Preparing for War: The 25th Battalion in Halifax, 1914–15

The 25th Battalion was authorized in November 1914 and recruited men from throughout Nova Scotia before departing for England in May 1915. It spent the winter and early spring of 1914–15 in Halifax, where it was based at the Armoury and on the Common. Robert Clements, a native of Yarmouth, enlisted in the battalion in November 1914 and served in it throughout the war, rising to the rank of lieutenant. Many years later he wrote an informal history of the battalion, giving a colourful account based on his personal experiences and observations. These excerpts from his soon to be published manuscript, describe the battalion’s experiences in Halifax as the men trained, coped with inadequate equipment and inexperienced officers, and prepared to go overseas

Antimicrobial properties and cytotoxicity of sulfated (1,3)-β-D-glucan from the mycelium of the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum

Ganoderma lucidum BCCM 31549 has a long established role for its therapeutic activities. In this context, much interest has focused on the possible functions of the (1,3)-β-D-glucan (G) produced by these cultures in a stirred-tank bioreactor and extracted from their underutilized mycelium. In the existing study, we report on the systematic production of G, and its sulfated derivative (GS). The aim of this study was to investigate the G and its GS from G. lucidum in terms of antibacterial properties, and cytotoxicity spectrum against Human-Prostate-Cell (PN2TA) and Human-Caucasian-Histiocytic-Lymphoma (U937). (1)H NMR for both G and GS compounds showed β-glycosidic linkages and structural similarities when compared with two standards (Laminarin and Fucoidan). The existence of characteristic absorptions at 1,170 and 867 cm(-1) in the FTIR for GS demonstrated the successful sulfation of G. Only GS exhibited antimicrobial activity against a varied range of test bacteria of relevance to foodstuffs and human health. Moreover, both G and GS did not show any cytotoxic effects on PN2TA cells, thus helping demonstrate the safety on these polymers. Also, GS shows 40% antiproliferation against cancerous U937 cells at low concentration (60 µg/mL) applied in this study compared to G (10%). Together, this demonstrates that sulfation clearly improved the solubility and therapeutic activities of G. The water-soluble GS demonstrates the potential multi-functional effects of these materials in foodstuffs

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment—A Plan for Integrated, Large Fire–Atmosphere Field Campaigns

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) is designed to collect integrated observations from large wildland fires and provide evaluation datasets for new models and operational systems. Wildland fire, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry models have become more sophisticated, and next-generation operational models will require evaluation datasets that are coordinated and comprehensive for their evaluation and advancement. Integrated measurements are required, including ground-based observations of fuels and fire behavior, estimates of fire-emitted heat and emissions fluxes, and observations of near-source micrometeorology, plume properties, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry. To address these requirements the FASMEE campaign design includes a study plan to guide the suite of required measurements in forested sites representative of many prescribed burning programs in the southeastern United States and increasingly common high-intensity fires in the western United States. Here we provide an overview of the proposed experiment and recommendations for key measurements. The FASMEE study provides a template for additional large-scale experimental campaigns to advance fire science and operational fire and smoke models

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ELA CHOICE-BASED CORE CURRICULUM: A CASE STUDY OF THE DRAMATIC WRITING FOR FILM, TELEVISION, AND THEATER COURSE

This paper describes a case study examining student feelings towards engagement in choice-based core ELA courses and teacher feelings towards student engagement specifically within the Dramatic Writing for Film, Television, and Theater course offered in the state of Georgia. The context of this study focuses on the impact that student agency, choice, and voice have on student engagement from their own perspective and how Invitational Education Theory connects to this impact and the course itself. The case study examines the course, its students, and teachers in two schools in a large, suburban metro Atlanta school district. Through interviews and observations, the study found that students enrolled in the course experienced higher levels of engagement when compared to previous, non-choice courses. This study is the first to examine the impact of the Dramatic Writing course since its inception

Principal component analysis of the Spitzer IRS spectra of ultraluminous infrared galaxies

We present the first principal component analysis (PCA) applied to a sample of 119 Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectra of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at z<0.35. The purpose of this study is to objectively and uniquely characterise the local ULIRG population using all information contained in the observed spectra. We have derived the first three principal components (PCs) from the covariance matrix of our dataset which account for over 90% of the variance. The first PC is characterised by dust temperatures and the geometry of the mix of source and dust. The second PC is a pure star formation component. The third PC represents an anti-correlation between star formation activity and a rising AGN. Using the first three PCs, we are able to accurately reconstruct most of the spectra in our sample. Our work shows that there are several factors that are important in characterising the ULIRG population, dust temperature, geometry, star formation intensity, AGN contribution, etc. We also make comparison between PCA and other diagnostics such as ratio of the 6.2 microns PAH emission feature to the 9.7 micron silicate absorption depth and other observables such as optical spectral type.Comment: 12 pages. MNRAS accepte

Understanding Infrared Galaxy Populations: the SWIRE Legacy Survey

We discuss spectral energy distributions, photometric redshifts, redshift distributions, luminosity functions, source-counts and the far infrared to optical luminosity ratio for sources in the SWIRE Legacy Survey. The spectral energy distributions of selected SWIRE sources are modelled in terms of a simple set of galaxy and quasar templates in the optical and near infrared, and with a set of dust emission templates (cirrus, M82 starburst, Arp 220 starburst, and AGN dust torus) in the mid infrared. The optical data, together with the IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 mu data, have been used to determine photometric redshifts. For galaxies with known spectroscopic redshifts there is a notable improvement in the photometric redshift when the IRAC data are used, with a reduction in the rms scatter from 10% in (1+z) to 5%. While further spectroscopic data are needed to confirm this result, the prospect of determining good photometric redshifts for the 2 million extragalactic objects in SWIRE is excellent. The distribution of the different infrared sed types in the L{ir}/L{opt} versus L{ir} plane, where L{ir} and L{opt} are the infrared and optical bolometric luminosities, is discussed. Source-counts at 24, 70 and 160 mu are discussed, and luminosity functions at 3.6 and 24 mu are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figures, to appear in proceedings of 'Spitzer IR Diagnostics Conference, Nov 14-16, 2005

ALBACORE OBS recovery cruise report

The primary goal of the 2011 ALBACORE (Asthenosphere and Lithosphere Broadband Architecture from the California Offshore Region Experiment) cruise was to recover 34 ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) in a 150 km (north-south) by 400 km (east-west) region off the coast of Southern California (Fig. 1). The cruise took place on R/V New Horizon, departing out of San Diego on Sept 7, 2011 and arriving back in San Diego on Sept 16, 2011 with no port stops in between

MAMBO 1.2mm observations of luminous starbursts at z~2 in the SWIRE fields

We report on--off pointed MAMBO observations at 1.2 mm of 61 Spitzer-selected star-forming galaxies from the SWIRE survey. The sources are selected on the basis of bright 24um fluxes (f_24um>0.4mJy) and of stellar dominated near-infrared spectral energy distributions in order to favor z~2 starburst galaxies. The average 1.2mm flux for the whole sample is 1.5+/-0.2 mJy. Our analysis focuses on 29 sources in the Lockman Hole field where the average 1.2mm flux (1.9+/-0.3 mJy) is higher than in other fields (1.1+/-0.2 mJy). The analysis of the sources multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions indicates that they are starburst galaxies with far-infrared luminosities ~10^12-10^13.3 Lsun, and stellar masses of ~0.2-6 x10^11 M_sun. Compared to sub-millimeter selected galaxies (SMGs), the SWIRE-MAMBO sources are among those with the largest 24um/millimeter flux ratios. The origin of such large ratios is investigated by comparing the average mid-infrared spectra and the stacked far-infrared spectral energy distributions of the SWIRE-MAMBO sources and of SMGs. The mid-infrared spectra exhibit strong PAH features, and a warm dust continuum. The warm dust continuum contributes to ~34% of the mid-infrared emission, and is likely associated with an AGN component. This constribution is consistent with what is found in SMGs. The large 24um/1.2mm flux ratios are thus not due to AGN emission, but rather to enhanced PAH emission compared to SMGs. The analysis of the stacked far-infrared fluxes yields warmer dust temperatures than typically observed in SMGs. Our selection favors warm ultra-luminous infrared sources at high-z, a class of objects that is rarely found in SMG samples. Our sample is the largest Spitzer-selected sample detected at millimeter wavelengths currently available.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (51 pages; 16 figures). The quality of some figures has been degraded for arXiv purposes. Full resolution version available at this http://www.iasf-milano.inaf.it/~polletta/mambo_swire/lonsdale08_ApJ_accepted.pd

The Challenge of Spoken Language Systems: Research Directions for the Nineties

A spoken language system combines speech recognition, natural language processing and human interface technology. It functions by recognizing the person's words, interpreting the sequence of words to obtain a meaning in terms of the application, and providing an appropriate response back to the user. Potential applications of spoken language systems range from simple tasks, such as retrieving information from an existing database (traffic reports, airline schedules), to interactive problem solving tasks involving complex planning and reasoning (travel planning, traffic routing), to support for multilingual interactions. We examine eight key areas in which basic research is needed to produce spoken language systems: (1) robust speech recognition; (2) automatic training and adaptation; (3) spontaneous speech; (4) dialogue models; (5) natural language response generation; (6) speech synthesis and speech generation; (7) multilingual systems; and (8) interactive multimodal systems. In each area, we identify key research challenges, the infrastructure needed to support research, and the expected benefits. We conclude by reviewing the need for multidisciplinary research, for development of shared corpora and related resources, for computational support and far rapid communication among researchers. The successful development of this technology will increase accessibility of computers to a wide range of users, will facilitate multinational communication and trade, and will create new research specialties and jobs in this rapidly expanding area