Post Viking planetary protection requirements study

Past planetary quarantine requirements were reviewed in the light of present Viking data to determine the steps necessary to prevent contamination of the Martian surface on future missions. The currently used term planetary protection reflects a broader scope of understanding of the problems involved. Various methods of preventing contamination are discussed in relation to proposed projects, specifically the 1984 Rover Mission

Ray stability in weakly range-dependent sound channels

Ray stability is investigated in environments consisting of a range-independent background sound-speed profile on which a range-dependent perturbation, such as that produced by internal waves in deep ocean environments, is superimposed. Numerical results show that ray stability is strongly influenced by the background sound speed profile. Ray instability is shown to increase with increasing magnitude of alpha := I omega^{prime} / omega, where 2 pi / omega(I) is the range of a ray double loop and I is the ray action variable. The mechanism, shear-induced instability enhancement, by which alpha controls ray instability is described.Comment: To appear in JAS

THE SUPERMARKET INDUSTRY AT THE START OF THE 21st CENTURY: KEY FINDINGS FROM THE 2000 SUPERMARKET PANEL

The 2000 Supermarket Panel gathered data on store characteristics, management practices, and operating performance from a representative, nation-wide sample of supermarkets. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store, and the same stores will be surveyed over time. Linking information on management practices and store and market characteristics with measures for key performance measures provides useful information for both strategic and tactical decisions. Descriptive findings are presented for stores groups by ownership group size and format. Results from a multivariate analysis of relationships between store performance and key performance drivers also are presented.Agribusiness,

Sonography of extraaxial fluid in neurologically normal infants with head circumference greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for age.

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135166/1/jum2000197443.pd

Vortex nucleation in bose-einstein condensates due to effective magnetic fields

We investigate the rotational properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in an effective magnetic field. The corresponding gauge potential is optically generated, and based on the adiabatic motion of the atoms. We demonstrate that the nucleation of vortices is seeded by instabilities in surface excitations and show that this picture also holds when the applied effective magnetic field is not homogeneous. The eventual configuration of vortices in the cloud depends on the geometry of the applied field

Impact of neutron star oscillations on the accelerating electric field in the polar cap of pulsar: or could we see oscillations of the neutron star after the glitch in pulsar?

Pulsar "standard model", that considers a pulsar as a rotating magnetized conducting sphere surrounded by plasma, is generalized to the case of oscillating star. We developed an algorithm for calculation of the Goldreich-Julian charge density for this case. We consider distortion of the accelerating zone in the polar cap of pulsar by neutron star oscillations. It is shown that for oscillation modes with high harmonic numbers (l,m) changes in the Goldreich-Julian charge density caused by pulsations of neutron star could lead to significant altering of an accelerating electric field in the polar cap of pulsar. In the moderately optimistic scenario, that assumes excitation of the neutron star oscillations by glitches, it could be possible to detect altering of the pulsar radioemission due to modulation of the accelerating field.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Presented at the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface", London, April 24-28, 2006; to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

THE 2000 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

The Retail Food Industry Center established the Supermarket Panel in 1998 as the basis for ongoing study of the supermarket industry. The Panel is comprised of individual stores that provide information annually on store characteristics, operations, and performance. The Panel has two overall objectives: 1. Provide timely, useful information for the industry through benchmark reports and annual summaries. 2. Be a ready source of longitudinal, cross-section data for research on current and emerging issues. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store and the same stores are tracked over time. This makes it possible to trace the impacts of new technologies and business practices as they are adopted. The 2000 Panel consists of 344 stores selected at random from the nearly 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. It is a representative cross-section of the industry. The information these stores have provided is the basis for the in-depth view of the industry presented here. Key findings are summarized in the margins of each section in this report. In general, these findings highlight significant correlations among store characteristics, business practices, and performance. They should not be interpreted as cause and effect relationships. The remainder of this report begins with a brief description of the data collection procedures for the 2000 Supermarket Panel and a descriptive profile of the participating stores, with breakdowns by size of store group, format, and location.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Marketing,

The dynamics of measles in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although vaccination has almost eliminated measles in parts of the world, the disease remains a major killer in some high birth rate countries of the Sahel. On the basis of measles dynamics for industrialized countries, high birth rate regions should experience regular annual epidemics. Here, however, we show that measles epidemics in Niger are highly episodic, particularly in the capital Niamey. Models demonstrate that this variability arises from powerful seasonality in transmission-generating high amplitude epidemics-within the chaotic domain of deterministic dynamics. In practice, this leads to frequent stochastic fadeouts, interspersed with irregular, large epidemics. A metapopulation model illustrates how increased vaccine coverage, but still below the local elimination threshold, could lead to increasingly variable major outbreaks in highly seasonally forced contexts. Such erratic dynamics emphasize the importance both of control strategies that address build-up of susceptible individuals and efforts to mitigate the impact of large outbreaks when they occur

Accuracy of clinical staging for T2N0 oesophageal cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis

Oesophageal cancer is the sixth commonest cause of overall cancer mortality. Clinical staging utilizes multiple imaging modalities to guide treatment and prognostication. T2N0 oesophageal cancer is a treatment threshold for neoadjuvant therapy. Data on accuracy of current clinical staging tests for this disease subgroup are conflicting. We performed a meta-analysis of all primary studies comparing clinical staging accuracy using multiple imaging modalities (index test) to histopathological staging following oesophagectomy (reference standard) in T2N0 oesophageal cancer. Patients that underwent neoadjuvant therapy were excluded. Electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library) were searched up to September 2019. The primary outcome was diagnostic accuracy of combined T&N clinical staging. Publication date, first recruitment date, number of centers, sample size and geographical location main histological subtype were evaluated as potential sources of heterogeneity. The search strategy identified 1,199 studies. Twenty studies containing 5,213 patients met the inclusion criteria. Combined T&N staging accuracy was 19% (95% CI, 15–24); T staging accuracy was 29% (95% CI, 24–35); percentage of patients with T downstaging was 41% (95% CI, 33–50); percentage of patients with T upstaging was 28% (95% CI, 24–32) and percentage of patients with N upstaging was 34% (95% CI, 30–39). Significant sources of heterogeneity included the number of centers, sample size and study region. T2N0 oesophageal cancer staging remains inaccurate. A significant proportion of patients were downstaged (could have received endotherapy) or upstaged (should have received neoadjuvant chemotherapy). These findings were largely unchanged over the past two decades highlighting an urgent need for more accurate staging tests for this subgroup of patients

Detection and Measurement of Air-Borne Radiation at Grinnell, Iowa

A relatively simple method is presented for the detection and measurement of total air-borne radiation. It employs only a scintillation counter, and ordinary laboratory materials. Using this method, a monitoring station was established for the period from the Fall of 1961 through the Spring of 1962. The results from this study, when compared with the results published by the United States Public Health Service, indicate a high degree of reliability in the method used