Conveying the Role of Professional Farm Managers to Potential Clientele

Many farmland owners opt to work directly with farmer-tenants while others choose to hire a professional farm manager to assist in the management of their land. As absentee landownership increases and more landowners become less associated with farming, professional farm managers have increased opportunity to communicate their role to potential clientele. Some landowners have an opportunity to make the most of their situation by enlisting the services of a professional farm manager, but only if they know what can be expected from a professional farm manager. We discuss some of the benefits and disadvantages to landowners and tenants of professional farm management and how professional farm managers can convey these ideas to potential clients and assist landowners to choose the best farm manager for their farm.Farm Management,

Flueric-controller pneumatic stepping motor system

Nutating stepping motor consists of an output rotating gear and a nutating gear. A flueric logic circuit controls the nutating motor. The complete system constitutes a reliable, open loop actuator system with inherently high output stiffness, reasonable slewing speeds and small step size

Acoustic waves and heating due to molecular energy transfer in an electric discharge CO laser

This paper summarizes analytical studies and the interpretation of experimental results for the compression and rarefaction waves generated in the cavity of a pulsed CO electric discharge laser. A one-dimensional analysis of acoustic waves is applied to a transversely excited laser. The influences of heating in the cathode fall, heat transfer to the cathode, flow through both the anode and cathode, and bulk heating of the plasma are included. The analysis is used to relate the bulk heating rate to observable features of the pressure and density waves. Data obtained from interferograms and reported elsewhere are used to infer the bulk heating rates in a pulsed CO laser. Results are presented for CO/Ar, CO/N2, and N2 plasmas. Comparison of the data with recent theoretical results for the heating due to electron/ neutral collisions and the anharmonic defect associated with V-V energy transfer shows substantial differences at lower values of total energy deposition. The change of heating with E/N is in fairly good agreement with predicted values

A study of ASRS reports involving general aviation and weather encounters

Consideration is given to the nature and characteristics of problems involving dissemination of weather information, use of this information by pilots, its adequacy for the purpose intended, the ability of the air traffic control system to cope with weather related incidents, and the various aspects of pilot behavior, aircraft equipment, and NAVAIDS affecting flights in which weather figures. It is concluded from the study that skill and training deficiencies of general aviation pilots are not major factors in weather related occurrences, nor is lack of aircraft equipment. Major problem causes are identified with timely and easily interpreted weather information, judgement and attitude factors of pilots, and the functioning of the air traffic control system

Funding free and universal access to Journal of Neuroinflammation

Journal of Neuroinflammation is an Open Access, online journal published by BioMed Central. Open Access publishing provides instant and universal availability of published work to any potential reader, worldwide, completely free of subscriptions, passwords, and charges. Further, authors retain copyright for their work, facilitating its dissemination. Open Access publishing is made possible by article-processing charges assessed "on the front end" to authors, their institutions, or their funding agencies. Beginning November 1, 2004, the Journal of Neuroinflammation will introduce article-processing charges of around US$525 for accepted articles. This charge will be waived for authors from institutions that are BioMed Central members, and in additional cases for reasons of genuine financial hardship. These article-processing charges pay for an electronic submission process that facilitates efficient and thorough peer review, for publication costs involved in providing the article freely and universally accessible in various formats online, and for the processes required for the article's inclusion in PubMed and its archiving in PubMed Central, e-Depot, Potsdam and INIST. There is no remuneration of any kind provided to the Editors-in-Chief, to any members of the Editorial Board, or to peer reviewers; all of whose work is entirely voluntary. Our article-processing charge is less than charges frequently levied by traditional journals: the Journal of Neuroinflammation does not levy any additional page or color charges on top of this fee, and there are no reprint costs as publication-quality pdf files are provided, free, for distribution in lieu of reprints. Our article-processing charge will enable full, immediate, and continued Open Access for all work published in Journal of Neuroinflammation. The benefits from such Open Access will accrue to readers, through unrestricted access; to authors, through the widest possible dissemination of their work; and to science and society in general, through facilitation of information availability and scientific advancement

Welcome to the Journal of Neuroinflammation!

Welcome to the Journal of Neuroinflammation, an open-access, peer-reviewed, online journal that focuses on innate immunological responses of the central nervous system, involving microglia, astrocytes, cytokines, chemokines, and related molecular processes. 'Neuroinflammation' is an encapsulization of the idea that microglial and astrocytic responses and actions in the central nervous system have a fundamentally inflammation-like character, and that these responses are central to the pathogenesis and progression of a wide variety of neurological disorders. This concept has its roots in the discoveries of inflammatory cytokines and proteins in the plaques of Alzheimer disease, and these ideas have been extended to other neurodegenerative diseases, to ischemic/toxic diseases, to tumor biology and even to normal brain development. The Journal of Neuroinflammation, published by BioMed Central, will bring together work focusing on microglia, astrocytes, cytokines, chemokines, and related molecular processes in the central nervous system. All articles published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation will be immediately listed in PubMed, and access to published articles will be universal and free through the internet

Analyzing the Effects of LED Traffic Signals on Urban Intersection Safety

In 2002, there were 1,299,000 crashes at signalized intersections in the United States. These crashes account for approximately 21 percent of total crashes and about 24 percent of all fatal and injury collisions. The social and financial impact of this number of collisions is substantial. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other agencies have recognized the detrimental effects of intersection crashes on our society and continue to fund research that will lead to a decrease in crash frequency. Numerous countermeasures have been tested for their potential to reduce crashes. Infrastructure improvements such as the construction of left-turn lanes, the removal of unwarranted signals and improvement of drainage through intersections have all proven to be effective at reducing crashes. Improving the visibility of traffic signals has also been cited as an important safety measure. Many intersection improvements are prohibitively expensive to implement—a drainage upgrade may cost in excess of $20,000, and new turn lanes may exceed$40,000. The financial impact of a countermeasure is always an important consideration to decision makers who are charged with the responsibility of allocating resources effectively. Low-cost safety countermeasures have become highly desirable as funding for transportation projects becomes more limited. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been used in various applications since their invention more than 40 years ago. As the new style of lighting gained popularity in other disciplines, engineers began to recognize the potential for LEDs in traffic applications. Traffic signal bulbs account for approximately 90 percent of the total energy usage at a typical intersection. By converting incandescent bulbs to LEDs, energy consumption can be decreased by about 80 percent. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) was one of the first agencies to realize large-scale cost saving by using LEDs. In 2003, Caltrans saved taxpayers $10 million per year by converting state-operated signals to LED. LED use became more widespread in the traffic industry as other government entities became aware of the potentially massive energy savings, eventually leading to the adoption of standard specifications and federal energy requirements for traffic signal modules. Conversion to LEDs has triggered other benefits besides the well-known energy reduction. They do not burn or distort lens covers, they may help preserve intersection wiring by drawing less power and they appear brighter than conventional signals. All of these advantages may also lead to an impact in another sector of traffic engineering—intersection safety. Visibility of LEDs seems to be superior, which could positively affect driver behavior. Reduced maintenance on the fixtures decreases the exposure of workers to traffic and the total number of work zones required at intersections. Also, the minimal energy usage allows for the use of battery backup systems to operate the intersection during a power outage. Could all of these factors combined improve overall intersection safety? The objective of this study was to use empirical Bayes estimation to determine whether there was a noticeable decrease in crashes at signalized intersections that have been converted to LED signals. In the field of traffic engineering, little research has been published about the safety benefits of increased signal visibility, though it has always been considered inherently beneficial. A study by Thomas et al. discusses the high reduction in crashes and high cost-benefit ratio for projects that replaced pedestal-mounted signals with more visible mast-arm-mounted ones. Improved traffic signal visibility was determined to be a cost-effective safety strategy. The Institute of Transportation Engineers cites improved signal visibility as a useful safety measure to be considered for implementation. LED signals are specifically described as being brighter and more conspicuous during inclement weather. Engineers have begun to utilize LEDs in railroad crossings as a potential safety improvement due to improved visibility and longer life. Flashing lights are installed horizontally at approaches to warn drivers of a train

Two-fluid dynamics for a Bose-Einstein condensate out of local equilibrium with the non-condensate

We extend our recent work on the two-fluid hydrodynamics of a Bose-condensed gas by including collisions involving both condensate and non-condensate atoms. These collisions are essential for establishing a state of local thermodynamic equilibrium between the condensate and non-condensate. Our theory is more general than the usual Landau two-fluid theory, to which it reduces in the appropriate limit, in that it allows one to describe situations in which a state of complete local equilibrium between the two components has not been reached. The exchange of atoms between the condensate and non-condensate is associated with a new relaxational mode of the gas.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 1 postscript figure, Fig.1 has been correcte

For knee pain, how predictive is physical examination for meniscal injury?

No single clinical examination element, or combination of such elements, reliably detects meniscal injury. The McMurray test is best for ruling in meniscal pathology. Assuming a 9% prevalence of meniscal tears among all knee injuries (a rate reflecting national primary care data), the posttest probability that a patient with McMurray's sign has a meniscal injury ranges from <30% to 63% (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B). In contrast, the absence of any positive physical examination findings effectively rules out meniscal pathology, yielding a posttest probability of 0.8% for lateral meniscus injury, 1.0% for medial meniscus injury, and 3.8% for any meniscal injury among primary care populations (SOR: B)

Book Reviews

The title of this brilliant little volume might, more accurately, have been, The Spirits of the Common Law, for it depicts the common law as the battleground of many conflicting spirits, from which a few relatively permanent ideas and ideals have emerged triumphant. As a whole, the book is a pluralistic-idealistic interpretation of legal history. Idealistic, because Dean Pound finds that the fundamentals of the \u27common law have been shaped by ideas and ideals rather than by economic determinism or class struggle; he definitely rejects a purely economic interpretation of legal history, although he demands a sociological one (pp. io-ii). Pluralistic, because, unlike those nineteenth-century philosophers who tried to make legal history stand for the unfolding of a single idea-rational will (Hegel), popular spirit (Savigny, Puchta)-Dean Pound finds a number of ideas which have contributed to the spirit of the common law