Growing Up with Scout and Atticus: Getting from To Kill a Mockingbird Through Go Set a Watchman

This essay argues that Harper Lee’s unexpected but welcomed second novel, Go Set a Watchman, is both a fitting and a disappointing sequel to her beloved debut, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is fitting because it confirms that Atticus Finch, the knowing father of the first novel, despite his noble defense of a falsely accused Black man in the Depression Era South, never was, on closer inspection, much of a Progressive, even on matters of race. That, for many of his admirers, has proved hugely, almost Oedipally, disappointing. But what fits equally well, and disappoints even more, is his adoring daughter Scout’s coming of age. Though twenty-six in the second novel and re-settled in New York City, she is still very much a child of the segregated South. In her second novel as much as in her first, Harper Lee has her heroine learn that, on the things that really matter, her father ultimately knows best. The second novel’s very late arrival thus reminds us of what history has long since taught: “With all deliberate speed” will prove far too fast a pace for some very respectable Southern white folks, both real and imagined

Atlas and checklist of the bark and ambrosia beetles of Texas and Oklahoma (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae)

180 species of bark and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) are known to occur in Texas and Oklahoma. 175 species are known from Texas, 35 of which are reported here for the first time. 78 species are known from Oklahoma, 47 of which are new records for the state. Based on overall distribution patterns the largest group of species found in Texas and virtually all known from Oklahoma are widely distributed in eastern and southeastern North America, reaching their southwestern limits here. In the case of Texas other large elements include Neotropical elements shared with Mexico and a large number found in southwestern North America. New distribution and significant new host records are discussed. Distribution maps are included for most species and a checklist is provided as an appendix

Role of CuO chains in vortex core structure in YBa2Cu3O{7-delta}

The Bogoliubov-deGennes equations are solved for a proximity model for YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} in a magnetic field. The model explicitly includes the effects of the one-dimensional CuO chains, whose influence on the vortex core structure is studied. The rapid vortex core contraction as a function of field which is seen experimentally at low magnetic fields is naturally explained by the presence of the chains.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Towards a geometrical interpretation of quantum information compression

Let S be the von Neumann entropy of a finite ensemble E of pure quantum states. We show that S may be naturally viewed as a function of a set of geometrical volumes in Hilbert space defined by the states and that S is monotonically increasing in each of these variables. Since S is the Schumacher compression limit of E, this monotonicity property suggests a geometrical interpretation of the quantum redundancy involved in the compression process. It provides clarification of previous work in which it was shown that S may be increased while increasing the overlap of each pair of states in the ensemble. As a byproduct, our mathematical techniques also provide a new interpretation of the subentropy of E.Comment: 11 pages, latex2

Cooling slope casting to obtain thixotropic feedstock

Thixoforming, and related semi-solid processing routes for metallic alloys, require feedstock with a non-dendritic microstructure in the semi-solid state. The material then behaves in a thixotropic way in that, when it is sheared it flows and can be forced to fill a die and, when it is allowed to stand it thickens again. The New Rheocasting (the NRC process) is a recently developed semi-solid processing route. There are two versions of this route. In one, molten alloy is poured directly into a tilted mould and, through careful temperature control during cooling, a spheroidal semi-solid microstructure is achieved. The material in the mould is then upended into a shot sleeve and hence forced into a die. Alternatively, the molten alloy is poured onto a cooling slope and thence into a mould before processing. The aim of the work described in this paper was to develop understanding of the microstructural development during the initial stages of this process. The results for pouring A356 aluminium alloy via a cooling slope into a mould are presented

Social network analysis of rural medical school immersion in a rural clinical school

Background: The impact of new medical graduates on the social dimensions of the rural medical workforce is yet to be examined. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is able to visualize and measure these dimensions. We apply this method to examine the workforce characteristics of graduates from a representative Australian Rural Clinical School. Methods: Participants were medical graduates of the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia (RCSWA) from the 2001–2014 cohorts, identified as being in rural work in 2017 by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. SNA was used to examine the relationships between site of origin and of work destination. Data were entered into UCInet 6 as tied pairs, and visualized using Netdraw. UCINet statistics relating to node centrality were obtained from the node editor. Results: SNA measures showed that the 124 of 709 graduates in rural practice were distributed around Australia, and that their practice was strongly focused on the North, with a clear centre in the remote Western Australian town of Broome. Women were strongly recruited, and were widely distributed. Conclusions: RCSWA appears to be a “weak tie” according to SNA theory: the School attracts graduates to rural nodes where they had only passing prior contact. The multiple activities that comprise the social capital of the most attractive, remote, node demonstrate the clear workforce effects of being a “bridge, broker and boundary spanner” in SNA terms, and add new understanding about recruiting to the rural workforce

MULTIPLE COMPARISONS WITH THE BEST: BAYESIAN PRECISION MEASURES OF EFFICIENCY RANKINGS

A large literature exists on measuring the allocative and technical efficiency of a set of firms. A segment of this literature uses data envelopment analysis (DEA), creating relative efficiency rankings that are nonstochastic and thus cannot be evaluated according to the precision of the rankings. A parallel literature uses econometric techniques to estimate stochastic production frontiers or distance functions, providing at least the possibility of computing the precision of the resulting efficiency rankings. Recently, Horrace and Schmidt (2000) have applied sampling theoretic statistical techniques known as multiple comparisons with control (MCC) and multiple comparisons with the best (MCB) to the issue of measuring the precision of efficiency rankings. This paper offers a Bayesian multiple comparison alternative that we argue is simpler to implement, gives the researcher increased exibility over the type of comparison made, and provides greater, and more in-tuitive, information content. We demonstrate this method on technical efficiency rankings of a set of U.S. electric generating firms derived within a distance function framework.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Characteristics and variability of storm tracks in the north Pacific, Bering Sea, and Alaska

The North Pacific and Bering Sea regions represent loci of cyclogenesis and storm track activity. In this paper climatological properties of extratropical storms in the North Pacific/Bering Sea are presented based upon aggregate statistics of individual storm tracks calculated by means of a feature-tracking algorithm run using NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data from 1948/49 to 2008, provided by the NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Climate Diagnostics Center. Storm identification is based on the 850-hPa relative vorticity field (ζ) instead of the often-used mean sea level pressure; ζ is a prognostic field, a good indicator of synoptic-scale dynamics, and is directly related to the wind speed. Emphasis extends beyond winter to provide detailed consideration of all seasons. Results show that the interseasonal variability is not as large during the spring and autumn seasons. Most of the storm variables—genesis, intensity, track density—exhibited a maxima pattern that was oriented along a zonal axis. From season to season this axis underwent a north–south shift and, in some cases, a rotation to the northeast. This was determined to be a result of zonal heating variations and midtropospheric moisture patterns. Barotropic processes have an influence in shaping the downstream end of storm tracks and, together with the blocking influence of the coastal orography of northwest North America, result in high lysis concentrations, effectively making the Gulf of Alaska the “graveyard” of Pacific storms. Summer storms tended to be longest in duration. Temporal trends tended to be weak over the study area. SST did not emerge as a major cyclogenesis control in the Gulf of Alaska

Some implications of changing the tax basis for pension funds

Governments in many developed economies provide private pension plans with significant taxation incentives. However, as many retirement income systems are now being reviewed due to demographic, social and economic pressures, these taxation arrangements are also under scrutiny. This paper discusses some of the implications of the differences between the traditional taxation treatment adopted by most OECD nations and that adopted by Australia, where there is a tax on contributions, a tax on investment earnings and a tax on benefits. The results show that there are significant differences in the net value of the benefits received by individuals and the taxation revenue received by the government. On the other hand, it is shown that there is remarkably little to distinguish between the two tax structures in terms of summary measures of lifetime income, although the form in which the benefit is taken in retirement is significant in influencing intragenerational equity.