Molecular clouds and the large-scale structure of the galaxy

The application of molecular radio astronomy to the study of the large-scale structure of the Galaxy is reviewed and the distribution and characteristic properties of the Galactic population of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), derived primarily from analysis of the Columbia CO survey, and their relation to tracers of Population 1 and major spiral features are described. The properties of the local molecular interstellar gas are summarized. The CO observing programs currently underway with the Center for Astrophysics 1.2 m radio telescope are described, with an emphasis on projects relevant to future comparison with high-energy gamma-ray observations. Several areas are discussed in which high-energy gamma-ray observations by the EGRET (Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope) experiment aboard the Gamma Ray Observatory will directly complement radio studies of the Milky Way, with the prospect of significant progress on fundamental issues related to the structure and content of the Galaxy

Global Studies of Molecular Clouds in the Galaxy, the Magellanic Cloud and M31

Over the past five years we have used our extensive CO surveys of the Galaxy and M31 in conjunction with spacecraft observations to address central problems in galactic structure and the astrophysics of molecular clouds. These problems included the nature of the molecular ring and its relation to the spiral arms and central bar, the cosmic ray distribution, the origin of the diffuse X-ray background, the distribution and properties of x-ray sources and supernova remnants, and the Galactic stellar mass distribution. For many of these problems, the nearby spiral M31 provided an important complementary perspective

Commanding a clear view: Words, concepts, and social science

To lay my cards on the table at the outset: I am broadly sympathetic to Frederic Schaffer’s overall campaign in favor of conceptual elucidation: “investigating the ways in which the social world is built up linguistically and the ways in which social actors deploy concepts to pursue their goals.” On numerous previous occasions I have been, like Schaffer, decidedly critical of scholarly efforts to “fix” the meaning of a concept (like the West or civilization) and then to use that scholarly reconstruction as a base from which to legislate appropriate and inappropriate practical claims using that concept—as though our task as scholars were to correct the social world rather than to explain and understand it. So Schaffer’s careful explication of techniques for elucidation, grouped under the headings of “grounding,” “locating,” and “exposing,” provides a refreshing alternative to the sort of advice about concept analysis one typically receives from scholars engaged in the kind of project I think rather problematic

Studies in the anticatholic origins of the Anglo-American self

Anticatholicism in the early modern, English-speaking world was far more than a crude prejudice. Instead, anticatholic ideas and rhetoric provided an important stimulus for public discussion of a wide range of theological, political, economic, and social issues. Hatred of the Catholic Church was a vital factor in the early development of the public sphere in the English Empire.;The question of English, Protestant identity was central to much of the discourse that took place in the public sphere. Although all participants in this discourse agreed about certain elements of what constituted popery and English Protestantism, there was wide disagreement about other aspects of both ideal, English, Protestant identity, and of the Catholic Other against which that identity was measured. From the sixteenth century on, competing groups in the English-speaking world manipulated the attack on popery in order to promote their own ideal vision of English Protestantism.;This dissertation explores the anticatholic rhetoric of certain individuals and sets of individuals in England and the English colonies between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, in order to discover how these men used anticatholic rhetoric to promote their own agendas. This study is not an exhaustive survey of all variants of Anglo-American antipopery between the Reformation and the American Revolution. Rather, the intention here is to develop a new approach to the study of anticatholicism: anticatholic rhetoric can be analyzed to reveal the existence of competing discourses about Anglo-American identity.;The particular discourses analyzed in this dissertation reveal anxieties about the development of modern political and economic institutions in the English-speaking world. John Foxe represented the Catholic Church as an overpowerful, secular bureaucracy, intruding into the lives of private individuals. Many eighteenth-century authors portrayed Catholicism as a faith that fostered ruthless competition for material gain. These attacks on the Catholic Church as an institution that fostered modernization suggest that many English and colonial Protestants identified themselves with a society of autonomous, local communities, that social scientists label traditional

Gamma-Ray Observations of the Interstellar Clouds in Cepheus

During the last six months of the period of performance, the diffuse gamma-ray emission from the Monoceros region was reanalyzed and one of the important conclusions was revised as a result. The reanalysis incorporated newly-available data from recent EGRET viewing periods and revealed a previously-uncataloged gamma-ray point source near the plane in Monoceros. The effect of incorporating this source in the diffuse emission model was significant, as its flux was comparable to that from a large interstellar cloud complex in the Perseus arm. In the updated model, a greatly reduced gamma-ray emissivity was found in the Perseus arm. This finding alters the previous conclusion that we had found evidence for an enhanced emissivity in the arm, which had supported the hypothesis that cosmic rays are coupled to the interstellar medium on the scale of spiral arms. Our updated findings are consistent with our previous results for the emissivity toward the Cepheus region (Digel et al. 1996), where a monotonic gradient of emissivity in the outer Galaxy was found. The updated analysis of Monoceros was presented at the June, 1998 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and a journal publication should be ready for submission soon

Policy Options and StrategiesTowards a Resolution of Farmers -Nomadic Cattle Herders Conflicts in Nigeria

Farmers-Herders’ crisis is one of the most raging resource wars in the 21st century. This justifies why the dominant news items in international, national, and local newspapers carried captions relating to the said conflict. Some of these captions are: “Nigerian Army Deployed to State Rocked by Deadly Herdsmen Violence”, End Killings by Herdsmen Now, Ohaeneze charges Buhari”, Declare Fulani Herdsmen Terrorists Now – Southern, Middle Belt Leaders charge Buhari”, and “Mass Burial for 73 Nigerian Farmers Killed in Herder Clashes”, among other headlines. Even with the above lamentations, Farmer-herders’ conflict persists in Nigeria and Africa from a broader perspective. In this connection, this study charts the policy option/strategies towards a resolution of farmers-nomadic cattle herders’ conflict in Nigeria. To do this effectively, the study investigates the historical perspective of the conflict under review. It also discusses the causes of the farmersnomadic cattle herders’ conflict in Nigeria. Following this, the paper unravels the effects of the conflict on the Nigeria State as well as the previous and present efforts at resolving the conflict. The study concludes that so far, all efforts made at resolving the farmers-herders’ conflicts have ended in futility because this conflict is witness almost on daily basis in the country. The study recommends the herders to engage in ranching as the best option in addressing this societal malady. All these have been done using the historical methodology

NEW LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS OF RHOMBOIDAL SiC3_3

A.~J.~Apponi, M.~C.~McCarthy, C.~A.~Gottlieb, and P.~Thaddeus, {\sl Journ. Chem. Phys.A.~J.~Apponi, M.~C.~McCarthy, C.~A.~Gottlieb, and P.~Thaddeus, {\sl Astrophys. Journ. Lett.N.~A.~Patel, K.~H.~Young, S.~Brunken, R.~W.~Wilson, P.~Thaddeus, K.~M.~Menten, M.~Reid, M.~C.~McCarthy, Dinh-V~Trung, C.~A.~Gottlieb, and A.~Hedden, {\sl Astrophys. Journ.Author Institution: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St. Cambridge, MA 02138; and School of Engineering \& Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford St.,Cambridge, MA 02138Rhomboidal SiC$_3$, the highly polar planar ring with C$_{2v}$ symmetry and a transannular C---C bond, was detected in our laboratory about 10~years ago, {\bf 111}, 3911 (1999).} and soon afterwards was identified with a radio telescope in the expanding envelope of IRC+10216. {\bf 516}, L103 (1999).} Recently a sensitive spectral line survey of IRC+10216 was made with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) in the $300 - 355$~GHz range with a $3^{\prime\prime} \times 2^{\prime\prime}$ synthesized beam. Many new lines were detected in this survey. Most are from high rotational transitions of molecules that are known in IRC+10216, but some of the lines are quite narrow and more than 10 of these are unassigned.nken, R.~W.~Wilson, P.~Thaddeus, K.~M.~Menten, M.~Reid, M.~C.~McCarthy, Dinh-V~Trung, C.~A.~Gottlieb, and A.~Hedden, {\sl Astrophys. Journ.}, in press (2009).} In support of the SMA observations we have extended the earlier laboratory measurements by Apponi {\it et al.} from 286~GHz and $K_a \le 6$, to 450~GHz and $K_a \le 20$ from rotational levels as high as 825~K above ground. As a result uncertainties in the predicted spectrum for lines with high $K_a$ have been reduced by as much as two orders of magnitude, which should aid the assignment of SiC$_3$ in the SMA survey and in future observations with ALMA. % ##########################################################################################

Biofilm reactors for industrial bioconversion processes: employing potential of enhanced reaction rates

This article describes the use of biofilm reactors for the production of various chemicals by fermentation and wastewater treatment. Biofilm formation is a natural process where microbial cells attach to the support (adsorbent) or form flocs/aggregates (also called granules) without use of chemicals and form thick layers of cells known as "biofilms." As a result of biofilm formation, cell densities in the reactor increase and cell concentrations as high as 74 gL(-1 )can be achieved. The reactor configurations can be as simple as a batch reactor, continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), packed bed reactor (PBR), fluidized bed reactor (FBR), airlift reactor (ALR), upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, or any other suitable configuration. In UASB granular biofilm particles are used. This article demonstrates that reactor productivities in these reactors have been superior to any other reactor types. This article describes production of ethanol, butanol, lactic acid, acetic acid/vinegar, succinic acid, and fumaric acid in addition to wastewater treatment in the biofilm reactors. As the title suggests, biofilm reactors have high potential to be employed in biotechnology/bioconversion industry for viable economic reasons. In this article, various reactor types have been compared for the above bioconversion processes

Extracorporeal life support in pediatric trauma: a systematic review

Introduction Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was once thought to be contraindicated in trauma patients, however ECMO is now used in adult patients with post-traumatic acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multisystem trauma. Despite acceptance as a therapy for the severely injured adult, there is a paucity of evidence supporting ECMO use in pediatric trauma patients. Methods An electronic literature search of PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Database of Collected Reviews from 1972 to 2018 was performed. Included studies reported on ECMO use after trauma in patients ≤18 years of age and reported outcome data. The Institute of Health Economics quality appraisal tool for case series was used to assess study quality. Results From 745 studies, four met inclusion criteria, reporting on 58 pediatric trauma patients. The age range was <1–18 years. Overall study quality was poor with only a single article of adequate quality. Twenty-nine percent of patients were cannulated at adult centers, the remaining at pediatric centers. Ninety-one percent were cannulated for ARDS and the remaining for cardiovascular collapse. Overall 60% of patients survived and the survival rate ranged from 50% to 100%. Seventy-seven percent underwent venoarterial cannulation and the remaining underwent veno-venous cannulation. Conclusion ECMO may be a therapeutic option in critically ill pediatric trauma patients. Consideration should be made for the expansion of ECMO utilization in pediatric trauma patients including its application for pediatric patients at adult trauma centers with ECMO capabilities

Detection of Vibrationally Excited CO in IRC+10216

Using the Submillimeter Array we have detected the J=3-2 and 2-1 rotational transitions from within the first vibrationally excited state of CO toward the extreme carbon star IRC+10216 (CW Leo). The emission remains spatially unresolved with an angular resolution of ~2" and, given that the lines originate from energy levels that are ~3100 K above the ground state, almost certainly originates from a much smaller (~10^{14} cm) sized region close to the stellar photosphere. Thermal excitation of the lines requires a gas density of ~10^{9} cm^{-3}, about an order of magnitude higher than the expected gas density based previous infrared observations and models of the inner dust shell of IRC+10216.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter