4,742 research outputs found
The Minority Experience at Gettysburg College: The Hanson Years (1961-1977)
The years of C. Arnold Hanson’s term as president at Gettysburg College were years of turbulence, change, and challenge. Rising to the position of president in 1961, in the dawning of a dynamic era of modern American history, C. A. Hanson served well into the middle of the next decade, during which time he helped guide Gettysburg College through some of its most trying and vital changes. This was the era of the hippie and the free thinker, the era of the Women’s and Civil Rights Movements, the era of Vietnam and anti-war protests, the era that shaped modern American society and culture. During this period, one of the areas in which the most dramatic changes occurred was in the sphere of Civil Rights; Gettysburg was far from the forefront in dealing with bigotry, but it did confront the race issue. As this occurred on the national scale, efforts were made at Gettysburg to follow suit. Sadly, this was often difficult and unsuccessful, occurring “in fits and starts.” During C. A. Hanson’s tenure as president, minorities experienced discrimination as they pursued equal opportunities in education, faculty and administrators struggled to construct a successful strategy for integration, students brought down racial barriers through interaction, and above all, many African Americans demonstrated extraordinary strength of character in their fight for equality and acceptance into the Gettysburg College community. [excerpt
Field efficacy evaluation and post-treatment contamination risk assessment of an ultraviolet disinfection and safe storage system.
Inconsistent use of household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) systems reduces their potential health benefits. Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is more convenient than some existing HWTS systems, but it does not provide post-treatment residual disinfectant, which could leave drinking water vulnerable to recontamination. In this paper, using as-treated analyses, we report on the field efficacy of a UV disinfection system at improving household drinking water quality in rural Mexico. We further assess the risk of post-treatment contamination from the UV system, and develop a process-based model to better understand household risk factors for recontamination. This study was part of a larger cluster-randomized stepped wedge trial, and the results complement previously published population-level results of the intervention on diarrheal prevalence and water quality. Based on the presence of Escherichia coli (proportion of households with ≥ 1 E. coli/100 mL), we estimated a risk difference of -28.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): -33.9%, -22.1%) when comparing intervention to control households; -38.6% (CI: -48.9%, -28.2%) when comparing post- and pre-intervention results; and -37.1% (CI: -45.2%, -28.9%) when comparing UV disinfected water to alternatives within the household. We found substantial increases in post-treatment E. coli contamination when comparing samples from the UV system effluent (5.0%) to samples taken from the storage container (21.1%) and drinking glasses (26.0%). We found that improved household infrastructure, additional extractions from the storage container, additional time from when the storage container was filled, and increased experience of the UV system operator were associated with reductions in post-treatment contamination. Our results suggest that the UV system is efficacious at improving household water quality when used as intended. Promoting safe storage habits is essential for an effective UV system dissemination. The drinking glass appears to represent a small but significant source of recontamination that is likely to impact all HWTS systems
EFFECTS OF POSTING CALORIE INFORMATION ON QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANT MENUS
Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy,
Fiscal federalism and prospects for metropolitan transportation authorities in Portugal
Fiscal federalism refers to the attribution of public finance functions among different levels of government. We examine Portugal's metropolitan transportation sector through the fiscal federalist lens, in light of the country's decentralization efforts and new relevant legislation. We clarify basic principles of fiscal federalism and adapt them to the finance of metropolitan transportation systems – typically characterized by multiple jurisdictions, numerous externalities and equity concerns – showing the inadequacy of general practice. Portugal's overall public finance system partially adheres to fiscal federalist principles; the transportation sector less so. Metropolitan transportation faces particular troubles, with few direct user fees, prices inadequately reflecting costs, and heavy reliance on central government subsidies for public transportation investments and operations. A new law creating metropolitan transportation authorities is only modestly consistent with fiscal federalist principles, since it inadequately details financial responsibilities and remains under heavy central government control. Absent additional reforms, the new metropolitan authorities should aim to make the transportation finance system explicit and test incentive grants to induce inter-municipal cooperation.MIT Portugal Progra
Zooming in on accretion - II. Cold Circumgalactic Gas Simulated with a super-Lagrangian Refinement Scheme
In this study we explore the complex multi-phase gas of the circumgalactic
medium (CGM) surrounding galaxies. We propose and implement a novel,
super-Lagrangian 'CGM zoom' scheme in the moving-mesh code AREPO, which focuses
more resolution into the CGM and intentionally lowers resolution in the dense
ISM. We run two cosmological simulations of the same galaxy halo, once with a
simple 'no feedback' model, and separately with a more comprehensive physical
model including galactic-scale outflows as in the Illustris simulation. Our
chosen halo has a total mass of ~10^12 Msun at z ~ 2, and we achieve a median
gas mass (spatial) resolution of ~2,200 solar masses (~95 parsecs) in the CGM,
six-hundred (fourteen) times better than in the Illustris-1 simulation, a
higher spatial resolution than any cosmological simulation at this mass scale
to date. We explore the primary channel(s) of cold-phase CGM gas production in
this regime. We find that winds substantially enhance the amount of cold gas in
the halo, also evidenced in the covering fractions of HI and the equivalent
widths of MgII out to large radii, in better agreement with observations than
the case without galactic winds. Using a tracer particle analysis to follow the
thermodynamic history of gas, we demonstrate how the majority of this cold,
dense gas arises due to rapid cooling of the wind material interacting with the
hot halo, and how large amounts of cold, ~10^4 K gas can be produced and
persist in galactic halos with Tvir ~ 10^6 K. At the resolutions presently
considered, the quantitative properties of the CGM we explore are not
appreciably affected by the refinement scheme.Comment: MNRAS submitted, comments welcome. High-res version at
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~dnelson/papers/Suresh19_zooming2.pd
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An Ontology-based Collaborative Knowledge Management Network to Enhance the Reusability of Inter-organizational Knowledge
A number of knowledge management (KM) approaches based on individual organizational KM strategies and business requirements have been developed without taking system interoperation into consideration. In this paper, a collaborative inter-organizational KM network is proposed to allow various organizations to access and retrieve inter-organizational knowledge. While knowledge engineers can reuse the inter-organizational knowledge to create and evaluate its own organizational knowledge, general users benefit from the effectiveness and efficiency of searching for relevant inter-organizational knowledge within the networ
Raw and Count Data Comparability of Hip-Worn ActiGraph GT3X+ and Link Accelerometers
To enable inter- and intrastudy comparisons it is important to ascertain comparability among accelerometer models.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare raw and count data between hip-worn ActiGraph GT3X+ and GT9X Link accelerometers.
Methods: Adults (n = 26 (n = 15 women); age, 49.1 T 20.0 yr) wore GT3X+ and Link accelerometers over the right hip for an 80-min protocol involving 12–21 sedentary, household, and ambulatory/exercise activities lasting 2–15 min each. For each accelerometer, mean and variance of the raw (60 Hz) data for each axis and vector magnitude (VM) were extracted in 30-s epochs. A machine learning model (Montoye 2015) was used to predict energy expenditure in METs from the raw data. Raw data were also processed into activity counts in 30-s epochs for each axis and VM, with Freedson 1998 and 2011 count-based regression models used to predictMETs. Time spent in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous intensities was derived from predicted METs from each model. Correlations were calculated to compare raw and count data between accelerometers, and percent agreement was used to compare epoch-by-epoch activity intensity.
Results: For raw data, correlations for mean acceleration were 0.96 T 0.05, 0.89 T 0.16, 0.71 T 0.33, and 0.80 T 0.28, and those for variance were 0.98 T 0.02, 0.98 T 0.03, 0.91 T 0.06, and 1.00 T 0.00 in the X, Y, and Z axes and VM, respectively. For count data, corresponding correlations were 1.00 T 0.01, 0.98 T 0.02, 0.96 T 0.04, and 1.00 T 0.00, respectively. Freedson 1998 and 2011 count-based models had significantly higher percent agreement for activity intensity (95.1% T 5.6% and 95.5% T 4.0%) compared with theMontoye 2015 raw data model (61.5% T 27.6%; P G 0.001).
Conclusions: Count data were more highly comparable than raw data between accelerometers. Data filtering and/or more robust raw data models are needed to improve raw data comparability between ActiGraph GT3X+ and Link accelerometers
Epitaxial stabilization of Sr3Ir2O7 thin films
Ruddlesden-popper type Srn+1IrnO3n+1 compound is a major focus of condensed
matter physics where the subtle balance between electron-electron correlation,
spin-orbit interaction and crystal field effect brings a host of emergent
phenomena. While it is understandable that a canted antiferromagnetic (AFM)
insulating state with an easy-plane anisotropy is developed in Sr2IrO4 as the
2D limit of the series, it is intriguing that bilayer Sr3Ir2O7, with slightly
higher effective dimensionality, stabilizes c-axis collinear
antiferromagnetism. This also renders Sr3Ir2O7 as a unique playground to study
exotic physics near a critical spin transition point. However, the epitaxial
growth of the Sr3Ir2O7 is still a challenging task because of the narrow growth
window. In our research, we have studied the thermodynamic process during
synthesis of Sr3Ir2O7 thin films. We successfully expanded the synthesis window
by mapping out the relation between the thin film sample crystal structure and
gas pressure. Our work thus provides a more accessible avenue to stabilize
metastable materials.Comment: Accepted by Applied Physics Letter
Visualizing electrostatic gating effects in two-dimensional heterostructures
The ability to directly observe electronic band structure in modern nanoscale
field-effect devices could transform understanding of their physics and
function. One could, for example, visualize local changes in the electrical and
chemical potentials as a gate voltage is applied. One could also study
intriguing physical phenomena such as electrically induced topological
transitions and many-body spectral reconstructions. Here we show that submicron
angle-resolved photoemission (micro-ARPES) applied to two-dimensional (2D) van
der Waals heterostructures affords this ability. In graphene devices, we
observe a shift of the chemical potential by 0.6 eV across the Dirac point as a
gate voltage is applied. In several 2D semiconductors we see the conduction
band edge appear as electrons accumulate, establishing its energy and momentum,
and observe significant band-gap renormalization at low densities. We also show
that micro-ARPES and optical spectroscopy can be applied to a single device,
allowing rigorous study of the relationship between gate-controlled electronic
and excitonic properties.Comment: Original manuscript with 9 pages with 4 figures in main text, 5 pages
with 4 figures in supplement. Substantially edited manuscript accepted at
Natur
A Third Hot White Dwarf Companion Detected by Kepler
We have found a system listed in the Kepler Binary Catalog (3.273 day period;
Prsa et al. 2010) that we have determined is comprised of a low-mass,
thermally-bloated, hot white dwarf orbiting an A star of about 2.3 solar
masses. In this work we designate the object, KIC 10657664, simply as KHWD3. We
use the transit depth of ~0.66%, the eclipse depth of ~1.9%, and regular smooth
periodic variations at the orbital frequency and twice the orbital frequency to
analyze the system parameters. The smooth periodic variations are identified
with the classical ellipsoidal light variation and illumination effects, and
the newly utilized Doppler boosting effect. Given the measured values of R/a
and inclination angle of the binary, both the ELV and DB effects are mostly
sensitive to the mass ratio, q = M_2/M_1, of the binary. The two effects yield
values of q which are somewhat inconsistent - presumably due to unidentified
systematic effects - but which nonetheless provide a quite useful set of
possibilities for the mass of the white dwarf (either 0.18 +/- 0.03 M_Sun or
0.37 +/- 0.08 M_Sun). All of the other system parameters are determined fairly
robustly. In particular, we show that the white dwarf has a radius of 0.15 +/-
0.01 R_Sun which is extremely bloated over the radius it would have as a fully
degenerate object, and an effective temperature T_eff = 14,100 +/- 350 K.
Binary evolution scenarios and models for this system are discussed. We suggest
that the progenitor binary was comprised of a primary of mass ~2.2 M_Sun (the
progenitor of the current hot white dwarf) and a secondary of mass ~1.4 M_Sun
(the progenitor of the current A star in the system). We compare this new
system with three other white dwarfs in binaries that likely were formed via
stable Roche-lobe overflow (KOI-74, KOI-81, and Regulus).Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
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