fossil record by about 400 million years.

Betting big on doc ownership. 'Boutique' chain blasts off with $1 billion investment, plans for 10 hospitals, and hopes to create healthcare model of the future.

PubMed

Zigmond, Jessica

2006-12-11

A new "boutique" chain is roaring out the gate with $1 billion to spend and plans for 10 hospitals. University General Hospital Systems, which aspires to offer the feel of a luxury hotel in its facilities, is wading into the thick of some of the most controversial issues in healthcare. All but one of its hospitals are planned for states without CON laws, according to W.J. "Bill" Burk, left.

Integrated Smartphone-App-Chip System for On-Site Parts-Per-Billion-Level Colorimetric Quantitation of Aflatoxins.

PubMed

Li, Xiaochun; Yang, Fan; Wong, Jessica X H; Yu, Hua-Zhong

2017-09-05

We demonstrate herein an integrated, smartphone-app-chip (SPAC) system for on-site quantitation of food toxins, as demonstrated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), at parts-per-billion (ppb) level in food products. The detection is based on an indirect competitive immunoassay fabricated on a transparent plastic chip with the assistance of a microfluidic channel plate. A 3D-printed optical accessory attached to a smartphone is adapted to align the assay chip and to provide uniform illumination for imaging, with which high-quality images of the assay chip are captured by the smartphone camera and directly processed using a custom-developed Android app. The performance of this smartphone-based detection system was tested using both spiked and moldy corn samples; consistent results with conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were obtained. The achieved detection limit (3 ± 1 ppb, equivalent to μg/kg) and dynamic response range (0.5-250 ppb) meet the requested testing standards set by authorities in China and North America. We envision that the integrated SPAC system promises to be a simple and accurate method of food toxin quantitation, bringing much benefit for rapid on-site screening.

Assessing Progress in Reducing the At-Risk Population after 13 Years of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis

PubMed Central

Hooper, Pamela J.; Chu, Brian K.; Mikhailov, Alexei; Ottesen, Eric A.; Bradley, Mark

2014-01-01

Background In 1997, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution 50.29, committing to the elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem, subsequently targeted for 2020. The initial estimates were that 1.2 billion people were at-risk for LF infection globally. Now, 13 years after the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) began implementing mass drug administration (MDA) against LF in 2000—during which over 4.4 billion treatments have been distributed in 56 endemic countries—it is most appropriate to estimate the impact that the MDA has had on reducing the population at risk of LF. Methodology/Principal Findings To assess GPELF progress in reducing the population at-risk for LF, we developed a model based on defining reductions in risk of infection among cohorts of treated populations following each round of MDA. The model estimates that the number of people currently at risk of infection decreased by 46% to 789 million through 2012. Conclusions/Significance Important progress has been made in the global efforts to eliminate LF, but significant scale-up is required over the next 8 years to reach the 2020 elimination goal. PMID:25411843

Development and characterization of fourteen novel microsatellite markers for the chestnut short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia castanea), and cross-amplification to related species.

PubMed

Cleary, Katherine A; Waits, Lisette P; Hohenlohe, Paul A

2016-01-01

Rapid anthropogenic land use change threatens the primary habitat of the Chestnut short-tailed bat (Carollia castanea) throughout much of its range. Information on population genetic structure can inform management strategies for this widespread frugivorous bat, and effective protection of C. castanea will also benefit the more than 20 mutualistic plant species of which this bat is the primary seed disperser. To facilitate understanding of population genetic structure in this species, fourteen novel microsatellite markers were developed using restriction-site-associated DNA libraries and Illumina sequencing and tested on 28 individuals from 13 locations in Costa Rica. These are the first microsatellite markers developed for C. castanea. All loci were polymorphic, with number of alleles ranging from 2-11 and average observed heterozygosity of 0.631. Markers were also cross-amplified in three additional frugivorous bat species threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation: Sowell's short-tailed bat (Carollia sowelli), Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata), and the Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis), and 10, 11, and 8 were polymorphic, respectively.

A Powerful Toolkit for Synthetic Biology: Over 3.8 Billion Years of Evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothschild, Lynn J.

2010-01-01

The combination of evolutionary with engineering principles will enhance synthetic biology. Conversely, synthetic biology has the potential to enrich evolutionary biology by explaining why some adaptive space is empty, on Earth or elsewhere. Synthetic biology, the design and construction of artificial biological systems, substitutes bio-engineering for evolution, which is seen as an obstacle. But because evolution has produced the complexity and diversity of life, it provides a proven toolkit of genetic materials and principles available to synthetic biology. Evolution operates on the population level, with the populations composed of unique individuals that are historical entities. The source of genetic novelty includes mutation, gene regulation, sex, symbiosis, and interspecies gene transfer. At a phenotypic level, variation derives from regulatory control, replication and diversification of components, compartmentalization, sexual selection and speciation, among others. Variation is limited by physical constraints such as diffusion, and chemical constraints such as reaction rates and membrane fluidity. While some of these tools of evolution are currently in use in synthetic biology, all ought to be examined for utility. A hybrid approach of synthetic biology coupled with fine-tuning through evolution is suggested

A powerful toolkit for synthetic biology: Over 3.8 billion years of evolution.

PubMed

Rothschild, Lynn J

2010-04-01

The combination of evolutionary with engineering principles will enhance synthetic biology. Conversely, synthetic biology has the potential to enrich evolutionary biology by explaining why some adaptive space is empty, on Earth or elsewhere. Synthetic biology, the design and construction of artificial biological systems, substitutes bio-engineering for evolution, which is seen as an obstacle. But because evolution has produced the complexity and diversity of life, it provides a proven toolkit of genetic materials and principles available to synthetic biology. Evolution operates on the population level, with the populations composed of unique individuals that are historical entities. The source of genetic novelty includes mutation, gene regulation, sex, symbiosis, and interspecies gene transfer. At a phenotypic level, variation derives from regulatory control, replication and diversification of components, compartmentalization, sexual selection and speciation, among others. Variation is limited by physical constraints such as diffusion, and chemical constraints such as reaction rates and membrane fluidity. While some of these tools of evolution are currently in use in synthetic biology, all ought to be examined for utility. A hybrid approach of synthetic biology coupled with fine-tuning through evolution is suggested.

Could organic matter have been preserved on Mars for 3.5 billion years?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kanavarioti, Anastassia; Mancinelli, Rocco L.

1990-01-01

About 3.5 Gyr ago, when it is thought that Mars and earth had similar climates, biological evolution on earth had made considerable progress, such that life was abundant. It is therefore surmised that prior to this time period, the advent of chemical evolution and subsequent origin of life occurred on earth and may have occurred on Mars. Analysis for organic compounds in the soil buried beneath the Martian surface may yield useful information regarding the occurrence of chemical evolution and possibly biological evolution. Calculations based on the stability of amino acids lead to the conclusion that remnants of these compounds, if they existed on Mars 3.5 Gyr ago, might have been preserved buried beneath the surface oxidizing layer. For example, if phenylalanine, an amino acid of average stability, existed on Mars 3.5 Gyr ago, then 1.6 percent would remain buried today. Martian soil may exist from remnants of meteoritic and cometary bombardment, assuming that 1 percent of the organics survived impact.

The economic downturn and its lingering effects reduced medicare spending growth by $4 billion in 2009-12.

PubMed

Dranove, David; Garthwaite, Craig; Ody, Christopher

2015-08-01

Previous work has found a strong connection between the most recent economic recession and reductions in private health spending. However, the effect of economic downturns on Medicare spending is less clear. In contrast to studies involving earlier time periods, our study found that when the macroeconomy slowed during the Great Recession of 2007-09, so did Medicare spending growth. A small (14 percent) but significant share of the decline in Medicare spending growth from 2009 to 2012 relative to growth from 2004 to 2009 can be attributed to lingering effects of the recession. Absent the economic downturn, Medicare spending would have been $4 billion higher in 2009-12. A major reason for the relatively small impact of the macroeconomy is the relative lack of labor-force participation among people ages sixty-five and older. We estimate that if they had been working at the same rate as the nonelderly before the recession, the effect of the downturn on Medicare spending growth would have been twice as large. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Impacts of a 32-billion-gallon bioenergy landscape on land and fossil fuel use in the US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudiburg, Tara W.; Wang, Weiwei; Khanna, Madhu; Long, Stephen P.; Dwivedi, Puneet; Parton, William J.; Hartman, Melannie; Delucia, Evan H.

2016-01-01

Sustainable transportation biofuels may require considerable changes in land use to meet mandated targets. Understanding the possible impact of different policies on land use and greenhouse gas emissions has typically proceeded by exploring either ecosystem or economic modelling. Here we integrate such models to assess the potential for the US Renewable Fuel Standard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector through the use of cellulosic biofuels. We find that 2022 US emissions are decreased by 7.0 ± 2.5% largely through gasoline displacement and soil carbon storage by perennial grasses. If the Renewable Fuel Standard is accompanied by a cellulosic biofuel tax credit, these emissions could be reduced by 12.3 ± 3.4%. Our integrated approach indicates that transitioning to cellulosic biofuels can meet a 32-billion-gallon Renewable Fuel Standard target with negligible effects on food crop production, while reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. However, emissions savings are lower than previous estimates that did not account for economic constraints.

Economic Costs Attributable to Smoking in China: Update and an 8-year Comparison, 2000–2008

PubMed Central

Yang, Lian; Sung, Hai-Yen; Mao, Zhengzhong; Hu, Teh-wei; Rao, Keqin

2013-01-01

Objective To estimate the health-related economic costs attributable to smoking in China for persons aged 35 and older in 2003 and in 2008 and to compare these costs with the respective results from 2000. Methods A prevalence-based, disease-specific approach was used to estimate smoking-attributable direct and indirect economic costs. The primary data source was the 2003 and 2008 China National Health Services Survey, which contains individual participant’s smoking status, healthcare utilization, and expenditures. Results The total economic cost of smoking in China amounted to $17.1 billion in 2003 and $28.9 billion in 2008 (both measured in 2008 constant US dollars). Direct smoking-attributable healthcare costs in 2003 and 2008 were $4.2 billion and $6.2 billion, respectively. Indirect economic costs in 2003 and 2008 were $12.9 billion and $22.7 billion, respectively. Compared to 2000, the direct costs of smoking rose by 72% in 2003 and 154% in 2008, while the indirect costs of smoking rose by 170% in 2003 and 376% in 2008. Conclusion The economic burden of cigarette smoking has increased substantially in China during the past decade and is expected to continue to increase as the national economy and the price of healthcare services grow. Stronger intervention measures against smoking should be taken without delay to reduce the health and financial losses caused by smoking. PMID:21339491

Tough budget year ahead, says NASA's Fisk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cole, Stephen

1992-02-01

Lennard Fisk, head of NASA's space science and applications division, painted a bleak picture for space scientists on February 14 as the Bush administration's fiscal 1993 budget headed to Congress. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Space Science Working Group in Washington, D.C., Fisk said “It's going to take a miracle to get the $2,985 billion request” for space science in this year's NASA budget.Fisk held out no hope that programs already cut from the budget, such as the Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby mission, would be reinstated. The CRAF cancellation was “a $50 million issue in fiscal 1993,” said Fisk, “and it was $50 million that simply wasn't there.” His office “was under enormous pressure to take something off the plate,” he said.

Evaluation testing of a portable vapor detector for Part-Per-Billion (PPB) level UDMH and N2H4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curran, Dan; Lueck, Dale E.

1995-01-01

Trace level detection of hydrazine (N2H4), monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) has been receiving increased attention over the past several years. In May 1995 the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) lowered their acceptable threshold limit value (TLV) from 100 parts-per-billion (ppb) to 10 ppb. Several types of ppb-level detectors are being developed by the United States Air Force (USAF) Space and Missile Systems Center (SMSC). A breadboard version of a portable, lightweight hydrazine detection sensor was developed and produced by Giner Corp. for the USAF. This sensor was designed for ppb level UDMH and N2H4 vapor detection in near real-time. This instrument employs electrochemical sensing, utilizing a three electrode cell with an anion-exchange polymer electrolyte membrane as the only electrolyte in the system. The sensing, counter and reference electrodes are bonded to the membrane forming a single component. The only liquid required to maintain the sensor is deionized water which hydrates the membrane. At the request of the USAF SMSC, independent testing and evaluation of the breadboard instrument was performed at NASA's Toxic Vapor Detection Laboratory (TVDL) for response to ppb-level N2H4 and UDMH and MMH. The TVDL, located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has the unique ability to generate calibrated sample vapor streams of N2H4, UDMH, and MMH over a range from less than 10 ppb to thousands of parts per million (ppm) with full environmental control of relative humidity (0-90%) and temperature (0-50 C). The TVDL routinely performs these types of tests. Referenced sensors were subjected to extensive testing, including precision, linearity, response/recovery times, zero and span drift, humidity and temperature effects as well as ammonia interference. Results of these tests and general operation characteristics are reported.

Age differences in health care spending, fiscal year 1976.

PubMed

Gibson, R M; Mueller, M S; Fisher, C R

1977-08-01

Of the $120.4 billion spent by the Nation for personal health care in fiscal year 1976, 29% was spent for those aged 65 or older, 15% for those under age 19, and the remaining 56% for those aged 19-64. The average health bill reached $1,521 for the aged, $547 for the intermediate age group, and $249 for the young. Public funds financed 68% of the health expenses of the aged with Medicare and Medicaid together accounting for 59%. Private sources paid 74% of the health expenses of the young and 70% of the expenses of those aged 19-64. Third-party payments met 65% of the health expenditures of all those under age 65.

False-belief understanding and social preference over the first 2 years of school: a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Fink, Elian; Begeer, Sander; Hunt, Caroline; de Rosnay, Marc

2014-01-01

The role of false belief in establishing children's social relationships during the transition to school was examined and compared to other social cognitive constructs. One hundred and fourteen 5-year-olds were recruited during their 1st year of school (Time 1); 106 children were retained 1 year later. False belief, emotion expression recognition, empathy, verbal ability, and peer-rated social preference were measured at both times. False belief at Time 1 had a direct influence on concurrent social preference, over and above the influence of emotion expression recognition and empathy. False belief made no independent contribution to later social preference accounting for stability in social preference. The role of social cognitive development is discussed with respect to how children establish and maintain their position in a peer group. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Fourteen-Month-Olds' Decontextualized Understanding of Words for Absent Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendrickson, Kristi; Sundara, Megha

2017-01-01

The majority of research examining infants' decontextualized word knowledge comes from studies in which words and pictures are presented simultaneously. However, comprehending utterances about unseen objects is a hallmark of language. Do infants demonstrate decontextualized absent object knowledge early in the second year of life? Further, to what…

The Population of China. One Billion, Eight Million People.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Elaine M.; Cancellier, Patricia

1983-01-01

Several programs have been instituted in China over the past 30 years in order to slow the birth rate. The population, set at 1,008,175,288 people by a 1982 census, is by far the largest of any nation. A 10-year family planning program, begun in 1957, caused the birth rate to drop considerably through the mid-1960's. In 1971, "wan xi…

Semiclosed thromboendoarterectomy on femoro-popliteal tract revisited after a fourteen years experience on 595 cases.

PubMed

Vercellio, G; Castelli, P; Coletti, M; Carlesi, R; Agrifoglio, G

1986-01-01

In the seventies atherosclerotic femoropopliteal lesions were extensively treated by means of retrograde semiclosed thromboendarterectomy (FP-TEA) an analytic follow-up of cases, until 1980, induced the modification of the indications to FP-TEA. Currently the FP-TEA technique is only employed for patients at the 2nd Fontaine's stage with disabling claudication (generally less than 100 mt) with a good distal run-off (at least 2 tibial vessels patent). The report deals with a series of 595 cases operated in the period January 1971-December 1984. In 45% of cases FP-TEA was associated with a proximal revascularization. In an attempt to focus on the factors that may influence the outcome, the patients operated in 1976, 1980, 1984, were assessed and the results related to clinical stage, angiographic pattern and postoperative treatment.

The AMS-02 detector on the International Space Station - The status after the first 5 years on orbit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duranti, Matteo

2017-03-01

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS-02, detector is operating on the International Space Station (ISS) since May the 19th, 2011. More than 80 billion events have been collected by the instrument in the first 5 years of data taking. This unprecedented amount of data is being used to perform accurate measurements of the different Cosmic Rays (CR) components. In this contribution a review of the published results will be presented.

The Budget of the United States Government. Department of Defense Extract for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-01-01

due simply to chance—it is the result of successful policies adopted during the past 6 years. Disposable personal income is at an all-time high and...of the 7 previous postwar expansions in duration, and leading economic indicators point to continued growth ahead. Our policies have worked. Let me...relieving the economy of excessive regulation and paperwork; and • supporting a sound and stable monetary policy . BUDGET SUMMARY (In billions of

The Budget of the United States Government. Department of Defense Extract for Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

i.e., programs gen - erally subject to control by annual appropriations) were $6.3 billion above the Administration’s original request for policy reasons...unobligated balance avail- Amounts for proposed new legislation are shown gen - able, end of year. That balance is carried forward and erally in separate...Program and Financing (in thousands of dollars) Trident strategic missile and submarine continues. Gen - lan 97-0819-0-1-051 199 actual 1909 e. 19eral

Cutting the Nation's Health Care Costs

PubMed Central

Davis, Emsley A.

1987-01-01

In 1984 health care expenditures totaled $387.4 billion, and may reach $757.9 billion by 1990. The following factors and their annual cost overrun price tags are the prime forces behind this rapidly growing expense: professional liability insurance, litigations, and defensive medicine, $30 billion; hospital administrative management and employee excess, $6.3 billion; community hospital profits, $8.3 billion; oversupply and duplication of drugs and drug sundries, $22.5 billion; the oversupply of physician specialists, at least $10 to $15 billion; unsolicited physician interpretation of routine, unsophisticated tests, $13.2 billion; and, finally, an American lifestyle adversely affected by illicit drugs ($60 billion), alcohol ($117 billion), and automobile accidents ($43.3 billion), for a total cost of $220 billion yearly. The intent of this article is to educate the public in an open and responsible fashion, and to demonstrate that the health care industry in the United States can save approximately $334.0 billion yearly. PMID:3118051

Measurement of trace impurities in ultra pure hydrogen and deuterium at the parts-per-billion level using gas chromatography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganzha, V.; Ivshin, K.; Kammel, P.; Kravchenko, P.; Kravtsov, P.; Petitjean, C.; Trofimov, V.; Vasilyev, A.; Vorobyov, A.; Vznuzdaev, M.; Wauters, F.

2018-02-01

A series of muon experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland deploy ultra-pure hydrogen active targets. A new gas impurity analysis technique was developed, based on conventional gas chromatography, with the capability to measure part-per-billion (ppb) traces of nitrogen and oxygen in hydrogen and deuterium. Key ingredients are a cryogenic admixture accumulation, a directly connected sampling system and a dedicated calibration setup. The dependence of the measured concentration on the sample volume was investigated, confirming that all impurities from the sample gas are collected in the accumulation column and measured with the gas chromatograph. The system was calibrated utilizing dynamic dilution of admixtures into the gas flow down to sub-ppb level concentrations. The total amount of impurities accumulated in the purification system during a three month long experimental run was measured and agreed well with the calculated amount based on the measured concentrations in the flow.

Physiology, anaerobes, and the origin of mitosing cells 50 years on.

PubMed

Martin, William F

2017-12-07

Endosymbiotic theory posits that some organelles or structures of eukaryotic cells stem from free-living prokaryotes that became endosymbionts within a host cell. Endosymbiosis has a long and turbulent history of controversy and debate going back over 100 years. The 1967 paper by Lynn Sagan (later Lynn Margulis) forced a reluctant field to take endosymbiotic theory seriously and to incorporate it into the fabric of evolutionary thinking. Margulis envisaged three cellular partners associating in series at eukaryotic origin: the host (an engulfing bacterium), the mitochondrion (a respiring bacterium), and the flagellum (a spirochaete), with lineages descended from that flagellated eukaryote subsequently acquiring plastids from cyanobacteria, but on multiple different occasions in her 1967 account. Today, the endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria and plastids (each single events, the data now say) is uncontested textbook knowledge. The host has been more elusive, recent findings identifying it as a member of the archaea, not as a sister group of the archaea. Margulis's proposal for a spirochaete origin of flagellae was abandoned by everyone except her, because no data ever came around to support the idea. Her 1967 proposal that mitochondria and plastids arose from different endosymbionts was novel. The paper presented an appealing narrative that linked the origin of mitochondria with oxygen in Earth history: cyanobacteria make oxygen, oxygen starts accumulating in the atmosphere about 2.4 billion years ago, oxygen begets oxygen-respiring bacteria that become mitochondria via symbiosis, followed by later (numerous) multiple, independent symbioses involving cyanobacteria that brought photosynthesis to eukaryotes. With the focus on oxygen, Margulis's account of eukaryote origin was however unprepared to accommodate the discovery of mitochondria in eukaryotic anaerobes. Today's oxygen narrative has it that the oceans were anoxic up until about 580 million years ago, while

A highly functional synthetic phage display library containing over 40 billion human antibody clones.

PubMed

Weber, Marcel; Bujak, Emil; Putelli, Alessia; Villa, Alessandra; Matasci, Mattia; Gualandi, Laura; Hemmerle, Teresa; Wulhfard, Sarah; Neri, Dario

2014-01-01

Several synthetic antibody phage display libraries have been created and used for the isolation of human monoclonal antibodies. The performance of antibody libraries, which is usually measured in terms of their ability to yield high-affinity binding specificities against target proteins of interest, depends both on technical aspects (such as library size and quality of cloning) and on design features (which influence the percentage of functional clones in the library and their ability to be used for practical applications). Here, we describe the design, construction and characterization of a combinatorial phage display library, comprising over 40 billion human antibody clones in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format. The library was designed with the aim to obtain highly stable antibody clones, which can be affinity-purified on protein A supports, even when used in scFv format. The library was found to be highly functional, as >90% of randomly selected clones expressed the corresponding antibody. When selected against more than 15 antigens from various sources, the library always yielded specific and potent binders, at a higher frequency compared to previous antibody libraries. To demonstrate library performance in practical biomedical research projects, we isolated the human antibody G5, which reacts both against human and murine forms of the alternatively spliced BCD segment of tenascin-C, an extracellular matrix component frequently over-expressed in cancer and in chronic inflammation. The new library represents a useful source of binding specificities, both for academic research and for the development of antibody-based therapeutics.

A Highly Functional Synthetic Phage Display Library Containing over 40 Billion Human Antibody Clones

PubMed Central

Weber, Marcel; Bujak, Emil; Putelli, Alessia; Villa, Alessandra; Matasci, Mattia; Gualandi, Laura; Hemmerle, Teresa; Wulhfard, Sarah; Neri, Dario

2014-01-01

Several synthetic antibody phage display libraries have been created and used for the isolation of human monoclonal antibodies. The performance of antibody libraries, which is usually measured in terms of their ability to yield high-affinity binding specificities against target proteins of interest, depends both on technical aspects (such as library size and quality of cloning) and on design features (which influence the percentage of functional clones in the library and their ability to be used for practical applications). Here, we describe the design, construction and characterization of a combinatorial phage display library, comprising over 40 billion human antibody clones in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format. The library was designed with the aim to obtain highly stable antibody clones, which can be affinity-purified on protein A supports, even when used in scFv format. The library was found to be highly functional, as >90% of randomly selected clones expressed the corresponding antibody. When selected against more than 15 antigens from various sources, the library always yielded specific and potent binders, at a higher frequency compared to previous antibody libraries. To demonstrate library performance in practical biomedical research projects, we isolated the human antibody G5, which reacts both against human and murine forms of the alternatively spliced BCD segment of tenascin-C, an extracellular matrix component frequently over-expressed in cancer and in chronic inflammation. The new library represents a useful source of binding specificities, both for academic research and for the development of antibody-based therapeutics. PMID:24950200

The efficacy and cost of alternative strategies for systematic screening for type 2 diabetes in the U.S. population 45-74 years of age.

PubMed

Johnson, Susan L; Tabaei, Bahman P; Herman, William H

2005-02-01

To simulate the outcomes of alternative strategies for screening the U.S. population 45-74 years of age for type 2 diabetes. We simulated screening with random plasma glucose (RPG) and cut points of 100, 130, and 160 mg/dl and a multivariate equation including RPG and other variables. Over 15 years, we simulated screening at intervals of 1, 3, and 5 years. All positive screening tests were followed by a diagnostic fasting plasma glucose or an oral glucose tolerance test. Outcomes include the numbers of false-negative, true-positive, and false-positive screening tests and the direct and indirect costs. At year 15, screening every 3 years with an RPG cut point of 100 mg/dl left 0.2 million false negatives, an RPG of 130 mg/dl or the equation left 1.3 million false negatives, and an RPG of 160 mg/dl left 2.8 million false negatives. Over 15 years, the absolute difference between the most sensitive and most specific screening strategy was 4.5 million true positives and 476 million false-positives. Strategies using RPG cut points of 130 mg/dl or the multivariate equation every 3 years identified 17.3 million true positives; however, the equation identified fewer false-positives. The total cost of the most sensitive screening strategy was $42.7 billion and that of the most specific strategy was $6.9 billion. Screening for type 2 diabetes every 3 years with an RPG cut point of 130 mg/dl or the multivariate equation provides good yield and minimizes false-positive screening tests and costs.

Enough to Go around? Budget and TCO Tool Kit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntire, Todd

2004-01-01

The past four years have seen a precipitous decline in funding for school technology programs. According to Quality Education Data, spending on instructional technology peaked at $8.36 billion in the 1998-99 school year, falling by more than half a billion dollars each year for the next four years to $5.74 billion. This represents a spending…

The Interim Years of Cyberspace

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

the German Gotha Raids on England.2 However, the concept of using aircraft and balloons in warfare was not a new idea. One of the earliest uses dates...in World War I, to include Lieutenant Frank Luke Jr.’s destruction of fourteen heavily guarded German balloons ,4 it was obvious to many military...airshows to take place all around the globe.54 These early men and women kept audiences captive at airshows and air races which not only inspired future

The NEOUCOM Cooperative Cataloging Service: development and review of the first four years.

PubMed

Miller, D R

1983-04-01

The Basic Medical Sciences Library of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) provided a Cooperative Cataloging Service to fourteen of its affiliated hospitals' libraries since March 1978, using the OCLC system. Analysis of the first four years of service showed that the hospital libraries spent almost $30,000 to catalog more than 18,000 titles. Personnel expenses and other costs eclipsed the savings from a 31.3% duplication rate. Centralized bibliographic control control and the principal by-product of the service, a uniform, machine-related data base, provided the foundation for an on-line integrated library system to serve the consortium. The hospital libraries contributed 44% of the unique titles in this data base, which emphasis the need to share resources and continue cooperation.

A 1.4-Billion Pixel Map of the Seafloor: BOEM's Mission to Visualize Dynamic Geology and Identify Natural Seep Sites in the Gulf of Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kramer, K.; Shedd, W. W.

2017-12-01

In May, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a high-resolution seafloor map of the northern Gulf of Mexico region. The new map, derived from 3-D seismic surveys, provides the scientific community with enhanced resolution and reveals previously undiscovered and poorly resolved geologic features of the continental slope, salt minibasin province, abyssal plain, Mississippi Fan, and the Florida Shelf and Escarpment. It becomes an even more powerful scientific tool when paired with BOEM's public database of 35,000 seafloor features, identifying natural hydrocarbon seeps, hard grounds, mud volcanoes, sediment flows, pockmarks, slumps, and many others. BOEM has mapped the Gulf of Mexico seafloor since 1998 in a regulatory mission to identify natural oil and gas seeps and protect the coral and chemosynthetic communities growing at those sites. The nineteen-year mapping effort, still ongoing, resulted in the creation of the 1.4-billion pixel map and the seafloor features database. With these tools and continual collaboration with academia, professional scientific institutions, and the offshore energy industry, BOEM will continue to incorporate new data to update and expand these two resources on a regular basis. They can be downloaded for free from BOEM's website at https://www.boem.gov/Gulf-of-Mexico-Deepwater-Bathymetry/ and https://www.boem.gov/Seismic-Water-Bottom-Anomalies-Map-Gallery/.

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015.

PubMed

2016-10-08

Non-fatal outcomes of disease and injury increasingly detract from the ability of the world's population to live in full health, a trend largely attributable to an epidemiological transition in many countries from causes affecting children, to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) more common in adults. For the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we estimated the incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for diseases and injuries at the global, regional, and national scale over the period of 1990 to 2015. We estimated incidence and prevalence by age, sex, cause, year, and geography with a wide range of updated and standardised analytical procedures. Improvements from GBD 2013 included the addition of new data sources, updates to literature reviews for 85 causes, and the identification and inclusion of additional studies published up to November, 2015, to expand the database used for estimation of non-fatal outcomes to 60 900 unique data sources. Prevalence and incidence by cause and sequelae were determined with DisMod-MR 2.1, an improved version of the DisMod-MR Bayesian meta-regression tool first developed for GBD 2010 and GBD 2013. For some causes, we used alternative modelling strategies where the complexity of the disease was not suited to DisMod-MR 2.1 or where incidence and prevalence needed to be determined from other data. For GBD 2015 we created a summary indicator that combines measures of income per capita, educational attainment, and fertility (the Socio-demographic Index [SDI]) and used it to compare observed patterns of health loss to the expected pattern for countries or locations with similar SDI scores. We generated 9·3 billion estimates from the various combinations of prevalence, incidence, and YLDs for causes, sequelae, and impairments by age, sex, geography, and year. In 2015, two causes had acute incidences in excess of 1 billion: upper respiratory infections (17·2 billion, 95% uncertainty

Six climate change-related events in the United States accounted for about $14 billion in lost lives and health costs.

PubMed

Knowlton, Kim; Rotkin-Ellman, Miriam; Geballe, Linda; Max, Wendy; Solomon, Gina M

2011-11-01

The future health costs associated with predicted climate change-related events such as hurricanes, heat waves, and floods are projected to be enormous. This article estimates the health costs associated with six climate change-related events that struck the United States between 2000 and 2009. The six case studies came from categories of climate change-related events projected to worsen with continued global warming-ozone pollution, heat waves, hurricanes, infectious disease outbreaks, river flooding, and wildfires. We estimate that the health costs exceeded $14 billion, with 95 percent due to the value of lives lost prematurely. Actual health care costs were an estimated $740 million. This reflects more than 760,000 encounters with the health care system. Our analysis provides scientists and policy makers with a methodology to use in estimating future health costs related to climate change and highlights the growing need for public health preparedness.

Costs of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in the Canadian Criminal Justice System.

PubMed

Thanh, Nguyen Xuan; Jonsson, Egon

2015-01-01

We reviewed literature to estimate the costs of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the Canadian Criminal Justice System (CJS), and to update the total costs of FASD in Canada. The results suggest FASD is costlier than previous estimates. The costs of FASD associated with the CJS are estimated at $3.9 billion a year, with $1.2 billion for police, $0.4 billion for court, $0.5 billion for correctional services, $1.6 billion for victims, and $0.2 billion for third-party. The updated total costs of FASD in Canada are $9.7 billion a year, of which CJS accounts for 40%, healthcare 21%, education 17%, social services 13%, and others 9%.

Pediatric Pathology In The Year 2050.

PubMed

Singer, Don B

2015-01-01

The study of pathology in fetuses, infants, and children had its beginnings in the mid-19th century. Now, 165 years later, hundreds of pediatric pathologists are in up-to-date practices throughout the world. They, and all medical practitioners, are just beginning to delve into the nanotechnical wave. Nanotechnology refers to the structure and activity of minute particles, molecules, compounds, and atoms. By 2050, as nanotechnical studies develop further, new diseases and variations of old diseases will be discovered. Aggregation of medical data from billions of people, a process known as crowd sourcing, will be digitally interconnected to the new findings with computers. Pediatric pathologists will contribute to this expanding science with new laboratory instruments, including ultramodern microscopes known as Omniscopes. Robots will be programmed to perform autopsies and process surgical specimens. Analyzers in chemistry, microbiology, hematology, and genetics will, in 2050, produce dozens or even hundreds of results within minutes. These advances will lead to better treatments and overall better health for everyone.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome): Views on the Administration’s Fiscal Year 1989 Public Health Service Budget

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

200,000 for the CenterE for Disease Control (CDC) to study AIDS. For fiscal year 1989, the proposed federal PHS budget increased to $1.3 billion for...to educate the public, $40( million (31 percent); -- epidemiological studies and surveillance to understand and track the spread of the disease , $229...potential impact of the AIDS epidemic. Investing in prevention now can help contain the direct and indirect costs of the disease in the future. As it

Runaway Children Twelve Years Later: A Follow-Up.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Lucy; And Others

Fourteen young men and women, who as teenagers had run away from home, were subjects of an intensive clinical case study which was a followup of a larger-scale survey of runaways conducted in the early 1960s. A major purpose of the research was to determine how the former runaways had fared as adults and whether or not their early behavior had…

[Macrovascular diseases-based on the data of Japanese cohort study (JCDM) including 1,016 very elderly diabetic individuals older than 75 years old].

PubMed

Hayashi, Toshio

2013-11-01

LDL-cholesterol and glucose are risk for ischemic heart disease (IHD) in middle-aged diabetic individuals; however, the risk among elderly, especially very elderly, is not well-known. We performed a prospective cohort study (JCDM) with 5.5 years of follow-up. Four thousand fourteen type 2 diabetic patients without previous IHD or cerebrovascular attack (CVA) (1,936 women: 67.4 +/- 9.5 years, > or = 75 years, n = 1,016) were recruited. One hundred fifty-three IHDs and 104 CVAs occurred over 5.5 years. Lower HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) was correlated with IHD in patients > or = 75 years old. In contrast, systolic BP, HbA1c, LDL-C and non-HDL-C were correlated in subjects < 65 years old, and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio was correlated in all subjects. HDL-C was correlated with CVA in patients > or = 75 years old. These age-dependent differences in risk are important for developing individualized strategies to prevent atherosclerotic disease.

Thermal Transfer Compared To The Fourteen Other Imaging Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Leary, John W.

1989-07-01

A quiet revolution in the world of imaging has been underway for the past few years. The older technologies of dot matrix, daisy wheel, thermal paper and pen plotters have been increasingly displaced by laser, ink jet and thermal transfer. The net result of this revolution is improved technologies that afford superior imaging, quiet operation, plain paper usage, instant operation, and solid state components. Thermal transfer is one of the processes that incorporates these benefits. Among the imaging application for thermal transfer are: 1. Bar code labeling and scanning. 2. New systems for airline ticketing, boarding passes, reservations, etc. 3. Color computer graphics and imaging. 4. Copying machines that copy in color. 5. Fast growing communications media such as facsimile. 6. Low cost word processors and computer printers. 7. New devices that print pictures from video cameras or television sets. 8. Cameras utilizing computer chips in place of film.

Development of disease-resistant walnut rootstocks: Integration of conventional and genomic approaches (SCRI-match Year 3)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Walnuts are grown on almost every continent with total world-wide production estimated at over 4 billion in-shell pounds. California walnut growers, who produce 99% of the US walnut crop, produced an estimated 1.2 billion pounds on approximately 310,000 bearing acres with a farm gate value of approx...

The breakup of a main-belt asteroid 450 thousand years ago.

PubMed

Nesvorný, David; Vokrouhlický, David; Bottke, William F

2006-06-09

Collisions in the asteroid belt frequently lead to catastrophic breakups, where more than half of the target's mass is ejected into space. Several dozen large asteroids have been disrupted by impacts over the past several billion years. These impact events have produced groups of fragments with similar orbits called asteroid families. Here we report the discovery of a very young asteroid family around the object 1270 Datura. Our work takes advantage of a method for identification of recent breakups in the asteroid belt using catalogs of osculating (i.e., instantaneous) asteroid orbits. The very young families show up in these catalogs as clusters in a five-dimensional space of osculating orbital elements.

Budget Issues: Effects of the Fiscal Year 1990 Sequester on the Department of Education. Fact Sheet for the Chairman, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

General Accounting Office, Washington, DC.

The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, establishes deficit targets to lead to a balanced unified budget by fiscal year 1993. If the Office of Management and Budget projects a deficit in excess of the target amount plus $10 billion, the President must issue a sequester order to reduce budget resources…

Connectivity and control in the year 2000 and beyond.

PubMed

Nolan, R L; Brennan, J; Coyne, K P; Spong, S; Spar, J; Strauss, N; Milan, T; Speight, D; Tedlow, R S; Gillotti, D; Yardeni, E; Block, D J; Radin, S A; Sheinheit, S; Robbins, B

1998-01-01

By now, most executives are familiar with the famous Year 2000 problem--and many believe that their companies have the situation well in hand. After all, it seems to be such a trivial problem--computer software that interprets "oo" to be the year 1900 instead of the year 2000. And yet armies of computer professionals have been working on it--updating code in payroll systems, distribution systems, actuarial systems, sales-tracking systems, and the like. The problem is pervasive. Not only is it in your systems, it's in your suppliers' systems, your bankers' systems, and your customers' systems. It's embedded in chips that control elevators, automated teller machines, process-control equipment, and power grids. Already, a dried-food manufacturer destroyed millions of dollars of perfectly good product when a computer counted inventory marked with an expiration date of "oo" as nearly a hundred years old. And when managers of a sewage-control plant turned the clock to January I, 2000 on a computer system they thought had been fixed, raw sewage pumped directly into the harbor. It has become apparent that there will not be enough time to find and fix all of the problems by January I, 2000. And what good will it do if your computers work but they're connected with systems that don't? That is one of the questions Harvard Business School professor Richard Nolan asks in his introduction to HBR's Perspectives on the Year 2000 issue. How will you prepare your organization to respond when things start to go wrong? Fourteen commentators offer their ideas on how senior managers should think about connectivity and control in the year 2000 and beyond.

The NEOUCOM Cooperative Cataloging Service: development and review of the first four years.

PubMed Central

Miller, D R

1983-01-01

The Basic Medical Sciences Library of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) provided a Cooperative Cataloging Service to fourteen of its affiliated hospitals' libraries since March 1978, using the OCLC system. Analysis of the first four years of service showed that the hospital libraries spent almost $30,000 to catalog more than 18,000 titles. Personnel expenses and other costs eclipsed the savings from a 31.3% duplication rate. Centralized bibliographic control control and the principal by-product of the service, a uniform, machine-related data base, provided the foundation for an on-line integrated library system to serve the consortium. The hospital libraries contributed 44% of the unique titles in this data base, which emphasis the need to share resources and continue cooperation. PMID:6860826

A high abundance of massive galaxies 3-6 billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Glazebrook, Karl; Abraham, Roberto G; McCarthy, Patrick J; Savaglio, Sandra; Chen, Hsiao-Wen; Crampton, David; Murowinski, Rick; Jørgensen, Inger; Roth, Kathy; Hook, Isobel; Marzke, Ronald O; Carlberg, R G

2004-07-08

Hierarchical galaxy formation is the model whereby massive galaxies form from an assembly of smaller units. The most massive objects therefore form last. The model succeeds in describing the clustering of galaxies, but the evolutionary history of massive galaxies, as revealed by their visible stars and gas, is not accurately predicted. Near-infrared observations (which allow us to measure the stellar masses of high-redshift galaxies) and deep multi-colour images indicate that a large fraction of the stars in massive galaxies form in the first 5 Gyr (refs 4-7), but uncertainties remain owing to the lack of spectra to confirm the redshifts (which are estimated from the colours) and the role of obscuration by dust. Here we report the results of a spectroscopic redshift survey that probes the most massive and quiescent galaxies back to an era only 3 Gyr after the Big Bang. We find that at least two-thirds of massive galaxies have appeared since this era, but also that a significant fraction of them are already in place in the early Universe.

Oxidative Weathering of Earth's Surface 3.7 Billion Years ago? - A Chromium Isotope Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frei, R.; Crowe, S.; Bau, M.; Polat, A.; Fowle, D. A.; Døssing, L. N.

2015-12-01

The Great Oxidation Event signals the first large-scale oxygenation of the atmosphere roughly 2.4 Gyr ago. Geochemical signals diagnostic of oxidative weathering, however, extend as far back as 3.3-2.9 Gyr ago. 3.8-3.7 Gyr old rocks from Isua, Greenland stand as a deep time outpost, recording information on Earth's earliest surface chemistry and the low oxygen primordial biosphere. We find positive Cr isotope values (average δ53Cr = +0.05 +/- 0.10 permil; δ53Cr = (53Cr/52Cr)sample/(53Cr/52Cr)SRM 979 - 1) x 1000, where SRM 979 denotes Standard Reference Material 979 in both the Fe and Si-rich mesobands of 7 compositionally distinct quartz-magnetite and magnesian banded iron formation (BIF) samples collected from the eastern portion of the Isua BIF (Western Greenland). These postively fractioned Cr isotopes, relative to the igneous silicate Earth reservoir, in metamorphosed BIFs from Isua indicate oxidative Cr cycling 3.8-3.7 Gyr ago. We also examined the distribution of U, which is immobile in its reduced state but mobile when it is oxidized. Elevated U/Th ratios (mean U/Th ratio of 0.70 ± 0.29) in these BIFs relative to the contemporary crust, also signal oxidative mobilization of U. We suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulated in Earth's surface environment inducing the oxidative weathering of rocks during the deposition of the Isua BIFs. The precise threshold atmospheric O2 concentrations for the induction of Cr isotope fractionation remain uncertain, but we argue that our data are consistent with the very low levels of oxygen or other ROS indicated by other proxies. Importantly, any trace of Cr that cycled through redox reactions on land would tend both to be heavy, and to mobilize into the contemporaneous run-off more readily than Cr weathered directly as Cr(III). Once having reached the oceans, this fractionated Cr would have been stripped from seawater by Fe (oxy)hydroxides formed during the deposition of BIFs from low oxygen oceans. The reactive oxygen species recorded in Isua sediments may also have been sufficient to support aerobic metabolisms, which are known to occur in extant bacteria at oxygen concentrations as low as 10-8 atm.

The Universe as Viewed from Star Forming Galaxies over the Past Ten Billion Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ly, Chun; Malkan, M.; Lee, J. C.; Kashikawa, N.; Hayashi, M.; Motohara, K.; Subaru Deep Field Collaboration; NEWFIRM Narrow-band H-alpha Survey Team

2010-01-01

In this dissertation talk, I will discuss my work to provide improved constraints on the star formation history of the universe by (1) using narrow-band filters to identify galaxies to z 2.2 and (2) extending the Lyman break technique to z=1.5-3. These techniques efficiently isolate a large population of star-forming galaxies and enable measurement of the star formation rate via emission line and ultraviolet indicators. With the SDF team, we have conducted a narrow-band optical survey which yields a sample of 5000 galaxies within 0.25 square degree to z 1.5 detected by H-alpha, [OIII], or [OII]. Diagnostics based on broad-band optical colors are developed to resolve ambiguities in emission-line identification. In addition, with the NEWFIRM H-alpha team, we are working to extend optical studies into the near-infrared with NEWFIRM. We target H-alpha emitting galaxies at z 0.8 and z 2.2, which probes a critical period in the history of the universe during which much of the star formation has occurred. The NEWFIRM H-alpha survey covers over 1 square degree. A total of 300 H-alpha emitting galaxies at z 0.8 has been identified for 60% of the survey volume. Preliminary results from the NEWFIRM H-alpha Survey will be discussed. Spectroscopy for both narrow-band surveys reveals a high reliability of the technique: contamination at the few percent level. Finally, I will describe the first Lyman break survey to select star-forming galaxies at z 2 (limiting magnitude of 27 AB), using deep, wide GALEX near-ultraviolet imaging. A total of 7000 LBGs was identified in 0.25 square degree. Spectroscopy indicates that the success of identifying z 2 galaxies is 80%. I will also compare different z 2 photometric techniques (BzK, DRG, BX/BM) to provide a more comprehensive view of the galaxy population, including dusty star-forming galaxies. The comparison reveals a good but imperfect ( 50%) overlap, indicating that these photometric techniques are complementary.

A billion years of metasomatic alteration of the Kaapvaal SCLM encapsulated in fibrous diamonds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, Yaakov; Goldstein, Steven; Class, Cornelia; Winckler, Gisela

2017-04-01

Constraining the nature and timing of metasomatic events by C-O-H fluids in the sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) is an ongoing challenge in our understanding of the SCLM history. 'Fibrous' diamonds, which rapidly grow during such fluid-rock interaction, commonly encapsulate the C-O-H fluid metasomatic agents, which are trapped and encapsulated as μm-scale high-density fluid (HDF) inclusions and can be directly sampled. They thus offer a unique opportunity to investigate metasomatic events involving C-O-H fluids in the SCLM. We analyzed major and trace elements and the helium content and isotopic composition of the HDFs included in a set of diamonds from the DeBeers-Pool and Finsch kimberlites in the Kaapvaal craton, South Africa. Saline HDF micro-inclusions in 3 of the DeBeers diamonds and in 2 from Finsch have very similar major and trace element compositions, suggesting they formed in related metasomatic events. They are characterized by high alkalis (K, Rb and Cs), Ba and LREEs compared to Th, U, Nb and Ta, and by Ti, Zr, Hf and Y negative anomalies relative to REEs of similar compatibility. Their 3He/4He ratios vary between 3-4 Ra. Plotting the 3 DeBeers-Pool diamonds on an 4He/3He vs 238U/3He diagram defines an 'isochron' with an age of 96±45 Ma. This result represents the first radiometric age reported for fibrous diamonds and the C-O-H mantle fluids they carry. In addition, 1 diamond from DeBeers-Pool has silicic microinclusion compositions while 2 diamonds from Finsch carry carbonatitic HDFs. These diamonds display more radiogenic 3He/4He ratios between 0.07-0.6 Ra, which suggests formation during earlier and different metasomatic events. Using the measured U, Th, 4He and 3He content of these diamonds, and the equation for 4He production by U and Th, we calculate 3He/4He ratios as a function of time. Assuming that the HDFs initial R/Ra values varied between 3-11, representing common values for MORB, the SCLM and subducted components, the silicic and carbonatitic HDFs signify two older metasomatic events that took place in the Kaapvaal lithosphere at 350 and 850 Ma, respectively. Thus, our new data reveal 3 episodes of chemical changes in the Kaapvaal craton SCLM during the last 1 Ga, each by a different metasomatic agent. The youngest episodes indicate direct relationships between highly-saline fluid metasomatism, fibrous diamond formation and late-Mesozoic kimberlite eruptions, while the older silicic and carbonatitic metasomatic events may be related to the regional Namaqua-Natal Orogeny and Damara Orogeny at 1 Ga and 500 Ma, respectively.

Small increases to employer premiums could shift millions of people to the exchanges and add billions to federal outlays.

PubMed

Austin, Daniel R; Luan, Anna; Wang, Louise L; Bhattacharya, Jay

2013-09-01

The Affordable Care Act will expand insurance coverage to more than twenty-five million Americans, partly through subsidized private insurance available from newly created health insurance exchanges for people with incomes of 133-400 percent of the federal poverty level. The act will alter the financial incentive structure for employers and influence their decisions on whether or not to offer their employees coverage. These decisions, in turn, will affect federal outlays and revenues through several mechanisms. We model the sensitivity of federal costs for the insurance exchange coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act using the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data set. We assess revenues and subsidy outlays for premiums and cost sharing for individuals purchasing private insurance through exchanges. Our findings show that changing theoretical premium contribution levels by just $100 could induce 2.25 million individuals to transition to exchanges and increase federal outlays by $6.7 billion. Policy makers and analysts should pay especially careful attention to participation rates as the act's implementation continues.

A Fourteen-Year Experience with Vascular Anomalies Encountered during Transaxillary Rib Resection for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

PubMed

Yi, Jeniann A; Johnston, Robert J; Nehler, Mark R; Gibula, Douglas R; Alix, Kristen; Glebova, Natalia O; Brantigan, Charles O

2017-04-01

Transaxillary approach to first rib resection and scalenectomy (TAFRRS) is a well-established technique for treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). Although anatomic features encountered during TAFRRS are in general constant, vascular anomalies may be encountered but have not been described to date. Herein we describe vascular abnormalities encountered during TAFRRS. We performed a retrospective review of a prospective practice database of 224 operations for TOS performed in 172 patients from March 2000 to March 2014. We excluded 10 patients with missing operative reports, 3 reoperations on the same patient, and 8 non-transaxillary resections. We recorded vascular anomalies identified in operative reports and reviewed computed tomography imaging to delineate the nature of these abnormalities. The overall incidence of vascular anomalies was 11% (22 of 203 TAFRRS). Most patients with anomalies had venous TOS (vTOS) (9 patients, 41%), followed by 7 (32%) with neurogenic TOS (nTOS). The remainder of the patients had arterial TOS (aTOS) (6 patients, 27%). Seven patients (32%) had an abnormal subclavian artery (SCA) with 5 (23%) having an abnormal arterial course in the anterior scalene muscle (ASM); 6 patients (27%) had an abnormal internal mammary artery (IMA) originating from distal SCA; 4 (18%) had abnormalities in the supreme thoracic artery (bifurcation or duplication); 2 (9%) had an abnormal branch from the SCA with anomalous location in the operative field; and 3 (14%) had an abnormal large venous branch penetrating the ASM. In the 19 patients with arterial anomalies, 8 (42%) were recognized as arterial branches penetrating the ASM, and 11 (58%) were noticed as they had anomalous arterial locations within the operative field. Most arterial anomalies were seen in vTOS (9, 45%), followed by nTOS (7, 35%). No intraoperative vascular complications occurred. Perioperative complications included 1 occurrence of postoperative transfusion for bleeding following axillary drain discontinuation and 2 Horner's syndromes. One aberrant IMA was electively ligated to allow complete thoracic outlet decompression. Arterial anomalies during TAFRRS are encountered in 11% of operations, and may present with vessel locations in unusual areas within the operative field, or as abnormal vessels penetrating the ASM, thus making scalenectomy precarious. Careful attention must be paid to possible abnormal locations of vessels in the thoracic outlet to avoid bleeding complications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From 2000years of Ganoderma lucidum to recent developments in nutraceuticals.

PubMed

Bishop, Karen S; Kao, Chi H J; Xu, Yuanye; Glucina, Marcus P; Paterson, R Russell M; Ferguson, Lynnette R

2015-06-01

Medicinal mushrooms have been used for centuries as nutraceuticals to improve health and to treat numerous chronic and infectious diseases. One such mushroom is Ganoderma lucidum, commonly known as Lingzhi, a species revered as a medicinal mushroom for treating assorted diseases and prolonging life. The fungus is found in diverse locations, and this may have contributed to confusion regarding the correct taxonomic classification of the genus Ganoderma. G. lucidum was first used to name a specimen found in England and thereafter was naively applied to a different Ganoderma species found in Asia, commonly known as Chinese Lingzhi. Despite the taxonomic confusion, which has largely been uncorrected, the popularity of Lingzhi has escalated across the globe. The current taxonomic situation is now discussed accurately in this Special Issue on Ganoderma. Today it is a multi-billion dollar industry wherein Lingzhi is cultivated or collected from the wild and consumed as a tea, in alcoholic beverages, and as a nutraceutical to confer numerous health benefits. Consumption of nutraceuticals has grown in popularity, and it is becoming increasingly important that active ingredients be identified and that suppliers make substantiated health claims about their products. The objective of this article is to present a review of G. lucidum over the past 2000 years from prized ancient "herbal" remedy to its use in nutraceuticals and to the establishment of a 2.5 billion $ (US) industry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detailed cross sections of the Eocene Green River Formation along the north and east margins of the Piceance Basin, western Colorado, using measured sections and drill hole information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Ronald C.

2014-01-01

This report presents two detailed cross sections of the Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado, constructed from eight detailed measured sections, fourteen core holes, and two rotary holes. The Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin contains the world’s largest known oil shale deposit with more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil in place. It was deposited in Lake Uinta, a long-lived saline lake that once covered much of the Piceance Basin and the Uinta Basin to the west. The cross sections extend across the northern and eastern margins of the Piceance Basin and are intended to aid in correlating between surface sections and the subsurface in the basin.

NATIONAL EVALUATION OF THE WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM DURING THE ARRA PERIOD: PROGRAM YEARS 2009-2011

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tonn, Bruce Edward; Rose, Erin M; Schmoyer, Richard L

This report describes the third major evaluation of the Program, encompassing program years 2009 to 2011. In this report, this period of time is referred to as the ARRA Period. This is a special period of time for the Program because the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 has allocated $5 billion of funding for the Program. In normal program years, WAP s annual appropriation is in the range of $200-250 million, supporting the weatherization of approximately 100,000 homes. With the addition of ARRA funding during these program years, the expectation is that weatherization activity will exceed 300,000more » homes per year. In addition to saving energy and reducing low-income energy bills, expanded WAP funding is expected to stimulate the economy by providing new jobs in the weatherization field and allowing low-income households to spend more money on goods and services by spending less on energy.« less

Southeast Asia Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-12

billion this year, have been projected to grow steadily to $3,848 billion in 1988, $4,219 billion in 1990 and $4,814 billion in 1992. Forex receipts from...3,985 billion of the country’s Forex obli- gations while other foreign financial institutions accounted for $828 million of the country’s Forex

First Year Results from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hays, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

After one year of survey observations and more than 70 billion triggers, Fermi is revealing an unprecedented view of the high energy gamma-ray sky. The observatory .carries two instruments, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GB, 8 keV - 40 MeV) and the Large Area Telescope (LAT, 20 MeV greater than or equal to 300 GeV), which in combination cover over 7 orders of magnitude in energy for transient phenomena. The LAT provides substantially more sensitivity than previous instruments in this waveband and has opened up the energy window from 10-100 GeV. The first year has produced many important results, from detections of extremely energetic and distant gamma-ray bursts, to monitoring daily variations in emission caused by massive black holes at the cores of galaxies, to identifying a new population of gamma-ray bright pulsars, to measuring the spectrum of diffuse emission from our own. Galaxy and the spectrum of the local cosmic electrons. I'll review highlights from the first year and discuss how the data are answering questions from the past and raising new ones for the future.

Missile cardiac injuries: review of 16 years' experience.

PubMed

Lone, Reyaz Ahmed; Wani, Mehmood Ahmad; Hussain, Zahur; Dar, Abdul Majid; Sharma, Mukhand Lal; Bhat, Mohd Akbar; Ahangar, Abdul Gani

2009-07-01

Penetrating cardiac trauma represents an increasingly important form of trauma due to the frequent use of firearms and bombs in civilian violence. We report our experience over the past 16 years with missile-induced cardiac injuries. A retrospective study reviewing 40 cases (30 males, 10 females) of missile cardiac injuries was conducted. The nature of injuries, management and outcomes were analyzed. The ages ranged from 14-68 years. The mean time in which patients reached the hospital was 4.1 hours. Forty percent of the patients had firearm injuries and the remaining 60% had pellet or splinter injuries to the heart. Survival was noted in 37.5% in the gunshot group and in 66.6% in the splinter/pellet group. The survival in patients with isolated cardiac injury was 60%, while it was only 40% in those with associated injuries. Single-chamber injury was noted in 87.5% of the patients and the survival in these was 62.8%. Fourteen complications were noted in the patients who were resuscitated. One patient was re-explored for excessive bleeding and a missed right ventricular perforation was repaired. In missile cardiac injuries, results are best if operated early, and outcome depends upon multiple factors including clinical status at arrival, time interval till management, nature of injury, and associated injuries.

Homeopathic Treatment of Vitiligo: A Report of Fourteen Cases.

PubMed

Mahesh, Seema; Mallappa, Mahesh; Tsintzas, Dionysios; Vithoulkas, George

2017-12-02

BACKGROUND Vitiligo, also known as leukoderma, is an autoimmune skin condition that results in the loss of melanin pigment. Vitiligo is not a rare condition but is difficult to treat and is associated with psychological distress. CASE REPORT A series of 14 cases of vitiligo are presented that were treated with individualized homeopathic remedies that were based on plant, animal, or mineral compounds. There were 13 women and one man in the case series, with a mean age 29.8 years, and a mean follow-up from treatment of 58 months. The mean time between the onset of the appearance of vitiligo and the first consultation at our clinic was 96 months. Homeopathic treatment for patients is holistic and was performed on an individualized basis as described in this case series. Photographic images of the skin are presented before and after treatment. CONCLUSIONS In 14 patients with vitiligo treated with individualized homeopathy, the best results were achieved in the patients who were treated in the early stages of the disease. We believe that homeopathy may be effective in the early stages of vitiligo, but large controlled clinical studies are needed in this area.

Trends in Graduate Student Financing: Selected Years, 1995-96 to 2011-12. Web Tables. NCES 2015-026

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Education Statistics, 2015

2015-01-01

In 2011-12, graduate students received a total of $51.7 billion in federal loans and grants, institutional grants, employer support, and financial aid from other sources. In 2007-08, this figure was $36.7 billion (College Board 2008, 2012). The data presented in these Web Tables were collected through five administrations of the National…

150 YEARS OF SALMON RESTORATION: ASSORTED TRUTHS

EPA Science Inventory

Billions of dollars have been spent in a so-far failed attempt to reverse the long-term decline of wild Pacific salmon. Of the Earth's four regions (i.e., Asian Far East, Atlantic Europe, eastern North America, and western North America) where salmon runs originally occurred, it...

The countertransference: When painful traumatic traces sustain the countertransference and reveal themselves to the psychoanalyst … 14 years later!

PubMed

Khair Badawi, Marie-Thérèese

2015-12-01

Although she experienced, as did the many psychoanalysts before her, the countertransferential dynamics of disgust towards a patient presenting great deficiency in terms of mentalization capacity, the author strives to understand what urged her to tolerate the patient, to invest in her and lead her to develop a capacity for internalization, after 6 years of analytic work filled with transgressive-transferential acting-out. Fourteen years later, she becomes aware of the way in which the revival of some grief related to traumatic traces in her own lived experience, sustained, without her knowledge, a saviour/countertransference, creating a specific transferential-countertransferential spiral which rescued a situation whose advent could have been compromised. This could happen thanks to what she refers to as the unique inter-relation between her and this particular patient. Copyright © 2015 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years

PubMed Central

Foster, Gavin L.; Royer, Dana L.; Lunt, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

The evolution of Earth's climate on geological timescales is largely driven by variations in the magnitude of total solar irradiance (TSI) and changes in the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere. Here we show that the slow ∼50 Wm−2 increase in TSI over the last ∼420 million years (an increase of ∼9 Wm−2 of radiative forcing) was almost completely negated by a long-term decline in atmospheric CO2. This was likely due to the silicate weathering-negative feedback and the expansion of land plants that together ensured Earth's long-term habitability. Humanity's fossil-fuel use, if unabated, risks taking us, by the middle of the twenty-first century, to values of CO2 not seen since the early Eocene (50 million years ago). If CO2 continues to rise further into the twenty-third century, then the associated large increase in radiative forcing, and how the Earth system would respond, would likely be without geological precedent in the last half a billion years. PMID:28375201

The Economic Impact of Blindness in Europe.

PubMed

Chakravarthy, Usha; Biundo, Eliana; Saka, Rasit Omer; Fasser, Christina; Bourne, Rupert; Little, Julie-Anne

2017-08-01

To estimate the annual loss of productivity from blindness and moderate to severe visual impairment (MSVI) in the population aged >50 years in the European Union (EU). We estimated the cost of lost productivity using three simple models reported in the literature based on (1) minimum wage (MW), (2) gross national income (GNI), and (3) purchasing power parity-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP-PPP) losses. In the first two models, assumptions included that all individuals worked until 65 years of age, and that half of all visual impairment cases in the >50-year age group would be in those aged between 50 and 65 years. Loss of productivity was estimated to be 100% for blind individuals and 30% for those with MSVI. None of these models included direct medical costs related to visual impairment. The estimated number of blind people in the EU population aged >50 years is ~1.28 million, with a further 9.99 million living with MSVI. Based on the three models, the estimated cost of blindness is €7.81 billion, €6.29 billion and €17.29 billion and that of MSVI €18.02 billion, €24.80 billion and €39.23 billion, with their combined costs €25.83 billion, €31.09 billion and €56.52 billion, respectively. The estimates from the MW and adjusted GDP-PPP models were generally comparable, whereas the GNI model estimates were higher, probably reflecting the lack of adjustment for unemployment. The cost of blindness and MSVI in the EU is substantial. Wider use of available cost-effective treatment and prevention strategies may reduce the burden significantly.

Two-Year Outcomes of a Treat-and-Extend Regimen Using Intravitreal Aflibercept Injections for Typical Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

PubMed

Ito, Arisa; Matsumoto, Hidetaka; Morimoto, Masahiro; Mimura, Kensuke; Akiyama, Hideo

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a treat-and-extend (TAE) regimen using intravitreal injection of aflibercept (IVA) for typical age-related macular degeneration (tAMD). We retrospectively studied 61 treatment-naïve eyes with tAMD. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), central choroidal thickness (CCT), number of injections, and complications during 2 years were evaluated. BCVA significantly improved by on average 0.13 logMAR units, and CMT and CCT significantly decreased after 2 years. The number of injections was on average 13.6. In the second year, eyes with classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) needed significantly fewer treatments than eyes with occult CNV. Fourteen eyes, which developed subfoveal fibrosis, showed significantly poorer BCVA after 2 years. Subfoveal fibrosis was significantly common in classic CNV. A TAE regimen using IVA for tAMD might be effective for improving BCVA and exudative changes. The exudation may be suppressed with fewer treatments in classic CNV compared to occult CNV. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

12th Annual School Construction Report, 2007

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abramson, Paul

2007-01-01

School construction completed in 2006 totaled just more than $20 billion, a drop of seven percent from the record $21.6 billion put in place in 2005. Even so, it was the sixth year in the last seven that annual construction exceeded $20 billion. During the seven years of the present century, school districts have completed construction projects…

Management of lower-extremity deformities in osteogenesis imperfecta with extensible intramedullary rod technique: a 20-year experience.

PubMed

Luhmann, S J; Sheridan, J J; Capelli, A M; Schoenecker, P L

1998-01-01

Twelve patients (seven boys, five girls) who had osteogenesis imperfecta were treated with an extensible-rod system in 21 femurs and 15 tibias. Indications for use of extensible rods were multiple fractures, long-bone deformity prohibiting bracing and ambulation, and significant remaining linear growth. The average patient age at the time of placement of the extensible rods was 6 + 8 years (range, 2 + 4-10 + 10). Six femurs were treated with overlapping Rush rods; Bailey-Dubow rods were used in the remaining femurs and in all tibias. The average length of follow-up was 5 + 9 years (range, 2 + 0-3 + 2). Preoperatively, four of the 12 patients had never walked; postoperatively, all were ambulators with varying levels of assistance. Fourteen complications occurred, 12 of which required operative revision of the extensible rods. The average time between primary extensible rodding and revision was 5 + 1 years. No complications have occurred to date related to the use of overlapping Rush rods. No growth disturbance resulted from the use of the extensible-rod systems.

The long-term economic impacts of arthritis through lost productive life years: results from an Australian microsimulation model.

PubMed

Schofield, Deborah; Cunich, Michelle; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Tanton, Robert; Veerman, Lennert; Kelly, Simon; Passey, Megan E

2018-05-24

While the direct (medical) costs of arthritis are regularly reported in cost of illness studies, the 'true' cost to indivdiuals and goverment requires the calculation of the indirect costs as well including lost productivity due to ill-health. Respondents aged 45-64 in the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2003, 2009 formed the base population. We projected the indirect costs of arthritis using Health&WealthMOD2030 - Australia's first microsimulation model on the long-term impacts of ill-health in older workers - which incorporated outputs from established microsimulation models (STINMOD and APPSIM), population and labour force projections from Treasury, and chronic conditions trends for Australia. All costs of arthritis were expressed in real 2013 Australian dollars, adjusted for inflation over time. We estimated there are 54,000 people aged 45-64 with lost PLYs due to arthritis in 2015, increasing to 61,000 in 2030 (13% increase). In 2015, people with lost PLYs are estimated to receive AU$706.12 less in total income and AU$311.67 more in welfare payments per week than full-time workers without arthritis, and pay no income tax on average. National costs include an estimated loss of AU$1.5 billion in annual income in 2015, increasing to AU$2.4 billion in 2030 (59% increase). Lost annual taxation revenue was projected to increase from AU$0.4 billion in 2015 to $0.5 billion in 2030 (56% increase). We projected a loss in GDP of AU$6.2 billion in 2015, increasing to AU$8.2 billion in 2030. Significant costs of arthritis through lost PLYs are incurred by individuals and government. The effectiveness of arthritis interventions should be judged not only on healthcare use but quality of life and economic wellbeing.

The trend of aging in China.

PubMed

Zhang, G

1997-12-01

This article presents high, medium, and low variants of projections for China's population aged 0-14 years, 15-59 years, over 60 years, over 65 years, and over 80 years. Projections are based on data from the 1990 Census and the 1995 1% sample survey. China's population is expected to reach 1.281 billion in 2000, and 1.666 billion in 2050, under the high variant; 1.271 billion in 2000, and 1.535 billion in 2040, under the medium variant; and 1.261 billion in 2000, 1.442 billion in 2030, and declining to 1.346 billion by 2050, under the low variant. Decreases will not occur under the medium variant until 2050, to 1.507 billion. The total fertility rate is expected to decline from 2.3 in 2000, to 2.0 before 2050, under the high variant; from 2.0 in 2000, to 1.8 before 2050, under the medium variant; and 1.8 in 2000, to 1.6 before 2050, under the low variant. By 2050, the average life expectancy is expected to increase to 75 years for males and 79 years for females. The death rate will decline from 7% at present to 6.8% in 2000, and then increase to 14% by 2050. The total dependency ratio will decrease from 56.92% in 2000, to 53.53% in 2010, and then increase to 72.46% in 2050, under the high variant. The child dependency ratio will decline from 41.13% in 2000, to 32.19% in 2050. The aged dependency ratio will rise from 15.79% in 2000, to 40.27% in 2050. The aged-child ratio will increase from 38.39% in 2000, to 125.08% in 2050.

Homeopathic Treatment of Vitiligo: A Report of Fourteen Cases

PubMed Central

Mahesh, Seema; Mallappa, Mahesh; Tsintzas, Dionysios; Vithoulkas, George

2017-01-01

Case series Patient: — Final Diagnosis: — Symptoms: Skin lesions Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Dermatology Objective: Unusual or unexpected effect of treatment Background: Vitiligo, also known as leukoderma, is an autoimmune skin condition that results in the loss of melanin pigment. Vitiligo is not a rare condition but is difficult to treat and is associated with psychological distress. Case Reports: A series of 14 cases of vitiligo are presented that were treated with individualized homeopathic remedies that were based on plant, animal, or mineral compounds. There were 13 women and one man in the case series, with a mean age 29.8 years, and a mean follow-up from treatment of 58 months. The mean time between the onset of the appearance of vitiligo and the first consultation at our clinic was 96 months. Homeopathic treatment for patients is holistic and was performed on an individualized basis as described in this case series. Photographic images of the skin are presented before and after treatment. Conclusions: In 14 patients with vitiligo treated with individualized homeopathy, the best results were achieved in the patients who were treated in the early stages of the disease. We believe that homeopathy may be effective in the early stages of vitiligo, but large controlled clinical studies are needed in this area. PMID:29196612

Results of Medium Seventeen Years' Follow-Up after Laparoscopic Choledochotomy for Ductal Stones.

PubMed

Quaresima, Silvia; Balla, Andrea; Guerrieri, Mario; Lezoche, Giovanni; Campagnacci, Roberto; D'Ambrosio, Giancarlo; Lezoche, Emanuele; Paganini, Alessandro M

2016-01-01

Introduction. In a previously published article the authors reported the long-term follow-up results in 138 consecutive patients with gallstones and common bile duct (CBD) stones who underwent laparoscopic transverse choledochotomy (TC) with T-tube biliary drainage and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Aim of this study is to evaluate the results at up to 23 years of follow-up in the same series. Methods. One hundred twenty-one patients are the object of the present study. Patients were evaluated by clinical visit, blood assay, and abdominal ultrasound. Symptomatic patients underwent cholangio-MRI, followed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) as required. Results. Out of 121 patients, 61 elderly patients died from unrelated causes. Fourteen patients were lost to follow-up. In the 46 remaining patients, ductal stone recurrence occurred in one case (2,1%) successfully managed by ERCP with endoscopic sphincterotomy. At a mean follow-up of 17.1 years no other patients showed signs of bile stasis and no patient showed any imaging evidence of CBD stricture at the site of choledochotomy. Conclusions. Laparoscopic transverse choledochotomy with routine T-tube biliary drainage during LC has proven to be safe and effective at up to 23 years of follow-up, with no evidence of CBD stricture when the procedure is performed with a correct technique.

Gaia Data Release 1. Astrometry: one billion positions, two million proper motions and parallaxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindegren, L.; Lammers, U.; Bastian, U.; Hernández, J.; Klioner, S.; Hobbs, D.; Bombrun, A.; Michalik, D.; Ramos-Lerate, M.; Butkevich, A.; Comoretto, G.; Joliet, E.; Holl, B.; Hutton, A.; Parsons, P.; Steidelmüller, H.; Abbas, U.; Altmann, M.; Andrei, A.; Anton, S.; Bach, N.; Barache, C.; Becciani, U.; Berthier, J.; Bianchi, L.; Biermann, M.; Bouquillon, S.; Bourda, G.; Brüsemeister, T.; Bucciarelli, B.; Busonero, D.; Carlucci, T.; Castañeda, J.; Charlot, P.; Clotet, M.; Crosta, M.; Davidson, M.; de Felice, F.; Drimmel, R.; Fabricius, C.; Fienga, A.; Figueras, F.; Fraile, E.; Gai, M.; Garralda, N.; Geyer, R.; González-Vidal, J. J.; Guerra, R.; Hambly, N. C.; Hauser, M.; Jordan, S.; Lattanzi, M. G.; Lenhardt, H.; Liao, S.; Löffler, W.; McMillan, P. J.; Mignard, F.; Mora, A.; Morbidelli, R.; Portell, J.; Riva, A.; Sarasso, M.; Serraller, I.; Siddiqui, H.; Smart, R.; Spagna, A.; Stampa, U.; Steele, I.; Taris, F.; Torra, J.; van Reeven, W.; Vecchiato, A.; Zschocke, S.; de Bruijne, J.; Gracia, G.; Raison, F.; Lister, T.; Marchant, J.; Messineo, R.; Soffel, M.; Osorio, J.; de Torres, A.; O'Mullane, W.

2016-11-01

Context. Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) contains astrometric results for more than 1 billion stars brighter than magnitude 20.7 based on observations collected by the Gaia satellite during the first 14 months of its operational phase. Aims: We give a brief overview of the astrometric content of the data release and of the model assumptions, data processing, and validation of the results. Methods: For stars in common with the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues, complete astrometric single-star solutions are obtained by incorporating positional information from the earlier catalogues. For other stars only their positions are obtained, essentially by neglecting their proper motions and parallaxes. The results are validated by an analysis of the residuals, through special validation runs, and by comparison with external data. Results: For about two million of the brighter stars (down to magnitude 11.5) we obtain positions, parallaxes, and proper motions to Hipparcos-type precision or better. For these stars, systematic errors depending for example on position and colour are at a level of ± 0.3 milliarcsecond (mas). For the remaining stars we obtain positions at epoch J2015.0 accurate to 10 mas. Positions and proper motions are given in a reference frame that is aligned with the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) to better than 0.1 mas at epoch J2015.0, and non-rotating with respect to ICRF to within 0.03 mas yr-1. The Hipparcos reference frame is found to rotate with respect to the Gaia DR1 frame at a rate of 0.24 mas yr-1. Conclusions: Based on less than a quarter of the nominal mission length and on very provisional and incomplete calibrations, the quality and completeness of the astrometric data in Gaia DR1 are far from what is expected for the final mission products. The present results nevertheless represent a huge improvement in the available fundamental stellar data and practical definition of the optical reference frame.

Obesity: A United States Strategic Imperative

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

fructose corn syrup ) or 32 teaspoons of additive sugars per day with 22% of that coming from carbonated beverages.89 Overall, the United States average...23 billion), high blood pressure ($50 billion), musculoskeletal disorders ($121 billion), and multiple cancers ($20 billion) among others.29 The...year, with estimates as high as 580 4 billion dollars.30 Estimates of lost productivity due to absenteeism alone, related to obesity, ranged from

6.6-hour inhalation of ozone concentrations from 60 to 87 parts per billion in healthy humans.

PubMed

Schelegle, Edward S; Morales, Christopher A; Walby, William F; Marion, Susan; Allen, Roblee P

2009-08-01

Identification of the minimal ozone (O(3)) concentration and/or dose that induces measurable lung function decrements in humans is considered in the risk assessment leading to establishing an appropriate National Ambient Air Quality Standard for O(3) that protects public health. To identify and/or predict the minimal mean O(3) concentration that produces a decrement in FEV(1) and symptoms in healthy individuals completing 6.6-hour exposure protocols. Pulmonary function and subjective symptoms were measured in 31 healthy adults (18-25 yr, male and female, nonsmokers) who completed five 6.6-hour chamber exposures: filtered air and four variable hourly patterns with mean O(3) concentrations of 60, 70, 80, and 87 parts per billion (ppb). Compared with filtered air, statistically significant decrements in FEV(1) and increases in total subjective symptoms scores (P < 0.05) were measured after exposure to mean concentrations of 70, 80, and 87 ppb O(3). The mean percent change in FEV(1) (+/-standard error) at the end of each protocol was 0.80 +/- 0.90, -2.72 +/- 1.48, -5.34 +/- 1.42, -7.02 +/- 1.60, and -11.42 +/- 2.20% for exposure to filtered air and 60, 70, 80, and 87 ppb O(3), respectively. Inhalation of 70 ppb O(3) for 6.6 hours, a concentration below the current 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 75 ppb, is sufficient to induce statistically significant decrements in FEV(1) in healthy young adults.

Federal R&D tops $103 billion, but physics stays flat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dawson, Jim

2002-02-01

Four years of federal budget surpluses are giving way to deficit spending, thanks in large part to terrorits, war, and recession. As the unanticipated spending began late in the budget process, overall science appropriations increased significantly.

Budget Perspectives and Proposed Commission Recommendations. Report 09-01b

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolfork, Kevin

2009-01-01

The Governor's proposed 2009-10 budget for California postsecondary education seeks to close a two-year deficit of nearly $42 billion. The budget proposes $17.4 billion in spending reductions for 2008-09 and 2009-10, and proposes $14.3 billion in new revenues through tax and fee increases. The budget also assumes $10 billion in external borrowing…

Northwest Africa 8159: An approximately 2.3 Billion Year Old Martian Olivine-Bearing Augite Basalt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon, J. I.; Peters, T. J.; Tappa, M. J.; Agee, C. B.

2014-01-01

Based on petrology, mineralogy, and bulk composition, the new NWA 8159 martian meteorite is distinct from all known samples from Mars. In particular, the augite compositional trends are unique, but most similar to those of nakhite intercumulus. Whether NWA 8159 represents a new lithology or is related to a known meteorite group remains to be determined. Sr and Nd isotopic analyses will allow comparison of source characteristics with SNC and other new ungrouped meteorites (e.g., NWA 7635). Here we report initial Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic results for NWA 8159 with the objective to determine its formation age and to potentially identify similarities and potential source affinities with other martian rocks.

Evidence for the effect of disease management: is $1 billion a year a good investment?

PubMed

Mattke, Soeren; Seid, Michael; Ma, Sai

2007-12-01

To assess the evidence for the effect of disease management on quality of care, disease control, and cost, with a focus on population-based programs. Literature review. We conducted a literature search for and a structured review of studies on population-based disease management programs, as well as for reviews and meta-analyses of disease management interventions. We identified 3 evaluations of large-scale population-based programs, as well as 10 meta-analyses and 16 systematic reviews, covering 317 unique studies. We found consistent evidence that disease management improves processes of care and disease control but no conclusive support for its effect on health outcomes. Overall, disease management does not seem to affect utilization except for a reduction in hospitalization rates among patients with congestive heart failure and an increase in outpatient care and prescription drug use among patients with depression. When the costs of the intervention were appropriately accounted for and subtracted from any savings, there was no conclusive evidence that disease management leads to a net reduction of direct medical costs. Although disease management seems to improve quality of care, its effect on cost is uncertain. Most of the evidence to date addresses small-scale programs targeting high-risk individuals, while only 3 studies evaluate large population-based interventions, implying that little is known about their effect. Payers and policy makers should remain skeptical about vendor claims and should demand supporting evidence based on transparent and scientifically sound methods.

Coral reefs in Saudi Arabia: 3.5 years after the Gulf War oil spill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogt, I. P.

1995-11-01

As a consequence of the 1991 Gulf War, 6-8 million barrels of oil were released into the marine environment and a total of 1.12 billion barrels were burned in the Kuwaiti oil fields. In order to detect delayed effects of the Gulf War pollution, six permanent transect lines were placed on Saudi Arabian offshore and inshore reefs. A comparison of three sets of video recordings taken between 1992 and 1994 indicated a significant increase in live coral cover. Therefore, it has been concluded that corals in Saudi Arabia survived the largest oil spill on record remarkably unscathed, with no visible signs of immediate or late effects up to 3.5 years after the Gulf War.

A randomized controlled trial of laparoscopic nissen fundoplication versus proton pump inhibitors for treatment of patients with chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease: One-year follow-up.

PubMed

Anvari, Mehran; Allen, Christopher; Marshall, John; Armstrong, David; Goeree, Ron; Ungar, Wendy; Goldsmith, Charles

2006-12-01

A randomized controlled trial conducted in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease compared optimized medical therapy using proton pump inhibitor (n = 52) with laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication (n = 52). Patients were monitored for 1 year. The primary end point was frequency of gastroesophageal reflux dis-ease symptoms. Surgical patients had improved symptoms, pH control, and overall quality of life health index after surgery at 1 year compared with the medical group. The overall gastroesophageal reflux disease symptom score at 1 year was unchanged in the medical patients, but improved in the surgical patients. Fourteen patients in the medical arm experienced symptom relapse requiring titration of the proton pump inhibitor dose, but 6 had satisfactory symptom remission. No surgical patients required additional treatment for symptom control. Patients controlled on long-term proton pump inhibitor therapy for chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease are excellent surgical candidates and should experience improved symptom control after surgery at 1 year.

The economic cost of inadequate sleep.

PubMed

Hillman, David; Mitchell, Scott; Streatfeild, Jared; Burns, Chloe; Bruck, Dorothy; Pezzullo, Lynne

2018-06-04

To estimate the economic cost (financial and nonfinancial) of inadequate sleep in Australia for the 2016-2017 financial year and relate this to likely costs in similar economies. Analysis was undertaken using prevalence, financial, and nonfinancial cost data derived from national surveys and databases. Costs considered included the following: (1) financial costs associated with health care, informal care provided outside healthcare sector, productivity losses, nonmedical work and vehicle accident costs, deadweight loss through inefficiencies relating to lost taxation revenue and welfare payments; and (2) nonfinancial costs of loss of well-being. They were expressed in US dollars ($). The estimated overall cost of inadequate sleep in Australia in 2016-2017 (population: 24.8 million) was $45.21 billion. The financial cost component was $17.88 billion, comprised of as follows: direct health costs of $160 million for sleep disorders and $1.08 billion for associated conditions; productivity losses of $12.19 billion ($5.22 billion reduced employment, $0.61 billion premature death, $1.73 billion absenteeism, and $4.63 billion presenteeism); nonmedical accident costs of $2.48 billion; informal care costs of $0.41 billion; and deadweight loss of $1.56 billion. The nonfinancial cost of reduced well-being was $27.33 billion. The financial and nonfinancial costs associated with inadequate sleep are substantial. The estimated total financial cost of $17.88 billion represents 1.55 per cent of Australian gross domestic product. The estimated nonfinancial cost of $27.33 billion represents 4.6 per cent of the total Australian burden of disease for the year. These costs warrant substantial investment in preventive health measures to address the issue through education and regulation.

18th Annual School Construction Report, 2013

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abramson, Paul

2013-01-01

The bottom line on school construction in 2012 is that total spending edged up slightly from the previous year, (to $12.9 billion from $12.2 billion), but the spending for new schools declined from $6.9 billion to $6.177 billion. The increase in overall spending was attributable to more spending for additions and a major increase in spending for…

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenhouse, Matt

2017-01-01

The universe is 13.7 billion years old. Hubble can look back in time to observe an epoch during which the universe was approximately 1 billion years old, and has seen some galaxies at even earlier epochs.

Chandra Sees Shape of Universe During Formative, Adolescent Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-03-01

Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have taken a snapshot of the adolescent universe from about five billion years ago when the familiar web-like structure of galaxy chains and voids first emerged. The observation reveals distant and massive galaxies dotting the sky, clustered together under the gravitational attraction of deep, unseen pockets of dark matter. This provides important clues of how the universe matured from its chaotic beginnings to its elegant structure we see today. These results are presented today in a press conference at the meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society at Mt. Tremblant, Quebec. "Piece by piece, we are assembling a photo album of the universe through the ages," said Yuxuan Yang, a doctorate candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park, who conducted the analysis. "Last month we saw a picture of the infant universe taken with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Now we can add a snapshot of its adolescence." The Chandra observation traced a patch of sky known as the Lockman Hole in the constellation Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper). Chandra saw a rich density of active galaxies, seven times denser than what has been detected in previous optical and radio surveys at similar distances. This provides the clearest picture yet at the large-scale structure of the universe at such distances (and age), according to Dr. Richard Mushotzky of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who led the observation. Lockman Hole JPEG, TIFF, PS An image that has been "blurred" to allow better view of the structures outlined by the X-ray sources. The color represents the spectra of the AGN. The red color indicates the sources on average radiates at longer wavelength while green and blue colors indicates the sources radiates at shorter wavelength. The Green and blue regions appear to form a wall, or shows more lumpiness than the "red" sources. If one could capture the

Once in a Million Years: Teaching Geologic Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Susan E.; Lampe, Kristen A.; Lloyd, Andrew J.

2005-01-01

The authors advocate that students frequently lack fundamental numerical literacy on the order of millions or billions, and that this comprehension is critical to grasping key evolutionary concepts related to the geologic time scale, the origin and diversification of life on earth, and other concepts such as the national debt, human population…

Alleviating the water scarcity in the North China Plain: the role of virtual water and real water transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhuoying; Yang, Hong; Shi, Minjun

2016-04-01

The North China Plain is the most water scarce region in China. Its water security is closely relevant to interregional water movement, which can be realized by real water transfers and/or virtual water transfers. This study investigates the roles of virtual water trade and real water transfer using Interregional Input-Output model. The results show that the region is receiving 19.4 billion m3/year of virtual water from the interregional trade, while exporting 16.4 billion m3/year of virtual water in the international trade. In balance, the region has a net virtual water gain of 3 billion m3/year from outside. Its virtual water inflow is dominated by agricultural products from other provinces, totalling 16.6 billion m3/year, whilst its virtual water export is dominated by manufacturing sectors to other countries, totalling 11.7 billion m3/year. Both virtual water import and real water transfer from South to North Water Diversion Project are important water supplements for the region. The results of this study provide useful scientific references for the establishment of combating strategies to deal with the water scarcity in the future.

Speed and agility of 12- and 14-year-old elite male basketball players.

PubMed

Jakovljevic, Sasa T; Karalejic, Milivoje S; Pajic, Zoran B; Macura, Marija M; Erculj, Frane F

2012-09-01

The aims of this study were (a) to identify and compare the speed and agility of 12- and 14-year-old elite male basketball players and (b) to investigate relations between speed and agility for both age groups of basketball players, to help coaches to improve their work. Sixty-four players aged 12 (M = 11.98 years, SD = 0.311) and 54 players aged 14 (M = 14.092 years, SD = 0.275) were tested. Three agility tests: agility t-test, zigzag agility drill, and agility run 4 × 15 m and 3 speed tests: 20-m run, 30-m run, and 50-m run were applied. Fourteen-year-old players achieved significantly better results in all speed and agility tests compared with 12-year-old players. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.81, p = 0.001) showed that 12-year-old players have the same ability in the 30- and 50-m runs. The other correlation coefficient (r = 0.59, p = 0.001) indicated that 20- and 30-m runs had inherently different qualities. The correlation coefficients between agility tests were <0.71, and therefore, each test in this group represents a specific task. In 14-year-old players, the correlation coefficients between the speed test results were <0.71. In contrast, the correlation coefficients between the agility tests were >0.71, which means that all the 3 tests represent the same quality. During the speed training of 12-year-old players, it is advisable to focus on shorter running distances, up to 30 m. During the agility training of the same players, it is useful to apply exercises with various complexities. In speed training of the 14-year-old players, the 30- and 50-m runs should be applied, and agility training should include more specific basketball movements and activities.

An Analysis of Costs and Health Co-Benefits for a U.S. Power Plant Carbon Standard

PubMed Central

Buonocore, Jonathan J.; Lambert, Kathleen F.; Burtraw, Dallas; Sekar, Samantha; Driscoll, Charles T.

2016-01-01

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants can have important “co-benefits” for public health by reducing emissions of air pollutants. Here, we examine the costs and health co-benefits, in monetary terms, for a policy that resembles the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. We then examine the spatial distribution of the co-benefits and costs, and the implications of a range of cost assumptions in the implementation year of 2020. Nationwide, the total health co-benefits were $29 billion 2010 USD (95% CI: $2.3 to $68 billion), and net co-benefits under our central cost case were $12 billion (95% CI: -$15 billion to $51 billion). Net co-benefits for this case in the implementation year were positive in 10 of the 14 regions studied. The results for our central case suggest that all but one region should experience positive net benefits within 5 years after implementation. PMID:27270222

An Analysis of Costs and Health Co-Benefits for a U.S. Power Plant Carbon Standard.

PubMed

Buonocore, Jonathan J; Lambert, Kathleen F; Burtraw, Dallas; Sekar, Samantha; Driscoll, Charles T

2016-01-01

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants can have important "co-benefits" for public health by reducing emissions of air pollutants. Here, we examine the costs and health co-benefits, in monetary terms, for a policy that resembles the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan. We then examine the spatial distribution of the co-benefits and costs, and the implications of a range of cost assumptions in the implementation year of 2020. Nationwide, the total health co-benefits were $29 billion 2010 USD (95% CI: $2.3 to $68 billion), and net co-benefits under our central cost case were $12 billion (95% CI: -$15 billion to $51 billion). Net co-benefits for this case in the implementation year were positive in 10 of the 14 regions studied. The results for our central case suggest that all but one region should experience positive net benefits within 5 years after implementation.

Fiscal Year 2014: Military Retirement Fund Audited Financial Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-07

Reserve Retirement ................................................................................................................. 7 Survivor...benefits for military members’ retirement from active duty and the reserves , disability retirement benefits, and survivor benefits. The MRF accumulates... premium /discount amortization and accrued inflation compensation. In comparison, in FY 2013 the MRF received approximately $20.5 billion in normal cost

11 years of tracking aid to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health: estimates and analysis for 2003-13 from the Countdown to 2015.

PubMed

Grollman, Christopher; Arregoces, Leonardo; Martínez-Álvarez, Melisa; Pitt, Catherine; Mills, Anne; Borghi, Josephine

2017-01-01

Tracking aid flows helps to hold donors accountable and to compare the allocation of resources in relation to health need. With the use of data reported by donors in 2015, we provided estimates of official development assistance and grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (collectively termed ODA+) to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health for 2013 and complete trends in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health support for the period 2003-13. We coded and analysed financial disbursements to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health to all recipient countries from all donors reporting to the creditor reporting system database for the year 2013. We also revisited disbursement records for the years 2003-08 and coded disbursements relating to reproductive and sexual health activities resulting in the Countdown dataset for 2003-13. We matched this dataset to the 2015 creditor reporting system dataset and coded any unmatched creditor reporting system records. We analysed trends in ODA+ to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health for the period 2003-13, trends in donor contributions, disbursements to recipient countries, and targeting to need. Total ODA+ to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health reached nearly US$14 billion in 2013, of which 48% supported child health ($6·8 billion), 34% supported reproductive and sexual health ($4·7 billion), and 18% maternal and newborn health ($2·5 billion). ODA+ to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health increased by 225% in real terms over the period 2003-13. Child health received the most substantial increase in funding since 2003 (286%), followed by reproductive and sexual health (194%), and maternal and newborn health (164%). In 2013, bilateral donors disbursed 59% of all ODA+ to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, followed by global health initiatives (23%), and multilateral agencies (13%). Targeting of ODA+ to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and

Total and state-specific medical and absenteeism costs of COPD among adults aged ≥ 18 years in the United States for 2010 and projections through 2020.

PubMed

Ford, Earl S; Murphy, Louise B; Khavjou, Olga; Giles, Wayne H; Holt, James B; Croft, Janet B

2015-01-01

COPD remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The objectives of this study were to estimate (1) national US COPD-attributable annual medical costs by payer (direct) and absenteeism (indirect) in 2010 and projected medical costs through 2020 and (2) state-specific COPD-attributable medical and absenteeism costs in 2010. We used the 2006-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, and 2010 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data to generate cost estimates and 2010 census data to project medical costs through 2020. In 2010, total national medical costs attributable to COPD and its sequelae were estimated at $32.1 billion, and total absenteeism costs were $3.9 billion, for a total burden of COPD-attributable costs of $36 billion. An estimated 16.4 million days of work were lost because of COPD. Of the medical costs, 18% was paid for by private insurance, 51% by Medicare, and 25% by Medicaid. National medical costs are projected to increase from $32.1 billion in 2010 to $49.0 billion in 2020. Total state-specific costs in 2010 ranged from $49.1 million in Wyoming to $2.8 billion in California: medical costs ranged from $42.5 million in Alaska to $2.5 billion in Florida and absenteeism costs ranged from $8.4 million in Wyoming to $434.0 million in California. Costs attributable to COPD and its sequelae are substantial and are projected to increase through 2020. Evidence-based interventions that prevent tobacco use and reduce the clinical complications of COPD may result in potential decreased COPD-attributable costs.

VIIRS reflective solar bands on-orbit calibration five-year update: extension and improvements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Junqiang; Wang, Menghua

2016-09-01

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) has been onorbit for almost five years. VIIRS has 22 spectral bands, among which fourteen are reflective solar bands (RSB) covering a spectral range from 0.410 to 2.25 μm. The SNPP VIIRS RSB have performed very well since launch. The radiometric calibration for the RSB has also reached a mature stage after almost five years since its launch. Numerous improvements have been made in the standard RSB calibration methodology. Additionally, a hybrid calibration method, which takes the advantages of both solar diffuser calibration and lunar calibration and avoids the drawbacks of the two methods, successfully finalizes the highly accurate calibration for VIIRS RSB. The successfully calibrated RSB data record significantly impacts the ocean color products, whose stringent requirements are especially sensitive to calibration accuracy, and helps the ocean color products to reach maturity and high quality. Nevertheless, there are still many challenge issues to be investigated for further improvements of the VIIRS sensor data records (SDR). In this presentation, the robust results of the RSB calibrations and the ocean product performance will be presented. The reprocessed SDR is now in more science tests, in addition to the ocean science tests already completed one year ago, readying to be the mission-long operational SDR.

The costs of diabetes among Australians aged 45–64 years from 2015 to 2030: projections of lost productive life years (PLYs), lost personal income, lost taxation revenue, extra welfare payments and lost gross domestic product from Health&WealthMOD2030

PubMed Central

Schofield, Deborah; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Cunich, Michelle M; Veerman, Lennert; Tanton, Robert; Kelly, Simon J

2017-01-01

Objectives To project the number of people aged 45–64 years with lost productive life years (PLYs) due to diabetes and related costs (lost income, extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue); and lost gross domestic product (GDP) attributable to diabetes in Australia from 2015 to 2030. Design A simulation study of how the number of people aged 45–64 years with diabetes increases over time (based on population growth and disease trend data) and the economic losses incurred by individuals and the government. Cross-sectional outputs of a microsimulation model (Health&WealthMOD2030) which used the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2003 and 2009 as a base population and integrated outputs from two microsimulation models (Static Incomes Model and Australian Population and Policy Simulation Model), Treasury's population and labour force projections, and chronic disease trends data. Setting Australian population aged 45–64 years in 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030. Outcome measures Lost PLYs, lost income, extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue, lost GDP. Results 18 100 people are out of the labour force due to diabetes in 2015, increasing to 21 400 in 2030 (18% increase). National costs consisted of a loss of $A467 million in annual income in 2015, increasing to $A807 million in 2030 (73% increase). For the government, extra annual welfare payments increased from $A311 million in 2015 to $A350 million in 2030 (13% increase); and lost annual taxation revenue increased from $A102 million in 2015 to $A166 million in 2030 (63% increase). A loss of $A2.1 billion in GDP was projected for 2015, increasing to $A2.9 billion in 2030 attributable to diabetes through its impact on PLYs. Conclusions Individuals incur significant costs of diabetes through lost PLYs and lost income in addition to disease burden through human suffering and healthcare costs. The government incurs extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue and

Study on characteristics of water resources in Beijing in recent 15 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuan, L. M.; Zheng, H. G.; Zhao, J. J.; Wang, A. L.; Zhang, X. J.

2018-02-01

In order to understand the characteristics of water supply and water usage in Beijing in recent 15 years, a variety of statistical datasets were collected and field investigations were carried out, to analyze the total water resource, the characteristics and trends of water resource supply, utilization and distribution during 2000-2014. The results showed that the total amount of water resources in Beijing is maintained at 1.61~3.95 billion m3, and the surface water accounts for about 1/3, and the groundwater accounts for 2/3. Agricultural water and living water were the dominated consumption in the past 15 years in Beijing, accounted for 35.3% and 38.9% of the total amount, followed by industrial water, which accounting for 17.9% of total water consumption, and water used in environment is relatively small, only accounting for 7.8% of the total amount. This study can provide theoretical support for the establishment and management of water conservation policies and the rational utilization of water resources in Beijing.

Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people.

PubMed

Godfray, H Charles J; Beddington, John R; Crute, Ian R; Haddad, Lawrence; Lawrence, David; Muir, James F; Pretty, Jules; Robinson, Sherman; Thomas, Sandy M; Toulmin, Camilla

2010-02-12

Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water, and energy, in addition to the overexploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of the food system on the environment. The effects of climate change are a further threat. But the world can produce more food and can ensure that it is used more efficiently and equitably. A multifaceted and linked global strategy is needed to ensure sustainable and equitable food security, different components of which are explored here.

Twenty-five Years of DNA-Encoded Chemical Libraries.

PubMed

Neri, Dario

2017-05-04

Reference library: The availability of DNA-encoded chemical libraries containing billions of compounds facilitates the discovery of binding molecules for pharmaceutical applications and for investigating biological processes. This Special Issue highlights the use of this library technology and some of the latest developments in the field. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Tough Year Ahead for Women at Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Nicola

2011-01-01

Families across the country are facing hard times. With inflation rising much faster than earnings, unemployment stubbornly high and the government about to embark on the most severe programme of fiscal austerity since the Second World War, living standards are being squeezed and women are on the frontline. With 80 billion British pounds set to be…

Malthus is still wrong: we can feed a world of 9-10 billion, but only by reducing food demand.

PubMed

Smith, Pete

2015-08-01

In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus published 'An essay on the principle of population' in which he concluded that: 'The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.' Over the following century he was criticised for underestimating the potential for scientific and technological innovation to provide positive change. Since then, he has been proved wrong, with a number of papers published during the past few decades pointing out why he has been proved wrong so many times. In the present paper, I briefly review the main changes in food production in the past that have allowed us to continue to meet ever growing demand for food, and I examine the possibility of these same innovations delivering food security in the future. On the basis of recent studies, I conclude that technological innovation can no longer be relied upon to prove Malthus wrong as we strive to feed 9-10 billion people by 2050. Unless we are prepared to accept a wide range of significant, undesirable environmental consequences, technology alone cannot provide food security in 2050. Food demand, particularly the demand for livestock products, will need to be managed if we are to continue to prove Malthus wrong into the future.

Factors that predict financial sustainability of community coalitions: five years of findings from the PROSPER partnership project.

PubMed

Greenberg, Mark T; Feinberg, Mark E; Johnson, Lesley E; Perkins, Daniel F; Welsh, Janet A; Spoth, Richard L

2015-01-01

This study is a longitudinal investigation of the Promoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) partnership model designed to evaluate the level of sustainability funding by community prevention teams, including which factors impact teams' generation of sustainable funding. Community teams were responsible for choosing, implementing with quality, and sustaining evidence-based programs (EBPs) intended to reduce substance misuse and promote positive youth and family development. Fourteen US rural communities and small towns were studied. Data were collected from PROSPER community team members (N = 164) and prevention coordinators (N = 10) over a 5-year period. Global and specific aspects of team functioning were assessed over six waves. Outcome measures were the total funds (cash and in-kind) raised to implement prevention programs. All 14 community teams were sustained for the first 5 years. However, there was substantial variability in the amount of funds raised, and these differences were predicted by earlier and concurrent team functioning and by team sustainability planning. Given the sufficient infrastructure and ongoing technical assistance provided by the PROSPER partnership model, local sustainability of EBPs is achievable.

Factors That Predict Financial Sustainability of Community Coalitions: Five Years of Findings from the PROSPER Partnership Project

PubMed Central

Greenberg, Mark T.; Feinberg, Mark E.; Johnson, Lesley E.; Perkins, Daniel F.; Welsh, Janet A.; Spoth, Richard L.

2014-01-01

This study is a longitudinal investigation of the PROSPER partnership model designed to evaluate the level of sustainability funding by community prevention teams, including which factors impact teams’ generation of sustainable funding. Community teams were responsible for choosing, implementing with quality, and sustaining evidence-based programs (EBPs) intended to reduce substance misuse and promote positive youth and family development. Fourteen US rural communities and small towns were studied. Data were collected from PROSPER community team members (N=164) and Prevention Coordinators (N=10), over a 5-year period. Global and specific aspects of team functioning were assessed over 6 waves. Outcome measures were the total funds (cash and in-kind) raised to implement prevention programs. All 14 community teams were sustained for the first five years. However, there was substantial variability in the amount of funds raised and these differences were predicted by earlier and concurrent team functioning and by team sustainability planning. Given the sufficient infrastructure and ongoing technical assistance provided by the PROSPER partnership model, local sustainability of EBPs is achievable. PMID:24706195

The 15-lipoxygenase inhibitory, antioxidant, antimycobacterial activity and cytotoxicity of fourteen ethnomedicinally used African spices and culinary herbs.

PubMed

Dzoyem, Jean Paul; Kuete, Victor; McGaw, Lyndy J; Eloff, Jacobus N

2014-10-28

Culinary herbs and spices are widely used ethnomedically across Africa. They are traditionally employed in the treatment of several ailments including inflammation disorders, pain alleviation and infectious diseases. Pharmacological studies are necessary to provide a scientific basis to substantiate their traditional use and safety. In this study, the 15-lipoxygenase inhibitory, antioxidant, antimycobacterial and the cytotoxic activities, total phenolic and flavonoid contents of fourteen edible plants were investigated. The 15-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity was evaluated by the ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange (FOX) assay method. The antioxidant activity was determined using free-radical scavenging assays. The antimycobacterial activity was determined by a broth microdilution method against three species of mycobacteria: Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium aurum and Mycobacterium fortuitum using tetrazolium violet as growth indicator. The cytotoxicity was assessed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay on Vero monkey kidney cells. All the extracts tested had some 15-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity ranging from 32.9 to 78.64%. Adansonia digitata (fruit) had the highest antioxidant capacity (IC₅₀ values of 8.15 μg/mL and 9.16 μg/mL in the DPPH and ABTS assays respectively; TEAC of 0.75 in the FRAP assay) along with the highest amount of total phenolics (237.68 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoids (16.14 mg E/g). There were good correlations between DPPH and ABTS values (R(2) 0.98) and between total phenolics and total flavonoids (R(2) 0.94). Tamarindus indica had significant antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium aurum (MIC 78 μg/mL). As could be expected with edible plants, all the extracts had a relatively low cytotoxicity with LC₅₀ values higher than 102 μg/mL with the exception of the two Aframomum species (33 and 74 μg/mL). This study provides scientific support for some of the the traditional uses

Ground-based assessment of the bias and long-term stability of fourteen limb and occultation ozone profile data records.

PubMed

Hubert, D; Lambert, J-C; Verhoelst, T; Granville, J; Keppens, A; Baray, J-L; Cortesi, U; Degenstein, D A; Froidevaux, L; Godin-Beekmann, S; Hoppel, K W; Kyrölä, E; Leblanc, T; Lichtenberg, G; McElroy, C T; Murtagh, D; Nakane, H; Querel, R; Russell, J M; Salvador, J; Smit, H G J; Stebel, K; Steinbrecht, W; Strawbridge, K B; Stübi, R; Swart, D P J; Taha, G; Thompson, A M; Urban, J; van Gijsel, J A E; von der Gathen, P; Walker, K A; Wolfram, E; Zawodny, J M

2016-01-01

The ozone profile records of a large number of limb and occultation satellite instruments are widely used to address several key questions in ozone research. Further progress in some domains depends on a more detailed understanding of these data sets, especially of their long-term stability and their mutual consistency. To this end, we made a systematic assessment of fourteen limb and occultation sounders that, together, provide more than three decades of global ozone profile measurements. In particular, we considered the latest operational Level-2 records by SAGE II, SAGE III, HALOE, UARS MLS, Aura MLS, POAM II, POAM III, OSIRIS, SMR, GOMOS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS and MAESTRO. Central to our work is a consistent and robust analysis of the comparisons against the ground-based ozonesonde and stratospheric ozone lidar networks. It allowed us to investigate, from the troposphere up to the stratopause, the following main aspects of satellite data quality: long-term stability, overall bias, and short-term variability, together with their dependence on geophysical parameters and profile representation. In addition, it permitted us to quantify the overall consistency between the ozone profilers. Generally, we found that between 20-40 km the satellite ozone measurement biases are smaller than ±5 %, the short-term variabilities are less than 5-12% and the drifts are at most ±5% decade -1 (or even ±3 % decade -1 for a few records). The agreement with ground-based data degrades somewhat towards the stratopause and especially towards the tropopause where natural variability and low ozone abundances impede a more precise analysis. In part of the stratosphere a few records deviate from the preceding general conclusions; we identified biases of 10% and more (POAM II and SCIAMACHY), markedly higher single-profile variability (SMR and SCIAMACHY), and significant long-term drifts (SCIAMACHY, OSIRIS, HALOE, and possibly GOMOS and SMR as well). Furthermore, we reflected on the

Ground-Based Assessment of the Bias and Long-Term Stability of Fourteen Limb and Occultation Ozone Profile Data Records

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hubert, D.; Lambert, J.-C.; Verhoelst, T.; Granville, J.; Keppens, A.; Baray, J.-L.; Cortesi, U.; Degenstein, D. A.; Froidevaux, L.; Godin-Beekmann, S.;

Ground-based assessment of the bias and long-term stability of fourteen limb and occultation ozone profile data records

PubMed Central

Hubert, D.; Lambert, J.-C.; Verhoelst, T.; Granville, J.; Keppens, A.; Baray, J.-L.; Cortesi, U.; Degenstein, D. A.; Froidevaux, L.; Godin-Beekmann, S.; Hoppel, K. W.; Kyrölä, E.; Leblanc, T.; Lichtenberg, G.; McElroy, C. T.; Murtagh, D.; Nakane, H.; Querel, R.; Russell, J. M.; Salvador, J.; Smit, H. G. J.; Stebel, K.; Steinbrecht, W.; Strawbridge, K. B.; Stübi, R.; Swart, D. P. J.; Taha, G.; Thompson, A. M.; Urban, J.; van Gijsel, J. A. E.; von der Gathen, P.; Walker, K. A.; Wolfram, E.; Zawodny, J. M.

2018-01-01

The ozone profile records of a large number of limb and occultation satellite instruments are widely used to address several key questions in ozone research. Further progress in some domains depends on a more detailed understanding of these data sets, especially of their long-term stability and their mutual consistency. To this end, we made a systematic assessment of fourteen limb and occultation sounders that, together, provide more than three decades of global ozone profile measurements. In particular, we considered the latest operational Level-2 records by SAGE II, SAGE III, HALOE, UARS MLS, Aura MLS, POAM II, POAM III, OSIRIS, SMR, GOMOS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS and MAESTRO. Central to our work is a consistent and robust analysis of the comparisons against the ground-based ozonesonde and stratospheric ozone lidar networks. It allowed us to investigate, from the troposphere up to the stratopause, the following main aspects of satellite data quality: long-term stability, overall bias, and short-term variability, together with their dependence on geophysical parameters and profile representation. In addition, it permitted us to quantify the overall consistency between the ozone profilers. Generally, we found that between 20–40 km the satellite ozone measurement biases are smaller than ±5 %, the short-term variabilities are less than 5–12% and the drifts are at most ±5% decade−1 (or even ±3 % decade−1 for a few records). The agreement with ground-based data degrades somewhat towards the stratopause and especially towards the tropopause where natural variability and low ozone abundances impede a more precise analysis. In part of the stratosphere a few records deviate from the preceding general conclusions; we identified biases of 10% and more (POAM II and SCIAMACHY), markedly higher single-profile variability (SMR and SCIAMACHY), and significant long-term drifts (SCIAMACHY, OSIRIS, HALOE, and possibly GOMOS and SMR as well). Furthermore, we reflected on

Building Archean cratons from Hadean mafic crust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Neil, Jonathan; Carlson, Richard W.

2017-03-01

Geologic processing of Earth’s surface has removed most of the evidence concerning the nature of Earth’s first crust. One region of ancient crust is the Hudson Bay terrane of northeastern Canada, which is mainly composed of Neoarchean felsic crust and forms the nucleus of the Northeastern Superior Province. New data show these ~2.7-billion-year-old rocks to be the youngest to yield variability in neodymium-142 (142Nd), the decay product of short-lived samarium-146 (146Sm). Combined 146-147Sm-142-143Nd data reveal that this large block of Archean crust formed by reworking of much older (>4.2 billion-year-old) mafic crust over a 1.5-billion-year interval of early Earth history. Thus, unlike on modern Earth, mafic crust apparently could survive for more than 1 billion years to form an important source rock for Archean crustal genesis.

New Lunar Meteorite Provides its Lunar Address and Some Clues about Early Bombardment of the Moon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, G. J.

2004-10-01

Edwin Gnos (University of Bern, Switzerland) and colleagues from Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, England, and the United States describe an information-packed meteorite found in Oman, Sayh al Uhaymir 169 (SaU 169). The complicated rock is composed mostly of an impact melt that contains an exceptionally large amount of thorium, indicative of an origin in the Imbrium-Procellarum region of the Moon. Gnos and his colleagues report that the impact melt has an age of 3.909 (±0.013) billion years, slightly older than estimates of when the huge Imbrium impact basin formed on the Moon (about 3.850 billion years ago). The meteorite was involved in a subsequent impact 2.8 billion years ago, then another 200 million years ago, and a relatively recent one no more than 340 thousand years ago. It landed on Earth about 10 thousand years ago. This amazingly detailed record led Gnos to conclude that the rock was blasted off the Moon from a place not far from Lalande Crater. The 3.9 billion year age of the impact melt adds to the debate about whether there was an increase in the impact rate 3.9 billion years ago or there was a continuous decline in the impact rate from 4.5 to 3.8 billon years. This debate may not be settled until we have samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin on the farside of the Moon.

Preschool Children's Learning with Technology at Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plowman, Lydia; Stevenson, Olivia; Stephen, Christine; McPake, Joanna

2012-01-01

We produced case studies of fourteen families based on nine rounds of data collection during the period from June 2008 to October 2009. We focused on fourteen children who were three years old when our visits started and used an ecocultural approach to examine their experiences of learning and playing with technologies at home. The study describes…

1966 Oregon timber harvest.

Treesearch

Brian R. Wall

1967-01-01

The 1966 Oregon timber harvest totaled 8.9 billion board feet, 5 percent less than the harvest in 1965. During 1966, the total public timber harvest declined 10 percent to 4.8 billion board feet. The uncut volume of public timber under contract at the end of 1966 was 7.6 billion board feet, up 1.3 billion board feet from 1965's year end total. National Forest...

76 FR 76162 - Federal Open Market Committee; Domestic Policy Directive of November 1-2, 2011

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-06

... approximately 6 years to 30 years with a total face value of $400 billion, and to sell Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 years or less with a total face value of $400 billion. The Committee also directs... face value of domestic securities at approximately $2.6 trillion. The Committee directs the Desk to...

Racial Differences in Communication Apprehension and Interprofessional Socialization in Fourth-Year Doctor of Pharmacy Students

PubMed Central

Karpinski, Aryn C.

2016-01-01

Objective. To examine racial differences in communication apprehension and interprofessional socialization in fourth-year PharmD students and to investigate the relationship between the two constructs. Methods. Two measures with reliability and validity psychometric evidence were administered to fourth-year pharmacy students at a single historically black university with a large racial minority population. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) measures level of fear or anxiety associated with communication. The Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) measures beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors towards interprofessional collaborative practice. Results. One hundred fourteen students completed the survey. This produced a 77.4% response rate and 45.6% of the participants were African American. There were significant differences between races (ie, White, African-American, and Asian) on both measures. The PCRA-24 and ISVS were significantly correlated in each racial group. Conclusion. As pharmacy education moves to more interprofessional collaborations, the racial differences need to be considered and further explored. Pharmacy curricula can be structured to promote students’ comfort when communicating interprofessionally across racial groups. Understanding of culture and early education in cultural competence may need to be emphasized to navigate racial or cultural differences. PMID:26941434

A Simple Method for Estimating the Economic Cost of Productivity Loss Due to Blindness and Moderate to Severe Visual Impairment.

PubMed

Eckert, Kristen A; Carter, Marissa J; Lansingh, Van C; Wilson, David A; Furtado, João M; Frick, Kevin D; Resnikoff, Serge

2015-01-01

To estimate the annual loss of productivity from blindness and moderate to severe visual impairment (MSVI) using simple models (analogous to how a rapid assessment model relates to a comprehensive model) based on minimum wage (MW) and gross national income (GNI) per capita (US$, 2011). Cost of blindness (COB) was calculated for the age group ≥50 years in nine sample countries by assuming the loss of current MW and loss of GNI per capita. It was assumed that all individuals work until 65 years old and that half of visual impairment prevalent in the ≥50 years age group is prevalent in the 50-64 years age group. For cost of MSVI (COMSVI), individual wage and GNI loss of 30% was assumed. Results were compared with the values of the uncorrected refractive error (URE) model of productivity loss. COB (MW method) ranged from $0.1 billion in Honduras to $2.5 billion in the United States, and COMSVI ranged from $0.1 billion in Honduras to $5.3 billion in the US. COB (GNI method) ranged from $0.1 million in Honduras to $7.8 billion in the US, and COMSVI ranged from $0.1 billion in Honduras to $16.5 billion in the US. Most GNI method values were near equivalent to those of the URE model. Although most people with blindness and MSVI live in developing countries, the highest productivity losses are in high income countries. The global economy could improve if eye care were made more accessible and more affordable to all.

Use of social media for sexual health promotion: a scoping review

PubMed Central

Gabarron, Elia; Wynn, Rolf

2016-01-01

Background In order to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the World Health Organization recommends educating people on sexual health. With more than 2 billion active users worldwide, online social media potentially represent powerful channels for health promotion, including sexual health. Objective To review the scientific literature on the use of online social media for sexual health promotion. Design A search was conducted of scientific and medical databases, and grey literature was also included. The selected publications were classified according to their study designs, sexual health promotion main subject, target audience age, and social media use. Results Fifty-one publications were included; 4 publications presenting randomized intervention studies, 39 non-randomized intervention studies, and 8 observational studies. In 29 publications (56.9%), the main subject of the sexual health promotion was ‘general’ or to increase STI testing. Thirty publications (58.8%) specifically focused on youth or young people (aged 11–29 years). Fourteen publications that used social media either as unique channels for sexual health promotion interventions or as a tool supporting the sexual health promotion reported an effect on behavior (27%), and two of those studies found a reduction in the number of positive chlamydia and gonorrhea cases linked to social media intervention. Forty-four publications (86.3%) involved Facebook in some way. Conclusions Although billions of people worldwide actively use social media, we identified only 51 publications on the use of social media for promoting sexual health. About a quarter of the publications have identified promising results, and the evidence for positive effects of social media interventions for promoting sexual health is increasing. There is a need for more studies that explicitly discuss their theoretical framework, and that have strong research designs, in order to further increase the evidence base of the

Use of social media for sexual health promotion: a scoping review.

PubMed

Gabarron, Elia; Wynn, Rolf

2016-01-01

In order to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the World Health Organization recommends educating people on sexual health. With more than 2 billion active users worldwide, online social media potentially represent powerful channels for health promotion, including sexual health. To review the scientific literature on the use of online social media for sexual health promotion. A search was conducted of scientific and medical databases, and grey literature was also included. The selected publications were classified according to their study designs, sexual health promotion main subject, target audience age, and social media use. Fifty-one publications were included; 4 publications presenting randomized intervention studies, 39 non-randomized intervention studies, and 8 observational studies. In 29 publications (56.9%), the main subject of the sexual health promotion was 'general' or to increase STI testing. Thirty publications (58.8%) specifically focused on youth or young people (aged 11-29 years). Fourteen publications that used social media either as unique channels for sexual health promotion interventions or as a tool supporting the sexual health promotion reported an effect on behavior (27%), and two of those studies found a reduction in the number of positive chlamydia and gonorrhea cases linked to social media intervention. Forty-four publications (86.3%) involved Facebook in some way. Although billions of people worldwide actively use social media, we identified only 51 publications on the use of social media for promoting sexual health. About a quarter of the publications have identified promising results, and the evidence for positive effects of social media interventions for promoting sexual health is increasing. There is a need for more studies that explicitly discuss their theoretical framework, and that have strong research designs, in order to further increase the evidence base of the field.

Federal Funding for Health Security in FY2018.

PubMed

Watson, Crystal; Watson, Matthew; Kirk Sell, Tara

This article is the latest in an annual series analyzing federal funding for health security programs. It examines proposed funding in the President's Budget Request for FY2018 and provides updated amounts for FY2017 and actual funding for FY2010 through FY2016. The proposed FY2018 budget for health security-related programs represents a significant decrease in funding from prior years and previous administrations. In total, the President's proposed FY2018 budget includes $12.45 billion for health security-related programs, an estimated decrease in funding of $1.25 billion, or 9%, from the estimated $13.71 billion in FY2017 and an 11% decrease from the FY2016 actual funding level of $13.99 billion. Most FY2018 health security funding ($6.67 billion, 54%) would go to programs with multiple-hazard and preparedness goals and missions, representing a 14% decrease in this funding compared to FY2017. Radiological and nuclear security programs would receive 20% ($2.48 billion) of all health security funding, a slight decrease of 2% from the prior year. Biosecurity programs would be funded at $1.53 billion (12% of health security funding) in FY2018, a decrease of 6% compared to FY2017. Chemical security programs would represent 3% ($389.7 million) of all health security funding in FY2018, a 9% decrease from the prior year. Finally, 11% of health security funding ($1.39 billion) would be dedicated to pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases programs, the only category of funding to see an increase (3%) above FY2017.

The softwood plywood industry in the United States, 1965-82

Treesearch

D. B. McKeever; G. W. Meyer

In 1982, 175 softwood plywood plants operated in the United States with a combined production capacity of nearly 23.1 billion square feet (ft2 ) (3/8-in. basis) per year, 60 percent greater than in 1965. The West was the region with largest capacity in 1982--12.5 billion ft2. The South had 10.5 billion ft2 and the North less than half a billion ft2. Approximately 1.1...

West Europe Report, Science and Technology.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-05-04

PORTUGAL--Renault Portuguesa, a subsidiary of the French automobile manufacturer, saw its sales double in 1983: 14.15 billion escudos in 1982, and...28.86 billion last year. In addition, exports nearly tripled: 13.9 billion escudos in 1983, compared with 4.8 billion during the previous accounting...period (100 escudos = 6.24 French francs). While the number of cars manufactured at the Setubal (south of Lisbon) and Guarda (Northeast Portugal) factories

MOBILE Model and Transportation Planning : A Brief Overview

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

Americans lose 3.7 billion hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel every year sitting in traffic. In 2004, trucks idling in traffic are estimated to have cost the trucking industry some 243 million hours, the equivalent of 17,000 work years, with a cos...

Raising the Social Security Entitlement Age.

PubMed

Zissimopoulos, Julie; Blaylock, Barbara; Goldman, Dana P; Rowe, John W

2017-01-01

An aging America presents challenges but also brings social and economic capital. We quantify public revenues from, and public expenditures on, Americans aged 65 and older, the value of their unpaid, productive activities and financial gifts to family. Using microsimulation, we project the value of these activities, and government revenues and expenditures, under different scenarios of change to the Old Age and Survivors Insurance eligibility age through 2050. We find the value of unpaid productive activities and financial gifts are US$721 billion in 2010, while net (of tax revenues) spending on the 65 years and older is US$984 billion. Five-year delay in the full retirement age decreases federal spending by 10%, while 2-year delay in the early entitlement age increases it by 1.5%. The effect of 5-year delay on unpaid activities and transfers is small: US$4 billion decrease in services and US$4.5 billion increase in bequests and monetary gifts.

The President's Plan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Lawrence

2001-01-01

President Bush's proposed budget would boost total education spending next year from $39.9 billion to $44.5 billion-a far cry from the $95 billion proposed by a coalition of education groups, including the National School Boards Association. NSBA also opposes Bush's emphasis on block grants, school sanctions, and vouchers. (MLH)

Benefits of rebuilding global marine fisheries outweigh costs.

PubMed

Sumaila, Ussif Rashid; Cheung, William; Dyck, Andrew; Gueye, Kamal; Huang, Ling; Lam, Vicky; Pauly, Daniel; Srinivasan, Thara; Swartz, Wilf; Watson, Reginald; Zeller, Dirk

2012-01-01

Global marine fisheries are currently underperforming, largely due to overfishing. An analysis of global databases finds that resource rent net of subsidies from rebuilt world fisheries could increase from the current negative US$13 billion to positive US$54 billion per year, resulting in a net gain of US$600 to US$1,400 billion in present value over fifty years after rebuilding. To realize this gain, governments need to implement a rebuilding program at a cost of about US$203 (US$130-US$292) billion in present value. We estimate that it would take just 12 years after rebuilding begins for the benefits to surpass the cost. Even without accounting for the potential boost to recreational fisheries, and ignoring ancillary and non-market values that would likely increase, the potential benefits of rebuilding global fisheries far outweigh the costs.

Benefits of Rebuilding Global Marine Fisheries Outweigh Costs

PubMed Central

Sumaila, Ussif Rashid; Cheung, William; Dyck, Andrew; Gueye, Kamal; Huang, Ling; Lam, Vicky; Pauly, Daniel; Srinivasan, Thara; Swartz, Wilf; Watson, Reginald; Zeller, Dirk

2012-01-01

Global marine fisheries are currently underperforming, largely due to overfishing. An analysis of global databases finds that resource rent net of subsidies from rebuilt world fisheries could increase from the current negative US$13 billion to positive US$54 billion per year, resulting in a net gain of US$600 to US$1,400 billion in present value over fifty years after rebuilding. To realize this gain, governments need to implement a rebuilding program at a cost of about US$203 (US$130–US$292) billion in present value. We estimate that it would take just 12 years after rebuilding begins for the benefits to surpass the cost. Even without accounting for the potential boost to recreational fisheries, and ignoring ancillary and non-market values that would likely increase, the potential benefits of rebuilding global fisheries far outweigh the costs. PMID:22808187

Spectrometeric measurements of vertical profile and column abundance of NO2 at Zvenigorod, Russia: Fourteen years of observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gruzdev, A.; Elokhov, A.

Since 1990, NO2 measurements are carried out at Zvenigorod Research Station (56°N, 37°E), Moscow region, with the help of zenith viewing spectrophotometer in spectral range 435-450 nm. The instrument and method of observations were verified in comparison campaigns within the framework of the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change. Measurements are done during morning and evening twilight at solar zenith angles 84-96°. Slant column NO2 abundances are derived from observed spectra taking into account O3 and NO2 absorption, single molecular and aerosol scattering, and the Ring effect. The NO2 abundances in the vertical column as well as vertical NO2 profiles are derived as solution of inverse mathematical problem (with Chahine method) using a spherical single scattering model and a one-dimensional photochemical model. Derived quantities are (1) NO2 abundances within 5-km thick layers in the stratosphere and troposphere, (2) NO2 abundance in the thin atmospheric near-surface layer and (3) columnar NO2 abundances in the troposphere (0-10 km) and the stratosphere (10-50 km) as integrals over appropriate layers. Results of measurements show variability of stratospheric and tropospheric NO2 at different time scales from the diurnal to the interannual scale. Out of the period affected by the Pinatubo eruption (1992-1994), a general decline of the stratospheric column NO2 abundance is occurring, superimposed by interannual variations. A linear, statistically significant, negative annual trend of about 12% per decade has been detected for both morning and evening stratospheric column NO2 abundances. For interpretation of the observed trend, a simple photochemical model is used, which takes into account the observed changes in N2O and stratospheric ozone abundances, and in temperature. The estimated model trend of the stratospheric column NO2 abundance in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere is about -5% per decade, which is less than observed. Dynamical variability is supposed to be responsible, in particular, for the observed NO2 decline.

Fourteen Important Concepts Regarding Moral Distress.

PubMed

Howe, Edmund G

2017-01-01

I suggest that we may want to strive, over time, to change our present professional-cultural view, from one that sees an expression of moral distress as a threat, to a professional-cultural view that welcomes these challenges. Such an effort to better medicine would not only include dissenting clinicians, but patients (and their loved ones) as well. Copyright 2016 The Journal of Clinical Ethics. All rights reserved.

On the origin, evolution, and nature of programmed cell death: a timeline of four billion years.

PubMed

Ameisen, J C

2002-04-01

Programmed cell death is a genetically regulated process of cell suicide that is central to the development, homeostasis and integrity of multicellular organisms. Conversely, the dysregulation of mechanisms controlling cell suicide plays a role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases. While great progress has been achieved in the unveiling of the molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death, a new level of complexity, with important therapeutic implications, has begun to emerge, suggesting (i) that several different self-destruction pathways may exist and operate in parallel in our cells, and (ii) that molecular effectors of cell suicide may also perform other functions unrelated to cell death induction and crucial to cell survival. In this review, I will argue that this new level of complexity, implying that there may be no such thing as a 'bona fide' genetic death program in our cells, might be better understood when considered in an evolutionary context. And a new view of the regulated cell suicide pathways emerges when one attempts to ask the question of when and how they may have become selected during evolution, at the level of ancestral single-celled organisms.

The rapid formation of a large rotating disk galaxy three billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Genzel, R; Tacconi, L J; Eisenhauer, F; Schreiber, N M Förster; Cimatti, A; Daddi, E; Bouché, N; Davies, R; Lehnert, M D; Lutz, D; Nesvadba, N; Verma, A; Abuter, R; Shapiro, K; Sternberg, A; Renzini, A; Kong, X; Arimoto, N; Mignoli, M

2006-08-17

Observations and theoretical simulations have established a framework for galaxy formation and evolution in the young Universe. Galaxies formed as baryonic gas cooled at the centres of collapsing dark-matter haloes; mergers of haloes and galaxies then led to the hierarchical build-up of galaxy mass. It remains unclear, however, over what timescales galaxies were assembled and when and how bulges and disks--the primary components of present-day galaxies--were formed. It is also puzzling that the most massive galaxies were more abundant and were forming stars more rapidly at early epochs than expected from models. Here we report high-angular-resolution observations of a representative luminous star-forming galaxy when the Universe was only 20% of its current age. A large and massive rotating protodisk is channelling gas towards a growing central stellar bulge hosting an accreting massive black hole. The high surface densities of gas, the high rate of star formation and the moderately young stellar ages suggest rapid assembly, fragmentation and conversion to stars of an initially very gas-rich protodisk, with no obvious evidence for a major merger.

The Evolution of the Galaxy Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function Over the First Two Billion Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finkelstein, Steven L.; Ryan, Russell E., Jr.; Papovich, Casey; Dickinson, Mark; Song, Mimi; Somerville, Rachel; Ferguson, Henry C.; Salmon, Brett; Giavalisco, Mauro; Koekomoer, Anton M.;

A 2-3 billion year old major merger paradigm for the Andromeda galaxy and its outskirts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, F.; Yang, Y. B.; Wang, J. L.; Ibata, R.; Flores, H.; Puech, M.

2018-04-01

Recent observations of our neighbouring galaxy M31 have revealed that its disc was shaped by widespread events. The evidence for this includes the high dispersion (V/σ ≤ 3) of stars older than 2 Gyr, and a global star formation episode, 2-4 Gyr ago. Using the modern hydrodynamical code, GIZMO, we have performed 300 high-resolution simulations to explore the extent to which these observed properties can be explained by a single merger. We find that the observed M31 disc resembles models having experienced a 4:1 merger, in which the nuclei coalesced 1.8-3 Gyr ago, and where the first passage took place 7-10 Gyr ago at a large pericentre distance (32 kpc). We also show that within a family of orbital parameters, the Giant Stream (GS) can be formed with various merger mass ratios, from 2:1 to 300:1. A recent major merger may be the only way to create the very unusual age-dispersion relation in the disc. It reproduces and explains the long-lived 10 kpc ring, the widespread and recent star formation event, the absence of a remnant of the GS progenitor, the apparent complexity of the 3D spatial distribution of the GS, the NE and G Clumps and their formation process, and the observed slope of the halo profile. These modelling successes lead us to propose that the bulk of the substructure in the M31 halo, as well as the complexity of the inner galaxy, may be attributable to a single major interaction with a galaxy that has now fully coalesced with Andromeda.

Developing a Billion Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gergen, Christopher; Rego, Lyndon; Wright, Joel

2014-01-01

Intentionally developing the leadership capacity of all students is a necessary requirement for schools around the world. The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., has been at the center of this work and presents three schools as examples: Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C., the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South…

Reauthorization of the National Science Foundation, 1985. Hearing before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, United State Senate, Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session on Examining the Reauthorization of Appropriations for the National Science Foundation for Fiscal Year 1985 (April 4, 1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

These hearings focused on the reauthorization of appropriations for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for fiscal year (FY) 1985. (The Reagan administration's request for the NSF was $1.5 billion, an increase of 13.6 percent over the FY 1984 budget.) The hearings include a prepared statement from Edward Knapp (NSF director) which provides an…

Land-Use Change and the Billion Ton 2016 Resource Assessment: Understanding the Effects of Land Management on Environmental Indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kline, K. L.; Eaton, L. M.; Efroymson, R.; Davis, M. R.; Dunn, J.; Langholtz, M. H.

2016-12-01

The federal government, led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), quantified potential U.S. biomass resources for expanded production of renewable energy and bioproducts in the 2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy (BT16) (DOE 2016). Volume 1 of the report provides analysis of projected supplies from 2015 to2040. Volume 2 (forthcoming) evaluates changes in environmental indicators for water quality and quantity, carbon, air quality, and biodiversity associated with production scenarios in BT16 volume 1. This presentation will review land-use allocations under the projected biomass production scenarios and the changes in land management that are implied, including drivers of direct and indirect LUC. National and global concerns such as deforestation and displacement of food production are addressed. The choice of reference scenario, input parameters and constraints (e.g., regarding land classes, availability, and productivity) drive LUC results in any model simulation and are reviewed to put BT16 impacts into context. The principal LUC implied in BT16 supply scenarios involves the transition of 25-to-47 million acres (net) from annual crops in 2015 baseline to perennial cover by 2040 under the base case and 3% yield growth case, respectively. We conclude that clear definitions of land parameters and effects are essential to assess LUC. A lack of consistency in parameters and outcomes of historic LUC analysis in the U.S. underscores the need for science-based approaches.

The costs of diabetes among Australians aged 45-64 years from 2015 to 2030: projections of lost productive life years (PLYs), lost personal income, lost taxation revenue, extra welfare payments and lost gross domestic product from Health&WealthMOD2030.

PubMed

Schofield, Deborah; Shrestha, Rupendra N; Cunich, Michelle M; Passey, Megan E; Veerman, Lennert; Tanton, Robert; Kelly, Simon J

2017-01-09

To project the number of people aged 45-64 years with lost productive life years (PLYs) due to diabetes and related costs (lost income, extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue); and lost gross domestic product (GDP) attributable to diabetes in Australia from 2015 to 2030. A simulation study of how the number of people aged 45-64 years with diabetes increases over time (based on population growth and disease trend data) and the economic losses incurred by individuals and the government. Cross-sectional outputs of a microsimulation model (Health&WealthMOD2030) which used the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2003 and 2009 as a base population and integrated outputs from two microsimulation models (Static Incomes Model and Australian Population and Policy Simulation Model), Treasury's population and labour force projections, and chronic disease trends data. Australian population aged 45-64 years in 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030. Lost PLYs, lost income, extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue, lost GDP. 18 100 people are out of the labour force due to diabetes in 2015, increasing to 21 400 in 2030 (18% increase). National costs consisted of a loss of $A467 million in annual income in 2015, increasing to $A807 million in 2030 (73% increase). For the government, extra annual welfare payments increased from $A311 million in 2015 to $A350 million in 2030 (13% increase); and lost annual taxation revenue increased from $A102 million in 2015 to $A166 million in 2030 (63% increase). A loss of $A2.1 billion in GDP was projected for 2015, increasing to $A2.9 billion in 2030 attributable to diabetes through its impact on PLYs. Individuals incur significant costs of diabetes through lost PLYs and lost income in addition to disease burden through human suffering and healthcare costs. The government incurs extra welfare payments, lost taxation revenue and lost GDP, along with direct healthcare costs. Published by the BMJ

Lu-Hf total-rock age for the Amitsoq gneisses, West Greenland

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pettingill, H. S.; Patchett, P. J.

1981-01-01

Lu-Hf total-rock data for the Amitsoq gneisses of West Greenland yield an age of 3.55 + or - 0.22 billion years, based on the decay constant for Lu-176 of 1.96 x 10 to the -11th/year, and an initial Hf-176/Hf-177 ratio of 0.280482 + or - 33. The result is in good agreement with Rb-Sr total-rock and U-Pb zircon ages. In spite of severe metamorphism of the area at 2.9 billion years, zircons from two of the samples have remained on the total-rock line, and define points close to the initial Hf ratio. The initial Hf-176/Hf-177 lies close to a chondritic Hf isotopic evolution curve from 4.55 billion years to present. This is consistent with the igneous precursors to the Amitsoq gneisses having been derived from the mantle at or shortly before 3.6 billion years. Anomalous relationships between Hf concentration and the Lu-176/Hf-177 ratio may suggest that trace element abundances in the Amitsoq gneisses are partly controlled by processes related to metamorphism.

Poor Stroop performances in 15-year-old dyslexic teenagers.

PubMed

Kapoula, Zoï; Lê, Thanh-Thuan; Bonnet, Audrey; Bourtoire, Pauline; Demule, Emilie; Fauvel, Caroline; Quilicci, Catherine; Yang, Qing

2010-06-01

The Stroop test enables interference between color naming and reading to be studied. Protopapas et al. (2007) reported more errors in an interference task and longer reaction times in 12.5-year-old dyslexics; also more Stroop interference with lower reading skills. The present study uses a version of the Stroop with four color cards and aims to test interference and flexibility in older dyslexic teenagers. The four cards are: color naming, reading, interference and flexibility. In the latter, subjects have to name the color of the word inhibiting reading except when the word is inside a box. This flexibility task enables the testing of the capacity for cognitive switching between tasks. Ten dyslexics (15.1 +/- 0.7 years old) and fourteen controls (14.3 +/- 1.6 years old) participated in the study. All performed the color naming, the reading, the interference and the flexibility tasks in the same order. Subsequently, they performed a sequence of 60 saccades left-right followed by the interference task. Generally, dyslexic teenagers behaved similarly to non-dyslexics as they showed fewer errors in reading and color than in the interference and flexibility tasks. However, they made more errors and needed more time to accomplish each task than non-dyslexics. The results suggest that the inhibitory and attention processes required by the Stroop test are dysfunctioning even in older dyslexics. In contrast, the study shows no evidence for particular difficulty in the flexibility task, which would constitute an argument against problems with mental switching. Following the execution of saccades, errors in the interference test were significantly reduced for dyslexics, while the time was reduced for both groups. The effects are attributed to visual attention training via saccades.

Subsampled open-reference clustering creates consistent, comprehensive OTU definitions and scales to billions of sequences.

PubMed

Rideout, Jai Ram; He, Yan; Navas-Molina, Jose A; Walters, William A; Ursell, Luke K; Gibbons, Sean M; Chase, John; McDonald, Daniel; Gonzalez, Antonio; Robbins-Pianka, Adam; Clemente, Jose C; Gilbert, Jack A; Huse, Susan M; Zhou, Hong-Wei; Knight, Rob; Caporaso, J Gregory

2014-01-01

We present a performance-optimized algorithm, subsampled open-reference OTU picking, for assigning marker gene (e.g., 16S rRNA) sequences generated on next-generation sequencing platforms to operational taxonomic units (OTUs) for microbial community analysis. This algorithm provides benefits over de novo OTU picking (clustering can be performed largely in parallel, reducing runtime) and closed-reference OTU picking (all reads are clustered, not only those that match a reference database sequence with high similarity). Because more of our algorithm can be run in parallel relative to "classic" open-reference OTU picking, it makes open-reference OTU picking tractable on massive amplicon sequence data sets (though on smaller data sets, "classic" open-reference OTU clustering is often faster). We illustrate that here by applying it to the first 15,000 samples sequenced for the Earth Microbiome Project (1.3 billion V4 16S rRNA amplicons). To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest OTU picking run ever performed, and we estimate that our new algorithm runs in less than 1/5 the time than would be required of "classic" open reference OTU picking. We show that subsampled open-reference OTU picking yields results that are highly correlated with those generated by "classic" open-reference OTU picking through comparisons on three well-studied datasets. An implementation of this algorithm is provided in the popular QIIME software package, which uses uclust for read clustering. All analyses were performed using QIIME's uclust wrappers, though we provide details (aided by the open-source code in our GitHub repository) that will allow implementation of subsampled open-reference OTU picking independently of QIIME (e.g., in a compiled programming language, where runtimes should be further reduced). Our analyses should generalize to other implementations of these OTU picking algorithms. Finally, we present a comparison of parameter settings in QIIME's OTU picking workflows and

Billions of basepairs of recently expanded, repetitive sequences are eliminated from the somatic genome during copepod development.

PubMed

Sun, Cheng; Wyngaard, Grace; Walton, D Brian; Wichman, Holly A; Mueller, Rachel Lockridge

2014-03-11

Chromatin diminution is the programmed deletion of DNA from presomatic cell or nuclear lineages during development, producing single organisms that contain two different nuclear genomes. Phylogenetically diverse taxa undergo chromatin diminution--some ciliates, nematodes, copepods, and vertebrates. In cyclopoid copepods, chromatin diminution occurs in taxa with massively expanded germline genomes; depending on species, germline genome sizes range from 15 - 75 Gb, 12-74 Gb of which are lost from pre-somatic cell lineages at germline--soma differentiation. This is more than an order of magnitude more sequence than is lost from other taxa. To date, the sequences excised from copepods have not been analyzed using large-scale genomic datasets, and the processes underlying germline genomic gigantism in this clade, as well as the functional significance of chromatin diminution, have remained unknown. Here, we used high-throughput genomic sequencing and qPCR to characterize the germline and somatic genomes of Mesocyclops edax, a freshwater cyclopoid copepod with a germline genome of ~15 Gb and a somatic genome of ~3 Gb. We show that most of the excised DNA consists of repetitive sequences that are either 1) verifiable transposable elements (TEs), or 2) non-simple repeats of likely TE origin. Repeat elements in both genomes are skewed towards younger (i.e. less divergent) elements. Excised DNA is a non-random sample of the germline repeat element landscape; younger elements, and high frequency DNA transposons and LINEs, are disproportionately eliminated from the somatic genome. Our results suggest that germline genome expansion in M. edax reflects explosive repeat element proliferation, and that billions of base pairs of such repeats are deleted from the somatic genome every generation. Thus, we hypothesize that chromatin diminution is a mechanism that controls repeat element load, and that this load can evolve to be divergent between tissue types within single organisms.

Billions of basepairs of recently expanded, repetitive sequences are eliminated from the somatic genome during copepod development

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Chromatin diminution is the programmed deletion of DNA from presomatic cell or nuclear lineages during development, producing single organisms that contain two different nuclear genomes. Phylogenetically diverse taxa undergo chromatin diminution — some ciliates, nematodes, copepods, and vertebrates. In cyclopoid copepods, chromatin diminution occurs in taxa with massively expanded germline genomes; depending on species, germline genome sizes range from 15 – 75 Gb, 12–74 Gb of which are lost from pre-somatic cell lineages at germline – soma differentiation. This is more than an order of magnitude more sequence than is lost from other taxa. To date, the sequences excised from copepods have not been analyzed using large-scale genomic datasets, and the processes underlying germline genomic gigantism in this clade, as well as the functional significance of chromatin diminution, have remained unknown. Results Here, we used high-throughput genomic sequencing and qPCR to characterize the germline and somatic genomes of Mesocyclops edax, a freshwater cyclopoid copepod with a germline genome of ~15 Gb and a somatic genome of ~3 Gb. We show that most of the excised DNA consists of repetitive sequences that are either 1) verifiable transposable elements (TEs), or 2) non-simple repeats of likely TE origin. Repeat elements in both genomes are skewed towards younger (i.e. less divergent) elements. Excised DNA is a non-random sample of the germline repeat element landscape; younger elements, and high frequency DNA transposons and LINEs, are disproportionately eliminated from the somatic genome. Conclusions Our results suggest that germline genome expansion in M. edax reflects explosive repeat element proliferation, and that billions of base pairs of such repeats are deleted from the somatic genome every generation. Thus, we hypothesize that chromatin diminution is a mechanism that controls repeat element load, and that this load can evolve to be divergent

Assessment of crop yield losses in Punjab and Haryana using two years of continuous in-situ ozone measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, B.; Singh Sangwan, K.; Maurya, Y.; Kumar, V.; Sarkar, C.; Chandra, B. P.; Sinha, V.

2015-01-01

In this study we use a high quality dataset of in-situ ozone measurements at a suburban site called Mohali in the state of Punjab to estimate ozone related crop yield losses for wheat, rice, cotton and maize for Punjab and the neighbouring state Haryana for the years 2011-2013. We inter-compare crop yield loss estimates according to different exposure metrics such as AOT40 and M7 for the two major crop growing seasons of Kharif (June-October) and Rabi (November-April) and establish a new crop yield exposure relationship for South Asian wheat and rice cultivars. These are a factor of two more sensitive to ozone induced crop yield losses compared to their European and American counterparts. Relative yield losses based on the AOT40 metrics ranged from 27-41% for wheat, 21-26% for rice, 9-11% for maize and 47-58% for cotton. Crop production losses for wheat amounted to 20.8 million t in fiscal year 2012-2013 and 10.3 million t in fiscal year 2013-2014 for Punjab and Haryana jointly. Crop production losses for rice totalled 5.4 million t in fiscal year 2012-2013 and 3.2 million t year 2013-2014 for Punjab and Haryana jointly. The Indian National Food Security Ordinance entitles ~ 820 million of India's poor to purchase about 60 kg of rice/wheat per person annually at subsidized rates. The scheme requires 27.6 Mt of wheat and 33.6 Mt of rice per year. Mitigation of ozone related crop production losses in Punjab and Haryana alone could provide >50% of the wheat and ~10% of the rice required for the scheme. The total economic cost losses in Punjab and Haryana amounted to USD 6.5 billion in the fiscal year 2012-2013 and USD 3.7 billion in the fiscal year 2013-2014. This economic loss estimate represents a very conservative lower limit based on the minimum support price of the crop, which is lower than the actual production costs. The upper limit for ozone related crop yield losses in entire India currently amounts to 3.5-20% of India's GDP. Mitigation of high surface ozone

Social costs of loss in productivity-related absenteeism in Poland.

PubMed

Genowska, Agnieszka; Fryc, Justyna; Pinkas, Jarosław; Jamiołkowski, Jacek; Szafraniec, Krystyna; Szpak, Andrzej; Bojar, Iwona

2017-10-06

The aim of this study was to estimate indirect costs associated with losses in productivity due to sickness absence among registered workers in Poland. Data on sick leave durations in 2013 was obtained from the Social Insurance Institution (SII) (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych - ZUS). Based on the number of assumptions, this data was used for calculating absence durations. The costs of lost productivity were estimated on the basis of the measure of gross value added. Estimated losses in productivity due to absenteeism in 2013 together accounted for 4.33% of gross domestic product (GDP) (17.09 billion euro). In the female population, the total value of losses amounted to 9.66 billion euro, but excluding the costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium (2.96 billion euro), it was 6.7 billion euro. In the male population, the loss amounted to 7.43 billion euro. The highest overall costs of sickness absence based on age were found in the age group of 30-39 years (5.14 billion euro, including pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium - 1.474 billion euro; respiratory diseases - 0.632 billion euro, injuries and poisonings - 0.62 billion euro). In the group of people aged > 40 years, the highest cost was generated by bone-muscular diseases (1.553 billion euro) and injuries and poisoning (1.251 billion euro). Higher losses in the productivity of women in addition to pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium were due to mental and behavioral disorders (0.71 billion euro), diseases of the genitourinary system (0.38 billion euro), and neoplasms (0.35 billion euro). At the same time, in men, compared to women, we observed higher losses due to injuries and poisoning (1.65 billion euro), and diseases of musculoskeletal (1.26 billion euro), nervous (0.79 billion euro), circulatory (0.65 billion euro), and digestive (0.41 billion euro) systems. Improvement and further development of effective strategies for prevention of complications of pregnancy and chronic diseases in the

Patient injuries in operative rhinology during a ten-year period: Review of national patient insurance charts.

PubMed

Blomgren, K; Aaltonen, L-M; Lehtonen, L; Helmiö, P

2018-02-01

To assess factors contributing to patient injuries in operative rhinology. Data of the accepted patient injury claims involving operative rhinology, between the years 2001 and 2011, were obtained from the Finnish Patient Insurance Centre registry. Two senior otolaryngologists analysed and evaluated the injury mechanisms. Analysis and classification of factors contributing to patient injuries. During the ten-year study period, there were 67 patient injuries in operative rhinology, comprising 36% of all patient injuries in otorhinolaryngologic surgery. The majority (78%) of patients were treated in university or central hospitals and almost all (90%) by fully trained otolaryngology specialists. The factors contributing to the injuries were errors in surgical technique, like lesions to the orbit, skull base and meninges, and adjacent nerves, as well as mistakes with removable packings left in situ. Nearly half of the patients had undergone endoscopic sinus surgery. One patient died because of bleeding from the intracranial artery. Fourteen patients (21%) needed a re-operation due to the injury. Patient injuries in rhinology were caused by typical complications of common operations performed by otorhinolaryngology specialists. The increased volume of endoscopic sinus surgery was evident also in patient injuries. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The California Environmental Technology Partnership and AB 2060 hazardous waste technology certification

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schofield, J.T.

The field of environmental technology is poised for explosive growth throughout this decade and beyond. Currently, the worldwide market for environmental goods and services is estimated to be over $200 billion according to the Environmental business Journal (EBJ). The EBJ estimates that US environmental firms have approximately $120 billion in revenues. Additionally, California`s environmental industry accounts for 17% of the US revenues and 7.5% of worldwide revenues. This amounts to a $20 and 25 billion industry in California. According to a July/August report by the Environmental Export Report, the worldwide environmental industry is estimated to be between $200 and $300more » billion and growing at least at 6% annually to between $300 and $400 billion by the year 2,000. The EBJ also estimates that US exporters have the potential to capture $1 billion a year in Western Europe and about half of that in Japan. California`s high environmental standards present unparalleled opportunities for economic growth and job creation. As environmental awareness and standards are raised throughout the world, California is widely recognized to have tremendous economic advantages in capturing these lucrative markets. This industry provides over 180,000 jobs in California. Current estimates suggest that by the year 2000 as much as 3% of the nation`s gross national product will be devoted to protecting the environment, and that the industry will exceed $170 billion by 1996.« less

Criterion 6 Indicator 28: Total and Per Capita Consumption of Wood and Wood Products in Roundwood Equivalents

Treesearch

James L. Howard; David B. McKeever; Ted Bilek

2016-01-01

Total consumption of wood and paper products and fuelwood, in roundwood equivalents, increased between 1965 and 1988 from 13.3 to 19.6 billion cubic feet per year. Since 1988, it has been about 20 billion cubic feet per year. Total per capita consumption increased between 1965 and 1988, 68 to 80 ft3 per year. Since 1988 through 2011, per capita...

Open-Source Python Tools for Deploying Interactive GIS Dashboards for a Billion Datapoints on a Laptop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinberg, P. D.; Bednar, J. A.; Rudiger, P.; Stevens, J. L. R.; Ball, C. E.; Christensen, S. D.; Pothina, D.

2017-12-01

The rich variety of software libraries available in the Python scientific ecosystem provides a flexible and powerful alternative to traditional integrated GIS (geographic information system) programs. Each such library focuses on doing a certain set of general-purpose tasks well, and Python makes it relatively simple to glue the libraries together to solve a wide range of complex, open-ended problems in Earth science. However, choosing an appropriate set of libraries can be challenging, and it is difficult to predict how much "glue code" will be needed for any particular combination of libraries and tasks. Here we present a set of libraries that have been designed to work well together to build interactive analyses and visualizations of large geographic datasets, in standard web browsers. The resulting workflows run on ordinary laptops even for billions of data points, and easily scale up to larger compute clusters when available. The declarative top-level interface used in these libraries means that even complex, fully interactive applications can be built and deployed as web services using only a few dozen lines of code, making it simple to create and share custom interactive applications even for datasets too large for most traditional GIS systems. The libraries we will cover include GeoViews (HoloViews extended for geographic applications) for declaring visualizable/plottable objects, Bokeh for building visual web applications from GeoViews objects, Datashader for rendering arbitrarily large datasets faithfully as fixed-size images, Param for specifying user-modifiable parameters that model your domain, Xarray for computing with n-dimensional array data, Dask for flexibly dispatching computational tasks across processors, and Numba for compiling array-based Python code down to fast machine code. We will show how to use the resulting workflow with static datasets and with simulators such as GSSHA or AdH, allowing you to deploy flexible, high-performance web

Cost Effectiveness of a Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Excise Tax in the U.S.

PubMed

Long, Michael W; Gortmaker, Steven L; Ward, Zachary J; Resch, Stephen C; Moodie, Marj L; Sacks, Gary; Swinburn, Boyd A; Carter, Rob C; Claire Wang, Y

2015-07-01

Reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption through taxation is a promising public health response to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. This study quantifies the expected health and economic benefits of a national sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax of $0.01/ounce over 10 years. A cohort model was used to simulate the impact of the tax on BMI. Assuming ongoing implementation and effect maintenance, quality-adjusted life-years gained and disability-adjusted life-years and healthcare costs averted were estimated over the 2015-2025 period for the 2015 U.S. Costs and health gains were discounted at 3% annually. Data were analyzed in 2014. Implementing the tax nationally would cost $51 million in the first year. The tax would reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by 20% and mean BMI by 0.16 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]=0.06, 0.37) units among youth and 0.08 (95% UI=0.03, 0.20) units among adults in the second year for a cost of $3.16 (95% UI=$1.24, $8.14) per BMI unit reduced. From 2015 to 2025, the policy would avert 101,000 disability-adjusted life-years (95% UI=34,800, 249,000); gain 871,000 quality-adjusted life-years (95% UI=342,000, 2,030,000); and result in $23.6 billion (95% UI=$9.33 billion, $54.9 billion) in healthcare cost savings. The tax would generate $12.5 billion in annual revenue (95% UI=$8.92, billion, $14.1 billion). The proposed tax could substantially reduce BMI and healthcare expenditures and increase healthy life expectancy. Concerns regarding the potentially regressive tax may be addressed by reduced obesity disparities and progressive earmarking of tax revenue for health promotion. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Archean microfossils: a reappraisal of early life on Earth.

PubMed

Altermann, Wladyslaw; Kazmierczak, Józef

2003-11-01

The oldest fossils found thus far on Earth are c. 3.49- and 3.46-billion-year-old filamentous and coccoidal microbial remains in rocks of the Pilbara craton, Western Australia, and c. 3.4-billion-year-old rocks from the Barberton region, South Africa. Their biogenicity was recently questioned and they were reinterpreted as contaminants, mineral artefacts or inorganic carbon aggregates. Morphological, geochemical and isotopic data imply, however, that life was relatively widespread and advanced in the Archean, between 3.5 and 2.5 billion years ago, with metabolic pathways analogous to those of recent prokaryotic organisms, including cyanobacteria, and probably even eukaryotes at the terminal Archean.

Retained Textile Foreign Bodies: Experience of 27 Years.

PubMed

Arikan, Soykan; Kocakusak, Ahmet

2015-01-01

Retained intracorporeal textile products (gossypiboma-textiloma) are undesired and accidental surgical results for both patients and surgeons, which are underreported because of medicolegal remifications. Fourteen textiloma cases, who had been treated or whose treatment procedures had been followed-up personally by two general surgeons in a period of 27 years almost during their whole professional lives were presented to describe and define the clinical and pathological characteristics. Patient characteristics including gender and age, areas of location within the body, time intervals until diagnosis, clinical presentations and complaints, treatment modalities, complications, causative surgical interventions, and diagnostic approaches were retrospectively evaluated. Nine female and five male patients with a mean age of 43.07 ± 15.23 (median: 45) years at diagnosis were enrolled in the study. Cesarean section in three, inguinal hernioraphy in four, explorative laparotomy because of acute abdomen in one, sigmoid colon resection in one, appendectomy and right salpingoophorectomy in one, etrangulated incisional hernia after a previous surgical intervention because of an ovarian mass in one, thyroidectomy in one, epigastric hernioraphy in one, and bilateral segmental mastectomy with bilateral axillary sentinal lymph node dissection in one were the causative surgical interventions. Locations of textilomas were the abdominal cavity in seven, inguinal surgical wound in four, epigastric surgical wound in one, thyroidectomy lodge in one, and bilateral axillary cavities in one patient. The mean time interval until diagnosis was 14.48 (median: 5.5) months. Earlier recognition of foreign bodies can provide a better outcome. Gossypibomas are preventable iatrogenic faults which create severe problems. Strict adherence to the rules of the operation room is a must to keep the tip of the iceberg shut in the Pandora's box.

Agricultural Baseline (BL0) scenario of the 2016 Billion-Ton Report

DOE Data Explorer

Davis, Maggie R. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000181319328); Hellwinkel, Chad [University of Tennessee, APAC] (ORCID:0000000173085058); Eaton, Laurence [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312709626); Langholtz, Matthew H [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000281537154); Turhollow, Anthony [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000228159350); Brandt, Craig [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000214707379); Myers, Aaron [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000320373827)

2016-07-13

Scientific reason for data generation: to serve as the reference case for the BT16 volume 1 agricultural scenarios. The agricultural baseline runs from 2015 through 2040; a starting year of 2014 is used. Date the data set was last modified: 02/12/2016 How each parameter was produced (methods), format, and relationship to other data in the data set: simulation was developed without offering a farmgate price to energy crops or residues (i.e., building on both the USDA 2015 baseline and the agricultural census data (USDA NASS 2014). Data generated are .txt output files by year, simulation identifier, county code (1-3109). Instruments used: POLYSYS (version POLYS2015_V10_alt_JAN22B) supplied by the University of Tennessee APAC The quality assurance and quality control that have been applied: • Check for negative planted area, harvested area, production, yield and cost values. • Check if harvested area exceeds planted area for annuals. • Check FIPS codes.

Economic Impact of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on the State of Washington in Fiscal Year 2013

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Scott, Michael J.; Niemeyer, Jackie M.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a large economic entity, with $1.06 billion in annual funding, $936 million in total spending, and 4,344 employees in fiscal year (FY) 2013. Four thousand, one hundred and one (4,101) employees live in Washington State. The Laboratory directly and indirectly supports almost $1.31 billion in economic output, 6,802 jobs, and $514 million in Washington State wage income from current operations. The state also gains more than $1.21 billion in output, more than 6,400 jobs, and $459 million in income through closely related economic activities, such as visitors, health care spending, spending by resident retirees,more » and spinoff companies. PNNL affects Washington’s economy through commonly recognized economic channels, including spending on payrolls and other goods and services that support Laboratory operations. Less-commonly recognized channels also have their own impacts and include company-supported spending on health care for its staff members and retirees, spending of its resident retirees, Laboratory visitor spending, and the economic activities in a growing constellation of “spinoff” companies founded on PNNL research, technology, and managerial expertise. PNNL also has a significant impact on science and technology education and community nonprofit organizations. PNNL is an active participant in the future scientific enterprise in Washington with the state’s K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. The Laboratory sends staff members to the classroom and brings hundreds of students to the PNNL campus to help train the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technicians. This investment in human capital, though difficult to measure in terms of current dollars of economic output, is among the important lasting legacies of the Laboratory. Finally, PNNL contributes to the local community with millions of dollars’ worth of cash and in-kind corporate and staff contributions, all of

Aging Baby Boomers and the Rising Cost of Chronic Back Pain: Secular Trend Analysis of Longitudinal Medical Expenditures Panel Survey Data for Years 2000 to 2007

PubMed Central

Smith, Monica; Davis, Matthew A.; Stano, Miron; Whedon, James M.

2013-01-01

Objectives The purposes of this study were to analyze data from the longitudinal Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) to evaluate the impact of an aging population on secular trends in back pain and chronicity and to provide estimates of treatment costs for patients who used only ambulatory services. Methods Using the MEPS 2-year longitudinal data for years 2000 to 2007, we analyzed data from all adult respondents. Of the total number of MEPS respondent records analyzed (N = 71 838), we identified 12 104 respondents with back pain and further categorized 3842 as chronic cases and 8262 as nonchronic cases. Results Secular trends from the MEPS data indicate that the prevalence of back pain has increased by 29%, whereas chronic back pain increased by 64%. The average age among all adults with back pain increased from 45.9 to 48.2 years; the average age among adults with chronic back pain increased from 48.5 to 52.2 years. Inflation-adjusted (to 2010 dollars) biennial expenditures on ambulatory services for chronic back pain increased by 129% over the same period, from $15.6 billion in 2000 to 2001 to $35.7 billion in 2006 to 2007. Conclusion The prevalence of back pain, especially chronic back pain, is increasing. To the extent that the growth in chronic back pain is caused, in part, by an aging population, the growth will likely continue or accelerate. With relatively high cost per adult with chronic back pain, total expenditures associated with back pain will correspondingly accelerate under existing treatment patterns. This carries implications for prioritizing health policy, clinical practice, and research efforts to improve care outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness and for health workforce planning. PMID:23380209

A Framework for Sustainable Energy Development beyond the Grid: Meeting the Needs of Rural and Remote Populations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agbemabiese, Lawrence

2009-01-01

Advances in energy access in developing countries over the past 25 years have been remarkable with more than 1 billion unserved people gaining access to electricity and modern fuels. However, as impressive as this may sound, large gaps remain: 1.6 billion people still lack access to electricity and another 2.5 billion continue to rely on…

Determinants of government HIV/AIDS financing: a 10-year trend analysis from 125 low- and middle-income countries.

PubMed

Ávila, Carlos; Loncar, Dejan; Amico, Peter; De Lay, Paul

2013-07-19

Trends and predictors of domestic spending from public sources provide national authorities and international donors with a better understanding of the HIV financing architecture, the fulfillment of governments' commitments and potential for long-term sustainability. We analyzed government financing of HIV using evidence from country reports on domestic spending. Panel data from 2000 to 2010 included information from 647 country-years amongst 125 countries. A random-effects model was used to analyze ten year trends and identify independent predictors of public HIV spending. Low- and middle-income countries spent US$ 2.1 billion from government sources in 2000, growing to US$ 6.6 billion in 2010, a three-fold increase. Per capita spending in 2010 ranged from 5 cents in low-level HIV epidemics in the Middle East to US$ 32 in upper-middle income countries with generalized HIV epidemics in Southern Africa. The average domestic public spending per capita was US$ 2.55. The analysis found that GDP per capita and HIV prevalence are positively associated with increasing levels of HIV-spending from public sources; a 10 percent increase in HIV prevalence is associated with a 2.5 percent increase in domestic funding for HIV. Additionally, a 10 percent increase in GDP per capita is associated with an 11.49 percent increase in public spending for HIV and these associations were highly significant. Domestic resources in low- and middle-income countries showed a threefold increase between 2000 and 2010 and currently support 50 percent of the global response with 41 percent coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Domestic spending in LMICs was associated with increased economic growth and an increased burden of HIV. Sustained increases in funding for HIV from public sources were observed in all regions and emphasize the increasing importance of government financing.

Archiving 40+ Years of Planetary Mission Data - Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmons, K. E.

2012-12-01

NASA has invested billions of dollars and millions of man-hours in obtaining information about our planet and its neighbors. Will the data obtained from those investments be accessible in 50 years, nae 20 or even 10? Will scientists be able to look back at the record and understand what stayed the same or has changed? Saving the data is critical, we all understand that, and keeping it reformatted to maintain usability is a given. But what is easily more critical is saving the information that allows a future person to use these data. This work explores the difficul-ties, costs and heartaches encountered with archiving data from six major NASA missions spanning 40+ years: Mariner 6, 7 and 9, Pioneer Venus, Voyager and Galileo. Some of these lessons are a) a central archive for Mission documents needs to be established, b) metadata from the early stages of a mission are frequntly poorly recorded, c) instrument microprocessors improve science flexibility but make documenting harder, d) archiving observation de-signs improves data recovery, e) more post mission time and dollars need to be allocated to archiving, f) additional PDS node funding would support more timely data ingestion, faster peer review and quicker public access and g) trained archivists should be part of mission teams at all levels. This work is supported from ROSES grant NNX09AM04GS04.

From the Primitive Soup to Cyanobacteria: It May have Taken Less Than 10 Million Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Stanley L.; Lazcano, Antonio

1996-01-01

Most scientific discussions on the likelihood of extraterrestrial life have been constrained by the characteristics of life on our planet and the environmental conditions under which it may have emerged. Although it has been generally assumed that this process must have been extremely slow, involving hundreds of millions or even billions of years, a number of recent discoveries have led to a considerable compression of the time believed necessary for life to appear. It is now recognized that during its early history the Earth and other bodies of the inner Solar System went through a stage of intense collisions. Some of these impacts by large asteroids or comets may have raised the terrestrial surface to sterilizing temperatures and may have evaporated the oceans and killed off life as late as 3.8 x 10(exp 9) years ago. However, there is also ample paleontological evidence derived from the 3.5 x 10(exp 9) year old Warrawoona sediments showing that only 300 million years after the period of intense impacts ended, our planet was populated by phototactic, stromatolite-forming microorganisms. Although these discoveries are now generally interpreted to imply that the origin and early evolution of life were rapid, no attempts have been made to estimate the actual time required for these processes to occur.

State summaries: Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Keller, J.; Carroll, C.; Widmann, B.

2006-01-01

According to the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), Colorado's mining industry enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2005. For the whole year, the total value of nonfuel minerals, coal and uranium produced in the state in 2005 amounted to $2.4 billion. The production value of $1.52 billion in the nonfuel sector broke the previous record of $1.3 billion set in 1980, and is 60% higher than the revised 2004 CGS estimate of $950.5 million. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) ranked Colorado ninth among the states in nonfuel mineral value, up from 17th in 2004. About $1 billion of the nonfuel total is from metal mining. New record-high productions were achieved not only for molybdenum but also for coal and goal.

With GI Bill's Billions at Stake, Colleges Compete to Lure Veterans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sander, Libby

2012-01-01

As the Post-9/11 GI Bill nears its fourth year, with more than 550,000 veterans enrolled in thousands of institutions, advocacy groups, lawmakers, and President Obama warn that veterans are vulnerable in a higher-education marketplace eager for their GI Bill dollars--with some purveyors, particularly for-profits, recruiting aggressively. The…

Cybersecurity Implications for Industry, Academia, and Parents: A Qualitative Case Study in NSF STEM Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Gregory V.

2017-01-01

Rationale: Former President Barack Obama's $3.9 trillion for the 2015 fiscal year budget request included a $2.9 billion investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. Research then showed that the national spending for cybersecurity has exceeded $10.7 billion in the 2015 fiscal year. Nonetheless, the number of…

1970 Oregon timber harvest.

Treesearch

Brian R. Wall

1971-01-01

The 1970 Oregon timber harvest of 7.98 billion board feet was the lowest recorded since the recession year of 1961 when 7.41 billion board feet of timber was produced. The 1970 log production figure was 12.8 percent below the 1969 harvest, the second consecutive year of declining production in Oregon.

Persistence of rabies antibody 5 years after pre-exposure prophylaxis with human diploid cell antirabies vaccine and antibody response to a single booster dose.

PubMed Central

Rodrigues, F. M.; Mandke, V. B.; Roumiantzeff, M.; Rao, C. V.; Mehta, J. M.; Pavri, K. M.; Poonawalla, C.

1987-01-01

In 1978, 22 staff members of the National Institute of Virology, Pune, India, were given two doses of human diploid cell antirabies vaccine (HDCV) for primary pre-exposure prophylactic immunization; the interval between the two doses being approximately 4 weeks. Eighteen of these 22 vaccinees were given a booster dose 1 year later. All 18 vaccinees developed protective levels of antibody; most of them had antibody levels exceeding 10 IU/ml. In 1984, 5 years after the booster dose, 11 (79.0%) of 14 vaccinees tested still possessed neutralizing antibody levels ranging from 0.5 IU/ml to 10 IU/ml. Fourteen days after the administration of a booster dose, the antibody levels ranged from 10 to greater than or equal to 100 IU/ml for all except one vaccine (5.2 IU/ml). These findings demonstrate that the majority of vaccines retained detectable neutralizing antibody after pre-exposure prophylaxis for as long as 5 years and that a single booster dose thereafter evoked a good antibody response. PMID:3609177