Science leadership for tomorrow: The role of schools of public affairs and universities in meeting needs of public science agencies

Recommendations and requirements for the preparation of personnel with some scientific or technological background to enter fields of public policy and administration are reported. University efforts to provide science administration graduate programs are outlined and increased cooperation between government and university resources is outlined

An outburst scenario for the X-ray spectral variability in 3C 111

We present a combined Suzaku and Swift BAT broad-band E=0.6-200keV spectral analysis of three 3C 111 observations obtained in 2010. The data are well described with an absorbed power-law continuum and a weak (R~0.2) cold reflection component from distant material. We constrain the continuum cutoff at E_c~150-200keV, which is in accordance with X-ray Comptonization corona models and supports claims that the jet emission is only dominant at much higher energies. Fe XXVI Ly\alpha emission and absorption lines are also present in the first and second observations, respectively. The modelling and interpretation of the emission line is complex and we explore three possibilities. If originating from ionized disc reflection, this should be emitted at r_in> 50r_g or, in the lamp-post configuration, the illuminating source should be at a height of h> 30r_g over the black hole. Alternatively, the line could be modeled with a hot collisionally ionized plasma with temperature kT = 22.0^{+6.1}_{-3.2} keV or a photo-ionized plasma with log\xi=4.52^{+0.10}_{-0.16} erg s^{-1} cm and column density N_H > 3x10^23 cm^{-2}. However, the first and second scenarios are less favored on statistical and physical grounds, respectively. The blue-shifted absorption line in the second observation can be modelled as an ultra-fast outflow (UFO) with ionization parameter log\xi=4.47^{+0.76}_{-0.04} erg s^{-1} cm, column density N_H=(5.3^{+1.8}_{-1.3})x 10^{22} cm^{-2} and outflow velocity v_out = 0.104+/-0.006 c. Interestingly, the parameters of the photo-ionized emission model remarkably match those of the absorbing UFO. We suggest an outburst scenario in which an accretion disc wind, initially lying out of the line of sight and observed in emission, then crosses our view to the source and it is observed in absorption as a mildly-relativistic UFO.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNARS on July 1st 201

Unsupervised classification and areal measurement of land and water coastal features on the Texas coast

Multispectral scanner (MSS) digital data from ERTS-1 was used to delineate coastal land, vegetative, and water features in two portions of the Texas Coastal Zone. Data (Scene ID's 1037-16244 and 1037-16251) acquired on August 29, 1972, were analyzed on NASA Johnson Space Center systems through the use of two clustering algorithms. Seventeen to 30 spectrally homogeneous classes were so defined. Many classes were identified as being pure features such as water masses, salt marsh, beaches, pine, hardwoods, and exposed soil or construction materials. Most classes were identified to be mixtures of the pure class types. Using an objective technique for measuring the percentage of wetland along salt marsh boundaries, an analysis was made of the accuracy of areal measurement of salt marshes. Accuracies ranged from 89 to 99 percent. Aircraft photography was used as the basis for determining the true areal size of salt marshes in the study sites

Young mothers in care, contributing to the contemporary debate

Teenage pregnancy has become a broad issue in contemporary society and has become a focus for concern for young women in or exiting the care system. The article draws on interviews with twenty-four young mothers in, or on the fringes of the care system. It highlights the thoughts and feelings of these young women, specifically looking at the relationships that they have with their mothers, the father of their baby and their social workers. The mothers' sources of support and their perceptions of these are discussed. Implications for practice for working with this discrete group of young mothers are explored

Previous attentional set can induce an attentional blink with task-irrelevant initial targets

Identification of a second target is often impaired by the requirement to process a prior target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). This is termed the attentional blink. Even when the first target is task-irrelevant an attentional blink may occur providing this first target shares similar features with the second target (contingent capture). An RSVP experiment was undertaken to assess whether this first target can still cause an attentional blink when it did not require a response and did not share any features with the following target. The results revealed that such task-irrelevant targets can induce an attentional blink providing that they were task-relevant on a previous block of trials. This suggests that irrelevant focal stimuli can distract attention on the basis of a previous attentional set

Addemdum to: ''The Mathematical Structure of Quantum Superspace as a Consequence of Time Asymmetry''

In this paper we improve the results of sec. VI of paper [M. Castagnino, Phys. Rev. D 57, 750 (1998)] by considering that the main source of entropy production are the photospheres of the stars

Contemporaneous VLBA 5 GHz Observations of Large Area Telescope Detected Blazars

The radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed contemporaneously by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). In total, 232 sources were observed with the VLBA. Ninety sources that were previously observed as part of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS) have been included in the sample, as well as 142 sources not found in VIPS. This very large, 5 GHz flux-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) provides insights into the mechanism that produces strong γ-ray emission. In particular, we see that γ-ray emission is related to strong, uniform magnetic fields in the cores of the host AGN. Included in this sample are non-blazar AGNs such as 3C84, M82, and NGC 6251. For the blazars, the total VLBA radio flux density at 5 GHz correlates strongly with γ-ray flux. The LAT BL Lac objects tend to be similar to the non-LAT BL Lac objects, but the LAT flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are significantly different from the non-LAT FSRQs. Strong core polarization is significantly more common among the LAT sources, and core fractional polarization appears to increase during LAT detection

First energetic neutral atom images from Polar

Energetic neutral atoms are created when energetic magnetospheric ions undergo charge exchange with cold neutral atoms in the Earth\u27s tenuous extended atmosphere (the geocorona). Since they are unaffected by the Earth\u27s magnetic field, these energetic neutrals travel away in straight line trajectories from the points of charge exchange. The remote detection of these particles provides a powerful means through which the global distribution and properties of the geocorona and ring current can be inferred. Due to its 2 × 9 RE polar orbit, the Polar spacecraft provides an excellent platform from which to observe ENAs because it spends much of its time in the polar caps which are usually free from the contaminating energetic charged particles that make observations of ENAs more difficult. In this brief report, we present the first ENA imaging results from Polar. Storm-time ENA images are presented for a northern polar cap apogee pass on August 29, 1996 and for a southern polar cap perigee pass on October 23, 1996. As well, we show with a third event (July 31, 1996) that ENA emissions can also be detected in association with individual substorm