Solar X-ray spectrum reproduced in vacuum

Desired low energy X rays are produced by modifying commercial ion tubes and combining them with standard power supplies and control circuitry. These X rays have less deviation from the solar X ray spectrum in energy and intensity

Communicating Mental Illness in the Black American Community

Human-human interactions are of central relevance for the success in professional and occupational environments, which also substantially influence quality of life. This is especially true in the case of individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA), who experience deficits in social cognition that often lead to social exclusion and unemployment. Despite good education and high motivation, individuals with HFA do not reach employment rates that are substantially higher than 50 %. This is an alarmingly high rate of unemployment considering that the United Nations have recently emphasized the inclusion of handicapped persons as a mandatory human right. To date, the specific needs of autistic persons with respect to their working environment are largely unexplored. It remains moreover an open question how support systems and activities, including newly developed communication devices for professional environments of individuals with HFA, should look like. The German health and social care systems are not adequately prepared for the proper support of this population. This leads us to suggest that supported employment programs should be developed for adults with HFA that specifically address their needs and requirements. Such programs should comprise (1) the adequate assessment of HFA, including a neuropsychological profile and an individual matching of persons' preferences with requirements of the working place, (2) on-the-job coaching activities that include systematic communication and interaction training, and (3) instruction of non-autistic peers, including colleagues and supervisors, about weaknesses and strengths of HFA

Data compression for the Cassini radio and plasma wave instrument

The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science experiment will employ data compression to make effective use of the available data telemetry bandwidth. Some compression will be achieved by use of a lossless data compression chip and some by software in a dedicated 80C85 processor. A description of the instrument and data compression system are included in this report. Also, the selection of data compression systems and acceptability of data degradation is addressed

Improving Arts Management/Marketing Efficiency: Optimizing Utilization of Scarce Resources to Produce Artistic Outputs

Purpose This longitudinal research examines US symphony orchestra sector organizations to determine individual efficiencies in allocating resources (donations, governmental/private funding, etc.) for desirable outputs (concerts, educational programs, community outreach). It provides researchers and managers with a tool for identifying, assessing and mitigating organizational inefficiencies. Design/methodology/approach This study assesses relative efficiencies in performing arts organizations using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a widely-used nonparametric data-intensive benchmarking technique that determines an optimal “production frontier” of best-practice organizations among their peers and assesses their abilities to turn multivariate inputs into multivariate desired outputs. Findings This analysis highlights efficiency differences in a wide range of orchestras in converting available resources into performance-related outputs. It provides individual arts organizations with useful results for developing practical benchmarks to achieve organizational efficiency improvement. Research limitations/implications: This study provides constructive benchmarking guidance for improving efficiencies of relatively-inefficient organizations. Future analysis can expand the scope to utilize a two-stage DEA model to provide more specific guidance to arts organizations. Practical implications: This pragmatic analysis enables arts/culture institutions to assess their organizational efficiencies and identify opportunities to optimize resources in producing social outputs for their target markets. Social implications: Efficiency improvements enable performing arts organizations to provide additional artistic/social services, with fewer resources, to larger audiences. Originality/value This research demonstrates the abilities of DEA analysis to assess both a sector and its individual organizations to determine efficiencies, identify sources of inefficiencies and assess longitudinal efficiency trends

Two-channel Kondo physics due to As vacancies in the layered compound ZrAs1.58Se0.39

We address the origin of the magnetic-field independent -|A| T^{1/2} term observed in the low-temperature resistivity of several As-based metallic systems of the PbFCl structure type. For the layered compound ZrAs_{1.58}Se_{0.39}, we show that vacancies in the square nets of As give rise to the low-temperature transport anomaly over a wide temperature regime of almost two decades in temperature. This low-temperature behavior is in line with the non-magnetic version of the two-channel Kondo effect, whose origin we ascribe to a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect operating at the vacancy-carrying As layer with a C_4 symmetry. The pair-breaking nature of the dynamical defects in the square nets of As explains the low superconducting transition temperature T_{\rm{c}}\approx 0.14 K of ZrAs_{1.58}Se_{0.39}, as compared to the free-of-vacancies homologue ZrP_{1.54}S_{0.46} (T_{\rm{c}}\approx 3.7 K). Our findings should be relevant to a wide class of metals with disordered pnictogen layers.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures; submitte

Development of a thermal ionizer as ion catcher

An effective ion catcher is an important part of a radioactive beam facility that is based on in-flight production. The catcher stops fast radioactive products and emits them as singly charged slow ions. Current ion catchers are based on stopping in He and H$_2$ gas. However, with increasing intensity of the secondary beam the amount of ion-electron pairs created eventually prevents the electromagnetic extraction of the radioactive ions from the gas cell. In contrast, such limitations are not present in thermal ionizers used with the ISOL production technique. Therefore, at least for alkaline and alkaline earth elements, a thermal ionizer should then be preferred. An important use of the TRI$\mu$P facility will be for precision measurements using atom traps. Atom trapping is particularly possible for alkaline and alkaline earth isotopes. The facility can produce up to 10$^9$ s$^{-1}$ of various Na isotopes with the in-flight method. Therefore, we have built and tested a thermal ionizer. An overview of the operation, design, construction, and commissioning of the thermal ionizer for TRI$\mu$P will be presented along with first results for $^{20}$Na and $^{21}$Na.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, XVth International Conference on Electromagnetic Isotope Separators and Techniques Related to their Applications (EMIS 2007

The Sensitivity of Auditory-Motor Representations to Subtle Changes in Auditory Feedback While Singing

Singing requires accurate control of the fundamental frequency (F0) of the voice. This study examined trained singers’ and untrained singers’ (nonsingers’) sensitivity to subtle manipulations in auditory feedback and the subsequent effect on the mapping between F0 feedback and vocal control. Participants produced the consonant-vowel /ta/ while receiving auditory feedback that was shifted up and down in frequency. Results showed that singers and nonsingers compensated to a similar degree when presented with frequency-altered feedback (FAF); however, singers’ F0 values were consistently closer to the intended pitch target. Moreover, singers initiated their compensatory responses when auditory feedback was shifted up or down 6 cents or more, compared to nonsingers who began compensating when feedback was shifted up 26 cents and down 22 cents. Additionally, examination of the first 50 ms of vocalization indicated that participants commenced subsequent vocal utterances, during FAF, near the F0 value on previous shift trials. Interestingly, nonsingers commenced F0 productions below the pitch target and increased their F0 until they matched the note. Thus, singers and nonsingers rely on an internal model to regulate voice F0, but singers’ models appear to be more sensitive in response to subtle discrepancies in auditory feedback

Lurbinectedin in Refractory Diffuse Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma: Report of Two Cases.

Mesothelioma is a malignancy of serosal membranes. Parietal pleura is the most common site, with peritoneum being the second most frequent location. Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and aggressive disease. The prognosis is often very poor with median overall survival ranging from 6 to 18 months in patients who are not candidates for cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) due to non-resectable disease or comorbid conditions. For patients with resectable disease, CRS and HIPEC have become the standard of care. However, for patients with unresectable malignant mesothelioma there is unfortunately no effective systemic treatment beyond the first line. Based on the results of a recent phase II trial, lurbinectedin has clinical activity and acceptable toxicity in the second- and third-line treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, until present, no data have been available for patients with MPM and for patients who become refractory after multiple treatment lines. We report on two patients with metastatic MPM who achieved durable disease control of 10+ and 8 months with lurbinectedin in the fourth and fifth treatment line, respectively

Empirical research on youth transitions to and within the labour market

The research project aimed to provide research outcomes on the magnitude of youth transitions, the main drivers and barriers of youth transitions and potential long-term outcomes (‘scarring’) on people’s subsequent employment trajectories. This report summarises the evidence obtained by making use of a range of individual-level data sets and methods, in particular: • An analysis of Labour Force Survey (LFS) data creating pseudo-cohorts to examine long-term education and labour market trends affecting 16-to-24 year olds from 39 different birth cohorts and subsequent employment trajectories. • An analysis of the ‘Ad Hoc module’ of 2009 from the European Labour Force Survey (EU:LFS) on ‘Youth Transitions’ on individual long-term outcomes of particular youth labour market transitions. • An analysis of various cohort studies (National Child Development Study [NCDS], British Cohort Study [BCS], Youth Cohort Study [YCS], Longitudinal Study of Young People in England [LSYPE]) comparing the episodes young people experience when making transitions into the labour market in youth and early adulthood. This study uses sequential analysis for individual monthly panel data to describe biographies of young people until the age of 25 (based on BCS and NCDS) and until the age of 19 (for YCS and LSYPE). • An analysis of the transition from secondary schooling to further destinations using a recent cohort of School Leavers National Pupil Data (NPD) merged to records of National Client Casework Information System (NCCIS) on young people’s activities after the end of compulsory education including econometric models on drivers and barriers of particular transitions