Stable Satellite Orbits for Global Coverage of the Moon

A document proposes a constellation of spacecraft to be placed in orbit around the Moon to provide navigation and communication services with global coverage required for exploration of the Moon. There would be six spacecraft in inclined elliptical orbits: three in each of two orthogonal orbital planes, suggestive of a linked-chain configuration. The orbits have been chosen to (1) provide 99.999-percent global coverage for ten years and (2) to be stable under perturbation by Earth gravitation and solar-radiation pressure, so that no deterministic firing of thrusters would be needed to maintain the orbits. However, a minor amount of orbit control might be needed to correct for such unmodeled effects as outgassing of the spacecraft

Growth and Reproductive Outcomes in Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

The treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is complex. In addition to disease control, important therapeutic goals are the maintenance of normal growth and the acquisition of normal reproductive function. Here, data regarding final adult height (FH) in patients with CAH will be reviewed. Additional difficulties associated with CAH, including risks of obesity and hypertension, will be discussed. Information about fertility and reproductive outcomes in men and women with CAH will also be summarized. Although the treatment of each child with CAH needs to be individualized, close medical followup and laboratory monitoring along with good compliance can often result in positive clinical outcomes

Influence of drainage divides versus arid corridors on genetic structure and demography of a widespread freshwater turtle, Emydura macquarii krefftii, from Australia

The influence of Pleistocene climatic cycles on Southern Hemisphere biotas is not yet well understood. Australia's eastern coastal margin provides an ideal setting for examining the relative influence of landscape development, sea level fluctuation, and cyclic climatic aridity on the evolution of freshwater biodiversity. We examined the impact of climatic oscillations and physical biogeographic barriers on the evolutionary history of the wide-ranging Krefft's river turtle (Emydura macquarii krefftii), using range-wide sampling (649 individuals representing 18 locations across 11 drainages) and analysis of mitochondrial sequences (similar to 1.3-kb control region and ND4) and nuclear microsatellites (12 polymorphic loci). A range of phylogeographic (haplotype networks, molecular dating), demographic (neutrality tests, mismatch distributions), and population genetic analyses (pairwise F-ST, analysis of molecular variance, Bayesian clustering analysis) were implemented to differentiate between competing demographic (local persistence vs. range expansion) and biogeographic (arid corridor vs. drainage divide) scenarios. Genetic data reveal population genetic structure in Krefft's river turtles primarily reflects isolation across drainage divides. Striking north-south regional divergence (2.2% ND4 p-distance; c. 4.73Ma, 95% higher posterior density (HPD) 2.08-8.16Ma) was consistent with long-term isolation across a major drainage divide, not an adjacent arid corridor. Ancient divergence among regional lineages implies persistence of northern Krefft's populations despite the recurrent phases of severe local aridity, but with very low contemporary genetic diversity. Stable demography and high levels of genetic diversity are inferred for southern populations, where aridity was less extreme. Range-wide genetic structure in Krefft's river turtles reflects contemporary and historical drainage architecture, although regional differences in the extent of Plio-Pleistocene climatic aridity may be reflected in current levels of genetic diversity

What Side Are You On? An Examination of the Persuasive Message Factors in Proposition 37 Videos on YouTube

California’s Proposition 37 was a ballot initiative to mandate labeling for products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Although it eventually failed, it generated immense media exposure regarding GMOs and their possible regulatory, health, and economic impacts. The purpose of this study was to compare persuasive message factors in Proposition 37 videos on YouTube. A purposive sample was taken from an auto-generated YouTube channel, which resulted in 174 videos. Using content analysis, researchers identified the message position (for, against, or neutral), sources used, message frames, and message appeals. The majority of videos in the sample presented messages in support of the proposition. Citizens were the most common on-camera source. Proponent videos used more emotional appeals, while both videos against and neutral to the proposition incorporated more logical appeals. In addition, the research found three frames were used more by the videos in favor of the proposition than in videos identified as neutral or against. Overall, the results provide insight to how the videos representing for, against, and neutral message positions utilized various sources, frames, and message appeals. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided

Television Journalists\u27 Perceptions of Agricultural Stories and Sources in Texas

Agricultural organizations often struggle to have their messages heard on television news. Stories about agriculture often contain interview sources that are sometimes not equipped with the first hand knowledge to answer questions about the subject, leaving agricultural organizations wondering why their experts were not interviewed. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence the selection of stories and interview sources for television stories in an effort to improve agricultural organizations’ presence in television news. Fifteen participants from four Texas television markets were interviewed. The data indicate that newsworthiness of agricultural stories depended on market size, with larger markets airing agricultural stories only when highly newsworthy—usually some sort of crisis— events occurred, and smaller markets were more willing to run agricultural stories that could include seasonal stories (harvest, planting, etc.), agricultural innovations, weather’s impact on a crop, or agriculture’s impact on a community. In addition, although opinions on the credibility of certain agricultural sources varied from person to person, governmental sources were considered to be credible in general, with commodity groups, corporations, and interest groups being perceived as a bit less credible. Conclusions were drawn that familiarity and acquaintanceship play a large role in the selection of sources by reporters, and the researchers recommend that agricultural organizations strive to cultivate these relationships to allow for better information transfer

A Case Study of the Risk and Crisis Communications Used in the 2008 Salmonella Outbreak

The Salmonella outbreak of 2008 was one of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in the last 20 years. Tomatoes were initially pinpointed as the source of the outbreak, and the tomato industry suffered losses of $100 million in 2008. Eventually the FDA was able to trace the outbreak to imported jalapeño peppers, but this discovery was too late to recover losses for the tomato industry. The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and crisis communication efforts taken by public relations practitioners in the produce industry during the 2008 Salmonella outbreak to determine which efforts were successful and which were ineffective. This qualitative case study used the interviews of nine public relations practitioners in the tomato industry to collect the information needed to fully explore the research objectives of the study. The study found that all of the public relations practitioners attempted to communicate effectively with their audiences despite the negative nature of the 2008 Salmonella crisis. Additionally, the practitioners revealed their thoughts and perceptions about the outbreak, the media, and the communications used during the outbreak, which provided valuable insight into the communication efforts of an organization during a crisis

Avoiding the Curves: Direct Elicitation of Time Preferences

We propose and test a new method for eliciting curvature-controlled discount rates that are invariant to the form of the utility function. Our method uses a single elicitation task and has the advantage of obtaining individual discount rates without knowledge of risk attitude or parametric assumptions about the form of the utility function. We compare our method to the Andersen et al. (2008) double elicitation technique in which the utility function and discount rate are jointly estimated. We use a laboratory experiment to perform a within-subjects comparison of discount rates from these two methods and find consistent results, which is reassuring given the wide range of estimates in the literature. In addition, the estimated discount rates in our study are “plausibly low” in contrast to the vast majority of discount rate studies. Our results are robust to relaxing the expected utility assumption of linearity in the probabilities, as we find little evidence of probability weighting in our data. In a second experiment, we find that discount rates are not sensitive to the length of the horizon, but are sensitive to the length of the front-end delay, suggesting present bias. We estimate average discount rates to be 12.2 percent in the first experiment and 11.3 percent in the second experiment when the front-end delay is at least two week

Food for thought: obstacles to menu labelling in restaurants and cafeterias

Abstract Menu labelling is recommended as a policy intervention to reduce obesity and diet-related disease. The present commentary considers the many challenges the restaurant industry faces in providing nutrition information on its menus. Barriers include lack of nutrition expertise, time, cost, availability of nutrition information for exotic ingredients, ability to provide accurate nutrition information, libel risk, customer dissatisfaction, limited space on the menu, menu variations, loss of flexibility in changing the menu, staff training and resistance of employees to change current practice. Health promotion specialists and academics involved in fieldwork must help restaurateurs find solutions to these barriers for menu labelling interventions to be widely implemented and successful. Practical support for small independent restaurants such as free or subsidised nutrition analysis, nutrition training for staff and menu design may also be necessary to encourage voluntary participation

A Case Study of the Crisis Communications Used in the 2009 Salmonella Outbreak in Peanut Products

The 2009 Salmonella outbreak in peanut products caused by contaminated peanut butter created a period of negative publicity for the peanut industry in the United States. It was one of many large food outbreaks the United States has seen in the past few years. Although one company was the cause of the outbreak, the peanut industry worked together to maintain its reputation. Crisis communications plans were put into effect, and crisis management teams worked together throughout. The purpose of this study was to examine the crisis communications efforts taken by peanut industry public relations practitioners during the 2009 Salmonella outbreak and determine which efforts had a successful outcome and which were ineffective. A case study methodology was employed whereby interviews with public relations practitioners that were working in the peanut industry during the crisis were conducted to address the research objectives. The findings indicate that a crisis communications plan is imperative for any organization, with the understanding that every crisis is unique and plans should be adapted accordingly. Plans should include, at the minimum, a crisis management team, a list of audiences that should be contacted, and key messages. In addition, media training should be conducted for potential spokespeople and relationships should be developed with members of the media before a crisis occurs. Investigation of the data and literature allowed the researchers to create a pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis model for agricultural communications

Differential effects of hydrocortisone, prednisone, and dexamethasone on hormonal and pharmacokinetic profiles: a pilot study in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the comparative effects of different glucocorticoids on the adrenal and growth hormone (GH) axes in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). We sought to compare the effects of hydrocortisone (HC), prednisone (PDN), and dexamethasone (DEX) in children with classic CAH and to investigate a potential role of pharmacogenetics. METHODS: Subjects were randomly assigned to three sequential 6-week courses of HC, PDN, and DEX, each followed by evaluation of adrenal hormones, IGF-1, GH, and body mass index (BMI). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis of genes in the glucocorticoid pathway was also performed. RESULTS: Nine prepubertal subjects aged 8.1 ± 2.3 years completed the study. Mean ACTH, androstenedione, and 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) values were lower following the DEX arm of the study than after subjects received HC (p ≤ 0.016) or PDN (p ≤ 0.002). 17-OHP was also lower after HC than PDN (p < 0.001). There was no difference in IGF-1, GH, or change in BMI. SNP analysis revealed significant associations between hormone concentrations, pharmacokinetic parameters, and variants in several glucocorticoid pathway genes (ABCB1, NR3C1, IP013, GLCCI1). CONCLUSIONS: DEX resulted in marked adrenal suppression suggesting that its potency relative to hydrocortisone and prednisone was underestimated. SNPs conferred significant differences in responses between subjects. Although preliminary, these pilot data suggest that incorporating pharmacogenetics has the potential to eventually lead to targeted therapy in children with CAH