3,631 research outputs found
NONLETHAL CONTROL TECHNIQUES USED TO MANAGE BLACKBIRD DAMAGE TO SUNFLOWER
Since 1986, nonlethal management techniques have been used by the North Dakota and South Dakota Animal Damage Control programs to reduce blackbird damage to sunflower. The use of propane cannons, pyrotechnics, hazing, and cattail management is discussed. Currently, the primary program for both States is cattail management
NONLETHAL CONTROL TECHNIQUES USED TO MANAGE BLACKBIRD DAMAGE TO SUNFLOWER
Since 1986, nonlethal management techniques have been used by the North Dakota and South Dakota Animal Damage Control programs to reduce blackbird damage to sunflower. The use of propane cannons, pyrotechnics, hazing, and cattail management is discussed. Currently, the primary program for both States is cattail management
Oscillations in stellar superflares
Two different mechanisms may act to induce quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) in
whole-disk observations of stellar flares. One mechanism may be
magneto-hydromagnetic (MHD) forces and other processes acting on flare loops as
seen in the Sun. The other mechanism may be forced local acoustic oscillations
due to the high-energy particle impulse generated by the flare (known as
`sunquakes' in the Sun). We analyze short-cadence Kepler data of 257 flares in
75 stars to search for QPP in the flare decay branch or post-flare oscillations
which may be attributed to either of these two mechanisms. About 18 percent of
stellar flares show a distinct bump in the flare decay branch of unknown
origin. The bump does not seem to be a highly-damped global oscillation because
the periods of the bumps derived from wavelet analysis do not correlate with
any stellar parameter. We detected damped oscillations covering several cycles
(QPP), in seven flares on five stars. The periods of these oscillations also do
not correlate with any stellar parameter, suggesting that these may be a due to
flare loop oscillations. We searched for forced global oscillations which might
result after a strong flare. To this end, we investigated the behaviour of the
amplitudes of solar-like oscillations in eight stars before and after a flare.
However, no clear amplitude change could be detected. We also analyzed the
amplitudes of the self-excited pulsations in two delta Scuti stars and one
gamma Doradus star before and after a flare. Again, no clear amplitude changes
were found. Our conclusions are that a new process needs to be found to explain
the high incidence of bumps in stellar flare light curves, that flare loop
oscillations may have been detected in a few stars and that no conclusive
evidence exists as yet for flare induced global acoustic oscillations
(starquakes).Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, 3 table
RGS9-1 is required for normal inactivation of mouse cone phototransduction
Purpose: To test the hypothesis that Regulator of G-protein Signaling 9 (RGS9-1) is necessary for the normal inactivation of retinal cones.
Methods: Mice having the gene RGS9-1 inactivated in both alleles (RGS9-1 -/-) were tested between the ages 8-10 weeks
with electroretinographic (ERG) protocols that isolate cone-driven responses. Immunohistochemistry was performed with a primary antibody against RGS9-1 (anti-RGS9-1c), with the secondary conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate, and
with rhodamine-conjugated peanut agglutinin.
Results: (1) Immunohistochemistry showed RGS9-1 to be strongly expressed in the cones of wildtype (WT is C57BL/6)
mice, but absent from the cones of RGS9-1 mice. (2) Cone-driven b-wave responses of dark-adapted RGS9-1 -/- mice had saturating amplitudes and sensitivities in the midwave and UV regions of the spectrum equal to or slightly greater than those of WT (C57BL/6) mice. (3) Cone-driven b-wave and a-wave responses of RGS9-1 -/- mice recovered much more slowly than those of WT after a strong conditioning flash: for a flash estimated to isomerize 1.2% of the M-cone pigment and 0.9% of the UV-cone pigment, recovery of 50% saturating amplitude was approximately 60-fold slower than in WT.
Conclusions: (1) The amplitudes and sensitivities of the cone-driven responses indicate that cones and cone-driven neurons in RGS9-1 -/- mice have normal generator currents. (2) The greatly retarded recovery of cone-driven responses of RGS9-1 -/- mice relative to those of WT mice establishes that RGS9-1 is required for normal inactivation of the cone
phototransduction cascades of both UV- and M-cones
The Challenges of Multimorbidity from the Patient Perspective
BACKGROUND
Although multiple co-occurring chronic illnesses within the same individual are increasingly common, few studies have examined the challenges of multimorbidity from the patient perspective.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to examine the self-management learning needs and willingness to see non-physician providers of patients with multimorbidity compared to patients with single chronic illnesses. DESIGN. This research is designed as a cross-sectional survey.
PARTICIPANTS
Based upon ICD-9 codes, patients from a single VHA healthcare system were stratified into multimorbidity clusters or groups with a single chronic illness from the corresponding cluster. Nonproportional sampling was used to randomly select 720 patients.
MEASUREMENTS
Demographic characteristics, functional status, number of contacts with healthcare providers, components of primary care, self-management learning needs, and willingness to see nonphysician providers.
RESULTS
Four hundred twenty-two patients returned surveys. A higher percentage of multimorbidity patients compared to single morbidity patients were "definitely" willing to learn all 22 self-management skills, of these only 2 were not significant. Compared to patients with single morbidity, a significantly higher percentage of patients with multimorbidity also reported that they were "definitely" willing to see 6 of 11 non-physician healthcare providers.
CONCLUSIONS
Self-management learning needs of multimorbidity patients are extensive, and their preferences are consistent with team-based primary care. Alternative methods of providing support and chronic illness care may be needed to meet the needs of these complex patients.US Department of Veterans Affairs (01-110, 02-197); Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (K08 HS013008-02
Breaking quantum linearity: constraints from human perception and cosmological implications
Resolving the tension between quantum superpositions and the uniqueness of
the classical world is a major open problem. One possibility, which is
extensively explored both theoretically and experimentally, is that quantum
linearity breaks above a given scale. Theoretically, this possibility is
predicted by collapse models. They provide quantitative information on where
violations of the superposition principle become manifest. Here we show that
the lower bound on the collapse parameter lambda, coming from the analysis of
the human visual process, is ~ 7 +/- 2 orders of magnitude stronger than the
original bound, in agreement with more recent analysis. This implies that the
collapse becomes effective with systems containing ~ 10^4 - 10^5 nucleons, and
thus falls within the range of testability with present-day technology. We also
compare the spectrum of the collapsing field with those of known cosmological
fields, showing that a typical cosmological random field can yield an efficient
wave function collapse.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure
Engaging Teaching Dilemmas to Foster Culturally Responsive and Antiracist Teaching Practice
This special Issue of the Race and Pedagogy Journal features artist statements and images of projects created by Master of Arts in Teaching candidates in their master’s coursework focused on developing anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching practices
Avatars of Eurocentrism in the critique of the liberal peace
Recent scholarly critiques of the so-called liberal peace raise important political and ethical challenges to practices of postwar intervention in the global South. However, their conceptual and analytic approaches have tended to reproduce rather than challenge the intellectual Eurocentrism underpinning the liberal peace. Eurocentric features of the critiques include the methodological bypassing of target subjects in research, the analytic bypassing of subjects through frameworks of governmentality, the assumed ontological split between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘local’, and a nostalgia for the liberal subject and the liberal social contract as alternative bases for politics. These collectively produce a ‘paradox of liberalism’ that sees the liberal peace as oppressive but also the only true source of emancipation. However, the article suggests that a repoliticization of colonial difference offers an alternative ‘decolonizing’ approach to critical analysis through repositioning the analytic gaze. Three alternative research strategies for critical analysis are briefly developed
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First Report of NRG Oncology/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0622: A Phase 2 Trial of Samarium-153 Followed by Salvage Prostatic Fossa Irradiation in High-Risk Clinically Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer After Radical Prostatectomy.
PURPOSE: To investigate the utility of 153Sm lexidronam (Quadramet) in the setting of men with prostate cancer status post radical prostatectomy who develop biochemical failure with no clinical evidence of osseous metastases.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Trial NRG Oncology RTOG 0622 is a single-arm phase 2 trial that enrolled men with pT2-T4, N0-1, M0 prostate cancer status post radical prostatectomy, who meet at least 1 of these biochemical failure criteria: (1) prostate-specific antigen (PSA) \u3e 1.0 ng/mL; (2) PSA \u3e 0.2 ng/mL if Gleason score 9 to 10; or (3) PSA \u3e 0.2 ng/mL if N1. Patients received 153Sm (2.0 mCi/kg intravenously × 1) followed by salvage external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) to the prostatic fossa (64.8-70.2 Gy in 1.8-Gy daily fractions). No androgen deprivation therapy was allowed. The primary objective was PSA response within 12 weeks of receiving 153Sm. The secondary objectives were to: (1) assess the completion rate for the regimen of 153Sm and EBRT; (2) evaluate the hematologic toxicity and other adverse events (AEs) at 12 and 24 weeks; and (3) determine the freedom from progression rate at 2 years.
RESULTS: A total of 60 enrolled eligible patients were included in this analysis. Median follow-up was 3.97 years. A PSA response was achieved in 7 of 52 evaluable patients (13.5%), compared with the 25% hypothesized. The 2-year freedom from progression rate was 25.5% (95% confidence interval 14.4%-36.7%), and the biochemical failure rate was 64.4% (95% CI 50.5%-75.2%). Samarium-153 was well tolerated, with 16 (of 60) grade 3 to 4 hematologic AEs and no grade 5 hematologic AEs. Radiation therapy was also well tolerated, with no grade 3 to 5 acute radiation therapy-related AEs and 1 grade 3 to 4 and no grade 5 late radiation therapy-related AEs.
CONCLUSIONS: Trial NRG Oncology RTOG 0622 did not meet its primary endpoint of PSA response, although the regimen of 153Sm and salvage EBRT was well tolerated. Although the toxicity profile supports study of 153Sm in high-risk disease, it may not be beneficial in men receiving EBRT
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