Aluminophosphate molecular sieves comprised of hydrated triple crankshaft chains

We report the first synthesis of pure aluminophosphate hydrate H2 (AlPO4-H2) and its structure; AlPO4-H2 is constructed exclusively from a hydrated chain building unit that also builds the 18-ring VPI-5 structure and has one-dimensional channels circumscribed by highly elliptical rings consisting often oxygen atoms, implications from the existence of this building unit for the synthesis of novel aluminophosphate molecular sieves and for the synthesis of aluminosilicate and silicate analogues of AlPO4-H2 and VPI-5 are discussed

A Primary Mammoth Site with Associated Fauna in Pottawattamie County, Iowa

. In August 1970, an investigation was made of the remains of a mammoth, Mammuthus cf. M. columbi, exposed west of Oakland, in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. A segment of proboscidian tusk, a lower third molar, and additional skeletal fragments were collected from the Wisconsin loess. Associated with the mammoth was a small-mammal fauna consisting of Phenacomys intermedius (heather vole), Microtus pennsylvanicus (meadow vole), and Vulpes vulpes (red fox), extant species with an area of sympatry immediately north of the Minnesota-Canadian border. This fauna, here designated the Oakland local fauna, supports cooler summers in western Iowa during Wisconsin loess deposition

Ideas for the Future of the Is Field

Information systems as a field of intellectual inquiry is now approximately 50 years old. It has many achievements and extensive research to its credit and has established a large group of researchers and experts worldwide. The field has changed and changed and changed again over the last half century. The question addressed in this inaugural issue article is: Where does IS go from here? This article presents the views of six of the “fathers of the field” about its directions in the years ahead. Each coauthor presents two ideas about the future. The topics covered includes continuing support of the work of organizations, emerging technologies, new ways of communicating, expanding the ways IS performs research, expanding its vision both of what IS is and of its impact, its role as a resource, its model of the IS professional and its graduates, and its staying on top of new technologies and new areas of inquiry

Human coronaviruses and other respiratory infections in young adults on a university campus: Prevalence, symptoms, and shedding

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145532/1/irv12563.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145532/2/irv12563_am.pd

PITTSBURGH’S RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS: DIFFERENCES AND DISPARITIES

Pittsburgh’s Racial Demographics: Differences and Disparities provides indicators of quality of life by race and ethnicity in the Pittsburgh region. Data are provided for four groups (Whites, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics) and for four geographic areas (city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the U.S.). The most recent data available for the Pittsburgh area and the nation were used in this report. In some instances, however, only data from the 2000 census were available to make comparisons. It is also the case that data were not available on all of our topic areas in the same years. It is our hope to update this report every three years, particularly if the American Community Survey (which is designed to replace the decennial census) produces regular, reliable data by race for cities, counties, and regions

Alternative Fuel for Portland Cement Processing

The production of cement involves a combination of numerous raw materials, strictly monitored system processes, and temperatures on the order of 1500 °C. Immense quantities of fuel are required for the production of cement. Traditionally, energy from fossil fuels was solely relied upon for the production of cement. The overarching project objective is to evaluate the use of alternative fuels to lessen the dependence on non-renewable resources to produce portland cement. The key objective of using alternative fuels is to continue to produce high-quality cement while decreasing the use of non-renewable fuels and minimizing the impact on the environment. Burn characteristics and thermodynamic parameters were evaluated with a laboratory burn simulator under conditions that mimic those in the preheater where the fuels are brought into a cement plant. A drop-tube furnace and visualization method were developed that show potential for evaluating time- and space-resolved temperature distributions for fuel solid particles and liquid droplets undergoing combustion in various combustion atmospheres. Downdraft gasification has been explored as a means to extract chemical energy from poultry litter while limiting the throughput of potentially deleterious components with regards to use in firing a cement kiln. Results have shown that the clinkering is temperature independent, at least within the controllable temperature range. Limestone also had only a slight effect on the fusion when used to coat the pellets. However, limestone addition did display some promise in regards to chlorine capture, as ash analyses showed chlorine concentrations of more than four times greater in the limestone infused ash as compared to raw poultry litter. A reliable and convenient sampling procedure was developed to estimate the combustion quality of broiler litter that is the best compromise between convenience and reliability by means of statistical analysis. Multi-day trial burns were conducted at a full-scale cement plant with alternative fuels to examine their compatibility with the cement production process. Construction and demolition waste, woodchips, and soybean seeds were used as alternative fuels at a full-scale cement production facility. These fuels were co-fired with coal and waste plastics. The alternative fuels used in this trial accounted for 5 to 16 % of the total energy consumed during these burns. The overall performance of the portland cement produced during the various trial burns performed for practical purposes very similar to the cement produced during the control burn. The cement plant was successful in implementing alternative fuels to produce a consistent, high-quality product that increased cement performance while reducing the environmental footprint of the plant. The utilization of construction and demolition waste, woodchips and soybean seeds proved to be viable replacements for traditional fuels. The future use of these fuels depends on local availability, associated costs, and compatibility with a facilityâs production process

Integrated photonic quantum gates for polarization qubits

Integrated photonic circuits have a strong potential to perform quantum information processing. Indeed, the ability to manipulate quantum states of light by integrated devices may open new perspectives both for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and for novel technological applications. However, the technology for handling polarization encoded qubits, the most commonly adopted approach, is still missing in quantum optical circuits. Here we demonstrate the first integrated photonic Controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate for polarization encoded qubits. This result has been enabled by the integration, based on femtosecond laser waveguide writing, of partially polarizing beam splitters on a glass chip. We characterize the logical truth table of the quantum gate demonstrating its high fidelity to the expected one. In addition, we show the ability of this gate to transform separable states into entangled ones and vice versa. Finally, the full accessibility of our device is exploited to carry out a complete characterization of the CNOT gate through a quantum process tomography.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Bushfires and Mothers’ Mental Health in Pregnancy and Recent Post-Partum

Background: The compounding effects of climate change catastrophes such as bushfires and pandemics impose significant burden on individuals, societies, and their economies. The enduring effects of such syndemics on mental health remain poorly understood, particularly for at-risk populations (e.g., pregnant women and newborns). The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of direct and indirect exposure to the 2019/20 Australian Capital Territory and South-Eastern New South Wales bushfires followed by COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of pregnant women and mothers with newborn babies. Methods: All women who were pregnant, had given birth, or were within three months of conceiving during the 2019/2020 bushfires, lived within the catchment area, and provided consent were invited to participate. Those who consented were asked to complete three online surveys. Mental health was assessed with the DASS-21 and the WHO-5. Bushfire, smoke, and COVID-19 exposures were assessed by self-report. Cross-sectional associations between exposures and mental health measures were tested with hierarchical regression models. Results: Of the women who participated, and had minimum data (n = 919), most (&gt;75%) reported at least one acute bushfire exposure and 63% reported severe smoke exposure. Compared to Australian norms, participants had higher depression (+12%), anxiety (+35%), and stress (+43%) scores. Women with greater exposure to bushfires/smoke but not COVID-19 had poorer scores on all mental health measures. Conclusions: These findings provide novel evidence that the mental health of pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies is vulnerable to major climate catastrophes such as bushfires.</p

Human coronaviruses and other respiratory infections in young adults on a university campus: Prevalence, symptoms, and shedding

BACKGROUND: The prevalence, symptom course, and shedding in persons infected with the 4 most common human coronaviruses (HCoV)-229E, HKU1, NL63, and OC43 are poorly described. OBJECTIVES: We estimate their prevalence and associated symptoms among college students identified via a social network study design. PATIENTS/METHODS: We collected 1-3 samples (n = 250 specimens) from 176 participants between October 2012 and January 17, 2013: participants with acute respiratory infection (ARI; cough and body aches or chills or fever/feverishness) and their social contacts. Virus was detected using RT-PCR. RESULTS: 30.4% (76/250) of specimens tested positive for any virus tested, and 4.8% (12/250) were positive for 2 or more viruses. Human coronaviruses (HCoVs [22.0%; 55/250]), rhinovirus (7.6%; 19/250), and influenza A (6.4%; 16/250) were most prevalent. Symptoms changed significantly over time among ARI participants with HCoV: the prevalence of cough and chills decreased over 6 days (P = .04, and P = .01, respectively), while runny nose increased over the same period (P = .02). HCoV-NL63 was the most frequent virus detected 6 days following symptom onset (8.9%), followed by rhinovirus (6.7%). CONCLUSIONS: During a 3-month period covering a single season, HCoVs were common, even among social contacts without respiratory symptoms; specific symptoms may change over the course of HCoV-associated illness and were similar to symptoms from influenza and rhinovirus

Hierarchically coupled ultradian oscillators generating robust circadian rhythms

Ensembles of mutually coupled ultradian cellular oscillators have been proposed by a number of authors to explain the generation of circadian rhythms in mammals. Most mathematical models using many coupled oscillators predict that the output period should vary as the square root of the number of participating units, thus being inconsistent with the well-established experimental result that ablation of substantial parts of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), the main circadian pacemaker in mammals, does not eliminate the overt circadian functions, which show no changes in the phases or periods of the rhythms. From these observations, we have developed a theoretical model that exhibits the robustness of the circadian clock to changes in the number of cells in the SCN, and that is readily adaptable to include the successful features of other known models of circadian regulation, such as the phase response curves and light resetting of the phase