A six-coordinate aryl-germanium complex formed by the Kläui ligand

PhGeCl₃ reacts with Na{[OP(OEt)₂]₃CoCp} to give the six-coordinate complex PhCl₂Ge{[OP(OEt)₂]₃CoCp}, characterised spectroscopically and by an X-ray crystal structure determination which showed a firmly-attached tridentate ligand [Ge–O 1.973(2) Å]

Infrastructure Elements of a Viable Cycling Network in the United States

The number of drivers on the road in the U.S. has been steadily increasing since the automobile became a popular mode of transportation in the early 1900s. The growth of car popularity has caused a drastic increase in traffic congestion and vehicle-related accidents; the growth in automobile use is also putting an unplanned amount of stress on the nation’s infrastructure, causing deterioration to be far more rapid than was expected (Small, 1997). In Germany and the Netherlands, the response to increasing car traffic has been to alleviate it by encouraging use of bicycles and has seen widespread success (Pucher and Buehler, 2008b). This convenient and relatively cheap method of transportation can provide transportation to young and indigent people, reduce traffic congestion, alleviate pollution, and decrease annual wear on roads. However, the U.S. has safety and convenience limitations that prevent bikes from being practical for any use except leisure. People most frequently respond on surveys that safety concerns and inconvenience prevent them from biking (Langone-Danila and Fink, 2013). Proximity to vehicles on roadways and intersection design issues contribute most to hazardous conditions for cyclists. For the U.S. to ever become a biking nation, these risk factors must be addressed. Improving and expanding cycling infrastructure would make biking a viable transportation option in the U.S. In countries where cycling is popular for commuting, adequately developed infrastructure is the key element of their systems. Bike lanes and intersection alterations are the two main biking facilities that are most influential. By taking these two factors into consideration and making a bike network priority, the U.S. could see a huge increase in the number of cyclists on the road

PROBE-GK: Predictive Robust Estimation using Generalized Kernels

Many algorithms in computer vision and robotics make strong assumptions about uncertainty, and rely on the validity of these assumptions to produce accurate and consistent state estimates. In practice, dynamic environments may degrade sensor performance in predictable ways that cannot be captured with static uncertainty parameters. In this paper, we employ fast nonparametric Bayesian inference techniques to more accurately model sensor uncertainty. By setting a prior on observation uncertainty, we derive a predictive robust estimator, and show how our model can be learned from sample images, both with and without knowledge of the motion used to generate the data. We validate our approach through Monte Carlo simulations, and report significant improvements in localization accuracy relative to a fixed noise model in several settings, including on synthetic data, the KITTI dataset, and our own experimental platform.Comment: In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'16), Stockholm, Sweden, May 16-21, 201

The Dynamics of an Excited Hydrogen Atom in a Parallel Low Frequency Microwave and Static Field

This thesis examines the effect of parallel static and low frequency microwave fields on excited hydrogen atoms. By low frequency we mean, Ω0 = Ω/ωκ << 1, where Ω is the field frequency and ωκ is the Kepler frequency of the unperturbed excited electron. Experiments and calculations have shown that for certain field strengths, resonances arise, sometimes leading to enhanced ionisation. Approximate time-dependent one-dimensional Hamiltonians describing the classical dynamics were derived previously by Richards [51]. Here we derive a number of properties from these Hamiltonians and use these to predict and explain ionisation behaviour. Because the separatrix is a construct of classical dynamics affecting a relatively small area of phase space, it is unclear how it will affect the quantum mechanics of the system or how large the quantum numbers must be for measurable effects. For this reason, we derive a new quantal method to compute the ionisation probability for the system. The method is tested where possible and shown to accurately describe the general behaviour of the system. The method is applied to slowly switched fields and is computationally efficient, allowing calculations for high principal quantum numbers, n ≥ 800. We compare classical and quantum ionisation behaviour. Significant qualitative differences exist for low quantum numbers, n ~ 10, but quantitative differences exist, for higher quantum numbers, even for n ≥ 100. For slowly switched fields, the separatrix can considerably affect the ionisation structure. These effects are also manifest in the quantum mechanics for sufficiently high n, but even for n = 39, the influence of the separatrix is seen. Ionisation times are calculated for systems prepared in a single initial state and for mi- crocanonical distributions of initial states. Classically, motion near the separatrix is shown to lead to longer ionisation times at resonance. This is also seen in quantal calculations, even for quantum numbers as low as n =39, that is, those accessible by experiment

Stercoral Colitis Leading to Hypotension and IVC Syndrome with Respiratory Failure Following Fecal Disimpaction

