Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for United States Pacific Command
2012-03-22
NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON a. REPORT UNCLASSIFED b. ABSTRACT UNCLASSIFED c . THIS PAGE UNCLASSIFED UNLIMITED 36...result in a price paid in military terms and human lives in the future.9 Climate Change as a Threat to National Security Joshua Busby , a professor at...willingness to fight those who threaten our expanding notion of national security. Busby includes climate change in this expanded definition of national
Greenwald, Anthony G
2017-01-01
Presents an obituary for Earl Busby Hunt-known to family, friends, and colleagues as Buz-who died at home in Bellevue, Washington, on April 12, 2016. Buz specialized in artificial intelligence (AI) and had a main focus in cognitive psychology. In fact he was editor of Cognitive Psychology from 1974-1987. Buz's honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Intelligence Research (2009) and the Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science (2011) for lifetime contributions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).
Faynel, Christophe; Busby, Robert C.; Robbins, Robert K.
2012-01-01
Abstract Seven new species of the Neotropical hairstreak genus Oenomaus are described: Oenomaus mancha Busby & Faynel, sp. n. (type locality Ecuador); Oenomaus gwenish Robbins & Faynel, sp. n. (type locality Panama); Oenomaus lea Faynel & Robbins, sp. n. (type locality Ecuador); Oenomaus myrteana Busby, Robbins & Faynel, sp. n. (type locality Ecuador); Oenomaus mentirosa Faynel & Robbins, sp. n. (type locality Peru); Oenomaus andi Busby & Faynel, sp. n. (type locality Ecuador) and Oenomaus moseri Robbins & Faynel, sp. n. (type locality Brazil, Santa Catarina). For each new Oenomaus species, we present diagnostic characters and notes on its habitat and biology. We illustrate adults, genitalia, and distribution. New distributional and biological data are presented for 21 previously described Oenomaus species. Oenomaus melleus guyanensis Faynel, 2008 is treated as a new synonym of Oenomaus melleus melleus (Druce, 1907). Females are described and associated with males for ten species using a variety of factors, including mitochondrial COI DNA “barcode” sequences. We summarize the reasons why the number of recognized Oenomaus species has grown in the past decade from one species to 28 species. Finally, we overview the habitats that Oenomaus species occupy and note that the agricultural pest on Annonaceae, Oenomaus ortygnus, is the only Oenomaus species that regularly occurs in greatly disturbed habitats. PMID:23129985
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2010-04-02
... the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, on behalf of Geoffrey Lee McCabe of Hollywood... shall be served: (a) The complainant is-- Geoffrey Lee McCabe, 6104 Glen Oak, Hollywood, CA 90068. (b...
Characterizing filamentary switching in resistive memories (Presentation Recording)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Busby, Yan; Pireaux, Jean-Jacques
2015-09-01
Characterizing filamentary switching in resistive memories For many organic, inorganic and hybrid memory devices the resistive switching mechanism is well known to rely on filament formation [1]. This implies that localized conductive paths are established between the two terminal electrodes during the forming step. This filaments sustain the current flow when the memory is in the low conductive state and they can be ruptured and possibly re-formed for more than hundreds of I-V cycles. The nature and morphology of filaments has been long time debated especially for organic memories. The filament size, density and formation mechanism have been very challenging to be characterized, and need appropriate experimental techniques. However, filaments in organic memories have been recently identified and characterized by cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM), conductive-AFM, AFM-tomography and through depth profile analysis combining Time-of-flight secondary ions mass spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In particular, 3D spectroscopic images obtained with ToF-SIMS give access for the first time to filament formation process and rupture mechanism. From these results, a clear picture of the filament(s) dynamics during memory operation can be drawn. In this contribution, recent results showing filaments in memories based on different structures and architectures will be discussed. The memories are based on insulating polymers (polystyrene [2] and poly methyl methacrylate [3]), conductive polymers/nanocomposites (polyera N1400 with metal NPs [4]), and small semiconducting molecules (Tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium - Alq3 [5]). The results show that resistive switching clearly involves the inhomogeneous metal diffusion in the organic layer taking place during the top electrode deposition and during memory operation. This may be of great relevance in many other organic electronics applications. REFERENCES [1] S. Nau, S. Sax, E.J.W. List-Kratochvil, Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 2508-2513. [2] Y. Busby, N. Crespo-Monteiro, M. Girleanu, M. Brinkmann, O. Ersen, J.-J. Pireaux, Organic Electronics 2015, 16, 40-45. [3] C. Wolf, S. Nau, S. Sax, Y. Busby, J.-J. Pireaux, E.J.W. List-Kratochvil (under submission). [4] G. Casula, P. Cosseddu, Y. Busby, J.-J. Pireaux, M. Rosowski, B. Tkacz Szczesna, K. Soliwoda, G. Celichowski, J. Grobelny, J. Novák, R. Banerjee, F. Schreiber, A. Bonfiglio, Organic Electronics, 2015, 18, 17-23. [5] Y. Busby, S. Nau, S. Sax, E.J.W. List- Kratochvil, J. Novak, R. Banerjee, F. Schreiber, J.-J. Pireaux, (under submission)
Evaluation Report of the Busby School Title IV Program.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Streiff, Paul R.
In the 1976-77 school year, the Title IV Program included 11 components: continuation of the Parent Advisory Committee; sponsorship of 4 community/school feasts centered around Title IV concerns; employment of classroom aides; development of cultural instructional objectives and materials; elementary school counselor to help meet the most serious…
The Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function
2015-11-01
1 AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0463 TITLE: The Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Geoffrey Murphy...NUMBER The Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-13-1-0463 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Geoffrey Murphy...The overall objective of this Discovery Award was to explore the hypothesis the ketogenic diet (KD) regulates neuronal excitability by influencing
Geoffrey Burbidge : L'art de la critique
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bonnet-Bidaud, J. M.
1997-06-01
Avec pres de cinquante ans de carriere derriere lui, Geoffrey Burbidge n'a rien perdu de son gout du débat et de la controverse. Mondialement reconnu pour ses travaux sur les quasars, il en agace aujourd'hui plus d'un en venant deranger le bel ordonnancement de la cosmologie. Il porte sur le monde scientifique un regard tres critique, condamnant notamment ces chercheurs qui acceptent trop volontiers d'emprunter les chemins tout traces.
Molecular Effects of 13C/DIM in Prostate Cancer
2007-04-01
expression, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 352 (1998) 59–70. [36] M.G. Busby, A.R. Jeffcoat, L.T. Bloedon, M.A. Koch, T. Black, K.J. Dix, W.D. Heizer , B.F. Thomas...the extracellular environment is implicated in the angiogenic switch. They found that MMP-9 could render normal islets angiogenic releasing VEGF
[Sir Geoffrey Keynes 1887-1982. Surgical pioneer, medical historian, humanist].
Bergljung, Lars
2005-01-01
Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1887 - 1982), was a pioneer in the surgery of breast cancer and thymic deseases, n.b. in patients suffering from myastenia gravis. He strongly disapproved of the longstanding dogma of so called radical mastectomy in breast cancer, and advocated a more limited surgical approach, followed by radiation therapy. This was done more than fifty years before breastconserving surgery has become the therapy of choice and against considerable opposition from the surgical establishment of his days. He also became a pioneer in the surgical treatment of myastenia gravis by thymectomy, at a time when there was no real understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease and when considerable controversy existed as to the importance or non importance of concomitant tumour formation in the thymus. Besides being a busy surgeon Sir Geoffrey was a medical historian, writing the biography of among others William Harvey, a bibliographer with a special interest in the poet and artist William Blake and a bibliophil with a large book collection of great value to medical history.
OPAL Netlogo Land Condition Model
2014-08-15
ER D C/ CE RL T R- 14 -1 2 Optimal Allocation of Land for Training and Non-training Uses ( OPAL ) OPAL Netlogo Land Condition Model...Fulton, Natalie Myers, Scott Tweddale, Dick Gebhart, Ryan Busby, Anne Dain-Owens, and Heidi Howard August 2014 OPAL team measuring above and...online library at http://acwc.sdp.sirsi.net/client/default. Optimal Allocation of Land for Training and Non-training Uses ( OPAL ) ERDC/CERL TR-14-12
2011-03-01
performance of Federal Government Contract Number FA8721-05- C -0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering... C Roles and Responsibilities 195 Appendix D Reporting Requirements and Options 201 Appendix E Managed Discovery 203 Appendix F Scoping and...Upgrade Team (SUT) • Mary Busby , Lockheed Martin • Palma Buttles-Valdez, Software Engineering Institute • Paul Byrnes, Integrated System Diagnostics
Understanding Resilience in Wounded Warriors and Their Families
2012-02-01
posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 908-911. Busby , D. M., Crane, D. R., Larson, J. H., & Christensen, C . (1995). A revision...17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON USAMRMC a. REPORT U b. ABSTRACT U c . THIS PAGE U UU...Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 9, 85– 106. doi:10.1080/15299730802073726 Israel, A. C ., Ivanova, M. Y., Roderick, H. A., Sokolowski, K. L., Chalmers
2011-03-01
performance of Federal Government Contract Number FA8721-05- C -0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering... C Roles and Responsibilities 195 Appendix D Reporting Requirements and Options 201 Appendix E Managed Discovery 203 Appendix F Scoping and...Upgrade Team (SUT) • Mary Busby , Lockheed Martin • Palma Buttles-Valdez, Software Engineering Institute • Paul Byrnes, Integrated System Diagnostics
Mohr, Peter D
2017-05-01
Miss Davison was a medical artist at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and the University of Manchester from around 1918 until her retirement in 1957. She illustrated books and scientific papers on anthropology, anatomy and surgery, and became well known for her striking pictures produced by the 'Ross board technique'- a difficult process that she helped pioneer from the 1930s and which forms the bulk of the work she undertook for neurosurgeon Geoffrey Jefferson during the 1930s-1950s. His Neurosurgical Department became the main base for her work until his retirement in 1953. She was an active member of the Medical Artist Association (MAA) which she helped found in 1949.
Centrosome Hypertrophy Induced by p53 Mutations Leads to Tumor Aneuploidy
2001-06-01
and Early Development (Palazzo, RE, ed). Academic Press. In Press. Manuscripts Submitted 1. Antonino B. D’Assoro, Susan L. Barrett, Christopher Folk...cytoskeleton of the tumor cells. A A Lingle DAMD17-98-1-8122 10 APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Manuscripts Submitted 1. Antonino B. D’Assoro, Susan L. Barrett...Aggressive Phenotypes In Breast Cancer Antonino B. D’Assorol, Susan L. Barrett’, Christopher Folk’, Vivian C. Negron’, Kelly Boeneman’, Robert Busby’, Clark
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge: 2012 Academic Award (Coates)
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 2012 award winner, Professor Geoffrey W. Coates, developed a family of catalysts that use carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to make make polymers including polycarbonates.
78 FR 28205 - Notice of Second Prehearing Conference
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2013-05-14
....m. Eastern. ADDRESSES: Members of the public are welcome to attend the prehearing conference to be..., LLP, Counsel for BABY MATTERS LLC; and, Larry W. Bennett, Esq. and Geoffrey S. Wagner, Esq., of...
Geoffrey Layton Slack OBE (Mil), CBE, TD, BDS DDS, FDSRCS, FDS Glas, FFDRCSI, Dip Bact (1912-1991).
Gelbier, Stanley
2014-02-01
It is with some pride that the author worked in Geoffrey Slack's department from 1963 to 1967 and even retained a working relationship with him after that time. Slack was Professor of Dental Surgery (1959-1976) and later Professor of Community Dental Health (1976-1977) at The London Hospital Medical College, within the University of London. The change in titles came about as a result of recognition of his contribution to developments in public health and community dental care and services, for many of which he was directly responsible. He was Dental Dean from 1965 until 1969. Upon retirement in 1977 he became Emeritus Professor. In addition, he was Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1974 to 1977.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Graff, Gerald
1977-01-01
Discusses the plight of the contemporary literary critic using as examples, Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Harold Bloom, and Geoffrey Hartman. All four men, among the most learned and talented of contemporary critics, reside at Yale University. (Author/RK)
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Council of Europe Forum, 1985
1985-01-01
Highlighting the issue of violence, this Forum issue contains 12 essays. Titles and authors are: "Passivity in the Face of Violence" (Henri Laborit); "Democratisation without Violence?" (Friedrich Hacker); "Ritualised Violence in Sport" (Christian Bromberger); "Violence in Prisons" (Luige Daga); "Racial Aggression" (Geoffrey Bindman); "Violence in…
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Blythe, Joan Heiges
1989-01-01
Shows how teachers can increase students' general appreciation of literature and improve students' writing skills by studying literature with legal issues and images of the law. Cites several examples of such literature, including Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," and Jonathan…
Alma Polarization Measurements Towards Sgr A* (Poster)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liu, Hauyu Baobab; Wright, M. C. H.; Zhao, J.-H.
2017-10-01
We have observed linear polarization of the Sgr A* at band 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9 using ALMA. I will outline our method, and compare our measurements with the records taken since 2005 by Geoffrey Bower and Dan Marrone.
Human Robotic Study at Houghton Crater - virtual reality study from NASA Ames (FFC) Future Fight
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
2002-01-01
Human Robotic Study at Houghton Crater - virtual reality study from NASA Ames (FFC) Future Fight Central simulator tower L-R: Dr Geoffrey Briggs; Jen Jasper (seated); Dr Jan Akins and Mr. Tony Gross, Ames
Governance in Afghanistan: Context and Possibilities
2011-05-19
Nathaniel. Russia in Central Asia in 1889 & the Anglo-Russian Question. London: Longmans, Green , and Co., 1889. Drage, Geoffrey. Russian Affairs. New York...Richard Bentley, 1839. Gray, John Alfred. At the Court of the Amir of Afghanistan. New York: Kegan Paul, 2002. Holdich, T. Hungerford. Through Central
The one scale that rules them all
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ouellette, Jennifer
2017-05-01
There are very real constraints on how large a complex organism can grow. This is the essence of all modern-day scaling laws, and the subject of Geoffrey West's provocative new book Scale: the Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies
Traveling Chaucer: Comparative Translation and Cosmopolitan Humanism
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Barrington, Candace
2014-01-01
Through the comparative study of non-Anglophone translations of Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," we can achieve the progressive goals of Emily Apter's "translational transnationalism" and Edward Said's "cosmopolitan humanism." Both translation and humanism were intrinsic to Chaucer's…
An Unfashionable Rhetoric in the Fifteenth Century.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Woods, Marjorie Curry
1989-01-01
Reveals the continued importance of medieval rhetorical pedagogy throughout the high Middle Ages and early Renaissance by exploring the fifteenth-century popularity, uses of, and references to Geoffrey of Vinsauf's "Poetria nova" (a thirteenth-century verse treatise on the composition of poetry according to rhetorical principles). (SR)
Google Scholar's Ghost Authors
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Jacso, Peter
2009-01-01
In the journal "The Chronicle of Higher Education," an article by Geoffrey Nunberg criticizes Google's Book Search (GBS), emphasizing that disturbing errors are endemic. He recognizes that for mainstream "googling" purposes, "they don't really care about metadata provided by a library catalog." In perhaps his most discouraging point, linguistics…
The Royal Aircraft Establishment - 100 Years of Research.
1981-10-02
Geoffrey de Havilland joined as Chief Engineer, and Designer and Test Pilot respectively. In 1908-14, the poor quality of aero-engines was a serious...which RAE made major contributiotis. In 1954 the Establishment was responsible for the inquiry into the Comet disasters and established new standards
How Are Cultural-Historical Change and Individual Cognition Related?
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hatano, Giyoo
2005-01-01
The Geoffrey Saxe and Esmonde monograph (this issue) offers both fascinating empirical findings and intriguing theoretical insight about cultural change and individual cognition. Cultural and cognitive changes are "reciprocal processes," but how can these be related in research? One obvious way is to conduct longitudinal studies of the mutual…
The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching, 2001.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Coreil, Clyde, Ed.
2001-01-01
This collection of papers includes the following: "On the Educational Uses of Fantasy" (Geoffrey Madoc-Jones and Kieran Egan); "The Dangers of Empathy with Students" (Mario Rinvolucri); "The Magic of Folktales for Teaching English and Culture" (Planaria Price); "The Inner Voice: A Critical Factor in L2…
Veterinary research as it so happened.
Smith, Geoffrey
2017-05-27
Acting on 'good advice and encouragement just when he needed it' led Geoffrey Smith to try his hand at research. It is a decision he says he has never regretted; now he wants to encourage younger vets to embark on a similar career - one that benefits animals and people. British Veterinary Association.
[1012.5676] The Exoplanet Orbit Database
: The Exoplanet Orbit Database Authors: Jason T Wright, Onsi Fakhouri, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Eunkyu Han present a database of well determined orbital parameters of exoplanets. This database comprises parameters, and the method used for the planets discovery. This Exoplanet Orbit Database includes all planets
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2011-04-08
... Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Statement of Reasons for Not Conducting Rule-Making Proceedings... conducting a rule-making proceeding for adding Guillain-Barr[eacute] Syndrome (GBS) to the Vaccine Injury...: Geoffrey Evans, M.D., Director, Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Health...
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Eckert, Charles W., Ed.
This is an anthology of reviews and critical pieces of the significant and available Shakespearean films made between 1935 and 1966. Included are three general essays on Shakespearean film by Ian Johnson, Henri Lemaitre, and Geoffrey Reeves. The specific films and their reviewers are: A Midsummer's Night Dream (1935) Allardyce Nicoll and Richard…
Assessing Cultural Validity in Standardized Tests in STEM Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Gassant, Lunes
2013-01-01
This quantitative ex post facto study examined how race and gender, as elements of culture, influence the development of common misconceptions among STEM students. Primary data came from a standardized test: the Digital Logic Concept Inventory (DLCI) developed by Drs. Geoffrey L. Herman, Michael C. Louis, and Craig Zilles from the University of…
Integrating Speaking Skills into the Curriculum.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Nugent, Susan Monroe, Ed.
1986-01-01
Stressing the importance of incorporating speech skills throughout the curriculum, the articles in this journal provide ideas for developing speaking skills in all subjects and at all levels. The titles of the articles and their authors include the following: (1) "Speaking Skills: A Few Tips from an Old Timer" (Geoffrey R. Butler); (2)…
Information Dominance: Informations Role in Influencing Decision Making
2014-03-01
AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE INFORMATION DOMINANCE : INFORMATION’S ROLE IN INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING 5. FUNDING...unlimited INFORMATION DOMINANCE : INFORMATION’S ROLE IN INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING Geoffrey C. Gaines Lieutenant, United States Navy B.S...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited INFORMATION
Book review: Handbook of cyanobacterial monitoring and cyanotoxin analysis
Graham, Jennifer L.; Loftin, Keith A.
2018-01-01
Review of Meriluoto, Jussi, Lisa Spoof, and GeoffreyA. Codd [eds.]. 2017. Handbook of Cyanobacterial Monitoring and Cyanotoxin Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Chichester, West Sussex, UK, ISBN 978‐1‐119‐06868‐6 (978‐1‐119‐06876‐1 eBook), DOI 10.1002/9781119068761.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sfard, Anna
2005-01-01
More than 2 decades have passed since Geoffrey Saxe's first visit to Papua New Guinea, when he began his inquiry into the highly idiosyncratic counting system of Oksapmin's people. As evidenced by his account, a quarter of a century is a period long enough to make historical shifts visible. The point of departure for this commentary on…
The Accreditation of Hildegard Von Bingen as Medieval Female Technical Writer
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Rauch, Susan
2012-01-01
Although scholars have acknowledged technical texts written during the Middle-Ages, there is no mention of "technical writer" as a profession except for Geoffrey Chaucer, and historically absent is the accreditation of medieval female writers who pioneered the field of medical-technical communication. In an era dominated by identifiable medieval…
76 FR 14395 - Ocean Transportation Intermediary License Applicants
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2011-03-16
..., Manager/President. Application Type: QI Change. Geoffrey Au dba ABC Logistics Company (NVO), 2250 Gellert... at (202) 523-5843 or by e-mail at [email protected] . Arkman Logistics Inc. (NVO), 1001 Fargo Avenue, Elk... Type: New NVO & OFF License. BCargo Logistics, S.A. de C.V. (NVO), Av. Revolucion 725-A, Col. Jardin...
Chaucer's Haunted Aesthetics: Mimesis and Trauma in "Troilus and Criseyde"
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Ingham, Patricia Clare
2010-01-01
Trauma theory has been and continues to be important to critical work in every period of literary study. This essay argues that the subtle literary strategies of one fourteenth-century poem can help to address a blockage about representation current in that theory. Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde" meditates upon trauma by rendering…
"Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun": Getting Real in Upward Bound.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pace, Barbara G.; Adkins, Theresa A.
2002-01-01
Describes how a teacher found literature for Upward Bound students. Presents Geoffrey Canada's "Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America" as a nonfiction work to provide clarity and connections that might not have been available in a fictional work, yet it had elements of literary fiction that made the text…
Literary Precocity: An Exceptional Case among Exceptional Cases.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Edmunds, Alan L.; Noel, Kathryn A.
2003-01-01
This article presents the case of Geoffrey, a prolific 5-year-old writer. It examines his writing and how his intrapersonal factors and propitious environment contribute to his prodigious output. Childhood precocity is presented as an age-based comparable rather than as an adult-based predictor. A developmental theory of precocity is considered.…
Geoffrey Keynes's Two-Fold Vision: Medical Savant-Connoisseur and Literary Bibliographer.
Kutcher, Gerald
2016-10-01
During the 1920s and 1930s, the British surgeon Geoffrey Keynes (1887-1982) treated breast cancer with radium instead of the hegemonic radical mastectomy, while vehemently attacking the "radicalists" for mutilating women. Keynes was also a leading bibliographer of literary figures from Sir Thomas Browne to William Blake through Jane Austen. This article argues that these endeavors did not inhabit separate worlds, but rather his bibliographic methods of collecting and sorting were deeply interwoven with his therapeutic practices and medical ways of knowing. The article also examines the profound influence his engagement with the works of William Blake had on his battle against the reigning medical orthodoxy and on the humanity of his relationship with his patients. It concludes that Keynes' story sheds light on a now distant medico-cultural world where literary studies, often centered on book collecting and critique, were not only highly valued, but were influential in guiding the vision and behavior of a number of physicians. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Britain's Training Deficit. The Centre for Economic Performance Report.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Layard, Richard, Ed.; And Others
This book contains 12 papers that were produced as a result of a seminar program on selected issues central to the debate over job training in Great Britain. The first paper, "Why We Need a Training Reform Act" (Richard Layard, Ken Mayhew, Geoffrey Owen), examines existing deficiencies in vocational education and training in Britain and…
1977-07-25
of contusions on the lining of the gastrointestinal track begin to occur along with petechial lung hemorrhages, The incidence and severity of these...Maryland 20640 Attn: LCDR 3. W. McConnell Director Naval Research Laboratory Washington, D.C. 20375 Attni Geoffrey 0. Thomas, Code 8410 Kenneth N. Fever
Chaucer, Geoffrey (c. 1343-1400)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Murdin, P.
2000-11-01
Poet, probably born in London, England. Author of the Canterbury Tales, which show his familiarity with astrological matters, and A Treatise on the Astrolabe, once believed to have been written for a son of Chaucer's, but now thought to be for the son of a friend, Lewis Clifford. The text is the oldest known `technical manual' in the English language....
Belonging to "Chinatown": A Study of Asian Boarders in a West Australian Private Boarding School
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Yeo, Wee Loon
2010-01-01
The invaluable use of ethnography in researching educational settings has been demonstrated through many studies and furthered by many passionate researchers. One of such leading lights is Geoffrey Walford. In this paper, Walford's discussion of groups in two public schools, as depicted in his book "Life in public schools", serves as a…
A Conversation with William A. Fowler Part II
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Greenberg, John
2005-06-01
Physicist William A.Fowler initiated an experimental program in nuclear astrophysics after World War II. He recalls here the Steady State versus Big Bang controversy and his celebrated collaboration with Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge on nucleosynthesis in stars. He also comments on the shift away from nuclear physics in universities to large accelerators and national laboratories.
Akuginow and Haines-Stiles Receive 2013 Robert C. Cowen Journalism Award: Citation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Alley, Richard
2014-01-01
From Cosmos to Mars and Pluto and back home, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Erna Akuginow have invested their careers reporting the best modern science in novel, compelling, and accessible ways through documentaries, live events, print, and new media. They are outstanding recipients of the AGU Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism.
The Sensitivity of Precocious Child Writers: More Evidence of the Double-Edged Sword
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Edmunds, Alan L.; Edmunds, Gail
2014-01-01
This article provides further evidence of the often observed sensitive nature displayed by children who are gifted. It also addresses the positive and negative effects that this sensitivity can have on these individuals. Earlier, the authors explored this concept through an analysis of the works and life experiences of Geoffrey, aged 9, a prolific…
The Past, Present, and Future of Comprehensive School Reform. Research Brief
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Borman, Geoffrey D.
2009-01-01
The last major review of the achievement outcomes of comprehensive school reform (CSR) models was conducted in 2003. Despite the growing evidence base supporting CSR, the program was discontinued by the federal government in 2007. Now, six years after the 2003 meta-analysis, the study's lead author, Geoffrey Borman, revisits the results and…
In Search of "Time-Tested Truths": Historical Perspectives on Educational Administration
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Aldrich, Richard
2014-01-01
This article has a dual purpose. The first is to pay tribute to the work of Richard Selleck and Geoffrey Sherington; the second to argue that historians of education can make substantial contributions to current and future educational policy and practice by identifying what Ravitch has called "time-tested truths". The nature and purpose…
Burbidge, Eleanor Margaret Peachey (1919-)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Murdin, P.
2000-11-01
Astrophysicist, born in Devonport, Devon, England, worked in London, Yerkes Observatory, Cambridge, the California Institute of Technology, the Royal Greenwich Observatory and University of California at San Diego. Married and collaborated with Geoffrey Burbidge, a theoretical physicist. It is said that in the days when women were not permitted to observe in their own right with the 200 in telesc...
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
George Washington Univ., Washington, DC. Inst. for Educational Leadership.
"Options in Education" is a weekly radio magazine covering news, features, policy, and people in the field of education produced by National Public Radio and the Institute for Educational Leadership. This broadcast presents Geoffrey Blodgett discussing students' heroes, villains, and ideals; Rose Tobin on student mood at Berkeley; and…
Outer Space Treaty Signed in Moscow (1967)
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
None
Various shots of the representatives of various countries signing the outer space treaty in Moscow. Various shots as the 'big 3' sign the agreement - Mr Andrei Gromyko for Russia, then British Ambassador Sir Geoffrey Harrison for Britain and American Ambassador Llewllyn Thompson for America. Prime Minister of USSR Alexei Kosygin stands behind and watches events. They address the assembly after signing.
Vertical Root Fracture Detection Using Limited-FOV Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
2012-06-01
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Endodontics Graduate Program Naval Postgraduate Dental School Uniformed Services...Dental Program Navy Medicine Professional Development Center Terry D. Webb, DDS, MS CAPT, DC, USN Chairman, Endodontics Dept. Glen M. Imamura, S...Computed Tomography Geoffrey McMurray, DDS, MS ABSTRACT Introduction: Vertical root fractures (VRF) often occur in endodontically treated teeth
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
City Univ. of New York, NY. Instructional Resource Center.
Papers presented at the City University of New York's English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Council conference on maximizing the chances for success of limited-English-proficient college students include the following: "Thresholds, Alienation, and Syntax" (Geoffrey Summerfield); "Storytelling: Starting with the Familiar" (A. Duku…
Internet Architecture: Lessons Learned and Looking Forward
2006-12-01
Internet Architecture: Lessons Learned and Looking Forward Geoffrey G. Xie Department of Computer Science Naval Postgraduate School April 2006... Internet architecture. Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is...readers are referred there for more information about a specific protocol or concept. 2. Origin of Internet Architecture The Internet is easily
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).
Papers on government libraries, public libraries, and research libraries presented at the 1984 IFLA general conference include: (1) "Library Services for Research" (Maria S. Pla de Menendez, Colombia); (2) "Interlibrary Loans, Present and Future: A Consideration for Academic Library Management" (Geoffrey G. Allen, Australia);…
Hedley-Whyte, John; Milamed, Debra R
2010-01-01
SUMMARY In 1894 Ulsterman and pathologist Almroth Wright described the citation of blood. Twenty-one years later it was introduced into wartime and clinical practice. Harvard Medical School had a large part in providing Colonel Andrew Fullerton, later Professor of Surgery, Queen's Belfast, with the intellectual and practical help for the Allies to deploy blood on the post-Somme Western Front and in Salonika. The key investigators and clinicians were Americans and Canadians who with Fullerton and Wright instructed the Allies. The key enablers were two Harvard-trained surgeons surnamed Robertson—Oswald H. (“Robby”) and L. Bruce (no relation). Physician Roger I. Lee of Harvard, surgeon George W Crile of Cleveland, Peyton Rous of the Rockefeller Institute and Richard Lewisohn of Mount Sinai Hospital, both located in the Upper East Side of New York City, played key roles. By Armistice in 1918, indirect citrated nutrient-enhanced blood transfusion was widely used by the Allies. Geoffrey Keynes was taught the techniques of blood transfusion by Dr. Benjamin Harrison Alton of Harvard at a Casualty Clearing Station near Albert at the time of the Battle of Passchendaele. Professor “Robby” Robertson, DSO, Sir Geoffrey Keynes and Sir Thomas Houston established blood banking. PMID:22375087
2015-01-01
Geoffrey W. Smith is currently the Managing Director of Mars Ventures. He actually started his studies with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Doctorate in Law but then, in part by chance and in part by following in his family footsteps, he stepped into the healthcare and biotech field. Since then, he has successfully contributed to the birth of a number of healthcare companies and has also held academic positions at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and at The Rockefeller University in New York, teaching about the interface between science and business. During 2014 he served as Senior Editor on Disease Models & Mechanisms, bringing to the editorial team his valuable experience in drug development and discovery. In this interview, Geoff talks to Ross Cagan, Editor-in-Chief of Disease Models & Mechanisms, about how he developed his incredibly varied career, sharing his views about industry, academia and science publishing, and discussing how academia and industry can fruitfully meet to advance bioscience, train the scientists and stakeholders of the future, and drive the successful discovery of new therapeutics to treat human disease. PMID:26438691
Smith, Geoffrey; Cagan, Ross
2015-10-01
Geoffrey W. Smith is currently the Managing Director of Mars Ventures. He actually started his studies with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Doctorate in Law but then, in part by chance and in part by following in his family footsteps, he stepped into the healthcare and biotech field. Since then, he has successfully contributed to the birth of a number of healthcare companies and has also held academic positions at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and at The Rockefeller University in New York, teaching about the interface between science and business. During 2014 he served as Senior Editor on Disease Models & Mechanisms, bringing to the editorial team his valuable experience in drug development and discovery. In this interview, Geoff talks to Ross Cagan, Editor-in-Chief of Disease Models & Mechanisms, about how he developed his incredibly varied career, sharing his views about industry, academia and science publishing, and discussing how academia and industry can fruitfully meet to advance bioscience, train the scientists and stakeholders of the future, and drive the successful discovery of new therapeutics to treat human disease. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
Detecting Human Activity Using Acoustic, Seismic, Accelerometer, Video, and E-field Sensors
2011-09-01
Detecting Human Activity using Acoustic, Seismic, Accelerometer, Video, and E-field Sensors by Sarah H. Walker and Geoffrey H. Goldman...Adelphi, MD 20783-1197 ARL-TR-5729 September 2011 Detecting Human Activity using Acoustic, Seismic, Accelerometer, Video, and E-field Sensors...DD-MM-YYYY) September 2011 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Detecting Human Activity using Acoustic
Evolution of Languages for Specific Purposes Programs in the United States: 1990-2011
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Long, Mary K.; Uscinski, Izabela
2012-01-01
This article reports the results of a national survey of LSP offerings in U.S. higher education conducted during 2011. The survey updates one carried out by Christine Uber-Grosse and Geoffrey M. Voght in 1990. The data provide: (a) a profile of institutions that offer LSP; (b) an overview of the number, type, level, and enrollment in LSP courses;…
US Policy Options in Syria: An Argument for Diplomacy
2013-03-01
student academic research paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army...2013 2. REPORT TYPE STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT .33 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE US POLICY OPTIONS IN SYRIA: AN...STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT US POLICY OPTIONS IN SYRIA: AN ARGUMENT FOR DIPLOMACY by Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey A
Students at the University of Abertay Dundee Learn Computer Hacking to Defend Networks
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Vance, Erik
2007-01-01
In this article, the author describes a new cybersecurity course at the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland. Geoffrey R. Lund, leader of the software-applications program at Abertay, says the course prepares students for a rapidly growing job market by teaching that the best defense is a good offense. Professors set up a network of 20 or so…
Targeting ESR1-Mutant Breast Cancer
2015-09-01
Award Number: W81XWH-14-1-0360 TITLE: Targeting ESR1 -Mutant Breast Cancer PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Geoffrey L. Greene, Ph.D. CONTRACTING...ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE September 2015 2. REPORT TYPE Annual 3. DATES COVERED 1 Sep 2014 - 31 Aug 2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Targeting ESR1 -Mutant...Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The hypothesis of this proposal is that LBD mutations in ESR1 promote resistance to current FDA
A Methodology for Implementing the Department of Defense’s Current In-Sourcing Policy
2011-01-01
Riposo, Irv Blickstein, Stephanie Young , Geoffrey McGovern, Brian McInnis Prepared for the United States Navy Approved for public release; distribution... Keating for their thoughtful reviews of the draft manuscript. xv Abbreviations 2009 NDAA Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal...some action by contract, policy, regulation, authorization, order, or otherwise; • determine, protect, and advance United States economic , political
A Measurement Study of BGP Blackhole Routing Performance
2006-09-01
STUDY OF BGP BLACKHOLE ROUTING PERFORMANCE by Nikolaos Stamatelatos September 2006 Thesis Advisor: Geoffrey Xie Second Reader: J. D. Fulp...September 2006 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A Measurement Study of BGP Blackhole Routing Performance 6...distribution is unlimited 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) BGP Blackhole routing is a mechanism used to protect networks from DDoS
2015-02-01
as the UDRI Principal Investigator with assistance provided by Dr. Geoffrey Frank. Financial support by Dr. Les Lee at the Air Force Office of... polypropylene composites with some success however require sophisticated manufacturing techniques. Nickel powders have been used similarly to the...of Composites of Isotactic Polypropylene Reinforced with Electrically Conductive Fibers," Polymer Composites, vol. 18, no. 6, 1997. [35] J. Leng
The life and work of Geoffrey Tyndale Young.
Jones, John
2015-03-01
Geoffrey Tyndale Young was born in England's Peak District in 1915: his father and both grandfathers were pharmaceutical chemists. He graduated from the Universities of Birmingham and Bristol and was a transatlantic scientific liaison officer in the Second World War, shortly after which he was elected to a Fellowship at Jesus College Oxford. He combined peptide synthesis research, undergraduate teaching, and College administration with leadership in European peptide science and was universally respected for his integrity, wisdom, and unflappable diplomacy. A close friend of Josef Rudinger, he attended almost all of the first two dozen European Peptide Symposia 1958-1996. When he retired in 1982, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and was elected an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, of which he had been Acting Principal 1973-1977. In retirement, he was instrumental in setting up this journal and steered the formation of the European Peptide Society, of which he was the first chairman. In 1950, he married Janet Mary Baker, later Baroness Young of Farnworth, Leader of the British House of Lords 1982-1983, who died in 2002: they had three daughters who survive him. He died at home in Oxford on 24 May 2014 aged 98. Copyright © 2014 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress
2010-10-06
to the discovery of the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or “ mad cow disease ”) in Washington state. In the months before... Cow Disease and U.S. Beef Trade, by Charles E. Hanrahan and Geoffrey S. Becker. Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress Congressional Research...the diagnosis in the United States, nearly a dozen Japanese cows infected with BSE had been discovered, creating a scandal over the Agricultural
Maritime Law Enforcement: A Critical Capability for the Navy?
2012-03-01
the need for robust maritime security utilizing law enforcement capabilities is in demand. 2. National Concern The significance of nontraditional... utilize their navies for maritime law enforcement.16 So, why does the U.S. Navy not perform law enforcement? The Navy defers on law enforcement...Summer, 2007), 30. 31 Geoffrey Mones and Andrew Webb, “The Coast Guard Needs Help from the . . . Navy and Marine Corps,” Vol. 130: Proceedings 130, no
Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 22, Number 2, February 2009
2009-02-01
IT Investment With Service-Oriented Architecture ( SOA ), Geoffrey Raines examines how an SOA offers federal senior leadership teams an incremental and...values, and is used by 30 million people. [1] Given budget constraints, an incre- mental approach seems to be required. A Path Forward SOA , as implemented...point of view, SOA offers several positive benefits. Language Neutral Integration Web-enabling applications with a com- mon browser interface became a
Collaborative Recurrent Neural Networks forDynamic Recommender Systems
2016-11-22
formulation leads to an efficient and practical method. Furthermore, we demonstrate the versatility of our model by applying it to two different tasks: music ...form (user id, location id, check-in time). The LastFM9 dataset consists of sequences of songs played by a user’s music player collected by using a...Jeffrey L Elman. Finding structure in time. Cognitive science, 14(2), 1990. Alex Graves, Abdel-rahman Mohamed, and Geoffrey Hinton. Speech recognition
2013-10-01
to Bench Modeling For Developing Treatment and Rehabilitation Strategies PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Geoffrey Manley, MD, PhD RECIPIENT...to Bench Modeling For Developing Treatment and Rehabilitation Strategies 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-10-1-0912 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR... treatment of this “dual- diagnosis” are lacking. This project proposed using current clinical-practice evidence to guide development of an animal model to
2008-06-01
Geoffrey M. Wahl, Ph.D. CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies La Jolla, CA 92037-1099...PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER The Salk Institute for Biological Studies La Jolla, CA 92037-1099 9. SPONSORING...validated the use of a micro- volume cell sorter ( Celula , Inc.). This instrument is capable of sorting as few as 150 GFP positive cells from a sample
1990-09-01
Film Fabrication for Optical Second Harmonic Generation * Dr. Geoffrey A. Lindsay, Naval Weapons Center, et al. Corona-Onset Poling of New Side...having the required structures: Polyanilines and derivatives, polyazobenzenes and derivatives and polypyrroles. These polymers are generally...phase polymerization of the monomers on substrates of polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinylpyrrolidone. These films will be evaluated in a facility that
Strategy for a DOD Software Initiative. Volume 2. Appendices
1983-10-01
Druffel 9 PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 1 10 . PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT. TASK AREA 6 WORK UN17 NUMBERS Office of Under Secretary of Defense...New Approach j Lwering DoD Software Costs, Honeywell Aerospace and Defense Group, March 1982. 3 10 p - -q Recognizing that the opportunities and needs...Epstein, M. Fallon, R. A. Farrar, B. L. Fischer, Herman Fisher, Dave Fowler, Northrup, III Fox, Joseph Frager, David S. Frank, Geoffrey A. Fredette
2002-07-10
This book drives home just how much change has taken place in health services over the past couple of years. The first chapter is dated and misleading for those who are not up to speed with the latest structural change, but don't let this put you off. The remaining chapters offer a rich and clear insight into what for many is the stuff of nightmares - budgets and finance.
2007-05-10
U.S. Naval War College, National Security Decision Making handout dated 19 April 2006, page 2. 15 Geoffrey Crawford, The Posse Comitatus Act...2. 20 Shawn Burns, Homeland Security Considerations, U.S. Naval War College, National Security Decision Making handout dated 19 April 2006, page 3...States.42 The routes that make free-flowing ports of entry so attractive for 40 Ibid. Vallone
The Effect of U.S. National Interests on Arms Transfer Decision Making in Brazil.
1983-09-01
the assistance of Diana H. bichman, U.S.e , (Wahngt" CI - -n4PrIr. stitute foPubl~c Policy, Res;arc-h, 1982). 4. Geoffrey Kump with Steve Miller, "The...LL.U,, (C]hto S.F~IFFn Uversif. Vr;-s’- TtMB’. 36. Cesar A. Chelala, and Jose F. Westerkamp , "Perilous Irgentine Rearming," N41 121t 122js, June 15
Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress
2010-02-24
discovery of the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or “ mad cow disease ”) in Washington state. In the months before the diagnosis in...information, see CRS Report RS21709, Mad Cow Disease and U.S. Beef Trade, by Charles E. Hanrahan and Geoffrey S. Becker. 12 International Trade Daily. May...the United States, nearly a dozen Japanese cows infected with BSE had been discovered, creating a scandal over the Agricultural Ministry’s handling
Optical Diagnostics for Flow Control on Small Wings
2016-07-13
AFRL-AFOSR-VA-TR-2016-0250 Optical diagnostics for flow control on small wings GEOFF SPEDDING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES...Control on Small Wings 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-15-1-0255 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Geoffrey R Spedding 5d. PROJECT...Nd:YAG laser has been purchased, installed, and heavily-used in essential work. Two most recent investigations concern the flow over a complex wing
Nuclear Weapons and NATO, Analytical Survey of Literature
1975-06-01
contribution to the current debate on important issues now facing the Alliance." 3 EUROPEAN SECURITY AND THE AT- LANTIC SYSTEM, ed. by William T. R...a good long run ahead of it." (*)—CRISIS IN EUROPEAN DEFENCE: THE NEXT TEN YEARS, by Geoffrey Lee Wil- liams and Alan Lee Williams . London...with its Headquarters at Rhein- dahlen , and Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force with its headquarters at Ramstein." NATO RESHAPING TACTICAL AIR POS
Field Test Data for Detecting Vibrations of a Building Using High-Speed Video Cameras
2017-10-01
ARL-TR-8185 ● OCT 2017 US Army Research Laboratory Field Test Data for Detecting Vibrations of a Building Using High -Speed Video...Field Test Data for Detecting Vibrations of a Building Using High -Speed Video Cameras by Caitlin P Conn and Geoffrey H Goldman Sensors and...June 2016 – October 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Field Test Data for Detecting Vibrations of a Building Using High -Speed Video Cameras 5a. CONTRACT
Mechanics of Air-Inflated Drop-Stitch Fabric Panels Subject to Bending Loads
2013-08-15
Division Newport and Navatek, Ltd. The technical reviewer was Geoffrey R. Moss (Code 1522). The authors gratefully acknowledge Martin S . Leff and...to Bending Loads 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR( S ) Paul V. Cavallaro Christopher J. Hart Ali M...Sadegh 5.d PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME( S ) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Undersea Warfare
Neurale Netwerken en Radarsystemen (Neural Networks and Radar Systems)
1989-08-01
general issues in cognitive science", Parallel distributed processing, Vol 1: Foundations, Rumelhart et al. 1986 pp 110-146 THO rapport Pagina 151 36 D.E...34Neural networks (part 2)",Expert Focus, IEEE Expert, Spring 1988. 61 J.A. Anderson, " Cognitive and Psychological Computations with Neural Models", IEEE...Pagina 154 69 David H. Ackley, Geoffrey E. Hinton and Terrence J. Sejnowski, "A Learning Algorithm for Boltzmann machines", cognitive science 9, 147-169
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lawrence, James A.; Mortimore, Rory N.
2015-02-01
We are grateful to Dornbusch (2014) for the opportunity to clarify the role we propose for salt water weakening of the chalk and its potential importance as a mechanism contributing to cliff instability. Dornbusch's argument is based largely on a single comment "This work challenges the established view by identifying the role of salt from seawater in the degradation of porous rocks in coastal environments as a third and potentially the most important mechanism leading to chalk cliff collapse" (Lawrence et al., 2013: 15). This was not intended as a "conclusion" as suggested by Dornbusch (2014) but is rather a qualitative introductory statement highlighting the potential importance of the salt water weakening process in coastal cliff instability. The actual conclusions of the work are not challenged by Dornbusch (2014).
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House.
The hearing reported in this document focuses on K-12 and undergraduate science, mathematics, and engineering education and the improvement of the educational system to prepare the 21st century workforce. The report includes statements from Ms. Narvella R. West, Executive Director for Science, Dallas Independent School District; Dr. Geoffrey C.…
1981-12-01
I characteristics and classification of depositional processes and d,4, r -%sits in the glacial environment C",. 44k (1-I J For conversion of SI metric...Discussion with Dr. John Shaw, Dr. Geoffrey Boulton, Dr. David Croot and Dr. Ross Powell helped considerably in formulating ideas presented in this report...glacial or non- glacial origins of diamictites of Precambrian and COMPARISON OF MELT-OUT other ages (e.g., Schermerhorn 1974, Edwards AND SEDIMENT FLOW
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Kirkpatrick, R. James
This document serves as the final report for United States Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Grant DE-FG02-08ER15929, “Computational and Spectroscopic Investigations of the Molecular Scale Structure and Dynamics of Geologically Important Fluids and Mineral-Fluid Interfaces” (R. James Kirkpatrick, P.I., A. O. Yazaydin, co-P.I.). The research under this grant was intimately tied to that supported by the parallel the grant of the same title at Alfred (DOE DE-FG02-10ER16128; Geoffrey M. Bowers, P.I.).
We Bomb, Therefore We Are: The Evolution of Terrorist Group Life Cycles
1994-03-24
and arms robberies peaked during this phase, a marked qhift toward political action occurred. °Quoted in Gilio , Tupamaros, 79 and 82. "•Ucbano...52. 蕀Quoted in Gilio , 120. 63 Claude Fly on 7 August 1970: and ended with abduction of British Ambassador Geoffrey Jackson on 8 January 1971...stabilize the present system "•’Quoted in della Porta, "Political Socialization," 273. 2 Quoted in Gilio , Tupamaros, 78. 2mIbid., 268. 14Ibid., 270. 124
Balancing the Pendulum of Freedom
2008-03-25
16 Geoffrey R. Stone, “Perilous Times; Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism,” linked from the Woodrow...the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism.” 20 “Eugene V. Debs.” 21 Stone, “Perilous Times; Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act...deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment… No federal official is authorized to commit a crime on behalf of the government.”8 The Supreme Court has
Watts, Alan G
2015-08-01
In November 1955, Geoffrey Harris published a paper based on the Christian A Herter Lecture he had given earlier that year at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, USA. The paper reviewed the contemporary research that was starting to explain how the hypothalamus controlled the pituitary gland. In the process of doing so, Harris introduced a set of properties that helped define the neuroendocrine hypothalamus. They included: i) three criteria that putative releasing factors for adenohypophysial hormones would have to fulfill; ii) an analogy between the representation of body parts in the sensory and motor cortices and the spatial localization of neuroendocrine function in the hypothalamus; and iii) the idea that neuroendocrine neurons are motor neurons and the pituitary stalk functions as a Sherringtonian final common pathway through which the impact of sensory and emotional events on neuroendocrine neurons must pass in order to control pituitary hormone release. Were these properties a sign that the major neuroscientific discoveries that were being made in the early 1950s were beginning to influence neuroendocrinology? This Thematic Review discusses two main points: the context and significance of Harris's Herter Lecture for how our understanding of neuroendocrine anatomy (particularly as it relates to the control of the adenohypophysis) has developed since 1955; and, within this framework, how novel and powerful techniques are currently taking our understanding of the structure of the neuroendocrine hypothalamus to new levels. © 2015 Society for Endocrinology.
NASA Education Stakeholder's Summit
2010-09-12
NASA Student Ambassadors and Facilitator are seen on a panel at the NASA Education Stakeholders’ Summit One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI), Monday, Sep. 13, 2010, at the Westfields Marriott Conference Center in Chantilly, VA. From left to right are: Quenton Bonds, University of South Florida; Geoffrey Wawrzyniak, Purdue University; Heriberto Reynoso, University of Texas at Brownsville; Marie Kingbird-Lowry, Leech Lake Tribal College; Kareen Borders, University of Washington; Katelyn Doran, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Ashanti Johnson, PhD, Executive Director, Institute for Broadening Participation. (Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gregory, Ruth
2009-04-01
"Cosmologists are often in error but never in doubt." This pithy characterization by the Soviet physicist Lev Landau sums up the raison d'être of Facts and Speculations in Cosmology. Authors Jayant Narlikar and Geoffrey Burbidge are proponents of a "steady state" theory of cosmology, and they argue that the cosmological community has become fixated on a "Big Bang" dogma, suppressing alternative viewpoints. This book very much does what it says on the tin: it sets out what is known in cosmology, and puts forward the authors' point of view on an alternative to the Big Bang.
Wali, Arvin R; Gabel, Brandon; Mitwalli, Madhawi; Tubbs, R Shane; Brown, Justin M
2017-05-01
In 1957, Dr Geoffrey Osborne described a structure between the medial epicondyle and the olecranon that placed excessive pressure on the ulnar nerve. Three terms associated with such structures have emerged: Osborne's band, Osborne's ligament, and Osborne's fascia. As anatomical language moves away from eponymous terminology for descriptive, consistent nomenclature, we find discrepancies in the use of anatomic terms. This review clarifies the definitions of the above 3 terms. We conducted an extensive electronic search via PubMed and Google Scholar to identify key anatomical and surgical texts that describe ulnar nerve compression at the elbow. We searched the following terms separately and in combination: "Osborne's band," "Osborne's ligament," and "Osborne's fascia." A total of 36 papers were included from 1957 to 2016. Osborne's band, Osborne's ligament, and Osborne's fascia were found to inconsistently describe the etiology of ulnar neuritis, referring either to the connective tissue between the 2 heads of the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle as described by Dr Osborne or to the anatomically distinct fibrous tissue between the olecranon process of the ulna and the medial epicondyle of the humerus. The use of eponymous terms to describe ulnar pathology of the elbow remains common, and although these terms allude to the rich history of surgical anatomy, these nonspecific descriptions lead to inconsistencies. As Osborne's band, Osborne's ligament, and Osborne's fascia are not used consistently across the literature, this research demonstrates the need for improved terminology to provide reliable interpretation of these terms among surgeons.
Sir Winston Churchill: treatment for pneumonia in 1943 and 1944.
Vale, J A; Scadding, J W
2017-12-01
This paper reviews Churchill's illnesses in February 1943 and August/September 1944 when he developed pneumonia; on the first occasion this followed a cold and sore throat. Churchill was managed at home by Sir Charles Wilson (later Lord Moran) with the assistance of two nurses and the expert advice of Dr Geoffrey Marshall, Brigadier Lionel Whitby and Colonel Robert Drew. A sulphonamide (sulphathiazole on the first occasion) was prescribed for both illnesses. Churchill recovered, and despite his illnesses continued to direct the affairs of State from his bed. On the second occasion, Churchill's illness was not made public.
1990-12-20
Hochstrasser, 1:30 Break/poster session 1 University of Pennsylvania :00 OS1- 3 Synthesis and Properties of Liquid Crystalline Polysiloxanes, 9:00 OS5- 2 Excited...MONDAY P.M. - FROM 1-D TO 3 -D SILOXSANE$ ... ..10.00. OS5-4 Comparison of Radical Anions and Cations of Polygermane Session 2 : Chairman - Geoffrey...Technology W.0O 056- 3 Thermal Sensitivity of Hydropolysilanes, T. M. Hsu and S. P. SAWAN, University of Lowell PS2- 2 T. M. Hsu, SAMUEL P. SAWAN, University of
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Landis, Geoffrey A.
2002-01-01
Mars is one of the most fascinating planets in the solar system, featuring an atmosphere, water, and enormous volcanoes and canyons. The Mars Pathfinder, Global Surveyor, and Odyssey missions mark the first wave of the Planet Earth's coming invasion of the red planet, changing our views of the past and future of the planet and the possibilities of life. Scientist and science-fiction writer Geoffrey A. Landis will present experiences on the Pathfinder mission, the challenges of using solar power on the surface of Mars, and present future missions to Mars such as the upcoming Mars Twin Rovers, which will launch two highly-capable vehicles in 2003 to explore the surface of Mars.
Status and Mating Success Amongst Visual Artists
Clegg, Helen; Nettle, Daniel; Miell, Dorothy
2011-01-01
Geoffrey Miller has hypothesized that producing artwork functions as a mating display. Here we investigate the relationship between mating success and artistic success in a sample of 236 visual artists. Initially, we derived a measure of artistic success that covered a broad range of artistic behaviors and beliefs. As predicted by Miller’s evolutionary theory, more successful male artists had more sexual partners than less successful artists but this did not hold for female artists. Also, male artists with greater artistic success had a mating strategy based on longer term relationships. Overall the results provide partial support for the sexual selection hypothesis for the function of visual art. PMID:22059085
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dornbusch, Uwe
2015-02-01
This comment relates to the conclusion of the recently published paper that "This work challenges the established view by identifying the role of salt from seawater in the degradation of porous rocks in coastal environments as a third and potentially the most important mechanism leading to chalk cliff collapse." (Lawrence et al., 2013: 15). The 'established view' relates to "Traditionally, the two main factors leading to cliff collapse have been considered to be (i) waves attacking and eroding the base of the cliff […] and (ii) water weakening as the chalk becomes saturated […]." (Lawrence et al., 2013: 14). The particular aspect of the paper of making surface weakening the primary process has been picked up more widely following publication under the headlines 'Salt causes chalk cliffs to collapse' in Jarlett (2013), 'Salt makes chalk cliffs collapse' in NERC (2013) and in the web resource 'How does salt make chalk cliffs collapse?' from Leeds University (2013).
Does Europe have a centre? Reflections on the history of Western and Central Europe
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mout, Nicolette
2006-05-01
Any definition of Central Europe based on geographical and/or historical facts causes difficulties. The line dividing Europe during the Cold War has a very limited use because it does not take into account Central Europe as a special part of the continent. Historians such as Geoffrey Barraclough, Hugh Seton-Watson and Oskar Halecki discussed the idea of a separate identity of Central Europe during the Cold War. Especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this discussion was re-opened. From a historian's point of view, the most important contributions came from Piotr Wandycz and Jeno Szucs. An imaginary centre of Europe can only be found in the continent's common history.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Bowers, Geoffrey
United States Department of Energy grant DE-FG02-10ER16128, “Computational and Spectroscopic Investigations of the Molecular Scale Structure and Dynamics of Geologically Important Fluids and Mineral-Fluid Interfaces” (Geoffrey M. Bowers, P.I.) focused on developing a molecular-scale understanding of processes that occur in fluids and at solid-fluid interfaces using the combination of spectroscopic, microscopic, and diffraction studies with molecular dynamics computer modeling. The work is intimately tied to the twin proposal at Michigan State University (DOE DE-FG02-08ER15929; same title: R. James Kirkpatrick, P.I. and A. Ozgur Yazaydin, co-P.I.).
Korja, Riikka; Piha, Jorma; Otava, Riia; Lavanchy-Scaiola, Chloe; Ahlqvist-Björkroth, Sari; Aromaa, Minna; Räihä, Hannele
2016-08-01
Low marital satisfaction has been shown to be a risk factor for early parenthood and parent-child relationship problems (Erel & Burman, ; McHale, ). The aim of this study was to assess how parental reports of marital satisfaction related to family alliance and coordination in the observed triadic interaction. The study group included 120 families. Marital satisfaction was evaluated during pregnancy, at 4 months, and at 18 months using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Christensen, Crane & Larsson, ) for both parents. Mother-father-child interaction was analyzed in the Lausanne Triadic Play setting and coded using the Family Alliance Assessment Scale (Favez, Lavanchy Scaiola, Tissot, Darwiche & Frascarolo, ) when the child reached 18 months of age. The mother's higher marital satisfaction at every measuring point was associated with a cooperative family alliance and/or higher family coordination at 18 months. The father's experience of marital satisfaction was not related to family interaction at any assessment point. Our study suggests that a mother's experience of lower marital satisfaction during pregnancy may be an early sign of later problems in family relationships. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Neuroendocrine control of the onset of puberty.
Plant, Tony M
2015-07-01
This chapter is based on the Geoffrey Harris Memorial Lecture presented at the 8th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology, which was held in Sydney, August 2014. It provides the development of our understanding of the neuroendocrine control of puberty since Harris proposed in his 1955 monograph (Harris, 1955) that "a major factor responsible for puberty is an increased rate of release of pituitary gonadotrophin" and posited "that a neural (hypothalamic) stimulus, via the hypophysial portal vessels, may be involved." Emphasis is placed on the neurobiological mechanisms governing puberty in highly evolved primates, although an attempt is made to reverse translate a model for the timing of puberty in man and monkey to non-primate species. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
An Applied Mereology of the City: Unifying Science and Philosophy for Urban Planning.
Epting, Shane
2016-10-01
Based on their research showing that growing cities follow basic principles, two theoretical physicists, Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West, call for researchers and professionals to contribute to a grand theory of urban sustainability. In their research, they develop a 'science of the city' to help urban planners address problems that arise from population increases. Although they provide valuable insights for understanding urban sustainability issues, they do not give planners a manageable way to approach such problems. I argue that developing an applied mereology to understand the concept of 'city identity' gives planners a theoretical device for addressing urban affairs, including ethical concerns. In turn, I devise a model of city identity to show how a 'philosophy of the city' contributes to a grand theory of urban sustainability.
Relative azimuth inversion by way of damped maximum correlation estimates
Ringler, A.T.; Edwards, J.D.; Hutt, C.R.; Shelly, F.
2012-01-01
Horizontal seismic data are utilized in a large number of Earth studies. Such work depends on the published orientations of the sensitive axes of seismic sensors relative to true North. These orientations can be estimated using a number of different techniques: SensOrLoc (Sensitivity, Orientation and Location), comparison to synthetics (Ekstrom and Busby, 2008), or by way of magnetic compass. Current methods for finding relative station azimuths are unable to do so with arbitrary precision quickly because of limitations in the algorithms (e.g. grid search methods). Furthermore, in order to determine instrument orientations during station visits, it is critical that any analysis software be easily run on a large number of different computer platforms and the results be obtained quickly while on site. We developed a new technique for estimating relative sensor azimuths by inverting for the orientation with the maximum correlation to a reference instrument, using a non-linear parameter estimation routine. By making use of overlapping windows, we are able to make multiple azimuth estimates, which helps to identify the confidence of our azimuth estimate, even when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low. Finally, our algorithm has been written as a stand-alone, platform independent, Java software package with a graphical user interface for reading and selecting data segments to be analyzed.
Rights, Bunche, Rose and the "pipeline".
Marks, Steven R.; Wilkinson-Lee, Ada M.
2006-01-01
We address education "pipelines" and their social ecology, drawing on the 1930's writing of Ralph J. Bunche, a Nobel peace maker whose war against systematic second-class education for the poor, minority and nonminority alike is nearly forgotten; and of the epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, whose 1985 paper spotlighted the difficulty of shifting health status and risks in a "sick society. From the perspective of human rights and human development, we offer suggestions toward the paired "ends" of the pipeline: equality of opportunity for individuals, and equality of health for populations. We offer a national "to do" list to improve pipeline flow and then reconsider the merits of the "pipeline" metaphor, which neither matches the reality of lived education pathways nor supports notions of human rights, freedoms and capabilities, but rather reflects a commoditizing stance to free persons. PMID:17019927
First Estimate of the Exoplanet Population from Kepler Observations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Borucki, William J.; Koch, D. G.; Batalha, N.; Caldwell, D.; Dunham, E. W.; Gautier, T. N., III; Howell, S. B.; Jenkins, J. M.; Marcy, G. W.; Rowe, J.; Charbonneau, D.; Ciardi, D.; Ford, E. B.; Christiansen, J. L.; Kolodziejczak, J.; Prsa, A.
2011-05-01
William J. Borucki, David G. Koch, Natalie Batalha, Derek Buzasi , Doug Caldwell, David Charbonneau, Jessie L. Christiansen, David R. Ciardi, Edward Dunham, Eric B. Ford, Steve Thomas N. Gautier III, Steve Howell, Jon M. Jenkins, Jeffery Kolodziejczak, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Jason Rowe, and Andrej Prsa A model was developed to provide a first estimate of the intrinsic frequency of planetary candidates based on the number of detected planetary candidates and the measured noise for each of the 156,000 observed stars. The estimated distributions for the exoplanet frequency are presented with respect to the semi-major axis and the stellar effective temperature and represent values appropriate only to short-period candidates. Improved estimates are expected after a Monte Carlo study of the sensitivity of the data analysis pipeline to transit signals injected at the pixel level is completed.
Wearing Your Heart on Your Face: Reading Lovesickness and the Suicidal Impulse in Chaucer.
McNamara, Rebecca F
2015-01-01
Geoffrey Chaucer frequently depicts the emotions of his characters via the outward physical signs of the body, and he often does so using a discourse that draws on Galenic theories. A striking example of Chaucer's medicalized descriptions of emotion is his adaptation of the suicidal impulse associated with lovesickness. Chaucer reconstructs this motif in "The Knight's Tale" and The Book of the Duchess by altering his sources (Boccaccio, and Froissart and Machaut) to anatomize the emotional body of the suffering knight. Through the medicalized language of bodily health describing emotional upheavals, other characters and the reader are prompted to feel with and begin to understand and appropriately respond to the suffering individual. This reading shows Chaucer using moments of embodied emotional examination to teach his audience how to read, interpret, and respond to literature.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Peebles, P. James E.; Page, Lyman A., Jr.; Partridge, R. Bruce
2009-03-01
1. Introduction; 2. A guide to modern cosmology; 3. Origins of the cosmology of the 1960s; 4. Recollections of the 1960s Dave Hogg, Neville Woolf, George B. Field, Patrick Thaddeus, Donald E. Osterbrock, Yuri Nikolaevich Smirnov, Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov, Andrei Georgievich Doroshkevich, Rashid Alievich Sunyaev, Malcolm S. Longair, Arno Penzias, Robert W. Wilson, Bernard F. Burke, Kenneth C. Turner, P. James E. Peebles, David T. Wilkinson, Peter G. Roll, R. Bruce Partridge, Malcolm S. Longair, John Faulkner, Robert V. Wagoner, Martin Rees, Geoffrey R. Burbidge, Jayant V. Narlikar, David Layzer, Michele Kaufman, Jasper V. Wall, John Shakeshaft, William Welch, Kazimir S. Stankevich, Paul Boynton, Robert A. Stokes, Martin Harwit, Judith L. Pipher, Kandiah Shivanandan, Rainer Weiss, Jer-tsang Yu, Rainer K. Sachs, Arthur M. Wolfe, Joe Silk, George F. R. Ellis, Ronald N. Bracewell, Edward K. Conklin, Stephen Boughn, Karl C. Davis, Paul S. Henry; 5. Cosmology and the CMBR since the 1960s Dick Bond; Appendixes; Glossary; References; Index.
A consistent time frame for Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrimage
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kummerer, K. R.
2001-08-01
A consistent time frame for the pilgrimage that Geoffrey Chaucer describes in The Canterbury Tales can be established if the seven celestial assertions related to the journey mentioned in the text can be reconciled with each other and the date of April 18 that is also mentioned. Past attempts to establish such a consistency for all seven celestial assertions have not been successful. The analysis herein, however, indicates that in The Canterbury Tales Chaucer accurately describes the celestial conditions he observed in the April sky above the London(Canterbury region of England in the latter half of the fourteenth century. All seven celestial assertions are in agreement with each other and consistent with the April 18 date. The actual words of Chaucer indicate that the Canterbury journey began during the 'seson' he defines in the General Prologue and ends under the light of the full Moon on the night of April 18, 1391.
SIFTER: Scintillating Fiber Telescopes for Energetic Radiation, Gamma-Ray Applications
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Paciesas, William S.
2002-01-01
The research project "SIFTER: Scintillating Fiber Telescopes for Energetic Radiation, Gamma-Ray Applications" approved under the NASA High Energy Astrophysics Research Program. The principal investigator of the proposal was Prof. Geoffrey N. Pendleton, who is currently on extended leave from UAH. Prof. William S. Paciesas administered the grant during Dr. Pendleton's absence. The project was originally funded for one year from 6/8/2000 to 6/7/2001. Due to conflicts with other commitments by the PI, the period of performance was extended at no additional cost until 6/30/2002. The goal of this project was to study scintillating fiber pair-tracking gamma-ray telescope configurations specifically designed to perform imaging and spectroscopy in the 5 - 250 MeV energy range. The main efforts were concentrated in two areas: 1) development of tracking techniques and event reconstruction algorithms, with particular emphasis on angular resolution; and 2) investigation of coded apertures as a means to improve the instrument angular resolution at low energies.
1912: a Titanic year for mass spectrometry.
Downard, Kevin M
2012-08-01
The 1912 sinking of the Titanic continues to capture the imagination and fascination of the general public. The year coincides with the birth of mass spectrometry that began with the cathode ray experiments performed by Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson in Cambridge. Modifications made to Thomson's cathode ray apparatus by Francis William Aston, resulted in an increase in the brightness of the positive rays that aided their detection. This led to the discovery of heavy isotopes for many of the chemical elements in the ensuing decades. As the discovery of (22) Ne was reported in 1913, another of Thomson's students was taking part in an expedition to help save future ocean liners from the fate of the Titanic. Geoffrey Ingram Taylor took part in the first ice patrol of the North Atlantic in 1913 aboard the SS Scotia to investigate the formation and position of icebergs. This article, 100 years on, describes Taylor's work and its impact on safe ocean passage across the Atlantic. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Crossing Mars: Past and Future Missions to a Cold, Dry Desert
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Landis, Geoffrey A.
2002-01-01
Dr. Geoffrey A. Landis of the Photovoltaics and Space Environment Effects Branch presented an overview of recent discoveries about the environment of Mars. He covered missions from the 1966 Mariner IV that returned those first grainy close-up pictures of Mars showing an ancient cratered terrain to the Mars Odyssey mission with its tantalizing evidence of recent water flows on Mars. Mars is one of the most interesting planets in the solar system, featuring enormous canyons, giant volcanoes, and indications that, early in its history, it might have had rivers and perhaps even oceans. Five years ago, in July of 1997, the Pathfinder mission landed on Mars, bringing with it the microwave-oven sized Sojourner rover to wander around on the surface and analyze rocks. Pathfinder is only the first of an armada of spacecraft that will examine Mars from the pole to the equator in the next decade, culminating (someday, we hope!) with a mission to bring humans to Mars.
Violently active galaxies: the search for the energy machine.
Metz, W D
1978-08-25
The energy source in these galaxies will be shown to be a black hole, I think, even though it may take 100 years before we have proven it.-MARTIN REES, at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, England I think it will take 1000 years and we may very well be on the wrong track. These [black hole] models are getting into the textbooks now, but there is never anything testable and people are working on smaller and smaller pieces of the problem.- GEOFFREY BURBIDGE, at the Univeristy of California, San Diego, and soon to assume the post of head of the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona REES: I agree, but I would argue that the way we are going about it is the most productive approach, even though the modelers may be getting the illusory satisfaction of a Ptolomean theorist who adds another epicycle. BURBRIDGE: I'm glad to hear you say that, Martin. The trouble is that so many people take these things more seriously than you do.
The Emergence of the Worldship (I): The Shift from Planet-Based to Space-Based Civilisation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ashworth, S.
Design concepts for passenger-carrying interstellar vehicles may be organised according to speed of travel and payload mass. The most likely design solutions fall on a scale which ranges from the high speed, low mass rapid transport at one end to the low speed, high mass multi-generation worldship at the other. The medium speed, medium mass cruiser is defined as an intermediate case. Using an energy-based analysis, it is shown that the rapid transport is a less plausible case. The more credible options for human interstellar flight are the multi-generation cruiser and worldship, in either case requiring the construction of an artificial mobile world-like environment for the sustainable support of a town- to city-sized community of travellers. This could be made possible by a shift in the dominant mode of human civilisation from planetary to space-based life. The long-term consequences for interstellar colonisation are illustrated with reference to the percolation theory presented by Geoffrey Landis.
Ahlqvist-Björkroth, Sari; Korja, Riikka; Junttila, Niina; Savonlahti, Elina; Pajulo, Marjukka; Räihä, Hannele; Aromaa, Minna
2016-07-01
Marital distress, parental depression, and weak quality of parental representations are all known risk factors for parent-child relationships. However, the relation between marital distress, depressive symptoms, and parents' prenatal representation is uncertain, especially regarding fathers. The present study aimed to explore how mothers' and fathers' prenatal experience of marital distress and depressive symptoms affects the organization of their prenatal representations in late pregnancy. Participants were 153 pregnant couples from a Finnish follow-up study called "Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-being of Children" (H. Lagström et al., ). Marital distress (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale; D.M. Busby, C. Christensen, D. Crane, & J. Larson, 1995) and depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) were assessed at 20 gestational weeks, and prenatal representations (Working Model of the Child Interview; D. Benoit, K.C.H. Parker, & C.H. Zeanah, 1997; C.H. Zeanah, D. Benoit, M. Barton, & L. Hirshberg, 1996) were assessed between 29 and 32 gestational weeks. The mothers' risks of distorted representations increased significantly when they had at least minor depressive symptoms. Marital distress was associated with the fathers' prenatal representations, although the association was weak; fathers within the marital distress group had less balanced representations. Coexisting marital distress and depressive symptoms were only associated with the mothers' representations; lack of marital distress and depressive symptoms increased the likelihood for mothers to have balanced representations. The results imply that marital distress and depressive symptoms are differently related to the organizations of mothers' and fathers' prenatal representations. © 2016 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
[How the studies of the reproduction process contributed to the appearance of neuroendocrinology].
Zárate, Arturo; Saucedo, Renata; Hernández, Marcelino
2006-07-01
Geoffrey W. Harris, inspired by Francis H. Marshall, began the experimental studies in order to demonstrate a vascular connection between the hypothalamus and the adenohypophysis, with neuropeptides as messengers. This confirmed his theory that the mechanism consists in that the nerve fibers in the hypothalamus release hormonal substances in the capillaries of the primary plex in the medium eminence, and that these substances are carried by the vessels of the portal circulation to stimulate or inhibit the pars distalis cells of the hypophysis. This theory placed the hypothalamus as the fundamental structure to understand the link between the brain and the hypophysis. Later, it was known the structure of neurohormones, particularly the responsible for producing gonadotrophins. By this way, it was possible to go into the processes involved in reproduction. This was the origin of neuroendocrinology, gestated by investigations made in the reproduction of animals, including man. The purification, sequentiation and synthesis of the hormone that controls the FSH and LH production have allowed to study the physiology and disorders of the neuroendocrine circuit.
J. J. Thomson goes to America.
Downard, Kevin M
2009-11-01
Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson was an accomplished scientist who helped lay the foundations of nuclear physics. A humble man of working class roots, Thomson went on to become one of the most influential physicists of the late 19th century. He is credited with the discovery of the electron, received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1906 for investigations into the conduction of electricity by gases, was knighted in 1908, and served as a Cavendish Professor and Director of the laboratory for over 35 years from 1884. His laboratory attracted some of the world's brightest minds; Francis W. Aston, Niels H. D. Bohr, Hugh L. Callendar, Charles T. R. Wilson, Ernest Rutherford, George F. C. Searle, Geoffrey I. Taylor, and John S. E. Townsend all worked under him. This article recounts J. J. Thomson's visits to North America in 1896, 1903, 1909, and finally 1923. It presents his activities and his personal impressions of the people and society of the U.S.A. and Canada, and the science of atomic physics and chemistry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Keynes, Newton and the Royal Society: the events of 1942 and 1943
Kuehn, Daniel
2013-01-01
Most discussions of John Maynard Keynes's activities in connection with Newton are restricted to the sale in 1936 at Sotheby's of Newton's Portsmouth Papers and to Keynes's 1946 essay ‘Newton, the Man’. This paper provides a history of Keynes's Newton-related work in the interim, highlighting especially the events of 1942 and 1943, which were particularly relevant to the Royal Society's role in the domestic and international promotion of Newton's legacy. During this period, Keynes lectured twice on Newton, leaving notes that would later be read by his brother Geoffrey in the famous commemoration of the Newton tercentenary in 1946. In 1943 Keynes assisted the Royal Society in its recognition of the Soviet celebrations and in the acquisition and preservation of more of the Newton library. In each instance Keynes took the opportunity to promote his interpretation of Newton as ‘the last of the magicians’: a scientist who had one foot in the pre-modern world and whose approach to understanding the world was as much intuitive as it was methodical. PMID:24686919
The human biology of Jim Tanner.
Cameron, Noël
2012-09-01
In 1940, during his second year of medical training, Jim Tanner expressed the desire to work, 'where physiology, psychology and sociology meet'. His subsequent exposure to the breadth of an American medical education and to the social and economic environment of post-war Europe distilled his belief in the importance of viewing the human in a broad context. Following his visits to the American longitudinal growth studies in 1948. Jim's dreams of a broad scientific discipline that incorporated both the biology and ecology of the human were strengthened by an inspirational group of embryonic human biologists with whom he developed '… the new Human Biology …' from the '… Physical Anthropology of old…'. With Jo Weiner, Derek Roberts, Geoffrey Harrison, Arthur Mourant, Nigel Barnicot and Kenneth Oakley, Jim was to form the Society for the Study of Human Biology in 1958. The development of human biology over the next 50 years was shaped by the expertise and diversity of that group of visionary scientists who conceived the scientific discipline of 'human biology' in which biology, behaviour and social context define the human species.
Rose's population strategy of prevention need not increase social inequalities in health.
McLaren, Lindsay; McIntyre, Lynn; Kirkpatrick, Sharon
2010-04-01
Geoffrey Rose's 1985 paper, Sick individuals and sick populations, continues to spark debate and discussion. Since this original publication, there have been two notable challenges to Rose's population strategy of prevention. First, identification of high-risk individuals has improved considerably in accuracy, which some believe obviates the need for population-wide prevention strategies. Secondly, and more recently, it has been suggested that population strategies of prevention may inadvertently worsen social inequalities in health. We argue that population prevention will not necessarily worsen social inequalities in health, and the likelihood of it doing so will depend on whether the prevention strategy is more structural (targets conditions in which behaviours occur) or agentic (targets behaviour change among individuals) in nature. Also, there are potential drawbacks of approaches that focus on discrete populations (i.e. high risk or vulnerable) that need to be considered when selecting a strategy. Although Rose's ideas need to be continually scrutinized, his population strategy of prevention still holds considerable merit for improving population health and narrowing social inequalities in health.
Coen, Clive W
2015-08-01
The brain's unimaginably complex operations are expressed in just two types of output: muscle activity and hormone release. These are the means by which the brain acts beyond its bony casing. Muscle-mediated actions (such as speaking, writing, pupillary reflexes) send signals to the outside world that may convey thoughts, emotions or evidence of neurological disorder. The outputs of the brain as a hormone secreting gland are usually less evident. Their discovery required several paradigm shifts in our understanding of anatomy. The first occurred in 1655. Exactly 300 years later, Geoffrey Harris' monograph Neural control of the pituitary gland launched the scientific discipline that is now known as neuroendocrinology. His hypotheses have stood the test of time to a remarkable degree. A key part of his vision concerned the two-way 'interplay between the central nervous system and endocrine glands'. Over the past 60 years, the importance of this reciprocity and the degree to which cerebral functions are influenced by the endocrine environment have become increasingly clear. © 2015 Society for Endocrinology.
The future of naval ocean science research
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Orcutt, John A.; Brink, Kenneth
The Ocean Studies Board (OSB) of the National Research Council reviewed the changing role of basic ocean science research in the Navy at a recent board meeting. The OSB was joined by Gerald Cann, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition; Geoffrey Chesbrough, oceanographer of the Navy; Arthur Bisson, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for antisubmarine warfare; Robert Winokur, technical director of the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy; Bruce Robinson, director of the new science directorate at the Office of Naval Research (ONR); and Paul Gaffney, commanding officer of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The past 2-3 years have brought great changes to the Navy's mission with the dissolution of the former Soviet Union and challenges presented by conflicts in newly independent states and developing nations. The new mission was recently enunciated in a white paper, “From the Sea: A New Direction for the Naval Service,” which is signed by the secretary of the Navy, the chief of naval operations, and the commandant of the Marine Corps. It departs from previous plans by proposing a heavier emphasis on amphibious operations and makes few statements about the traditional Navy mission of sea-lane control.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Rutherfoord, John; Toussaint, Doug; Sarcevic, Ina
The following pages describe the high energy physics program at the University of Arizona which was funded by DOE grant DE-FG03-95ER40906, for the period 1 February 1995 to 31 January 2004. In this report, emphasis was placed on more recent accomplishments. This grant was divided into two tasks, a theory task (Task A) and an experimental task (Task B but called Task C early in the grant period) with separate budgets. Faculty supported by this grant, for at least part of this period, include, for the theory task, Adrian Patrascioiu (now deceased), Ina Sarcevic, and Douglas Toussaint., and, for themore » experimental task, Elliott Cheu, Geoffrey Forden, Kenneth Johns, John Rutherfoord, Michael Shupe, and Erich Varnes. Grant monitors from the Germantown DOE office, overseeing our grant, changed over the years. Dr. Marvin Gettner covered the first years and then he retired from the DOE. Dr. Patrick Rapp worked with us for just a few years and then left for a position at the University of Puerto Rico. Dr. Kathleen Turner took his place and continues as our grant monitor. The next section of this report covers the activities of the theory task (Task A) and the last section the activities of the experimental task (Task B).« less
Traumatic Brain Injury: At the Crossroads of Neuropathology and Common Metabolic Endocrinopathies
Li, Melanie
2018-01-01
Building on the seminal work by Geoffrey Harris in the 1970s, the neuroendocrinology field, having undergone spectacular growth, has endeavored to understand the mechanisms of hormonal connectivity between the brain and the rest of the body. Given the fundamental role of the brain in the orchestration of endocrine processes through interactions among neurohormones, it is thus not surprising that the structural and/or functional alterations following traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to endocrine changes affecting the whole organism. Taking into account that systemic hormones also act on the brain, modifying its structure and biochemistry, and can acutely and chronically affect several neurophysiological endpoints, the question is to what extent preexisting endocrine dysfunction may set the stage for an adverse outcome after TBI. In this review, we provide an overview of some aspects of three common metabolic endocrinopathies, e.g., diabetes mellitus, obesity, and thyroid dysfunction, and how these could be triggered by TBI. In addition, we discuss how the complex endocrine networks are woven into the responses to sudden changes after TBI, as well as some of the potential mechanisms that, separately or synergistically, can influence outcomes after TBI. PMID:29538298
The fascinating story of urine examination: From uroscopy to the era of microscopy and beyond.
Magiorkinis, Emmanouil; Diamantis, Aristidis
2015-12-01
The purpose of this study was to present the evolution of ideas on the examination of urine from antiquity till our days. A thorough study of texts, medical books from antiquity till twentieth century along with a thorough review of the available literature in PubMed was conducted. The first observation on urine examination can be traced back to the Babylonian and Sumerian texts. Almost all physicians in antiquity including Hippocrates referred to the value of urine examination in the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. The construction of first compound microscope lead to the examination of urine sediment and the development of Urine Cytology which was revolutionized during the twentieth century with the studies of important cytologists such as George Papanicolaou, Geoffrey Krabbe, and Leopold Koss. The introduction of molecular tests in the diagnosis of urothelial cancer inaugurated a new era in the study of urine cytology. The history of urine examination spans a period of 6,000 years. The application of microscope in the examination of urine sediment during the nineteenth century established urine analysis as an important diagnostic tool in clinical practice. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Mertz, Leslie
2012-01-01
When the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) asks research questions, it goes big. This is, after all, the same agency that put together teams of scientists and engineers to find a way to connect the worlds computers and, in doing so, developed the precursor to the Internet. DARPA, the experimental research wing of the U.S. Department of Defense, funds the types of research queries that scientists and engineers dream of tackling. Unlike a traditional granting agency that conservatively metes out its funding and only to projects with a good chance of success, DARPA puts its money on massive, multi-institutional projects that have no guarantees, but have enormous potential. In the 1990s, DARPA began its biological and medical science research to improve the safety, health, and well being of military personnel, according to DARPA program manager and Army Colonel Geoffrey Ling, Ph.D., M.D. More recently, DARPA has entered the realm of neuroscience and neurotechnology. Its focus with these projects is on its prime customer, the U.S. Department of Defense, but Ling acknowledged that technologies developed in its programs "certainly have potential to cascade into civilian uses."
Power, technology and social studies of health care: an infrastructural inversion.
Jensen, Casper Bruun
2008-12-01
Power, dominance, and hierarchy are prevalent analytical terms in social studies of health care. Power is often seen as residing in medical structures, institutions, discourses, or ideologies. While studies of medical power often draw on Michel Foucault, this understanding is quite different from his proposal to study in detail the "strategies, the networks, the mechanisms, all those techniques by which a decision is accepted" [Foucault, M. (1988). In Politics, philosophy, culture: Interviews and other writings 1977-84 (pp. 96-109). New York: Routledge]. This suggestion turns power into a topic worth investigating in its own right rather than a basic analytical resource. It also suggests that technologies form an integral part of the networks and mechanisms, which produce and redistribute power in medical practice. The paper first engages critically with a number of recent discussions of technology and power in health care analysis. It then formulates an alternative conception of this relationship by drawing on Foucault and historian of science and technology Geoffrey C. Bowker's notions of infrastructural inversion and information mythology. Illustration is provided through a case study of a wireless nursing call system in a Canadian hospital.
Artists and the mind in the 21st century.
Koetsch, Geoffrey
2011-01-01
In 2008, Lesley University Professors Geoffrey Koetsch and Ellen Schön conducted an informal survey of New England artists to ascertain the degree to which recent work in neuroscience had impacted the visual arts. The two curators mounted an exhibition (MINDmatters May-June, 2008) at the Laconia Gallery in Boston in which they showcased the work of artists who had chosen mental processes as their primary subject. These artists were reacting to the new vision of the mind revealed by science; their inquiry was subjective, sensory, and existential, not empirical. They approached consciousness from several vantage points. Some of the artists had had personal experience with pathologies of the brain such as dementia or cancer and were puzzling out the phenomenon consuming the mind of a loved one. They looked to neuroscience for clarity and understanding. Some artists were personally involved with new techniques of cognitive psychotherapy. Others were inspired by the sheer physical beauty of the brain as revealed by new imaging technologies. Two of the artists explored the links between meditation, mindfulness practice and neuroscience. Issues such as the "boundary" and "binding" problems were approached, as well as the challenge of creating visual metaphors for neural processes. One artist visualized the increasing transparency of the body as researchers introduce more and more invasive technologies.
Artists and the Mind in the 21st Century
Koetsch, Geoffrey
2011-01-01
In 2008, Lesley University Professors Geoffrey Koetsch and Ellen Schön conducted an informal survey of New England artists to ascertain the degree to which recent work in neuroscience had impacted the visual arts. The two curators mounted an exhibition (MINDmatters May-June, 2008) at the Laconia Gallery in Boston in which they showcased the work of artists who had chosen mental processes as their primary subject. These artists were reacting to the new vision of the mind revealed by science; their inquiry was subjective, sensory, and existential, not empirical. They approached consciousness from several vantage points. Some of the artists had had personal experience with pathologies of the brain such as dementia or cancer and were puzzling out the phenomenon consuming the mind of a loved one. They looked to neuroscience for clarity and understanding. Some artists were personally involved with new techniques of cognitive psychotherapy. Others were inspired by the sheer physical beauty of the brain as revealed by new imaging technologies. Two of the artists explored the links between meditation, mindfulness practice and neuroscience. Issues such as the “boundary” and “binding” problems were approached, as well as the challenge of creating visual metaphors for neural processes. One artist visualized the increasing transparency of the body as researchers introduce more and more invasive technologies. PMID:22102837
Richard Feynman and computation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hey, Tony
1999-04-01
The enormous contribution of Richard Feynman to modern physics is well known, both to teaching through his famous Feynman Lectures on Physics, and to research with his Feynman diagram approach to quantum field theory and his path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. Less well known perhaps is his long-standing interest in the physics of computation and this is the subject of this paper. Feynman lectured on computation at Caltech for most of the last decade of his life, first with John Hopfield and Carver Mead, and then with Gerry Sussman. The story of how these lectures came to be written up as the Feynman Lectures on Computation is briefly recounted. Feynman also discussed the fundamentals of computation with other legendary figures of the computer science and physics community such as Ed Fredkin, Rolf Landauer, Carver Mead, Marvin Minsky and John Wheeler. He was also instrumental in stimulating developments in both nanotechnology and quantum computing. During the 1980s Feynman re-visited long-standing interests both in parallel computing with Geoffrey Fox and Danny Hillis, and in reversible computation and quantum computing with Charles Bennett, Norman Margolus, Tom Toffoli and Wojciech Zurek. This paper records Feynman's links with the computational community and includes some reminiscences about his involvement with the fundamentals of computing.
Manipulating explosive sensitivity through structural modifications in a nitrate ester system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Manner, Virginia
2017-06-01
Understanding how condensed phase effects influence sensitivity is essential for developing next generation insensitive high explosives. However, the ability to predictably manipulate explosive sensitivity remains an elusive goal. Explosive sensitivity has been suggested to be governed by multiple factors, from intramolecular effects such as bond dissociation energy, oxygen balance, and the electrostatic potential of reactive functional groups, to larger scale effects, such as crystal structure and hot spot formation. We have developed derivatives of the explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and examined them experimentally and theoretically, in order to better understand which properties influence sensitivity. With this molecular framework, we can evaluate how small changes to the structure of the molecule influence qualities such as oxygen balance, heat of formation, heat capacity, compressibility, crystal packing, and hydrogen bonding, through techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray crystallography, and atomistic simulation. We have also used small-scale sensitivity testing as an initial tool to screen for large and consistent differences in handling sensitivity. We will discuss the many factors that contribute to sensitivity in this series of systematically-modified molecules as well as in existing well-studied explosive systems, such as triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) and nitroglycerin (NG). In collaboration with: Thomas Myers, Marc Cawkwell, Edward Kober, Bryce Tappan, Geoffrey Brown, Mary Sandstrom, LOS ALAMOS NATL LAB.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Shaochang Wo; David A. Lopez; Jason Whiteman Sr.
Coalbed methane (CBM) development in the Powder River Basin (PRB) is currently one of the most active gas plays in the United States. Monthly production in 2002 reached about 26 BCF in the Wyoming portion of the basin. Coalbed methane reserves for the Wyoming portion of the basin are approximately 25 trillion cubic feet (TCF). Although coal beds in the Powder River Basin extend well into Montana, including the area of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, the only CBM development in Montana is the CX Field, operated by the Fidelity Exploration, near the Wyoming border. The Northern Cheyenne Reservation ismore » located on the northwest flank of the PRB in Montana with a total land of 445,000 acres. The Reservation consists of five districts, Lame Deer, Busby, Ashland, Birney, and Muddy Cluster and has a population of 4,470 according to the 2000 Census. The CBM resource represents a significant potential asset to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe. Methane gas in coal beds is trapped by hydrodynamic pressure. Because the production of CBM involves the dewatering of coalbed to allow the release of methane gas from the coal matrix, the relatively large volume of the co-produced water and its potential environmental impacts are the primary concerns for the Tribe. Presented in this report is a study conducted by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG) in partnership with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe to assess the Tribe’s CBM resources and evaluate applicable water handling options. The project was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Native American Initiative of the National Petroleum Technology Office, under contract DEAC07- 99ID13727. Matching funds were granted by the MBMG in supporting the work of geologic study and mapping conducted at MBMG.« less
Diversity of actions of GnRHs mediated by ligand-induced selective signaling
Millar, Robert P.; Pawson, Adam J.; Morgan, Kevin; Rissman, Emilie F.; Lu, Zhi-Liang
2009-01-01
Geoffrey Wingfield Harris’ demonstration of hypothalamic hormones regulating pituitary function led to their structural identification and therapeutic utilization in a wide spectrum of diseases. Amongst these, Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) and its analogs are widely employed in modulating gonadotropin and sex steroid secretion to treat infertility, precocious puberty and many hormone-dependent diseases including endometriosis, uterine fibroids and prostatic cancer. While these effects are all mediated via modulation of the pituitary gonadotrope GnRH receptor and the Gq signaling pathway, it has become increasingly apparent that GnRH regulates many extrapituitary cells in the nervous system and periphery. This review focuses on two such examples, namely GnRH analog effects on reproductive behaviors and GnRH analog effects on the inhibition of cancer cell growth. For both effects the relative activities of a range of GnRH analogs is distinctly different from their effects on the pituitary gonadotrope and different signaling pathways are utilized. As there is only a single functional GnRH receptor type in man we have proposed that the GnRH receptor can assume different conformations which have different selectivity for GnRH analogs and intracellular signaling proteins complexes. This ligand-induced selective-signaling recruits certain pathways while by-passing others and has implications in developing more selective GnRH analogs for highly specific therapeutic intervention. PMID:17976709
Searching for Planets Around other Stars
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
1998-01-01
In this colloquim presentation, Professor of Astronomy, Geoffrey Marcy discusses the discovery of planets orbiting other stars. Using the Doppler shift caused by stellar wobble that is caused by nearby planetary mass, astronomers have been able to infer the existence of Jupiter-sized planets around other stars. Using a special spectrometer at Lick Observatory, the wobble of several stars have been traced over the years required to generate an accurate pattern required to infer the stellar wobble. Professor Marcy, discusses the findings of planets around 47 Ursae Majoris, 16 Cygni B, 51 Pegasus, and 56 Rho 1 Cne. In the case of 56 Rho 1 Cne the planet appears to be close to the star, within 1.5 astronomical units. The observations from the smaller Lick Observatory will be augmented by new observations from the larger telescope at the Kek observatory. This move will allow observations of smaller planets, as opposed to the massive planets thus far discovered. The astronomers also hope to observe smaller stars with the Kek data. Future spaceborne observations will allow the discovery of even smaller planets. A spaceborne interferometer is in the planning stages, and an even larger observatory, called the Terrestrial Planet Finder, is hoped for. Professor Marcy shows artists' renderings of two of the planets thus far discovered. He also briefly discusses planetary formation and shows slides of both observations from the Orion Nebula and models of stellar system formation.
Assessing cultural validity in standardized tests in stem education
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gassant, Lunes
This quantitative ex post facto study examined how race and gender, as elements of culture, influence the development of common misconceptions among STEM students. Primary data came from a standardized test: the Digital Logic Concept Inventory (DLCI) developed by Drs. Geoffrey L. Herman, Michael C. Louis, and Craig Zilles from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The sample consisted of a cohort of 82 STEM students recruited from three universities in Northern Louisiana. Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were used for data computation. Two key concepts, several sub concepts, and 19 misconceptions were tested through 11 items in the DLCI. Statistical analyses based on both the Classical Test Theory (Spearman, 1904) and the Item Response Theory (Lord, 1952) yielded similar results: some misconceptions in the DLCI can reliably be predicted by the Race or the Gender of the test taker. The research is significant because it has shown that some misconceptions in a STEM discipline attracted students with similar ethnic backgrounds differently; thus, leading to the existence of some cultural bias in the standardized test. Therefore the study encourages further research in cultural validity in standardized tests. With culturally valid tests, it will be possible to increase the effectiveness of targeted teaching and learning strategies for STEM students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. To some extent, this dissertation has contributed to understanding, better, the gap between high enrollment rates and low graduation rates among African American students and also among other minority students in STEM disciplines.
Surgery of the mind and mood: a mosaic of issues in time and evolution.
Heller, A Chris; Amar, Arun P; Liu, Charles Y; Apuzzo, Michael L J
2006-10-01
The prevalence and economic burden of neuropsychiatric disease are enormous. The surgical treatment of these psychiatric disorders, although potentially valuable, remains one of the most controversial subjects in medicine, as its concept and potential reality raises thorny issues of moral, ethical, and socioeconomic consequence. This article traces the roots of concept and surgical efforts in this turbulent area from prehistory to the 21st century. The details of the late 19th and 20th century evolution of approaches to the problem of intractable psychiatric diseases with scrutiny of the persona and contributions of the key individuals Gottlieb Burckhardt, John Fulton, Egas Moniz, Walter Freeman, James Watts, and William Scoville are presented as a foundation for the later, more logically refined approaches of Lars Leksell, Peter Lindstrom, Geoffrey Knight, Jean Talaraich, and Desmond Kelly. These refinements, characterized by progressive minimalism and founded on a better comprehension of underlying pathways of normal function and disease states, have been further explored with recent advances in imaging, which have allowed the emergence of less invasive and technology driven non-ablative surgical directives toward these problematical disorders of mind and mood. The application of therapies based on imaging comprehension of pathway and relay abnormalities, along with explorations of the notion of surgical minimalism, promise to serve as an impetus for revival of an active surgical effort in this key global health and socioeconomic problem. Eventual coupling of cellular and molecular biology and nanotechnology with surgical enterprise is on the horizon.
Surgery of the mind and mood: a mosaic of issues in time and evolution.
Heller, A Chris; Amar, Arun P; Liu, Charles Y; Apuzzo, Michael L J
2008-06-01
The prevalence and economic burden of neuropsychiatric disease are enormous. The surgical treatment of these psychiatric disorders, although potentially valuable, remains one of the most controversial subjects in medicine, as its concept and potential reality raises thorny issues of moral, ethical, and socioeconomic consequence. This article traces the roots of concept and surgical efforts in this turbulent area from prehistory to the 21st century. The details of the late 19th and 20th century evolution of approaches to the problem of intractable psychiatric diseases with scrutiny of the persona and contributions of the key individuals Gottlieb Burckhardt, John Fulton, Egas Moniz, Walter Freeman, James Watts, and William Scoville are presented as a foundation for the later, more logically refined approaches of Lars Leksell, Peter Lindstrom, Geoffrey Knight, Jean Talaraich, and Desmond Kelly. These refinements, characterized by progressive minimalism and founded on a better comprehension of underlying pathways of normal function and disease states, have been further explored with recent advances in imaging, which have allowed the emergence of less invasive and technology driven non-ablative surgical directives toward these problematical disorders of mind and mood. The application of therapies based on imaging comprehension of pathway and relay abnormalities, along with explorations of the notion of surgical minimalism, promise to serve as an impetus for revival of an active surgical effort in this key global health and socioeconomic problem. Eventual coupling of cellular and molecular biology and nanotechnology with surgical enterprise is on the horizon.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Walsh, Edward J.
1999-09-01
Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change Guy P. Brasseur, John J. Orlando, and Geoffrey S. Tyndall, Eds. Oxford University Press: New York, 1999. xviii + 654 pp. ISBN 0-19-510521-4. 70.00. Advances in Supramolecular Chemistry, Vol. 5 George W. Gokel, Ed. JAI Press: Stamford, CT, 1999. ix + 654 pp. ISBN 1-7623-0447-2. 109.50. Advances in Cycloaddition, Vol. 5 Michael Harmata, Ed. JAI Press: Stamford, CT, 1999. ix + 172 pp. ISBN 0-7623-0346-8. 109.50. Characterization of Powders and Aerosols Brian H. Kaye. Wiley-VCH: New York, 1999. xi + 312 pp. ISBN 3-527-28853-8. 205.00. Chemometrics M. Otto. Wiley-VCH: New York, 1999. xvi + 314 pp. ISBN 3-527-29628-x. 69.95. Flow Measurement Methods and Applications Jim E. Hardy, Jim O. Hylton, Tim E. McKnight, C. J. Remenyik, and Frances R. Ruppel. Wiley-Interscience: New York, 1999. ix + 254 pp. ISBN 0-471-24509-7. 79.95. Tailored Polymeric Materials for Controlled Delivery Systems Iain McCulloch and Shalaby W. Shalaby, Eds. ACS Symposium Series 709. Oxford University Press: New York, 1998. xi + 324 pp. ISBN 0-8412-3585-6. 115.00. Chemistry, 7th Edition Karen C. Timberlake. Addison Wesley Longman: Menlo Park, CA, 1999. xxviii + 740 pp. ISBN 0-321-03767-7. 72.19. General Chemistry, 2nd Edition John W. Hill and Ralph H. Petrucci. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ. 1999. xxvi + 1088 pp + appendix and index. ISBN 0-13-010318-7. $97.00.
Boulton, F; Roberts, D J
2014-12-01
The centenary of the start of the First World War has stirred considerable interest in the political, social, military and human factors of the time and how they interacted to produce and sustain the material and human destruction in the 4 years of the war and beyond. Medical practice may appear distant and static and perhaps seems to have been somewhat ineffectual in the face of so much trauma and in the light of the enormous advances in medicine and surgery over the last century. However, this is an illusion of time and of course medical, surgical and psychiatric knowledge and procedures were developing rapidly at the time and the war years accelerated implementation of many important advances. Transfusion practice lay at the heart of resuscitation, and although direct transfusion from donor to recipient was still used, Geoffrey Keynes from Britain, Oswald Robertson from America and his namesake Lawrence Bruce Robertson from Canada, developed methods for indirect transfusion from donor to recipient by storing blood in bottles and also blood-banking that laid the foundation of modern transfusion medicine. This review explores the historical setting behind the development of blood transfusion up to the start of the First World War and on how they progressed during the war and afterwards. A fresh look may renew interest in how a novel medical speciality responded to the needs of war and of post-war society. © 2015 British Blood Transfusion Society.
Jeener, Jean; Alewaeters, Gerrit
2016-05-01
The review articles published in "Progress in NMR Spectroscopy" are usually invited treatments of topics of current interest, but occasionally the Editorial Board may take an initiative to publish important historical material that is not widely available. The present article represents just such a case. Jean Jeener gave a lecture in 1971 at a summer school in Basko Polje, in what was then called Yugoslavia. As is now widely known, Jean Jeener laid down the foundations in that lecture of two - and higher - dimensional NMR spectroscopy by proposing the homonuclear COSY experiment. Jeener realized that the new proposal would open the door towards protein NMR and molecular structure determinations, but he felt that useful versions of such experiments could not be achieved with the NMR, computer and electronics technology available at that time, so that copies of the lecture notes were circulated (the Basko Polje lecture notes by J. Jeener and G. Alewaeters), but no formal publication followed. Fortunately, Ernst, Freeman, Griffin, and many others were more far-sighted and optimistic. An early useful extension was Ernst's proposal to replace the original projection/reconstruction technique of MRI by the widely adopted Fourier transform method inspired by the Basko Polje lecture. Later, the pulse method spread over many fields of spectroscopy as soon as the required technology became available. Jean Jeener, Emeritus professor, Université Libre de Bruxelles. Geoffrey Bodenhausen, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Razak, Fahad; Davey Smith, George; Subramanian, S V
2016-12-01
A mean-centric view of populations, whereby a change in the mean of a health variable at the population level is assumed to result in uniform change across the distribution, is a core component of Geoffrey Rose's concept of the "population strategy" to disease prevention. This idea also has a critical role in Rose's observation that individuals who are considered abnormal or sick (the rightward tail of the distribution) and those who are considered normal (the center) are very closely related, and that true preventive medicine must focus on shifting the normal or average. In this Perspective, we revisit these core tenets of Rose's concept of preventive medicine after providing an overview of the key concepts that he developed. We examine whether these assumptions apply to population changes in body mass index (BMI) and show that there is considerable evidence of a widening of the BMI distribution in populations over time. We argue that, with respect to BMI, the idea of using statistical measures of a population solely on the basis of means and the assumption that populations are coherent entities that change uniformly over time may not fully capture the true nature of changes in the population. These issues have important implications for how we assess and interpret the health of populations over time with implications for the balance between universal and targeted strategies aimed at improving health. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
2013-06-25
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA hosted a prelaunch news conference on the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory scheduled to launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Participating in the news conference are George Diller, NASA Public Affairs, Geoffrey Yoder, deputy associate administrator for the Programs, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Tim Dunn, NASA launch director/NASA Launch Manager at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Bryan Baldwin, Pegasus launch vehicle program director for Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., Gary Kushner, IRIS project manager for Lockheed Martin's Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., and First Lt. Jennifer Kelley, launch weather officer for the U.S. Air Force 30th Operations Support Squadron at Vandenberg. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun’s corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/iris Photo credit: NASA/ Daniel Casper
Ball, C
2010-07-01
The Industrial Revolution saw the creation of many new jobs, but probably none more curious than that of zookeeper. The London Zoological Gardens, established for members in 1828, was opened to the general public in 1847. In 1852 the "Head Keeper in the Serpent Room", Edward Horatio Girling, spent a night farewelling a friend departing for Australia. He arrived at work in an inebriated state and was bitten on the face by a cobra that he was handling in a less than sensible manner. He was taken by cab to University College Hospital where he was resuscitated by a number of doctors, including Joseph Clover then the resident medical officer to the hospital and later to become the leading anaesthetist in London. Clover recorded this event in his diary along with the resuscitation method used. The patient eventually died but his treatment created a flurry of correspondence in the medical and lay press. Interestingly, the attempted resuscitation was with bellows, which had been abandoned by the Royal Humane Society twenty years earlier Clover records other cases of resuscitation with bellows at University College Hospital during his time as a resident medical officer there (1848 to 1853). There is a casebook belonging to Joseph Clover in the Geoffrey Kaye Museum, in Melbourne. This story is one of the many interesting stories uncovered during a study of this book and Clover's other personal papers.
Theory development for situational awareness in multi-casualty incidents.
Busby, Steven; Witucki-Brown, Janet
2011-09-01
Nurses and other field-level providers will be increasingly called on to respond to both natural and manmade situations that involve multiple casualties. Situational Awareness (SA) is necessary for managing these complicated incidents. The purpose of the study was to create new knowledge by discovering the process of SA in multi-casualty incidents (MCI) and develop substantive theory with regard to field-level SA for use by emergency response nurses and other providers. A qualitative, grounded theory approach was used to develop the first substantive theory of SA for MCI. The sample included 15 emergency response providers from the Southeastern United States. One pilot interview was conducted to trial and refine the semi-structured interview questions. Following Institutional Review Board approval, data collection and analysis occurred from September 2008 through January 2009. The grounded theory methods of Corbin and Strauss (2008) and Charmaz (2006) informed this study. Transcribed participant interviews constituted the bulk of the data with additional data provided by field notes and extensive memos. Multiple levels of coding, theoretical sampling, and theoretical sensitivity were used to develop and relate concepts resulting in emerging theory. Multiple methods were used for maintaining the rigor of the study. The process of SA in MCI involves emergency responders establishing and maintaining control of dynamic, contextually-based situations. Against the backdrop of experience and other preparatory interval actions, responders handle various types of information and manage resources, roles, relationships and human emotion. The goal is to provide an environment of relative safety in which patient care is provided. SA in MCI is an on-going and iterative process with each piece of information informing new actions. Analysis culminated in the development of the Busby Theory of Situational Awareness in Multi-casualty Incidents. SA in MCI is a growing need at local, national and international levels. The newly developed theory provides a useful model for appreciating SA in the context of MCI thereby improving practice and providing a tool for education. The theory also provides a catalyst for further research refining and testing of the theory and for studying larger-scale incidents. Copyright © 2011 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
3D Numerical Rift Modeling with Application to the East African Rift System
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Glerum, A.; Brune, S.; Naliboff, J.
2017-12-01
As key components of plate tectonics, continental rifting and the formation of passive margins have been extensively studied with both analogue models and numerical techniques. Only recently however, technical advances have enabled numerical investigations into rift evolution in three dimensions, as is actually required for including those processes that cause rift-parallel variability, such as structural inheritance and oblique extension (Brune 2016). We use the massively parallel finite element code ASPECT (Kronbichler et al. 2012; Heister et al. 2017) to investigate rift evolution. ASPECT's adaptive mesh refinement enables us to focus resolution on the regions of interest (i.e. the rift center), while leaving other areas such as the asthenospheric mantle at coarse resolution, leading to kilometer-scale local mesh resolution in 3D. Furthermore, we implemented plastic and viscous strain weakening of the nonlinear viscoplastic rheology required to develop asymmetric rift geometries (e.g. Huismans and Beaumont 2003). Additionally created plugins to ASPECT allow us to specify initial temperature and composition conditions based on geophysical data (e.g. LITHO1.0, Pasyanos et al. 2014) or to prescribe more general along-strike variation in the initial strain seeding the rift. Employing the above functionality, we construct regional models of the East African Rift System (EARS), the world's largest currently active rift. As the EARS is characterized by both orthogonal and oblique rift sections, multi-phase extension histories as well as magmatic and a-magmatic branches (e.g. Chorowicz 2005; Ebinger and Scholz 2011), it constitutes an extensive natural laboratory for our research into the 3D nature of continental rifting. References:Brune, S. (2016), in Plate boundaries and natural hazards, AGU Geophysical Monograph 219, J. C. Duarte and W. P. Schellart (Eds.). Chorowicz, J. (2005). J. Afr. Earth Sci., 43, 379-410. Ebinger, C. and Scholz, C. A. (2011), in Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins: Recent Advances, Wiley, C. Busby and A. Azor (Eds.). Heister et al. (2017). Geophys. J. Int., 210, 833-851. Huismans, R. S. and Beaumont, C. (2003). J. Geophys. Res., 108, B10, 2496. Kronbichler et al. (2012). Geophys. J. Int., 191, 12-29. Pasyanos et al. (2014). J. of Geophys. Res., 119, 3, 2153-2173.
Fink, George
2015-08-01
Geoffrey Harris, while still a medical student at Cambridge, was the first researcher (1937) to provide experimental proof for the then tentative view that the anterior pituitary gland was controlled by the CNS. The elegant studies carried out by Harris in the 1940s and early 1950s, alone and in collaboration with John Green and Dora Jacobsohn, established that this control was mediated by a neurohumoral mechanism that involved the transport by hypophysial portal vessel blood of chemical substances from the hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary gland. The neurohumoral control of anterior pituitary secretion was proved by the isolation and characterisation of the 'chemical substances' (mainly neuropeptides) and the finding that these substances were released into hypophysial portal blood in a manner consistent with their physiological functions. The new discipline of neuroendocrinology - the way that the brain controls endocrine glands and vice versa - revolutionised the treatment of endocrine disorders such as growth and pubertal abnormalities, infertility and hormone-dependent tumours, and it underpins our understanding of the sexual differentiation of the brain and key aspects of behaviour and mental disorder. Neuroendocrine principles are illustrated in this Thematic Review by way of Harris' major interest: hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal control. Attention is focussed on the measurement of GnRH in hypophysial portal blood and the role played by the self-priming effect of GnRH in promoting the onset of puberty and enabling the oestrogen-induced surge or pulses of GnRH to trigger the ovulatory gonadotrophin surge in humans and other spontaneously ovulating mammals. © 2015 Society for Endocrinology.
Obituary: Geoffrey Gardner Douglass, 1942-2005
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mason, Brian D.; Hartkopf, William; Corbin, Thomas
2005-12-01
Geoffrey Gardner Douglass passed away on 15 February 2005, following a long illness. Geoff was born 11 June 1942 in Rocky River, Ohio, and grew up there with a passion for science, theatre, and pets. He attended the nearby Case Institute of Technology (Cleveland, Ohio) before coming to the U.S. Naval Observatory on 28 April 1967. He worked at the USNO for over 30 years, until his retirement in January 1999. He was involved in the observing and measurement of parallax and double star plates on the SAMM and MANN measuring engines, and was stationed at Blenheim, New Zealand from 1985-1988 working at the Black Birch site on the Twin Astrograph Telescope. While there he and his wife Doris travelled extensively throughout New Zealand and Australia, He later worked with an early iteration of the USNO StarScan measuring machine. However, most of his work involved observations of visual double stars with the USNO 26-inch Clark Refractor, collaborating with F.J. ("Jerry") Josties on the photographic program in the late 1960s to the development of the USNO's speckle interferometry program throughout the 1990s. Geoff collaborated closely with Charles Worley from 1968 until Charles's death in December 1997, writing much of the double star software and assisting in the production of the USNO's double star catalogs. This was a period of transition, when some 200,000 punch cards of the Lick IDS (Index Catalog of Double Stars) were transferred from Lick Observatory to the USNO, then converted to magnetic tape. This ultimately resulted in the 1984 WDS catalog (currently maintained online). It was often joked that the "W" and "D" in the WDS (officially the "Washington Double Star" catalog) really stood for "Worley" and "Douglass." The "Curmudgeon" and the "Dour Scot" were a team for nearly thirty years. Geoff's first observation, of BU 442, was made 2 June 1967 with the USNO double star (photographic) camera, and his last, STF 342, was made on 28 November 1998 with the USNO speckle camera on the 26-inch refractor. In between he was an active collaborator and observer on these two different programs which, during his tenure at USNO, contributed over 18,000 measured positions to the WDS. While he discovered no new pairs, this was never his interest. He was much more interested in following up known systems and characterizing their motions to improve the catalog. During his long illness, even while at Cameron Glen Nursing Home, he continued to have an interest in the activities at the USNO and continued to be sought out for his knowledge on the instrumentation of the speckle camera. Late in 2004, when he was consulted on the location of a set of visual measures made in the early 1990s, his comment was that "every measure counted." During his last year at the observatory he oversaw the publication of over 10,000 speckle observations, and guided the recently hired Brian Mason (Charles's replacement) in the management of the double star program. Geoff battled illness for many years. He was a symbol of the worthiness of organ donation, living for some two decades following a kidney transplant, before succumbing to complications following the failure of the transplanted kidney. Geoff is survived by his wife, Doris, with whom he shared a love of cats and classical music. They touched many lives both at the Observatory and at their church, Graham Road United Methodist, where both he and Doris were active leaders in many ministries. Geoff was very passionate about his religious views, going so far as to name his old computer ``crux.'' Geoff will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Medynski, S.; Busby, C.; DeBari, S. M.; Morris, R.; Andrews, G. D.; Brown, S. R.; Schmitt, A. K.
2016-12-01
The Rosario segment of the Cretaceous Alisitos arc in Baja California is an outstanding field analog for the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc, because it is structurally intact, unmetamorphosed, and has superior three-dimensional exposures of an upper- to middle-crustal section through an extensional oceanic arc. Previous work1, done in the pre-digital era, used geologic mapping to define two phases of arc evolution, with normal faulting in both phases: (1) extensional oceanic arc, with silicic calderas, and (2) oceanic arc rifting, with widespread diking and dominantly mafic effusions. Our new geochemical data match the extensional zone immediately behind the Izu arc front, and is different from the arc front and rear arc, consistent with geologic relations. Our study is developing a 3D oceanic arc crustal model, with geologic maps draped on Google Earth images, and GPS-located outcrop information linked to new geochemical, geochronological and petrographic data, with the goal of detailing the relationships between plutonic, hypabyssal, and volcanic rocks. This model will be used by scientists as a reference model for past (IBM-1, 2, 3) and proposed IBM (IBM-4) drilling activities. New single-crystal zircon analysis by TIMS supports the interpretation, based on batch SIMS analysis of chemically-abraded zircon1, that the entire upper-middle crustal section accumulated in about 1.5 Myr. Like the IBM, volcanic zircons are very sparse, but zircon chemistry on the plutonic rocks shows trace element compositions that overlap to those measured in IBM volcanic zircons by A. Schmitt (unpublished data). Zircons have U-Pb ages up to 20 Myr older than the eruptive age, suggesting remelting of older parts of the arc, similar to that proposed for IBM (using different evidence). Like IBM, some very old zircons are also present, indicating the presence of old crustal fragments, or sediments derived from them, in the basement. However, our geochemical data show that the magmas are differentiated from a single mantle source, so any older crust that was remelted had the same compositional characteristics. This is similar to previous conclusion that the different parts of the Izu arc have retained their distinct compositions over the last 15 Myr2. 1Busby et al., 2006 JVGR 149, 1-46 2 Hochstaedter et al., 2000 JGR 105, 495-512
Population-based prevention of eating disorders: an application of the Rose prevention model.
Austin, S B
2001-03-01
Several decades of concerted research on eating disorders have generated a broad range of proposed causal influences, but much of this etiologic research does not elucidate practical avenues for preventive interventions. Translating etiologic theory into community health interventions depends on the identification of key leverage points, factors that are amenable to public health intervention and provide an opportunity to maximize impact on the outcome of interest. Population-based preventive strategies, elaborated by epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, can maximize the impact of public health interventions. In the case of eating disorders, Rose's model is instructive: Dieting stands out as risk behavior that may both fit Rose's model well and be a key leverage point for preventive intervention. Grounded in Rose's work, this article lodges a theoretical argument for the population-based prevention of eating disorders. In the introductory section, existing research on the epidemiology of dieting is reviewed, showing that it is extremely common among adolescent girls and women and that the behavior has been implicated as a causal factor for disordered eating. Next, new evidence is offered to build a case for how a population-wide reduction in dieting may be an effective strategy for prevention of eating pathology. Finally Rose's prevention framework is used to introduce a unique and provocative perspective on the prevention of eating disorders. Dieting is a normative behavior in our culture with psychological and physiological effects in the causal chain leading to eating pathology. This behavior may represent an ideal target for population-based prevention. Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that a population-wide reduction in dieting may be a justifiable and effective strategy for prevention of eating pathology. Copyright 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.
Art as an indicator of male fitness: does prenatal testosterone influence artistic ability?
Crocchiola, Danae
2014-05-28
In his groundbreaking research, Geoffrey Miller (1999) suggests that artistic and creative displays are male-predominant behaviors and can be considered to be the result of an evolutionary advantage. The outcomes of several surveys conducted on jazz and rock musicians, contemporary painters, English writers (Miller, 1999), and scientists (Kanazawa, 2000) seem to be consistent with the Millerian hypothesis, showing a predominance of men carrying out these activities, with an output peak corresponding to the most fertile male period and a progressive decline in late maturity. One way to evaluate the sex-related hypothesis of artistic and cultural displays, considered as sexual indicators of male fitness, is to focus on sexually dimorphic traits. One of them, within our species, is the 2nd to 4th digit length (2D:4D), which is a marker for prenatal testosterone levels. This study combines the Millerian theories on sexual dimorphism in cultural displays with the digit ratio, using it as an indicator of androgen exposure in utero. If androgenic levels are positively correlated with artistic exhibition, both female and male artists should show low 2D:4D ratios. In this experiment we tested the association between 2D:4D and artistic ability by comparing the digit ratios of 50 artists (25 men and 25 women) to the digit ratios of 50 non-artists (25 men and 25 women). Both male and female artists had significantly lower 2D:4D ratios (indicating high testosterone) than male and female controls. These results support the hypothesis that art may represent a sexually selected, typically masculine behavior that advertises the carrier's good genes within a courtship context.
Is it real? Can we win? Is it worth doing? Managing risk and reward in an innovation portfolio.
Day, George S
2007-12-01
Minor innovations make up most of a company's development portfolio, on average, but they never generate the growth companies seek. The solution, says Day--the Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor of Marketing and a codirector of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at Wharton--is for companies to undertake a systematic, disciplined review of their innovation portfolios and increase the number of major innovations at an acceptable level of risk. Two tools can help them do this. The first, called the risk matrix, graphically reveals the distribution of risk across a company's entire innovation portfolio. The matrix allows companies to estimate each project's probability of success or failure, based on how big a stretch it is for the firm to undertake. The less familiar the product or technology and the intended market, the higher the risk. The second tool, dubbed the R-W-W (real-win-worth it) screen, allows companies to evaluate the risks and potential of individual projects by answering six fundamental questions about each one: Is the market real? Explores customers' needs, their willingness to buy, and the size of the potential market. Is the product real? Looks at the feasibility of producing the innovation. Can the product be competitive? and Can our company be competitive? Investigate how well suited the company's resources and management are to compete in the marketplace with the product. Will the product be profitable at an acceptable risk? Explores the financial analysis needed to assess an innovation's commercial viability. Last, Does launching the product make strategic sense? examines the project's fit with company strategy and whether management supports it.
Reflections on fifty years of publications on the history of general biology and special embryology.
Oppenheimer, J M
1975-12-01
The publications of fifty years (1925-1974) of the histroy of biology and embryology are surveyed. In America, the earliest background for work during this period was provided by the collectors, mainly physicians, of books into extensive private libraries. The collectors, for instance Osler, Cushing, and Fulton in this country and Geoffrey Keynes abroad, became expert technical bibliographers during the early part of the half-century under consideration. High standards for medical, thus biological history, insofar as these fields overlap, were also set earlier by Sudhoff's Institut für Geschichte der Medizin in Leipzig, and American historical studies benefited when Sigerist came from Leipzig to Baltimore in the early 1930's. Textbooks of medical history are omitted from discussion here, but a number of more or less general histories of biology published within the specified period are briefly evaluated. The discussion next turns to histories of embryology, general and special. Recent monographs on the classical embryologists, Wolff and von Baer, are enumerated, as are a number of biographies and autobiographies of important embryologists published here or abroad during our half-century. Then general histories of embryology are discussed, and finally some specialized ones. Needham, Roger, and Adelmann are singled out as the most important contributors to the history of embryology, in the West, during the period covered. Few of the contributors to the history of biology and medicine during the years of 1925 through 1974 were trained as historians while students. It is concluded that the History of Science Society has performed an important contribution in professionalizing the history of biology and embryology, but it is pointed out that a great new challenge faces it in the necessity to counteract anti-historical and anti-intellectual moods and movements of today.
40Ar/39Ar dating and zircon chronochemistry for the Izu-Bonin rear arc, IODP site U1437
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schmitt, A. K.; Konrad, K.; Andrews, G. D.; Horie, K.; Brown, S. R.; Koppers, A. A. P.; Busby, C.; Tamura, Y.
2016-12-01
The scientific objective of IODP Expedition 350 drilling at Site U1437 (31°47.390'N, 139°01.580'E) was to reveal the "missing half of the subduction factory": the rear arc of a long-lived intraoceanic subduction zone. Site U1437 lies in a 50 km long and 20 km wide volcano-bounded basin, 90 km west of the Izu arc front, and is the only IODP site drilled in the rear arc. The Izu rear arc is dominated by Miocene basaltic to dacitic seamount chains, which strike at a high angle to the arc front. Radiometric dating targeted a single igneous unit (1390 mbsf), and fine to coarse volcaniclastic units for which we present zircon and 40Ar/39Ar (hornblende, plagioclase, and groundmass) age determinations. All zircons analyzed as grain separates were screened for contamination from drill-mud (Andrews et al., 2016) by analyzing trace elements and, where material was available, O and Hf isotope compositions. Igneous Unit 1 is a rhyolite sheet and yielded concordant in-situ and crystal separate U-Pb zircon ages (13.7±0.3 Ma; MSWD = 1.3; n = 40 spots), whereas the 40Ar/39Ar hornblende plateau age (12.9±0.3; MSWD = 1.1; n = 9 steps) is slightly younger, possibly reflecting pre-eruptive zircon crystallization, or alteration of hornblende. U-Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages from samples above igneous Unit 1 are concordant with biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic ages (available to 1300 mbsf), but plagioclase and groundmass samples below 1300 m become younger with depth, hinting at post-depositional alteration. A single zircon from 1600 mbsf yielded a U-Pb age of 15.4±1.8 Ma; its trace element composition resembles other igneous zircons from U1437, and is tentatively interpreted as a Middle Miocene age for the lowermost lithostratigraphic unit VII. Oxygen and Hf isotopic values of igneous zircon indicate mantle origins, with some influence of assimilation of hydrothermally altered oceanic crust evident in sub-mantle oxygen isotopic compositions. Lessons from site U1437 are that integrated chronochemistry is essential for achieving accurate age models in oceanic drilling. Reference: Andrews, G. D., Schmitt, A. K., Busby, C. J., Brown, S. R., Blum, P., & Harvey, J. (2016). Age and compositional data of zircon from sepiolite drilling mud to identify contamination of ocean drilling samples. G3. doi: 10.1002/2016GC006397.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sisson, T. W.; Moore, J. G.
2012-12-01
From the late 1940s to the early 1990s, scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mapped the geology of most of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California, and published the results as a series of 15-minute (1:62,500 scale) Geologic Quadrangles. The southwest corner of Sequoia National Park, encompassing the Mineral King and eastern edge of the Kaweah 15-minute topographic quadrangles, however, remained unfinished. At the request of the National Park Service's Geologic Resources Division (NPS-GRD), the USGS has mapped the geology of that area using 7.5-minute (1:24,000 scale) topographic bases and high-resolution ortho-imagery. With partial support from NPS-GRD, the major plutons in the map area were dated by the U-Pb zircon method with the Stanford-USGS SHRIMP-RG ion microprobe. Highlights include: (1) Identification of the Early Cretaceous volcano-plutonic suite of Mineral King (informally named), consisting of three deformed granodiorite plutons and the major metarhyolite tuffs of the Mineral King metamorphic pendant. Members of the suite erupted or intruded at 130-140 Ma (pluton ages: this study; rhyolite ages: lower-intercept concordia from zircon results of Busby-Spera, 1983, Princeton Ph.D. thesis, and from Klemetti et al., 2011, AGU abstract) during the pause of igneous activity between emplacement of the Jurassic and Cretaceous Sierran batholiths. (2) Some of the deformation of the Mineral King metamorphic pendant is demonstrably Cretaceous, with evidence including map-scale folding of Early Cretaceous metarhyolite tuff, and an isoclinally folded aplite dike dated at 98 Ma, concurrent with the large 98-Ma granodiorite of Castle Creek that intruded the Mineral King pendant on the west. (3) A 21-km-long magmatic synform within the 99-100 Ma granite of Coyote Pass that is defined both by inward-dipping mafic inclusions (enclaves) and by sporadic, cm-thick, sharply defined mineral layering. The west margin of the granite of Coyote Pass overlies parts of the adjacent Mineral King pendant, and the pluton probably had an upward-flaring shape, with synformal layering and foliation resulting from compaction and mineral deposition (or flow sorting) at the floor of an elongate, melt-rich magma lens. The NPS-GRD has digitized the published USGS geologic quadrangles for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and a goal is to jointly release a geologic map of the combined Parks region.
U-Pb Geochronology of Grandite Skarn Garnet: Case Studies From Jurassic Skarns of California
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gevedon, M. L.; Seman, S.; Barnes, J.; Stockli, D. F.; Lackey, J. S.
2016-12-01
We present 3 case studies using a new method for U-Pb dating grossular-andradite (grandite) skarn garnet via LA-ICP-MS (Seman et al., in prep). Grandite is commonly rich in U, with high Fe3+ contents generally correlating with higher U concentrations. Micron-scale non-radiogenic Pb heterogeneities allow for regression of age data using Tera-Wasserberg concordia. Although others have dated accessory skarn minerals, garnet U-Pb ages are powerful because garnet grows early and is nearly ubiquitous in skarns, resists alteration, and provides a formation age independent of that of the causative pluton. The Darwin stock (Argus range, eastern CA) was likely a short-lived, single pulse of magmatism, genetically related to the Darwin skarn. A robust skarn garnet U-Pb age of 176.8 ± 1.3 Ma agrees well with the pluton U-Pb zircon age of 175 Ma (Chen and Moore, 1982). Furthermore, zircon separated from, and in textural equilibrium with, exoskarn garnetite yields a U-Pb age of 176.8 ± 1 Ma. Such agreement between plutonic and skarn zircon ages with a skarn garnet age in a geologically simple field area is the ideal scenario for establishing grandite U-Pb as a viable tool for directly dating skarns. The Black Rock skarn (BRS; eastern CA) is more complex: multiple plutons and ambiguous field relations complicate determination of a causative pluton. A skarn garnet U-Pb age of 172.0 ± 3 Ma confirms a middle Jurassic BRS formation age. Investigation of 4 local plutons yield zircon U-Pb ages of 222 ± 3 Ma, 213 ± 4 Ma, 207 ± 4 Ma and 176.2 ± 2 Ma. Comparison of the skarn garnet U-Pb and pluton ages suggest the BRS is genetically related to the youngest pluton, providing basis for further field and geochemical investigation. The Whitehorse skarn (WS; Mojave Desert, CA) lies in an important region for studying the changing tectono-magmatic regime of the Jurassic North American Cordillera; basin fill suggests a tectonically-controlled oscillating regional shoreline (Busby, 2012). Values of δ18O of WS garnet are strongly negative, —9.8‰ to 1.2‰, and can only be the result of access to meteoric water. A grandite U-Pb age of 162.3 ± 2 Ma requires the region of the WS not be submerged below the sea at this time. Future work coupling grandite U-Pb and δ18O may be vital in establishing the timing of Jurassic Cordilleran tectonic changes in the Mojave Desert.
EarthScope's Transportable Array: Advancing Eastward
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Busby, R. W.; Vernon, F.; Newman, R. L.; Astiz, L.
2006-12-01
EarthScope's Transportable Array has installed more than 200 high-quality broadband seismic stations over the last 3 years in the western US. These stations have a nominal spacing of 70 km and are part of an eventual 400 station array that migrates from west to east at a rate of 18 stations per month. The full 400 stations will be operating by September 2007. Stations have a residence time of about 2 years before being relocated to the next site. Throughout the continental US, 1623 sites are expected to be occupied. Standardized procedures and protocols have been developed to streamline all aspects of Transportable Array operations, from siting to site construction and installation to equipment purchasing and data archiving. Earned Value Management tools keep facility installation and operation on budget and schedule. A diverse, yet efficient, infrastructure installs and maintains the Transportable Array. Sensors, dataloggers, and other equipment are received and tested by the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center and shipped to regional storage facilities. To engage future geoscientists in the project, students are trained to conduct field and analytical reconnaissance to identify suitable seismic station sites. Contract personnel are used for site verification; vault construction; and installation of sensors, power, and communications systems. IRIS staff manages permitting, landowner communications, and station operations and maintenance. Seismic signal quality and metadata are quality-checked at the Array Network Facility at the University of California-San Diego and simultaneously archived at the IRIS Data Management Center in Seattle. Station equipment has been specifically designed for low power, remote, unattended operation and uses diverse two-way IP communications for real-time transmission. Digital cellular services, VSAT satellite, and commercial DSL, cable or wireless transport services are employed. Automatic monitoring of status, signal quality and earthquake event detection as well as operational alarms for low voltage and water intrusion are performed by a robust data acquisition package. This software is coupled with a host of network management tools and display managers operated by the Array Network Facility to allow managers, field personnel, and network operations staff to visualize array performance in real-time and to access historical information for diagnostics. Current data recording proficiency is 99.1%, with real-time telemetry averaging about 91%. EarthScope, IRIS and the USGS are working with regional seismic network operators, both existing and newly formed, to transition some of the Transportable Array stations into regional network assets. Each region has unique circumstances and interested parties are invited to exchange ideas on how this might be accomplished in their area. Contact busby@iris.edu for more information.
U-Pb Dating of Unabraded Detrital Zircon Metamorphic Rims in the Nanaimo Basin, British Columbia
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Boivin, M. P.; Guest, B.; Matthews, W.
2016-12-01
Thin metamorphic rims on detrital zircons from the Nanaimo Basin in SW British Columbia offer a unique opportunity to further constrain the source of these zircons, helping to resolve the long standing Baja BC controversy. Here we present an analytical approach for dating thin zircon rims and use it to show that zircons from the Nanaimo Basin are most likely derived from metamorphic rocks in southern California. Conventional in-situ laser ablation sample preparation typically requires mounting and polishing zircon grains to expose their core. However, in order to date these thin metamorphic zircon rims a depth-profiling approach on unabraded grains was employed. Zircon grains from the Upper Cretaceous Geoffrey, Spray, and Gabriola formations of the Nanaimo Group exposed on Denman and Hornby Islands (British Columbia) were sorted into five groups based on morphology. The zircons were then mounted on tape along with several grains of a well-characterised zircon reference material to validate the uncertainty of the method. The zircons were then imaged using a Zygo Zescope optical profilometer in order to correct for grain-to-grain variations in elevation relative to mounting medium and ensure consistent laser focus. Backscatter electron images (BSE) were used to further characterised the grains and optimize the location of laser ablation targets. Zircons were ablated using a Resonetics 193 nm excimer laser and uranium and lead isotopic ratios were measured using an Agilent 7700 quadrupole mass spectrometer. A low frequency laser repetition rate extended the data collection period on relatively thin zircon rims. Our results show that metamorphic zircon growth occurred in two main phases at 100 Ma and 77 Ma suggesting two sources of detrital zircons with differing metamorphic histories were present in the catchment area. The timing of metamorphism of the source area for the Nanaimo basin is inconsistent with derivation from sources in the Rocky Mountains (Lemhi sub-basin of the Belt-Purcell basin) and consistent with derivation from Mojave-Sonoran region of southern California and northern Mexico. We speculate that some parts of the detrital zircon population of the Nanaimo basin sediments were likely derived from exhumed bodies of the Pelona, Orocopia and Rand schists.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yamashiki, Yosuke; Notsu, Yuta; Sasaki, Takanori; Hosono, Natsuki; Kuroki, Ryusuke; Notsu, Shota; Murashima, Keiya; Takagi, Fuka; Doi, Takao
2017-05-01
An integrated database of confirmed exoplanets has been developed and launched as “ExoKyoto,” for the purpose of better comprehension of exoplanetary systems in different star systems. The HOSTSTAR module of the database includes not only host stars for confirmed exoplanets, but also hundreds of thousands of stars existing in the star database listed in (HYG database). Each hoststar can be referred to in the catalogue with its habitable zone calculated, based on the observed/estimated star parameters. For outreach and observation support purpose, ExoKyoto possesses Stellar Windows, developed by the Xlib & Ggd module, and interfaces with GoogleSky for easy comprehension of those celestial bodies on a stellar map. Target stars can be identified and listed by using this database, based on the target magnitude, transit frequency, and photon decrease ratio by its transit.If we interpolate deficient data using assumed functions about the exoplanets that were discovered until now, Sub-Neptune size (1.9-3.1R_Earth) are the most common (971); then Super Earth size (1.2-1.9 R_earth) have been allocated (681).Using the Solar Equivalent Astronomical Unit (SEAU), most of the exoplanets discovered are within a Venus equivalent orbit (3029), and 197 are located within the habitable zone (Venus to Mars equivalent orbit). If we classify them using Kopparapu et al.(2013), within Recent Venus equivalent orbit (3048), there are 130 located in the habitable zone (runaway greenhouse-maximum greenhouse). For example, Kepler-560b is defined as in the habitable zone by its SEAU, but not by Kopparapu et al. (2013). Furthermore, based on an exoplanet's solar revolution, radius, assumed mass (Larsen & Geoffrey, 2014), transit parameters , and main start information (location, class, spectral class, etc.); observation target selection is practical and possible.In addition to the previous habitable zone based on the normal radiation flux from the host star, we'll discuss stellar flares activities which may disturb planets located in the habitable zone through high energetic particles.*those numbers are in February 2017
Vincenzo Quercioli (1876-1939), researcher and pioneer of the atlas fracture.
