Book Review: 'Enraged, rattled and wronged: Entitlement’s response to social progress' by Kristin J. Anderson

Book review

Rain water: wild geese heard north

In this pentad, the meteorological reckoning of season marked its first day of spring. And we have come to the last entry of the Illustrated Almanac. Since we embarked on this journey in September, 2011, we have completed 1 revolution around the sun covering some 940 million kilometres. The sun is once again at 150º on our imaginary ecliptic; it climbs higher every day and will do so until June 21st, 2013. In the meantime, the day continues to lengthen. In just a little more than a month, on October 7th, 2012, daylight saving will begin in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Hollis’ new bathers arrived in the post and I find myself thinking about summer clothes and cotton yarn

Localized modes in nonlinear photonic kagome nanoribbons

We examine localization of light in nonlinear (Kerr) kagome lattices in the shape of narrow strips of varying width. For the narrowest ribbon, the band structure features a flat band leading to linear dynamical trapping of an initially localized excitation. We also find a geometry-induced bistability of the nonlinear modes as the width of the strip is changed. A crossover from one to two dimensions localization behavior is observed as the width is increased, attaining two-dimensional behavior for relatively narrow ribbons.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, submitted for publicatio

Vehicle Signal Analysis Using Artificial Neural Networks for a Bridge Weigh-in-Motion System

This paper describes the procedures for development of signal analysis algorithms using artificial neural networks for Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (B-WIM) systems. Through the analysis procedure, the extraction of information concerning heavy traffic vehicles such as weight, speed, and number of axles from the time domain strain data of the B-WIM system was attempted. As one of the several possible pattern recognition techniques, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was employed since it could effectively include dynamic effects and bridge-vehicle interactions. A number of vehicle traveling experiments with sufficient load cases were executed on two different types of bridges, a simply supported pre-stressed concrete girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. Different types of WIM systems such as high-speed WIM or low-speed WIM were also utilized during the experiments for cross-checking and to validate the performance of the developed algorithms

The Orbit of the Orphan Stream

We use recent SEGUE spectroscopy and SDSS and SEGUE imaging data to measure the sky position, distance, and radial velocities of stars in the tidal debris stream that is commonly referred to as the "Orphan Stream." We fit orbital parameters to the data, and find a prograde orbit with an apogalacticon, perigalacticon, and eccentricity of 90 kpc, 16.4 kpc and 0.7, respectively. Neither the dwarf galaxy UMa II nor the Complex A gas cloud have velocities consistent with a kinematic association with the Orphan Stream. It is possible that Segue-1 is associated with the Orphan Stream, but no other known Galactic clusters or dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way lie along its orbit. The detected portion of the stream ranges from 19 to 47 kpc from the Sun and is an indicator of the mass interior to these distances. There is a marked increase in the density of Orphan Stream stars near (l,b)=(253,49) deg., which could indicate the presence of the progenitor at the edge of the SDSS data. If this is the progenitor, then the detected portion of the Orphan Stream is a leading tidal tail. We find blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars and F turnoff stars associated with the Orphan Stream. The turnoff color is (g-r)_0=0.22. The BHB stars have a low metallicity of [Fe/H]=-2.1. The orbit is best fit to a halo potential with a halo plus disk mass of about 2.6x10^11 Solar masses, integrated to 60 kpc from the Galactic center. Our best fit is found with a logarithmic halo speed of v_halo=73+/-24 km/s, a disk+bulge mass of M(R< 60 kpc) = 1.3x10^11 Solar masses, and a halo mass of M(R< 60 kpc) = 1.4x10^11 Solar masses. The Orphan Stream is projected to extend to 90 kpc from the Galactic center, and measurements of these distant parts of the stream would be a powerful probe of the mass of the Milky Way (truncated).Comment: 17 Figures, ApJ accepte

The causality direction of the corporate social responsibility –corporate financial performance nexus: application of Panel Vector Autoregression approach

This study is an attempt to model the bidirectional linkages between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) by using the prospective and retrospective approaches. A panel data set for 100 of the Fortune Most Admired Companies was used to study the relationships. Moreover, 1000 firm-year observations were examined between the sample periods of 2007 and 2016. A new methodology known as Panel Vector Autoregression (Panel VAR) approach using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) was used in this study. The salient findings are: (1) better financial performance of firms lead to a better CSR engagement and (2) better CSR need not necessarily lead to superior CFP. A strong and substantial negative impact has been observed on CSR and the three CFP measures, namely, return on equity, return on assets, and return on invested capital. This finding has consistency with the trade-off hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that when firms are ‘‘being socially responsible’’, they will have a tendency to experience minimised shareholder wealth and lower profits, which restricts the socially responsible investments

Report of the 2020-2021 Strategic Engagement Standing Committee

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), strategic engagement is critical to the success of colleges and schools of pharmacy in expanding pharmacy and public health practice, meeting programmatic needs, and fulfilling institutional missions. The 2020-2021 Strategic Engagement Standing Committee was charged with identifying effective strategies to leverage the temporary expansion of pharmacist practice capabilities granted during the COVID-19 pandemic for sustained practice. The group was also tasked with looking at ways to partner with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), our medicine counterparts to develop a plan for collaborating with them to advance interprofessional practice. In this unique year, all standing committees were charged with reading all the reports last year to put President Lin’s charges into perspective with the hopes of carrying over the overall theme and work of the previous years committee. Overall, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been several expansions on the scope of practice for pharmacists and vary by state. We hope to draw out some of those expansions to see how we can build upon efforts to make those permanent

Tracing Sagittarius Structure with SDSS and SEGUE Imaging and Spectroscopy

We show that the Sagittarius dwarf tidal stream can be traced with very red K/M-giant stars selected from SDSS photometry. A subset of these stars are spectroscopically confirmed with SEGUE and SDSS spectra, and the distance scale of 2MASS and SDSS M giants is calibrated to the RR Lyrae distance scale. The absolute g band magnitude of the K/M-giant stars at the tip of the giant branch is M_g=-1.0. The line-of-sight velocities of the M giant and BHB stars that are spatially coincident with the Sgr dwarf tidal stream are consistent with those of previous authors, reinforcing the need for new models that can explain all of the Sgr tidal debris stream observations. We estimate stellar densities along the tidal tails that can be used to help constrain future models. The K/M-giant, BHB, and F-turnoff stars in the lower surface brightness tidal stream that is adjacent to the main leading Sgr dwarf tidal tail have velocities and metallicities that are similar to those of the stars in the leading tidal tail. The ratio of K/M giants to BHBs and BHBs to F-turnoff stars are also similar for both branches of the leading tidal tail. We show that there is an additional low-metallicity tidal stream near the Sgr trailing tidal tail.Comment: 19 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, references update

Mid-term Outcomes of Side-to-Side Stapled Anastomosis in Cervical Esophagogastrostomy

This study was conducted to evaluate the mid-term results of cervical esophagogastric anastomosis using a side-to-side stapled anastomosis method for treatment of patients with malignant esophageal disease. A total of 13 patients were reviewed retrospectively from January 2001 to November 2005 who underwent total esophagectomy through a right thoracotomy, gastric tube formation through a midline laparotomy and finally a cervical esophagogastric anastomosis. Average patient age was 62.6 yr old and the male to female ratio was 11:2. The mean anastomosis time was measured to be about 32.5 min; all patients were followed for about 22.8±9.9 months postoperatively. There were no early or late mortalities. There were no complications of anastomosis site leakage or conduit necrosis. A mild anastomotic stricture was noted in one patient, and required two endoscopic bougination procedures at postoperative 4th month. Construction of a cervical esophagogastric anastomosis by side-to-side stapled anastomosis is relatively easy to apply and can be performed in a timely manner. Follow up outcomes are very good. We, therefore, suggest that the side-to-side stapled anastomosis could be used as a safe and effective option for cervical esophagogastric anastomosis