Contributors to the June Issue/Notes

Notes by David S. Landis, Thomas F. Bremer, John F. Power, L. E. Merman, Francis J. Paulson, Arthur M. Diamond, Harold Berliner, Robert A. Oberfell, Eugene Charles Wohlhorn, and Roger D. Gustafson

Fundamental constructs in food parenting practices: a content map to guide future research

Although research shows that “food parenting practices” can impact children’s diet and eating habits, current understanding of the impact of specific practices has been limited by inconsistencies in terminology and definitions. This article represents a critical appraisal of food parenting practices, including clear terminology and definitions, by a working group of content experts. The result of this effort was the development of a content map for future research that presents 3 overarching, higher-order food parenting constructs – coercive control, structure, and autonomy support – as well as specific practice subconstructs. Coercive control includes restriction, pressure to eat, threats and bribes, and using food to control negative emotions. Structure includes rules and limits, limited/guided choices, monitoring, meal- and snacktime routines, modeling, food availability and accessibility, food preparation, and unstructured practices. Autonomy support includes nutrition education, child involvement, encouragement, praise, reasoning, and negotiation. Literature on each construct is reviewed, and directions for future research are offered. Clear terminology and definitions should facilitate cross-study comparisons and minimize conflicting findings resulting from previous discrepancies in construct operationalization

Ursinus College Alumni Journal, March 1966

First words • From the President • A commitment to change • The Ursinus plan • We\u27re planning a brand-new old-time Alumni Day • A disarmed world: two views • The one-world syndrome • Scenario for a disarmed conflict • The paid-up parade • Centennial fund moves toward first-year goal • Of strength & endurance • Check your candidates • The agency has transposed the key of campus life • Campus clippings: Gift from Gulf; Kodak focuses on U.C.; The fine arts; Folklore grant; Neighbors of the college; Scholarship winner; College Boards; Visual aids; Meistersingers • Sporting scene: Football; Soccer; Tennis; Track; Baseball; Basketball • Ursinus phys-edders continue to excel • Women of distinction • Regionals • Class notebook • Weddings • Births • In memoriam • End quotes: The story of solicitationhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/alumnijournal/1087/thumbnail.jp

How Baryonic Processes affect Strong Lensing properties of Simulated Galaxy Clusters

The observed abundance of giant arcs produced by galaxy cluster lenses and the measured Einstein radii have presented a source of tension for LCDM. Previous cosmological tests for high-redshift clusters (z>0.5) have suffered from small number statistics in the simulated sample and the implementation of baryonic physics is likely to affect the outcome. We analyse zoomed-in simulations of a fairly large sample of cluster-sized objects, with Mvir > 3x10^14 Msun/h, identified at z=0.25 and z=0.5, for a concordance LCDM cosmology. We start with dark matter only simulations, and then add gas hydrodynamics, with different treatments of baryonic processes: non-radiative cooling, radiative cooling with star formation and galactic winds powered by supernova explosions, and finally including the effect of AGN feedback. We find that the addition of gas in non-radiative simulations does not change the strong lensing predictions significantly, but gas cooling and star formation together significantly increase the number of expected giant arcs and the Einstein radii, particularly for lower redshift clusters and lower source redshifts. Further inclusion of AGN feedback reduces the predicted strong lensing efficiencies such that the lensing probability distributions becomes closer to those obtained for simulations including only dark matter. Our results indicate that the inclusion of baryonic physics in simulations will not solve the arc-statistics problem at low redshifts, when the physical processes included provide a realistic description of cooling in the central regions of galaxy clusters. [Abridged]Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment for the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants

Plants provide fundamental support systems for life on Earth and are the basis for all terrestrial ecosystems; a decline in plant diversity will be detrimental to all other groups of organisms including humans. Decline in plant diversity has been hard to quantify, due to the huge numbers of known and yet to be discovered species and the lack of an adequate baseline assessment of extinction risk against which to track changes. The biodiversity of many remote parts of the world remains poorly known, and the rate of new assessments of extinction risk for individual plant species approximates the rate at which new plant species are described. Thus the question ‘How threatened are plants?’ is still very difficult to answer accurately. While completing assessments for each species of plant remains a distant prospect, by assessing a randomly selected sample of species the Sampled Red List Index for Plants gives, for the first time, an accurate view of how threatened plants are across the world. It represents the first key phase of ongoing efforts to monitor the status of the world’s plants. More than 20% of plant species assessed are threatened with extinction, and the habitat with the most threatened species is overwhelmingly tropical rain forest, where the greatest threat to plants is anthropogenic habitat conversion, for arable and livestock agriculture, and harvesting of natural resources. Gymnosperms (e.g. conifers and cycads) are the most threatened group, while a third of plant species included in this study have yet to receive an assessment or are so poorly known that we cannot yet ascertain whether they are threatened or not. This study provides a baseline assessment from which trends in the status of plant biodiversity can be measured and periodically reassessed

The host galaxies and black-hole:galaxy mass ratios of luminous quasars at z~4

We present and analyse the deepest, high-quality Ks-band images ever obtained of luminous quasars at z~4, in an attempt to determine the basic properties of their host galaxies less than 1 Gyr after the first recorded appearance of black holes with Mbh > 10^9 Msol. To maximise the robustness of our results we have carefully selected two SDSS quasars at z~4. These quasars are representative of the most luminous quasars known at this epoch but they also, crucially, lie within 40 arcsec of comparably-bright foreground stars (required for accurate PSF definition), and have redshifts which ensure line-free Ks-band imaging. The data were obtained in excellent seeing (<0.4-arcsec) at the ESO VLT with integration times of ~5.5 hours per source. Via carefully-controlled separation of host-galaxy and nuclear light, we estimate the luminosities and stellar masses of the host galaxies, and set constraints on their half-light radii. The quasar host galaxies have K-band luminosities similar to radio galaxies at comparable redshifts, suggesting that these quasar hosts are also among the most massive galaxies in existence at this epoch. However, the quasar hosts are a factor ~5 smaller than the host galaxies of luminous low-redshift quasars. We estimate the stellar masses of the z~4 host galaxies to lie in the range 2-10x10^11 Msol, and use the CIV emission line in the Sloan spectra to estimate the masses of their black holes. The results imply a black-hole:host-galaxy mass ratio Mbh:Mgal~0.01-0.05. This is an order of magnitude higher than typically seen in the low-redshift Universe, and is consistent with existing evidence for a systematic growth in this mass ratio with increasing redshift, at least for objects selected as powerful AGN.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Development of an Ion Thruster and Power Processor for New Millennium's Deep Space 1 Mission

The NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Applications Readiness Program (NSTAR) will provide a single-string primary propulsion system to NASA's New Millennium Deep Space 1 Mission which will perform comet and asteroid flybys in the years 1999 and 2000. The propulsion system includes a 30-cm diameter ion thruster, a xenon feed system, a power processing unit, and a digital control and interface unit. A total of four engineering model ion thrusters, three breadboard power processors, and a controller have been built, integrated, and tested. An extensive set of development tests has been completed along with thruster design verification tests of 2000 h and 1000 h. An 8000 h Life Demonstration Test is ongoing and has successfully demonstrated more than 6000 h of operation. In situ measurements of accelerator grid wear are consistent with grid lifetimes well in excess of the 12,000 h qualification test requirement. Flight hardware is now being assembled in preparation for integration, functional, and acceptance tests