Ambient connections realising conformal Tractor holonomy

For a conformal manifold we introduce the notion of an ambient connection, an affine connection on an ambient manifold of the conformal manifold, possibly with torsion, and with conditions relating it to the conformal structure. The purpose of this construction is to realise the normal conformal tractor holonomy as affine holonomy of such a connection. We give an example of an ambient connection for which this is the case, and which is torsion free if we start the construction with a C-space, and in addition Ricci-flat if we start with an Einstein manifold. Thus for a $C$-space this example leads to an ambient metric in the weaker sense of \v{C}ap and Gover, and for an Einstein space to a Ricci-flat ambient metric in the sense of Fefferman and Graham.Comment: 17 page

Evaluation of Civil Engineering Operations Flight Competitive Sourcing Standards and Metrics

The Performance Work Statement (PWS), which defines the requirements and shapes the outcome of the activity under contract, and the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), which is vital in identifying what is to be evaluated, become critical documents as the Air Force enters into more competitive sourcing contracts. Currently, contractors and Most Efficient Organizations (MEO) are evaluated by the QASP based upon the requirements found in the PWS. It is imperative the PWS and QASP documents have adequate performance metrics and that they are applied appropriately to evaluate the contractor or MEO. This research collected PWS and QASP documents from eight Civil Engineer Operations Flights across the Air Force that have completed or are undergoing competitive sourcing. 161 performance standards and metrics were identified and an evaluation was conducted on them to determine if the standards and metrics were sufficient to evaluate the contractor or MEO. The two-part evaluation system was developed from metric design literature and features from both Total Quality Management and the Government Performance Results Act. The evaluation system was also applied to Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency metrics and templates. The results indicate critical areas of Civil Engineer Operations Flight are not sufficiently evaluated due to insufficient and improperly designed standards and metrics. As a result of this research, 19 metrics were developed for evaluating the Operations Flight along with an evaluation system that can be used to assess the design of metrics currently used by any organization

Poles of regular quaternionic functions

This paper studies the singularities of Cullen-regular functions of one quaternionic variable. The quaternionic Laurent series prove to be Cullen-regular. The singularities of Cullen-regular functions are thus classified as removable, essential or poles. The quaternionic analogues of meromorphic complex functions, called semiregular functions, turn out to be quotients of Cullen-regular functions with respect to an appropriate division operation. This allows a detailed study of the poles and their distribution.Comment: 14 page

Reevaluating the Nika Riot & Placing it in Conversation with the Antioch Riot of 387

The reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, from 527 to 565, despite its many high points and achievements, was a struggle for him and his people. One of his most famous, or infamous, challenges was during the Nika riots. During this time Justinian sees the people of Constantinople attempt to crown a usurper as emperor instead of him. As Justinian convened with his advisors, hiding from the mob in his palace, one question must have rung true in his mind: how did this happen? This presentation answers this question while also giving an overview to the time and the people involved. First, by looking at the tradition and history of Roman and Byzantine chariot racing and circus factions, a picture of who these rioters were starts to take shape. Next, the presentation investigates the social and political background of the riots. Of the 13 riots that occurred during Justinian’s reign, this one posed the greatest threat to his power and rule over the empire. In the chaos, the rioters list their demands for Justinian. Previous research has taken these demands at face value, but the real sparks that started this conflict are much deeper. Instead, the unique political and economic situation in which the people of Constantinople find themselves helped to fan this flame. At last, the actual riot is looked at, particularly through the lens of these outside influences. To show how these situations helped to fuel the riots, the Nika riot will be compared to other riots and mob activity from around the same time, particularly the Antioch riot. Since both of these riots had a similar unfolding of events and consequences, the question of how did the demands and background to each riot effect these similar structure

Noncommutative generalizations of theorems of Cohen and Kaplansky

This paper investigates situations where a property of a ring can be tested on a set of "prime right ideals." Generalizing theorems of Cohen and Kaplansky, we show that every right ideal of a ring is finitely generated (resp. principal) iff every "prime right ideal" is finitely generated (resp. principal), where the phrase "prime right ideal" can be interpreted in one of many different ways. We also use our methods to show that other properties can be tested on special sets of right ideals, such as the right artinian property and various homological properties. Applying these methods, we prove the following noncommutative generalization of a result of Kaplansky: a (left and right) noetherian ring is a principal right ideal ring iff all of its maximal right ideals are principal. A counterexample shows that the left noetherian hypothesis cannot be dropped. Finally, we compare our results to earlier generalizations of Cohen's and Kaplansky's theorems in the literature.Comment: 41 pages. To appear in Algebras and Representation Theory. Minor changes were made to the numbering system, in order to remain consistent with the published versio

RELATED SUBSTANCE METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF LOXAPINE SUCCINATE IN CAPSULE DOSAGE FORM BY REVERSE PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Objective: The present study gives a simple, rapid, and accurate stability indicating reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of loxapine succinate and its related substance (related compound A) in capsule dosage form. Methods: Loxapine succinate and its related substance were attained on a C18 Purospher star (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size) column at 254 nm detection wavelength, 1.0 ml/min as a flow rate, and 10 μl injection volume. Water:methanol: Triethylamine: Tetrahydrofuran (50:40:1:10) was used a mobile phase, and column oven temperature was 30°C. Results: The resolution between loxapine succinate and known unknown impurities was >2.0. The correlation coefficient (0.999) value indicates the linear relationship between the concentration and peak areas. The accuracy study was performed by spiking method. Loxapine succinate was exposed to the stress condition of hydrolysis (acid and base), oxidative, thermal, and photolytic degradation. Loxapine succinate was found to degrade unquestionably in acid and base stress condition and almost stable in oxidative, thermal, and photolytic conditions. Conclusion: The degradant products were well resolved from leading peak and its related compound A peak and any other unknown peak justifying the stability indicating capability of the method. The developed method was validated as per the ICH guidelines. This method is used for periodic analysis in laboratory

Quaternion algebras with the same subfields

G. Prasad and A. Rapinchuk asked if two quaternion division F -algebras that have the same subfields are necessarily isomorphic. The answer is known to be "no" for some very large fields. We prove that the answer is "yes" if F is an extension of a global field K so that F /K is unirational and has zero unramified Brauer group. We also prove a similar result for Pfister forms and give an application to tractable fields

Radiologist variability in assessing the position of the cavoatrial junction on chest radiographs

Objectives: To assess the variability in identifying the cavo-atrial junction (CAJ) on chest x-rays amongst radiologists. Methods: Twenty-three radiologists (13 consultants and 10 trainees) assessed 25 postero-anterior erect chest x-rays (including eight duplicates) and marked the positions of the CAJ. Differences in the CAJ position both within and between observers were evaluated and reported as limits of agreement, repeatability coefficients, intra-class correlation coefficients and displayed graphically with Bland- Altman plots. Results: The mean difference for within observer assessments was -0.2 cm (95% limits of agreement, -1.5 to +1.1 cm) and between observers was -0.3 cm (95% limits of agreement, -2.5 to +1.8 cm). Intra-observer repeatability coefficients (RC) were marginally lower for consultants when compared to trainees (1.1 versus 1.5). RCs between observers were comparable (2.1 versus 2.2) for for consultants and trainees, respectively. Conclusions: This study detected a large inter-observer variability of the CAJ position (up to 4.3 cm). This is a significant finding considering that the length of the SVC is reported to be approximately 7cm. We conclude that there is poor consensus regarding the CAJ position amongst radiologists. Advances in knowledge: No comparisons exist between radiologists in determining CAJ position from chest X-rays. This report provides evidence of the large observer variability amongst radiologists and adds to the discussion regarding the use of chest X-rays in validating catheter tip location systems

Synthesizing Moose Management, Monitoring, Past Research, And Future Research Needs In Montana

Perceived declines in Shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi) in many areas across Montana in recent years have elicited concern from biologists, managers, and members of the public. Interest in moose research in Montana has correspondingly been mounting, however little new research has occurred. For this reason we attempted to synthesize existing knowledge and management programs for moose in Montana to provide collective awareness of the issues and research needs for moose. We used structured interviews of wildlife biologists and managers that work with moose to document current moose management in Montana. Most biologists reported that moose were stable or decreasing in their areas of responsibility. Predation was the most common concern for factors limiting moose, followed by habitat succession, hunter harvest, disease and parasites, Native American harvest, and habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation. In addition to information from post-season surveys of moose permit holders, biologists assessed moose populations using information from a variety of sources including landowner reports, hunter reports collected at check stations, unadjusted trend counts, bull: cow ratios, recruitment ratios, sightability-corrected population estimates and habitat condition. Nearly all respondents felt that available information was inadequate in various ways for making moose management decisions. Clearly identified research needs include calibration of currently employed moose population indices to actual trends in moose populations, development of a survey program that will provide better and more moose survey data at the appropriate scale for management decisions, and research into how predation, habitat, disease, parasites, and climate affect moose survival and recruitment rates