Arte mural tradicional en Walata: ciudad caravana en el Hawdh oriental

Walata is one of the major caravan cities in the southern Sahara located on the route from Timbuktu to the northern cities of either Sijilmassa in the Tafilalt oasis or Nul Lamta on Wadi Nun. The city has a long history stretching back to before it was named Walata which archeology has only recently (2004) begun to investigate. The city is justly famous for the unique wall art on its houses. The art is the realm of women who have passed it on from generation to generation. Local oral history states the wall art found in Walata dates to al-Murabitin period (11th century) when a number of Muslims from al-Andalus were exiled there. The wall art of Walata is unique not only to its own region of the Hawdh in eastern Mauritania, but to the whole Sahara. The art can be divided into three main types: around the main street entrance to the house, walls of the interior courtyard, and the inside of rooms. The designs are subject to change over time and recently new ones have been introduced from henna for the hands, straw mats, and Moroccan carpets while some of the older designs are no longer being done.Walata es una de las mayores ciudades caravana en el Sahara septentrional emplazada en el camino desde Timbuktu a las ciudades norteñas de Sijilmassa en el oasis de Tafilalt o a Nul Lamta en Wadi Nun. La ciudad tiene una larga historia que se remonta a antes de que fuera llamada Walata, que la arqueología ha empezado a investigar recientemente (2004). La ciudad es en concreto famosa por el singular arte mural de sus casas. Este arte se da en la esfera de las mujeres, que lo conservan de generación en generación. La tradición oral local establece que el arte mural que se encuentra en Walata data del periodo al-Murabitin (siglo XI), durante el que unos cuantos musulmanes de alÁndalus se exiliaron en la zona. El arte mural de Walata es único no sólo en la región de Hawdh, en Mauritania oriental, sino también en el Sahara en su totalidad. Este arte puede dividirse en tres tipos principales: en las entradas de las casas alrededor de la calle principal. en los muros del patio interior, y en el interior de las habitaciones. Los diseños pueden cambiar a lo largo del tiempo y recientemente se han introducido nuevos inspirados en la henna de las manos, en las esteras de paja, y en las alfombras marroquíes, mientras que algunos de los más antiguos ya no se hacen

Efficiency of initiating cell adhesion in hydrodynamic flow

We theoretically investigate the efficiency of initial binding between a receptor-coated sphere and a ligand-coated wall in linear shear flow. The mean first passage time for binding decreases monotonically with increasing shear rate. Above a saturation threshold of the order of a few 100 receptor patches, the binding efficiency is enhanced only weakly by increasing their number and size, but strongly by increasing their height. This explains why white blood cells in the blood flow adhere through receptor patches localized to the tips of microvilli, and why malaria-infected red blood cells form elevated receptor patches (knobs).Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 Postscript figures included, to appear in PR

Corn Yield Response to Plant Populations

Corn hybrid development with a focus on drought tolerance has emerged in recent years, and producers have questions about their yield performance across a range of plant populations. A two-year study was conducted to determine the yield of corn hybrids across several plant populations. Corn hybrids responded differently in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, a lower yield environment occurred. The hybrid with drought tolerance had the greatest yield of 95 bu/a at a plant population of 21,500 plants/a, whereas the non-drought-tolerant hybrid’s greatest yield was 90 bu/a at a plant population of 13,500 plants/a. In 2014, the yield environment was significantly higher. The hybrid with drought tolerance had the greatest yield of 174 bu/a at the greatest plant population of 35,500 plants/a, and the non-drought tolerant hybrid’s greatest yield was 169 bu/a at a plant population of 29,500 plant/a

Corn Yield Response to Plant Populations

Corn hybrid development with a focus on drought tolerance has emerged in recent years, and producers have questions about their yield performance across a range of plant populations. A three-year study was conducted to determine the yield of corn hybrids across several plant populations. Corn hybrids responded differently across three different yield environments in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2013, a lower yield environment occurred. The hybrid with drought tolerance had the greatest yield of 95 bu/a at a plant population of 21,500 plants/a, whereas the non-drought tolerant hybrid’s greatest yield was 90 bu/a at a plant population of 13,500 plants/a. In 2014, the yield environment was the greatest in the three-year study. The hybrid with drought tolerance had the greatest yield of 174 bu/a at the greatest plant population of 35,500 plants/a, and the non-drought tolerant hybrid’s greatest yield was 169 bu/a at a plant population of 29,500 plant/a. In 2015, overall corn yield was moderate compared to 2013 and 2014. The hybrid with drought tolerance once again had the greatest corn yield at 135 bu/a at the 29,500 plant/a population

