Emmaus--The Artist\u27s Way

Sermon preached at Rockway Mennonite Church, Kitchener

A Policy Analysis of the Minnesota Family Investment Program - Statewide: The Employment and Training Component

Minnesota has just began one of its biggest welfare overhauls ever through the state\u27s new policy: The Minnesota Family Investment-statewide (MFIP-S). The Federal welfare policy reform, Temporary Assistance for Needy families (TANF), initiated this revamp and has shifted focus to temporary assistance and mandatory work requirements for welfare participants. The employment and training component of the MFIP-S policy is currently being implemented and has proven to play an important role in this major effort that will affect thousands of people. This paper analyzes the employment and training component of MFIP-S, specifically concentrating on how it will affect single-mothers. The following research question is posed: Will the employment and training component of MFIP-S effectively meet the intended goals of welfare reform for single-mothers? The analysis found strengths in this policy, including intense job search assistance and a needy job market for workers, but also found weakness\u27, such as unrealistic time limits and lack of a safety net for children. The findings indicate that there will be several intended policy goals achieved, but that poverty will increase and many will be unable to find and maintain suitable employment. Implications for the future and social work practice are discussed

Local adaptation drives the diversification of effectors in the fungal wheat pathogen Parastagonospora nodorum in the United States

Filamentous fungi rapidly evolve in response to environmental selection pressures in part due to their genomic plasticity. Parastagonospora nodorum, a fungal pathogen of wheat and causal agent of septoria nodorum blotch, responds to selection pressure exerted by its host, influencing the gain, loss, or functional diversification of virulence determinants, known as effector genes. Whole genome resequencing of 197 P. nodorum isolates collected from spring, durum, and winter wheat production regions of the United States enabled the examination of effector diversity and genomic regions under selection specific to geographically discrete populations. 1,026,859 SNPs/InDels were used to identify novel loci, as well as SnToxA and SnTox3 as factors in disease. Genes displaying presence/absence variation, predicted effector genes, and genes localized on an accessory chromosome had significantly higher pN/pS ratios, indicating a higher rate of sequence evolution. Population structure analyses indicated two P. nodorum populations corresponding to the Upper Midwest (Population 1) and Southern/Eastern United States (Population 2). Prevalence of SnToxA varied greatly between the two populations which correlated with presence of the host sensitivity gene Tsn1 in the most prevalent cultivars in the corresponding regions. Additionally, 12 and 5 candidate effector genes were observed to be under diversifying selection among isolates from Population 1 and 2, respectively, but under purifying selection or neutrally evolving in the opposite population. Selective sweep analysis revealed 10 and 19 regions that had recently undergone positive selection in Population 1 and 2, respectively, involving 92 genes in total. When comparing genes with and without presence/absence variation, those genes exhibiting this variation were significantly closer to transposable elements. Taken together, these results indicate that P. nodorum is rapidly adapting to distinct selection pressures unique to spring and winter wheat production regions by rapid adaptive evolution and various routes of genomic diversification, potentially facilitated through transposable element activity

Supernova Resonance--scattering Line Profiles in the Absence of a Photosphere

In supernova spectroscopy relatively little attention has been given to the properties of optically thick spectral lines in epochs following the photosphere's recession. Most treatments and analyses of post-photospheric optical spectra of supernovae assume that forbidden-line emission comprises most if not all spectral features. However, evidence exists which suggests that some spectra exhibit line profiles formed via optically thick resonance-scattering even months or years after the supernova explosion. To explore this possibility we present a geometrical approach to supernova spectrum formation based on the "Elementary Supernova" model, wherein we investigate the characteristics of resonance-scattering in optically thick lines while replacing the photosphere with a transparent central core emitting non-blackbody continuum radiation, akin to the optical continuum provided by decaying 56Co formed during the explosion. We develop the mathematical framework necessary for solving the radiative transfer equation under these conditions, and calculate spectra for both isolated and blended lines. Our comparisons with analogous results from the Elementary Supernova code SYNOW reveal several marked differences in line formation. Most notably, resonance lines in these conditions form P Cygni-like profiles, but the emission peaks and absorption troughs shift redward and blueward, respectively, from the line's rest wavelength by a significant amount, despite the spherically symmetric distribution of the line optical depth in the ejecta. These properties and others that we find in this work could lead to misidentification of lines or misattribution of properties of line-forming material at post-photospheric times in supernova optical spectra.Comment: 37 pages, 24 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ Supplement Serie

EC92-891, Farm Financial Records: Record-Keeping Alternatives For Nebraska Producers

A well organized and complete set of records is an important part of a successful farm business. Farm records are needed to prepare income tax reports, as a basis for credit, and to assist with management decisions including lease arrangements, insurance programs, cropping decisions, marketnig, and participation in government programs. Many options are available to Nebraska producers. They range from the simple hand-kept record books to fully computerized systems. A description of the major alternatives that are available to Nebraska producers follows in this publication

Near-infrared line identification in type Ia supernovae during the transitional phase

We present near-infrared synthetic spectra of a delayed-detonation hydrodynamical model and compare them to observed spectra of four normal type Ia supernovae ranging from day +56.5 to day +85. This is the epoch during which supernovae are believed to be undergoing the transition from the photospheric phase, where spectra are characterized by line scattering above an optically thick photosphere, to the nebular phase, where spectra consist of optically thin emission from forbidden lines. We find that most spectral features in the near-infrared can be accounted for by permitted lines of Fe II and Co II. In addition, we find that [Ni II] fits the emission feature near 1.98 {\mu}m, suggesting that a substantial mass of 58Ni exists near the center of the ejecta in these objects, arising from nuclear burning at high density. A tentative identification of Mn II at 1.15 {\mu}m may support this conclusion as well.Comment: accepted to Ap

Second Harmonic Coherent Driving of a Spin Qubit in a Si/SiGe Quantum Dot

We demonstrate coherent driving of a single electron spin using second harmonic excitation in a Si/SiGe quantum dot. Our estimates suggest that the anharmonic dot confining potential combined with a gradient in the transverse magnetic field dominates the second harmonic response. As expected, the Rabi frequency depends quadratically on the driving amplitude and the periodicity with respect to the phase of the drive is twice that of the fundamental harmonic. The maximum Rabi frequency observed for the second harmonic is just a factor of two lower than that achieved for the first harmonic when driving at the same power. Combined with the lower demands on microwave circuitry when operating at half the qubit frequency, these observations indicate that second harmonic driving can be a useful technique for future quantum computation architectures.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure