The Placement of Hypomania Within a Structural Model of Psychopathology Including Thought Disorder and Internalizing Spectra.

M.A. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

Initial Optical Results for the ChaMPlane Survey

We provide a brief description of the optical survey being conducted under the NOAO Long Term Surveys program in support of the Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey (see paper by Grindlay et al. in this Volume). A representative photometry result is shown, along with spectroscopic followup.Comment: 1 page, 2 figures (in 3 files). Astronomische Nachrichten, in press (Feb 2003). Proceedings of "X-ray Surveys, in the Light of New Observatories", 4-6 September, Santander, Spai

PINOCYTOSIS IN FIBROBLASTS : Quantitative Studies In Vitro

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used as a marker to determine the rate of ongoing pinocytosis in several fibroblast cell lines. The enzyme was interiorized in the fluid phase without evidence of adsorption to the cell surface. Cytochemical reaction product was not found on the cell surface and was visualized only within intracellular vesicles and granules. Uptake was directly proportional to the administered concentration of HRP and to the duration of exposure. The rate of HRP uptake was 0.0032–0.0035% of the administered load per 106 cells per hour for all cells studied with one exception: L cells, after reaching confluence, progressively increased their pinocytic activity two- to fourfold. After uptake of HRP, L cells inactivated HRP with a half-life of 6–8 h. Certain metabolic requirements of pinocytosis were then studied in detail in L cells. Raising the environmental temperature increased pinocytosis over a range of 2–38°C. The Q10 was 2.7 and the activation energy, 17.6 kcal/mol. Studies on the levels of cellular ATP in the presence of various metabolic inhibitors (fluoride, 2-desoxyglycose, azide, and cyanide) showed that L cells synthesized ATP by both glycolytic and respiratory pathways. A combination of a glycolytic and a respiratory inhibitor was needed to depress cellular ATP levels as well as pinocytic activity to 10–20% of control values, whereas drugs administered individually had only partial effects. In spite of the availability of an accurate quantitative assay for fluid and solute uptake, the function of pinocytosis in tissue culture cells remains unknown

Impact of community based peer support in type 2 diabetes: a cluster randomised controlled trial of individual and/or group approaches

Background: Diabetes peer support, where one person with diabetes helps guide and support others, has been proposed as a way to improve diabetes management. We have tested whether different diabetes peer support strategies can improve metabolic and/or psychological outcomes.<p></p> Methods: People with type 2 diabetes (n=1,299) were invited to participate as either ‘peer’ or ‘peer support facilitator’ (PSF) in a 2x2 factorial pragmatic randomised cluster controlled trial across rural communities (130 clusters) in England. Peer support was delivered over 8-12 months by trained PSFs, supported by monthly meetings with a diabetes educator. Primary end point was HbA1c. Secondary outcomes included quality of life, diabetes distress, blood pressure, waist, total cholesterol and weight. Outcome assessors and investigators were masked to arm allocation. Main factors were 1:1 or group intervention. Analysis was by intention-to-treat adjusting for baseline.<p></p> Results: The 4 arms were well matched (Group n=330, 1:1 n=325, combined n=322, control n=322); 1035 (79·7%) completed the mid-point postal questionnaire and 1064 (81·9%) had a final HbA1c. A limitation was that although 92.6% PSFs and peers were in telephone contact, only 61.4% of intervention participants attended a face to face session.<p></p> Mean baseline HbA1c was 57 mmol/mol (7·4%), with no significant change across arms. Systolic blood pressure was reduced by -2·3mm Hg (-4·0 to -0·6) among those allocated group peer-support and -3·0mm Hg (-5·0 to -1·1) among those who attended group peer-support at least once. There was no impact on other outcomes by intention to treat or significant differences between arms in self-reported adherence or medication.<p></p> Conclusions: Group diabetes peer support over 8-12 months was associated with a small improvement in blood pressure but no other benefits. Long term benefits should be investigated

Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty in the Americas

A collaborative project of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (Yale F&ES

Chandra X-ray Sources in the Collapsed-Core Globular Cluster M30 (NGC 7099)

We report the detection of six discrete, low-luminosity (Lx < 10^33 erg/s) X-ray sources, located within 12 arcsec of the center of the collapsed-core globular cluster M30 (NGC 7099), and a total of 13 sources within the half-mass radius, from a 50 ksec Chandra ACIS-S exposure. Three sources lie within the very small upper limit of 1.9 arcsec on the core radius. The brightest of the three core sources has a luminosity of Lx (0.5-6 keV) = 6x10^32 erg/s and a blackbody-like soft X-ray spectrum, which are both consistent with it being a quiescent low-mass X-ray binary (qLMXB). We have identified optical counterparts to four of the six central sources and a number of the outlying sources, using deep Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based imaging. While the two proposed counterparts that lie within the core may represent chance superpositions, the two identified central sources that lie outside of the core have X-ray and optical properties consistent with being CVs. Two additional sources outside of the core have possible active binary counterparts. We discuss the X-ray source population of M30 in light of its collapsed-core status.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures (8 color), resubmitted to ApJ after incorporating referee comment

Essays in Corporate Finance.

