Evaluation of Education and Other Influential Factors on the Perceptions of Influenza Vaccinations

Influenza is a potentially deadly contagious viral infection that attacks the respiratory system. The 1918 influenza pandemic infected approximately 1/3 of the world’s population and resulted in an estimated 50 million deaths globally. Research has led to the production of influenza vaccinations. Unfortunately, there continues to be influenza epidemics that are responsible for killing numerous people annually. One reason for the continued death toll from influenza is the lack of people receiving a yearly flu vaccination. In order to gain more public acceptance for influenza vaccinations, it is important to understand the factors influencing the choice to be vaccinated. A study was conducted on 191 undergraduate general psychology students at the University of Central Arkansas to test if specific factors determine the predictability of vaccination acceptance. Education and positive influential factors toward flu vaccinations are two important factors presented in the study that have influence on participants receiving the vaccine. The study results are beneficial in understanding why people reject flu vaccines and what can be done to reverse those decisions

Simulations of slow positron production using a low energy electron accelerator

Monte Carlo simulations of slow positron production via energetic electron interaction with a solid target have been performed. The aim of the simulations was to determine the expected slow positron beam intensity from a low energy, high current electron accelerator. By simulating (a) the fast positron production from a tantalum electron-positron converter and (b) the positron depth deposition profile in a tungsten moderator, the slow positron production probability per incident electron was estimated. Normalizing the calculated result to the measured slow positron yield at the present AIST LINAC the expected slow positron yield as a function of energy was determined. For an electron beam energy of 5 MeV (10 MeV) and current 240 $\mu$A (30 $\mu$A) production of a slow positron beam of intensity 5 $\times$ 10$^{6}$ s$^{-1}$ is predicted. The simulation also calculates the average energy deposited in the converter per electron, allowing an estimate of the beam heating at a given electron energy and current. For low energy, high-current operation the maximum obtainable positron beam intensity will be limited by this beam heating.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument

Neutron reflection from the liquid helium surface.

The reflection of neutrons from a helium surface has been observed for the first time. The 4He surface is smoother in the superfluid state at 1.54 K than in the case of the normal liquid at 2.3 K. In the superfluid state we also observe a surface layer ~200 Å thick which has a subtly different neutron scattering cross-section, which may be explained by an enhanced Bose-Einstein condensate fraction close to the helium surface. The application of neutron reflectometry described in this paper creates new and exciting opportunities for the surface and interfacial study of quantum fluids

Self-trapping at the liquid vapor critical point

Experiments suggest that localization via self-trapping plays a central role in the behavior of equilibrated low mass particles in both liquids and in supercritical fluids. In the latter case, the behavior is dominated by the liquid-vapor critical point which is difficult to probe, both experimentally and theoretically. Here, for the first time, we present the results of path-integral computations of the characteristics of a self-trapped particle at the critical point of a Lennard-Jones fluid for a positive particle-atom scattering length. We investigate the influence of the range of the particle-atom interaction on trapping properties, and the pick-off decay rate for the case where the particle is ortho-positronium.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, revtex4 preprin

An HST/COS legacy survey of high-velocity ultraviolet absorption in the Milky Way's circumgalactic medium and the Local Group

To characterize the absorption properties of this circumgalactic medium (CGM) and its relation to the LG we present the so-far largest survey of metal absorption in Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs) using archival ultraviolet (UV) spectra of extragalactic background sources. The UV data are obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and are supplemented by 21 cm radio observations of neutral hydrogen. Along 270 sightlines we measure metal absorption in the lines of SiII, SiIII, CII, and CIV and associated HI 21 cm emission in HVCs in the velocity range |v_LSR|=100-500 km s^-1. With this unprecedented large HVC sample we were able to improve the statistics on HVC covering fractions, ionization conditions, small-scale structure, CGM mass, and inflow rate. For the first time, we determine robustly the angular two point correlation function of the high-velocity absorbers, systematically analyze antipodal sightlines on the celestial sphere, and compare the absorption characteristics with that of Damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLAs) and constrained cosmological simulations of the LG. Our study demonstrates that the Milky Way CGM contains sufficient gaseous material to maintain the Galactic star-formation rate at its current level. We show that the CGM is composed of discrete gaseous structures that exhibit a large-scale kinematics together with small-scale variations in physical conditions. The Magellanic Stream clearly dominates both the cross section and mass flow of high-velocity gas in the Milky Way's CGM. The possible presence of high-velocity LG gas underlines the important role of the local cosmological environment in the large-scale gas-circulation processes in and around the Milky Way (abridged).Comment: 37 pages, 25 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in A&

Evidence of biphonation and source-filter interactions in the bugles of male North American wapiti (Cervus Canadensis)

With an average male body mass of 320 kg, the wapiti, Cervus canadensis, is the largest extant species of Old World deer (Cervinae). Despite this large body size, male wapiti produce whistlelike sexual calls called bugles characterised by an extremely high fundamental frequency. Investigations of the biometry and physiology of the male wapiti’s relatively large larynx have so far failed to account for the production of such a high fundamental frequency. Our examination of spectrograms of male bugles suggested that the complex harmonic structure is best explained by a dual-source model (biphonation), with one source oscillating at a mean of 145 Hz (F0) and the other oscillating independently at an average of 1426 Hz (G0). A combination of anatomical investigations and acoustical modelling indicated that the F0 of male bugles is consistent with the vocal fold dimensions reported in this species, whereas the secondary, much higher source at G0 is more consistent with an aerodynamic whistle produced as air flows rapidly through a narrow supraglottic constriction. We also report a possible interaction between the higher frequency G0 and vocal tract resonances, as G0 transiently locks onto individual formants as the vocal tract is extended. We speculate that male wapiti have evolved such a dualsource phonation to advertise body size at close range (with a relatively low-frequency F0 providing a dense spectrum to highlight size-related information contained in formants) while simultaneously advertising their presence over greater distances using the very highamplitude G0 whistle component