Letter, 1978 July 11, from Bernard Fisher to Gene DeGurson

1 page, DeGruson was a Curator for the Special Collections at the Leonard H. Axe Library. Bernard is a member of the Plymouth Music. Co. The Shapiro Bernstein and Co., Inc. is mentioned

Religious Commitment as a Correlate of Mental Health and Life Satisfaction Among Black American Families

Problem. The salutary effect of religion is receiving greater acceptance among researchers, and its positive association with both physical and mental health has been increasingly examined in the scientific literature. Since religion has played a central role in the lives of Blacks, and since previous research has identified positive correlations between some religious attributes and individual well-being, it would seem that religious Black families would enjoy a greater degree of health. A religious commitment model encompassing affiliation, participation, devotional intensity, and practices was used in the investigation of Black families\u27 mental health and life satisfaction. As the first study of this kind, integrating four scientifically proven dimensions within the religious commitment model, this study sought to identify and re-emphasize the beneficial facets of religiosity as they relate to Black families. Method. A randomized sample consisting of 236 Black families residing in the United States completed a family questionnaire. The data analysis was effected through multiple regression, canonical analysis, as well as t -tests and chi-square analyses. The .05 significance level was observed throughout the analysis. Results. Eight research questions were examined through the analysis of 14 hypotheses. Each of the four dimensions of religious commitment showed significant correlations with Black family mental health. Two facets of the devotional intensity dimension, family prayer and family feeling close to God, achieved the most frequent significant correlations with healthy family relationships and system maintenance. Religious commitment was not observed to significantly correlate with Black family life satisfaction. Significant differences between Seventh-day Adventist and non-Seventh-day Adventist families were noted on the Family Functioning scales and the religious commitment variables. No significant differences were noted between the two groups with respect to their life satisfaction and their feeling close to God. Conclusions. Most Black families reported an average to high life satisfaction, and the majority felt very close to God. Religious commitment correlated with various aspects of Black family mental health. Strong family characteristics included cohesion, expressiveness, religious emphasis, organization, sociability, as well as intellectual and cultural orientation. Black Seventh-day Adventist families seemed to be more democratic, and embraced to a greater degree intellectual, cultural, and religious values

An exactly soluble noisy traveling wave equation appearing in the problem of directed polymers in a random medium

We calculate exactly the velocity and diffusion constant of a microscopic stochastic model of $N$ evolving particles which can be described by a noisy traveling wave equation with a noise of order $N^{-1/2}$. Our model can be viewed as the infinite range limit of a directed polymer in random medium with $N$ sites in the transverse direction. Despite some peculiarities of the traveling wave equations in the absence of noise, our exact solution allows us to test the validity of a simple cutoff approximation and to show that, in the weak noise limit, the position of the front can be completely described by the effect of the noise on the first particle.Comment: 5 page

Chiral Limit of Strongly Coupled Lattice Gauge Theories

We construct a new and efficient cluster algorithm for updating strongly coupled U(N) lattice gauge theories with staggered fermions in the chiral limit. The algorithm uses the constrained monomer-dimer representation of the theory and should also be of interest to researchers working on other models with similar constraints. Using the new algorithm we address questions related to the chiral limit of strongly coupled U(N) gauge theories beyond the mean field approximation. We show that the infinite volume chiral condensate is non-zero in three and four dimensions. However, on a square lattice of size $L$ we find $\sum_x \sim L^{2-\eta}$ for large $L$ where $\eta = 0.420(3)/N + 0.078(4)/N^2$. These results differ from an earlier conclusion obtained using a different algorithm. Here we argue that the earlier calculations were misleading due to uncontrolled autocorrelation times encountered by the previous algorithm.Comment: 36 Pages, 9 figures, aps revtex forma

Dynamic nonlinear (cubic) susceptibility in quantum Ising spin glass

Dynamic nonlinear (cubic) susceptibility in quantum d-dimensional Ising spin glass with short-range interactions is investigated on the basis of quantum droplet model and quantum-mechanical nonlinear response theory. Nonlinear response depends on the tunneling rate for a droplet which regulates the strength of quantum fluctuations. It shows a strong dependence on the distribution of droplet free energies and on the droplet length scale average. Comparison with recent experiments on quantum spin glasses like disordered dipolar quantum Ising magnet is discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

On The Random Vector Potential Model In Two Dimensions

The random vector potential model describes massless fermions coupled to a quenched random gauge field. We study its abelian and non-abelian versions. The abelian version can be completely solved using bosonization. We analyse the non-abelian model using its supersymmetric formulation and show, by a perturbative renormalisation group computation, that it is asymptotically free at large distances. We also show that all the quenched chiral current correlation functions can be computed exactly, without using the replica trick or the supersymmetric formulation, but using an exact expression for the effective action for any sample of the random gauge field. These chiral correlation functions are purely algebraic.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figures. Few equations and remarks adde

Intravenous Vitamin C Administered as Adjunctive Therapy for Recurrent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

This case report summarizes the first use of intravenous vitamin C employed as an adjunctive interventional agent in the therapy of recurrent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The two episodes of ARDS occurred in a young female patient with Cronkhite-Canada syndrome, a rare, sporadically occurring, noninherited disorder that is characterized by extensive gastrointestinal polyposis and malabsorption. Prior to the episodes of sepsis, the patient was receiving nutrition via chronic hyperalimentation administered through a long-standing central venous catheter. The patient became recurrently septic with Gram positive cocci which led to two instances of ARDS. This report describes the broad-based general critical care of a septic patient with acute respiratory failure that includes fluid resuscitation, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and vasopressor support. Intravenous vitamin C infused at 50 mg per kilogram body weight every 6 hours for 96 hours was incorporated as an adjunctive agent in the care of this patient. Vitamin C when used as a parenteral agent in high doses acts “pleiotropically” to attenuate proinflammatory mediator expression, to improve alveolar fluid clearance, and to act as an antioxidant

Air quality monitoring and modelling techniques for street canyons : the Paris experience

A better understanding of the dispersion and transformation of atmospheric pollutants in urban micro-environments is required to address the increasing public concern about human exposure in such areas. A joint research program has been established between INERIS (France) and University of Greenwich (UK) with the aim of developing efficient air quality monitoring and modelling methodologies to cover the needs of public health and road traffic managers in Europe. An intensive monitoring campaign was conducted at a representative canyon street in Paris in winter 1998. This experiment was designed to establish the spatial and temporal variation of pollution within the canyon, and test readily available dispersion models. Active and passive techniques were used to sample a wide range of traffic generated pollutants (VOC and inorganic gases) at different heights and distances from the kerb. Local meteorological and traffic information was also obtained. The observed CO and NO concentrations were compared with predicted values, calculated using AEOLIUS, the street canyon model developed by the UK Meteorological Office. The results demonstrate strong spatial pollution gradients within the canyon, large differences between roadside and background pollution levels, and pronounced temporal variability

The order of the chiral transition in N_f=2 QCD

A strategy is developed to investigate the order of the transition using finite size scaling and its relation to color confinement. An in-depth numerical investigation has been performed with KS fermions on lattices with N_t=4 and N_s=12,16,20,24,32 and quark masses am_q ranging from 0.01335 to 0.35. The specific heat and a number of susceptibilities have been measured and compared with the expectation of an O(4) second order and a first order phase transition. A second order O(4) is excluded, whilst data are consistent with a first order.Comment: 6 pages, 16 postscript figures, based on parallel talks presented at Lattice2004(non-zero), Fermilab, June 21-26, 200