Development of Integrated Decision-Making Support Systems: A Practical Approach

Integrated Decision-Making Support Systems (IDMSS), are specialized Computer Based Information Systems designed to support all phases of the Decision- Making Process. Full integration of stand-alone components was proposed in the early 90´s and, despite substantial reported benefits above less integrated systems, few of the fully integrated systems have been implemented in practice. We believe that this “implementation paradox” is caused by the lack of a process-oriented perspective to guide the implementation of IDMSS. This tutorial has the goal of offering such a process-oriented approach

GRB 021004: A Possible Shell Nebula around a Wolf-Rayet Star Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitor

The rapid localization of GRB 021004 by the HETE-2 satellite allowed nearly continuous monitoring of its early optical afterglow decay, as well as high-quality optical spectra that determined a redshift of z3=2.328 for its host galaxy, an active starburst galaxy with strong Lyman-alpha emission and several absorption lines. Spectral observations show multiple absorbers at z3A=2.323, z3B= 2.317, and z3C= 2.293 blueshifted by 450, 990, and 3,155 km/s respectively relative to the host galaxy Lyman-alpha emission. We argue that these correspond to a fragmented shell nebula that has been radiatively accelerated by the gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow at a distance greater than 0.3 pc from a Wolf-Rayet star progenitor. The chemical abundance ratios indicate that the nebula is overabundant in carbon and silicon. The high level of carbon and silicon is consistent with a swept-up shell nebula gradually enriched by a WCL progenitor wind over the lifetime of the nebula prior to the GRB onset. The detection of statistically significant fluctuations and color changes about the jet-like optical decay further supports this interpretation since fluctuations must be present at some level due to inhomogeneities in a clumpy stellar wind medium or if the progenitor has undergone massive ejection prior to the GRB onset. This evidence suggests that the mass-loss process in a Wolf-Rayet star might lead naturally to an iron-core collapse with sufficient angular momentum that could serve as a suitable GRB progenitor.Comment: Replaced with version accepted by ApJ; 40 pages, 9 figure

Zig Zag symmetry in AdS/CFT duality

The validity of the Bianchi identity, which is intimately connected with the zig zag symmetry, is established, for piecewise continuous contours, in the context of Polakov's gauge field-string connection in the large 'tHooft coupling limit, according to which the chromoelectric `string' propagates in five dimensions with its ends attached on a Wilson loop in four dimensions. An explicit check in the wavy line approximation is presented.Comment: 24 pages version to appear in EPJ

Supernova Remnants in the Magellanic Clouds III: An X-ray Atlas of LMC Supernova Remnants

We have used archival ROSAT data to present X-ray images of thirty-one supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We have classified these remnants according to their X-ray morphologies, into the categories of Shell-Type, Diffuse Face, Centrally Brightened, Point-Source Dominated, and Irregular. We suggest possible causes of the X-ray emission for each category, and for individual features of some of the SNRs.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures (9 figure files). To appear in the Supplement Series of the Astrophysical Journal, August 1999 Vol. 123 #

Tuits saludables: El uso e importancia de Twitter para la prevención en salud

Social media platforms have changed the way people stayinformed, communicate with others, and share ideas. These interactive social platforms are used for many purposes from being in contact with family and friends to promote products and services. However, little is known about the use and importance of social media for health prevention, especially for communication among Hispanic communities.The purpose of this paper is to analyze how social media platforms, especially Twitter, are used for health prevention and communication in Hispanic communities. In doing so, a quantitative content analysis was performed on 3000 tweets with the hashtag #prevención (prevention). Results indicate that most of the prevention messages shared among organizations and users on Twitter were informational messages and very few users promoted interactive communication and mobilization. Mass media and governmental institutions posted more messages to encourage health prevention, especially about publichealth and healthy cities. This study stresses the many social media platforms’ potentialities and functionalities, especially Twitter, that contribute to health prevention and communication. Findings are useful for organizations and users when planning prevention content or campaigns through these platforms.Las redes sociales han cambiado la manera como las personas se informan, comunican y comparten ideas. Estas plataformas sociales se usan para muchos fines, desde estar en contacto con familiares y amigos hasta promocionar productos. Sin embargo, muy poco se conoce sobre su utilidad para la comunicación y prevención en salud, principalmente en comunidades de habla hispana. En ese sentido, esta investigación analiza el empleo e importancia de las redes sociales como herramienta para la prevención de problemas relacionados con la salud en comunidades hispanas. Para ello, desarrolla una metodología cuantitativa y realiza un análisis de contenido de 3000 mensajes en Twitter con el hashtag #prevención. Los resultados indicaron que la mayoría de los mensajes de prevención fueron unidireccionales y muy pocos usuarios promovieron la comunicación y la movilización. Los medios de comunicación y las agencias gubernamentales fueron los usuarios que más enviaron mensajes, principalmente, sobre temas relacionados con la salud pública y vial. Este estudio resalta las diversas potencialidades y funcionalidades de las redes sociales, específicamente Twitter, para contribuir a la prevención y comunicación en salud. Sus hallazgos son útiles al momento de llevar a cabo campañas o contenido de prevención a través de estas plataformas

Desenvolvimento de plantas de arroz de terras altas promovido por microrganismos benéficos.

O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar os efeitos de bioagentes aplicados sozinhos ou em mistura na produção de biomassa seca na parte aérea e sistema radicular do arroz de terras altas

The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury

The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) is a systematic survey to establish a legacy of uniform multi-color photometry of resolved stars for a volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies (D<4 Mpc). The survey volume encompasses 69 galaxies in diverse environments, including close pairs, small & large groups, filaments, and truly isolated regions. The galaxies include a nearly complete range of morphological types spanning a factor of ~10^4 in luminosity and star formation rate. The survey data consists of images taken with ACS on HST, supplemented with archival data and new WFPC2 imaging taken after the failure of ACS. Survey images include wide field tilings covering the full radial extent of each galaxy, and single deep pointings in uncrowded regions of the most massive galaxies in the volume. The new wide field imaging in ANGST reaches median 50% completenesses of m_F475W=28.0 mag, m_F606W=27.3 mag, and m_F814W=27.3 mag, several magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). The deep fields reach magnitudes sufficient to fully resolve the structure in the red clump. The resulting photometric catalogs are publicly accessible and contain over 34 million photometric measurements of >14 million stars. In this paper we present the details of the sample selection, imaging, data reduction, and the resulting photometric catalogs, along with an analysis of the photometric uncertainties (systematic and random), for both the ACS and WFPC2 imaging. We also present uniformly derived relative distances measured from the apparent magnitude of the TRGB.Comment: 54 pages, including 24 pages of figures and 16 pages of tables. Project website and data available at http://www.nearbygalaxies.org/ . Data is also available through MAST. Scheduled to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Supplements. (Replaced to fix several figures that were damaged during compression

Carbon-sensitive pedotransfer functions for plant available water

Currently accepted pedotransfer functions show negligible effect of management-induced changes to soil organic carbon (SOC) on plant available water holding capacity (θAWHC), while some studies show the ability to substantially increase θAWHC through management. The Soil Health Institute\u27s North America Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements measured water content at field capacity using intact soil cores across 124 long-term research sites that contained increases in SOC as a result of management treatments such as reduced tillage and cover cropping. Pedotransfer functions were created for volumetric water content at field capacity (θFC) and permanent wilting point (θPWP). New pedotransfer functions had predictions of θAWHC that were similarly accurate compared with Saxton and Rawls when tested on samples from the National Soil Characterization database. Further, the new pedotransfer functions showed substantial effects of soil calcareousness and SOC on θAWHC. For an increase in SOC of 10 g kg–1 (1%) in noncalcareous soils, an average increase in θAWHC of 3.0 mm 100 mm–1 soil (0.03 m3 m–3) on average across all soil texture classes was found. This SOC related increase in θAWHC is about double previous estimates. Calcareous soils had an increase in θAWHC of 1.2 mm 100 mm–1 soil associated with a 10 g kg–1 increase in SOC, across all soil texture classes. New equations can aid in quantifying benefits of soil management practices that increase SOC and can be used to model the effect of changes in management on drought resilience

Linking soil microbial community structure to potential carbon mineralization: A continental scale assessment of reduced tillage

Potential carbon mineralization (Cmin) is a commonly used indicator of soil health, with greater Cmin values interpreted as healthier soil. While Cmin values are typically greater in agricultural soils managed with minimal physical disturbance, the mechanisms driving the increases remain poorly understood. This study assessed bacterial and archaeal community structure and potential microbial drivers of Cmin in soils maintained under various degrees of physical disturbance. Potential carbon mineralization, 16S rRNA sequences, and soil characterization data were collected as part of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Results showed that type of cropping system, intensity of physical disturbance, and soil pH influenced microbial sensitivity to physical disturbance. Furthermore, 28% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), which were important in modeling Cmin, were enriched under soils managed with minimal physical disturbance. Sequences identified as enriched under minimal disturbance and important for modeling Cmin, were linked to organisms which could produce extracellular polymeric substances and contained metabolic strategies suited for tolerating environmental stressors. Understanding how physical disturbance shapes microbial communities across climates and inherent soil properties and drives changes in Cmin provides the context necessary to evaluate management impacts on standardized measures of soil microbial activity

Linking soil microbial community structure to potential carbon mineralization: A continental scale assessment of reduced tillage

Potential carbon mineralization (Cmin) is a commonly used indicator of soil health, with greater Cmin values interpreted as healthier soil. While Cmin values are typically greater in agricultural soils managed with minimal physical disturbance, the mechanisms driving the increases remain poorly understood. This study assessed bacterial and archaeal community structure and potential microbial drivers of Cmin in soils maintained under various degrees of physical disturbance. Potential carbon mineralization, 16S rRNA sequences, and soil characterization data were collected as part of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Results showed that type of cropping system, intensity of physical disturbance, and soil pH influenced microbial sensitivity to physical disturbance. Furthermore, 28% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), which were important in modeling Cmin, were enriched under soils managed with minimal physical disturbance. Sequences identified as enriched under minimal disturbance and important for modeling Cmin, were linked to organisms which could produce extracellular polymeric substances and contained metabolic strategies suited for tolerating environmental stressors. Understanding how physical disturbance shapes microbial communities across climates and inherent soil properties and drives changes in Cmin provides the context necessary to evaluate management impacts on standardized measures of soil microbial activity