On sets of irreducible polynomials closed by composition

Let $\mathcal S$ be a set of monic degree $2$ polynomials over a finite field and let $C$ be the compositional semigroup generated by $\mathcal S$. In this paper we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for $C$ to be consisting entirely of irreducible polynomials. The condition we deduce depends on the finite data encoded in a certain graph uniquely determined by the generating set $\mathcal S$. Using this machinery we are able both to show examples of semigroups of irreducible polynomials generated by two degree $2$ polynomials and to give some non-existence results for some of these sets in infinitely many prime fields satisfying certain arithmetic conditions

2015 Soybean Production in Southeast Kansas

Crop performance and yield varies as a function of the growing environment and soil properties within the field. Optimal soybean planting in southeast Kansas usually occurs from mid-May to mid-June for full-season or late-June to early-July for doublecropped soybean. Planting is timed to capture fall rains and cooler temperatures during critical periods of bean development and yield formation and avoid mid-summer heat and drought. Changing planting configuration (row spacing and plant population), timing of planting, and cultivar selection are methods of optimizing soybean production for different growing environments

One Hospital\u27s Patient Satisfaction Plans in Response

Recent changes in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement programs resulted in $1 billion in payments to hospitals based on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. Approximately 50% of the 3,000 hospitals currently receiving Medicare supplements may receive increases in reimbursement payments while 50% will receive decreases in payments. This case study explored how one hospital team in North Texas achieved high HCAHPS scores. The primary provider theory, Deming\u27s model of plan-do-study-act (PDSA), and disruptive innovation theory framed the study. The data collection process included administrator interviews (n = 7), hospital document analysis (n = 13), and observations of staff conducting care (n = 8). Through method triangulation, themes emerged on the constructs required to achieve high HCAHPS scores. Themes included caregiver-patient interactions, hospital services, hospital environment, hospital technology, and hospital governance. Although this was a single case study, other healthcare leaders may explore the findings to determine how the information contained within might transfer to other healthcare organizations. Improved patient outcomes resulting from education, communication, and technology in the continuum of care might enhance the patient experience and patients\u27 overall health and wellness

Validation of a survey instrument to assess home environments for physical activity and healthy eating in overweight children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few measures exist to measure the overall home environment for its ability to support physical activity (PA) and healthy eating in overweight children. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of such a measure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Home Environment Survey (HES) was developed to reflect availability, accessibility, parental role modelling, and parental policies related to PA resources, fruits and vegetables (F&V), and sugar sweetened drinks and snacks (SS). Parents of overweight children (n = 219) completed the HES and concurrent behavioural assessments. Children completed the Block Kids survey and wore an accelerometer for one week. A subset of parents (n = 156) completed the HES a second time to determine test-retest reliability. Finally, 41 parent dyads living in the same home (n = 41) completed the survey to determine inter-rater reliability. Initial psychometric analyses were completed to trim items from the measure based on lack of variability in responses, moderate or higher item to scale correlation, or contribution to strong internal consistency. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability were completed using intraclass correlation coefficients. Validity was assessed using Pearson correlations between the HES scores and child and parent nutrition and PA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eight items were removed and acceptable internal consistency was documented for all scales (α = .66–84) with the exception of the F&V accessibility. The F&V accessibility was reduced to a single item because the other two items did not meet reliability standards. Test-retest reliability was high (r > .75) for all scales. Inter-rater reliability varied across scales (r = .22–.89). PA accessibility, parent role modelling, and parental policies were all related significantly to child (r = .14–.21) and parent (r = .15–.31) PA. Similarly, availability of F&V and SS, parental role modelling, and parental policies were related to child (r = .14–36) and parent (r = .15–26) eating habits.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The HES shows promise as a potentially valid and reliable assessment of the physical and social home environment related to a child's physical activity and eating habits.</p

An efficient quantum algorithm for the hidden subgroup problem in extraspecial groups

Extraspecial groups form a remarkable subclass of p-groups. They are also present in quantum information theory, in particular in quantum error correction. We give here a polynomial time quantum algorithm for finding hidden subgroups in extraspecial groups. Our approach is quite different from the recent algorithms presented in [17] and [2] for the Heisenberg group, the extraspecial p-group of size p3 and exponent p. Exploiting certain nice automorphisms of the extraspecial groups we define specific group actions which are used to reduce the problem to hidden subgroup instances in abelian groups that can be dealt with directly.Comment: 10 page

LiS: Lightweight Signature Schemes for continuous message authentication in cyber-physical systems

Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) RIE 202