Research in space physics at the University of Iowa, 1982

The energetic particles and the electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields associated with the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the planets, comets, and the interplanetary medium are examined. Matters under current investigation are following: energetic particles trapped in the Earth's magnetic field, origin and propagation of very low frequency radio waves and electrostatic, the magnetospheres of Jupiter, Saturn and prospectively Uranus and Neptune, diffusion of energetic particles in Saturn's magnetosphere, radio emissions from Jupiter and Saturn, solar modulation and the heliocentric radial dependence of the intensity of galactic cosmic rays, interplanetary propagation and acceleration of energetic particles, the theory of wave phenomena in turbulent plasmas, and basic wave-particle-chemical processes in the ionospheric plasma

Renormalization-group Calculation of Color-Coulomb Potential

We report here on the application of the perturbative renormalization-group to the Coulomb gauge in QCD. We use it to determine the high-momentum asymptotic form of the instantaneous color-Coulomb potential $V(\vec{k})$ and of the vacuum polarization $P(\vec{k}, k_4)$. These quantities are renormalization-group invariants, in the sense that they are independent of the renormalization scheme. A scheme-independent definition of the running coupling constant is provided by $\vec{k}^2 V(\vec{k}) = x_0 g^2(\vec{k}/\Lambda_{coul})$, and of $\alpha_s \equiv {{g^2(\vec{k} / \Lambda_{coul})} \over {4\pi}}$, where $x_0 = {{12N} \over {11N - 2N_f}}$, and $\Lambda_{coul}$ is a finite QCD mass scale. We also show how to calculate the coefficients in the expansion of the invariant $\beta$-function $\beta(g) \equiv |\vec{k}| {{\partial g} \over{\partial |\vec{k}|}} = -(b_0 g^3 + b_1 g^5 +b_2 g^7 + ...)$, where all coefficients are scheme-independent.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, TeX file. Minor modifications, incorporating referee's suggestion

Anaerobic oxidation of thiosulfate to tetrathionate by obligately heterotrophic bacteria, belonging to the Pseudomonas stutzeri group

A number of strains of heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from various environments on the basis of their potential to oxidize inorganic sulfur compounds to tetrathionate. The isolates were screened for the ability to oxidize thiosulfate under denitrifying conditions. Many of them could grow anaerobically with acetate and nitrate, and eight strains could oxidize thiosulfate to tetrathionate under the same conditions. In batch cultures with acetate as carbon and energy source, most active anaerobic thiosulfate oxidation occurred with N2O as electron acceptor. The level of anaerobic thiosulfate-oxidizing activity in cultures and cell suspensions supplied with nitrate correlated with the activity of nitrite reductase in cell suspensions. Some strains converted thiosulfate to tetrathionate equally well with nitrite, nitrate and N2O as electron accepters. Others functioned best with N2O during anaerobic thiosulfate oxidation. The latter strains appeared to have a lower level of nitrite reductase activity. Thiosulfate oxidation under anaerobic conditions was much slower than in the presence of oxygen, and was obviously controlled by the availability of organic electron donor. The strains had DNA-DNA similarity levels higher than 30%. Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of four selected isolates showed their affiliation to specific genomovars of Pseudomonas stutzeri and the proposed new species, Pseudomonas balearica. As shown by 16S rRNA sequence analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization, the previously misnamed 'Flavobacterium lutescans' (ATCC 27951) is also a P. stutzeri strain which can oxidize thiosulfate to tetrathionate aerobically and anaerobically in the presence of N2O. The data suggest that tetrathionate-forming heterotrophic bacteria, in particular those belonging to the P. stutzeri 'superspecies', can play a much mole significant role in the biogeochemical cycles than was previously recognized. (C) 1999 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Relationship of Alexithymia Ratings to Dopamine D2-type Receptors in Anterior Cingulate and Insula of Healthy Control Subjects but Not Methamphetamine-Dependent Individuals.

BackgroundIndividuals with substance-use disorders exhibit emotional problems, including deficits in emotion recognition and processing, and this class of disorders also has been linked to deficits in dopaminergic markers in the brain. Because associations between these phenomena have not been explored, we compared a group of recently abstinent methamphetamine-dependent individuals (n=23) with a healthy-control group (n=17) on dopamine D2-type receptor availability, measured using positron emission tomography with [(18)F]fallypride.MethodsThe anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortices were selected as the brain regions of interest, because they receive dopaminergic innervation and are thought to be involved in emotion awareness and processing. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale, which includes items that assess difficulty in identifying and describing feelings as well as externally oriented thinking, was administered, and the scores were tested for association with D2-type receptor availability.ResultsRelative to controls, methamphetamine-dependent individuals showed higher alexithymia scores, reporting difficulty in identifying feelings. The groups did not differ in D2-type receptor availability in the anterior cingulate or anterior insular cortices, but a significant interaction between group and D2-type receptor availability in both regions, on self-report score, reflected significant positive correlations in the control group (higher receptor availability linked to higher alexithymia) but nonsignificant, negative correlations (lower receptor availability linked to higher alexithymia) in methamphetamine-dependent subjects.ConclusionsThe results suggest that neurotransmission through D2-type receptors in the anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortices influences capacity of emotion processing in healthy people but that this association is absent in individuals with methamphetamine dependence

In pursuit of quality: early childhood qualifications and training policy

This paper aims to critique policy discourses around the pursuit of quality in early years education. Taking England as a focal point, it problematizes the use of the term ‘quality’ and attempts to standardise its meaning; highlighting the disconnect that exists between policy and practice. The paper combines discourse analysis of a small number of key government documents with a series of interviews with early years stakeholders in order to identify issues that will have resonance and can inform a much needed continuation of debates about what quality might mean. Over the course of the research it became apparent that there was considerable disquiet amongst early years practitioners with regards the current qualifications and training landscape, particularly with regards to what many viewed as ideologically-driven policy-making, not informed by proper dialogue with the sector

Structurally Tractable Uncertain Data

Many data management applications must deal with data which is uncertain, incomplete, or noisy. However, on existing uncertain data representations, we cannot tractably perform the important query evaluation tasks of determining query possibility, certainty, or probability: these problems are hard on arbitrary uncertain input instances. We thus ask whether we could restrict the structure of uncertain data so as to guarantee the tractability of exact query evaluation. We present our tractability results for tree and tree-like uncertain data, and a vision for probabilistic rule reasoning. We also study uncertainty about order, proposing a suitable representation, and study uncertain data conditioned by additional observations.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. To appear in SIGMOD/PODS PhD Symposium 201