Age and Ethnic Variations in Attitudes Towards Older Persons, Family and Filial Obligations

Two major interpretations have been advanced to explain the frequent finding that ethnic elders have more extensive kin support networks than Anglo elders. Structural interpretations argue that the exigencies of poverty and ill health cause minorities to rely more heavily on family members for help than Anglos, whereas cultural explanations rest upon presumed differences in family values and attitudes. Despite the prominence of these two explanations, direct tests of the cultural model are rare. In this study, we use data from a study of 100 African, Mexican, Vietnamese, European, and Native American adults to test the hypothesis that there are ethnic group differences in familism, filial responsibility norms, and attitudes toward the elderly. The role of age and socioeconomic status in explaining racial/ethnic variation in these values is also explored. Results suggest that there are important cultural differences among groups, that these differences are not a function of group differences in SES or age, and that the differences are not consistent with the common depiction of traditional ethnic familism

Finite Amplitude Method for Charge-Changing Transitions in Axially-Deformed Nuclei

We describe and apply a version of the finite amplitude method for obtaining the charge-changing nuclear response in the quasiparticle random phase approximation. The method is suitable for calculating strength functions and beta-decay rates, both allowed and forbidden, in axially-deformed open-shell nuclei. We demonstrate the speed and versatility of the code through a preliminary examination of the effects of tensor terms in Skyrme functionals on beta decay in a set of spherical and deformed open-shell nuclei. Like the isoscalar pairing interaction, the tensor terms systematically increase allowed beta-decay rates. This finding generalizes previous work in semimagic nuclei and points to the need for a comprehensive study of time-odd terms in nuclear density functionals.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Baryons in QCD_{AS} at Large N_c: A Roundabout Approach

QCD_{AS}, a variant of large N_c QCD in which quarks transform under the color two-index antisymmetric representation, reduces to standard QCD at N_c = 3 and provides an alternative to the usual large N_c extrapolation that uses fundamental representation quarks. Previous strong plausibility arguments assert that the QCD_{AS} baryon mass scales as N_c^2; however, the complicated combinatoric problem associated with quarks carrying two color indices impeded a complete demonstration. We develop a diagrammatic technique to solve this problem. The key ingredient is the introduction of an effective multi-gluon vertex: a "traffic circle" or "roundabout" diagram. We show that arbitrarily complicated diagrams can be reduced to simple ones with the same leading N_c scaling using this device, and that the leading contribution to baryon mass does, in fact, scale as N_c^2.Comment: 9 pages, 9 pdf figures, ReVTeX with pdflate

An approach to model interest for planetary rover through Dezert–Smarandache theory

In this paper, we propose an approach for assigning an interest level to the goals of a planetary rover. Assigning an interest level to goals allows the rover autonomously to transform and reallocate the goals. The interest level is defined by data-fusing payload and navigation information. The fusion yields an "interest map" that quantifies the level of interest of each area around the rover. In this way the planner can choose the most interesting scientific objectives to be analyzed, with limited human intervention, and reallocates its goals autonomously. The Dezert-Smarandache Theory of Plausible and Paradoxical Reasoning was used for information fusion: this theory allows dealing with vague and conflicting data. In particular, it allows us directly to model the behavior of the scientists that have to evaluate the relevance of a particular set of goals. The paper shows an application of the proposed approach to the generation of a reliable interest map

Groundwater Resource Evaluation in Support of Dewatering a South Carolina Limestone Quarry

2008 S.C. Water Resources Conference - Addressing Water Challenges Facing the State and Regio

RNA-Interference Knockdown of Drosophila Pigment Dispersing Factor in Neuronal Subsets: The Anatomical Basis of a Neuropeptide's Circadian Functions

Background: In animals, neuropeptide signaling is an important component of circadian timekeeping. The neuropeptide pigment dispersing factor (PDF) is required for several aspects of circadian activity rhythms in Drosophila. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we investigate the anatomical basis for PDF’s various circadian functions by targeted PDF RNA-interference in specific classes of Drosophila neuron. We demonstrate that PDF is required in the ventrolateral neurons (vLNs) of the central brain and not in the abdominal ganglion for normal activity rhythms. Differential knockdown of PDF in the large or small vLNs indicates that PDF from the small vLNs is likely responsible for the maintenance of free-running activity rhythms and that PDF is not required in the large vLNs for normal behavior. PDF’s role in setting the period of free-running activity rhythms and the proper timing of evening activity under light:dark cycles emanates from both subtypes of vLN, since PDF in either class of vLN was sufficient for these aspects of behavior. Conclusions/Significance: These results reveal the neuroanatomical basis PDF’s various circadian functions and refine ou

Comparison of the COBE FIRAS and DIRBE Calibrations

We compare the independent FIRAS and DIRBE observations from the COBE in the wavelength range 100-300 microns. This cross calibration provides checks of both data sets. The results show that the data sets are consistent within the estimated gain and offset uncertainties of the two instruments. They show the possibility of improving the gain and offset determination of DIRBE at 140 and 240 microns.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal 11 pages, plus 3 figures in separate postscript files. Figure 3 has three part