Support assembly for cryogenically coolable low-noise choke waveguide

A compact cryogenically coolable choked waveguide for low-noise input coupling into a cryogenically cooled device, such as a maser or parametric amplifier, utilizes coaxial stainless steel support tubes surrounding the waveguide and connected in cascade to provide a folded low thermal conduction path. The edges of the tubes connected are welded

Indexing microwave switch Patent

Microwave waveguide switch with rotor position contro

Seasonal dependency of polar cap patches in the high-latitude nightside ionosphere

Observations and a computer simulation were used to investigate the seasonal dependency of the occurrence of polar cap patches in the high-latitude nightside ionosphere together with the relative importance of the driving processes. Measurements were conducted above northern Scandinavia around solar maximum (1999-2001) under conditions predicted to be favourable for observing patches with the EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR). The requirements were that the ESR was poleward of the convection reversal boundary, in antisunward cross polar cap flow and that IMF Bz was predominantly negative. The high latitude convection pattern was inferred from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) and the IMF was taken from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. In each study the patch-to-background ratio was calculated and, in most of the winter cases, this ratio was greater than two consistent with a polar cap patch. In summer clear electron density enhancements were seen in the nightside ionosphere, but the patch-to-background ratio was less than two. While these enhancements could not formally be called patches, it was clear that the high-latitude convection pattern was responsible for electron density enhancements. Using a computer simulation the relative importance of the physical processes driving the variation in the patch-to-background ratio was investigated. The dominant factor was changes in the thermospheric composition influencing plasma production and recombination rates

Secularism before the Strasbourg Court: Abstract Constitutional Principles as a Basis for Limiting Rights

The justification for the restrictions on religion inherent in secularism is the subject of lively debate in constitutional and political theory. In Ebrahimian v France the Strasbourg Court was required to assess whether the European Convention on Human Rights can accommodate a secularism whose aims and justifications go beyond the protection of the rights of others and include abstract goals such as upholding the religious neutrality of the state. The resulting judgment highlights both the inability of rights to provide an adequate account of the relationship between religion and the state and how the text of the Convention struggles to give adequate weight to constitutional principles whose justification arises from sources other than the protection of fundamental rights. I suggest that the Court was correct to reaffirm its stance that secularism and strict neutrality can be in harmony with the values of the Convention. However, it needs to be more clear about the reasons for this stance and to be vigilant in its protection of private autonomy so that the use of abstract principles to restrict religious expression does not give excessive latitude to states to restrict individual autonomy and minority right

Low-noise microwave polarimeter

Two quarterwave-plate polarizers inserted between rotary waveguide joints transform received signals from arbitrary linear to circular polarizations and then from circular to fixed linear polarizations. Fixed linear polarizations are applied to amplifiers and filters in usual fashion

Dissemination and Implementation of Alternative Treatment Methods into Idaho’s Unipolar Mood Disorder Treatment

Research has documented the effects of some alternative methods on mood: exercise (Legrand & Heuze, 2007), diet (Appleton et al., 2007) and supplementation with micronutrients such as iron (Beard et al., 2005), fatty acids (Nemets et al, 2002) and St. John’s wort (Mulrow, 2005), for example, have all demonstrated an ability to positively affect mood. It is unknown to what extent this research has been disseminated or implemented into practice. Procedure: Mental health care practitioners (n = 306) in Idaho were randomly surveyed. Items measuring knowledge and use of the following three methods were asked: exercise, diet, supplementation. Results: Sixty-eight percent of respondents had encountered exercise as a mood disorder treatment option in professional discussion within the last 2 years, 44.7% had encountered dietary methods and 46.5% had encountered supplemental methods in the same context. Sixty-six percent (n=204) of respondents indicated that they used exercise methods to treat mood disorders, 35% (n=108) reported using dietary measures and 19% (n=60) reported using supplemental methods. Specific types of exercise, dietary and supplemental methods used-e.g. yoga, St. John’s wort, etc-are also discussed. Conclusions: The use of some alternative methods for the treatment of mood disorders is common in mental health care practitioners

Medicine and Public Health in Latin America: A History

Citation: McCrea, H. L. (2016). Medicine and Public Health in Latin America: A History. Isis, 107(3), 614-616. doi:10.1086/688465Over the past three to four decades historical works focused on health and medicine in Latin America and the Caribbean have burgeoned into a rich body of scholarship. Scholars delve into a myriad of subjects using medicine and health as lenses through which structural, material, and human experiences with inequality can be analyzed across race, ethnic, gender, and economic lines. To date, much of the historical inquiry on medicine and public health in Latin America and the Caribbean has concentrated on uncovering the powerful relationships forged between medical elites, scientists, statesmen, and laypersons. In this vein, the history of Latin America and the Caribbean is situated within an interconnected globe where germs know no boundaries and disease vectors shape and reshape military campaigns and occupations, hygiene and sanitation trends, and household customs. Within this world, historical narratives and actors assume a more complex and nuanced form through scholarship that probes into the dark recesses of human suffering and the valiant (and sometimes not so altruistic) efforts of medical professionals and statesmen to launch public health campaigns to curb disease and contain contagion. Pioneering works by David Nobel Cook (1998), Alfred W. Crosby (1972), Elinor G. K. Melville (1997), and Nancy Leys Stepan (1996) laid the methodological groundwork for understanding the mechanisms that created human differences. Others have sought to tell a story about war, revolution, and social upheaval by focusing on a particular disease epidemic or public health campaign

An empowering approach to crisis intervention and brief treatment with preschool children

This paper presents an approach to crisis intervention and brief treatment for young children based on the new psychology, intrapsychic humanism. After presenting central theoretical principles, these principles are applied and treatment guidelines demonstrated in the treatment process of a three-year-old child named Paul. The research design for the case study is naturalistic, uses qualitative methods of data analysis, and draws from the heuristic paradigm (a postpositivist metatheory of social and behavioral research)