Static load versus settlement for geometric shapes on cohesionless soil

Static loading versus settlement for circular plate, cone, and sphere on cohesionless soil - spacecraft landing gear stud

Singing an Imaginal Dialogue: A Study of a Bereavement-Specific Music Therapy Intervention

The purpose of this research was to understand the experience of singing an imaginal dialogue with a deceased loved one. This bereavement-specific music therapy intervention was an adaptation of Shear, Frank, Houck, and Reynolds’ (2005) imaginal dialogue intervention and was heavily influenced by Austin’s (2008) method of vocal psychotherapy. Following Shear’s (2006) use of the spoken imaginal dialogue with therapists, the guiding question of the present study was: What are creative arts therapists’ experiences of singing the intervention? The sample consisted of nine female creative arts therapists with a minimum of three years of clinical experience. It included women who identified as minorities in the realms of race, culture, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation. Participation entailed one music therapy session with a music therapist who was not the researcher. After the session, participants completed a questionnaire and were interviewed about their experience by the researcher. Distress levels during and after the intervention rated on a scale of zero to 100, and these quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The qualitative data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and six themes were found: (a) I cried the whole time - Elicitation of profound emotional expression; (b) I was scared to sing - Discomfort, nervousness, and anxiety; (c) I felt safe - Containment and support; (d) I felt his/her presence - Emotional and spiritual connection to the deceased; (e) I’m finally grieving and have greater acceptance - Helpful opportunity for grief resolution; (f) It bypassed the intellectual - More effective to sing than speak. These findings support previous research on grief therapy and imaginal dialogue and contribute to the field of expressive arts therapies by deepening our understanding of the applications of singing an imaginal dialogue with a deceased person. More research is needed to gain an understanding of grief-specific music therapy interventions for adults

Seed production and germination characteristics of woolly cupgrass (Eriochloa villosa [Thumb] Kunth)

Woolly cupgrass seeds at physiological maturity are dormant. The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the seed production capability of woolly cupgrass, seed dormancy factors, and the factors that influence the germination and emergence of woolly cupgrass. Planting of woolly cupgrass later than the month of May greatly reduced woolly cupgrass yield by reducing the production of tillers, panicles, seed numbers/panicle, the number of seeds/raceme, and plant dry weight;The rate of imbibition between dormant and nondormant seeds was the same. Dehulling promoted the germination of dormant seeds by 60%. Oxygen levels above atmospheric concentration completely terminated the dormancy of partly dehulled seeds. The oxygen uptake of dehulled dormant and intact nondormant seeds was significantly greater than that of intact dormant woolly cupgrass seeds. Seed leaching did not promote the germination of intact dormant seeds. Leachate from dormant seeds did not inhibit the germination of nondormant seeds. Excised embryos from dormant seeds germinated under laboratory conditions. Prechilling dehulled seeds for 2 weeks and intact dormant seeds for 6 weeks at 5 C, completely terminated the dormancy of woolly cupgrass. In the field, the termination of seed dormancy was completed by the first week of December. These results suggest that woolly cupgrass seeds possess two types of dormancy. Caryopses dormancy which may be imposed by the seed coat or the endosperm can be terminated by prechilling or by oxygen levels higher than atmospheric concentration. The second type of dormancy is imposed by the seed hulls which limit oxygen diffusion to the embryo;Nondormant woolly cupgrass seeds are not photoblastic. The optimum temperature range for woolly cupgrass seed germination was between 20 and 38 C. Any microenvironment with 4% oxygen concentration can promote the germination of nondormant woolly cupgrass seeds. The optimum seedling emergence depth for woolly cupgrass was between 1 and 4 cm

In vitro evaluation of combination effects of doxorubicin with methylxanthine fractions isolated from Bancha and Pu-erh teas against breast cancer cells

Background: In the present study we investigated the combination effects of anthracycline antibiotic, doxorubicin, with methylxanthine fractions isolated from Bancha and Pu-erh tea leaves, against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines.Methods: Neutral red uptake assay was used for assessment of cytotoxicity effects and fractional effect analysis and combination index for evaluation of the combination effects.Results: Doxorubicin was used in varying concentrations by a double dilution method, whereas the methylxanthine fractions were in fixed concentrations – 100, 200, 400 or 600 μg/ml. Results have shown that methylxanthine fraction isolated from Bancha has synergic effects with doxorubicin, while methylxanthines from Pu-erh displayed antagonistic effects.Conclusions: Тhe obtained results lead us to suspect, that even minor differences in the composition of natural products can lead to significant differences in the biological activity of the product

First direct identification of the barlens vertical structure in galaxy models

Applying spectral dynamics methods to one typical $N$-body model with a barlens, we dissect the modelled bar into separate components supported by completely different types of orbits. We identify at least four components: a narrow elongated bar, a boxy bar, and two components contributing to the barlens. We analyse the vertical structure of all components that make up the thick part of the bar, which has a boxy/peanut shape (B/P bulge). We show that the `peanut' shape is mainly due to the orbits that assemble the boxy part of the face-on bar. We associate the X-shape with the narrow and elongated bar. The wider part of the barlens with square-like isophotes contributes to the boxy shape of the B/P bulge when we observe the galaxy edge-on. However, the part of the barlens with rounded isophotes in the face-on view is a rather flat structure in the vertical direction without any significant off-centre protrusions. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrate that the rounded face-on barlens cannot be entirely associated with the B/P bulge.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics on March 26, 202

The Persistent Southern Disadvantage in Us Early Life Mortality, 1965‒2014

Background: Recent studies of US adult mortality demonstrate a growing disadvantage among southern states. Few studies have examined long-term trends and geographic patterns in US early life (ages 1 to 24) mortality, ages at which key risk factors and causes of death are quite different than among adults. Objective: This article examines trends and variations in early life mortality rates across US states and census divisions. We assess whether those variations have changed over a 50-year time period and which causes of death contribute to contemporary geographic disparities. Methods: We calculate all-cause and cause-specific death rates using death certificate data from the Multiple Cause of Death files, combining public-use files from 1965‒2004 and restricted data with state geographic identifiers from 2005‒2014. State population (denominator) data come from US decennial censuses or intercensal estimates. Results: Results demonstrate a persistent mortality disadvantage for young people (ages 1 to 24) living in southern states over the last 50 years, particularly those located in the East South Central and West South Central divisions. Motor vehicle accidents and homicide by firearm account for most of the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality. Contribution: Our results illustrate that US children and youth living in the southern United States have long suffered from higher levels of mortality than children and youth living in other parts of the country. Our findings also suggest the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality could potentially be reduced with state-level policies designed to prevent deaths involving motor vehicles and firearms

B/PS bulges and barlenses from a kinematic viewpoint. I

A significant part of barred disc galaxies exhibits boxy/peanut-shaped structures (B/PS bulges) at high inclinations. Another structure also associated with the bar is a barlens, often observed in galaxies in a position close to face-on. At this viewing angle, special kinematic tests are required to detect a 3D extension of the bars in the vertical direction (B/PS bulges). We use four pure $N$-body models of galaxies with B/PS bulges, which have different bar morphology from bars with barlenses to the so-called face-on peanut bars. We analyse the kinematics of our models to establish how the structural features of B/PS bulges manifest themselves in the kinematics for galaxies at intermediate inclinations and whether these features are related to the barlenses. We apply the dissection of the bar into different orbital groups to determine which of them are responsible for the features of the LOSVD (line-of-sight velocity distribution), i.e., for the deep minima of the $h_4$ parameter along the major axis of the bar. As a result, we claim that for our models at the face-on position, the kinematic signatures of a `peanut' indeed track the vertical density distribution features. We conclude that orbits responsible for such kinematic signatures differ from model to model. We pay special attention to the barlens model. We show that orbits assembled into barlens are not responsible for the kinematic signatures of B/PS bulges. The results presented in this work are applicable to the interpretation of IFU observations of real galaxies.Comment: 18 page