Immunization Safety: Addressing Parental Safety Concerns

Since 1998, when a fraudulent research paper alleged a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism, increasing numbers of parents are refusing routine childhood vaccinations. Recent research has shown parents’ top vaccine-related concerns included the number of vaccines during the first 2 years of life, administration of too many vaccines in a single doctor visit, and a possible link between vaccines and autism. More than 10% of parents of young children refuse or delay vaccinations, with most believing that delaying vaccine doses is safer than providing them in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended vaccination.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1366/thumbnail.jp

Classifying Aspect Ratios Of Images

Disclosed herein is a mechanism for detecting and/or adjusting aspect ratio in images and videos. For example, the mechanism can include analyzing a digital image having pixels by identifying sets of pixels corresponding to one or more objects in the digital image, analyzing the set of pixels corresponding to at least one object in the image to determine an estimated image aspect ratio, and applying an image transform to the digital image based on the estimated image aspect ratio to generate a modified digital image. In a more particular example, the one or more objects can correspond to faces, animals, logos, signs, or vehicles. In another example, the mechanisms can include generating a quality rating for the digital image based on the estimated image aspect ratio

Size Variation in Small-Bodied Humans from Palau, Micronesia

Background: Recent discoveries on Palau are claimed to represent the remains of small-bodied humans that may display evidence insular size reduction. This claim has yet to be statistically validated Methodology/Principal Findings: Published postcranial specimens (n = 16) from Palau were assessed relative to recent small-bodied comparative samples. Resampling statistical approaches were employed to test specific hypotheses relating to body size in the Palau sample. Results confirm that the Palau postcranial sample is indisputably small-bodied. Conclusions/Significance: A single, homogenous body size morph is represented in early prehistoric postcrania from Palau. Small body size in early Palauans is an ancestral characteristic and was likely not a consequence of in-situ size reduction. Specimens from Palau have little bearing upon hypothesised insular size reduction in the ancestral lineage of Homo floresiensis

VIP: Finding Important People in Images

People preserve memories of events such as birthdays, weddings, or vacations by capturing photos, often depicting groups of people. Invariably, some individuals in the image are more important than others given the context of the event. This paper analyzes the concept of the importance of individuals in group photographs. We address two specific questions -- Given an image, who are the most important individuals in it? Given multiple images of a person, which image depicts the person in the most important role? We introduce a measure of importance of people in images and investigate the correlation between importance and visual saliency. We find that not only can we automatically predict the importance of people from purely visual cues, incorporating this predicted importance results in significant improvement in applications such as im2text (generating sentences that describe images of groups of people)

Unexpected evolutionary proximity of eukaryotic and cyanobacterial enzymes responsible for biosynthesis of retinoic acid and its oxidation

Biosynthesis of retinoic acid from retinaldehyde (retinal) is catalysed by an aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and its oxidation by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs). Herein we show by phylogenetic analysis that the ALDHs and CYPs in the retinoic acid pathway in animals are much closer in evolutionary terms to cyanobacterial orthologs than would be expected from the standard models of evolution

A modified method of total elemental analysis for determining background metals in Tennessee

In order to assess the impact of metal pollution, a knowledge of indigenous metal levels is required. Data for background metal concentrations for soils and parent materials in Tennessee are not available in scientific literature. The objective of this study was to establish background metal concentrations on the major physiographic regions or Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) of Tennessee. Background metal concentration information will serve as a future reference for interpreting metal data. To meet this objective, it was necessary to test and evaluate an acid digestion procedure using a microwave oven for preparing soil samples for total analysis. An acid digestion procedure for total elemental analysis was evaluated on soils of different textures to establish background metal concentrations. Samples were dissolved in 5 ml of aqua-regia and 2 ml of hydrofluoric acid (HCI-HNO3-HF). Samples were heated in a microwave oven to facilitate reactions. Boric acid (1 gm) was then added to neutralize the hydrofluoric acid. The solutions were transferred to 100 ml volumetrics and brought to volume for analysis. The elements: Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, S, Si, and Ti, were analyzed by inductively coupled argon plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICAPAES). Recovery rates were established by analysis of a coal fly ash standard (National Bureau of Standards). Recovery rates ranged from 88.9 percent for Fe to 101 percent for Si and Na. The procedure was tested over a broad range of textures using deep core samples. These samples were of loess, alluvium, and Tertiary Sand parent materials from the University of Tennessee Ames Plantation in Southwest Tennessee. A modification for sandy textured samples involved overnight digestion in hydrofluoric acid to achieve total dissolution. This digestion procedure was applied to samples from thirteen selected pedons from six of the eight MLRAs in Tennessee. Total analysis for twenty-three elements (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Si, Sr, Ti, Zn, Zr) were then completed on these samples using ICAPAES. Generally, metal concentrations, in all regions of the state, were within the established ranges for average elemental concentrations in soils and crustal rocks

Intracontinental deformation in southern Africa during the late Cretaceous

Intracontinental deformation accommodated along major lithospheric scale shear zone systems and within associated extensional basins has been well documented within West, Central and East Africa during the Late Cretaceous. The nature of this deformation has been established by studies of the tectonic architecture of sedimentary basins preserved in this part of Africa. In southern Africa, where the post break-up history has been dominated by major erosion, little evidence for post-break-up tectonics has been preserved in the onshore geology. Here we present the results of 38 new apatite fission track analyses from the Damara region of northern Namibia and integrate these new data with our previous results that were focused on specific regions or sections only to comprehensively document the thermo-tectonic history of this region since continental break-up in the Early Cretaceous. The apatite fission track ages range from 449 ± 20 Ma to 59 ± 3 Ma, with mean confined track lengths between 14.61 ± 0.1 μm (SD 0.95 μm) to 10.83 ± 0.33 μm (SD 2.84 μm). The youngest ages (c. 80-60 Ma) yield the shortest mean track lengths, and combined with their spatial distribution, indicate major cooling during the latest Cretaceous. A simple numerical thermal model is used to demonstrate that this cooling is consistent with the combined effects of heating caused by magmatic underplating, related to the Etendeka continental flood volcanism associated with rifting and the opening of the South Atlantic, and enhanced erosion caused by major reactivation of major lithospheric structures within southern Africa during a key period of plate kinematic change that occurred in the South Atlantic and SW Indian ocean basins between 87-56 Ma. This phase of intraplate tectonism in northern Namibia, focused in discrete structurally defined zones, is coeval with similar phases elsewhere in Africa and suggests some form of trans-continental linkage between these lithospheric zones

The potential of literature and poetry.

Literature and poetry are being increasingly used as learning resources in professional health care educational curricula (McKie & Gass 2001; Tschudin, 2003; McAteer & Murray, 2003; McKie et al 2008). Less attention has, however, been given to specific ways in which engagement with these resources might enhance health care professionals understanding of the experience of service users, carers and of their own practice with a view to improving health and social care practice. In this chapter, we argue that literature and poetry have the potential to deepen professional understanding by literary devices such as metaphor articulating, effectively, some of the most complex, elusive and subtle aspects of human experiences. Literature and poetry have the potential to enable professionals to develop ethical perception and imagination. The close attention that can be developed from reading poetry and literature is, arguably, transferable to practice contexts. Professionals can develop the ability to see more clearly the salient aspects of a practice situation. This is a precursor to ethical and professional practice. Poetry and literature are not the only resources that can be used to develop ethical perception or ethical practice. Insights from qualitative research and the visual arts are also valuable for enhancing ethical perception and ethical practice. We begin with a general discussion of the relationship between the arts and health and social care offering some critique as well as a discussion of the benefits of the arts. We then discuss, more specifically, the potential of poetry and literature and consider claims that they enhance ethical perception. Metaphor is a common literary device and we consider its potential in relation to the experience of illness, distress and caring. In later sections we provide examples of literature and poetry in relation to the experience of: service users, carers and professionals. We discuss practical ways in which the educationalist might adopt this approach in helping students and others to better understand and respond to the views and experiences of service users, carers and other professionals in different therapeutic and caring contexts

Optical and microwave spectroscopy of Rydberg excitons in Cu2_2O

An experiment was developed to create and study excitonic energy levels in cuprous oxide at 4 K. Excitons were excited using both one-photon and two-photon excitation schemes. A variety of methods were used to characterise the resulting emission, including time-resolved single photon counting and high-resolution spectroscopy. Additionally, microwave antennae were developed to apply microwave fields to the sample with the aim of driving electric dipole transitions between excitonic energy levels. The main result presented in this thesis are: (1) A comparative study of synthetic and natural material revealed the presence of copper vacancies in the synthetic material, which was responsible for limiting the Rydberg series. (2) Narrowband second harmonic generation spectroscopy was used to study Rydberg excitons up to n=12 and allowed the lineshape of the high n even-parity exciton states to be studied. (3) The addition of a microwave field significantly modified the exciton absorption lineshape. In the two-photon regime, applying a microwave field demonstrated coherent modulation of the second harmonic, with sidebands observed. The results were modelled based on microwave-driven electric dipole transitions between Rydberg states. With a simple microwave antenna it was possible to reach a regime where the microwave coupling (Rabi frequency) was comparable to the non-radiatively broadened linewidth of the Rydberg excitons. These result demonstrate the first coupling of Rydberg excitons and microwave fields, provide a new way to manipulate excitonic states, and open up the possibility of a cryogenic microwave to optical transducer based on Rydberg excitons