An Analysis of the Portrayal of the Female Detective in American Series Novels from the 1960s through the Present

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how fictional female detectives have been portrayed between 1960 and the present in American series novels. Three novels were chosen to represent each of the decades between 1960 and 2006. Each of the fifteen novels was the debut novel in a series. A content analysis was performed based on a list of frequently occurring characteristics. The frequency of these characteristics was charted in order to determine trends that developed during the time period represented. Findings indicate that after the proliferation of the professional detective character in the 1980s and 1990s, the 2000s represent a return to a depiction of amateur detectives in addition to increasing autonomy in the primary occupations of these sleuths

Stick index of knots and links in the cubic lattice

The cubic lattice stick index of a knot type is the least number of sticks necessary to construct the knot type in the 3-dimensional cubic lattice. We present the cubic lattice stick index of various knots and links, including all (p,p+1)-torus knots, and show how composing and taking satellites can be used to obtain the cubic lattice stick index for a relatively large infinite class of knots. Additionally, we present several bounds relating cubic lattice stick index to other known invariants.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Dynamic Transmission of Staphylococcus Aureus in the Intensive Care Unit

Staphylococcus aureus is an important bacterial pathogen. This study utilized known staphylococcal epidemiology to track S. aureus between patients, surfaces, staff hands and air in a ten-bed intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: Patients, air and surfaces were screened for total colony counts and S. aureus using dipslides, settle plates and an MAS-100 slit-sampler once a month for 10 months. Data were modelled against proposed standards for air and surfaces, and ICU-acquired staphylococcal infection. Whole-cell genomic typing (WGS) demonstrated possible transmission pathways between reservoirs. Results: Frequently touched sites were more likely to be contaminated (>12 cfu/cm2; p = 0.08). Overall, 235 of 500 (47%) sites failed the surface standard (≤2.5 cfu/cm2); 20 of 40 (50%) passive air samples failed the “Index of Microbial Air” standard (2 cfu/9 cm plate/h), and 15/40 (37.5%) air samples failed the air standard

Efficiency Strategies for Facilitating Computerized Clinical Documentation in Ambulatory Care

Most providers have experienced increased documentation demands with the use of electronic health records (EHRs). We sought to identify efficiency strategies that providers use to complete clinical documentation tasks in ambulatory care. Two observers performed ethnographic observations and interviews with 22 ambulatory care providers in a U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Observation notes and interview transcripts were coded for recurrent strategies relating to completion of the EHR progress notes. Findings included: the use of paper artifacts for handwritten notations; electronic templates for automation of certain parts of the note; use of shorthand and phrases rather than narrative writing; copying and pasting from previous EHR notes; directly entering information into the EHR note during the patient encounter; reliance on memory; and pre-populating an EHR note prior to seeing the patient. We discuss the findings in the context of distributed cognition to understand how clinical information is propagated and represented toward completion of a progress note. The study findings have important implications for improving and streamlining clinical documentation related to human factors workload management strategies

Growth and Nutritional Quality of Lemnaceae Viewed Comparatively in an Ecological and Evolutionary Context

This review focuses on recently characterized traits of the aquatic floating plant Lemna with an emphasis on its capacity to combine rapid growth with the accumulation of high levels of the essential human micronutrient zeaxanthin due to an unusual pigment composition not seen in other fast-growing plants. In addition, Lemna’s response to elevated CO2 was evaluated in the context of the source–sink balance between plant sugar production and consumption. These and other traits of Lemnaceae are compared with those of other floating aquatic plants as well as terrestrial plants adapted to different environments. It was concluded that the unique features of aquatic plants reflect adaptations to the freshwater environment, including rapid growth, high productivity, and exceptionally strong accumulation of high-quality vegetative storage protein and human antioxidant micronutrients. It was further concluded that the insensitivity of growth rate to environmental conditions and plant source–sink imbalance may allow duckweeds to take advantage of elevated atmospheric CO2 levels via particularly strong stimulation of biomass production and only minor declines in the growth of new tissue. It is proposed that declines in nutritional quality under elevated CO2 (due to regulatory adjustments in photosynthetic metabolism) may be mitigated by plant–microbe interaction, for which duckweeds have a high propensity.This work was funded by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health through Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A, the National Science Foundation award number IOS-1907338, and the University of Colorado

Search for L5 Earth Trojans with DECam

Most of the major planets in the Solar System support populations of co-orbiting bodies, known as Trojans, at their L4 and L5 Lagrange points. In contrast, Earth has only one known co-orbiting companion. This paper presents the results from a search for Earth Trojans using the DECam instrument on the Blanco Telescope at CTIO. This search found no additional Trojans in spite of greater coverage compared to previous surveys of the L5 point. Therefore, the main result of this work is to place the most stringent constraints to date on the population of Earth Trojans. These constraints depend on assumptions regarding the underlying population properties, especially the slope of the magnitude distribution (which in turn depends on the size and albedo distributions of the objects). For standard assumptions, we calculate upper limits to a 90% confidence limit on the L5 population of $N_{ET}<1$ for magnitude $H<15.5$, $N_{ET}=60-85$ for $H<19.7$, and $N_{ET}\$= 97 for $H=20.4$. This latter magnitude limit corresponds to Trojans $\sim$300 m in size for albedo $0.15$. At H=19.7, these upper limits are consistent with previous L4 Earth Trojan constraints and significantly improve L5 constraints.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, Accepted to MNRA

Zeaxanthin, a Molecule for Photoprotection in Many Different Environments

Conversion of sunlight into photochemistry depends on photoprotective processes that allow safe use of sunlight over a broad range of environmental conditions. This review focuses on the ubiquity of photoprotection associated with a group of interconvertible leaf carotenoids, the xanthophyll cycle. We survey the striking plasticity of this process observed in nature with respect to (1) xanthophyll cycle pool size, (2) degree and speed of interconversion of its components, and (3) flexibility in the association between xanthophyll cycle conversion state and photoprotective dissipation of excess excitation energy. It is concluded that the components of this system can be independently tuned with a high degree of flexibility to produce a fit for different environments with various combinations of light, temperature, and other factors. In addition, the role of genetic variation is apparent from variation in the response of different species growing side-by-side in the same environment. These findings illustrate how field studies can generate insight into the adjustable levers that allow xanthophyll cycle-associated photoprotection to support plant photosynthetic productivity and survival in environments with unique combinations of environmental factors.</div

Predicting sexual problems in women: The relevance of sexual excitation and sexual inhibition

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below.Data from a non-clinical sample of 540 heterosexual women were used to examine the relationships between scores on the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women (SESII-W) and ratings of current sexual problems, lifetime arousal difficulty, lifetime orgasm difficulty, and lifetime problems with low sexual interest. Multiple regression analyses also included several demographic/background variables as predictors: age, full-time employment, completed college, children in household, married, health ratings, importance of sex, and whether the woman was in a sexual relationship. The strongest statistical predictors of both current and lifetime sexual problems were the SESII-W inhibition factors Arousal Contingency and Concerns about Sexual Function. Demographic factors did not feature largely in any of the models predicting sexual problems even when statistically significant relationships were found. If future research supports the predictive utility of the SESII-W in identifying women who are more likely to experience sexual difficulties, these scales may be used as prognostic factors in treatment studies.This study was funded, in part, by a grant from the Lilly Centre for Women's Health