Domenicucci, Maurizio; Dugoni, Demo Eugenio; Mancarella, Cristina; D'Elia, Alessandro; Missori, Paolo
2015-03-01
A review of early 20th century literature regarding fractures of the atlas led the authors to discover a paper written in Italian by Professor Vincenzo Quercioli in 1908, at that time an assistant surgeon at the University of Siena. The work was published in the journal Il Policlinico, which at that time was directed by Professor Francesco Durante. The paper described the first case of a quadripartite fracture of the atlas, and it accurately reported the mechanism of injury, symptoms, neurological examination, treatment, complications, and cause of death of the patient. Quercioli performed an autopsy on the patient and gave a detailed description of anatomopathological features. In particular, he identified the 4 symmetrical fracture lines related to the arches of the atlas and the substantial integrity of the atlantoaxial ligaments, particularly the transverse ligament. Based on those findings, Quercioli concluded that the mechanism of trauma was an axial force. This force passed through the center of the vertebral ring and caused symmetrical displacement and compression of the articular masses. These concepts of dynamic physics led Quercioli to conclude that, because the atlas is wedge shaped, the masses of the atlas reacted to stress by moving away from the center. This reaction resulted in stretching the front and rear arches, which then fractured at their 4 points of weakness. The integrity of the spinal cord was intact, based on a negative neurological examination for CNS lesions. Thus, he concluded that these injuries were not fatal and could be cured by appropriate treatment with a Minerva cast and, in the presence of swallowing disorders, with a nasogastric tube. The case described by Quercioli was later mentioned in two classic works on atlas fractures by Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, published in 1920 and 1927. In those works, Jefferson proposed his classification of 5 different anatomopathological classes; this work is widely cited in the literature and should be considered a classic. The patterns and deductions that Jefferson reported on these fractures appeared to draw upon the scientific experience of Quercioli and his description of the quadripartite atlas fracture, which appeared to be unique, even in Jefferson's review. Therefore, the authors believe that they have identified another scientist and pioneer of the atlas fracture in Professor Vincenzo Quercioli. With his brilliant insights, which remain useful and valid, Quercioli led the way to further research on the subject.
SUPPORT FOR THE CONFERENCE ''WOCE & BEYOND'' TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 2002
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Nowlin, Worth, D., Jr., Distinguished Professor, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University
OAK B188 We are proud to report that the WOCE and Beyond meeting was a tremendous success, garnering praise for its content and execution from federal agency representatives, international sponsors, the speakers, and the audience. The conference attracted 379 registered participants (total attendance was 401) from 22 countries; 319 posters were presented; and 30 oral presentations by distinguished researchers touched on all aspects of WOCE science.Particularly gratifying to the organizers was the active participation of 43 students from around the world. In addition to helping underwrite infrastructure costs related to the poster sessions, DOE's grant supported the travel and subsistencemore » of 12 students and funded the awards for outstanding student posters (31 student posters were judged for three prizes of $500 each). Thus a strategic goal of the meeting-entraining young scientists into the WOCE research stream-was achieved with the help of DOE funding.Post-conference, the meeting' s website (http://www.woce2002.tamu.edu) was revamped to link to the plenary session presentations and poster abstracts. This website will be maintained until June of 2003. A copy of the meeting document, combining the program and poster abstracts will be sent to Dr. Anna Palmisano, DOE Scientific Officer.Recipients of travel support were: Mr Marcelo Barreiro, Texas A&M University Ms Elena Brambilla, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Ms Shuimin Chen, University of Hawaii Ms Meyre da Silva, Texas A&M University Ms Elizabeth Douglass, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Mr Shane Elipot, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Mr Joong-Tae Kim, Texas A&M University Mr Yueng-Djern Lenn, Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Nadja Lonnroth, Texas A&M University Mr Alvaro Montenegro, Florida State University Ms Sarah Zedler, Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Li Zhang, Texas A&M University Recipients of $500 Prizes for Outstanding Student Posters: Mr Geoffrey Gebbie, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ''An Eddy-resolving State Estimate of the Ocean Circulation during the Subduction Experiment Using a North Atlantic Regional Model (ECCO)'' Mr Hiroki Uehara, Tohoku University ''The role of Mesoscale Eddies on Formation and Transport of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water Demonstrated with Argo Floats'' Mr Josh Willis, Scripps Institution of Oceanography ''Combining Altimetric Height with Broadside Profile Data: A Technique for Estimating Subsurface Variability''« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Isava, V.; Grove, M.; Mahoney, J. B.; Kimbrough, D. L.
2016-12-01
The Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene Nanaimo Group covers the contact between Triassic basement Wrangellia terrane and the Jurassic-Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex (CPC) in southern British Columbia. Prior detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf studies indicate a change in sediment source for the Nanaimo basin, from the primitive CPC in Santonian-Early Campanian time to an isotopically evolved continental extraregional source during the late Campanian/Maastrictian. Two notably different areas have been proposed as potential source regions: (1) the Idaho/Boulder batholith and Belt Supergroup, and (2) the Mojave/Salinia segment of structurally disrupted late Cretaceous southern California margin. Single crystal 40Ar/39Ar laser fusion of ca. 100-200 grains apiece from seven detrital K-feldspar samples from Santonian-Maastrichtian strata of the northern Nanaimo Group constrain the history of the sediments' source regions. The two oldest samples, from the K-feldspar poor Comox and Extension Fms., display a monotonic increasing distribution of cooling ages 80-125 Ma that reflects shallow erosion of the CPC. In contrast, Late Campanian strata of the Cedar District and De Courcy Fms. exhibit a more pronounced cluster of cooling ages 80-95 Ma as well as a greater proportion of Jurassic ages that represent progressively deeper erosion of the CPC. Evidence for an extraregional sediment source appears abruptly in the Geoffrey Fm. by 72 Ma, matching the time of local-to-extraregional shift indicated in detrital zircon U-Pb studies. Over 90% of the detrital K-feldspars from these arkosic sandstones yield cooling ages of 70-80 Ma, with sparse older ages associated with the CPC. Samples from the successively younger Spray and Gabriola Fms. also yield >90% K-feldspar ages younger than 80 Ma and exhibit age maxima of 68 Ma and 65 Ma, respectively. These results are distinct from detrital zircon U-Pb and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar ages of the southern Sierra Nevada, Mojave/Salina, and northern Peninsular Ranges of southern California. Resemblance with the Idaho/Boulder batholith indicates the latter as a more likely source of extraregional detritus. Measurements are underway to couple detrital K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology with U-Pb isotopes on the same grains to further distinguish between these two possibilities.
MO-B-BRB-00: Three Dimensional Dosimetry
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
NONE
Full three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry using volumetric chemical dosimeters probed by 3D imaging systems has long been a promising technique for the radiation therapy clinic, since it provides a unique methodology for dose measurements in the volume irradiated using complex conformal delivery techniques such as IMRT and VMAT. To date true 3D dosimetry is still not widely practiced in the community; it has been confined to centres of specialized expertise especially for quality assurance or commissioning roles where other dosimetry techniques are difficult to implement. The potential for improved clinical applicability has been advanced considerably in the last decade by themore » development of improved 3D dosimeters (e.g., radiochromic plastics, radiochromic gel dosimeters and normoxic polymer gel systems) and by improved readout protocols using optical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In this session, established users of some current 3D chemical dosimeters will briefly review the current status of 3D dosimetry, describe several dosimeters and their appropriate imaging for dose readout, present workflow procedures required for good dosimetry, and analyze some limitations for applications in select settings. We will review the application of 3D dosimetry to various clinical situations describing how 3D approaches can complement other dose delivery validation approaches already available in the clinic. The applications presented will be selected to inform attendees of the unique features provided by full 3D techniques. Learning Objectives: L. John Schreiner: Background and Motivation Understand recent developments enabling clinically practical 3D dosimetry, Appreciate 3D dosimetry workflow and dosimetry procedures, and Observe select examples from the clinic. Sofie Ceberg: Application to dynamic radiotherapy Observe full dosimetry under dynamic radiotherapy during respiratory motion, and Understand how the measurement of high resolution dose data in an irradiated volume can help understand interplay effects during TomoTherapy or VMAT. Titania Juang: Special techniques in the clinic and research Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry in validating dose accumulation in deformable systems, and Observe the benefits of high resolution measurements for precision therapy in SRS and in MicroSBRT for small animal irradiators Geoffrey S. Ibbott: 3D Dosimetry in end-to-end dosimetry QA Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry for end-to-end radiation therapy process validation in the in-house and external credentialing setting. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; L. Schreiner, Modus QA, London, ON, Canada; T. Juang, NIH R01CA100835.« less
MO-B-BRB-03: 3D Dosimetry in the Clinic: Validating Special Techniques
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Juang, T.
Full three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry using volumetric chemical dosimeters probed by 3D imaging systems has long been a promising technique for the radiation therapy clinic, since it provides a unique methodology for dose measurements in the volume irradiated using complex conformal delivery techniques such as IMRT and VMAT. To date true 3D dosimetry is still not widely practiced in the community; it has been confined to centres of specialized expertise especially for quality assurance or commissioning roles where other dosimetry techniques are difficult to implement. The potential for improved clinical applicability has been advanced considerably in the last decade by themore » development of improved 3D dosimeters (e.g., radiochromic plastics, radiochromic gel dosimeters and normoxic polymer gel systems) and by improved readout protocols using optical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In this session, established users of some current 3D chemical dosimeters will briefly review the current status of 3D dosimetry, describe several dosimeters and their appropriate imaging for dose readout, present workflow procedures required for good dosimetry, and analyze some limitations for applications in select settings. We will review the application of 3D dosimetry to various clinical situations describing how 3D approaches can complement other dose delivery validation approaches already available in the clinic. The applications presented will be selected to inform attendees of the unique features provided by full 3D techniques. Learning Objectives: L. John Schreiner: Background and Motivation Understand recent developments enabling clinically practical 3D dosimetry, Appreciate 3D dosimetry workflow and dosimetry procedures, and Observe select examples from the clinic. Sofie Ceberg: Application to dynamic radiotherapy Observe full dosimetry under dynamic radiotherapy during respiratory motion, and Understand how the measurement of high resolution dose data in an irradiated volume can help understand interplay effects during TomoTherapy or VMAT. Titania Juang: Special techniques in the clinic and research Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry in validating dose accumulation in deformable systems, and Observe the benefits of high resolution measurements for precision therapy in SRS and in MicroSBRT for small animal irradiators Geoffrey S. Ibbott: 3D Dosimetry in end-to-end dosimetry QA Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry for end-to-end radiation therapy process validation in the in-house and external credentialing setting. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; L. Schreiner, Modus QA, London, ON, Canada; T. Juang, NIH R01CA100835.« less
MO-B-BRB-01: 3D Dosimetry in the Clinic: Background and Motivation
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Schreiner, L.
Full three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry using volumetric chemical dosimeters probed by 3D imaging systems has long been a promising technique for the radiation therapy clinic, since it provides a unique methodology for dose measurements in the volume irradiated using complex conformal delivery techniques such as IMRT and VMAT. To date true 3D dosimetry is still not widely practiced in the community; it has been confined to centres of specialized expertise especially for quality assurance or commissioning roles where other dosimetry techniques are difficult to implement. The potential for improved clinical applicability has been advanced considerably in the last decade by themore » development of improved 3D dosimeters (e.g., radiochromic plastics, radiochromic gel dosimeters and normoxic polymer gel systems) and by improved readout protocols using optical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In this session, established users of some current 3D chemical dosimeters will briefly review the current status of 3D dosimetry, describe several dosimeters and their appropriate imaging for dose readout, present workflow procedures required for good dosimetry, and analyze some limitations for applications in select settings. We will review the application of 3D dosimetry to various clinical situations describing how 3D approaches can complement other dose delivery validation approaches already available in the clinic. The applications presented will be selected to inform attendees of the unique features provided by full 3D techniques. Learning Objectives: L. John Schreiner: Background and Motivation Understand recent developments enabling clinically practical 3D dosimetry, Appreciate 3D dosimetry workflow and dosimetry procedures, and Observe select examples from the clinic. Sofie Ceberg: Application to dynamic radiotherapy Observe full dosimetry under dynamic radiotherapy during respiratory motion, and Understand how the measurement of high resolution dose data in an irradiated volume can help understand interplay effects during TomoTherapy or VMAT. Titania Juang: Special techniques in the clinic and research Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry in validating dose accumulation in deformable systems, and Observe the benefits of high resolution measurements for precision therapy in SRS and in MicroSBRT for small animal irradiators Geoffrey S. Ibbott: 3D Dosimetry in end-to-end dosimetry QA Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry for end-to-end radiation therapy process validation in the in-house and external credentialing setting. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; L. Schreiner, Modus QA, London, ON, Canada; T. Juang, NIH R01CA100835.« less
MO-B-BRB-04: 3D Dosimetry in End-To-End Dosimetry QA
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ibbott, G.
Full three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry using volumetric chemical dosimeters probed by 3D imaging systems has long been a promising technique for the radiation therapy clinic, since it provides a unique methodology for dose measurements in the volume irradiated using complex conformal delivery techniques such as IMRT and VMAT. To date true 3D dosimetry is still not widely practiced in the community; it has been confined to centres of specialized expertise especially for quality assurance or commissioning roles where other dosimetry techniques are difficult to implement. The potential for improved clinical applicability has been advanced considerably in the last decade by themore » development of improved 3D dosimeters (e.g., radiochromic plastics, radiochromic gel dosimeters and normoxic polymer gel systems) and by improved readout protocols using optical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In this session, established users of some current 3D chemical dosimeters will briefly review the current status of 3D dosimetry, describe several dosimeters and their appropriate imaging for dose readout, present workflow procedures required for good dosimetry, and analyze some limitations for applications in select settings. We will review the application of 3D dosimetry to various clinical situations describing how 3D approaches can complement other dose delivery validation approaches already available in the clinic. The applications presented will be selected to inform attendees of the unique features provided by full 3D techniques. Learning Objectives: L. John Schreiner: Background and Motivation Understand recent developments enabling clinically practical 3D dosimetry, Appreciate 3D dosimetry workflow and dosimetry procedures, and Observe select examples from the clinic. Sofie Ceberg: Application to dynamic radiotherapy Observe full dosimetry under dynamic radiotherapy during respiratory motion, and Understand how the measurement of high resolution dose data in an irradiated volume can help understand interplay effects during TomoTherapy or VMAT. Titania Juang: Special techniques in the clinic and research Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry in validating dose accumulation in deformable systems, and Observe the benefits of high resolution measurements for precision therapy in SRS and in MicroSBRT for small animal irradiators Geoffrey S. Ibbott: 3D Dosimetry in end-to-end dosimetry QA Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry for end-to-end radiation therapy process validation in the in-house and external credentialing setting. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; L. Schreiner, Modus QA, London, ON, Canada; T. Juang, NIH R01CA100835.« less
MO-B-BRB-02: 3D Dosimetry in the Clinic: IMRT Technique Validation in Sweden
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ceberg, S.
Full three-dimensional (3D) dosimetry using volumetric chemical dosimeters probed by 3D imaging systems has long been a promising technique for the radiation therapy clinic, since it provides a unique methodology for dose measurements in the volume irradiated using complex conformal delivery techniques such as IMRT and VMAT. To date true 3D dosimetry is still not widely practiced in the community; it has been confined to centres of specialized expertise especially for quality assurance or commissioning roles where other dosimetry techniques are difficult to implement. The potential for improved clinical applicability has been advanced considerably in the last decade by themore » development of improved 3D dosimeters (e.g., radiochromic plastics, radiochromic gel dosimeters and normoxic polymer gel systems) and by improved readout protocols using optical computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In this session, established users of some current 3D chemical dosimeters will briefly review the current status of 3D dosimetry, describe several dosimeters and their appropriate imaging for dose readout, present workflow procedures required for good dosimetry, and analyze some limitations for applications in select settings. We will review the application of 3D dosimetry to various clinical situations describing how 3D approaches can complement other dose delivery validation approaches already available in the clinic. The applications presented will be selected to inform attendees of the unique features provided by full 3D techniques. Learning Objectives: L. John Schreiner: Background and Motivation Understand recent developments enabling clinically practical 3D dosimetry, Appreciate 3D dosimetry workflow and dosimetry procedures, and Observe select examples from the clinic. Sofie Ceberg: Application to dynamic radiotherapy Observe full dosimetry under dynamic radiotherapy during respiratory motion, and Understand how the measurement of high resolution dose data in an irradiated volume can help understand interplay effects during TomoTherapy or VMAT. Titania Juang: Special techniques in the clinic and research Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry in validating dose accumulation in deformable systems, and Observe the benefits of high resolution measurements for precision therapy in SRS and in MicroSBRT for small animal irradiators Geoffrey S. Ibbott: 3D Dosimetry in end-to-end dosimetry QA Understand the potential for 3D dosimetry for end-to-end radiation therapy process validation in the in-house and external credentialing setting. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; L. Schreiner, Modus QA, London, ON, Canada; T. Juang, NIH R01CA100835.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
De Sterck, H
2011-10-18
The following work has been performed by PI Hans De Sterck and graduate student Manda Winlaw for the required tasks 1-5 (as listed in the Statement of Work). Graduate student Manda Winlaw has visited LLNL January 31-March 11, 2011 and May 23-August 19, 2010, working with Van Henson and Mike O'Hara on non-negative matrix factorizations (NMF). She has investigated the dense subgraph clustering algorithm from 'Finding Dense Subgraphs for Sparse Undirected, Directed, and Bipartite Graphs' by Chen and Saad, testing this method on several term-document matrices and adapting it to cluster based on the rank of the subgraphs instead ofmore » the density. Manda Winlaw was awarded a first prize in the annual LLNL summer student poster competition for a poster on her NMF research. PI Hans De Sterck has developed a new adaptive algebraic multigrid algorithm for computing a few dominant or minimal singular triplets of sparse rectangular matrices. This work builds on adaptive algebraic multigrid methods that were further developed by the PI and collaborators (including Sanders and Henson) for Markov chains. The method also combines and extends existing multigrid algorithms for the symmetric eigenproblem. The PI has visited LLNL February 22-25, 2011, and has given a CASC seminar 'Algebraic Multigrid for the Singular Value Problem' on this work on February 23, 2011. During his visit, he has discussed this work and related topics with Van Henson, Geoffrey Sanders, Panayot Vassilevski, and others. He has tested the algorithm on PDE matrices and on a term-document matrix, with promising initial results. Manda Winlaw has also started to work, with O'Hara, on estimating probability distributions over undirected graph edges. The goal is to estimate probabilistic models from sets of undirected graph edges for the purpose of prediction, anomaly detection and support to supervised learning. Graduate student Manda Winlaw is writing a paper on the results obtained with O'Hara which will be submitted some time later in 2011 to a data mining conference. PI Hans De Sterck has developed a new optimization algorithm for canonical tensor approximation, formulating an extension of the nonlinear GMRES method to optimization problems. Numerical results for tensors with up to 8 modes show that this new method is efficient for sparse and dense tensors. He has written a paper on this which has been submitted to the SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing. PI Hans De Sterck has further developed his new optimization algorithm for canonical tensor approximation, formulating an extension in terms of steepest-descent preconditioning, which makes the approach generally applicable for nonlinear optimization. He has written a paper on this extension which has been submitted to Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications.« less
Obituary: Geoffrey R. Burbidge (1925-2010)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wolfe, Arthur
2011-12-01
Geoffrey R. Burbidge, one of the principal architects of 20th century astrophysics, died in La Jolla, California on January 26, 2010. Together with his wife and life-long collaborator, Margaret Burbidge and several leading astrophysicists, he originated ideas that remain at the core of current astrophysical research. He was, of course, co-author of B2FH (Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, & Hoyle 1957), one of the most influential scientific papers ever written, which explained how elements heavier than helium are synthesized in the interiors of stars. Geoff Burbidge's research interests spanned a wide range of topics. He was the first to estimate the colossal energetics of extragalactic radio sources. Together with Margaret and Kevin Prendergast he initiated the first systematic program to measure the masses of galaxies from their rotation curves. He published research that effectively began the field of "active galactic nuclei," and he made the fundamental suggestion that galactic X-ray sources were powered by viscous transport of energy in accretion disks surrounding neutron stars or black holes in binary star systems. After the discovery of quasars in 1963, he wrote influential papers on gravitational collapse as their energy source and an excellent book summarizing research on this subject. During the latter part of his career Geoff Burbidge became known as the "great contrarian" who remained skeptical about the cosmological origin of quasar redshifts and rejected the big bang theory. He was author of 355 publications. Geoff was born in 1925 September in Chipping Norton Oxfordshire, where he grew up and developed a lifelong passion for tennis. He attended the yearly matches at Wimbledon with his father, a ritual he maintained for most of his life. In 1946 he got his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Bristol. After graduating he was assigned for eighteen months to a government ballistics laboratory in London where he became an expert in testing penetration bombs and other types of demolition devices, and where he decided to pursue a graduate career in physics. In 1947 he began studying theoretical physics with H. Massey at University College London and received his PhD in physics in 1950 with a thesis concerning capture of muons by atoms. During his stay in London, Geoff 's interest in astronomy was sparked upon meeting his future wife, Margaret Peachey, who was the Assistant Director of the University of London Observatory; they married in 1948. Margaret was working on spectral variations in Be stars, and Geoff collaborated with her by participating in her observing runs and in performing theoretical analysis, beginning a unique and famous scientific partnership that lasted over 60 years. After Geoff obtained his PhD, he and Margaret went to the U.S. in 1951, he to Harvard and she to Yerkes Observatory. Between 1951 and 1957 the Burbidges held research appointments at Cambridge University, Carnegie Observatories, and Caltech. Between 1957 and 1962 Geoff and Margaret held faculty positions at the University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. Between 1959 and 1969, Geoff, Margaret, and their Yerkes colleague Kevin Prendergast carried out the first comprehensive investigation of galaxy masses. Geoff Burbidge, along with Margaret, joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego in 1962, where, except for short stints back in the U.K. and his directorship of Kitt Peak National Observatory, he stayed until he passed away. Burbidge's research focused on quasars after their discovery in 1963. He participated in the discovery of quasar absorption lines in 1966, which led to much fruitful research concerning the foreground absorbing gas. Burbidge also contributed in many other ways to the astronomical community. He was editor of Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics (i.e., ARAA) from 1973 to 2004. The editorial committees regarded him as an excellent editor who kept his scientific prejudices out of the discussions and who was mainly responsible for the superb reputation of this journal. He was Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1978 to 1984, where he carried out much needed reforms, and scientific editor of the Astrophysical Journal from 1995 to 2001. He also served on several committees including chairmanship of the Astronomical Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundations in 1966-1967. He was on the board of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy from 1970 to 1974, the organization that administers Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, and Sacramento Peak Observatory. From 1972 to 1982, he was a board member of the Associated Universities Inc., which administers the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Geoff and Margaret were recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2005. He received the Catherine Bruce Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1999 and the Jansky Prize of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in 1985. In 1959, he and Margaret received the Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Association. He was also a fellow of the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the University of London. Geoff exhibited two outstanding traits. First, he had a high sense of personal integrity. This was evident in the editorial sessions of the ARAA. When deciding who should be asked to write a review article about a specific topic, he would usually favor the person with the best scientific reputation, even if he disagreed with the scientific opinions of that individual. When adjudicating personal conflicts, Geoff was neither swayed by institutional prestige nor the seniority of the participants. Rather, he tried to get at the core of the truth, even if that meant sticking up for the underdog against more powerful voices. Geoff had another admirable quality: he was loyal to his friends. He could always be counted on for support no matter how difficult the circumstances. This is the characteristic that this author will miss the most.
Smit, Eline Suzanne; Dima, Alexandra Lelia; Immerzeel, Stephanie Annette Maria; van den Putte, Bas; Williams, Geoffrey Colin
2017-05-08
Web-based health behavior change interventions may be more effective if they offer autonomy-supportive communication facilitating the internalization of motivation for health behavior change. Yet, at this moment no validated tools exist to assess user-perceived autonomy-support of such interventions. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the virtual climate care questionnaire (VCCQ), a measure of perceived autonomy-support in a virtual care setting. Items were developed based on existing questionnaires and expert consultation and were pretested among experts and target populations. The virtual climate care questionnaire was administered in relation to Web-based interventions aimed at reducing consumption of alcohol (Study 1; N=230) or cannabis (Study 2; N=228). Item properties, structural validity, and reliability were examined with item-response and classical test theory methods, and convergent and divergent validity via correlations with relevant concepts. In Study 1, 20 of 23 items formed a one-dimensional scale (alpha=.97; omega=.97; H=.66; mean 4.9 [SD 1.0]; range 1-7) that met the assumptions of monotonicity and invariant item ordering. In Study 2, 16 items fitted these criteria (alpha=.92; H=.45; omega=.93; mean 4.2 [SD 1.1]; range 1-7). Only 15 items remained in the questionnaire in both studies, thus we proceeded to the analyses of the questionnaire's reliability and construct validity with a 15-item version of the virtual climate care questionnaire. Convergent validity of the resulting 15-item virtual climate care questionnaire was confirmed by positive associations with autonomous motivation (Study 1: r=.66, P<.001; Study 2: r=.37, P<.001) and perceived competence for reducing alcohol intake (Study 1: r=.52, P<.001). Divergent validity could only be confirmed by the nonsignificant association with perceived competence for learning (Study 2: r=.05, P=.48). The virtual climate care questionnaire accurately assessed participants' perceived autonomy-support offered by two Web-based health behavior change interventions. Overall, the scale showed the expected properties and relationships with relevant concepts, and the studies presented suggest this first version of the virtual climate care questionnaire to be reasonably valid and reliable. As a result, the current version may cautiously be used in future research and practice to measure perceived support for autonomy within a virtual care climate. Future research efforts are required that focus on further investigating the virtual climate care questionnaire's divergent validity, on determining the virtual climate care questionnaire's validity and reliability when used in the context of Web-based interventions aimed at improving nonaddictive or other health behaviors, and on developing and validating a short form virtual climate care questionnaire. ©Eline Suzanne Smit, Alexandra Lelia Dima, Stephanie Annette Maria Immerzeel, Bas van den Putte, Geoffrey Colin Williams. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 08.05.2017.
Progress of Validation of GOSAT Standard Products
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Uchino, Osamu
2010-05-01
Isamu Morino, Tomoaki Tanaka, Yuki Miyamoto, Yukio Yoshida, Tatsuya Yokota, Toshinobu Machida National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan Debra Wunch, Paul Wennberg Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA Geoffrey Toon Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA Thorsten Warneke, Justus Notholt Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany David Griffith, Nicholas Deutscher Department of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong New South Wales, Australia Vanessa Sherlock National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Lauder, Central Otago, New Zealand Hidekazu Matsueda, Yousuke Sawa Meteorological Research Institute, 1-1 Nagamine, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0052, Japan Colm Sweeney, Pieter Tans Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, USA The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT), launched on 23 January 2009, is the world's first satellite dedicated to measuring the concentrations of the two major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), from space. The data measured with the Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) and the Cloud and Aerosol Imager (TANSO-CAI) are processed into several types of data products. Column abundances of CO2 and CH4 (TANSO-FTS SWIR L2 data product) are retrieved from the FTS L1B spectral data. Validation of the FTS Level 2 data product is critical since the data is used for generating the FTS Level 3 (global distributions of column-averaged mixing ratio data of XCO2 and XCH4) and the FTS Level 4 (regional CO2 fluxes and three dimensional distribution of CO2 calculated from the estimated fluxes) products. The reference data to be used for validating abundances are required to have uncertainties of less than 1.0 % (0.3 % or 1 ppm is desirable) for CO2 and 2.0 % for CH4. Ground-based high-resolution FTSs that measure direct solar light are known to have the highest precision in observing column abundances of CO2 and CH4. Data provided from TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) have been used for the GOSAT data validation. The major error factors in the retrieval of the Level 2 column abundances of CO2 and CH4 are interferences by aerosols and thin cirrus clouds. To elucidate their influences on the column abundance retrieval, we measure aerosols and cirrus clouds using lidars and/or sky-radiometers at selected FTS sites. Concentrations of CO2 and CH4 measured by CONTRAIL (Comprehensive Observation Network for Trace gases by AIrLiner) are also of great importance in validating the Level 2 data product. In the CONTRAIL project, vertical profiles of CO2 concentrations are obtained during the take-off and landing periods at uncertainties of 0.2 ppm. These profiles are used to calculate XCO2. Furthermore airborne data prepared by NOAA and NIES are utilized in the validation work. We will present recent results of the validation activity in which we compare the Level 2 column concentrations against the reference data provided from TCCON, CONTRAIL, NOAA, and NIES.
Bidargaddi, Niranjan; Musiat, Peter; Winsall, Megan; Vogl, Gillian; Blake, Victoria; Quinn, Stephen; Orlowski, Simone; Antezana, Gaston; Schrader, Geoffrey
2017-05-12
Mental disorders are highly prevalent for the people who are aged between 16 and 25 years and can permanently disrupt the development of these individuals. Easily available mobile health (mHealth) apps for mobile phones have great potential for the prevention and early intervention of mental disorders in young adults, but interventions are required that can help individuals to both identify high-quality mobile apps and use them to change health and lifestyle behavior. The study aimed to assess the efficacy of a Web-based self-guided app recommendation service ("The Toolbox") in improving the well-being of young Australians aged between 16 and 25 years. The intervention was developed in collaboration with young adults and consists of a curated list of 46 readily available health and well-being apps, assessed and rated by professionals and young people. Participants are guided by an interactive quiz and subsequently receive recommendations for particular apps to download and use based on their personal goals. The study was a waitlist, parallel-arm, randomized controlled trial. Our primary outcome measure was change in well-being as measured by the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF). We also employed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) to track mood, energy, rest, and sleep. Participants were recruited from the general Australian population, via several Web-based and community strategies. The study was conducted through a Web-based platform consisting of a landing Web page and capabilities to administer study measures at different time points. Web-based measurements were self-assessed at baseline and 4 weeks, and EMAs were collected repeatedly at regular weekly intervals or ad hoc when participants interacted with the study platform. Primary outcomes were analyzed using linear mixed-models and intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. A total of 387 participants completed baseline scores and were randomized into the trial. Results demonstrated no significant effect of "The Toolbox" intervention on participant well-being at 4 weeks compared with the control group (P=.66). There were also no significant differences between the intervention and control groups at 4 weeks on any of the subscales of the MHC-SF (psychological: P=.95, social: P=.42, emotional: P=.95). Repeat engagement with the study platform resulted in a significant difference in mood, energy, rest, and sleep trajectories between intervention and control groups as measured by EMAs (P<.01). This was the first study to assess the effectiveness of a Web-based well-being intervention in a sample of young adults. The design of the intervention utilized expert rating of existing apps and end-user codesign approaches resulting in an app recommendation service. Our finding suggests that recommended readily available mental health and well-being apps may not lead to improvements in the well-being of a nonclinical sample of young people, but might halt a decline in mood, energy, rest, and sleep. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12614000710628; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=366145 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/ 6pWDsnKme). ©Niranjan Bidargaddi, Peter Musiat, Megan Winsall, Gillian Vogl, Victoria Blake, Stephen Quinn, Simone Orlowski, Gaston Antezana, Geoffrey Schrader. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 12.05.2017.
PREFACE: 8th International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry (IC3DDose)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Olsson, Lars E.; Bäck, S.; Ceberg, Sofie
2015-01-01
IC3DDose 2014, the 8th International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry was held in Ystad, Sweden, from 4-7 September 2014. This grew out of the DosGel series, which began as DosGel99, the 1st International Workshop on Radiation Therapy Gel Dosimetry in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 1999 subsequent DoSGel conferences were held in Brisbane, Australia (2001), Ghent, Belgium (2004), Sherbrooke, Canada (2006) and Crete, Greece (2008). In 2010 the conference was held on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and underwent a name-change to IC3DDose. The 7th and last meeting was held in Sydney, Australia from 4-8 November 2012. It is worth remembering that the conference series started at the very beginning of the intensity modulated radiotherapy era and that the dosimeters being developed then were, to some extent, ahead of the clinical need of radiotherapy. However, since then the technical developments in radiation therapy have been dramatic, with dynamic treatments, including tracking, gating and volumetric modulated arc therapy, widely introduced in the clinic with the need for 3D dosimetry thus endless. This was also reflected by the contributions at the meeting in Ystad. Accordingly the scope of the meeting has also broadened to IC3DDOSE - I See Three-Dimensional Dose. A multitude of dosimetry techniques and radiation detectors are now represented, all with the common denominator: three-dimensional or 3D. Additionally, quality assurance (QA) procedures and other aspects of clinical dosimetry are represented. The implementation of new dosimetric techniques in radiotherapy is a process that needs every kind of caution, carefulness and thorough validation. Therefore, the clinical needs, reformulated as the aims for IC3DDOSE - I See Three-Dimensional Dose, are: • Enhance the quality and accuracy of radiation therapy treatments through improved clinical dosimetry. • Investigate and understand the dosimetric challenges of modern radiation treatment techniques. • Provide a forum to discuss the latest research and developments in 3D and advanced radiation dosimetry. • Energize and diversify dosimetry research and clinical practice by encouraging interaction and synergy between advanced, 3D, and semi-3D dosimetry techniques. We commend these IC3Dose 2014 conference proceedings to you and strongly believe they include significant contributions to scientific progress in this field. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everybody involved in making the conference possible, the Scientific committee for their work on the general planning, paper review and program formulation, the distinguished invited speakers for their contributions and the local organizing committee members for all their hard work on the practical preparation for the meeting. Lars E. Olsson, Sven Bäck and Sofie Ceberg Lund University and Skåne University Hospital, Sweden International Scientific Committee Sven Bäck, Sweden (chair) Clive Baldock, Australia Sam Beddar, USA Crister Ceberg, Sweden Yves de Deene, Belgium/Australia Simon Doran, UK Geoffrey Ibbott, USA Andrew Jirasek, Canada Kevin Jordan, Canada Martin Lepage, Canada Daniel Low, USA Mark Oldham, USA Tony Popescu, Canada John Schreiner, Canada Cheng-Shie Wuu, USA David Thwaites, Australia Local Organizing Committee Sofie Ceberg (chair) Lars E. Olsson (conference chair) Fredrik Nordstrom Anneli Edvardsson Anna Karlsson Hauer Anna Bäck
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Brown, Laurie Mark; Dresden, Max; Hoddeson, Lillian
2009-01-01
Part I. Introduction; 1. Pions to quarks: particle physics in the 1950s Laurie M Brown, Max Dresden and Lillian Hoddeson; 2. Particle physics in the early 1950s Chen Ning Yang; 3. An historian's interest in particle physics J. L. Heilbron; Part II. Particle discoveries in cosmic rays; 4. Cosmic-ray cloud-chamber contributions to the discovery of the strange particles in the decade 1947-1957 George D. Rochester; 5. Cosmic-ray work with emulsions in the 1940s and 1950s Donald H. Perkins; Part III. High-energy nuclear physics; Learning about nucleon resonances with pion photoproduction Robert L. Walker; 7. A personal view of nucleon structure as revealed by electron scattering Robert Hofstadter; 8. Comments on electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon Robert G. Sachs and Kameshwar C. Wali; Part IV. The new laboratory; 9. The making of an accelerator physicist Matthew Sands; 10. Accelerator design and construction in the 1950s John P. Blewett; 11. Early history of the Cosmotron and AGS Ernest D. Courant; 12. Panel on accelerators and detectors in the 1950s Lawrence W. Jones, Luis W. Alvarez, Ugo Amaldi, Robert Hofstadter, Donald W. Kerst, Robert R. Wilson; 13. Accelerators and the Midwestern Universities Research Association in the 1950s Donald W. Kerst; 14. Bubbles, sparks and the postwar laboratory Peter Galison; 15. Development of the discharge (spark) chamber in Japan in the 1950s Shuji Fukui; 16. Early work at the Bevatron: a personal account Gerson Goldhaber; 17. The discovery of the antiproton Owen Chamberlain; 18. On the antiproton discovery Oreste Piccioni; Part V. The Strange Particles; 19. The hydrogen bubble chamber and the strange resonances Luis W. Alvarez; 20. A particular view of particle physics in the fifties Jack Steinberger; 21. Strange particles William Chinowsky; 22. Strange particles: production by Cosmotron beams as observed in diffusion cloud chambers William B. Fowler; 23. From the 1940s into the 1950s Abraham Pais; Part VI. Detection of the neutrino Frederick Reines; 25. Recollections on the establishment of the weak-interaction notion Bruno M. Pontecorvo; 26. Symmetry and conservation laws in particle physics in the fifties Louis Michel; 27. A connection between the strong and weak interactions Sam B. Treiman; Part VII. Weak interactions and parity nonconservation; 29. The nondiscovery of parity nonconservation Allan Franklin; 30. K-meson decays and parity violation Richard H. Dalitz; 31. An Experimentalist's Perspective Val L. Fitch; 32. The early experiments leading to the V - A interaction Valentine L. Telegdi; 33. Midcentury adventures in particles physics E. C. G. Sudarshan; Part VIII. The particle physics community; 34. The postwar political economy of high-energy physics Robert Seidel; 35. The history of CERN during the early 1950s Edoardo Amaldi; 36. Arguments pro and contra the European laboratory in the participating countries Armin Hermann; 37. Physics and excellences of the life it brings Abdus Salam; 38. Social aspects of Japanese particle physics in the 1950s Michiji Konuma; Part IX. Theories of hadrons; 39. The early S-matrix theory and its propagation (1942-1952) Helmut Rechenberg; 40. From field theory to phenomenology: the history of dispersion relations Andy Pickering; 41. Particles as S-matrix poles: hadron democracy Geoffrey F. Chew; 42. The general theory of quantised fields in the 1950s Arthur S. Wrightman; 43. The classification and structure of hadrons Yuval Ne'eman; 44. Gauge principle, vector-meson dominance and spontaneous symmetry breaking Yoichiro Nambu; Part X. Personal overviews; 45. Scientific impact of the first decade of the Rochester conferences (1950-1960) Robert E. Marshak; 46. Some reflections on the history of particle physics in the 1950s Silvan S. Schweber; 47. Progress in elementary particle theory 1950-1964 Murray Gell-Mann.
PREFACE: 7th International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry (IC3DDose)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Thwaites, David; Baldock, Clive
2013-06-01
IC3DDose 2013, the 7th International Conference on 3D Radiation Dosimetry held in Sydney, Australia from 4-8 November 2012, grew out of the DosGel series, which began as DosGel99, the 1st International Workshop on Radiation Therapy Gel Dosimetry in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 1999 subsequent DoSGel conferences were held in Brisbane, Australia (2001), Ghent, Belgium (2004), Sherbrooke, Canada (2006) and Crete, Greece (2008). In 2010 the conference was held on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and underwent a name-change to IC3DDose. The aim of the first workshop was to bring together individuals, both researchers and users, with an interest in 3D radiation dosimetry techniques, with a mix of presentations from basic science to clinical applications, which has remained an objective for all of the meetings. One rationale of DosGel99 was stated as supporting the increasing clinical implementation of gel dosimetry, as the technique appeared, at that time, to be leaving the laboratories of gel dosimetry enthusiasts and entering clinical practice. Clearly by labelling the first workshop as the 1st, there was a vision of a continuing series, which has been fulfilled. On the other hand, the expectation of widespread clinical use of gel dosimetry has perhaps not been what was hoped for and anticipated. Nevertheless the rapidly increasing demand for advanced high-precision 3D radiotherapy technology and techniques has continued apace. The need for practical and accurate 3D dosimetry methods for development and quality assurance has only increased. By the 6th meeting, held in South Carolina in 2010, the Conference Scientific Committee recognised the wider developments in 3D systems and methods and decided to widen the scope, whilst keeping the same span from basic science to applications. This was signalled by a change of name from 'Dosgel' to 'IC3DDose', a name that has continued to this latest conference. The conference objectives were: to enhance the quality and accuracy of radiation therapy treatment through improved clinical dosimetry to investigate and understand the dosimetric challenges of modern radiation treatments to provide a forum to discuss the latest research and developments in 3D and advanced radiation dosimetry to energise and diversify dosimetry research and clinical practice by encouraging interaction and synergy between advanced, 3D and semi-3D dosimetry techniques We believe the conference program, with its excellent range of expert and specialist speakers, met these objectives. Thanks are due to all invited speakers for their participation, to the Local Organising Committee members for all their hard work in making the conference happen, particularly the small core administrative support group, and to the range of academic, organisation and commercial sponsors who generously supported the meeting. The Scientific Committee members are also thanked for reviewing the submitted manuscripts and for assisting in the editorial process. Finally, all who travelled to Sydney, Australia for the meeting are acknowledged for choosing to attend and contribute to making this a successful conference. Local Conference Organising Committee David Thwaites (Conference Convener) Clive Baldock Leanne Price Elizabeth Starkey May Whitaker Peter Greer Lois Holloway Phil Vial Robin Hill Conference Scientific Committee Sven Back (Sweden) Clive Baldock (Australia) Cheng-Shie Wuu (USA) Yves de Deene (Belgium) Simon Doran (UK) Geoffrey Ibbott (USA) Andrew Jirasek (Canada) Kevin Jordan (Canada) Martin Lepage (Canada) Mark Oldham (USA) Evangelos Pappas (Greece) John Schreiner (Canada) David Thwaites (Australia) David ThwaitesClive Baldock DirectorExecutive Dean Institute of Medical PhysicsFaculty of Science School of PhysicsMacquarie University University of SydneyNorth Ryde NSW 2006NSW 2109 AustraliaAustralia The PDF also contains the conference program.
Wu, Shinyi; Ell, Kathleen; Jin, Haomiao; Vidyanti, Irene; Chou, Chih-Ping; Lee, Pey-Jiuan; Gross-Schulman, Sandra; Sklaroff, Laura Myerchin; Belson, David; Nezu, Arthur M; Hay, Joel; Wang, Chien-Ju; Scheib, Geoffrey; Di Capua, Paul; Hawkins, Caitlin; Liu, Pai; Ramirez, Magaly; Wu, Brian W; Richman, Mark; Myers, Caitlin; Agustines, Davin; Dasher, Robert; Kopelowicz, Alex; Allevato, Joseph; Roybal, Mike; Ipp, Eli; Haider, Uzma; Graham, Sharon; Mahabadi, Vahid; Guterman, Jeffrey
2018-04-23
Comorbid depression is a significant challenge for safety-net primary care systems. Team-based collaborative depression care is effective, but complex system factors in safety-net organizations impede adoption and result in persistent disparities in outcomes. Diabetes-Depression Care-management Adoption Trial (DCAT) evaluated whether depression care could be significantly improved by harnessing information and communication technologies to automate routine screening and monitoring of patient symptoms and treatment adherence and allow timely communication with providers. The aim of this study was to compare 6-month outcomes of a technology-facilitated care model with a usual care model and a supported care model that involved team-based collaborative depression care for safety-net primary care adult patients with type 2 diabetes. DCAT is a translational study in collaboration with Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, the second largest safety-net care system in the United States. A comparative effectiveness study with quasi-experimental design was conducted in three groups of adult patients with type 2 diabetes to compare three delivery models: usual care, supported care, and technology-facilitated care. Six-month outcomes included depression and diabetes care measures and patient-reported outcomes. Comparative treatment effects were estimated by linear or logistic regression models that used generalized propensity scores to adjust for sampling bias inherent in the nonrandomized design. DCAT enrolled 1406 patients (484 in usual care, 480 in supported care, and 442 in technology-facilitated care), most of whom were Hispanic or Latino and female. Compared with usual care, both the supported care and technology-facilitated care groups were associated with significant reduction in depressive symptoms measured by scores on the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (least squares estimate, LSE: usual care=6.35, supported care=5.05, technology-facilitated care=5.16; P value: supported care vs usual care=.02, technology-facilitated care vs usual care=.02); decreased prevalence of major depression (odds ratio, OR: supported care vs usual care=0.45, technology-facilitated care vs usual care=0.33; P value: supported care vs usual care=.02, technology-facilitated care vs usual care=.007); and reduced functional disability as measured by Sheehan Disability Scale scores (LSE: usual care=3.21, supported care=2.61, technology-facilitated care=2.59; P value: supported care vs usual care=.04, technology-facilitated care vs usual care=.03). Technology-facilitated care was significantly associated with depression remission (technology-facilitated care vs usual care: OR=2.98, P=.04); increased satisfaction with care for emotional problems among depressed patients (LSE: usual care=3.20, technology-facilitated care=3.70; P=.05); reduced total cholesterol level (LSE: usual care=176.40, technology-facilitated care=160.46; P=.01); improved satisfaction with diabetes care (LSE: usual care=4.01, technology-facilitated care=4.20; P=.05); and increased odds of taking an glycated hemoglobin test (technology-facilitated care vs usual care: OR=3.40, P<.001). Both the technology-facilitated care and supported care delivery models showed potential to improve 6-month depression and functional disability outcomes. The technology-facilitated care model has a greater likelihood to improve depression remission, patient satisfaction, and diabetes care quality. ©Shinyi Wu, Kathleen Ell, Haomiao Jin, Irene Vidyanti, Chih-Ping Chou, Pey-Jiuan Lee, Sandra Gross-Schulman, Laura Myerchin Sklaroff, David Belson, Arthur M Nezu, Joel Hay, Chien-Ju Wang, Geoffrey Scheib, Paul Di Capua, Caitlin Hawkins, Pai Liu, Magaly Ramirez, Brian W Wu, Mark Richman, Caitlin Myers, Davin Agustines, Robert Dasher, Alex Kopelowicz, Joseph Allevato, Mike Roybal, Eli Ipp, Uzma Haider, Sharon Graham, Vahid Mahabadi, Jeffrey Guterman. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 23.04.2018.
Cosmic Forensics Confirms Gamma-Ray Burst And Supernova Connection
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2003-03-01
Scientists announced today that they have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to confirm that a gamma-ray burst was connected to the death of a massive star. This result is an important step in understanding the origin of gamma-ray bursts, the most violent events in the present-day universe. "If a gamma-ray burst were a crime, then we now have strong circumstantial evidence that a supernova explosion was at the scene," said Nathaniel Butler of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, lead author of a paper presented today at the meeting of the High Energy Division of the American Astronomical Society. Chandra was able to obtain an unusually long observation (approximately 21 hours) of the afterglow of GRB 020813 (so named because the High-Energy Transient Explorer, HETE, discovered it on August 13, 2002.) A grating spectrometer aboard Chandra revealed an overabundance of elements characteristically dispersed in a supernova explosion. Narrow lines, or bumps, due to silicon and sulfur ions (atoms stripped of most of their electrons) were clearly identified in the X-ray spectrum of GRB 020813. "Our observation of GRB 020813 supports two of the most important features of the popular supra-nova model for gamma-ray bursts," said Butler. "An extremely massive star likely exploded less than two months prior to the gamma-ray burst, and the radiation from the gamma-ray burst was beamed into a narrow cone." An analysis of the data showed that the ions were moving away from the site of the gamma-ray burst at a tenth the speed of light, probably as part of a shell of matter ejected in the supernova explosion. The line features were observed to be sharply peaked, indicating that they were coming from a narrow region of the expanding shell. This implies that only a small fraction of the shell was illuminated by the gamma-ray burst, as would be expected if the burst was beamed into a narrow cone. The observed duration of the afterglow suggests a delay of about 60 days between the supernova and the gamma ray burst. The supra-nova model involves a two-step process: the first step is the collapse of the core of an extremely massive star accompanied by the ejection of the outer layers of the star. The collapsed core forms a rapidly rotating black hole surrounded by a swirling disk of matter. In the second step this black hole-disk system produces a jet of high-energy particles. Shock waves within the jet produce the burst of X-rays and gamma rays that is observed to last only a few minutes. Interaction of the jet with the ejected supernova shell produces the X-ray afterglow, which can last for days or even months. The reason for the delay between the formation of the black hole and the production of the jet is not understood. Earlier observations with Japan's ASCA, the Italian-Netherlands Beppo-SAX, and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellites, as well as Chandra had given some indication of the presence of elements expected in a shell ejected by a supernova. However, the number of X-rays detected in those observations was small, and the possibility remained that the reported lines were an instrumental effect or statistical fluctuation. Since Chandra was able to observe X-ray lines from GRB 020813 for almost an entire day, the number of X-rays detected was five times larger than for previous observations. This enabled the team to make a definitive identification of the silicon and sulfur lines. Chandra observed GRB 020813 for about 77,000 seconds, approximately 21 hours after the initial burst. Other members of the research team included Herman Marshall, George Ricker, Roland Vanderspek, Peter Ford, Geoffrey Crew (MIT), and Donald Lamb (University of Chicago). The High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer was built by MIT. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program, and TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The Smithsonian's Chandra X-ray Center controls science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass., for the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters, Washington.
A Countermeasure for Space Motion Sickness
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Reschke, M. F.; Somers, J. T.; Leigh, R. J.; Jones, G. Melvill
2006-01-01
Overall, the results obtained in both the U.S. and the Russian space programs indicate that most space crews will experience some symptoms of motion sickness (MS) causing significant impact on the operational objectives that must be accomplished to assure mission success. At this time the primary countermeasure for MS requires the administration of Promethazine. Promethazine is not a benign drug, and is most frequently administered just prior to the sleep cycle to prevent its side effects from further compromising mission objectives. Clearly other countermeasures for SMS must be developed. Currently the primary focus is on two different technologies: (1) developing new and different pharmacological compounds with less significant side effects, (2) preflight training. The primary problem with all of these methods for controlling MS is time. New drugs that may be beneficial are years from testing and development, and preflight training requires a significant investment of crew time during an already intensive pre-launch schedule. Granted, motion sickness symptoms can be minimized with either of the two methods detailed above, however, it may be possible to develop a countermeasure that does not require either extensive adaptation time or exposure to motion sickness. Approximately 25 years ago Professor Geoffrey Melvill Jones presented his work on adaptation of the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) using optically reversed vision (left-right prisms) during head rotations in the horizontal plane. It was of no surprise that most subjects experienced motion sickness while wearing the optically reversing prisms. However, a serendipitous finding emerged during this research showing that the same subjects did not experience motion sickness symptoms when wearing the reversing prisms under stroboscopic illumination. The mechanism, by which this side-effect was believed to have occurred, is not clearly understood. However, the fact that no motion sickness was ever noted, suggests the possibility of producing functionally useful adaptation during space flight without the penalty of disabling motion sickness by controlling the rate of the adaptive process by means of an appropriate stroboscopically presented environment. After several recent meetings with Professor Melvill Jones, we were encouraged to repeat the motion sickness portions of his and Mandl's 1981 stroboscopic experiment. In conducting this experiment we used a randomized cross-over design where subjects were randomly assigned to either a stroboscopic flash or no strobe for their first exposure in the experimental design. Twenty subjects (19 subjects completed the study) read a short passage from Treasure Island mounted on the wall approximately 1 m from their eyes while wearing left-right reversing prisms. The strobe on time of 3 microseconds and flash frequency of 4 Hz was set to equal that used in the original study. Motion sickness was scored using a modified Miller and Graybiel scale that we constructed to include symptoms that may be elicited under conditions where reversing prisms are worn. On this scale a score of 5 represented Malaise IIa (mild motion sickness) and a score of 8 or above is approaching frank sickness. Symptoms were tracked and recorded every 5 min during the task. Testing was limited to 30 min unless the subject had reached the MIIa score, at which time the test was terminated. Performance under stroboscopic illumination was significantly better than when the subjects read under normal room illumination while wearing the left-right reversing prisms. Based on these results we developed a goggle system using LCD material that can be strobed. To evaluate the effectiveness of stroboscopic goggles we tested an additional 9 subjects in addition to retesting 10 used in the stroboscopic pilot study described above. These 19 subjects wore a pair of strobing LCD goggles that could be cycled at 4 Hz. These subjects wore the goggles while also wearing left-right reversg prisms. Results while wearing the goggles showed that none of the 19 subjects scored at the MIIa level on the motion sickness rating scale. When the goggles did not flash (no strobe), 11 of the 19 developed symptoms above the MIIa criteria. As a countermeasure the goggles seem to be effective, even with an on time of 10 msec (time the goggles are clear). We have also collected anecdotal data, from our personnel in the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, suggesting that the goggles may effective in preventing carsickness.
Super-Sharp Radio 'Eye' Remeasuring the Universe
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2011-02-01
Using the super-sharp radio "vision" of astronomy's most precise telescope, scientists have extended a directly-measured "yardstick" three times farther into the cosmos than ever before, an achievement with important implications for numerous areas of astrophysics, including determining the nature of Dark Energy, which constitutes 70 percent of the Universe. The continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) also is redrawing the map of our home Galaxy and is poised to yield tantalizing new information about extrasolar planets, among many other cutting-edge research projects. The VLBA provides the greatest ability to see fine detail, called resolving power, of any telescope in the world. It can produce images hundreds of times more detailed than those from the Hubble Space Telescope -- power equivalent to sitting in New York and reading a newspaper in Los Angeles. This power allows astronomers to make precise cosmic measurements with far-ranging implications for research within our own Galaxy and far beyond. New measurements with the VLBA have placed a galaxy called NGC 6264 at a distance of 450 million light-years from Earth, with an uncertainty of no more than 9 percent. This is the farthest distance ever directly measured, surpassing a measurement of 160 million light-years to another galaxy in 2009. Previously, distances beyond our own Galaxy have been estimated through indirect methods. "Our direct, geometric measurements are independent of the assumptions and complications inherent in other techniques," said James Braatz, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), who worked with Cheng-Yu Kuo, of the University of Virginia and NRAO. Fine-tuning the measurement of ever-greater distances is vital to determining the expansion rate of the Universe, which helps theorists narrow down possible explanations for the nature of Dark Energy. Different models of Dark Energy predict different values for the expansion rate, known as the Hubble Constant. "Solving the Dark Energy problem requires advancing the precision of cosmic distance measurements, and we are working to refine our observations and extend our methods to more galaxies," Braatz said. Measuring more-distant galaxies is vital, because the farther a galaxy is, the more of its motion is due to the expansion of the Universe rather than to random motions. Redrawing the Map of Our Milky Way Another ongoing project uses the VLBA to redraw the map of our own home Galaxy. Recent work has added dozens of new measurements to star-forming regions in the Milky Way, The direct VLBA measurements improve on earlier estimates by as much as a factor of two. This improvement significantly aids in understanding the physics of the young stars and their environments. It also has changed the map of the Milky Way, indicating that our Galaxy has four spiral arms, not two, as previously thought. "Because we sit inside our Galaxy, it's difficult to actually map it. These precision distance measurements are our most effective tool for learning about the structure of the Milky Way," said Mark Reid, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Earlier work by Reid and his colleagues showed that the Milky Way is rotating faster than previous estimates had indicated. That measurement in turn showed our Galaxy to be more massive, equaling our neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, in mass. Reid's team also is observing the Andromeda Galaxy in a long-term project to determine the direction and speed of its movement through space. "The standard prediction is that the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide in a few billion years. By measuring Andromeda's actual motion, we can determine with much greater accuracy if and when that will happen," Reid said. Tiny Wobbles Will Reveal Planets A long-term, sensitive search of 30 stars seeks to find the subtle gravitational tug that will reveal planets orbiting those stars. The VLBA's precision can reveal a "wobble" in the star's motion through space caused by the planet's gravity. A four-year program, started in 2007, is nearing its completion. "This study tracks stars smaller than our Sun, seeking evidence of planets the size of Jupiter or smaller," said Geoffrey Bower, of the University of California, Berkeley. "We want to learn how common it is for these low-mass stars to have planets orbiting them at relatively large distances," he added. The project uses the VLBA along with NRAO's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the largest fully-steerable dish antenna in the world. Together, these telescopes can detect the faint radio emission from the stars to track their motion over time. Early results have ruled out any companions the size of brown dwarfs for three of the stars, and the astronomers are analyzing their data as the observations continue. The VLBA -- A System of Superlatives The VLBA, dedicated in 1993, uses ten, 25-meter-diameter dish antennas distributed from Hawaii to St. Croix in the Caribbean. It is operated from the NRAO's Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM. All ten antennas work together as a single telescope with the greatest resolving power available to astronomy. This unique capability has produced landmark contributions to numerous scientific fields, ranging from Earth tectonics, climate research, and spacecraft navigation to cosmology. Ongoing upgrades in electronics and computing have enhanced the VLBA's capabilities. With improvements now nearing completion, the VLBA will be as much as 5,000 times more powerful as a scientific tool than the original VLBA of 1993. "The VLBA has unmatched capabilities for making unique contributions to many fundamental areas of science. It has a proven track record of enabling transformational research and its new technical enhancements promise a rich harvest of discovery in the coming years," said NRAO Director Fred K.Y. Lo. Astronomers reported on the new measurements and ongoing projects at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C.
Obituary: Edmond M. Reeves, 1934-2008
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Noyes, Robert; Parkinson, William
2009-01-01
With great sadness we report that Edmond (Ed) M. Reeves, a former leader of solar space research projects at Harvard College Observatory [HCO] and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics [CfA], died on 8 August 2008, in Arlington, Virginia, after a long and heroic struggle with cancer. Ed was born in London, Ontario, Canada, on 14 January 1934. During his undergraduate and graduate years at the University of Western Ontario [UWO], he was in the Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve) as a Cadet (1952-1956), then as Instructing Officer, HMCS Prevost (1956-1959), and Lieutenant, Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve) retired. He received a Ph.D. in 1959 from the UWO, specializing in atomic and molecular physics. After two years of postdoctoral research in ultraviolet atomic spectroscopy at the Department of Physics, Imperial College, London, England, Ed joined the HCO Solar Satellite project, working with Leo Goldberg, Director of HCO, and pioneer in solar spectroscopy. In 1968, Ed was appointed Senior Research Associate at HCO, and in 1973 he received a joint appointment as Physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory [SAO] when the CfA was initiated under George Field. During his seventeen years at the Observatory, Ed led a large and vibrant group of engineers and scientists in the Solar Satellite Project, developing a series of space missions to explore the extreme ultraviolet emission from the Sun. Ed also maintained his interest and research in laboratory atomic and molecular astrophysics and enjoyed a vigorous involvement in the HCO Shock Tube Laboratory. In the early 1960s, in the area of molecular spectroscopy, Ed and Bill Parkinson photographed the vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectrum of CO (the Fourth Positive system), which was produced at high temperature in a shock tube. This laboratory spectrum shortly led to the discovery of CO as an important source of opacity in the solar ultraviolet. Goldberg, who first identified CO vibration-rotation bands in the infrared solar spectrum in 1951, recognized at around 180 nm the prominent CO features in the shock tube spectra and in the solar spectra. The identification was confirmed by comparing the high-temperature laboratory spectra with published solar spectra taken by the Naval Research Laboratory with a rocket-borne spectrograph. Ed's work for the Solar Satellite Project included planning and carrying out laboratory, Vacuum UV absolute-intensity calibrations of the early rocket and satellite spectrometers. He set the requirement that the solar spectroscopic instruments have radiometric calibrations in the Vacuum UV, traceable to a laboratory standard. The space missions began with rocket experiments in the early 1960s, progressed to the Orbiting Solar Observatory [OSO] program in the mid-1960s, and culminated in the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectroheliometer on the Apollo Telescope Mount [ATM] of the Skylab missions in 1973 and 1974. Ed received NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1974. This sequence of space instruments laid much of the early groundwork for our current understanding of the outer solar atmosphere. For example, the OSO observations revealed for the first time coronal "holes," which we now know are the seat of the fast solar wind. Another experiment of particular interest and importance to solar physics resulted from the launch of a rocket-borne objective grating spectrograph into the path of totality of a solar eclipse from Wallops Island, Virginia, on 7 March 1970. This lucky "rocket group" included Ralph Nicholls from York University, Canada; Reg Garton and Bob Speer from Imperial College, London; Bob Wilson, then from Culham in the UK; and, of course, Leo Goldberg and colleagues from HCO, a group made up of mentors, advisors, teachers, and friends of Ed's. The eclipse spectrogram revealed strong emission from neutral hydrogen (Lyman-alpha) in the solar corona. The discovery of the Lyman-alpha corona inspired the project for a Lyman-alpha coronagraph. At a Retirement Symposium dedicated to Ralph Nicholls in 1992, Ed recalled that at a coffee break about twenty years earlier, during the Skylab program at Houston, he, Bob Noyes, and Bob MacQueen outlined the need to develop a rocket-borne coronagraph to observe the hydrogen Lyman-alpha corona. Later, after returning to the CfA, Ed, Bob Noyes, and Bill Parkinson planned a rocket-borne spectrograph to image the extended corona, expecting to use a circular occulter. John Kohl joined the fledgling coronagraph project, and he realized that a linear external occulter would be better and also would match a spectrometer slit. This project became the origin of the Lyman-Alpha Coronagraph series of rocket and Spacelab experiments under John Kohl's leadership, culminating in the still-operating Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer [UVCS] experiment on the SOHO spacecraft. In 1978, Ed joined the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, where he was Head of Administration and Support before moving to NASA Headquarters in 1982. There he became Director of the Flight Systems Office in the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, with responsibility for integrated planning and science operations for research using the Spacelab, Spacehab, and Mir missions. He led the activities for the research requirements and planning for the International Space Station and served as the Space Station Senior Scientist, the Executive Secretary of the Space Station Utilization Advisory Subcommittee, and the Executive Secretary of the Space Station Utilization Board at NASA Headquarters He also served as NASA's representative to the international Users Operations Panel, which coordinates the utilization planning for the Station across the international partners. Ed retired from NASA in 1998. Ed was an outdoors man who enjoyed camping, canoeing, and cross-country skiing with his family. He is survived by his wife Vivian, son Dr. Geoffrey Reeves, daughter Laurie Webster, and three grandchildren. Ed's son Geoff is Group Leader for Space Science and Atmospheric Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. A funeral service took place on Friday, 15 August at The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia.
Obituary: Ronald Cecil Stone, 1946-2005
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Monet, Alice Kay Babcock
2006-12-01
Ronald C. Stone, an astronomer at the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station, passed away on 10 September 2005 in Downer's Grove, IL, following a valiant struggle with cancer. He was fifty-nine years old. Ron was born on 9 June 1946 in Seattle, Washington, to Helen (Vocelka) and Cecil Stone. His father was a World War II veteran who attended college on the GI Bill and became a mechanical engineer. He and his wife raised three sons: Dwight, Ronald, and Gavin. They lived in a number of locations across the U.S. before settling at last in Downer's Grove when Ron was in the fourth grade. Ron's interest in astronomy began when he was given a toy planetarium projector while still in grade school, and later a small telescope. In high school, he also built his own telescope, grinding the 6-inch mirror by hand. He completed grade school and high school in Downer's Grove and did his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in astronomy and physics and graduating cum laude in 1968. The following year, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served for two years, including a stint in Vietnam. Although his primary assignment was auditing, he was also involved in the defense of the Long Binh base in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1971 and enrolled that fall at the University of Chicago. While a graduate student working with Bill van Altena, Ron developed his life long interest in the field of astrometry. Van Altena recalls him as "a quiet and cheerful student who wanted to learn, and [who] worked hard to understand the intricacies of astrometry... deriving the most precise proper motions from the 40-inch [Yerkes] refractor plates." Working at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, he completed a thesis entitled, "Mean Secular Parallax at Low Galactic Latitude." While living in Wisconsin, Ron also became engaged to Ellen Mickel, and the two were married at his parents' home in Downer's Grove. After earning his Ph.D. in 1978 from Chicago, Ron held a number of research and postdoctoral positions. These included a few months at the Venezuelan National Observatory in Merida, where he helped to set up an astrometric program. This work was unfortunately cut short because of difficulties obtaining the requisite work visa. He also had a two year postdoc at Northwestern University, where he did spectroscopy of massive stars and studied various open clusters. Ron and Ellen's first child, Heather, was born on 9 June 1981 in Evanston, IL. Ron and Ellen moved to Washington, DC, in 1981, where Ron joined the staff of the U.S. Naval Observatory Transit Circle Division. Their son, Geoffrey, was born on 10 May 1983. The marriage ended in divorce in 2001. During the three years that he spent at the USNO headquarters, Ron received training in observing and data reduction with the 6-inch transit circle. When in 1984 the observatory opened the Black Birch Station in New Zealand for surveying the southern sky with the 7-inch transit circle, Ron joined the first group of astronomers to transfer. There he became involved in developing software for the 7-inch, particularly with the image dissector and the acquisition and reduction of planetary observations. Together with Ellis Holdenreid, he worked on some aspects of the real time control software for the 7-inch. He also continued to work on his earlier interest in runaway OB stars. When Ron's tour at the Black Birch Station was coming to an end, he requested a transfer to the USNO Flagstaff Station in northern Arizona. There was a transit circle at the Flagstaff Station being fitted with a CCD camera, and Ron's experience with transit circles in Washington and Black Birch made him well-qualified to help with the modernization of this instrument. Ron worked with David and Alice Monet to automate the 8-inch and develop astrometric software for reducing and analyzing its observations. This telescope came to be known as the FASTT, for Flagstaff Astrometric Scanning Transit Telescope. It was used from 1992 onward to obtain highly accurate astrometric positions of various Solar System bodies that were targets of several NASA space missions. In addition, Ron observed astrometric calibration regions for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. He collaborated in projects to predict and observe stellar and planetary occultations, determine the masses of certain asteroids, and improve the orbits of numerous planetary satellites. In his letter recalling Ron Stone's career, Bill van Altena wrote, "I also knew and respected Ron as a scientist who worked to do the very best that he could with the FASTT system and produced an outstanding set of data that will be remembered as setting the standards for the best that could be done with drift scanning astrometry." Ron used FASTT observations of radio stars and the brightest quasars to confirm the tie between the optical and radio reference frames. He developed extensive software for automated reduction of FASTT observations. During his last year of life, he took on the additional responsibility of bringing another new telescope, the 1.3-meter, into operation, and was making good progress in this effort until his illness forced him to relinquish the task. Besides his professional interests, Ron was a avid outdoorsman. During his years in Williams Bay, he rode a motorcycle and enjoyed SCUBA diving. He is one of the few people to have gone diving in Lake Geneva. He liked nothing better than hiking and exploring wilderness areas. As his brother, Dwight, recalled, "If he saw a mountain, he had to climb it!"
PREFACE: Domain wall dynamics in nanostructures Domain wall dynamics in nanostructures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Marrows, C. H.; Meier, G.
2012-01-01
Domain structures in magnetic materials are ubiquitous and have been studied for decades. The walls that separate them are topological defects in the magnetic order parameter and have a wide variety of complex forms. In general, their investigation is difficult in bulk materials since only the domain structure on the surface of a specimen is visible. Cutting the sample to reveal the interior causes a rearrangement of the domains into a new form. As with many other areas of magnetism, the study of domain wall physics has been revitalised by the advent of nanotechnology. The ability to fabricate nanoscale structures has permitted the formation of simplified and controlled domain patterns; the development of advanced microscopy methods has permitted them to be imaged and then modelled; subjecting them to ultrashort field and current pulses has permitted their dynamics to be explored. The latest results from all of these advances are described in this special issue. Not only has this led to results of great scientific beauty, but also to concepts of great applicability to future information technologies. In this issue the reader will find the latest results for these domain wall dynamics and the high-speed processes of topological structures such as domain walls and magnetic vortices. These dynamics can be driven by the application of magnetic fields, or by flowing currents through spintronic devices using the novel physics of spin-transfer torque. This complexity has been studied using a wide variety of experimental techniques at the edge of the spatial and temporal resolution currently available, and can be described using sophisticated analytical theory and computational modelling. As a result, the dynamics can be engineered to give rise to finely controlled memory and logic devices with new functionality. Moreover, the field is moving to study not only the conventional transition metal ferromagnets, but also complex heterostructures, novel magnets and even other forms of ordered phases such as antiferromagnetism and ferroelectricity. We would like to thank the scientists from all over the world who happily agreed to contribute their latest results to this special issue, and the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter staff for their help, patience and professionalism. In such a fast-moving field it is not possible to give a definitive account, and this special issue can be no more than a snapshot of the current state of knowledge regarding this topic. Nevertheless, we hope that this collection of papers is a useful resource for experienced workers in the field, forms a useful introduction to researchers early in their careers and inspires others in related areas of nanotechnology to enter into the study of domain dynamics in nanostructures. Domain wall dynamics in nanostructures contents Temperature estimation in a ferromagnetic Fe-Ni nanowire involving a current-driven domain wall motionA Yamaguchi, A Hirohata, T Ono and H Miyajima Magnetization reversal in magnetic nanostripes via Bloch wall formation M Zeisberger and R Mattheis Magnetic soft x-ray microscopy of the domain wall depinning process in permalloy magnetic nanowiresMi-Young Im, Lars Bocklage, Guido Meier and Peter Fischer Domain wall propagation in meso- and nanoscale ferroelectrics R G P McQuaid, M McMillen, L-W Chang, A Gruverman and J M Gregg Transverse and vortex domain wall structure in magnetic nanowires with uniaxial in-plane anisotropyM T Bryan, S Bance, J Dean, T Schrefl and D A Allwood The stochastic nature of the domain wall motion along high perpendicular anisotropy strips with surface roughness Eduardo Martinez Temperature-dependent dynamics of stochastic domain-wall depinning in nanowiresClemens Wuth, Peter Lendecke and Guido Meier Controlled pinning and depinning of domain walls in nanowires with perpendicular magnetic anisotropyTheo Gerhardt, André Drews and Guido Meier The interaction of transverse domain wallsBenjamin Krüger The increase of the spin-transfer torque threshold current density in coupled vortex domain wallsS Lepadatu, A P Mihai, J S Claydon, F Maccherozzi, S S Dhesi, C J Kinane, S Langridge and C H Marrows Large RF susceptibility of transverse domain wallsO Rousseau, S Petit-Watelot and M Viret Expansion and relaxation of magnetic mirror domains in a Pt/Co/Pt/Co/Pt multilayer with antiferromagnetic interlayer couplingP J Metaxas, R L Stamps, J-P Jamet, J Ferré, V Baltz and B Rodmacq Current-induced domain wall motion and magnetization dynamics in CoFeB/Cu/Co nanostripesV Uhlíř, J Vogel, N Rougemaille, O Fruchart, Z Ishaque, V Cros, J Camarero, J C Cezar, F Sirotti and S Pizzini Roles of the magnetic field and electric current in thermally activated domain wall motion in a submicrometer magnetic strip with perpendicular magnetic anisotropySatoru Emori and Geoffrey S D Beach Electrical domain morphologies in compositionally graded ferroelectric filmsM B Okatan, A L Roytburd, V Nagarajan and S P Alpay Domain-wall pinning by local control of anisotropy in Pt/Co/Pt strips J H Franken, M Hoeijmakers, R Lavrijsen and H J M Swagten Experimental detection of domain wall propagation above the Walker field Kouta Kondou, Norikazu Ohshima, Daichi Chiba, Shinya Kasai, Kensuke Kobayashi and Teruo Ono Enhanced functionality in magnonics by domain walls and inhomogeneous spin configurationsG Duerr, R Huber and D Grundler Domain wall motion in perpendicular anisotropy nanowires with edge roughness Maximilian Albert, Matteo Franchin, Thomas Fischbacher, Guido Meier and Hans Fangohr Determination of the spin torque non-adiabaticity in perpendicularly magnetized nanowiresJ Heinen, D Hinzke, O Boulle, G Malinowski, H J M Swagten, B Koopmans, C Ulysse, G Faini, B Ocker, J Wrona and M Kläui Domain wall dynamics driven by spin transfer torque and the spin-orbit field Masamitsu Hayashi, Yoshinobu Nakatani, Shunsuke Fukami, Michihiko Yamanouchi, Seiji Mitani and Hideo Ohno Dynamic propagation and nucleation in domain wall nanowire devicesL O'Brien, D E Read, D Petit and R P Cowburn Influence of a transport current on a domain wall in an antiferromagnetic metalA C Swaving and R A Duine
PREFACE: Galactic Center Workshop 2006
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schödel, Rainer; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Muno, Michael P.; Nayakshin, Sergei; Ott, Thomas
2006-12-01
We are pleased to present the proceedings from the Galactic Center Workshop 2006—From the Center of the Milky Way to Nearby Low-Luminosity Galactic Nuclei. The conference took place in the Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef, Germany, on 18 to 22 April 2006. It is the third workshop of this kind, following the Galactic Center Workshops held 1998 in Tucson, Arizona, and 2002 in Kona, Hawaii. The center of the Milky Way is the only galactic nucleus of a fairly common spiral galaxy that can be observed in great detail. With a distance of roughly 8 kpc, the resolution that can currently be achieved is of the order 40 mpc/8000 AU in the X-ray domain, 2 mpc/400 AU in the near-infrared, and 0.01 mpc/1 AU with VLBI in the millimeter domain. This is two to three orders of magnitude better than for any comparable nearby galaxy, making thus the center of the Milky Way thetemplate object for the general physical interpretation of the phenomena that can be observed in galactic nuclei. We recommend the summary article News from the year 2006 Galactic Centre workshopby Mark Morris and Sergei Nayakshin—who also gave the summary talk of the conference—to the reader in order to obtain a first, concise overview of the results presented at the workshop and some of the currently most exciting—and debated—developments in recent GC research. While the workshops held in 1998 and 2002 were dedicated solely to the center of the Milky Way, the field of view was widened in Bad Honnef to include nearby low-luminosity nuclei. This new feature followed the realization that not only the GC serves as a template for understanding extragalactic nuclei, but that the latter can also provide the context and broader statistical base for understanding the center of our Milky Way. This concerns especially the accretion and emission processes related to the Sagittarius A*, the manifestation of the super massive black hole in the GC, but also the surprising observation of great numbers of massive, young stars in an environment that was previously thought hostile to star formation. Highlights of the GC Workshop 2002 in Kona were certainly the extraordinary evidence for the black hole nature of Sagittarius A* provided by the observation of orbits of individual stars around the central dark mass of the Milky Way, and the observations of short radiation outbreaks from Sgr A* in the X-ray regime, the so-called flares. These events with their variability on the minute time scale provided additional hard evidence for the black hole nature of Sgr A*. Also, the new observational capabilities provided by Chandraand XMMprovided spectacular new insights into the physics of the GC. With the black hole nature of Sagittarius A* now confirmed beyond reasonable doubt, theory and observation are zooming into ever smaller scales, trying to understand the exact physics behind the extreme under-luminosity (10-9 10-10 in terms of Eddington luminosity) of Sagittarius A*. Especially observations of the submm, NIR, and X-ray flares appear to be promising sources to analyze the accretion physics of Sagittarius A* near its event horizon. Some flares may carry the actual imprint of plasma moving at relativistic velocities near the last orbit of the black hole. Another topic that has moved into the focus of attention is star formation near the central black hole. One, possibly two, disks of young massive stars in the central half parsec, generally assumed hostile to star formation, challenge current theories of star formation. Through new infrared integral field spectrometers there is now strong evidence that the stars in the immediate environment of Sagittarius A*, the so-called S-stars are B-type main sequence stars. There are many hypothesis for their origin, but no model could yet provide entirely satisfactory explanations for their existence. A significant number of new telescopes and instruments access ever greater detail at all wavelengths. The continuing development of (sub)-millimeter instrumentation, for example, provides high spatial resolution as well as important spectroscopic data on the complex chemistry of the central tens of parsecs. The new X-ray satellite Suzaku delivers unprecedented spectral resolution in the X-ray domain. Instruments such as H.E.S.S. open, for the first time, the window toward observations in the TeV regime with sub-arcminute resolution. A spectacular near-to-mid-infrared survey of the central hundred parsecs of the Milky Way has been conducted with the Spitzer infrared satellite. VLBI is moving to ever shorter wavelengths, opening the tantalizing prospect of imaging processes near the event horizon of Sagittarius A* within the next decade. Finally, the brightest near- and mid-infrared sources in the central parsec have been and are continued to be examined with infrared interferometry at the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer. These first observations clear the way for future ambitious measurements of relativistic effects in the immediate environment of the black hole. The articles in this volume can also be accessed on-line in electronic form, including full color figures and multimedia files. The proceedings can be accessed via the internet site of the Journal of Physics: Conference Series of Institute of Physics Publishing. A link to this site can be also found on the web site of the GC 2006 Workshop, http://www.ph1.uni-koeln.de/GC06. The complete program of the conference, pictures, and other material can be accessed via this site as well. We are grateful to everyone who helped with their efforts to make this conference a fruitful and enjoyable one. Special thanks to the LOC and to the employees of the Physikzentrum in Bad Honnef. The location proved to be a perfect choice, providing all the necessary infrastructure on a high level, a fantastic lecture hall, and the very comfortable basement hall for discussing and socializing in the evenings. We also would like to thank all people working as editors for GCNEWS—The Galactic Center Newsletter, who helped with their know-how from previous GC workshops. GCNEWS is a newsletter that appears several times each year with articles and news on the Galactic Center, including abstracts of recently published papers. Please see http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~gcnews for further information. GCNEWS is a communication platform for the steadily increasing community of GC researchers and is the backbone behind the GC Workshops. We acknowledge financial support for the conference by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)Sonderforschungsbereich project number SFB 494. Finally, we would like to thank the more than 100 participants of the GC Workshop 2006 for their enthusiasm and the numerous active contributions which made this conference such a success. Rainer Schödel, Geoffrey C Bower, Michael P Muno, Sergei Nayakshin and Thomas Ott Editors The PDF file contains various photographs taken at the conference and the conference schedule.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Eppelbaum, Lev; Meirova, Tatiana
2015-04-01
It is well-known that the local seismic site effects may have a significant contribution to the intensity of damage and destruction (e.g., Hough et al., 1990; Regnier et al., 2000; Bonnefoy-Claudet et al., 2006; Haase et al., 2010). The thicknesses of sediments, which play a large role in amplification, usually are derived from seismic velocities. At the same time, thickness of sediments may be determined (or defined) on the basis of 3D combined gravity-magnetic modeling joined with available geological materials, seismic data and borehole section examination. Final result of such investigation is a 3D physical-geological model (PGM) reflecting main geological peculiarities of the area under study. Such a combined study needs in application of a reliable 3D mathematical algorithm of computation together with advanced methodology of 3D modeling. For this analysis the developed GSFC software was selected. The GSFC (Geological Space Field Calculation) program was developed for solving a direct 3-D gravity and magnetic prospecting problem under complex geological conditions (Khesin et al., 1996; Eppelbaum and Khesin, 2004). This program has been designed for computing the field of Δg (Bouguer, free-air or observed value anomalies), ΔZ, ΔX, ΔY , ΔT , as well as second derivatives of the gravitational potential under conditions of rugged relief and inclined magnetization. The geological space can be approximated by (1) three-dimensional, (2) semi-infinite bodies and (3) those infinite along the strike closed, L.H. non-closed, R.H. on-closed and open). Geological bodies are approximated by horizontal polygonal prisms. The program has the following main advantages (besides abovementioned ones): (1) Simultaneous computing of gravity and magnetic fields; (2) Description of the terrain relief by irregularly placed characteristic points; (3) Computation of the effect of the earth-air boundary by the method of selection directly in the process of interpretation; (4) Modeling of the selected profiles flowing over rugged relief or at various arbitrary levels (using characteristic points); (5) Simultaneous modeling of several profiles; (6) Description of a large number of geological bodies and fragments. The basic algorithm realized in the GSFC program is the solution of the direct 3-D problem of gravity and magnetic prospecting for horizontal polygonal prism limited in the strike direction. In the developed algorithm integration over a volume is realized on the surface limiting the anomalous body. It is necessary to note that when we apply a series of interpreting profiles, we can compile several detailed maps of thicknesses of sedimentary or intrusive associations for the area under study. Such an experience was obtained for Carmel and Maanit areas (Eppelbaum and Katz, 2012a). Taking into account that seismic site effects must have an obvious correlation with tectonic pattern (in regional, middle and detailed scales), satellite (gravity), airborne (magnetic measurements at 1 and 5 km levels) and land (both gravity and magnetic) data were processed by the use of different methodologies. For instance, it was shown that magnetic gradient computations from airborne magnetic observations (1 km level) enable to classify the region under study to areas with thick sedimentary cover and areas with shallow intrusive rock location. Self-adjusting and adaptive filtering of gravity satellite obtained and magnetic airborne (1 and 5 km) data enabled to reveal the areas with quasi-homogeneous characteristics. Satellite derived gravity data were processed by the use of numerous algorithms: entropy, adaptive filtering, wavelet, and information approach (Eppelbaum and Katz, 2015a, 2015b, Eppelbaum et al., 2014), and strike angle and virtual deformations (KlokoÄník et al., 2014). Application of these methods was effective not only for tectono-geological setting sharpening, but also for calculation of such parameters as 'dominant location of subsurface masses', areas of 'compression' and 'dilatation'. Land gravity and magnetic data were processed by the use of abovementioned algorithms including procedures of downward continuation and computation of third derivatives of gravitational potential. For this investigation was utilized the recently constructed map of the Neogene-Quaternary structural stage (indicating thicknesses of these deposits) of Israel and the eastern Mediterranean (Eppelbaum and Katz, 2014b). Results of other map compilation (Palaeogene, Late and Early Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic structural stages, hypsometric map of the base of the newest (Post-Jurassic) tectonic complex as well as map of Lower Mesozoic wells and outcrop locations) (Eppelbaum and Katz, 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2014a, 2014b, 2015a, 2015b) were taken into consideration for 3D PGMs construction. Acknowledgements This research was carried out under grant No. 214-17-016 from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources of Israel. References Bonnefoy-Claudet, S., Cotton, F. and Bard, P.-Y., 2006. The nature of noise wavefield and its applications for site effects studies. A literature review. Earth Sciences Review, 79, 205-227. Eppelbaum, L. and Katz, Y., 2011. Tectonic-Geophysical Mapping of Israel and eastern Mediterranean: Implication for Hydrocarbon Prospecting. Positioning, 2, No. 1, doi: 10.4236/pos.2011.21004, 36-54. Eppelbaum, L.V., Katz, Y.I., 2012a. Mineral deposits in Israel: A contemporary view, In: (Eds. Ya'ari, A. and Zahavi, E.D.), Israel: Social, Economic and Political Developments, Nova Science Publ, NY, USA, 1-41. Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Y.I., 2012b. Key Features of Seismo-Neotectonic Pattern of the Eastern Mediterranean. Izv. Acad. Sci. Azerb. Rep., Ser.: Earth Sciences, No. 3, 29-40. Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Y.I., 2014a. First Paleomagnetic Map of the Easternmost Mediterranean Derived from Combined Geophysical-Geological Analysis. Trans. of the 10th EUG Meet., Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 16, EGU2014-2424, Vienna, Austria, 1-5. Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Y.I., 2014b. First Maps of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Structural-Sedimentation Floors of the Easternmost Mediterranean and their Relationship with the Deep Geophysical-Geological Zonation. Proceed. of the 19th Intern. Congress of Sedimentologists, Geneva, Switzerland, 1-3. Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Yu.I., 2015a. Newly Developed Paleomagnetic Map of the Easternmost Mediterranean Unmasks Geodynamic History of this Region. Central European Jour. of Geosciences, 6, No. 4 (in Press). Eppelbaum, L.V. and Katz, Yu.I., 2015b. Application of Integrated Geological-Geophysical Analysis for Development of Paleomagnetic Maps of the Easternmost Mediterranean. In: (Eppelbaum L., Ed.), New Developments in Paleomagnetism Research, Nova Publisher, NY (in Press). Eppelbaum, L.V. and Khesin, B.E., 2004. Advanced 3-D modelling of gravity field unmasks reserves of a pyrite-polymetallic deposit: A case study from the Greater Caucasus. First Break, 22, No. 11, 53-56. Eppelbaum, L.V., Nikolaev, A.V. and Katz, Y.I., 2014. Space location of the Kiama paleomagnetic hyperzone of inverse polarity in the crust of the eastern Mediterranean. Doklady Earth Sciences (Springer), 457, No. 6, 710-714. Haase, J.S., Park, C.H., Nowack, R.L. and Hill, J.R., 2010. Probabilistic seismic hazard estimates incorporating site effects - An example from Indiana, U.S.A. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 16, No. 4, 369-388. Hough, S.E., Borcherdt, R. D., Friberg, P. A., Busby, R., Field, E. and Jacob, K. N., 1990. The role of sediment-induced amplification in the collapse of the Nimitz freeway. Nature, 344, 853-855. Khesin, B.E. Alexeyev, V.V. and Eppelbaum, L.V., 1996. Interpretation of Geophysical Fields in Complicated Environments. Kluwer Academic Publ., Ser.: Advanced Appr. in Geophysics, Dordrecht - London - Boston. KlokoÄník, J., Kostelecký, J., Eppelbaum, L. and BezdÄk, A., 2014. Gravity Disturbances, the Marussi Tensor, Invariants and Other Functions of the Geopotential Represented by EGM 2008. Journal of Earth Science Research, 2, No. 3, 88-101. Regnier, M., Moris, S. Shapira, A., Malitzky, A. and Shorten, G., 2000. Microzonation of the expected seismic site effects across Port Vila, Vanuatu. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 4, No. 2, 215-231.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Caserio, Marjorie C.
1999-07-01
Women who made significant contributions in the chemical sciences prior to the 20th century do not come readily to mind. Yet, as this book relates so engagingly, women have been influential in chemistry since the earliest period of recorded history. However, Women in Chemistry is more than a dated collection of biographical sketches of notable women scientists. The book highlights the main periods of history when it was possible for women to have some measure of success in the chemical sciences and focuses on their changing roles from alchemical times to the mid-20th century. By glimpsing into the life and work of individuals in the context of the time in which they lived, the authors impart a credible and moving image of the restraints imposed on aspiring women scientists and the obstacles that confronted them-making the extent of their contributions all the more remarkable. Each chapter has a theme into which are woven selected biographical sketches. Chapter 1 offers a whirlwind tour of the centuries from Babylonian times (1200 B.C.E.) through the Middle Ages and into the 17th century, giving perspective on how the various civilizations did (or did not) consider women capable of intellectual achievement or permit such of them. This short but powerful chapter invokes appreciation for the major contributions made by women in the face of enormous obstacles of prejudice, superstition (witchcraft), monastic reprisals, pseudoscience (alchemy), and denial of education. The women featured include Maria Hebraea (around 300 C.E.famed for the water bath, bain Marie), Hypatia (mathematician, 400 C.E.), Western alchemists (de Gourney and Meudrac), and Chinese alchemists. By the 18th century, science had progressed and alchemy was at an end. Though enlightened scientifically, western society still considered women's intellect inferior. But, as Chapter 2 relates, the literary salons of France nurtured intellectual discussion in society women, and it was in this context that such women pursued higher education. The role of women as "chemical assistants" to leading chemists of the day is well illustrated in the lives of du Chatelet, Paulze-Lavoisier, Picardet, and Necker de Saussure. Sadly, all this ended with the French Revolution when the woman intellectual became unacceptable. Chapter 3 focuses on a few exceptional women of the 1800-1900s who succeeded independently in their scientific work in an era when, without access to universities and financial resources, it was almost impossible to function other than as a "chemical assistant". This chapter gives a fascinating account of the life and work of five women, including Elizabeth Fulhame, who is credited with the discovery of photoreduction and the concept of catalysis, and Agnes Pockels, who, without formal education or laboratory facilities, pioneered research in surface films. By the 1850s, access to advanced education for women began in earnest. Chapter 4 tells of this radical change and its ramifications. This most readable account of the cultural conflicts that existed in Europe and the United States over educating women, admitting them to professional societies, and gaining faculty appointments is exemplified in the biographies of four U.S. women (Ellen Swallow Richards, Rachel Lloyd, Laura Linton, Ida Freund) and two Russian women (Yulya Lermontova and Vera Bogdanovskaia). Much of the content of the book resides in the remaining chapters (5-10) and covers 20th century science through 1950. The titles, Women in: Crystallography (Chapter 5), Radioactivity (Chapter 6), Biochemistry (Chapter 7), Industrial Chemistry (Chapter 8), Analytical, Education and History (Chapter 9), suggest that women favored some areas of chemistry over others. Why did they tend to congregate in certain fields? The authors give cogent reasons why this was so. They observe that, in developing fields, there was initially a collegiality among colleagues and the support of senior mentors that established a working environment in which women felt welcome and in which they could flourish. The early success of women in crystallography, radioactivity, and biochemistry encouraged other women to follow. There also seems to have been more opportunity for women in emerging fields than in more established but more competitive areas of science. The biographies of the women chemists featured are poignant accounts of their lives, their work, and the recognition they received for it. Though short, the biographies have been well researched and are well referenced, which should enable interested readers to delve more deeply into the subject if they wish. There are common threads that run through all the accounts, which the authors point to as important factors in determining success. These include encouragement in early years, particularly through sympathetic parents or close relatives; access to formal education; and family values that stress education. The encouragement of mentors is a recurrent theme, as is a hospitable working environment. Mentoring recognized as important not only for individual success but also in creating and sustaining whole areas of research (as we see in crystallography and radioactivity). Each biography documents an impressive record of achievement even when the obstacles encountered in the woman's personal as well as professional life were almost overwhelming. Regrettably, as the authors point out, most women left no personal records (or they have since been lost or destroyed), so we are denied their perspective on their life and times. Evidently, women did not feel sufficient self-worth to record their autobiographies. In fact, a feature that appears in several of the biographies is the "awful self-doubt" about their own abilities. But it is apparent that success increased self-esteem, which fueled further achievement. Other attributes necessary for success included great determination, incredible tenacity, and almost obsessive enthusiasm for chemistry. The authors are selective in their choice of biographies. They feature women on the basis of importance and interest rather than just the most notable. The crystallography chapter reveals the paradox that outstanding work is sometimes recognized (Lonsdale and Hodgkin) and sometimes not (Franklin). Chapter 6 is a fascinating account of the roller-coaster fortunes of women in radioactivity (Curie, Gleditsch, Chamie, Joliot-Curie, Perey, Brooks, Horovitz, Meitner, Noddack, and Goeppert-Mayer) and is the strongest chapter of the book. The biochemistry chapter acknowledges the work of Hoobler, Pennington, Denis, Fuller Brown, Cori, Elion, Willcock, Menten, Wrinch, and others. Industrial Chemistry was not a haven for women during the first part of this century, but the remarkable contributions of a few (Leslie, Wall, Blodgett, and Lathbury) are described in Chapter 8. The barriers for women in industry were numerous, including policy bans on married women and perceptions that women were unskilled or incapable of chemical work, even though they proved otherwise in the urgent need of wartime. Chapter 9 is a mixed bag, beginning with analytical chemists (Cremer and Miller), including surprisingly few who became prominent in education (Emma Perry Carr of Mount Holyoke and Mary Fieser of Bryn Mawr and Harvard), and ending with the famous historian of science Helen Metzger. In the concluding chapter, we are reminded of the ups and downs for women scientists in the first half of the 20th century. Blossoming educational and job opportunities led to record numbers of women in science by the early 1900s, but the numbers declined in the aftermath of World War I and to a lesser extent after World War II, as a result of changing societal attitudes when men and women compete for the same jobs. This thought-provoking book, elegantly written, concludes with the rhetorical question: will the current "second wave" of women scientists in this century be more permanent than the first, and will they play a full role in determining the nature and culture of chemistry in the 21st century. There is much to be learned from multiple readings of this interesting book.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2001-11-01
Sir Fred Hoyle, 1915 2001 Astronomer, author and popularizer of science 'There is a coherent plan in the universe, but I don't know what it's a plan for...' Sir Fred Hoyle, 1915 2001 Fred Hoyle, who passed away on 20 August 2001, was one of the most important figures in 20th century physics and astronomy. He is most famous for coining the term 'Big Bang' in a BBC radio broadcast in 1950, even though the fact that his comment was an insult seems to have been lost in time. He left behind a lasting body of work, foremost of which is his work with Willy Fowler and the Burbidges on the origin of the chemical elements in the 1950s. Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and Professor at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, speaking to Physics Education said 'Hoyle was a great astrophysicist, who from 1945 to 1970 contributed more good creative ideas than anyone else in the world.' Fred Hoyle was born at Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in June 1915. A precocious child who knew his 12 times table aged 4 and could navigate by the stars before he was 10, he won a scholarship to Bingley Grammar School and from there moved on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Hoyle excelled at mathematics and won several prizes before he graduated in 1936. He became fascinated by the work of physicist Rudolf Peierls, who became his PhD supervisor, before being replaced by Maurice Pryce when Peierls departed for Birmingham. Hoyle became a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1939. During the war Hoyle worked at an Admiralty radar establishment on the south coast and met Eastern European émigrés Thomas Gold and Hermann Bondi. During this time they developed the theory of continuous creation known as the Steady State Theory of the universe. This states that matter is continuously created at a small rate to replace the matter lost to the expanding universe. Around this same time Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe and George Gamow postulated the idea of a Universe forged in a hot explosion. After the war Hoyle returned to Cambridge, but kept in close contact with his collaborators. Fred Hoyle was a canny and media-savvy scientist, 40 years before such things were recognized. Martin Rees said after his death '[He] also had other dimensions to his career, his inventiveness and skill as a communicator'. It is hard to realize now the impact that Hoyle's broadcasts had in post-war Britain. His programmes for the BBC on The Nature of the Universe won greater audiences than such unlikely rivals as Bertrand Russell and Tommy Handley. Even today many people recall how they were affected by listening to these broadcasts. Hoyle used one of his broadcasts to ridicule the hot explosion theory. He referred to the idea of a 'big bang as fanciful'. Unfortunately the name stuck, much to Hoyle's chagrin. In the 1950s Hoyle began a fruitful collaboration with Willy Fowler of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Hoyle was interested in the origin of the chemical elements. Hans Bethe, Charles Critchfield and Karl-Frederich von Weizsäcker had calculated in 1939 how stars could turn protons into helium nuclei by nuclear fusion. Part of the Vela supernova remmant, the debris left after the type of massive explosion in which Hoyle predicted that heavy nuclei were formed. (© Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Anglo-Australian Observatory.) Building on earlier collaboration with Ed Saltpeter, Hoyle used data supplied by Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge and, working with Fowler, began to piece together how the elements were formed. By looking at very large stars near the end of their lives and examining their chemical composition, they noticed that the abundances of elements almost exactly corresponded to those with a low nuclear capture cross section. Hoyle argued that all of the elements in our bodies had been formed in stars that had been and gone before our solar system had even formed. In their classic paper the elements are produced by three basic methods. The α-process, which formed elements up to and including iron using building blocks of protons, alpha particles and light elements like carbon and nitrogen. The s-process, which involved the slow capture of neutrons and then β-decay to form protons. This formed heavy elements. The r-process, where neutrons are rapidly captured by nuclei in supernovae. This mammoth paper was a milestone in our understanding of stars and of the origin of all the elements from which we are made. Later work has tidied up loose ends and explained a few anomalies but the bulk of the work stands today. Fowler received the Nobel Prize for this (and other) work in 1983 and there was widespread disbelief when Hoyle did not share the prize with him. In the early 1960s Hoyle and Roger Tayler produced a seminal paper explaining how the overly large abundance of helium (there is too much about to have been formed exclusively in stars) could be explained by its nucleosynthesis in the early universe. Ironically this is now one of the key pieces of evidence for a Big Bang. As the evidence for the Big Bang grew Hoyle never accepted the defeat of the Steady State Theory, and long after the Big Bang became conventional wisdom he continued to pick and probe at its defects. In 1972, following an acrimonious dispute with the Cambridge University authorities, he tendered his resignation, retiring to first the Lake District and then the South Coast. Hoyle, by this time knighted, was held in great esteem and held many honorary research professorships, both in the UK and in the USA, notably at Caltech and Cornell. Hoyle became increasingly involved in diverse interests away from his previous work. He wrote how life had been (and still is) transported to Earth on comets. This modern version of the Panspermia theory was one of a number of projects undertaken with Chandra Wickramasinge, Professor of Mathematics at University College, Cardiff, a former student of Hoyle's. He also suggested that viral agents were travelling through the atmosphere from space and causing epidemics. Hoyle also wrote science fiction, which he believed complemented his more serious work. His works included The Black Cloud, A for Andromeda and the children's play Rockets for Ursa Major. He also wrote a series of popular science books about cosmology and astronomy, long before every bookshop had a science section. Many generations of scientists were influenced by and benefited from Hoyle and his work and he leaves a lasting legacy not only in the field of astrophysics but also in the popularization and promotion of science. Acknowledgment The author is grateful to the staff of the Royal Astronomical Society Library for their help in finding material, to Martin Rees for finding time to talk at the busy BA Festival and to the late Roger Tayler for teaching me everything I know about the origin of the elements. References Burbidge E M, Burbidge G R, Fowler W A and Hoyle F 1957 Synthesis of the elements in stars Rev. Mod. Phys. 29 (4) 547 650 Chown M 2000 The Magic Furnance (Vintage) Hoyle F 1987 The Small World of Fred Hoyle (Marcus Joseph) Tayler R 1972 The Origin of the Chemical Elements (Wyndham) Steven Chapman British Association for the Advancement of Science
Radio Astronomers Lift "Fog" on Milky Way's Dark Heart: Black Hole Fits Inside Earth's Orbit
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2004-04-01
Thirty years after astronomers discovered the mysterious object at the exact center of our Milky Way Galaxy, an international team of scientists has finally succeeded in directly measuring the size of that object, which surrounds a black hole nearly four million times more massive than the Sun. This is the closest telescopic approach to a black hole so far and puts a major frontier of astrophysics within reach of future observations. The scientists used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope to make the breakthrough. Milky Way Nucleus The Milky Way's nucleus, as seen with the VLA. Sagittarius A* is the bright white dot at center. CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF, Jun-Hui Zhao, W.M. Goss (Click on Image for Larger Version) "This is a big step forward," said Geoffrey Bower, of the University of California-Berkeley. "This is something that people have wanted to do for 30 years," since the Galactic center object, called Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"), was discovered in 1974. The astronomers reported their research in the April 1 edition of Science Express. "Now we have a size for the object, but the mystery about its exact nature still remains," Bower added. The next step, he explained, is to learn its shape, "so we can tell if it is jets, a thin disk, or a spherical cloud." The Milky Way's center, 26,000 light-years from Earth, is obscured by dust, so visible-light telescopes cannot study the object. While radio waves from the Galaxy's central region can penetrate the dust, they are scattered by turbulent charged plasma in the space along the line of sight to Earth. This scattering had frustrated earlier attempts to measure the size of the central object, just as fog blurs the glare of distant lighthouses. "After 30 years, radio telescopes finally have lifted the fog and we can see what is going on," said Heino Falcke, of the Westerbork Radio Observatory in the Netherlands, another member of the research team. The bright, radio-emitting object would fit neatly just inside the path of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the astronomers said. The black hole itself, they calculate, is about 14 million miles across, and would fit easily inside the orbit of Mercury. Black holes are concentrations of matter so dense that not even light can escape their powerful gravity. The new VLBA observations provided astronomers their best look yet at a black hole system. "We are much closer to seeing the effects of a black hole on its environment here than anywhere else," Bower said. The Milky Way's central black hole, like its more-massive cousins in more-active galactic nuclei, is believed to be drawing in material from its surroundings, and in the process powering the emission of the radio waves. While the new VLBA observations have not provided a final answer on the nature of this process, they have helped rule out some theories, Bower said. Based on the latest work, he explained, the top remaining theories for the nature of the radio- emitting object are jets of subatomic particles, similar to those seen in radio galaxies; and some theories involving matter being accelerated near the edge of the black hole. As the astronomers studied Sagittarius A* at higher and higher radio frequencies, the apparent size of the object became smaller. This fact, too, Bower said, helped rule out some ideas of the object's nature. The decrease in observed size with increasing frequency, or shorter wavelength, also gives the astronomers a tantalizing target. "We think we can eventually observe at short enough wavelengths that we will see a cutoff when we reach the size of the black hole itself," Bower said. In addition, he said, "in future observations, we hope to see a 'shadow' cast by a gravitational lensing effect of the very strong gravity of the black hole." In 2000, Falcke and his colleagues proposed such an observation on theoretical grounds, and it now seems feasible. "Imaging the shadow of the black hole's event horizon is now within our reach, if we work hard enough in the coming years," Falcke added. Another conclusion the scientists reached is that "the total mass of the black hole is very concentrated," according to Bower. The new VLBA observations provide, he said, the "most precise localization of the mass of a supermassive black hole ever." The precision of these observations allows the scientists to say that a mass of at least 40,000 Suns has to reside in a space corresponding to the size of the Earth's orbit. However, that figure represents only a lower limit on the mass. Most likely, the scientists believe, all the black hole's mass -- equal to four million Suns -- is concentrated well inside the area engulfed by the radio-emitting object. To make their measurement, the astronomers had to go to painstaking lengths to circumvent the scattering effect of the plasma "fog" between Sagittarius A* and Earth. "We had to push our technique really hard," Bower said. Bower likened the task to "trying to see your yellow rubber duckie through the frosted glass of the shower stall." By making many observations, only keeping the highest-quality data, and mathematically removing the scattering effect of the plasma, the scientists succeeded in making the first-ever measurement of Sagittarius A*'s size. The VLBA The VLBA CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF In addition to Bower and Falcke, the research team includes Robin Herrnstein of Columbia University, Jun-Hui Zhao of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Miller Goss of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Donald Backer of the University of California-Berkeley. Falcke also is an adjunct professor at the University of Nijmegen and a visiting scientist at the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Bonn, Germany. Sagittarius A* was discovered in February of 1974 by Bruce Balick, now at the University of Washington, and Robert Brown, now director of the National Astronomy and Ionospheric Center at Cornell University. It has been shown conclusively to be the center of the Milky Way, around which the rest of the Galaxy rotates. In 1999, Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and his colleagues used VLBA observations of Sagittarius A* to detect the Earth's motion in orbit around the Galaxy's center and determined that our Solar System takes 226 million years to make one circuit around the Galaxy. In March 2004, 55 astronomers gathered at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory facility in Green Bank, West Virginia, for a scientific conference celebrating the discovery of Sagittarius A* at Green Bank 30 years ago. At this conference, the scientists unveiled a commemorative plaque on one of the discovery telescopes. The Very Long Baseline Array, part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, is a continent-wide radio-telescope system, with 10, 240-ton dish antennas ranging from Hawaii to the Caribbean. It provides the greatest resolving power, or ability to see fine detail, of any telescope in astronomy, on Earth or in space. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
PREFACE: XVth International Conference on Calorimetry in High Energy Physics (CALOR2012)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Akchurin, Nural
2012-12-01
The XVth International Conference on Calorimetry in High Energy Physics, CALOR2012, was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from 4-8 June 2012. The series of conferences on calorimetry started in 1990 at Fermilab, and they have been the premier event for calorimeter aficionados, a trend that CALOR2012 upheld. This year, several presentations focused on the status of the major calorimeter systems, especially at the LHC. Discussions on new and developing techniques in calorimetry took a full day. Excellent updates on uses of calorimeters or about ideas that are deeply rooted in particle physics calorimetry in astrophysics and neutrino physics were followed by talks on algorithms and special triggers that rely on calorimeters. Finally, discussions of promising current developments and ongoing R&D work for future calorimeters capped the conference. The field of calorimetry is alive and well, as evidenced by the more than 100 attendees and the excellent quality of over 80 presentations. You will find the written contributions in this volume. The presentations can be found at calor2012.ttu.edu. The first day of the conference was dedicated to the LHC. In two invited talks, Guillaume Unal (CERN) and Tommaso Tabarelli de Fatis (Universita' & INFN Milano Bicocca) discussed the critical role electromagnetic calorimeters play in the hunt for the Standard Model Higgs boson in ATLAS and CMS, respectively. The enhanced sensitivity for light Higgs in the two-gamma decay channel renders electromagnetic calorimeters indispensible. Much of the higher mass region was already excluded for the SM Higgs by the time of this conference, and after less than a month, on 4 July, CERN announced the discovery of a new boson at 125 GeV, a particle that seems consistent with the Higgs particle so far. Once again, without the electromagnetic calorimeters, this would not have been possible. Professor Geoffrey West from the Santa Fe Institute gave the keynote address. His talk, 'Universal Scaling Laws from Cells to Cities - a Physicist's Search for Quantitative, Unified Theories of Biological and Social Structure and Dynamics,' inspired many interesting questions from the audience both after the talk and throughout the week during informal conversations. Calorimetry is extremely diverse: many different techniques may be employed in building the detector and also in extracting information from it. The topics of the Calorimeter Techniques sessions included high-rate liquid argon calorimeters, SiPM sensors, highly granular digital calorimeters, new crystals, and beam test and simulation results. In these pages, you will find exciting and sometimes contradicting points of view expressed, for example about fully sampling hadronic calorimeters. A rare astronomical event, the Venus transit, coincided with the second day of the conference. The participants enjoyed viewing Venus' trail across the sun with a solar telescope (H-alpha line at 656 nm). In Santa Fe, the interior ingress was at 16:23:04 and reached center at 19:27:04. The last transit occurred in 2004, and the next one will happen in 2117. In 1627, Johannes Kepler published data about the planetary orbits that predicted that Venus would pass directly between earth and the sun in 1631. Unfortunately Kepler died in 1630 and apparently nobody recorded the 1631 transit. The first recorded observation of a transit was in 1638, which Kepler had not predicted. Later, Jeremiah Horracks, an English astronomer, realized Kepler had made an error in his calculations. It was not until the Venus transit observations of 1769 that scientists measured the distance from the earth to the sun to be 95 million miles (actually 93 million miles or 149.7 million kilometers) based on the 1716 triangulation suggestion from Edmund Halley (of comet fame). It's interesting to remember that before the 18th century, one of the most vexing scientific puzzles, not unlike today's Higgs boson quest, was 'How far away is the Sun?' Although natural media such as Mediterranean water (ANTARES), Arctic ice (ARA, ARIANNA, ANITA, and others) or Utah air (TA) would hardly be choice absorbers in accelerator-based experiments, they are nevertheless successfully exploited in searches for new phenomena, as discussed by the members of these collaborations in several talks. Philippe Bruel (LLR, Ecole Polytechnique) gave an overview of the gamma-ray sky above 20 MeV using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the role of the hodoscopic array of CsI(Tl) calorimeter in an invited talk. In a second invited presentation, Sylvie Rosier-Lees (LAPP-Annecy) described the ECAL design (Pb/scintillating fiber sandwich) of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) that has been operating in the International Space Station since May 2011 and has collected over 15 billion events. The environs of Santa Fe have long been considered sacred by the first nation Americans and have been a source of inspiration for generations of artists, writers, and scientists. Robert Oppenheimer's love of this area played no small role in establishing what is now the nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Second World War. On the third conference day, some participants visited the lab after an awe-inspiring trip to the Bandelier National Monument, where beautiful canyons and mesas show evidence of a human presence for over 11,000 years. Petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls in the park mark the early days of a culture that still persists in surrounding communities. We are grateful to the International Advisory Committee for allowing us the opportunity to hold this Conference in these enchanted lands. In addition to making advances in calorimeter design, hardware, and front-end electronics, we in particle physics increasingly find ourselves inventing new algorithms to reconstruct physics objects that use the detector information to its maximum capacity. Several presentations provided details of the reconstruction and trigger of jets, missing transverse energy, electrons, photons, and taus. Pile-up, anomalous signals, and noise mitigation techniques were also discussed in the conference. On the last day, several future R&D initiatives were presented: highly granular CALICE with different technology options and plans for the dual-readout DREAM projects were the main topics. Although these approaches are quite different conceptually, future experiments will certainly benefit from their innovations. Concluding remarks by the chair of the organizing committee, Nural Akchurin (TTU), summarized the highlights of the conference and invited proposals to host the CALOR2014 conference in Europe, as the conference venue rotates between the Americas, Europe, and Asia every two years. We strived hard to keep the cost of this conference as low as possible without sacrificing the scientific mission. I am delighted to report that we were able to provide support for six junior colleagues to participate in this conference. I am also grateful to the institutions, industrial partners, and agencies that provided the support that made a lot possible: Texas Tech University, the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the US Department of Energy, CAEN, and the Wiener Plein & Baus, Corp. I also would like to thank the session conveners who organized sessions and reviewed the papers. The members of the local organizing committee were instrumental to the success of this conference: their experience and attention to detail were invaluable. Most of all, I extend my appreciation to the conference participants and to all my other colleagues who continue to enrich the field of calorimetry through their hard work and creativity. The future is bright. Nural Akchurin Chair of the Organizing Committee International Advisory Committee: Mikhail Danilov, ITEP Moscow Marcella Diemoz, INFN Roma I Antonio Ereditato, Univ. of Bern Franco L. Fabbri, INFN Frascati Tomio Kobayashi, ICEPP Tokyo Michele Livan, Pavia Univ. & INFN Pasquale Lubrano, INFN Perugia Steve Magill, ANL Amelia Maio, LIPP Lisbon Horst Oberlack, MPI Munich Adam Para, FNAL Klaus Pretzl, Univ. of Bern Yifang Wang, IHEP Beijing Richard Wigmans, TTU Ren-Yuan Zhu, Caltech Local Organizing Committee: Nural Akchurin, TTU Debra Boyce, TTU (Secretary) Xiadong Jiang, LANL Jon Kapustinsky, LANL Sung-Won Lee, TTU Sally Seidel, UNM Igor Volobouev, TTU Session Conveners: LHC I-III: David Barney (CERN) Ana Henriques (CERN) Sally Seidel (UNM) Calorimetry Techniques I-II: Francesca Tedaldi (ETH-Zurich) Tao Hu (IHEP-Beijing) Calorimetry Techniques III-IV: Craig Woody (BNL) Tohru Takeshita (Shinshu) Astrophysics and Neutrinos: Don Groom (LBNL) Steve Magill (ANL) Operating Calorimeters: Jordan Damgov (TTU) Gabriella Gaudio (INFN-Pavia) Frank Chlebana (FNAL) Algorithms and Simulations: Artur Apresyan (Caltech) Igor Volobouev (TTU) Front-end and Trigger: Chris Tully (Princeton) Kejun Zhu (IHEP-Beijing) Future Calorimetry: Michele Livan (Pavia Univ.) Frank Simon (MPI) Vishnu Zutshi (NICADD) List of Participants: ABOUZEID, Hass University of Toronto AKCHURIN, Nural Texas Tech University ANDEEN, Timothy Columbia University ANDERSON, Jake Fermilab APRESYAN, Artur California Institute of Technology AUFFRAY, Etiennette CERN BARILLARI, Teresa Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Physik BARNEY, David CERN BESSON, Dave University of Kansas BOYCE, Debra Texas Tech University BRUEL, Philippe LLR, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS/IN2P3 BUCHANAN, Norm Colorado State University CARLOGANU, Cristina LPC Clermont Ferrand / IN2P3 / CNRS CHEFDEVILLE, Maximilien CNRS/IN2P3/LAPP CHLEBANA, Frank Fermilab CLARK, Jonathan Texas Tech University CONDE MUINO, Patricia LIP-Lisboa COWDEN, Christopher Texas Tech University DA SILVA, Cesar Luiz Los Alamos National Lab DAMGOV, Jordan Texas Tech University DAVYGORA, Yuriy University of Heidelberg DEMERS, Sarah Yale University EIGEN, Gerald University of Bergen EUSEBI, Ricardo Texas A&M University FERRI, Federico CEA/Saclay Irfu/SPP FRANCAVILLA, Paolo IFAE Barcelona GATAULLIN, Marat California Institute of Technology GATTO, Corrado INFN-Napoli GAUDIO, Gabriella INFN-Pavia GERMANI, Stefano INFN-Perugia Goldenzweig, Pablo University of Rochester GRAF, Norman SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory GROOM, Don Lawrence Berkeley Lab GUARDINCERRI, Elena Los Alamos National Laboratory HAUPTMAN, John Iowa State University HENRIQUES, Ana CERN HUANG, Jin Los Alamos National Laboratory HU, Tao IHEP-Beijing, CAS JIANG, Xiaodong Los Alamos National Laboratory JUI, Charles University of Utah KAPUSTINSKY, Jon Los Alamos National Laboratory KIBILKO, Mark SE Technical Sales, Inc. KIRSCHENMANN, Henning University of Hamburg KISTENEV, Edouard Brookhaven National Laboratory KLIMEK, Pawel Stockholm Universitet KROEGER, Robert University of Mississippi LECOQ, Paul CERN LEE, Sehwook Texas Tech University LEE, Sung-Won Texas Tech University LIVAN, Michele Pavia University LUTZ, Benjamin DESY MAGILL, Stephen Argonne National Laboratory MATHIS, Mark College of William and Mary MATTHEWS, John University of Utah MENKE, Sven Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik MOULSON, Matthew INFN-Frascati NAGEL, Martin Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik NAKAMURA, Isamu KEK NEMECEK, Stanislav FZU AVCR Praha NESSI-TEDALDI, Francesca ETH Zurich NOVOTNY, Rainer 2nd Physics Institute, University Giessen OREGLIA, Mark University of Chicago PERLOFF, Alexx Texas A&M University PETYT, David Rutherford Appleton Laboratory RAHMAT, Rahmat University of Mississippi RAMILLI, Marco Hamburg Universitaet ROSIER LEES, Sylvie LAPP- IN2P3-CNRS RUTHERFOORD, John University of Arizona SAKUMA, Tai Texas A&M University SANTIAGO CERQUEIRA, Augusto Federal University of Juiz de Fora SARRA, Ivano INFN-Frascati SEIDEL, Sally University of New Mexico SEIFERT, Frank TU Dresden, Germany SHAMIM, Mansoora University of Oregon SIMON, Frank Max-Planck-Institute for Physics STAFFAN, Paul Wiener Plein and Baus, Corp Dr. STAROVOITOV, Pavel DESY TABARELLI DE FATIS, Tommaso Universita' & INFN Milano-Bicocca TADEVOSYAN, Vardan AANL TAKESHITA, Tohru Shinshu University TALAGA, Richard Argonne National Laboratory TAPAN, Ilhan Uludag University TERWORT, Mark DESY TSAI, Oleg UCLA TULLY, Christopher Princeton University UNAL, Guillaume CERN VICHOU, Eirini University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign VILASIS-CARDONA, Xavier La Salle - Universitat Ramon Llull VOLOBOUEV, Igor Texas Tech University VOLPI, Matteo The University of Melbourne WANG, Zhigang IHEP-Beijing, CAS WENZEL, Hans Fermilab WHITE, Andy University of Texas at Arlington WIGMANS, Richard Texas Tech University WINN, David Fairfield University WOODY, Craig Brookhaven National Lab YANG, Fan California Institute of Technology ZABI, Alexandre LLR-Ecole Polytechnique ZHANG, Liyuan California Institute of Technoogy ZHAO, Zhiwen University of Virginia ZHU, Kejun IHEP-Beijing, CAS ZHU, Ren-Yuan California Institute of Technology ZUTSHI, Vishnu Northern Illinois University
Obituary: Brian Marsden (1937-2010)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Williams, Gareth; Marsden, Cynthia
2011-12-01
Brian Geoffrey Marsden was born on 1937 August 5 in Cambridge, England. His father, Thomas, was the senior mathematics teacher at a local high school. It was his mother, Eileen (nee West), however, who introduced him to the study of astronomy, when he returned home on the Thursday during his first week in primary school in 1942 and found her sitting in the back yard watching an eclipse of the sun. Using now frowned-upon candle-smoked glass, they sat watching the changing bite out of the sun. What most impressed the budding astronomer, however, was not that the eclipse could be seen, but the fact that it had been predicted in advance, and it was the idea that one could make successful predictions of events in the sky that eventually led him to his career. When, at the age of 11, he entered the Perse School in Cambridge he was developing primitive methods for calculating the positions of the planets. He soon realized that earlier astronomers had come up with more accurate procedures for doing this over the centuries, and during the next couple of years this led to his introduction to the library of the Cambridge University Observatories and his study of how eclipses, for example, could be precisely computed. Together with a couple of other students he formed a school Astronomical Society, of which he served as the secretary. At the age of 16 he joined and began regularly attending the monthly London meetings of the British Astronomical Association. He quickly became involved with the Association's Computing Section, which was known specifically for making astronomical predictions other than those that were routinely being prepared by professional astronomers for publication in almanacs around the world. Under the watchful eyes of the director and assistant director of the Computing Section, this led him to prepare and publish predictions of the occasions when one of Jupiter's moons could be seen to pass directly in front of another. He also calculated the gravitational effects of the planets on the dates and sky positions of the returns of some periodic comets. He carried out these computations using seven-place logarithms. After all, this was long before pocket calculators had been invented, and the construction of large electronic computers was still then very much in its infancy. He always maintained that making such computations by primitive means significantly increased one's understanding of the science involved. During his last year of high school he also became a junior member of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was an undergraduate at New College, University of Oxford. In his first year there he persuaded the British Astronomical Association to lend him a mechanical calculating machine, allowing him thereby to increase his computational productivity. By the time he received his undergraduate degree, in mathematics, he had already developed somewhat of an international reputation for the computation of orbits of comets, including new discoveries. He spent part of his first two undergraduate summer vacations working at the British Nautical Almanac Office. He also responded to an inquiry from Dorothy L. Sayers involving the ancient Roman poet Lucan. Incensed by what she perceived as grossly unfair criticism of Lucan by A. E. Housman and Robert Graves, she elicited his assistance during the last year of her life to support her view that Lucan's understanding of astronomy and geography was reasonably valid. Dr. Sayers' extensive correspondence in the course of this study is included in the last volume of her collected letters. After Oxford, he took up an invitation to cross the pond and work at the Yale University Observatory. He had originally planned to spend just a year there carrying out research on orbital mechanics, but on his arrival in 1959 he was also enrolled as a Yale graduate student. With the ready availability of the university's IBM 650 computer in the observatory building, he had soon programmed it to compute the orbits of comets. Recalling his earlier interest in Jupiter's moons, he completed the requirements for his Ph.D. degree with a thesis on "The Motions of the Galilean Satellites of Jupiter". At the invitation of director Fred Whipple, he joined the staff of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge (MA) in 1965. Dr. Whipple was probably best known for devising the "dirty snowball" model for the nucleus of a comet a decade and a half earlier. At that time there was only rather limited evidence that the motion of a comet was affected by forces over and above those of gravitation (limited because of the need to compute the orbit by hand), and the Whipple model had it that those forces were due to the comet's reaction to vaporization of the cometary snow or ice by solar radiation. Dr. Marsden therefore developed a way to incorporate such forces directly into the equations that governed the motion of a comet. Application of a computer program that included these nongravitational effects to several comets soon gave results that were nicely compatible with Dr. Whipple's original idea. Continued refinement of the nongravitational terms, much of it done in collaboration with Zdenek Sekanina, a Czech astronomer and friend of Dr. Marsden whom he and Dr. Whipple succeeded in bringing to the U.S. as a refugee following the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968, resulted in a wealth of improved computations of cometary orbits by the time Dr. Sekanina moved to California in 1980. It is noteworthy that the procedure devised and developed by Dr. Marsden is still widely used to compute the nongravitational effects of comets, with relatively little further modification by other astronomers. The involvement of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory with comets had been given a boost, shortly before Dr. Marsden's arrival there, by the transfer there from Copenhagen of the office of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, a quaintly named organization that was established by the International Astronomical Union soon after its founding in 1920. The CBAT is responsible for disseminating information worldwide about the discoveries of comets, novae, supernovae and other objects of generally transient astronomical interest. It is the CBAT that actually names the comets (generally for their discoverers), and it has also been a repository for the observations of comets to which orbit computations need to be fitted. Dr. Marsden succeeded Dr. Owen Gingerich as the CBAT director in 1968. He was joined by Daniel Green as a student assistant a decade later, and Dr. Green took over as CBAT director in 2000. Until the early 1980s the Bureau really did receive and disseminate the discovery information by telegram (with dissemination also by postcard Circular), although e-mail announcements then understandably began to take over. The last time the CBAT received a telegram was when Thomas Bopp sent word of his discovery of a comet in 1995. Since word of this same discovery had already been received from Alan Hale a few hours earlier by e-mail, the object was very nearly just named Comet Hale, rather than the famous Comet Hale-Bopp that beautifully graced the world's skies for several weeks two years later. The comet prediction of which he was most proud was of the return of comet Swift-Tuttle, which is the comet associated with the Perseid meteors each August. It had been discovered in 1862, and the conventional wisdom was that it would return around 1981. He followed that line for much of a paper he published on the subject in 1973. He had a strong suspicion, however, that the 1862 comet was identical with one seen in 1737, and this assumption allowed him to predict that Swift-Tuttle would not return until late-1992. This prediction proved to be correct, and this comet has the longest orbital period of all the comets whose returns have been successfully predicted. Although the CBAT also traditionally made announcements of the discoveries of asteroids that came close to the earth, the official organization for attending to discoveries of asteroids (more than 99% of which are located in a belt between Mars and Jupiter) is the Minor Planet Center. Also operated by the International Astronomical Union, the MPC was located until 1978 at the Cincinnati Observatory. In that year the director, Dr. Paul Herget, was retiring, and it was necessary for the Center to find a new home. Accordingly, the IAU asked Dr. Marsden also to take over the direction of the MPC. Thanks to the transfer of associate director Conrad Bardwell with the MPC records from Cincinnati, this task was rendered easier. While the CBAT and the MPC still maintained their separate entities, there was a lot of common ground between them. Dr. Marsden was therefore able to introduce some efficiencies into their combined operation. On Mr. Bardwell's retirement at the end of 1989, Gareth Williams joined the MPC staff and later became associate director. The advances in electronic communication during the 1990s also permitted improvements in MPC operation. Perhaps the most important of these was the development, in 1996, of the Internet "Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page". This draws attention to candidate earth-approaching objects in need of follow-up observations as soon as they have been reported to the MPC, following the derivation by Dr. Marsden of a particularly ingenious method for estimating the uncertainty of the prediction by automatically computing a series of orbits that represent just the first and the last observations. In 1998 he developed a certain amount of notoriety by suggesting that an object called 1997 XF11 could collide with the earth. He did this as a last-ditch effort to encourage the acquisition of further observations, including searches for possible data from several years earlier. The recognition of some observations from 1990 made it quite clear that there could be no collision with 1997 XF11 during the foreseeable future. Without those 1990 observations, however, the object's orbit would have become very uncertain following a close to moderate approach to the earth in 2028; indeed, Dr. Marsden correctly demonstrated that there was the possibility of an earth impact in 2040 and in several neighboring years. He was thereby able eventually to persuade his principal critics routinely to perform similar uncertainty computations for all near-earth objects as they were announced. Again, as more data accrue, it is almost certain to happen that all possible impacts with moderately large objects (i.e., those at least several hundred feet across) during the next century, say, will disappear. While the production of such computations was directly due to his encouragement, it was always with some amusement that he saw cases where further data forced his former critics sheepishly to withdraw their earlier frightening statements about a potentially dangerous object. Dr. Marsden was particularly fascinated by the appearance of a group of comets that passed close to the sun. Known as members of the Kreutz group, after a German astronomer who studied them in the late nineteenth century, the discovery of three more of these sungrazing comets in the mid-twentieth century led him to undertake a detailed examination of how the individual comets may have evolved from each other. He published this examination in 1967, following it up with a further study in 1989 involving a more recent bright Kreutz comet, as well as several much fainter objects that had been detected from sun-observing coronagraphs out in space. Beginning in 1996, these were being found by the SOHO coronagraphs at rates ranging from a few dozen to more than one hundred per year. Unfortunately, the faintness of the comets and the poor accuracy with which they could be measured made it difficult to establish their orbits as satisfactorily as Dr. Marsden would have liked. More significantly, however, he was able to recognize that the SOHO data also contained another group of comets with similar orbits, these comets now known as members of the "Marsden group". Unlike the individual Kreutz comets, which have orbital periods of several centuries, it seems that the Marsden comets have orbital periods of only five or six years, leading him to try and recognize the same object at different passages near the sun and thereby predict future returns. Two other well-populated groups have also been detected in the SOHO data. Another series of astronomical discoveries that greatly interested him were what he always called the "transneptunian objects", although many of his colleagues have insisted on calling them "objects in the Kuiper Belt". When what those same colleagues considered to be the first of these was discovered in 1992, Dr. Marsden immediately remarked that this was untrue, because Pluto, discovered in 1930 and admittedly somewhat larger in size, had to be the first. More specifically, he was the first to suggest, correctly, that three further transneptunian objects discovered in 1993 were exactly like Pluto in the sense that they all orbit the sun twice while Neptune orbits it thrice. This particular recognition set him firmly on the quest to "demote" Pluto. Success required the discovery of transneptunian objects more comparable to Pluto in size, something that finally happened in 2005 with the discovery of the object that came to be known as Eris. At its triennial meeting in 2006 in Prague, the IAU voted to designate these objects, together with two further transneptunian objects now known as Makemake and Haumea, as well as the largest asteroid, Ceres, members of a new class of "dwarf planet". It was also at the IAU meeting in Prague that Dr. Marsden stepped down as MPC director, and he was quite entertained by the thought that both he and Pluto had been retired on the same day. While he remained working at the MPC (and also the CBAT) in an emeritus capacity, the directorship was passed to Dr. Timothy Spahr, whom he had brought to the MPC in 2000. Dr. Marsden served as an associate director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (the combination of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory) for 15.75 years from the beginning of 1987 (the longest tenure for any of the Center's associate directors). He was chair of the Division of Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society during 1976-1978 and president of the IAU commissions that oversaw the operation of the minor Planet Center (1976-1979) and the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (2000-2003). He continued to serve subsequently on the two solar-system nomenclature committees of the IAU, being the perennial secretary of the one that decides on names for asteroids. He also continued to publish a "Catalogue of Cometary Orbits," the first of these having appeared in 1972 and its successors roughly at intervals of two years. Among the various awards he received from the U.S., the U.K. and a handful of other European countries, the ones he particularly appreciated were the 1995 Dirk Brouwer Award (named for his mentor at Yale) of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy and the 1989 Van Biesbroeck Award (named for an old friend and observer of comets and double stars), then presented by the University of Arizona, now by the AAS, for service to astronomy. Dr. Marsden married Nancy Lou Zissell, of Trumbull, Connecticut, on 1964 December 26, and fathered Cynthia (who is married to Gareth Williams, still MPC associate director), of Arlington, Massachusetts; and Jonathan, of San Mateo, California. There are three Californian grandchildren, Nikhilas, Nathaniel and Neena. A sister, Sylvia Custerson, continues to reside in Cambridge, England. From material written by Brian Marsden, edited by Gareth Williams, Cynthia Marsden, and HAD. First posted by the Minor Planet Center on 18 November 2010 as Minor Planet Electronic Circular 2010-W10.