This dissertation is comprised of three articles. The first article examines the importance of capital market imperfections by investigating the dependence of a firm's investment on its internal resources. I exploit the tax loss carryforward feature of the tax code to establish that corporate investments are causally affected by the internal resources available to the firm. The degree of dependence, in turn, is affected by the costliness of debt market financing. Distributions to shareholders are not affected by incremental internal resources, and borrowing actually increases with incremental internal resources. Firms retain a significant portion of incremental cash flow. Taken together, these findings confirm the existence of capital constraints imposed by costs of access to external finance. The second article focuses on the cost of inflating reports of financial performance and its consequences for the efficiency of investment in the economy. It is well-established that adverse selection in the capital market can cause firms with positive NPV projects to underinvest. The financial accounting system can alleviate this problem by making it more costly for firms to exaggerate their performance. However, I argue that making performance inflation more costly can also lead to overinvestment by leading to equilibrium overpricing of firms with negative NPV projects. Increasing the cost of performance inflation beyond a certain point results in less efficient investment even though it reduces equilibrium misreporting. The third article presents an explanation for the commonly-observed link between managerial pay and stock price over the short term that focuses on managerial risk-taking incentives. It is well accepted that aligning managerial incentives with those of stock holders enhances shareholder value. In theory models, such alignment is usually modeled as giving managers a stake in the realized cash flows of the firm's projects. However, such a stake, which entails a manager holding on to her equity position until all cash flow uncertainty is resolved, can lead a risk averse manager to turn down risky positive NPV projects. This chapter argues that equity-linked incentives can mitigate the manager's bias against assuming risk, provided the manager is allowed the flexibility of trading out her equity position early.Ph.D.Business AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61764/1/cohnj_1.pd

Chandra Multi-wavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey: Design and Initial Results

The Chandra Multiwavength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey of the galactic plane incorporates serendipitous sources from selected Chandra pointings in or near the galactic plane (b 20 ksec; lack of bright diffuse or point sources) to measure or constrain the luminosity function of low-luminosity accretion sources in the Galaxy. The primary goal is to detect and identify accreting white dwarfs (cataclysmic variables, with space density still uncertain by a factor of >10-100), neutron stars and black holes (quiescent low mass X-ray binaries) to constrain their space densities and thus origin and evolution. Secondary objectives are to identify Be stars in high mass X-ray binaries and constrain their space densities, and to survey the H-R diagram for stellar coronal sources. A parallel optical imaging under the NOAO Long Term Survey program provides deep optical images using the Mosaic imager on the CTIO and KPNO 4-m telescopes. The 36arcmin X 36arcmin optical images (Halpha, R, V and I) cover ~5X the area of each enclosed Chandra ACIS FOV, providing an extended survey of emission line objects for comparison with Chandra. Spectroscopic followup of optical counterparts is then conducted, thus far with WIYN and Magellan. The X-ray preliminary results from both the Chandra and optical surveys will be presented, including logN-logS vs. galactic position (l,b) and optical idenifications.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures (in 8 files), Astronomishe Nachrichten, in press (Feb 2003). Proceedings of "X-ray Surveys, in the Light of New Observatories", 4-6 September, Santander, Spain. Higher resolution figures available at: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/ChaMPlane/papers/champlane-santander.pd

Stellar Variability in the Globular Cluster Terzan 5

We present the results of a search for variability in and near the core of the metal-rich, obscured globular cluster Terzan 5, using NICMOS on HST. This extreme cluster has approximately solar metallicity and a central density that places it in the upper few percent of all clusters. It is estimated to have the highest interaction rate of any galactic globular cluster. The large extinction towards Terzan 5 and the severe stellar crowding near the cluster center present a substantial observational challenge. Using time series analysis we discovered two variable stars in this cluster. The first is a RRab Lyrae variable with a period of ~0.61 days, a longer period than that of field stars with similar high metallicities. This period is, however, shorter than the average periods of RR Lyraes found in the metal-rich globular clusters NGC 6441, NGC 6388 and 47 Tuc. The second variable is a blue star with a 7-hour period sinusoidal variation and a likely orbital period of 14 hours. This star is probably an eclipsing blue straggler, or (less likely) the infrared counterpart to the low mass X-ray binary known in Terzan 5. Due to the extreme crowding and overlapping Airy profile of the IR PSF, we fall short of our original goal of detecting CVs via Palpha emission and detecting variable infrared emission from the location of the binary MSP in Terzan 5.Comment: 17 pages including 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap