Space based topographic mapping experiment using Seasat synthetic aperture radar and LANDSAT 3 return beam vidicon imagery

A technique for producing topographic information is described which is based on same side/same time viewing using a dissimilar combination of radar imagery and photographic images. Common geographic areas viewed from similar space reference locations produce scene elevation displacements in opposite direction and proper use of this characteristic can yield the perspective information necessary for determination of base to height ratios. These base to height ratios can in turn be used to produce a topographic map. A test area covering the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region was observed by synthetic aperture radar on the Seasat satellite and by return beam vidicon on by the LANDSAT - 3 satellite. The techniques developed for the scaling re-orientation and common registration of the two images are presented along with the topographic determination data. Topographic determination based exclusively on the images content is compared to the map information which is used as a performance calibration base

Education, employment and marriage in long-term survivors of teenage and young adult cancer compared with healthy controls

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: Teenage and young adult (TYA) cancer patients are faced with the diagnosis during a challenging period of psychosocial development that may affect social outcomes in the long term. Therefore, we aimed to: (1) determine differences in social outcomes between long-term TYA cancer survivors and healthy controls and (2) identify factors associated with adverse social out-comes. METHODS: We sent a questionnaire to TYA cancer survivors (aged 16-25 years at diagnosis, ≥5 years after diagnosis) registered in the Cancer Registry Zurich and Zug. Information on controls was obtained from the Swiss Health Survey 2012. We assessed educational achievement, employment status, marital status and life partnership (survivors only), and compared these outcomes between survivors and controls. We used logistic regression to identify sociodemo-graphic and cancer-related factors associated with social outcomes. RESULTS: We included 160 TYA cancer survivors and 999 controls. Educational achievement of survivors differed significantly from controls (p = 0.012): more survivors than controls reported upper secondary education (33 vs 27%) and fewer survivors reported uni-versity education (12 vs 21%). No significant differences were found for employment (p = 0.515) and marital status (p = 0.357). The major-ity of survivors (91%) and controls (90%) were employed, and 37% of survivors were married, compared with 41% of controls. There were no cancer-related factors associated with having only basic educa-tion. Unemployment was associated with younger age at diagnosis (odds ratio [OR] 5.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-30.8) and self-reported late effects (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.3-19.5). Survivors of younger age at diagnosis were more likely not to be married (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3-5.7) and not to have a life partner (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.0-5.2). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that TYA cancer survivors com-pleted applied higher education rather than a university education. Future studies including larger samples of TYA cancer survivors are needed to validate our findings and to explore the reasons for and satisfaction with the observed educational pathway

Distance and the pattern of intra-European trade

Given an undirected graph G = (V, E) and subset of terminals T ⊆ V, the element-connectivity κ ′ G (u, v) of two terminals u, v ∈ T is the maximum number of u-v paths that are pairwise disjoint in both edges and non-terminals V \ T (the paths need not be disjoint in terminals). Element-connectivity is more general than edge-connectivity and less general than vertex-connectivity. Hind and Oellermann [21] gave a graph reduction step that preserves the global element-connectivity of the graph. We show that this step also preserves local connectivity, that is, all the pairwise element-connectivities of the terminals. We give two applications of this reduction step to connectivity and network design problems. • Given a graph G and disjoint terminal sets T1, T2,..., Tm, we seek a maximum number of elementdisjoint Steiner forests where each forest connects each Ti. We prove that if each Ti is k element k connected then there exist Ω( log hlog m) element-disjoint Steiner forests, where h = | i Ti|. If G is planar (or more generally, has fixed genus), we show that there exist Ω(k) Steiner forests. Our proofs are constructive, giving poly-time algorithms to find these forests; these are the first non-trivial algorithms for packing element-disjoint Steiner Forests. • We give a very short and intuitive proof of a spider-decomposition theorem of Chuzhoy and Khanna [12] in the context of the single-sink k-vertex-connectivity problem; this yields a simple and alternative analysis of an O(k log n) approximation. Our results highlight the effectiveness of the element-connectivity reduction step; we believe it will find more applications in the future

Relationship status and quality of the partner relationship in parents of long-term childhood cancer survivors: The Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study-Parents

Objective The intensive and long‐lasting experience of childhood cancer is a tremendous stressor for the parental relationship. We aimed to (1) compare civil status and partner relationship of parents of long‐term childhood cancer survivors with population‐based comparisons, (2) identify cancer‐related characteristics associated with not being married, and (3) evaluate the quality of the partner relationship. Methods We sent questionnaires to parents of survivors aged ≤16 years at diagnosis and ≥20 years at study. Population‐based comparisons were derived from a random sample of the general population (≥1 child aged ≥20 years) and standardized by sociodemographic characteristics of survivor parents. We used logistic regression to identify cancer‐related characteristics associated with not being married. The quality of the partner relationship was evaluated using the relationship‐specific attachment scale for adults assessing the dimensions security (secure‐fearful) and dependency (dependent‐independent). Results A total of 784 parents (58.9% mothers) of 512 survivors (response rate: 44.0%) and 471 comparison parents completed the questionnaire. Parents of survivors were less often divorced/separated (9.0% vs 17.5%, P < 0.001) and more often in a partner relationship (89.9% vs 85.0%, P = 0.010) than comparisons. Not being married was not associated with cancer‐related characteristics. Parents of survivors reported similar security (P = 0.444) but higher dependency (P = 0.032) within the partner relationship than comparisons. In both populations, fathers indicated higher security and dependency than mothers. Conclusions Long after the diagnosis of cancer in their child, parents' relationship appears similar as in parents of the general population. The increased dependency reported by parents of survivors suggests that they managed their child's disease as a team

"I wish someone had once asked me how I'm doing": Disadvantages and support needs faced by parents of long-term childhood cancer survivors

BACKGROUND: Childhood cancer affects the whole family and can have a lasting impact on parents of childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We aimed to (1) describe parents' perspective of currently experienced disadvantages and of their support needs during treatment, after treatment, and today; (2) identify characteristics associated with disadvantages and support needs; and (3) describe the use of existing support services. PROCEDURE: In this population-based study, we identified parents of CCS (diagnosed ≤16 years of age, ≥5 years since diagnosis, aged ≥20 years at study) through the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR). Parents completed a questionnaire on perceived disadvantages (e.g., job-related, financial, etc.), support needs (e.g., job-related, financial, etc.), and socio-demographics. Cancer-related characteristics were available from the SCCR. We used multivariable multilevel logistic regression to identify characteristics associated with disadvantages and support needs. RESULTS: An average of 24 years after diagnosis, one-fifth of parents (n = 59/308; 19.2%) reported disadvantages, and 7.1% reported support needs. Many parents had desired more support during (66.9%) or after (34.4%) their child's cancer treatment. Parents whose child experienced late effects (OR = 26.6; 95% CI, 2.9-241.0) or was dependent on parents (OR = 10.6; 95% CI, 2.1-53.7) reported greater current need for more support. Almost half of parents (43.5%) reported having used existing support services. CONCLUSIONS: Many parents need more support during and after active treatment of their child's cancer, and some experience support needs and disadvantages long into survivorship. Better promotion of existing services for parental and familial support and setting up new services, where needed, may help parents in the long term

CHARACTERIZING THERMAL HYSTERESIS IN BODY TEMPERATURE FOR A HEAT STRESSED STEER

Studies have shown that exposure of animals to a high ambient temperature environment poses serious threats to their health, performance and productivity. Above a certain threshold an animal\u27s body temperature (Tb) appears to be driven by the hot ambient temperature (Ta). For steers challenged by heat stress, the Tb-Ta relationship shows a dramatic increase in Tb per unit change of Ta and the dynamics of the Tb-Ta relationship follow a pattern which depends on whether Ta is increasing or decreasing. A delay becomes noticeable in a steer’s thermo-regulatory response to Ta when Ta is controlled to be sinusoidal in the steer’s heat stress chamber. In other words, Tb lags behind Ta. Consequently when plotted in a Tb-Ta phase diagram, a hysteresis effect appears in the form of a hysteresis loop, indicating the steer is thermally challenged. The hysteresis loop shows a rotated elliptical pattern which depends on the delay (or lag) between Tb and Ta. The angle of rotation of the hysteresis loop indicates the correlation (and lag) between Tb and Ta. The area of the elliptical hysteresis loop can be used to quantify the amount of heat stress during the period of thermal challenge. For example, results of a thermal challenge of 32±7oC applied to a Hereford steer showed, the delay is longer (4 hr lag) and ellipse is larger in an acute stage than in a chronic stage (3 hr lag). A greater delay (or lag) suggests more time is needed to dissipate the heat stress. This result suggests, steers in an acute stage require more energy to dissipate heat than steers in a chronic stage

How universal is the fractional-quantum-Hall edge Luttinger liquid?

This article reports on our microscopic investigations of the edge of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling factor $\nu=1/3$. We show that the interaction dependence of the wave function is well described in an approximation that includes mixing with higher composite-fermion Landau levels in the lowest order. We then proceed to calculate the equal time edge Green function, which provides evidence that the Luttinger exponent characterizing the decay of the Green function at long distances is interaction dependent. The relevance of this result to tunneling experiments is discussed.Comment: 5 page

Generalized Interpolation Material Point Approach to High Melting Explosive with Cavities Under Shock

Criterion for contacting is critically important for the Generalized Interpolation Material Point(GIMP) method. We present an improved criterion by adding a switching function. With the method dynamical response of high melting explosive(HMX) with cavities under shock is investigated. The physical model used in the present work is an elastic-to-plastic and thermal-dynamical model with Mie-Gr\"uneissen equation of state. We mainly concern the influence of various parameters, including the impacting velocity $v$, cavity size $R$, etc, to the dynamical and thermodynamical behaviors of the material. For the colliding of two bodies with a cavity in each, a secondary impacting is observed. Correspondingly, the separation distance $D$ of the two bodies has a maximum value $D_{\max}$ in between the initial and second impacts. When the initial impacting velocity $v$ is not large enough, the cavity collapses in a nearly symmetric fashion, the maximum separation distance $D_{\max}$ increases with $v$. When the initial shock wave is strong enough to collapse the cavity asymmetrically along the shock direction, the variation of $D_{\max}$ with $v$ does not show monotonic behavior. Our numerical results show clear indication that the existence of cavities in explosive helps the creation of ``hot spots''.Comment: Figs.2,4,7,11 in JPG format; Accepted for publication in J. Phys. D: Applied Physic

Physicians’ experience with follow-up care of childhood cancer survivors – Challenges and needs

BACKGROUND: Regular follow-up care is essential for childhood cancer survivors, but we know little about physicians’ experience with it. We aimed to describe: (1) involvement of Swiss physicians in follow-up care; (2) content of follow-up care provided; (3) problems encountered; and (4) additional resources needed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Within this cross-sectional survey we sent adapted questionnaires via professional associations to a sample of medical oncologists (MOs), paediatric oncologists (POs), general practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians (P) in Switzerland. Only oncologists involved in follow-up care were asked to report problems. GPs and Ps not involved in follow-up could indicate why. All physicians were asked about the content of follow-up care provided and additional resources needed. RESULTS: A total of 183 physicians responded (27 MO, 13 PO, 122 GP, 21 P). Involved in follow-up were 81% of MOs, 85% of POs, 39% of GPs and 81% of Ps. Follow-up content differed between oncologists (MO and PO) and generalists (GP and P), with generalists examining or informing less in regard to the former cancer. POs reported more problems than MOs: many POs reported problems with transition of survivors to adult care (91%), and because of financial resources (73%) and time restraints (73%). MOs reported most problems during transition (23%). Not being aware of a survivor was the most common reason for GPs and Ps not participating in followup (74%). All groups reported a need for standardised protocols (85–91%) and specialised training (55–73%). GPs (94%) and Ps (100%) additionally desired more support from oncologists. CONCLUSIONS: To improve quality and efficiency of follow-up care a national follow-up care model including standardised protocols and guidelines needs to be developed

The three-dimensional Ising model: A paradigm of liquid-vapor coexistence in nuclear multifragmentation

Clusters in the three-dimensional Ising model rigorously obey reducibility and thermal scaling up to the critical temperature. The barriers extracted from Arrhenius plots depend on the cluster size as $B \propto A^{\sigma}$ where $\sigma$ is a critical exponent relating the cluster size to the cluster surface. All the Arrhenius plots collapse into a single Fisher-like scaling function indicating liquid-vapor-like phase coexistence and the univariant equilibrium between percolating clusters and finite clusters. The compelling similarity with nuclear multifragmentation is discussed.Comment: (4 pages, 4 figures