The Persistent Southern Disadvantage in Us Early Life Mortality, 1965‒2014

Background: Recent studies of US adult mortality demonstrate a growing disadvantage among southern states. Few studies have examined long-term trends and geographic patterns in US early life (ages 1 to 24) mortality, ages at which key risk factors and causes of death are quite different than among adults. Objective: This article examines trends and variations in early life mortality rates across US states and census divisions. We assess whether those variations have changed over a 50-year time period and which causes of death contribute to contemporary geographic disparities. Methods: We calculate all-cause and cause-specific death rates using death certificate data from the Multiple Cause of Death files, combining public-use files from 1965‒2004 and restricted data with state geographic identifiers from 2005‒2014. State population (denominator) data come from US decennial censuses or intercensal estimates. Results: Results demonstrate a persistent mortality disadvantage for young people (ages 1 to 24) living in southern states over the last 50 years, particularly those located in the East South Central and West South Central divisions. Motor vehicle accidents and homicide by firearm account for most of the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality. Contribution: Our results illustrate that US children and youth living in the southern United States have long suffered from higher levels of mortality than children and youth living in other parts of the country. Our findings also suggest the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality could potentially be reduced with state-level policies designed to prevent deaths involving motor vehicles and firearms

Mecanismos para entender los logros de los movimientos: Conversación, desplazamiento y disrupción

A great deal of social movement scholarship tends to assume – and in some cases explicitly argues – that disruption is the primary mechanism through which protest movements win major concessions from the holders of power. Nonetheless, some studies and much empirical evidence provide a strong basis to argue that other paths to social movement success also exist. The importance of discourse and framing has also been highlighted in a number of studies but we argue that the full contribution of talk itself to movement success is best captured through the concept of “conversation” and an examination of the preconditions for its viability. The successful displacement of power-holders by protest movements, although a less common pathway to success than disruption and conversation, also deserves conceptual and empirical attention. In this paper we make this set of distinctions conceptually explicit, differentiating analytically between these three mechanisms of movement success and delineating the conditions required for each mechanism to prove viable and ‘useful’. We rely on extensive examples drawn from movements and protest events in the United States, Spain and Portugal, using this empirical material, as well as the existing theoretical literature, as our basis for constructing a conceptual argument on the ideal typical distinction between these three mechanisms and the conditions that allow them to operate. We also take up the questions of whether, and when, movement actors can successfully combine these mechanisms or – alternatively – find themselves pressed to pursue one or another of these pathways to success in a relatively ‘pure’ form.Buena parte de la investigación en movimientos sociales tiende a asumir - y en algunos casos argumenta de manera explícita - que la disrupción es el principal mecanismo a través del cual los movimientos de protesta obtienen importantes concesiones por parte de quienes detentan el poder. No obstante, algunos estudios y mucha evidencia empírica proporcionan una base sólida para sostener la existencia de otras vías para el logro de los movimientos sociales. Si bien la importancia del discurso y el enmarcado se ha puesto de manifiesto en una serie de estudios, nosotros sostenemos que el significado completo que la palabra tiene para el éxito de los movimientos se capta mejor a partir del concepto de “conversación” y un examen de sus condiciones de viabilidad. La sustitución o el desplazamiento de la titularidad del poder, a pesar de ser una vía menos frecuente para el logro de los movimientos de protesta, también merece atención conceptual y empírica. En este artículo hacemos conceptualmente explícitas este conjunto de distinciones, diferenciando de manera analítica entre estos tres mecanismos de éxito de un movimiento y delineando las condiciones requeridas por cada uno de ellos para demostrarse viable y “útil”. Nos basamos en extensos ejemplos extraídos de movimientos y eventos de protesta en los Estados Unidos, España y Portugal, utilizando este material empírico así como la literatura teórica existente como base para construir nuestro argumento conceptual sobre la distinción de estos tres mecanismos como tipos ideales y las condiciones que les permiten ser operativos. También planteamos la cuestión de hasta qué punto – y cuándo - los actores de movimientos pueden combinar con éxito estos mecanismos o verse forzados a seguir una u otra de estas vías hacia el logro de una forma relativamente “pura”

FiberGLAST: a scintillating fiber approach to the GLAST mission

FiberGLAST is a scintillating fiber gamma-ray detector designed for the GLAST mission. The system described below provides superior effective area and field of view for modest cost and risk. An overview of the FiberGLAST instrument is presented, as well as a more detailed description of the principle elements of the primary detector volume. The triggering and readout electronics are described, and Monte Carlo Simulations of the instrument performance are presented

The detector response matrices of the burst and transient source experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The detector response matrices for the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) are described, including their creation and operation in data analysis. These response matrices are a detailed abstract representation of the gamma-ray detectors' operating characteristics that are needed for data analysis. They are constructed from an extensive set of calibration data coupled with a complex geometry electromagnetic cascade Monte Carlo simulation code. The calibration tests and simulation algorithm optimization are described. The characteristics of the BATSE detectors in the spacecraft environment are also described

Assessing Retinal Structure In Complete Congenital Stationary Night Blindness and Oguchi Disease

Purpose To examine retinal structure and changes in photoreceptor intensity after dark adaptation in patients with complete congenital stationary night blindness and Oguchi disease. Design Prospective, observational case series. Methods We recruited 3 patients with complete congenital stationary night blindness caused by mutations in GRM6, 2 brothers with Oguchi disease caused by mutations in GRK1, and 1 normal control. Retinal thickness was measured from optical coherence tomography images. Integrity of the rod and cone mosaic was assessed using adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy. We imaged 5 of the patients after a period of dark adaptation and examined layer reflectivity on optical coherence tomography in a patient with Oguchi disease under light- and dark-adapted conditions. Results Retinal thickness was reduced in the parafoveal region in patients with GRM6 mutations as a result of decreased thickness of the inner retinal layers. All patients had normal photoreceptor density at all locations analyzed. On removal from dark adaptation, the intensity of the rods (but not cones) in the patients with Oguchi disease gradually and significantly increased. In 1 Oguchi disease patient, the outer segment layer contrast on optical coherence tomography was 4-fold higher under dark-adapted versus light-adapted conditions. Conclusions The selective thinning of the inner retinal layers in patients with GRM6 mutations suggests either reduced bipolar or ganglion cell numbers or altered synaptic structure in the inner retina. Our finding that rods, but not cones, change intensity after dark adaptation suggests that fundus changes in Oguchi disease are the result of changes within the rods as opposed to changes at a different retinal locus

Microwave and Quantum Magnetics

Contains research objectives and reports on six research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020)Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-80-C-0104)United States Air Force (Contract F19628-79-C-0047

The Effect of Cone Opsin Mutations on Retinal Structure and the Integrity of the Photoreceptor Mosaic

Purpose. To evaluate retinal structure and photoreceptor mosaic integrity in subjects with OPN1LW and OPN1MW mutations. Methods. Eleven subjects were recruited, eight of whom have been previously described. Cone and rod density was measured using images of the photoreceptor mosaic obtained from an adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO). Total retinal thickness, inner retinal thickness, and outer nuclear layer plus Henle fiber layer (ONL+HFL) thickness were measured using cross-sectional spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. Molecular genetic analyses were performed to characterize the OPN1LW/OPN1MW gene array. Results. While disruptions in retinal lamination and cone mosaic structure were observed in all subjects, genotype-specific differences were also observed. For example, subjects with “L/M interchange” mutations resulting from intermixing of ancestral OPN1LW and OPN1MW genes had significant residual cone structure in the parafovea (∼25% of normal), despite widespread retinal disruption that included a large foveal lesion and thinning of the parafoveal inner retina. These subjects also reported a later-onset, progressive loss of visual function. In contrast, subjects with the C203R missense mutation presented with congenital blue cone monochromacy, with retinal lamination defects being restricted to the ONL+HFL and the degree of residual cone structure (8% of normal) being consistent with that expected for the S-cone submosaic. Conclusions. The photoreceptor phenotype associated with OPN1LW and OPN1MW mutations is highly variable. These findings have implications for the potential restoration of visual function in subjects with opsin mutations. Our study highlights the importance of high-resolution phenotyping to characterize cellular structure in inherited retinal disease; such information will be critical for selecting patients most likely to respond to therapeutic intervention and for establishing a baseline for evaluating treatment efficacy

Beam test results for the FiberGLAST instrument

The FiberGLAST scintillating fiber telescope is a large-area instrument concept for NASA\u27s GLAST program. The detector is designed for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, and uses plastic scintillating fibers to combine a photon pair tracking telescope and a calorimeter into a single instrument. A small prototype detector has been tested with high energy photons at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. We report on the result of this beam test, including scintillating fiber performance, photon track reconstruction, angular resolution, and detector efficiency

Estimation of GRB detection by FiberGLAST

FiberGLAST is one of several instrument concepts being developed for possible inclusion as the primary Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) instrument. The predicted FiberGLAST effective area is more than 12,000 cm2 for energies between 30 MeV and 300 GeV, with a field of view that is essentially flat from 0°–80°. The detector will achieve a sensitivity more than 10 times that of EGRET. We present results of simulations that illustrate the sensitivity of FiberGLAST for the detection of gamma-ray bursts