Threats of harm posted on Facebook: the viewing and response by friends

2013 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.This qualitative study explored how people define and respond to threatening language that is posted in Facebook. Basic Interpretive Qualitative Research was used to see how the 16 participants made meaning of threats that were posted in Facebook and how they responded to the posted threats. The data was collected through personal interviews with 16 traditional age college age men and women. The participants were asked a number of questions related to threatening language, including their personal definition as well as how they believed they would respond to threats and how they have responded to similar posts. The findings included how there is a large gap between how the user defines his or her friends and acquaintance as it relates to the electronic list of Facebook friends. How threats to social status was an identified fear via the use of Facebook. Threats were identified as directed toward others, and not toward oneself. The participants used Facebook for a variety of reasons ranging from academic, to social, to personal, but the use is in line with Facebook's mission, to connect people and not as much of a communication tool. Implications of this study may apply to threat assessment literature as well as working with bystander training

Real-time in-flight engine performance and health monitoring techniques for flight research application

Procedures for real time evaluation of the inflight health and performance of gas turbine engines and related systems were developed to enhance flight test safety and productivity. These techniques include the monitoring of the engine, the engine control system, thrust vectoring control system health, and the detection of engine stalls. Real time performance techniques were developed for the determination and display of inflight thrust and for aeroperformance drag polars. These new methods were successfully shown on various research aircraft at NASA-Dryden. The capability of NASA's Western Aeronautical Test Range and the advanced data acquisition systems were key factors for implementation and real time display of these methods

Real-time in-flight engine performance and health monitoring techniques for flight research application

Various engine related performance and health monitoring techniques developed in support of flight research are described. Techniques used during flight to enhance safety and to increase flight test productivity are summarized. A description of the NASA range facility is given along with a discussion of the flight data processing. Examples of data processed and the flight data displays are shown. A discussion of current trends and future capabilities is also included

Human auditory information processing

The purpose of this study is to investigate the flow of nonsymbolic auditory information in humans. To achieve this goal the observer adjusts the loudness of a Gaussian noise (GN) signal to match the perceived intensity of an electrodermal stimulus (EDS), a cross-modality matching task. The loudness of the GN and the voltage of the EDS mere maintained within the observer's (O's) sensory probabilistic zone. The sensory probabilistic zone is a range of stimulus intensity from somewhere above "no detection" to "100% detection". The independent variable is a binary condition in that it consisted of catch trials of the time and the remaining time of an EDS at a given intensity (previously determined at an intensity that elicited a response 50% of the time). Consequently, the O's adjustment of the GN reflected his decision-making processes, analysed by signal detection theory and cybernetics. Experiment one demonstrated that neither practice nor the experimenter influenced the O's performance. Also, there are no residual carry-over effects. The 0 has difficulty assigning relative value to the auditory signals and has little or no difficulty in combining, organizing or co-ordinating the auditory information. The second experiment demonstrated that the O's difficulty in assigning relative value to the signals is due to a short memory retention of the nonsymbolic auditory signals (half-life of less than a second). However, verbal confidence ratings (VCRs) add persistency to the auditory memory (echoic memory), its half-life is extended to about 3.1 seconds. The VCR has a half-life of about four seconds. Experiment three demonstrated that nonsymbolic auditory information processing is not affected by interfering signals. From a cybernetic model of the results it is concluded that nonsymbolic auditory information is processed by a filtered, single channel, series processor. Persistency is added to the system's memory component by an interaction between the auditory (echoic) memory and the conceptual symbolic system (VCR)

An evaluation of the punch card method of estimating salmon-steelhead sport catch

A primary objective of the management practices of the Oregon State Game Commission is to maximize and sustain the annual harvest of salmon and steelhead by sportsmen fishing in Oregon. Assessment of these practices is dependent upon an accurate determination of total annual sports harvest throughout the state. Present total harvest figures are derived under a report card system which requires each salmon-steelhead angler fishing in Oregon to purchase and subsequently return to the Game Commission a punch card giving dates, rivers, and numbers of salmon and steelhead caught during the year. Unfortunately, only about 30 percent of the salmon-steelhead anglers return their cards. Lacking information on the harvest characteristics of anglers not returning punch cards, estimates of total annual catch, total catch by river, month, and type of angler have been made by simple expansion of punch card reported catch. Inherent in this method of estimation are the assumptions that the average catch per angler by month, by river, by type of angler, and for the year are the same for anglers returning and for anglers not returning punch cards. This paper reports on an evaluation of these assumptions and on the method for estimating total catch. Evaluation of the assumptions is based on comparisons of catch rate estimates from sample data (not punch cards) collected from both anglers returning and anglers not returning punch cards. Sample data was collected by means of double return postcard questionnaires in a sample survey during 1951. Stratified sampling was employed with allocations approximately proportional to the angler-fishing months in each stratum. Variances for the catch rate estimates made for both groups of anglers were estimated using replicated subsampling. Nearly all comparisons indicate that the catch rates for anglers not returning punch cards were significantly lower than the catch rates for anglers returning punch cards. On the basis of the observed differences in catch rates, a procedure using ratios of the 1961 catch rate estimates is suggested for future estimates of total catch

TEXAS AGRICULTURE BY CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 1993-1996

Texas Agriculture by Congressional Districts: 1993-96 is an update of previous editions of this publication. Commodity sales by county are estimates made by county agents and, therefore, are not official. In all but 4 of 30 Texas congressional districts, production agriculture accounts for over $100 million in sales. In 18 of the districts, farm program commodities represent over$50 million in sales.Production Economics,

AST Combustion Workshop: Diagnostics Working Group Report

A workshop was convened under NASA's Advanced Subsonics Technologies (AST) Program. Many of the principal combustion diagnosticians from industry, academia, and government laboratories were assembled in the Diagnostics/Testing Subsection of this workshop to discuss the requirements and obstacles to the successful implementation of advanced diagnostic techniques to the test environment of the proposed AST combustor. The participants, who represented the major relevant areas of advanced diagnostic methods currently applied to combustion and related fields, first established the anticipated AST combustor flowfield conditions. Critical flow parameters were then examined and prioritized as to their importance to combustor/fuel injector design and manufacture, environmental concerns, and computational interests. Diagnostic techniques were then evaluated in terms of current status, merits and obstacles for each flow parameter. All evaluations are presented in tabular form and recommendations are made on the best-suited diagnostic method to implement for each flow parameter in order of applicability and intrinsic value

Exposure to Ranitidine and Risk of Bladder Cancer:A Nested Case-Control Study

INTRODUCTION:Ranitidine has been shown to contain the carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine and increase urinary N-nitrosodimethylamine in humans. We investigated whether ranitidine use is associated with increased bladder cancer risk.METHODS:A nested case-control study was conducted within the Primary Care Clinical Informatics Unit Research database which contains general practice records from Scotland. Bladder cancer cases, diagnosed between 1999 and 2011, were identified and matched with up to 5 controls (based on age, sex, general practice, and date of registration). Ranitidine, other histamine-2 receptor agonists, and proton pump inhibitors were identified from prescribing records. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression after adjusting for comorbidities and smoking.RESULTS:There were 3,260 cases and 14,037 controls. There was evidence of an increased risk of bladder cancer in ranitidine users, compared with nonusers (fully adjusted OR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.06-1.40), which was more marked with use for over 3 years of ranitidine (fully adjusted OR = 1.43; 95% CI 1.05-1.94). By contrast, there was little evidence of any association between proton pump inhibitor use and bladder cancer risk based on any use (fully adjusted OR = 0.98; 95% CI 0.88-1.11) or over 3 years of use (fully adjusted OR = 0.98; 95% CI 0.80-1.20).DISCUSSION:In this large population-based study, the use of ranitidine particularly long-term use was associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Further studies are necessary to attempt to replicate this finding in other settings.</p