2,291 research outputs found
Prison Research from the Inside: The Role of Convict Autoethnography
A perspective that has often been absent in criminal justice research is that of former prisoners. This article discusses the establishment, in 1997, of “convict criminology,” a group of scholars producing research informed by their experiences of crime and the criminal justice process; that is, either those who have served time themselves or who have operated alongside prisoners as professionals in custodial settings. It is argued that such scholars face similar dilemmas to others in terms of emotionalism, but suggests that their emotions are of a different nature. While an “insider” perspective cannot lay claim to scientific “objectivity,” the article argues that the existence of emotion does not invalidate an “insider” criminologist’s views. Rather, the passion engendered by the experience of incarceration can add color, context, and contour to data collection, findings, and analysis and may therefore be regarded as an essential thread in the tapestry of criminological inquiry
The relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and interpretive bias among adolescent nonclinical panickers
Elevated anxiety sensitivity and the tendency to catastrophically misinterpret ambiguous bodily sensations has been demonstrated in people who experience nonclinical levels of panic (Richards, Austin, & Alvarenga, 2001), and anxiety sensitivity has been shown to be associated with insecure attachment in adolescents and young adults (Weems, Berman, Silverman, and Saavedra, 2001). This study investigated the relationship between attachment style, anxiety sensitivity and catastrophic misinterpretation among 11 nonclinical panickers and 58 nonanxious controls aged 18 to 19 years. Participants completed the Brief Bodily Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire (BBSIQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and an attachment questionnaire. The hypothesis that insecurely attached individuals would demonstrate greater catastrophic misinterpretation and higher anxiety sensitivity than securely attached individuals was not supported; however, nonclinical panickers gave more anxiety-related interpretations of ambiguous internal stimuli than nonanxious controls. Results do not support the notion that attachment style is related to anxiety sensitivity or catastrophic misinterpretation (regardless of panic experience). Results do, however, support the notion that anxiety-related misinterpretation of ambiguous somatic sensations precedes the onset of panic disorder
In vitro starch disappearance procedure modifications
Four in vitro experiments evaluated the effects of ruminal fluid inoculum:artificial saliva ratios,
grinder type, grind size, and diet of ruminal fluid donor on in vitro starch disappearance. Experiment 1 examined rates of starch disappearance and coefficients of determination obtained by linear regression of starch disappearance using five grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolur (L.) Moench) lines, a corn (Zeu muys L.) control, and a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) control. Grains were incubated for 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 h with inoculum varying in proportion of ruminal fluid and artificial saliva ( l:l, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4). In vitro rates of starch disappearance and coefficients of determination were similar for the 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 inoculum dilutions and were higher (quadratic, P \u3c 0.01) than the 1:1 dilution. As the proportion of artificial saliva in the inoculum increased, in vitro pH increased (linear, P \u3c 0.01). In Experiment 2, six grain sorghum lines and a corn control were ground through a l-mm screen in a Udy (cyclone type) or Wiley mill. Starch disappearance for samples ground using a Udy mill were higher (P 0.10) by grain type fed; however, absolute rates of digestion varied among inoculate sources. Grinder, grind size, and ruminal fluid inoculum:artificial saliva ratios affected rate of starch disappearance in samples digested in vitro. Diet of ruminal fluid donor affected the rate of starch digestion, but not the relative ranking of the grains. If rates are to be compared across in vitro runs for different grains, these processing and dietary factors must be kept constant
FSVPy: A Python-based Package for Fluorescent Streak Velocimetry (FSV)
Predictive constitutive equations that connect easy-to-measure transport
properties (e.g., viscosity and conductivity) with system performance variables
(e.g., power consumption and efficiency) are needed to design advanced thermal
and electrical systems. In this work, we explore the use of fluorescent
particle-streak analysis to directly measure the local velocity field of a
pressure-driven flow, introducing a new Python package (FSVPy) to perform the
analysis. Fluorescent streak velocimetry (FSV) combines high-speed imaging with
highly fluorescent particles to produce images that contain fluorescent
streaks, whose length and intensity can be related to the local flow velocity.
By capturing images throughout the sample volume, the three-dimensional
velocity field can be quantified and reconstructed. We demonstrate this
technique by characterizing the channel flow profiles of several non-Newtonian
fluids: micellar Cetylpyridinium Chloride solution, Carbopol 940, and
Polyethylene Glycol. We then explore more complex flows, where significant
acceleration is created due to micro-scale features encountered within the
flow. We demonstrate the ability of FSVPy to process streaks of various shapes,
and use the variable intensity along the streak to extract position-specific
velocity measurements from individual images. Thus, we demonstrate that FSVPy
is a flexible tool that can be used to extract local velocimetry measurements
from a wide variety of fluids and flow conditions
Detection of changes in mitochondrial hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in vivo in the fish model Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae)
In this paper, we outline the use of a mitochondria-targeted ratiometric mass spectrometry probe, MitoA, to detect in vivo changes in mitochondrial hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in Poecilia mexicana (family Poeciliidae). MitoA is introduced via intraperitoneal injection into the animal and is taken up by mitochondria, where it reacts with H2S to form the product MitoN. The MitoN/MitoA ratio can be used to assess relative changes in the amounts of mitochondrial H2S produced over time. We describe the use of MitoA in the fish species P. mexicana to illustrate the steps for adopting the use of MitoA in a new organism, including extraction and purification of MitoA and MitoN from tissues followed by tandem mass spectrometry. In this proof-of-concept study we exposed H2S tolerant P. mexicana to 59 µM free H2S for 5 h, which resulted in increased MitoN/MitoA in brain and gills, but not in liver or muscle, demonstrating increased mitochondrial H2S levels in select tissues following whole-animal H2S exposure. This is the first time that accumulation of H2S has been observed in vivo during whole-animal exposure to free H2S using MitoA
Photometric redshifts from reconstructed QSO templates
From SDSS commissioning photometric and spectroscopic data, we investigate
the utility of photometric redshift techniques to the task of estimating QSO
redshifts. We consider empirical methods (e.g. nearest-neighbor searches and
polynomial fitting), standard spectral template fitting and hybrid approaches
(i.e. training spectral templates from spectroscopic and photometric
observations of QSOs). We find that in all cases, due to the presence of strong
emission-lines within the QSO spectra, the nearest-neighbor and template
fitting methods are superior to the polynomial fitting approach. Applying a
novel reconstruction technique, we can, from the SDSS multicolor photometry,
reconstruct a statistical representation of the underlying SEDs of the SDSS
QSOs. Although, the reconstructed templates are based on only broadband
photometry the common emission lines present within the QSO spectra can be
recovered in the resulting spectral energy distributions. The technique should
be useful in searching for spectral differences among QSOs at a given redshift,
in searching for spectral evolution of QSOs, in comparing photometric redshifts
for objects beyond the SDSS spectroscopic sample with those in the well
calibrated photometric redshifts for objects brighter than 20th magnitude and
in searching for systematic and time variable effects in the SDSS broad band
photometric and spectral photometric calibrations.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, LaTeX AASTeX, submitted to A
Efficient Photometric Selection of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: 100,000 z<3 Quasars from Data Release One
We present a catalog of 100,563 unresolved, UV-excess (UVX) quasar candidates
to g=21 from 2099 deg^2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release One
(DR1) imaging data. Existing spectra of 22,737 sources reveals that 22,191
(97.6%) are quasars; accounting for the magnitude dependence of this
efficiency, we estimate that 95,502 (95.0%) of the objects in the catalog are
quasars. Such a high efficiency is unprecedented in broad-band surveys of
quasars. This ``proof-of-concept'' sample is designed to be maximally
efficient, but still has 94.7% completeness to unresolved, g<~19.5, UVX quasars
from the DR1 quasar catalog. This efficient and complete selection is the
result of our application of a probability density type analysis to training
sets that describe the 4-D color distribution of stars and spectroscopically
confirmed quasars in the SDSS. Specifically, we use a non-parametric Bayesian
classification, based on kernel density estimation, to parameterize the color
distribution of astronomical sources -- allowing for fast and robust
classification. We further supplement the catalog by providing photometric
redshifts and matches to FIRST/VLA, ROSAT, and USNO-B sources. Future work
needed to extend the this selection algorithm to larger redshifts, fainter
magnitudes, and resolved sources is discussed. Finally, we examine some science
applications of the catalog, particularly a tentative quasar number counts
distribution covering the largest range in magnitude (14.2<g<21.0) ever made
within the framework of a single quasar survey.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures (3 color), 2 tables, accepted by ApJS; higher
resolution paper and ASCII version of catalog available at
http://sdss.ncsa.uiuc.edu/qso/nbckde
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