Age estimates of isochronous reflection horizons by combining ice core, survey, and synthetic radar data.

Ice core records and ice-penetrating radar data contain complementary information on glacial subsurface structure and composition, providing various opportunities for interpreting past and present environmental conditions. To exploit the full range of possible applications, accurate dating of internal radar reflection horizons and knowledge about their constituting features is required. On the basis of three ice core records from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, and surface-based radar profiles connecting the drilling locations, we investigate the accuracies involved in transferring age-depth relationships obtained from the ice cores to continuous radar reflections. Two methods are used to date five internal reflection horizons: (1) conventional dating is carried out by converting the travel time of the tracked reflection to a single depth, which is then associated with an age at each core location, and (2) forward modeling of electromagnetic wave propagation is based on dielectric profiling of ice cores and performed to identify the depth ranges from which tracked reflections originate, yielding an age range at each drill site. Statistical analysis of all age estimates results in age uncertainties of 5 10 years for conventional dating and an error range of 1 16 years for forward modeling. For our radar operations at 200 and 250 MHz in the upper 100 m of the ice sheet, comprising some 1000 1500 years of deposition history, final age uncertainties are 8 years in favorable cases and 21 years at the limit of feasibility. About one third of the uncertainty is associated with the initial ice core dating; the remaining part is associated with radar data quality and analysis

Improving Health Care for Disadvantaged Local Communities: Proposing User Fees Based on Some International Experiences

The fact that national health care reform in the United States has been stalled is not reason for resign. More than ever, one has to design and implement creative options to achieve satisfactory health service at low costs. The political turnover in Congress shifts more responsibility to local governments. This means less funding and less willingness by the national government to be held accountable for health and social services. On the other hand, this situation may carry opportunity to impact social policies on a local level. The living conditions in some of our communities equal those in so-called third world countries. It is well known that New York City\u27s infant mortality rate, for instance, surpasses that of Bangladesh. A main reason for these dismal conditions is the neglect by federal and regional policymakers. Another is the sentiment among the general public of not feeling responsible for the well being of their fellow citizens (or only fellow human beings, as has been demonstrated by the voters\u27 support for proposition 187 in California). Those affected complain they are forgotten and insist on the government\u27s provision of social services.

Multiscale Modeling of Cardiac Electrophysiology: Adaptation to Atrial and Ventricular Rhythm Disorders and Pharmacological Treatment

Multiscale modeling of cardiac electrophysiology helps to better understand the underlying mechanisms of atrial fibrillation, acute cardiac ischemia and pharmacological treatment. For this purpose, measurement data reflecting these conditions have to be integrated into models of cardiac electrophysiology. Several methods for this model adaptation are introduced in this thesis. The resulting effects are investigated in multiscale simulations ranging from the ion channel up to the body surface

Prairie Avenue Housing: Chicago, Illinois

The site for this infill housing project is a vacant lot in the Prairie Avenue Historic District adjacent to H. H. Richardson\u27s Glessner house

Frameworks for Evaluating Technology Transfer

Technology can help us to keep air and water clean, to educate ourselves and others, and to make our lives more comfortable. Technology, however, has in the ears of many, a threatening ring. Whether technology serves human well-being depends on its usage. Dust-covered computers, abandoned factories, underutilized hospitals, chemical plants polluting our environment, nuclear power threatening our health—negative instances of technology application abound. To obtain greater positive results, technology has to be applied and transferred according to criteria that enable us to assess potential benefits and risks associated with the technology. Technology transfer includes tangible and intangible assets, such as computer chips and the knowledge transferred by exchange students. Simon defines the globalization of technology as the development and diffusion of critical scientific knowledge and technological capabilities beyond the borders of a limited number of so-called advanced nations

Vernetzte Identitäten:Autobiographische Selbstpositionierungen im sozialen Netzwerk bei Fontane und Facebook

Kerstin Wilhelms untersucht den Chronotopos des Lebenswegs in autobiographischen Texten und macht aufmerksam auf strukturelle Analogien zwischen Fontane und Facebook: Der Salon des 19. Jahrhunderts und die ›Sozialen Netzwerke‹ des 21. Jahrhunderts bringen vernetzte Identitäten hervor, die sich in einem interdependenten sozialen Gefüge positionieren

Characteristics of the Pre-Reformation Age as they are Reflected in Some Selected Preaching of the Age Particulary in Germany

The history of preaching, the full record of which remains to be written, will also prove to conform to the above assertion about history in general. Its course corresponds, however, to a masked degree with that of general and ecclesiastical history. The outward events with which church history deals are often reflected in preaching; it bears the impress of the various forms of thought known to us as philosophies; the prevailing heresies affect it, either in the way of a traction or repulsion

Maritime Museum: Boston, Massachusetts

There are two significant forces shaping buildings in Boston today. First, Boston\u27s waterfront has been in a constant state of evolution since its beginnings