Identifying the Behavior, Attitudes, and Knowledge of Tobacco Use Among Students Enrolled in Orientation Courses in Six Community Colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents System

The purpose of this study was to examine the behavior, attitudes, and knowledge regarding tobacco use of students enrolled in orientation courses in Tennessee community colleges. The six community colleges selected for the study were members of the Tennessee Board of Regents system that offered mandatory orientation courses. Data were collected by use of the College Tobacco Behavior, Attitude, and Knowledge Survey . A response rate of (72.5%) from 700 students was analyzed. Three research questions guided the study and 17 null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the.05 alpha level of significance. Data were analyzed by using t -tests, crosstabs, analysis of variance, Chi-square, and Pearson\u27s r correlation coefficients. Results of the study revealed that, of those students who ever smoked regularly, differences in age and ethnicity were found and no differences were found between males and females. There was no difference between males and females and when they first started smoking cigarettes regularly; however, differences were found among students of varying ethnicities. There was no relationship between students\u27 age and how many days they smoked; however, differences were found between males and females and ethnicities. There was no relationship regarding students\u27 age and no difference between males and females and how many days they used smokeless tobacco. There were differences between smokers\u27 and nonsmokers\u27 attitudes pertaining to a smokefree campus, a designated smoking area indoors, and that a tobacco awareness program would be beneficial to college students. There was no relationship between knowledge score and age, and no difference between males and females, and smokers and nonsmokers regarding their knowledge score. However, differences in knowledge scores were found among students of different ethnicities

Influence of Time-Dependent Power Dissipations on the Ageing Behavior of Thick-Film Resistors

Reliability experiments on hybrid circuits are usually carried out by accelerated ageing test. The circuits or the components under test are stored at an elevated ambient temperature and the change of their electric properties is controlled at regular times. The situation becomes entirely different if the temperature rise is due to the power dissipation in the component under test and not caused by external means. In electronic circuits, power dissipations are expressed by a mean value, whereas the actual situation is generally a time-dependent function. The temperature will then also be time dependent. Therefore, ageing tests on thick film resistors will be presented in this contribution. Resistors are submitted to a DC power source and a pulse shaped one. Different ageing characteristics are observed

Concurrent System Engineering and Risk Reduction for Dual-Band (RF/optical) Spacecraft Communications

This paper describes a system engineering approach to examining the potential for combining elements of a deep-space RF and optical communications payload, for the purpose of reducing the size, weight and power burden on the spacecraft and the mission. Figures of merit and analytical methodologies are discussed to conduct trade studies, and several potential technology integration strategies are presented. Finally, the NASA Integrated Radio and Optical Communications (iROC) project is described, which directly addresses the combined RF and optical approach

COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN <i>IN SITU</i> STUDIES AND PHOTOGRAMMETRY: METHODOLOGICAL FEEDBACK FROM A ROMAN SHIPWRECK IN CAESAREA, ISRAEL

As a quick and effective way to archive the different stages of an excavation - notably to prepare the post-excavation phase and to document the production methods – photogrammetry has become an indispensable tool. Indeed, it offers a valid scientific model, usable by any member of the team and at any moment, without the need to return to the excavation site. Photogrammetry can also complement other archaeological tools such as manual surveys. The interaction between the complementary approach of the interpretative drawing measurements (IDM) and the photogrammetric model measurements (PMM) enables us to apprehend the error rate of the interpretative measurements in situ. It appears thus that the measurements taken flat have an error rate inferior to 2% whereas the distances that are either too long or taken on a three-dimensional support have an error rate that can exceed 10%. The input of photogrammetry is therefore an added value whether it be during the excavation phase or during the post-excavation studies

ALMA Observations of Gas-Rich Galaxies in z~1.6 Galaxy Clusters: Evidence for Higher Gas Fractions in High-Density Environments

We present ALMA CO (2-1) detections in 11 gas-rich cluster galaxies at z~1.6, constituting the largest sample of molecular gas measurements in z>1.5 clusters to date. The observations span three galaxy clusters, derived from the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey. We augment the >5sigma detections of the CO (2-1) fluxes with multi-band photometry, yielding stellar masses and infrared-derived star formation rates, to place some of the first constraints on molecular gas properties in z~1.6 cluster environments. We measure sizable gas reservoirs of 0.5-2x10^11 solar masses in these objects, with high gas fractions and long depletion timescales, averaging 62% and 1.4 Gyr, respectively. We compare our cluster galaxies to the scaling relations of the coeval field, in the context of how gas fractions and depletion timescales vary with respect to the star-forming main sequence. We find that our cluster galaxies lie systematically off the field scaling relations at z=1.6 toward enhanced gas fractions, at a level of ~4sigma, but have consistent depletion timescales. Exploiting CO detections in lower-redshift clusters from the literature, we investigate the evolution of the gas fraction in cluster galaxies, finding it to mimic the strong rise with redshift in the field. We emphasize the utility of detecting abundant gas-rich galaxies in high-redshift clusters, deeming them as crucial laboratories for future statistical studies.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, published in ApJ Letters; updated to match published versio

Inverse Consistency Error in the Registration of Prone and Supine Images in CT Colonography

Robust registration between prone and supine data acquisitions for CT colonography is pivotal for medical interpretation but a challenging problem. One measure when evaluating non-rigid registration algorithms over the whole of the deformation field is the inverse consistency error, which suggests improved registration quality when the inverse deformation is consistent with the forward deformation. We show that using computed landmark displacements to initialise an intensity based registration reduces the inverse consistency error when using a state-of-the-art non-rigid b-spline registration method. This method aligns prone and supine 2D images derived from CT colonography acquisitions in a cylindrical domain. Furthermore, we demonstrate that using the same initialisation also improves registration accuracy for a set of manually identified reference points in cases exhibiting local luminal collapse

Establishment of a robust single axis of cell polarity by coupling multiple positive feedback loops

Establishment of cell polarity-or symmetry breaking-relies on local accumulation of polarity regulators. Although simple positive feedback is sufficient to drive symmetry breaking, it is highly sensitive to stochastic fluctuations typical for living cells. Here, by integrating mathematical modelling with quantitative experimental validations, we show that in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae a combination of actin- and guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor-dependent recycling of the central polarity regulator Cdc42 is needed to establish robust cell polarity at a single site during yeast budding. The guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor pathway consistently generates a single-polarization site, but requires Cdc42 to cycle rapidly between its active and inactive form, and is therefore sensitive to perturbations of the GTPase cycle. Conversely, actin-mediated recycling of Cdc42 induces robust symmetry breaking but cannot restrict polarization to a single site. Our results demonstrate how cells optimize symmetry breaking through coupling between multiple feedback loops

Planck's Dusty GEMS: Gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies discovered with the Planck survey

We present an analysis of 11 bright far-IR/submm sources discovered through a combination of the Planck survey and follow-up Herschel-SPIRE imaging. Each source has a redshift z=2.2-3.6 obtained through a blind redshift search with EMIR at the IRAM 30-m telescope. Interferometry obtained at IRAM and the SMA, and optical/near-infrared imaging obtained at the CFHT and the VLT reveal morphologies consistent with strongly gravitationally lensed sources. Additional photometry was obtained with JCMT/SCUBA-2 and IRAM/GISMO at 850 um and 2 mm, respectively. All objects are bright, isolated point sources in the 18 arcsec beam of SPIRE at 250 um, with spectral energy distributions peaking either near the 350 um or the 500 um bands of SPIRE, and with apparent far-infrared luminosities of up to 3x10^14 L_sun. Their morphologies and sizes, CO line widths and luminosities, dust temperatures, and far-infrared luminosities provide additional empirical evidence that these are strongly gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxies. We discuss their dust masses and temperatures, and use additional WISE 22-um photometry and template fitting to rule out a significant contribution of AGN heating to the total infrared luminosity. Six sources are detected in FIRST at 1.4 GHz. Four have flux densities brighter than expected from the local far-infrared-radio correlation, but in the range previously found for high-z submm galaxies, one has a deficit of FIR emission, and 6 are consistent with the local correlation. The global dust-to-gas ratios and star-formation efficiencies of our sources are predominantly in the range expected from massive, metal-rich, intense, high-redshift starbursts. An extensive multi-wavelength follow-up programme is being carried out to further characterize these sources and the intense star-formation within them.Comment: A&A accepte