Occultation Light Curves of Io's Hot Spots in 2014

We present ground-based observations of Io during Spring 2014, contributing to decadal timelines of individual hot spots' volcanic activity

Investigation of the Effectiveness of a Speech Improvement Program for Preschool Children

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effectiveness of a speech improvement program for preschool children

Gaining and sustaining schistosomiasis control: study protocol and baseline data prior to different treatment strategies in five African countries

The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) was established in 2008 to answer strategic questions about schistosomiasis control. For programme managers, a high-priority question is: what are the most cost-effective strategies for delivering preventive chemotherapy (PCT) with praziquantel (PZQ)? This paper describes the process SCORE used to transform this question into a harmonized research protocol, the study design for answering this question, the village eligibility assessments and data resulting from the first year of the study.; Beginning in 2009, SCORE held a series of meetings to specify empirical questions and design studies related to different schedules of PCT for schistosomiasis control in communities with high (gaining control studies) and moderate (sustaining control studies) prevalence of Schistosoma infection among school-aged children. Seven studies are currently being implemented in five African countries. During the first year, villages were screened for eligibility, and data were collected on prevalence and intensity of infection prior to randomisation and the implementation of different schemes of PZQ intervention strategies.; These studies of different treatment schedules with PZQ will provide the most comprehensive data thus far on the optimal frequency and continuity of PCT for schistosomiasis infection and morbidity control.; We expect that the study outcomes will provide data for decision-making for country programme managers and a rich resource of information to the schistosomiasis research community.; The trials are registered at International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial registry (identifiers: ISRCTN99401114 , ISRCTN14849830 , ISRCTN16755535 , ISRCTN14117624 , ISRCTN95819193 and ISRCTN32045736 )

Neutrons from multiplicity-selected La-La and Nb-Nb collisions at 400A MeV and La-La collisions at 250A MeV

Triple-differential cross sections for neutrons from high-multiplicity La-La collisions at 250 and 400 MeV per nucleon and Nb-Nb collisions at 400 MeV per nucleon were measured at several polar angles as a function of the azimuthal angle with respect to the reaction plane of the collision. The reaction plane was determined by a transverse-velocity method with the capability of identifying charged-particles with Z=1, Z=2, and Z > 2. The flow of neutrons was extracted from the slope at mid-rapidity of the curve of the average in-plane momentum vs the center-of-mass rapidity. The squeeze-out of the participant neutrons was observed in a direction normal to the reaction plane in the normalized momentum coordinates in the center-of-mass system. Experimental results of the neutron squeeze-out were compared with BUU calculations. The polar-angle dependence of the maximum azimuthal anisotropy ratio $r(\theta)$ was found to be insensitive to the mass of the colliding nuclei and the beam energy. Comparison of the observed polar-angle dependence of the maximum azimuthal anisotropy ratio $r(\theta)$ with BUU calculations for free neutrons revealed that $r(\theta)$ is insensitive also to the incompressibility modulus in the nuclear equation of state.Comment: ReVTeX, 16 pages, 17 figures. To be published in Physical Review

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Leptictidium auderiense (Leptictida, Mammalia) and North American leptictids reveals new insight into leptictidan locomotor agility

Leptictida are basal Paleocene to Oligocene eutherians from Europe and North America comprising species with highly specialized postcranial features including elongated hind limbs. Among them, the European Leptictidium was probably a bipedal runner or jumper. Because the semicircular canals of the inner ear are involved in detecting angular acceleration of the head, their morphometry can be used as a proxy to elucidate the agility in fossil mammals. Here we provide the first insight into inner ear anatomy and morphometry of Leptictida based on high-resolution computed tomography of a new specimen of Leptictidium auderiense from the middle Eocene Messel Pit (Germany) and specimens of the North American Leptictis and Palaeictops. The general morphology of the bony labyrinth reveals several plesiomorphic mammalian features, such as a secondary crus commune. Leptictidium is derived from the leptictidan groundplan in lacking the secondary bony lamina and having proportionally larger semicircular canals than the leptictids under study. Our estimations reveal that Leptictidium was a very agile animal with agility score values (4.6 and 5.5, respectively) comparable to Macroscelidea and extant bipedal saltatory placentals. Leptictis and Palaeictops have lower agility scores (3.4 to 4.1), which correspond to the more generalized types of locomotion (e.g., terrestrial, cursorial) of most extant mammals. In contrast, the angular velocity magnitude predicted from semicircular canal angles supports a conflicting pattern of agility among leptictidans, but the significance of these differences might be challenged when more is known about intraspecific variation and the pattern of semicircular canal angles in non-primate mammals

Vascular medicine and phlebology: Where do we intersect?

As we begin the new year, the societies representing vascular medicine and phlebology embrace new opportunities while facing the existing challenges of growth and recognition. This issue of Vascular Medicine is devoted solely to venous disease, a core area of vascular medicine training. As the field of phlebology also relates to venous disease, the question arises, what is the relationship between vascular medicine and phlebology and are vascular medicine specialists also phlebologists?Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Foreign Policy and the Ideology of Post-ideology: The Case of Matteo Renzi’s Partito Democratico

The post-communist Italian Left has experienced a long phase of ideational misalignment between ideas placed at different levels, as a qualified discursive institutionalist approach demonstrates. Background public philosophies have often clashed with post-communist political ideology, while foreign policy programmes have often contradicted specific policies. Under the leadership of Matteo Renzi, however, the PD is now experiencing a moment of remarkable ideational consistency. Rather than being founded on entirely new premises, this new consensus folds old elements into new ones and shows all the defining traits of post-ideology. Yet, by espousing post-ideology, Renzi is making an ultimately ideological move whose limitations may soon start to show

CT pulmonary angiography: an over-utilized imaging modality in hospitalized patients with suspected pulmonary embolism

Aims: To determine if computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA) was overemployed in the evaluation of hospitalized patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods: Data were gathered retrospectively on hospitalized patients (n=185) who had CTPA for suspected PE between June and August 2009 at our institution. Results: CTPA was done in 185 hospitalized patients to diagnose acute PE based on clinical suspicion. Of these, 30 (16.2%) patients were tested positive for acute PE on CTPA. The Well's pretest probability for PE was low, moderate, and high in 77 (41.6%), 83 (44.9%), and 25 (13.5%) patients, respectively. Out of the 30 PE-positive patients, pretest probability was low in 2 (6.6%), moderate in 20 (66.7%), and high in 8 (26.6%) (p=0.003). Modified Well's criteria applied to all patients in our study revealed 113 (61%) with low and 72 (39%) with high clinical pretest probability. When modified Well's criteria was applied to 30 PE-positive patients, 10 (33.3%) and 20 (66.6%) were found to have low and high pretest probability, respectively (p=0.006). D-dimer assay was done in 30 (16.2%) of the inpatients with suspected PE and all of them were found to have elevated levels. A lower extremity duplex ultrasound confirmed deep venous thrombosis in 17 (9.1%) of the patients with suspected PE, at least 1 week prior to having CTPA. Conclusion: Understanding the recommended guidelines, evidence-based literature, and current concepts in evaluation of patients with suspected acute PE will reduce unnecessary CTPA examinations