Ante Bellum Studies in Slavery, Politics, and the Railroads

Ante Bellum Studies in Slavery, Politics, and the Railroads By Robert R. Russel Professor and Head, Department of History Western Michigan University Series of Articles: What Was the Compromise of 1850? Reprinted from The Journal of Southern History, XXII (August 1956), 292-309. The Economic History of Negro Slavery in the United States. Reprinted from Agricultural History, XI (October 1937), 308-21. The General Effects of Slavery Upon Southern Economic Progress. Reprinted from The Journal of Southern History, IV (February 1938), 34-54. The Effects of Slavery upon Nonslaveholders in the Ante Bellum South. Reprinted from Agricultural History, XV (April 1941), 112-26. A Revaluation of the Period before the Civil War: Railroads. Reprinted from The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XV (December 1928), 341-54. The Pacific Railway Issue in Politics Prior to the Civil War. Reprinted from The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XII (September 1925), 187-201. Bibliography of the Works of Robert R. Russe

Optimal time decay of the non cut-off Boltzmann equation in the whole space

In this paper we study the large-time behavior of perturbative classical solutions to the hard and soft potential Boltzmann equation without the angular cut-off assumption in the whole space \threed_x with \DgE. We use the existence theory of global in time nearby Maxwellian solutions from \cite{gsNonCutA,gsNonCut0}. It has been a longstanding open problem to determine the large time decay rates for the soft potential Boltzmann equation in the whole space, with or without the angular cut-off assumption \cite{MR677262,MR2847536}. For perturbative initial data, we prove that solutions converge to the global Maxwellian with the optimal large-time decay rate of O(t^{-\frac{\Ndim}{2}+\frac{\Ndim}{2r}}) in the L^2_\vel(L^r_x)-norm for any $2\leq r\leq \infty$.Comment: 31 pages, final version to appear in KR

Impact of Post-Operative Complications on Quality of Life After Pancreatectomy

Purpose This study was undertaken to analyze the quality of life changes reported by patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing pancreatectomy. Design Post-hoc analysis was performed of a clinical trial examining the safety of intraoperative autotransfusion during oncologic resections. Main outcome measures Perioperative (90-day) complications were graded prospectively using a validated 5-point scale. Quality of life parameters were recorded prospectively by a single trained interviewer preoperatively, at the first post-operative outpatient visit, and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months follow-up using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and FACT-An instruments. Results Pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma was performed in 34 patients with a median follow-up of 2 years (range: 1-1.5 years). Major (grade ≥ 3) complications occurred in 12 (35.3%) of patients. Early (<6 month) recurrence was noted in 2 patients (5.9%). Increased severity of fatigue, pain, dyspnea, and loss of appetite over baseline were noted at initial follow-up (P<0.05); however, symptom scores normalized at 6-week follow-up, and remained stable at 6 months. No significant difference was noted in quality of life metrics between patients with or without major complications (P>0.11). A significant (P=0.023) decline in cognitive function vs. baseline was noted at 6-month follow-up after pancreatectomy. Using a repeated-measures generalized linear model, neither age, nor complication occurrence, nor adjuvant therapy, nor early recurrence accounted for this cognitive decline (P>0.10). Conclusion Quality of life metrics tend to normalize to preoperative levels after pancreatectomy at 6 weeks post-operatively. The occurrence of major complications does not predict a decreased quality of life. The decrease in self-reported cognitive function at six months in this cohort merits further study.Image: FACT physical well-being

Stellar Diameters and Temperatures. I. Main-Sequence A, F, and G Stars

We have executed a survey of nearby, main-sequence A-, F-, and G-type stars with the CHARA Array, successfully measuring the angular diameters of forty-four stars with an average precision of ~1.5%. We present new measures of the bolometric flux, which in turn leads to an empirical determination of the effective temperature for the stars observed. In addition, these CHARA-determined temperatures, radii, and luminosities are fit to Yonsei-Yale model isochrones to constrain the masses and ages of the stars. These results are compared to indirect estimates of these quantities obtained by collecting photometry of the stars and applying them to model atmospheres and evolutionary isochrones. We find that for most cases, the models overestimate the effective temperature by ~1.5%-4% when compared to our directly measured values. The overestimated temperatures and underestimated radii in these works appear to cause an additional offset in the star's surface gravity measurements, which consequently yield higher masses and younger ages, in particular for stars with masses greater than ~1.3 M_☉. Additionally, we compare our measurements to a large sample of eclipsing binary stars, and excellent agreement is seen within both data sets. Finally, we present temperature relations with respect to (B – V) and (V – K) colors as well as spectral type, showing that calibration of effective temperatures with errors ~1% is now possible from interferometric angular diameters of stars

Can the evolution of music be analyzed in a quantitative manner?

We propose a methodology to study music development by applying multivariate statistics on composers characteristics. Seven representative composers were considered in terms of eight main musical features. Grades were assigned to each characteristic and their correlations were analyzed. A bootstrap method was applied to simulate hundreds of artificial composers influenced by the seven representatives chosen. Afterwards we quantify non-numeric relations like dialectics, opposition and innovation. Composers differences on style and technique were represented as geometrical distances in the feature space, making it possible to quantify, for example, how much Bach and Stockhausen differ from other composers or how much Beethoven influenced Brahms. In addition, we compared the results with a prior investigation on philosophy. Opposition, strong on philosophy, was not remarkable on music. Supporting an observation already considered by music theorists, strong influences were identified between composers by the quantification of dialectics, implying inheritance and suggesting a stronger master-disciple evolution when compared to the philosophy analysis.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, added references for sections 1 and 4.C, better mathematical description on section 2. New values and interpretation, now considering a bootstrap metho

Architecture of Pol II(G) and molecular mechanism of transcription regulation by Gdown1.

Tight binding of Gdown1 represses RNA polymerase II (Pol II) function in a manner that is reversed by Mediator, but the structural basis of these processes is unclear. Although Gdown1 is intrinsically disordered, its Pol II interacting domains were localized and shown to occlude transcription factor IIF (TFIIF) and transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) binding by perfect positioning on their Pol II interaction sites. Robust binding of Gdown1 to Pol II is established by cooperative interactions of a strong Pol II binding region and two weaker binding modulatory regions, thus providing a mechanism both for tight Pol II binding and transcription inhibition and for its reversal. In support of a physiological function for Gdown1 in transcription repression, Gdown1 co-localizes with Pol II in transcriptionally silent nuclei of early Drosophila embryos but re-localizes to the cytoplasm during zygotic genome activation. Our study reveals a self-inactivation through Gdown1 binding as a unique mode of repression in Pol II function

Emergence of Variability in Isogenic Escherichia coli Populations Infected by a Filamentous Virus

The spread of epidemics not only depends on the average number of parasites produced per host, but also on the existence of highly infectious individuals. It is widely accepted that infectiousness depends on genetic and environmental determinants. However, even in clonal populations of host and viruses growing in homogeneous conditions, high variability can exist. Here we show that Escherichia coli cells commonly display high differentials in viral burst size, and address the kinetics of emergence of such variability with the non-lytic filamentous virus M13. By single-cell imaging of a virally-encoded fluorescent reporter, we monitor the viral charge distribution in infected bacterial populations at different time following infection. A mathematical model assuming autocatalytic virus replication and inheritance of bacterial growth rates quantitatively reproduces the experimental distributions, demonstrating that deterministic amplification of small host inhomogeneities is a mechanism sufficient to explain large and highly skewed distributions. This mechanism of amplification is general and may occur whenever a parasite has an initial phase of exponential growth within its host. Moreover, it naturally reproduces the shift towards higher virulence when the host is experimenting poor conditions, as observed commonly in host-parasite systems