The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II

Hear the fascinating story of the women who flew in WW II as members of the WASP, from Natalie Stewart-Smith. Her thesis on them was the very first academic study of the WASP and is based on numerous personal interviews, including Jacqueline Cochran, their founder. The military contribution of women fliers during World War I is a seldom seen part of the WASP story as well

Keys from the past: Unlocking the power of eighteenth-century contrapuntal pedagogies

How did eighteenth-century musicians learn to compose, and how were they able to produce musical works with such comparative ease and fluency? What were the strategies at play that enabled even the most workman-like of composers to produce vast amounts of competent music, and how was it possible for almost any professional keyboard player to improvise a passable fugue? It is only recently that scholars have sought the answers to such questions. Groundbreaking work by Gjerdigen (1988; 2007a), Porter (2000; 2002), Renwick (1995), and others, provides a fascinating glimpse of the working methods of eighteenth-century musicians, and also offers implications for contemporary music theory teaching. Historically, training musicians in the art of composition has been one of theory’s primary goals, and it could be argued that the ability to replicate a musical style is a true litmus test of deep understanding. Theory instruction in Australia, however, often falls short in this regard, confining itself instead to drilling rudiments, basic voice-leading tasks, and superficial analysis such as labeling chords. This paper aims to show how theory teaching can be reenvisioned to include style composition as a pedagogically powerful and rewarding activity. It also highlights the key usefulness of eighteenth-century pedagogies in unlocking windows into the common-practice idiom

Antibullying Interventions in Schools : Ingredients of Effective Programs

Because bullying is a serious problem in Canadian schools, antibullying programs have been widely implemented to redress the problem. School principals in Ontario (N=395) completed a questionnaire to document the severity of bullying, the amount of anti‐bullying resources, and the variety of antibullying activities in their schools. Results reveal that reductions in bullying in previous years, sufficiency of resources for resolving bullying, and amounts of antibullying programming were all positively associated antibullying program outcomes. These data suggest that the investment of time, effort, and money in school‐based antibullying initiatives can lead to safer and more peaceful schools environments. Key words: bullying, primary prevention, program evaluation Comme l’intimidation est un problème sérieux dans les écoles canadiennes, des programmes de lutte contre l’intimidation font leur apparition un peu partout. Des directeurs et directrices d’école en Ontario (N = 395) ont rempli un questionnaire visant à documenter la gravité du problème, les ressources existantes et les diverses activités anti‐intimidation mises en place dans les écoles. D’après les résultats du questionnaire, la réduction de l’intimidation au cours des années précédentes, la pertinence des ressources en place pour faire face aux incidents d’intimidation et le nombre de programmes de lutte contre l’intimidation étaient tous corrélés à l’amélioration des résultats en la matière. Ces données semblent indiquer que le temps, les efforts et les fonds investis dans les initiatives anti‐intimidation contribuent à créer un climat de paix et rendre les écoles plus sécuritaires. Mots clés : intimidation, prévention, évaluation de programmes.

A controlled migration genetic algorithm operator for hardware-in-the-loop experimentation

In this paper, we describe the development of an extended migration operator, which combats the negative effects of noise on the effective search capabilities of genetic algorithms. The research is motivated by the need to minimize the num- ber of evaluations during hardware-in-the-loop experimentation, which can carry a significant cost penalty in terms of time or financial expense. The authors build on previous research, where convergence for search methods such as Simulated Annealing and Variable Neighbourhood search was accelerated by the implementation of an adaptive decision support operator. This methodology was found to be effective in searching noisy data surfaces. Providing that noise is not too significant, Genetic Al- gorithms can prove even more effective guiding experimentation. It will be shown that with the introduction of a Controlled Migration operator into the GA heuristic, data, which repre- sents a significant signal-to-noise ratio, can be searched with significant beneficial effects on the efficiency of hardware-in-the- loop experimentation, without a priori parameter tuning. The method is tested on an engine-in-the-loop experimental example, and shown to bring significant performance benefits

Exact diagonalization of the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on finite bcc lattices to estimate properties on the infinite lattice

Here we generate finite bipartite body-centred cubic lattices up to 32 vertices. We have studied the spin one half Heisenberg antiferromagnet by diagonalizing its Hamiltonian on each of the finite lattices and hence computing its ground state properties. By extrapolation of these data we obtain estimates of the T = 0 properties on the infinite bcc lattice. Our estimate of the T = 0 energy agrees to five parts in ten thousand with third order spin wave and series expansion method estimates, while our estimate of the staggered magnetization agrees with the spin wave estimate to within a quarter of one percent.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 1 ps figure, to appear in J.Phys.

Melioidosis–a disease of socioeconomic disadvantage

Background There is growing recognition of the contribution of the social determinants of health to the burden of many infectious diseases. However, the relationship between socioeconomic status and the incidence and outcome of melioidosis is incompletely defined. Methods All residents of Far North Queensland, tropical Australia with culture-proven melioidosis between January 1998 and December 2020 were eligible for the study. Their demographics, comorbidities and socioeconomic status were correlated with their clinical course. Socioeconomic status was determined using the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage score, a measure of socioeconomic disadvantage developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Socioeconomic disadvantage was defined as residence in a region with a SEIFA score in the lowest decile in Australia. Results 321 eligible individuals were diagnosed with melioidosis during the study period, 174 (54.2%) identified as Indigenous Australians; 223/321 (69.5%) were bacteraemic, 85/321 (26.5%) required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission and 37/321 (11.5%) died. 156/321 (48.6%) were socioeconomically disadvantaged, compared with 56603/269002 (21.0%) of the local general population (p<0.001). Socioeconomically disadvantaged patients were younger, more likely to be female, Indigenous, diabetic or have renal disease. They were also more likely to die prior to hospital discharge (26/156 (16.7%) versus 11/165 (6.7%), p = 0.002) and to die at a younger age (median (IQR) age: 50 (38–68) versus 65 (59–81) years, p = 0.02). In multivariate analysis that included age, Indigenous status, the presence of bac-teraemia, ICU admission and the year of hospitalisation, only socioeconomic disadvantage (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 2.49 (1.16–5.35), p = 0.02) and ICU admission (OR (95% CI): 4.79 (2.33–9.86), p<0.001) were independently associated with death. Conclusion Melioidosis is disease of socioeconomic disadvantage. A more holistic approach to the delivery of healthcare which addresses the social determinants of health is necessary to reduce the burden of this life-threatening disease

Prisoner's Dilemma cellular automata revisited: evolution of cooperation under environmental pressure

We propose an extension of the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma cellular automata, introduced by Nowak and May \cite{nm92}, in which the pressure of the environment is taken into account. This is implemented by requiring that individuals need to collect a minimum score $U_{min}$, representing indispensable resources (nutrients, energy, money, etc.) to prosper in this environment. So the agents, instead of evolving just by adopting the behaviour of the most successful neighbour (who got $U^{msn}$), also take into account if $U^{msn}$ is above or below the threshold $U_{min}$. If $U^{msn}<U_{min}$ an individual has a probability of adopting the opposite behaviour from the one used by its most successful neighbour. This modification allows the evolution of cooperation for payoffs for which defection was the rule (as it happens, for example, when the sucker's payoff is much worse than the punishment for mutual defection). We also analyse a more sophisticated version of this model in which the selective rule is supplemented with a "win-stay, lose-shift" criterion. The cluster structure is analyzed and, for this more complex version we found power-law scaling for a restricted region in the parameter space.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures; added figures and revised tex

B850: Representative Farm Budgets and Performance Indicators for Integrated Farming Practices in Maine

This report compares the relative profitability and sustainability of Maine farms integrating crops and livestock with comparable non-integrated or conventional farms. Potato and dairy systems coupled for only two years had greater profitability compared to conventional systems. Profitability increased in the short term in two ways. First, potato farms grew more of their primary cash crop. Second, dairy farms expanded cow numbers, increasing profitability assuming increasing returns to scale. Coupled systems integrated for more than ten years (long term) had more favorable profitability and sustainability measures than short-term couplers since greater manure-nutrient credits were taken for potatoes and silage corn. The picture improved even more if potato yields increased in the long term, as suggested by long-term rotation plot studies in Maine. Even if coupling is more profitable than nonintegrated systems, it still requires farms to be in close proximity and for farmers to have adequate working relationships.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1004/thumbnail.jp