Very Light Jet: Pilot Training to Enhance Safe and Efficient Operation

The research was conducted to determine if the voluntary Federal Aviation Administration Industry Training Standards (FITS) and Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) were included in the pilot's Very Light Jet (VLJ) training programs. In addition, some demographic variables like age, hours of flying experience and others, were looked at in relation to selected preference variables like preferred method of training, safety features and others, to see if there were any significant relationships. A purposive sampling of the population was obtained through personal visits to five aviation training sites where VLJ pilots were known to be in attendance. This data was collected using an on-site survey administered to a defined population of 25 pilots, each of whom was in or had already completed VLJ training. The survey used included 19 closed-ended and two open ended questions, which provided sufficient information to adequately, address all six of the research questions. The results of the study indicated that ofSchool of Teaching and Curriculum Leadershi

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version)

Executive Summary Since Agate Springs Ranch was founded by James H. Cook in 1887, exquisite examples of transitional Miocene mammalian fauna have been found along this stretch of the Niobrara River valley. Collectively these paleontological discoveries, along with the existing archeological and historical Native American collection, were the basis for establishing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The fossil remains from the Harrison and Anderson Ranch formations span a short, but important, time period within the Miocene Epoch. AGFO has provided science with an intimate look into North American mammalian evolution of the time that is matched nowhere else, with body fossils and trace fossils (burrows) of many mammals in excellent condition. Investigation of the paleontological resources at AGFO has been very limited since its establishment, but the opportunities for research and discovery are still substantial. Public and academic interest in the Monument’s paleontological resources are considerable. Although there are existing legal authorities, policies and guidelines regarding the management of paleontological resources, at both the departmental and agency levels, more specific guidance would be helpful for the management of AGFO’s non-renewable fossils. This document has been prepared to provide more specific guidance and recommendations for paleontological resources management at AGFO. The Introduction outlines the significance of AGFO’s paleontological resources and defines the purpose, need, and objectives for the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Paleontological Resources Management Plan (PRMP). This plan also identifies the legal authorities, requirements, and mandates underpinning AGFO’s mission as a unit of the NPS, with special attention to authorities that address managing and preserving paleontological resources. Background Geology and Paleontology provides a basic park geologic description, discusses the scope of AGFO’s paleontological resources, and summarizes past paleontological work performed at the Monument. This information includes historical information from periods both before and after authorization of the Monument as a unit of the NPS. This section also presents the paleontological significance of AGFO and its specimens, such as how AGFO’s taxa are cornerstones of North American geochronology and biostratigraphy. Paleontological Resources Management begins by listing in greater detail the strategic objectives related to paleontological resources within the NPS and at AGFO. This section then proceeds to discuss the specific considerations related to paleontological resource inventories and monitoring along with management requirements (from policy and guidelines) specific to AGFO. This section discusses what a paleontology inventory is and why, when and how to conduct one; fundamentals of paleontological resource monitoring; the various types of threats to paleontological resources and how to mitigate them; and resource condition assessment and site monitoring protocols. It also addresses how to handle paleontological resources discovered or recovered during other park activities. Paleontological Research Management presents NPS and AGFO research goals, how to evaluate the scientific significance of research, and how to weigh the significance of research against other park mandates, operations, and goals. The section also includes a description of the permitting process, recommended park-specific permit conditions, and rules for overseeing collection and excavation. Museum Collections and Curation documents AGFO’s current paleontological collections, collections management and curation policies, AGFO’s photographic archives, collections from AGFO in external repositories, type specimens from AGFO, and Monument compliance with museum security policies. Interpretation discusses goals and current implementation for how AGFO interprets its paleontological resources for the public. This includes: the primary themes for interpretation; the exhibits, tools and programs used by AGFO to interpret fossil resources; the target audiences for the interpretive programs; teaching good stewardship of paleontological resources; and a discussion of public accessibility to AGFO, its interpretive materials, and the paleontological resources. Relation of Paleontological Resources to Other Park Programs provides an overview of how each park division may interact with paleontological resources and have their duties cross over with paleontological resource management related actions. It also discusses the potential impacts of paleontological resource management on other types of AGFO resources (archeological, biological, historical, and physical). Paleontological Resource Data Management discusses various paleontological resource records, datasets, and other archives. AGFO’s paleontological archives and library, as well as their current status, are discussed along with an overview of the type of contents stored within them. The NPS Paleontology Program Archives and Library, and how to exchange data and records between them and the AGFO archives, are also described. This section also reviews geospatial data available to AGFO and issues of sensitivity and confidentially related to paleontological resource data and information. Finally, the Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations summarizes the work done on the AGFO PRMP, discusses ongoing and planned projects which assist in implementing the instructions and goals set out in this PRMP, and makes a variety of recommendations for future paleontological resource management at AGFO

Pleistocene/Holocene Cave Fossils From Grand Canyon National Park: Ice Age (Pleistocene) Flora, Fauna, Environments, and Climate of the Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Colorado Plateau is a distinct physiographic province in western North America covering an area of roughly 337,000 km2 (130,115 mi2) across parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Elevations range from about 360 m (1,180 ft) in the overall Grand Canyon (GC; which includes the Grand Canyon National Park, GRCA) river corridor to an average at the eastern South Rim of 2,072 m (6,800 ft) to 3,850 m (12,630 ft) on the nearby San Francisco Peaks at Flagstaff, Arizona, with an average elevation of 1,525 m (5,000 ft). The Colorado River of Grand Canyon is located along the southwestern portion of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona and is renowned for its dramatic display of geomorphic effects created by fluvial incision and its unique dry-preservation of fossils from the Ice Age (late Pleistocene and Holocene [Quaternary]; most recent 2.58 million years). Although there were at least 22 glacial-interglacial cycles during the Ice Age, this discussion is limited to the most recent episode (called the Wisconsinan Glaciation), which includes the transition to the modern climate (latest Pleistocene and Holocene; the most recent 50,000 years of geologic history)

Atomic layer deposition of two dimensional MoS₂ on 150 mm substrates

Low temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of monolayer to few layer MoS₂ uniformly across 150mm diameter SiO₂/Si and quartz substrates is demonstrated. Purge separated cycles of MoCl5 and H₂S precursors are used at reactor temperatures of up to 475 °C. Raman scattering studies show clearly the in-plane (E¹₂g) and out-of-plane (A₁g) modes of MoS₂. The separation of the E¹₂g and A1g peaks is a function of the number of ALD cycles, shifting closer together with fewer layers. Xray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that stoichiometry is improved by postdeposition annealing in a sulfur ambient. High resolution transmission electron microscopy confirms the atomic spacing of monolayer MoS₂ thin films

2PFC (Two Pixels, Full Color): Image Sensor Demosaicing and Characterization

We propose a modification to the standard Bayer CFA and photodiode structure for CMOS image sensors, which we call 2PFC (Two Pixels, Full Color). The blue and red filters of the Bayer pattern are replaced by a magenta filter. Under each magenta filter are two stacked, pinned photodiodes; the diode nearest the surface absorbs mostly blue light and the deeper diode absorbs mostly red light. The magenta filter absorbs green light, improving color separation between the blue and red diodes. We first present a frequency-based demosaicing method, which takes advantage of the new 2PFC geometry. Due to the spatial arrangement of red, green, and blue pixels, luminance and chrominance are very well separated in the Fourier space, allowing for computationally inexpensive linear filtering. In comparison with state-of-the-art demosaicing methods for the Bayer CFA, we show that our sensor and demosaicing method outperform the others in terms of color aliasing, PSNR, and zipper effect. As demosaicing alone does not determine image quality, we also analyze the whole system performance in terms of resolution and noise

Health status outcomes after spontaneous coronary artery dissection and comparison with other acute myocardial infarction: The VIRGO experience.

Data on health status outcomes after spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) are limited. Using the Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) study we compared patients with SCAD and other acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at presentation (baseline), 1-month, and-12 months using standardized health status instruments. Among 3572 AMI patients ≤ 55 years, 67 had SCAD. SCAD patients were younger (median age (IQR) 45 (40.5-51) years vs. 48 (44-52) in other AMI, p = 0.003), more often female (92.5% vs. 66.6%), have college education (73.1% vs. 51.7%) and household income >$100,000 (43.3% vs. 17.7% (All p<0.001). SCAD patients at baseline had higher mean ± SD Short Form-12 [SF-12] physical component scores [PCS] (48.7±10.2 vs. 43.8±12.1, p<0.001) and mental component scores [MCS] (49.6±12.4 vs. 45.4±12.5, p = 0.008), and at 12-months [PCS (50.1±9.0 vs. 44.3±12.3, p<0.001) and MCS (53±10.1 vs 50.2±11.0, p = 0.045)]. The Euro-Quality of Life Scale [EQ-5D] VAS and EQ-5D index scores were similar at baseline, but higher at 12-months for SCAD (EQ-5D VAS: 82.2±10.2 vs. 72.3±21.0, p<0.001; EQ-5D index scores; 90.2±15.3 vs. 83.7±19.8, p = 0.012). SCAD patients had better baseline Seattle Angina Questionnaire [SAQ] physical limitation (88.8±20.1 vs. 81.2±25.4, p = 0.017). At 12-months SCAD patients had better physical limitation (98.0±8.5 vs. 91.4±18.8, p = 0.007), angina frequency (96.4±8.8 vs. 91.3±16.8, p = 0.018) and quality of life scores (80.7±14.7 vs 72.2±23.2, p = 0.005). Magnitude of change in health status from baseline to 12-months was not statistically different between the groups. After adjustment for time and comorbidities there remained no difference in most health status outcomes. SCAD patients fare marginally better than other AMI patients on most health status instruments and have similar 12-month health status recovery. Better pre-event health status suggests a need to modify exercise prescriptions and cardiac rehabilitation protocols to better assist this physically active population to recover.The VIRGO study was supported by a 4-year National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant [number 5R01HL081153). IMJOVEN was supported in Spain by grant PI 081614 from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias del Instituto Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Technology, and additional funds from the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC).S

Tale of two hearts: a TNNT2 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy case report

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a heritable cardiomyopathy that is predominantly caused by pathogenic mutations in sarcomeric proteins. Here we report two individuals, a mother and her daughter, both heterozygous carriers of the same HCM-causing mutation in cardiac Troponin T (TNNT2). Despite sharing an identical pathogenic variant, the two individuals had very different manifestations of the disease. While one patient presented with sudden cardiac death, recurrent tachyarrhythmia, and findings of massive left ventricular hypertrophy, the other patient manifested with extensive abnormal myocardial delayed enhancement despite normal ventricular wall thickness and has remained relatively asymptomatic. Recognition of the marked incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity possible in a single TNNT2-positive family has potential to guide HCM patient care

Synchrotron Studies of the First-Order Melting Transitions of Hexatic Monolayers and Multilayers in Freely Suspended Liquid-Crystal Films

Synchrotron x-ray diffraction has been used to study the surface and the interior hexatic-to-liquid (smectic-I to smectic-C) melting transitions of freely suspended liquid-crystal films of N-[4'-(n-heptyl)benzylidene]-4-(n-heptyl)aniline (7O.7) five molecular layers thick. Both the surface hexatic monolayers and the interior hexatic layers melt via hysteretic first-order transitions. After the two surface layers undergo a first-order transition to the smectic-I phase, the surface hexatic correlation length $\xi$ evolves smoothly from $\sim 100 to \sim 300 \mathring{A}$ with a roughly square-root form, $\xi \sim \mid T-T_c \mid ^{1/2}$.Engineering and Applied Science

Origin of Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Plants at 55–75°C ¶

The origin of heat-induced chlorophyll fluorescence rise that appears at about 55–60°C during linear heating of leaves, chloroplasts or thylakoids (especially with a reduced content of grana thylakoids) was studied. This fluorescence rise was earlier attributed to photosystem I (PSI) emission. Our data show that the fluorescence rise originates from chlorophyll a (Chl a ) molecules released from chlorophyll-containing protein complexes denaturing at 55–60°C. This conclusion results mainly from Chl a fluorescence lifetime measurements with barley leaves of different Chl a content and absorption and emission spectra measurements with barley leaves preheated to selected temperatures. These data, supported by measurements of liposomes with different Chl a /lipid ratios, suggest that the released Chl a is dissolved in lipids of thylakoid membranes and that with increasing Chl a content in the lipid phase, the released Chl a tends to form low-fluorescing aggregates. This is probably the reason for the suppressed fluorescence rise at 55–60°C and the decreasing fluorescence course at 60–75°C, which are observable during linear heating of plant material with a high Chl a /lipid ratio ( e.g. green leaves, grana thylakoids, isolated PSII particles).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74574/1/0031-8655_2003_0770068OOCFIP2.0.CO2.pd