The Incidental Matters Rule and Judicially Created Exceptions to the Nebraska Public Meetings Law: A Call to the Legislature in \u3ci\u3eMeyer v. Board of Regents\u3c/i\u3e, 510 N.W.2d 450 (Neb. App. 1993)

This Note first addresses the facts of the Nebraska Court of Appeals decision in Meyer v. Board of Regents and then generally discusses the Nebraska Public Meetings Law. Specific holdings of Meyer are critiqued. The final parts of this Note consist of two features. First, in order to assist practitioners, the author suggests procedures for public entity negotiations that should avoid most Nebraska Public Meetings Law violations. Second, the author suggests that the holding in Meyer can best be explained by the court\u27s concern for the real-world consequences and dangerous precedential value that would have been set if the court would have invalidated the actions taken by the Board of Regents. In the final analysis, such result-oriented decision making is criticized, and the Nebraska Legislature is invited to take appropriate corrective action

Investigating poultry trade patterns to guide avian influenza surveillance and control: a case study in Vietnam

Live bird markets are often the focus of surveillance activities monitoring avian influenza viruses (AIV) circulating in poultry. However, in order to ensure a high sensitivity of virus detection and effectiveness of management actions, poultry management practices features influencing AIV dynamics need to be accounted for in the design of surveillance programmes. In order to address this knowledge gap, a cross-sectional survey was conducted through interviews with 791 traders in 18 Vietnamese live bird markets. Markets greatly differed according to the sources from which poultry was obtained, and their connections to other markets through the movements of their traders. These features, which could be informed based on indicators that are easy to measure, suggest that markets could be used as sentinels for monitoring virus strains circulating in specific segments of the poultry production sector. AIV spread within markets was modelled. Due to the high turn-over of poultry, viral amplification was likely to be minimal in most of the largest markets. However, due to the large number of birds being introduced each day, and challenges related to cleaning and disinfection, environmental accumulation of viruses at markets may take place, posing a threat to the poultry production sector and to public health

Suppression of the near-infrared OH night sky lines with fibre Bragg gratings - first results

The background noise between 1 and 1.8 microns in ground-based instruments is dominated by atmospheric emission from hydroxyl molecules. We have built and commissioned a new instrument, GNOSIS, which suppresses 103 OH doublets between 1.47 - 1.7 microns by a factor of ~1000 with a resolving power of ~10,000. We present the first results from the commissioning of GNOSIS using the IRIS2 spectrograph at the AAT. The combined throughput of the GNOSIS fore-optics, grating unit and relay optics is ~36 per cent, but this could be improved to ~46 per cent with a more optimal design. We measure strong suppression of the OH lines, confirming that OH suppression with fibre Bragg gratings will be a powerful technology for low resolution spectroscopy. The integrated OH suppressed background between 1.5 and 1.7 microns is reduced by a factor of 9 compared to a control spectrum using the same system without suppression. The potential of low resolution OH suppressed spectroscopy is illustrated with example observations. The GNOSIS background is dominated by detector dark current below 1.67 microns and by thermal emission above 1.67 microns. After subtracting these we detect an unidentified residual interline component of ~ 860 +/ 210 ph/s/m^2/micron/arcsec^2. This component is equally bright in the suppressed and control spectra. We have investigated the possible source of the interline component, but were unable to discriminate between a possible instrumental artifact and intrinsic atmospheric emission. Resolving the source of this emission is crucial for the design of fully optimised OH suppression spectrographs. The next generation OH suppression spectrograph will be focussed on resolving the source of the interline component, taking advantage of better optimisation for a FBG feed. We quantify the necessary improvements for an optimal OH suppressing fibre spectrograph design.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 18 figure

Dust and the type II-Plateau supernova 2004dj

We present mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy of a Type II-plateau supernova, SN 2004dj, obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, spanning 106--1393 d after explosion. MIR photometry plus optical/near-IR observations are also reported. An early-time MIR excess is attributed to emission from non-silicate dust formed within a cool dense shell (CDS). Most of the CDS dust condensed between 50 d and 165 d, reaching a mass of 0.3 x 10^{-5} Msun. Throughout the observations much of the longer wavelength (>10 microns) part of the continuum is explained as an IR echo from interstellar dust. The MIR excess strengthened at later times. We show that this was due to thermal emission from warm, non-silicate dust formed in the ejecta. Using optical/near-IR line-profiles and the MIR continua, we show that the dust was distributed as a disk whose radius appeared to be slowly shrinking. The disk radius may correspond to a grain destruction zone caused by a reverse shock which also heated the dust. The dust-disk lay nearly face-on, had high opacities in the optical/near-IR regions, but remained optically thin in the MIR over much of the period studied. Assuming a uniform dust density, the ejecta dust mass by 996 d was 0.5 +/- 0.1) x 10^{-4} Msun, and exceeded 10^{-4}Msun by 1393 d. For a dust density rising toward the center the limit is higher. Nevertheless, this study suggests that the amount of freshly-synthesized dust in the SN 2004dj ejecta is consistent with that found from previous studies, and adds further weight to the claim that such events could not have been major contributors to the cosmic dust budget.Comment: ApJ in press; minor changes c.f. v

ROPS: A New Search for Habitable Earths in the Southern Sky

We present the first results from our Red Optical Planet Survey (ROPS) to search for low mass planets orbiting late type dwarfs (M5.5V - M9V) in their habitable zones (HZ). Our observations, with the red arm of the MIKE spectrograph (0.5 - 0.9 microns) at the 6.5 m Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory indicate that >= 92 per cent of the flux lies beyond 0.7 microns. We use a novel approach that is essentially a hybrid of the simultaneous iodine and ThAr methods for determining precision radial velocities. We apply least squares deconvolution to obtain a single high S/N ratio stellar line for each spectrum and cross correlate against the simultaneously observed telluric line profile, which we derive in the same way. Utilising the 0.62 - 0.90 micron region, we have achieved an r.m.s. precision of 10 m/s for an M5.5V spectral type star with spectral S/N ~160 on 5 minute timescales. By M8V spectral type, a precision of ~30 m/s at S/N = 25 is suggested, although more observations are needed. An assessment of our errors and scatter in the radial velocity points hints at the presence of stellar radial velocity variations. Of our sample of 7 stars, 2 show radial velocity signals at 6-sigma and 10-sigma of the cross correlation uncertainties. If the signals are planetary in origin, our findings are consistent with estimates of Neptune mass planets that predict a frequency of 13 - 27 per cent for early M dwarfs.Our current analysis indicates the we can achieve a sensitivity that is equivalent to the amplitude induced by a 6 M_Earth planet orbiting in the habitable zone. Based on simulations, we estimate that <10 M_Earth habitable zone planets will be detected in a new stellar mass regime, with <=20 epochs of observations.Comment: MNRAS accepted: 14 pages, 8 figures, 3 table

A methodology for projecting hospital bed need: a Michigan case study

Michigan's Department of Community Health (MDCH) is responsible for managing hospitals through the utilization of a Certificate of Need (CON) Commission. Regulation is achieved by limiting the number of beds a hospital can use for inpatient services. MDCH assigns hospitals to service areas and sub areas by use patterns. Hospital beds are then assigned within these Hospital Service Areas and Facility Sub Areas. The determination of the number of hospital beds a facility subarea is authorized to hold, called bed need, is defined in the Michigan Hospital Standards and published by the CON Commission and MDCH. These standards vaguely define a methodology for calculating hospital bed need for a projection year, five years ahead of the base year (defined as the most recent year for which patient data have been published by the Michigan Hospital Association). MDCH approached the authors and requested a reformulation of the process. Here we present a comprehensive guide and associated code as interpreted from the hospital standards with results from the 2011 projection year. Additionally, we discuss methodologies for other states and compare them to Michigan's Bed Need methodology

How do modern transportation projects impact on development of impervious surfaces via new urban area and urban intensification? Evidence from Hangzhou Bay Bridge, China

Many countries have been constructing modern ground transportation projects. This raises questions about the impacts of such projects on development of impervious surfaces, yet there have been few attempts to systematically analyze these impacts. This paper attempts to narrow this information gap using the Hangzhou Bay Bridge project, China, as an exploratory case study. Using remotely sensed data, we developed a framework based on statistical techniques, wavelet multi-resolution analysis and Theil-Sen slope analysis to measure the changes in impervious surfaces. The derived changes were then linked to the bridge project with respect to socio-economic factors and land use development activities. The findings highlight that the analytical framework could reliably quantify the area, pattern and form of new urban area and urban intensification. Change detection analysis showed that urban area, GDP and the length of highways increased moderately in the pre-Hangzhou Bay Bridge period (1995–2002) while all of these variables increased more substantially during (2002–2009) and after (2009–2013) the bridge construction. The results indicate that the development of impervious surfaces due to new urban area came at the expense of permeable surfaces in the urban fringe and within rural regions, while urban intensification occurred mainly in the form of the redevelopment of older structures to modern high-rise buildings within existing urban regions. In the context of improved transportation infrastructure, our findings suggest that new urban area and urban intensification can be attributed to consecutive events which act like a chain reaction: construction of improved transportation projects, their impacts on land use development policies, effects of both systems on socio-economic variables, and finally all these changes influence new urban area and urban intensification. However, more research is needed to better understand this sequential process and to examine the broader applicability of the concept in other developing regions

Multiwavelength observations of the M15 intermediate velocity cloud

We present Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope HI images, Lovell Telescope multibeam HI wide-field mapping, Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper facility images, William Herschel Telescope longslit echelle CaII observations, and IRAS ISSA 60 and 100 micron coadded images towards the intermediate velocity cloud located in the general direction of the M15 globular cluster. When combined with previously-published Arecibo data, the HI gas in the IVC is found to be clumpy, with peak HI column density of 1.5x10^(20) cm^(-2), inferred volume density (assuming spherical symmetry) of 24 cm^(-3)/(D kpc), and maximum brightness temperature at a resolution of 81x14 arcsec of 14 K. The HI gas in the cloud is warm, with a minimum FWHM value of 5 km/s, corresponding to a kinetic temperature, in the absence of turbulence, of 540 K. There are indications in the HI data of 2-component velocity structure in the IVC, indicative of cloudlets. This velocity structure is also tentatively seen in the CaK spectra, although the SNR is low. The main IVC condensation is detected by WHAM in H-alpha with intensities uncorrected for Galactic absorption of upto 1.3 Rayleigh, indicating that the cloud is partially ionised. The FWHM of the ionised component, at a resolution of 1 degree, exceeds 30 km/s. The spatial and velocity coincidence of the H-alpha and HI peaks in emission is qualitatively good. Finally, the 100 and 60 micron IRAS images show spatial coincidence over a 0.7 degree field, with low and intermediate-velocity gas, respectively, indicating that the IVC may contain dust.Comment: MNRAS, in pres

Discovery of a Be/X-ray Binary Consistent with the Position of GRO J2058+42

GRO J2058+42 is a 195 s transient X-ray pulsar discovered in 1995 with BATSE. In 1996, RXTE located GRO J2058+42 to a 90% confidence error circle with a 4' radius. On 20 February 2004, the region including the error circle was observed with Chandra ACIS-I. No X-ray sources were detected within the error circle, however, 2 faint sources were detected in the ACIS-I field-of-view. We obtained optical observations of the brightest object, CXOU J205847.5+414637, that had about 64 X-ray counts and was just 0.3' outside the error circle. The optical spectrum contained a strong H alpha line and corresponds to an infrared object in the 2MASS catalog, indicating a Be/X-ray binary system. Pulsations were not detected in the Chandra observations, but similar flux variations and distance estimates suggest that CXOU J205847.5+414637 and GRO J2058+42 are the same object. We present results from the Chandra observation, optical observations, new and previously unreported RXTE observations, and a reanalysis of a ROSAT observation.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Optical and infrared observations of the Type IIP SN2002hh from day 3 to 397

We present optical and infrared (IR) observations of the type IIP SN2002hh from 3 to 397 days after explosion. The optical spectroscopic (4-397d) and photometric (3-278d) data are complemented by spectroscopic (137-381d) and photometric (137-314d) data acquired at IR wavelengths. This is the first time L-band spectra have ever been successfully obtained for a supernova at a distance beyond the Local Group. The VRI light curves in the first 40 days reveal SN2002hh to be a SN IIP (plateau) - the most common of all core-collapse supernovae. SN2002hh is one of the most highly extinguished supernovae ever investigated. To provide a good match between its early-time spectrum and a coeval spectrum of the Type IIP SN1999em, as well as maintaining consistency with KI interstellar absorption, we invoke a 2-component extinction model. One component is due to the combined effect of the interstellar medium of our Milky Way Galaxy and the SN host galaxy, while the other component is due to a "dust pocket" where the grains have a mean size smaller than in the interstellar medium. The early-time optical light curves of SNe 1999em and 2002hh are generally well-matched, as are the radioactive tails of these two SNe and SN1987A. The late-time similarity of the SN2002hh optical light curves to those of SN1987A, together with measurements of the optical/IR luminosity and [FeII] 1.257mu emission indicate that 0.07 +- 0.02 Msun of Ni 56 was ejected by SN2002hh. [... ABRIDGED...] From the [OI] 6300,6364 A doublet luminosity we infer a 16-18 Msun main-sequence progenitor star. The progenitor of SN2002hh was probably a red supergiant with a substantial, dusty wind.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA