The Relationship of Gender and Marital Status to Depression and Personality and Demographic Variables Among the Well Elderly

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of gender and marital status to depression and personality and demographic variables among the well elderly. There were three research questions: (1) By gender, what is the relationship of the inventory scales scores and the demographic variables to the CES-D Depression Scale? (2) Are there significant gender differences on the inventory scales scores and on the demographic variables? (3) Is there a gender by marital status interaction on the CES-D Depression Scale scores and on the inventory scales scores? Subjects were 214 females and 103 males ages 55 to over 80. They were administered a questionnaire consisting of demographic information and the following instruments: Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Schedule of Recent Events, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results of the study showed no significant difference between men and women on the depression scale scores, but men were significantly lonelier than women. Those variables most highly correlated with the CES-D scale for women were the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and total Medication taken. For males, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and perceived Health status correlated most highly with the CES-D scale. There were no significant marital status differences on any of the variables and no significant gender by marital status interaction. It was concluded that there are gender differences in the experience of depression. It may be that males perceive poor health or retirement as more emotionally impactful than do women

Cryogenic micro-calorimeters for mass spectrometric identification of neutral molecules and molecular fragments

We have systematically investigated the energy resolution of a magnetic micro-calorimeter (MMC) for atomic and molecular projectiles at impact energies ranging from $E\approx13$ to 150 keV. For atoms we obtained absolute energy resolutions down to $\Delta E \approx 120$ eV and relative energy resolutions down to $\Delta E/E\approx10^{-3}$. We also studied in detail the MMC energy-response function to molecular projectiles of up to mass 56 u. We have demonstrated the capability of identifying neutral fragmentation products of these molecules by calorimetric mass spectrometry. We have modeled the MMC energy-response function for molecular projectiles and conclude that backscattering is the dominant source of the energy spread at the impact energies investigated. We have successfully demonstrated the use of a detector absorber coating to suppress such spreads. We briefly outline the use of MMC detectors in experiments on gas-phase collision reactions with neutral products. Our findings are of general interest for mass spectrometric techniques, particularly for those desiring to make neutral-particle mass measurements

Does Terrestrial Drought Explain Global CO2 Flux Anomalies Induced by El Nino?

The El Nino Southern Oscillation is the dominant year-to-year mode of global climate variability. El Nino effects on terrestrial carbon cycling are mediated by associated climate anomalies, primarily drought, influencing fire emissions and biotic net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Here we evaluate whether El Nino produces a consistent response from the global carbon cycle. We apply a novel bottom-up approach to estimating global NEE anomalies based on FLUXNET data using land cover maps and weather reanalysis. We analyze 13 years (1997-2009) of globally gridded observational NEE anomalies derived from eddy covariance flux data, remotely-sensed fire emissions at the monthly time step, and NEE estimated from an atmospheric transport inversion. We evaluate the overall consistency of biospheric response to El Nino and, more generally, the link between global CO2 flux anomalies and El Nino-induced drought. Our findings, which are robust relative to uncertainty in both methods and time-lags in response, indicate that each event has a different spatial signature with only limited spatial coherence in Amazonia, Australia and southern Africa. For most regions, the sign of response changed across El Nino events. Biotic NEE anomalies, across 5 El Nino events, ranged from -1.34 to +0.98 Pg Cyr(exp -1, whereas fire emissions anomalies were generally smaller in magnitude (ranging from -0.49 to +0.53 Pg C yr(exp -1). Overall drought does not appear to impose consistent terrestrial CO2 flux anomalies during El Ninos, finding large variation in globally integrated responses from 11.15 to +0.49 Pg Cyr(exp -1). Despite the significant correlation between the CO2 flux and El Nino indices, we find that El Nino events have, when globally integrated, both enhanced and weakened terrestrial sink strength, with no consistent response across event

Potential and limitations of nucleon transfer experiments with radioactive beams at REX-ISOLDE

As a tool for studying the structure of nuclei far off stability the technique of gamma-ray spectroscopy after low-energy single-nucleon transfer reactions with radioactive nuclear beams in inverse kinematics was investigated. Modules of the MINIBALL germanium array and a thin position-sensitive parallel plate avalanche counter (PPAC) to be employed in future experiments at REX-ISOLDE were used in a test experiment performed with a stable 36S beam on deuteron and 9Be targets. It is demonstrated that the Doppler broadening of gamma lines detected by the MINIBALL modules is considerably reduced by exploiting their segmentation, and that for beam intensities up to 10^6 particles/s the PPAC positioned around zero degrees with respect to the beam axis allows not only to significantly reduce the gamma background by requiring coincidences with the transfer products but also to control the beam and its intensity by single particle counting. The predicted large neutron pickup cross sections of neutron-rich light nuclei on 2H and 9Be targets at REX-ISOLDE energies of 2.2 MeV A are confirmed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Dissociative recombination measurements of HCl+ using an ion storage ring

We have measured dissociative recombination of HCl+ with electrons using a merged beams configuration at the heavy-ion storage ring TSR located at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. We present the measured absolute merged beams recombination rate coefficient for collision energies from 0 to 4.5 eV. We have also developed a new method for deriving the cross section from the measurements. Our approach does not suffer from approximations made by previously used methods. The cross section was transformed to a plasma rate coefficient for the electron temperature range from T=10 to 5000 K. We show that the previously used HCl+ DR data underestimate the plasma rate coefficient by a factor of 1.5 at T=10 K and overestimate it by a factor of 3.0 at T=300 K. We also find that the new data may partly explain existing discrepancies between observed abundances of chlorine-bearing molecules and their astrochemical models.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (July 7, 2013

Evaluation of sense-strand mRNA amplification by comparative quantitative PCR

BACKGROUND: RNA amplification is required for incorporating laser-capture microdissection techniques into microarray assays. However, standard oligonucleotide microarrays contain sense-strand probes, so traditional T7 amplification schemes producing anti-sense RNA are not appropriate for hybridization when combined with conventional reverse transcription labeling methods. We wished to assess the accuracy of a new sense-strand RNA amplification method by comparing ratios between two samples using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), mimicking a two-color microarray assay. RESULTS: We performed our validation using qPCR. Three samples of rat brain RNA and three samples of rat liver RNA were amplified using several kits (Ambion messageAmp, NuGen Ovation, and several versions of Genisphere SenseAmp). Results were assessed by comparing the liver/brain ratio for 192 mRNAs before and after amplification. In general, all kits produced strong correlations with unamplified RNAs. The SenseAmp kit produced the highest correlation, and was also able to amplify a partially degraded sample accurately. CONCLUSION: We have validated an optimized sense-strand RNA amplification method for use in comparative studies such as two-color microarrays

Enhanced dielectronic recombination of lithium-like Ti19+ ions in external ExB fields

Dielectronic recombination(DR) of lithium-like Ti19+(1s2 2s) ions via 2s->2p core excitations has been measured at the Heidelberg heavy ion storage ring TSR. We find that not only external electric fields (0 <= Ey <= 280 V/cm) but also crossed magnetic fields (30 mT <= Bz <= 80 mT) influence the DR via high-n (2p_j nl)-Rydberg resonances. This result confirms our previous finding for isoelectronic Cl14+ ions [Bartsch T et al, PRL 82, 3779 (1999)] that experimentally established the sensitivity of DR to ExB fields. In the present investigation the larger 2p_{1/2}-2p_{3/2} fine structure splitting of Ti19+ allowed us to study separately the influence of external fields via the two series of Rydberg DR resonances attached to the 2s -> 2p_{1/2} and 2s -> 2p_{3/2} excitations of the Li-like core, extracting initial slopes and saturation fields of the enhancement. We find that for Ey > 80 V/cm the field induced enhancement is about 1.8 times stronger for the 2p_{3/2} series than for the 2p_{1/2} series.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics B, see also http://www.strz.uni-giessen.de/~k

Energy-sensitive imaging detector applied to the dissociative recombination of D2H+

We report on an energy-sensitive imaging detector for studying the fragmentation of polyatomic molecules in the dissociative recombination of fast molecular ions with electrons. The system is based on a large area (10 cm x 10 cm) position-sensitive, double-sided Si-strip detector with 128 horizontal and 128 vertical strips, whose pulse height information is read out individually. The setup allows to uniquely identify fragment masses and is thus capable of measuring branching ratios between different fragmentation channels, kinetic energy releases, as well as breakup geometries, as a function of the relative ion-electron energy. The properties of the detection system, which has been installed at the TSR storage ring facility of the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, is illustrated by an investigation of the dissociative recombination of the deuterated triatomic hydrogen cation D2H+. A huge isotope effect is observed when comparing the relative branching ratio between the D2+H and the HD+D channel; the ratio 2B(D2+H)/B(HD+D), which is measured to be 1.27 +/- 0.05 at relative electron-ion energies around 0 eV, is found to increase to 3.7 +/- 0.5 at ~5 eV.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Dielectronic Recombination in Photoionized Gas. II. Laboratory Measurements for Fe XVIII and Fe XIX

In photoionized gases with cosmic abundances, dielectronic recombination (DR) proceeds primarily via nlj --> nl'j' core excitations (Dn=0 DR). We have measured the resonance strengths and energies for Fe XVIII to Fe XVII and Fe XIX to Fe XVIII Dn=0 DR. Using our measurements, we have calculated the Fe XVIII and Fe XIX Dn=0 DR DR rate coefficients. Significant discrepancies exist between our inferred rates and those of published calculations. These calculations overestimate the DR rates by factors of ~2 or underestimate it by factors of ~2 to orders of magnitude, but none are in good agreement with our results. Almost all published DR rates for modeling cosmic plasmas are computed using the same theoretical techniques as the above-mentioned calculations. Hence, our measurements call into question all theoretical Dn=0 DR rates used for ionization balance calculations of cosmic plasmas. At temperatures where the Fe XVIII and Fe XIX fractional abundances are predicted to peak in photoionized gases of cosmic abundances, the theoretical rates underestimate the Fe XVIII DR rate by a factor of ~2 and overestimate the Fe XIX DR rate by a factor of ~1.6. We have carried out new multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock and multiconfiguration Breit-Pauli calculations which agree with our measured resonance strengths and rate coefficients to within typically better than <~30%. We provide a fit to our inferred rate coefficients for use in plasma modeling. Using our DR measurements, we infer a factor of ~2 error in the Fe XX through Fe XXIV Dn=0 DR rates. We investigate the effects of this estimated error for the well-known thermal instability of photoionized gas. We find that errors in these rates cannot remove the instability, but they do dramatically affect the range in parameter space over which it forms.Comment: To appear in ApJS, 44 pages with 13 figures, AASTeX with postsript figure