1,452 research outputs found

    Lesson From the Trenches: Debtor Educator in Theory and Practice

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    The Savannah River Site: Site Description, Land Use and Management History

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    The 78,000-ha Savannah River Site, which is located in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina along the Savannah River, was established as a nuclear production facility in 1951 by the Atomic Energy Commission. The site’s physical and vegetative characteristics, land use history, and the impacts of management and operations are described. Aboriginal and early European settlement was primarily along streams, where much of the farming and timber cutting have occurred. Woodland grazing occurred in the uplands and lowlands. Land use intensity increased after the Civil War and peaked in the 1920s. Impacts from production of cotton and corn, naval stores, fuelwood, and timber left only scattered patches of relatively untouched land and, coupled with grazing and less-frequent fire, severely reduced the extent of longleaf pine (Pinus palustrus) ecosystems. After 1951, the USDA Forest Service, under the direction of the Atomic Energy Commission, initiated a large-scale reforestation effort and continued to manage the site’s forests. Over the last decade, forest management efforts have shifted to recovering the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) and restoring longleaf pine habitat. A research set-aside program was established in the 1950s and is now administered by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Impacts from thermal effluents, fly-ash runoff, construction of radioactive waste facilities, and release of low-level radionuclides and certain metals have been assessed by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and other researchers

    Improving the Quality of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Services Through Physician Outreach

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    Physicians and other health-care providers should play a central role in helping families of children with permanent hearing loss receive timely and appropriate screening, diagnostic, and early intervention services. Because the technology and procedures for ensuring timely and appropriate services for infants and young children with hearing loss have changed so dramatically over the past 15 years, many health-care providers are not well informed about the best ways to provide effective services. Audiologists can help to ensure that physicians and other health-care providers are better informed about the services needed by infants and young children with hearing loss. This article notes some of the areas where information and support is most needed and suggests resources and strategies for addressing these needs

    Dynamical Correlation Functions using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group

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    The density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method allows for very precise calculations of ground state properties in low-dimensional strongly correlated systems. We investigate two methods to expand the DMRG to calculations of dynamical properties. In the Lanczos vector method the DMRG basis is optimized to represent Lanczos vectors, which are then used to calculate the spectra. This method is fast and relatively easy to implement, but the accuracy at higher frequencies is limited. Alternatively, one can optimize the basis to represent a correction vector for a particular frequency. The correction vectors can be used to calculate the dynamical correlation functions at these frequencies with high accuracy. By separately calculating correction vectors at different frequencies, the dynamical correlation functions can be interpolated and pieced together from these results. For systems with open boundaries we discuss how to construct operators for specific wavevectors using filter functions.Comment: minor revision, 10 pages, 15 figure

    Next-Generation Raman tomography Instrument for Non-Invasive In Vivo Bone Imaging

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    Combining diffuse optical tomography methods with Raman spectroscopy of tissue provides the ability for in vivo measurements of chemical and molecular characteristics, which have the potential for being useful in diagnostic imaging. In this study a system for Raman tomography was developed and tested. A third generation microCT coupled system was developed to combine 10 detection fibers and 5 excitation fibers with laser line filtering and a Cytop reference signal. Phantom measurements of hydroxyapatite concentrations from 50 to 300 mg/ml had a linear response. Fiber placement and experiment design was optimized using cadaver animals with live animal measurements acquired to validate the systems capabilities. Promising results from the initial animal experiments presented here, pave the way for a study of longitudinal measurements during fracture healing and the scaling of the Raman tomography system towards human measurements

    Oil and the Porcupine Caribou Herd — Can we quantify the impacts?

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    We report on a number of ongoing studies and discuss what projects are in place to further refine and test relationships

    Aerococcus urinae isolated from women with lower urinary tract symptoms: In vitro aggregation and genome analysis

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    Aerococcus urinae is increasingly recognized as a potentially significant urinary tract bacterium. A. urinae has been isolated from urine collected from both males and females with a wide range of clinical conditions, including urinary tract infection (UTI), urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), and overactive bladder (OAB). A. urinae is of particular clinical concern because it is highly resistant to many antibiotics and, when undiagnosed, can cause invasive and life-threatening bacteremia, sepsis, or soft tissue infections. Previous genomic characterization studies have examined A. urinae strains isolated from patients experiencing UTI episodes. Here, we analyzed the genomes of A. urinae strains isolated as part of the urinary microbiome from patients with UUI or OAB. Furthermore, we report that certain A. urinae strains exhibit aggregative in vitro phenotypes, including flocking, which can be modified by various growth medium conditions. Finally, we performed in-depth genomic comparisons to identify pathways that distinguish flocking and nonflocking strains. IMPORTANCE Aerococcus urinae is a urinary bacterium of emerging clinical interest. Here, we explored the ability of 24 strains of A. urinae isolated from women with lower urinary tract symptoms to display aggregation phenotypes in vitro. We sequenced and analyzed the genomes of these A. urinae strains. We performed functional genomic analyses to determine whether the in vitro hyperflocking aggregation phenotype displayed by certain A. urinae strains was related to the presence or absence of certain pathways. Our findings demonstrate that A. urinae strains have different propensities to display aggregative properties in vitro and suggest a potential association between phylogeny and flocking

    Density matrix algorithm for the calculation of dynamical properties of low dimensional systems

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    I extend the scope of the density matrix renormalization group technique developed by White to the calculation of dynamical correlation functions. As an application and performance evaluation I calculate the spin dynamics of the 1D Heisenberg chain.Comment: 4 pages + 4 figures in one Latex + 4 postscript file
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