Plasma composition in a sigmoidal anemone active region

Using spectra obtained by the EIS instrument onboard Hinode, we present a detailed spatially resolved abundance map of an active region (AR)-coronal hole (CH) complex that covers an area of 359 arcsec x 485 arcsec. The abundance map provides first ionization potential (FIP) bias levels in various coronal structures within the large EIS field of view. Overall, FIP bias in the small, relatively young AR is 2-3. This modest FIP bias is a consequence of the AR age, its weak heating, and its partial reconnection with the surrounding CH. Plasma with a coronal composition is concentrated at AR loop footpoints, close to where fractionation is believed to take place in the chromosphere. In the AR, we found a moderate positive correlation of FIP bias with nonthermal velocity and magnetic flux density, both of which are also strongest at the AR loop footpoints. Pathways of slightly enhanced FIP bias are traced along some of the loops connecting opposite polarities within the AR. We interpret the traces of enhanced FIP bias along these loops to be the beginning of fractionated plasma mixing in the loops. Low FIP bias in a sigmoidal channel above the AR's main polarity inversion line where ongoing flux cancellation is taking place, provides new evidence of a bald patch magnetic topology of a sigmoid/flux rope configfiuration.Comment: For on-line animation, see http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/~db2/fip_intensity.gif. Accepted by Ap

Prevalence of Mental Health Disorder Symptoms and Rates of Help-seeking Among University-Enrolled, Black Men

Background. Black men in college represent a subgroup of emerging adults who are at increased risk of developing mental health disorders (MHDs), such as anxiety and depression. Such risk has been attributed to disproportionate experiences with everyday racial discrimination and high levels of psychological distress. Despite being at higher risk, university-enrolled, Black men are not utilizing mental health or health resources at optimal rates. The current evidence base describing prevalence of MHDs and health services utilization among Black men in college is limited. The present study addresses this by examining mental health prevalence among university-enrolled, Black men and their rates of health services utilization. Methods. We analyzed data (N ~ 2500) from a student survey, Spit for Science, a longitudinal, ongoing, research study at a mid-Atlantic, public university. Participants are given surveys in their freshman year and follow-up surveys every spring thereafter. Measures included: mental health disorders (depression and anxiety, as measured by the Symptom Checklist 90) and campus health service utilization (counseling center, health services, wellness center, and recreational sports). We conducted descriptive analyses to determine MHD symptom prevalence and utilization rates; Mann Whitney U tests to compare prevalence rates to White men and Black women; and, Chi-squared tests to compare rates of utilization among groups. Results. During their Freshman year, greater than 60% of students from each ethnic group reported at least one anxiety symptom and greater than 80% reported at least one depressive symptom. By senior year, reporting rates decreased significantly for Black men (49.6%) but remained high for White men (69.1%) and Black women (63%); p \u3c0.000. For depression, results were similar; however, only significant differences between Black men (72.7%) and Black women (87.1%); p\u3c0.000. Black men (20.4%), though reporting high levels of symptoms, still utilized counseling services at lower rates compared to White men (37.76%); p = 0.024. Conclusion. Findings suggest that Black men underutilize available campus health resources despite reporting one or more symptoms associated with anxiety and depression. Further research and prevention efforts are needed to improve help-seeking among this vulnerable population.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1077/thumbnail.jp

Coronal magnetic reconnection driven by CME expansion -- the 2011 June 7 event

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupt and expand in a magnetically structured solar corona. Various indirect observational pieces of evidence have shown that the magnetic field of CMEs reconnects with surrounding magnetic fields, forming, e.g., dimming regions distant from the CME source regions. Analyzing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations of the eruption from AR 11226 on 2011 June 7, we present the first direct evidence of coronal magnetic reconnection between the fields of two adjacent ARs during a CME. The observations are presented jointly with a data-constrained numerical simulation, demonstrating the formation/intensification of current sheets along a hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) at the interface between the CME and the neighbouring AR 11227. Reconnection resulted in the formation of new magnetic connections between the erupting magnetic structure from AR 11226 and the neighboring active region AR 11227 about 200 Mm from the eruption site. The onset of reconnection first becomes apparent in the SDO/AIA images when filament plasma, originally contained within the erupting flux rope, is re-directed towards remote areas in AR 11227, tracing the change of large-scale magnetic connectivity. The location of the coronal reconnection region becomes bright and directly observable at SDO/AIA wavelengths, owing to the presence of down-flowing cool, dense (10^{10} cm^{-3}) filament plasma in its vicinity. The high-density plasma around the reconnection region is heated to coronal temperatures, presumably by slow-mode shocks and Coulomb collisions. These results provide the first direct observational evidence that CMEs reconnect with surrounding magnetic structures, leading to a large-scale re-configuration of the coronal magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Mouse cytomegalovirus-experienced ILC1s acquire a memory response dependent on the viral glycoprotein m12.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue-resident sentinels that are essential for early host protection from pathogens at initial sites of infection. However, whether pathogen-derived antigens directly modulate the responses of tissue-resident ILCs has remained unclear. In the present study, it was found that liver-resident type 1 ILCs (ILC1s) expanded locally and persisted after the resolution of infection with mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV). ILC1s acquired stable transcriptional, epigenetic and phenotypic changes a month after the resolution of MCMV infection, and showed an enhanced protective effector response to secondary challenge with MCMV consistent with a memory lymphocyte response. Memory ILC1 responses were dependent on the MCMV-encoded glycoprotein m12, and were independent of bystander activation by proinflammatory cytokines after heterologous infection. Thus, liver ILC1s acquire adaptive features in an MCMV-specific manner

Should the Rich be Taxed More? The Fiscal Inequality Coefficient

This paper holistically addresses the effective (relative) income tax contribution of a given income (or, wealth) group. The widely acclaimed standard in public policy is the absolute benefaction of a given income group in filling up the fiscal coffers. Instead, we focus on the ratio of the average income tax rate of an income group divided by the percentage of national income (or wealth) appropriated by the same income group. In turn, we develop the Fiscal Inequality Coefficient which compares the effective percentage income tax payments of pairs of income (or wealth) groups. Using data for the US, we concentrate on pairs such as the Bottom 90% versus Top 10%, Bottom 99% versus Top 1%, and Bottom 99.9% versus Top 0.1%. We conclude that policy makers with a strong social conscience should re-evaluate the progressivity of the income tax system and make the richest echelons of the income and wealth distributions pay a fairer and higher tax

Perception of soundscapes : an interdisciplinary approach

This paper takes an overall view of findings from the Positive Soundscape Project, a large inter-disciplinary soundscapes study. Qualitative fieldwork (soundwalks and focus groups) have found that soundscape perception is influenced by cognitive effects such as the meaning of a soundscape and its components, and how information is conveyed by a soundscape, for example on the behaviour of people within the soundscape. Three significant clusters were found in the language people use to describe soundscapes: sound sources, sound descriptors and soundscape descriptors. Results from listening tests and soundwalks have been integrated to show that the two principal dimensions of soundscape emotional response seem to be calmness and vibrancy. Further, vibrancy seems to have two aspects: organisation of sounds and changes over time. The possible application of the results to soundscape assessment and design are briefly discussed

Letter from Carlyle Onsrud to Senator Langer Requesting Two Copies of US Senate Bill 2151, May 1, 1956

This letter dated May 1, 1956, from Carlyle D. Onsrud, Executive Director of the Public Welfare Board of North Dakota to United States (US) Senator William Langer, requests two copies of US Senate Bill 2151 (S. 2151). There is a small shorthand note at the bottom of the letter. See also: Letter from Senator Langer to Carlyle Onsrud Enclosing Two Copies of US Senate Bill 2151, May 8, 1956https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1941/thumbnail.jp

A Selective Study Relating High School Achievement with College Success at the Iowa State University and the University of Omaha

Inherent in the democratic ideal of free public education comes the realization that as a number of youth receiving education increases, the greater the demand for secondary education, and finally, the enlarged desire for additional college training. As increasing numbers of these young people seek entrance into our institutions of higher learning, and as these institutions become more selective in their admission policies, it becomes imperative that trained guidance personnel acquaint themselves more thoroughly with the various predictive devices available to predict college success with some degree of precision. This study was conducted with the hope of interpreting some of the local high school data in order to increase this predictive accuracy, both for the investigator and other counselors confronted with a similar problem

Logics of Finite Hankel Rank

We discuss the Feferman-Vaught Theorem in the setting of abstract model theory for finite structures. We look at sum-like and product-like binary operations on finite structures and their Hankel matrices. We show the connection between Hankel matrices and the Feferman-Vaught Theorem. The largest logic known to satisfy a Feferman-Vaught Theorem for product-like operations is CFOL, first order logic with modular counting quantifiers. For sum-like operations it is CMSOL, the corresponding monadic second order logic. We discuss whether there are maximal logics satisfying Feferman-Vaught Theorems for finite structures.Comment: Appeared in YuriFest 2015, held in honor of Yuri Gurevich's 75th birthday. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23534-9_1

Increased circulating ANG II and TNF-α represents important risk factors in obese Saudi adults with hypertension irrespective of diabetic status and BMI

Central adiposity is a significant determinant of obesity-related hypertension risk, which may arise due to the pathogenic inflammatory nature of the abdominal fat depot. However, the influence of pro-inflammatory adipokines on blood pressure in the obese hypertensive phenotype has not been well established in Saudi subjects. As such, our study investigated whether inflammatory factors may represent useful biomarkers to delineate hypertension risk in a Saudi cohort with and without hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2). Subjects were subdivided into four groups: healthy lean controls (age: 47.9±5.1 yr; BMI: 22.9±2.1 Kg/m2), non-hypertensive obese (age: 46.1±5.0 yr; BMI: 33.7±4.2 Kg/m2), hypertensive obese (age: 48.6±6.1 yr; BMI: 36.5±7.7 Kg/m2) and hypertensive obese with DMT2 (age: 50.8±6.0 yr; BMI: 35.3±6.7 Kg/m2). Anthropometric data were collected from all subjects and fasting blood samples were utilized for biochemical analysis. Serum angiotensin II (ANG II) levels were elevated in hypertensive obese (p<0.05) and hypertensive obese with DMT2 (p<0.001) compared with normotensive controls. Systolic blood pressure was positively associated with BMI (p<0.001), glucose (p<0.001), insulin (p<0.05), HOMA-IR (p<0.001), leptin (p<0.01), TNF-α (p<0.001) and ANG II (p<0.05). Associations between ANG II and TNF-α with systolic blood pressure remained significant after controlling for BMI. Additionally CRP (p<0.05), leptin (p<0.001) and leptin/adiponectin ratio (p<0.001) were also significantly associated with the hypertension phenotype. In conclusion our data suggests that circulating pro-inflammatory adipokines, particularly ANG II and, TNF-α, represent important factors associated with a hypertension phenotype and may directly contribute to predicting and exacerbating hypertension risk