Constipation is an extremely common chief complaint in the emergency department, contributing to approximately 700,000 emergency department visits in 2011. Severe constipation can result in stercoral colitis, which in turn can lead to development of ulceration and colonic perforation leading to fatal peritonitis. As a result, prompt recognition and treatment of this condition with bowel cleansing and fecal disimpaction are often recommended. Here, we will discuss a case of a 62-year-old male with a history of schizoaffective disorder who came into the Emergency Department (ED) hypotensive with stercoral colitis secondary to severe constipation. Following bedside fecal disimpaction, the patient developed sudden respiratory failure and required emergent intubation

Utility of meloxicam therapy in cattle prior to long distance transportation

Transportation is one of the most common production practices for cattle throughout the United States and the world. During this event, cattle handling, a new environment, and other compiled life events cause stress. Transport and stress influence inflammation, immune function and subsequently can lead to bovine respiratory disease. This disease complex is one of the largest production losses that the beef industry deals with on a daily basis. In this dissertation, we tested the efficacy of a non-conventional therapeutic, meloxicam, to mitigate the negative response of transportation. The encompassed chapters hypothesized meloxicam given orally prior to transportation would reduce stress, reduce acute phase protein inflammation, reduce immune system inhibition, improve production performance benefits and improve clinical outcomes of disease. In the first trial, meloxicam was administered per os prior to a long-distance transportation at 1mg/kg. The study demonstrated a reduction in the stress leukogram and an inverse relationship of meloxicam to circulating cortisol in beef steers. In the second study, we compared the adaptive immune function invitro through multiparameter flow cytometry. Subjects were grouped in non-transport or transportation groups. Nested in these groups the subjects were treated with meloxicam or placebo. Meloxicam and transportation had an effect on adaptive immune function. Meloxicam administered prior to transport can be interpreted as inhibitory or homeostatic when compared to the singular effect of transportation on the immune system. Finally, the last phase of research was a clinical field trial to elucidate clinical outcomes of bovine respiratory disease. Three treatment groups of pre-transportation meloxicam, on arrival meloxicam and placebo were compared. Meloxicam had no effect on clinical outcomes of BRD. In addition, there was no change in the process of disease severity or rectal temperature at BRD identification. In similarity, there was no change in average daily gain, feed conversion or body weight performance measured at 42 days. The lack of significant differences over the course of the initial receiving culminated in no observable differences of harvest parameters. The dissertation research confirms that meloxicam is beneficial when administered prior to transportation for reduction of the stress and potential normalization of immune function but lacks clinical efficacy in mitigation of disease outcomes that translate to beneficial performance and harvest outcomes

Expanding Consultation Practices Between the U.S. Air Force and Associated Native American Nations

Expanding Consultation Practices Between the U.S. Air Force and Associated Native American Nations Nicholas Shankle With contributions by Kelly J. Dixon Graduate Student Department of Anthropology The University of Montana Missoula, Montana, U.S.A. 2/27/2015 Abstract Over the past 25 years strides have been made in relations between the United States (U.S.) federal government and federally recognized tribes. However, due to the numerous federal agencies increasingly consulting with tribal leaders, there is still a great amount of work to be done. The University of Montana (UM), through a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has been tasked with the creation and development of a meeting facilitation program and accompanying manual for United States Air Force (USAF) base commanders. The manual is intended to provide base commanders with a better understanding of how associated tribal nations are affected, as well as to help educate commanders in better facilitating consultations between the USAF and Native American Nations. This manual will serve to provide every Air Force base within a given region a unified and comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The manual will also contain detailed information to support the individual needs of each USAF base involved in the project. The nature of Native American political history and legal standing greatly adds to the complexities facing this project. The UM-ACE contract provides an opportunity for engaging such complexities and also provides both parties the ability to learn from one another via the biannual consultation meetings, belaboring the importance for constructing a sound yet flexible framework to be utilized in the years to come. This presentation is intended to provide a preliminary analysis of the complexities faced by the project and the creation of the accompanying manual

Atrial fibrillation and survival in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Survival in colorectal cancer may correlate with the degree of systemic inflammatory response to the tumour. Atrial fibrillation may be regarded as an inflammatory complication. We aimed to determine if atrial fibrillation is a prognostic factor in colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective colorectal cancer patient database was cross-referenced with the hospital clinical-coding database to identify patients who had underwent colorectal cancer surgery and were in atrial fibrillation pre- or postoperatively. RESULTS: A total of 175 patients underwent surgery for colorectal cancer over a two-year period. Of these, 13 patients had atrial fibrillation pre- or postoperatively. Atrial fibrillation correlated with worse two-year survival (p = 0.04; log-rank test). However, in a Cox regression analysis, atrial fibrillation was not significantly associated with survival. CONCLUSION: The presence or development of atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer is associated with worse overall survival, however it was not found to be an independent factor in multivariate analysis