Starting Out Right: A Cluster Evaluation of the Early Childhood Grants of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: Year 3 Final Report

Evaluates Knight's early childhood grantmaking in twelve communities, with a focus on grants that transform systems and build networks at a scale sufficient to create meaningful change. Presents grantee results and lessons learned

Recent ν\nus from IceCube

IceCube is a 1 km$^3$ neutrino detector now being built at the South Pole. Its 4800 optical modules will detect Cherenkov radiation from charged particles produced in neutrino interactions. IceCube will search for neutrinos of astrophysical origin, with energies from 100 GeV up to $10^{19}$ eV. It will be able to separate $\nu_e$, $\nu_\mu$ and $\nu_\tau$. In addition to detecting astrophysical neutrinos, IceCube will also search for neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the Sun and the Earth, look for low-energy (10 MeV) neutrinos from supernovae, and search for a host of exotic signatures. With the associated IceTop surface air shower array, it will study cosmic-ray air showers. IceCube construction is now 50% complete. After presenting preliminary results from the partial detector, I will discuss IceCube's future plans.Comment: Invited talk presented at Neutrino 2008; 7 page

The influence of season, photoperiod, and pineal melatonin on immune function.

In addition to the well-documented seasonal cycles of mating and birth, there are also significant seasonal cycles of illness and death among many animal populations. Challenging winter conditions (i.e., low ambient temperature and decreased food availability) can directly induce death via hypothermia, starvation, or shock. Coping with these challenges can also indirectly increase morbidity and mortality by increasing glucocorticoid secretion, which can compromise immune function. Many environmental challenges are recurrent and thus predictable; animals could enhance survival, and presumably increase fitness, if they could anticipate immunologically challenging conditions in order to cope with these seasonal threats to health. The annual cycle of changing photoperiod provides an accurate indicator of time of year and thus allows immunological adjustments prior to the deterioration of conditions. Pineal melatonin codes day length information. Short day lengths enhance several aspects of immune function in laboratory studies, and melatonin appears to mediate many of the enhanced immunological effects of photoperiod. Generally, field studies report compromised immune function during the short days of autumn and winter. The conflict between laboratory and field data is addressed with a multifactor approach. The evidence for seasonal fluctuations in lymphatic tissue size and structure, as well as immune function and disease processes, is reviewed. The role of pineal melatonin and the hormones regulated by melatonin is discussed from an evolutionary and adaptive functional perspective. Finally, the clinically significance of seasonal fluctuations in immune function is presented. Taken together, it appears that seasonal fluctuations in immune parameters, mediated by melatonin, could have profound effects on the etiology and progression of diseases in humans and nonhuman animals. An adaptive functional perspective is critical to gain insights into the interaction among melatonin, immune function, and disease processes

Kerman-Klein-Donau-Frauendorf model for odd-odd nuclei: formal theory

The Kerman-Klein-Donau-Frauendorf (KKDF) model is a linearized version of the Kerman-Klein (equations of motion) formulation of the nuclear many-body problem. In practice, it is a generalization of the standard core-particle coupling model that, like the latter, provides a description of the spectroscopy of odd nuclei in terms of the properties of neighboring even nuclei and of single-particle properties, that are the input parameters of the model. A divers sample of recent applications attest to the usefulness of the model. In this paper, we first present a concise general review of the fundamental equations and properties of the KKDF model. We then derive a corresponding formalism for odd-odd nuclei that relates their properties to those of four neighboring even nuclei, all of which enter if one is to include both multipole and pairing forces. We treat these equations in two ways. In the first we make essential use of the solutions of the neighboring odd nucleus problem, as obtained by the KKDF method. In the second, we relate the properties of the odd-odd nuclei directly to those of the even nuclei. For both choices, we derive equations of motion, normalization conditions, and an expression for transition amplitudes. We also solve the problem of choosing the subspace of physical solutions that arises in an equations of motion approach that includes pairing interactions.Comment: 27 pages, Late

Kinetic Scale Density Fluctuations in the Solar Wind

We motivate the importance of studying kinetic scale turbulence for understanding the macroscopic properties of the heliosphere, such as the heating of the solar wind. We then discuss the technique by which kinetic scale density fluctuations can be measured using the spacecraft potential, including a calculation of the timescale for the spacecraft potential to react to the density changes. Finally, we compare the shape of the density spectrum at ion scales to theoretical predictions based on a cascade model for kinetic turbulence. We conclude that the shape of the spectrum, including the ion scale flattening, can be captured by the sum of passive density fluctuations at large scales and kinetic Alfven wave turbulence at small scales

Strongly Coupled Matter-Field and Non-Analytic Decay Rate of Dipole Molecules in a Waveguide

The decay rate \gam of an excited dipole molecule inside a waveguide is evaluated for the strongly coupled matter-field case near a cutoff frequency \ome_c without using perturbation analysis. Due to the singularity in the density of photon states at the cutoff frequency, we find that \gam depends non-analytically on the coupling constant $\ggg$ as $\ggg^{4/3}$. In contrast to the ordinary evaluation of \gam which relies on the Fermi golden rule (itself based on perturbation analysis), \gam has an upper bound and does not diverge at \ome_c even if we assume perfect conductance in the waveguide walls. As a result, again in contrast to the statement found in the literature, the speed of emitted light from the molecule does not vanish at \ome_c and is proportional to $c\ggg^{2/3}$ which is on the order of $10^3 \sim 10^4$ m/s for typical dipole molecules.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Calculating effective resistances on underlying networks of association schemes

Recently, in Refs. \cite{jsj} and \cite{res2}, calculation of effective resistances on distance-regular networks was investigated, where in the first paper, the calculation was based on stratification and Stieltjes function associated with the network, whereas in the latter one a recursive formula for effective resistances was given based on the Christoffel-Darboux identity. In this paper, evaluation of effective resistances on more general networks which are underlying networks of association schemes is considered, where by using the algebraic combinatoric structures of association schemes such as stratification and Bose-Mesner algebras, an explicit formula for effective resistances on these networks is given in terms of the parameters of corresponding association schemes. Moreover, we show that for particular underlying networks of association schemes with diameter $d$ such that the adjacency matrix $A$ possesses $d+1$ distinct eigenvalues, all of the other adjacency matrices $A_i$, $i\neq 0,1$ can be written as polynomials of $A$, i.e., $A_i=P_i(A)$, where $P_i$ is not necessarily of degree $i$. Then, we use this property for these particular networks and assume that all of the conductances except for one of them, say $c\equiv c_1=1$, are zero to give a procedure for evaluating effective resistances on these networks. The preference of this procedure is that one can evaluate effective resistances by using the structure of their Bose-Mesner algebra without any need to know the spectrum of the adjacency matrices.Comment: 41 page

Markets, Contracts, or Integration? The Adoption, Diffusion, and Evolution of Organizational Form

The rise of contract farming and vertical integration is one of the most important changes in modern agriculture. Yet the adoption and diffusion of these new forms of organization has varied widely across regions, commodities, or farm types, however. Transaction cost theories and the like are not fully effective at explaining the variation of adoption rates of different organizational forms, in part because of their inherent static nature. In order to explain the adoption, diffusion and evolution of organizational form, a more dynamic framework is required. This paper lays out such a framework for understanding the evolution of organizational practices in U.S. agriculture by drawing on existing theories of economic organization, the diffusion of technological innovation, and organizational complementarities. Using recent trends as stylized facts we argue that the agrifood sector is characterized by strong complementarities among its constituent features and that these complementarities help explain the stylized facts. We also discuss several testable hypotheses concerning changes in organizational form in agriculture.contracting, vertical integration, organizational innovation, diffusion, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, L14, L22, Q13, O33,

Foundations of self-consistent particle-rotor models and of self-consistent cranking models

The Kerman-Klein formulation of the equations of motion for a nuclear shell model and its associated variational principle are reviewed briefly. It is then applied to the derivation of the self-consistent particle-rotor model and of the self-consistent cranking model, for both axially symmetric and triaxial nuclei. Two derivations of the particle-rotor model are given. One of these is of a form that lends itself to an expansion of the result in powers of the ratio of single-particle angular momentum to collective angular momentum, that is essentual to reach the cranking limit. The derivation also requires a distinct, angular-momentum violating, step. The structure of the result implies the possibility of tilted-axis cranking for the axial case and full three-dimensional cranking for the triaxial one. The final equations remain number conserving. In an appendix, the Kerman-Klein method is developed in more detail, and the outlines of several algorithms for obtaining solutions of the associated non-linear formalism are suggested.Comment: 29 page