The Impacts of Animal Disease Crises on the Korean Meat Market

Employing the error correction method and historical decomposition with direct acyclic graphs, we quantify the impacts of domestic and oversea animal disease crises on the Korean meat markets. We find that (a) the market partially recovered 16 months after the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2000, and 13 months after the avian influenza and the U.S. BSE incidents in 2003; (b) animal disease outbreaks have differentiate impacts by disease type and supply chain level. Retailers likely to have windfall profits as the retail price margin increased relative to the farm and wholesale levels; and (c) disease outbreaks affect dynamic price interdependence.Animal disease outbreak, Error correction model, Direct acyclic graphs, Korean meat market, Historical Decomposition, Price margins, Livestock Production/Industries, C32, Q11, L11,

A Pilot Test of a Mobile App for Drug Court Participants

The U.S. criminal justice system refers more people to substance abuse treatment than any other system. Low treatment completion rates and high relapse rates among addicted offenders highlight the need for better substance use disorder treatment and recovery tools. Mobile health applications (apps) may fill that need by providing continuous support. In this pilot test, 30 participants in a Massachusetts drug court program used A-CHESS, a mobile app for recovery support and relapse prevention, over a four-month period. Over the course of the study period, participants opened A-CHESS on average of 62% of the days that they had the app. Social networking tools were the most utilized services. The study results suggest that drug court participants will make regular use of a recovery support app. This pilot study sought to find out if addicted offenders in a drug court program would use a mobile application to support and manage their recovery

The Rich Mid-Infrared Environments of Two Highly-Obscured X-ray Binaries: Spitzer Observations of IGR J16318-4848 and GX 301-2

We present the results of Spitzer mid-infrared spectroscopic observations of two highly-obscured massive X-ray binaries: IGR J16318-4848 and GX301-2. Our observations reveal for the first time the extremely rich mid-infrared environments of this type of source, including multiple continuum emission components (a hot component with T > 700 K and a warm component with T ~ 180 K) with apparent silicate absorption features, numerous HI recombination lines, many forbidden ionic lines of low ionization potentials, and pure rotational H2 lines. This indicates that both sources have hot and warm circumstellar dust, ionized stellar winds, extended low-density ionized regions, and photo-dissociated regions. It appears difficult to attribute the total optical extinction of both sources to the hot and warm dust components, which suggests that there could be an otherwise observable colder dust component responsible for the most of the optical extinction and silicate absorption features. The observed mid-infrared spectra are similar to those from Luminous Blue Variables, indicating that the highly-obscured massive X-ray binaries may represent a previously unknown evolutionary phase of X-ray binaries with early-type optical companions. Our results highlight the importance and utility of mid-infrared spectroscopy to investigate highly-obscured X-ray binaries.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letter

Anomalous tunneling conductances of a spin singlet \nu=2/3 edge states: Interplay of Zeeman splitting and Long Range Coulomb Interaction

The point contact tunneling conductance between edges of the spin singlet $\nu=2/3,\hat{K}=(3/3/0)$ quantum Hall states is studied both in the quasiparticle tunneling picture and in the electron tunneling picture. Due to the interplay of Zeeman splitting and the long range Coulomb interaction between edges of opposite chirality novel spin excitations emerge, and their effect is characterized by anomalous exponents of the charge and spin tunneling conductances in various temperature ranges. Depending on the kinds of scatterings at the point contact and the tunneling mechanism the anomalous interaction in spin sector may enhance or suppress the tunneling conductances. The effects of novel spin excitation are also relevant to the recent NMR experiments on quantum Hall edges.Comment: Revtex File, 7 pages: To be published in Physical Reviews

Expression and Reception: An Analytic Method for Assessing Message Production and Consumption in CMC

This article presents an innovative methodology to study computer-mediated communication (CMC), which allows analysis of the multi-layered effects of online expression and reception. The methodology is demonstrated by combining the following three data sets collected from a widely tested eHealth system, the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS): (1) a flexible and precise computer-aided content analysis; (2) a record of individual message posting and reading; and (3) longitudinal survey data. Further, this article discusses how the resulting data can be applied to online social network analysis and demonstrates how to construct two distinct types of online social networks—open and targeted communication networks—for different types of content embedded in social networks

Electron-Spin Filters Based on the Rashba Effect

Semiconductor electron-spin filters of a proposed type would be based on the Rashba effect, which is described briefly below. Electron-spin filters more precisely, sources of spin-polarized electron currents have been sought for research on, and development of, the emerging technological discipline of spintronics (spin-based electronics). There have been a number of successful demonstrations of injection of spin-polarized electrons from diluted magnetic semiconductors and from ferromagnetic metals into nonmagnetic semiconductors. In contrast, a device according to the proposal would be made from nonmagnetic semiconductor materials and would function without an applied magnetic field. The Rashba effect, named after one of its discoverers, is an energy splitting, of what would otherwise be degenerate quantum states, caused by a spin-orbit interaction in conjunction with a structural-inversion asymmetry in the presence of interfacial electric fields in a semiconductor heterostructure. The magnitude of the energy split is proportional to the electron wave number. The present proposal evolved from recent theoretical studies that suggested the possibility of devices in which electron energy states would be split by the Rashba effect and spin-polarized currents would be extracted by resonant quantum-mechanical tunneling. Accordingly, a device according to the proposal would be denoted an asymmetric resonant interband tunneling diode [a-RITD]. An a-RITD could be implemented in a variety of forms, the form favored in the proposal being a double-barrier heterostructure containing an asymmetric quantum well. It is envisioned that a-RITDs would be designed and fabricated in the InAs/GaSb/AlSb material system for several reasons: Heterostructures in this material system are strong candidates for pronounced Rashba spin splitting because InAs and GaSb exhibit large spin-orbit interactions and because both InAs and GaSb would be available for the construction of highly asymmetric quantum wells. This mate-rial system affords a variety of energy-band alignments that can be exploited to obtain resonant tunneling and other desired effects. The no-common-atom InAs/GaSb and InAs/AlSb interfaces would present opportunities for engineering interface potentials for optimizing Rashba spin splitting

Effects of resistance training on classic and specific bioelectrical impedance vector analysis in elderly women

Raw bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) data [resistance (R); reactance (Xc)] through bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) and phase angle (PhA) have been used to evaluate cellular function and hydration status. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of resistance training (RT) on classic and specific BIVA in elderly women. Twenty women (mean ± SD; age: 71.9 ± 6.9 years; BMI: 24.5 ± 3.0 kg m(-2)) completed a 6-month RT program. Whole-body, single-frequency BIA, body geometry, and leg strength (5RM) measures were completed at baseline (t0), 3 months (t3), and 6 months (t6). The mean impedance vector displacements were compared using Hotelling's T(2) test to evaluate changes in R and Xc relative to height (R/ht; Xc/ht) or body volume (Rsp; Xcsp) estimated from the arms, legs, and trunk. 5RM, PhA, and BIVA variables were compared using ANOVA. PhA improved at t6 (p < 0.01), while 5RM improved at t3 and t6 (p < 0.01). Using classic BIVA, 6 months (T(2) = 31.6; p < 0.01), but not 3 months of RT (T(2) = 4.5; p = 0.20), resulted in significant vector migration. Using specific BIVA, 6 months (T(2) = 24.4; p < 0.01), but not 3 months of RT (T(2) = 5.5; p = 0.10), also resulted in significant vector migration. 5RM was correlated to both PhA (r = 0.48-56) and Xcsp (r = 0.45-53) at all time points. Vector displacements were likely the result of improved cellular integrity (Xcsp) and cellular health (PhA)