Structure of the doublet bands in doubly odd nuclei: The case of 128Cs^{128}Cs

The structure of the $\Delta J = 1$ doublet bands in $^{128}Cs$ is investigated within the framework of the Interacting Vector Boson Fermion Model (IVBFM). A new, purely collective interpretation of these bands is given on the basis of the used boson-fermion dynamical symmetry of the model. The energy levels of the doublet bands as well as the absolute $B(E2)$ and $B(M1)$ transition probabilities between the states of both yrast and yrare bands are described quite well. The observed odd-even staggering of both $B(M1)$ and $B(E2)$ values is reproduced by the introduction of an appropriate interaction term of quadrupole type, which produces such a staggering effect in the transition strengths. The calculations show that the appearance of doublet bands in certain odd-odd nuclei could be a consequence of the realization of a larger dynamical symmetry based on the non-compact supersymmetry group $OSp(2\Omega /12, R)$.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Consumer Response to Genetically Modified Foods

The consumer trait and characteristic identification, and corresponding relationship to the genetically modified food product's negative reactions was determined from a 354 respondent, 130 item mailed survey. The survey and partially mediated model from Mowen's 3M Model of Personality and Motivation explained how personality traits influence genetically modified food reactions.Consumer/Household Economics,

The Mean Ultraviolet Spectrum of a Representative Sample of Faint z~3 Lyman Alpha Emitters

We discuss the rest-frame ultraviolet emission line spectra of a large (~100) sample of low luminosity redshift z~3.1 Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) drawn from a Subaru imaging survey in the SSA22 survey field. Our earlier work based on smaller samples indicated that such sources have high [OIII]/[OII] line ratios possibly arising from a hard ionising spectrum that may be typical of similar sources in the reionisation era. With optical spectra secured from VLT/VIMOS, we re-examine the nature of the ionising radiation in a larger sample using the strength of the high ionisation diagnostic emission lines of CIII]1909, CIV1549, HeII1640, and OIII]1661,1666 in various stacked subsets. Our analysis confirms earlier suggestions of a correlation between the strength of Ly-alpha and CIII] emission and we find similar trends with broad band UV luminosity and rest-frame UV colour. Using various diagnostic line ratios and our stellar photoionisation models, we determine both the gas phase metallicity and hardness of the ionisation spectrum characterised by xi_ion - the number of Lyman continuum photons per UV luminosity. We confirm our earlier suggestion that xi_ion is significantly larger for LAEs than for continuum-selected Lyman break galaxies, particularly for those LAEs with the faintest UV luminosities. We briefly discuss the implications for cosmic reionisation if the metal-poor intensely star-forming systems studied here are representative examples of those at much higher redshift.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

The Princess and the Pea: The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance Between the Texas Attorney General and Aetna\u27s Texas HMOs and Its Impact on Financial Risk Shifting by Managed Care

The Texas Attorney General attempts to regulate managed care organizations and their shifting of financial risk by utilizing Assurance Voluntary Compliance to make the costs associated with the provisions of health insurance more transparent. A primary technique used to shift financial risk to providers of healthcare services is through the use of downstream entities which are commonly provider-sponsored organizations. It is the relationship between the downstream entity and the individual physicians that ultimately affects patient care, the doctor-patient relationship, and the quality of care. The regulatory community throughout the United States has made the regulation of downstream entities its number one priority. It was in this context that then-Texas Attorney General Dan Morales filed suit against six health maintenance organizations (“HMO”) in December 1998, which ultimately led to the creation of Assurance Voluntary Compliance. The Assurance Voluntary Compliance led to HMO’s introducing “consumer driven” health plans. These new health plans call for the consumer to bear a greater responsibility of risk. In effect, the consumer is being called upon to assume the role of insurer in the consumer’s own health care expenditures. In the long term, it is unlikely that consumers will be able to manage risk, control costs, and ensure quality better than the managed care industry, employers, and health care providers that the consumers will be forced to replace

Feasibility of using teleradiology to improve tuberculosis screening and case management in a district hospital in Malawi.

Malawi has one of the world's highest rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (10.6%), and southern Malawi, where Thyolo district is located, bears the highest burden in the country (14.5%). Tuberculosis, common among HIV-infected people, requires radiologic diagnosis, yet Malawi has no radiologists in public service. This hinders rapid and accurate diagnosis and increases morbidity and mortality

Designing and Implementing a Longitudinal Study of Children with Neurological, Genetic, or Metabolic Conditions: \u3cem\u3eCharting the Territory\u3c/em\u3e

Background: Children with progressive metabolic, neurological, or chromosomal conditions and their families anticipate an unknown lifespan, endure unstable and often painful symptoms, and cope with erratic emotional and spiritual crises as the condition progresses along an uncertain trajectory towards death. Much is known about the genetics and pathophysiology of these diseases, but very little has been documented about the trajectory of symptoms for children with these conditions or the associated experience of their families. A longitudinal study design will help to close this gap in knowledge. Methods/Design: Charting the Territory is a longitudinal descriptive, correlational study currently underway with children 0–19 years who are diagnosed with progressive neurological, metabolic, or chromosomal conditions and their families. The purpose of the study is to determine and document the clinical progression of the condition and the associated bio psychosocial spiritual experiences of these parents and siblings age 7–18 years. Approximately 300 families, both newly diagnosed children and those with established conditions, are being recruited in six Canadian cities. Children and their families are being followed for a minimum of 18 months, depending on when they enroll in the study. Family data collection will continue after the child’s death if the child dies during the study period. Data collection includes monthly parental assessment of the child’s symptoms; an annual functional assessment of the child; and completion of established instruments every 6 months by parents to assess family functioning, marital satisfaction, health status, anxiety, depression, stress, burden, grief, spirituality, and growth, and by siblings to assess coping and health. Impact of participation on parents is assessed after 1 year and at the end of the study. Chart reviews are conducted at enrollment and at the conclusion of the study or at the time of the child’s death. Discussion: Knowledge developed from this study will provide some of the first ever detailed descriptions of the clinical symptom trajectory of these non-curable progressive conditions and the bio-psychosocial spiritual aspects for families, from diagnosis through bereavement. Information about developing and implementing this study may be useful to other researchers who are interested in designing a longitudinal study

The Lyman Continuum Escape Survey: Ionizing Radiation from [O III]-Strong Sources at a Redshift of 3.1

We present results from the LymAn Continuum Escape Survey (LACES), a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program designed to characterize the ionizing radiation emerging from a sample of Lyman alpha emitting galaxies at redshift $z\simeq 3.1$. As many show intense [O III] emission characteristic of $z>6.5$ star-forming galaxies, they may represent valuable low redshift analogs of galaxies in the reionization era. Using HST Wide Field Camera 3 / UVIS $F336W$ to image Lyman continuum emission, we investigate the escape fraction of ionizing photons in this sample. For 61 sources, of which 77% are spectroscopically confirmed and 53 have measures of [O III] emission, we detect Lyman continuum leakage in 20%, a rate significantly higher than is seen in individual continuum-selected Lyman break galaxies. We estimate there is a 98% probability that $\leq 2$ of our detections could be affected by foreground contamination. Fitting multi-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to take account of the varying stellar populations, dust extinctions and metallicities, we derive individual Lyman continuum escape fractions corrected for foreground intergalactic absorption. We find escape fractions of 15 to 60% for individual objects, and infer an average 20% escape fraction by fitting composite SEDs for our detected samples. Surprisingly however, even a deep stack of those sources with no individual $F336W$ detections provides a stringent upper limit on the average escape fraction of less than 0.5%. We examine various correlations with source properties and discuss the implications in the context of the popular picture that cosmic reionization is driven by such compact, low metallicity star-forming galaxies.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap