The experience of drowning

Internationally, drowning is a leading cause of accidental death that features in many legal cases. In these cases, possible mitigations and the 'pain and suffering' in terms of the duration and subjective experience of drowning are often pivotal in determining levels of compensation and outcome. As a result, there is a requirement to understand the stages of the drowning process, and the duration and physiological and subjective responses associated with each stage. In this short review we focus on these issues

Animal Feeding Operations and Water Quality--Resources and Livestock in Balance

This article describes an education program that was developed to provide conservation district staff an understanding of state and federal water quality rules and guidance on when to recommend specific best management practices to livestock producers to protect water quality. Real farm case studies were used to teach site-specific conditions that would place a livestock owner at risk of having a significant negative impact on surface or ground water quality. Specific outcomes were case studies in PowerPoint presentations, best management fact sheets, and a livestock-influenced water quality risk assessment tool

Livestock-Influenced Water Quality Risk Assessment Tool

This article describes a livestock-influenced water quality risk assessment tool that was developed to assist livestock producers with conducting a self-assessment of their operation and management relative to a facility\u27s risk of negatively affecting water quality. The tool focuses on factors likely to influence designation of the operation as a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation by a permitting authority and was also designed to be used in cooperation with a technical service provider to make a site-specific assessment. The tool is available in paper format and an interactive Microsoft ExcelTM spreadsheet version

Teacher Perceptions of Indigenous Representations in History: A Phenomenological Study

This phenomenological study addressed teacher perceptions of indigenous representations in United States history within a school district in East Tennessee. Teacher perceptions of indigenous representations in history were defined as teacher beliefs towards the inclusion and representation of indigenous peoples in United States history. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted from a purposeful sample of United States history teachers from multiple high schools in the school district. The analysis of data revealed three themes: (a) systemic challenges to multiculturalism within state course standards and textbooks, (b) teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in teaching their students using indigenous perspectives, (c) and the perpetuation of indigenous stereotypes. Furthermore, analysis revealed that U.S. history courses in the district perpetuate both the notion of indigenous peoples as historical bystanders and the racial stereotypes of Native Americans

High-frequency accelerometer recording of key predatory behaviors in vipers: validation and case study with Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus)

High-frequency accelerometer recording of key predatory behaviors in vipers: validation and case study with Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) Morgan Thompson, Richard H. Adams, Anna F. Tipton, and Dominic L. DeSantis Tri-axial accelerometers (ACTs) are becoming increasingly common in studies of animal behavior wherein direct observation of subjects in nature is constrained or impossible. ACTs are small (\u3c 1 g) piezo-electric (spring-like) sensors that measure three-dimensional acceleration (upward, downward, and side-to-side) derived from subject motion. When leveraged with advanced machine learning techniques, these data can enable precise automated classification of a wide range of movement-mediated behaviors. Until recently, ACTs were largely reserved for larger-bodied organisms or those most amenable to the temporary external attachment of devices. Ongoing ACT miniaturization has now expanded the breadth of organisms amenable to these methods. This project aims to expand on a recently developed framework for ACT monitoring in wild-ranging snakes, a group that has been mostly overlooked in biologging applications. We are currently conducting extensive captive validation trials for robust model training and testing to enable classification of predatory behaviors, including striking and ingestion of prey items, in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). Following captive validation, we will translate this method to the field with a population of C. horridus in the lower Piedmont of middle Georgia to evaluate the efficacy of externally attached ACTs for remote and continuous monitoring of predatory behaviors by wild-ranging vipers. We envision validation of this technique carrying significant conservation and management implications; real-time monitoring of foraging efficiency in the field opens the door to improved interpretation of the causes and consequences of variation in individual behavior and performance, and its ultimate effects on population trajectories

Charge asymmetry in hadroproduction of heavy quarks

A sizeable difference in the differential production cross section of top and antitop quarks, respectively, is predicted for hadronically produced heavy quarks. It is of order $\alpha_s$ and arises from the interference between charge odd and even amplitudes respectively. For the TEVATRON it amounts to approximately 5-10% in the region where the cross section is large and could therefore be measured in the next round of experiments. At the LHC the asymmetry can be studied by selecting appropriately chosen kinematical regions.Comment: LaTeX, 5pp, 5 figures, uses revtex. The complete paper, including figures, is also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/ , or via www at http://www-ttp.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/preprints/ Final version as published in Phys.Rev.Let