The Storm Before the Calm

Self-discipline. It gets some people up at 5 a.m. every day to train for a marathon. It gets others through three grueling years of law school. And it keeps Jonah Eaton, \u2711, battling collapsed roofs and molten lead gone awry in order to finish what he started

The expected background spectrum in NaI dark matter detectors and the DAMA result

Detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the expected radioactive background rates and spectra in NaI crystals are presented. The obtained spectra are then compared to those measured in the DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA experiments. The simulations can be made consistent with the measured DAMA spectrum only by assuming higher than reported concentrations of some isotopes and even so leave very little room for the dark matter signal. We conclude that any interpretation of the annual modulation of the event rate observed by DAMA as a dark matter signal, should include full consideration of the background spectrum. This would significantly restrict the range of dark matter models capable of explaining the modulation effect.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Narrow muon bundles from muon pair production in rock

We revise the process of muon pair production by high-energy muons in rock using the recently published cross-section. The three-dimensional Monte Carlo code MUSIC has been used to obtain the characteristics of the muon bundles initiated via this process. We have compared them with those of conventional muon bundles initiated in the atmosphere and shown that large underground detectors, capable of collecting hundreds of thousands of multiple muon events, can discriminate statistically muon induced bundles from conventional ones. However, we find that the enhancement of the measured muon decoherence function over that predicted at small distances, recently reported by the MACRO experiment, cannot be explained by the effect of muon pair production alone, unless its cross-section is underestimated by a factor of 3.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, to be published in Physics Letters

Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate and the Racial Multiplier: Clinical Implications and Current Attitudes

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with high morbidity and mortality and has high and increasing incidence worldwide. CKD is characterized by a reduction in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), but as GFR is difficult to measure directly, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations have been created to measure serum creatinine levels as a function of GFR. Some eGFR equations contain a racial multiplier that increases the eGFR of black patients, causing a spurious increase in reported kidney function. This study included a literature search that collected information on the rationale behind the multipliers usage and a survey that gathered information about healthcare professionals’ reception of the racial multiplier’s use. Use of the multiplier across the globe was found to be inconsistent. The survey found that there are many hospital systems across the US that report the racial multiplier and varying opinions among healthcare providers about its use. Applying the racial multiplier increases the eGFR of a patient by 16-21%, which may categorize a patient as being at a less severe stage of CKD than appropriate. The lack of consistency in the application of the racial multiplier, coupled with the understanding that race is not a biological characteristic, contraindicates its inclusion in a diagnostic algorithm. Inappropriate use of the racial multiplier causes delay to necessary treatments for affected patients. The inability to sort people into discrete racial categories on biological lines and lack of studies definitively supporting the racial multiplier calls for reevaluation of its use

Area of Interest Display in Visual Simulation

Visual simulation to provide effective training for airplane flight in a wide field of view, high detail environment presents problems of cost and adequate detail. Research and development to meet these problems is addressing various techniques for concentrating high image detail in an area of interest (AOI) which is set within a larger field of view of comparatively low resolution and detail. This paper reviews the various AOI techniques and suggests possible future benefits to visual simulation for the space program

Alien Registration- Spooner, Nellie A. (Wade, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/32820/thumbnail.jp

Understanding the meaning of politicisation of hte employment relationship through historical analysis

For more than one hundred years, Australian governments have supported the principle that the employment relationship of public servants should be independent of direct control by politicians. In recent decades, concern has been expressed that the independence of public servants has been undermined and that they have become politicised. Scholarly examination of the issue has been somewhat limited by the absence of a clear definition of what is meant by politicisation, with the term being associated both with the exercise of control over the human resource management (HRM) elements of the relationship as well as the tasks performed by public servants. The purpose of this paper is to establish a valid definition of politicisation through historical analysis of the patronage and the independent civil service systems of employment

Specific Rab GTPase-activating proteins define the Shiga toxin and epidermal growth factor uptake pathways

Rab family guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) together with their regulators define specific pathways of membrane traffic within eukaryotic cells. In this study, we have investigated which Rab GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) can interfere with the trafficking of Shiga toxin from the cell surface to the Golgi apparatus and studied transport of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) from the cell surface to endosomes. This screen identifies 6 (EVI5, RN-tre/USP6NL, TBC1D10A–C, and TBC1D17) of 39 predicted human Rab GAPs as specific regulators of Shiga toxin but not EGF uptake. We show that Rab43 is the target of RN-tre and is required for Shiga toxin uptake. In contrast, RabGAP-5, a Rab5 GAP, was unique among the GAPs tested and reduced the uptake of EGF but not Shiga toxin. These results suggest that Shiga toxin trafficking to the Golgi is a multistep process controlled by several Rab GAPs and their target Rabs and that this process is discrete from ligand-induced EGF receptor trafficking

Measurement of the Scintillation Efficiency of Na Recoils in NaI(Tl) down to 10 keV Nuclear Recoil Energy relevant to Dark Matter Searches

We present preliminary results of measurements of the quenching factor for Na recoils in NaI(Tl) at room temperature, made at a dedicated neutron facility at the University of Sheffield. Measurements have been performed with a 2.45 MeV mono-energetic neutron generator in the energy range from 10 keV to 100 keV nuclear recoil energy. A BC501A liquid scintillator detector was used to tag neutrons. Cuts on pulse-shape discrimination from the BC501A liquid scintillator detector and neutron time-of-flight were performed on pulses recorded by a digitizer with a 2 ns sampling time. Measured quenching factors range from 19% to 26%, in agreement with other experiments. From pulse-shape analysis, a mean time of pulses from electron and nuclear recoils are compared down to 2 keV electron equivalent energy.Comment: to appear in Proc. 6th Int. Workshop on the Identification of Dark Matter, 11-16 September 2006, Rhodes, Greece; 6 pages, 4 figures; corrected preliminary theoretical estimation curve plotted in figure