Methods and standards development for three-dimensional mapping of the Antioch Quadrangle, Lake County, Illinois a pilot study

The Pilot Study for the Central Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition (CGLGMC) focused on the Antioch Quadrangle, Lake County, Illinois developing a series of maps and digital products, several protocols for database development and maintenance and field procedures to acquire and integrate drilling and geophysical data from a quadangle area featuring complex glacial geology over a 25,000 year period.U.S. Geological Survey, Central Great Lakes Geologic Mapping CoalitionOpe

Solving Visual Madlibs with Multiple Cues

This paper focuses on answering fill-in-the-blank style multiple choice questions from the Visual Madlibs dataset. Previous approaches to Visual Question Answering (VQA) have mainly used generic image features from networks trained on the ImageNet dataset, despite the wide scope of questions. In contrast, our approach employs features derived from networks trained for specialized tasks of scene classification, person activity prediction, and person and object attribute prediction. We also present a method for selecting sub-regions of an image that are relevant for evaluating the appropriateness of a putative answer. Visual features are computed both from the whole image and from local regions, while sentences are mapped to a common space using a simple normalized canonical correlation analysis (CCA) model. Our results show a significant improvement over the previous state of the art, and indicate that answering different question types benefits from examining a variety of image cues and carefully choosing informative image sub-regions

Herbal weight-loss products: how informed are we?

Objective: Non-prescription, weight-loss products are advertised as quick-solution alternatives to long-term lifestyle changes.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive.Setting: Free State province.Subjects: Fifty-six dietitians registered to the Free State branch of the Association of Dietetics in South Africa, excluding lecturers and students, and 88 pharmacists working in the Bloemfontein area.Outcome measures: Structured telephonic interviews were conducted with 25 dietitians and 46 pharmacists to ascertain whether or not they had heard of the individual ingredients listed in non-prescription, weight-loss products and if they knew if each of these ingredients were scientifically proven to induce weight loss.Results: Most dietitians and pharmacists reported that they had heard of green tea extract (92% and 89%), chromium picolinate (76% and 59%), apple cider vinegar (100% and 96%), lemon juice (100% and 87%) and alcohol (100% and 91%), respectively, being ingredients in weight-loss products. More dietitians and pharmacists reported that, to their knowledge, green tea extract (52% vs. 26%), chromium picolinate (52% vs. 15%), apple cider vinegar (64% vs. 33%), lemon juice (80% vs. 64%) and alcohol (76% vs. 61%), were not scientifically proven to be effective in attaining weight loss. Both groups included a percentage who were not familiar with the ingredients, or who thought that these ingredients had been demonstrated to be effective, despite no conclusive evidence existing in the literature.Conclusion: Healthcare professionals need to actively educate themselves about non-prescription weight-loss products in order to guide the public and reduce consumer confusion

Regulation and corporate corruption: New evidence from the telecom sector

This paper examines how government regulation in developing countries affects the form of corruption between business customers and service providers in the telecom sector. We match the World Bank enterprise-level data on bribes with a unique cross-country telecom regulation dataset collected by Wallsten et al. (2004), finding that (1) strong regulatory substance (the content of regulation) and regulatory governance reduce corruption; (2) competition and privatization reduces corruption; (3) the effects of regulatory substance on corruption control are stronger in countries with state-owned or partially state-owned telecoms, greater competition, and higher telecommunication fees; and (4) bureaucratic quality exert substitution effects to regulatory substance in deterring corruption. Overall, our results suggest that regulatory strategies that reduce information asymmetry and increase accountability tend to reduce illegal side-payments for connections.postprin

Pest-predator spatial relationships in winter rape: implications for integrated crop management

Douglas Warner, Les J Allen-Williams, Andrew W Ferguson, and Ingrid H Williams, 'Pest–predator spatial relationships in winter rape: implications for integrated crop management', Pest Management Science, Vol. 56 (11): 977-982, November 2000, doi: 10.1002/1526-4998(200011)56:113.0.CO;2-U. Copyright © 2000 Society of Chemical IndustryThe brassica pod midge (Dasineura brassicae) is an important and widespread pest of winter and spring oilseed rape throughout Europe. Pods infested by D brassicae larvae split prematurely, releasing seeds, and the larvae drop to the soil into which they burrow to pupate. At this stage in its lifecycle D brassicae is potentially vulnerable to predation by carabid beetles foraging on the soil surface. This is the first study in the UK to focus on carabid beetles as predators of D brassicae in the oilseed rape crop. The spatio-temporal distributions of larvae of D brassicae dropping to the soil from the crop canopy and of adult carabid beetles active on the soil surface were analysed in two consecutive years. Insect samples were collected from spatially referenced sampling points across each crop. Counts of insects were mapped and analysed, and the degree of spatial association between predator and prey determined using Spatial Analysis by Distance Indices (SADIE). Carabid species abundant and active during peak drop of first generation D brassicae larvae included Agonum dorsale, Amara similata, Harpalus rufipes and Nebria brevicollis. The larvae of D brassicae had a marked edge distribution within the crop. SADIE analysis revealed significant spatial association between larvae of D brassicae and adult H rufipes (P <0.05) in 1998, but not with adults of A dorsale, A similata or N brevicollis. In 1999, there was strong spatial association only between larvae of D brassicae and adult A dorsale (P <0.01). Aggregation of N brevicollis adults occurred in some areas of greatest D brassicae larval counts in 1999, but overall spatial association was not signi®cant. The distributions are discussed in terms of their relevance to integrated crop management (ICM) strategies and spatial targeting of insecticides.Peer reviewe

Hydrodynamic attraction of swimming microorganisms by surfaces

Cells swimming in confined environments are attracted by surfaces. We measure the steady-state distribution of smooth-swimming bacteria (Escherichia coli) between two glass plates. In agreement with earlier studies, we find a strong increase of the cell concentration at the boundaries. We demonstrate theoretically that hydrodynamic interactions of the swimming cells with solid surfaces lead to their re-orientation in the direction parallel to the surfaces, as well as their attraction by the closest wall. A model is derived for the steady-state distribution of swimming cells, which compares favorably with our measurements. We exploit our data to estimate the flagellar propulsive force in swimming E. coli