Hail Suppression: Impacts and Issues: Final Report Technology Assessment of the Suppression of Hail

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor correction

Refinement of Light-Responsive Transcript Lists Using Rice Oligonucleotide Arrays: Evaluation of Gene-Redundancy

Studies of gene function are often hampered by gene-redundancy, especially in organisms with large genomes such as rice (Oryza sativa). We present an approach for using transcriptomics data to focus functional studies and address redundancy. To this end, we have constructed and validated an inexpensive and publicly available rice oligonucleotide near-whole genome array, called the rice NSF45K array. We generated expression profiles for light- vs. dark-grown rice leaf tissue and validated the biological significance of the data by analyzing sources of variation and confirming expression trends with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We examined trends in the data by evaluating enrichment of gene ontology terms at multiple false discovery rate thresholds. To compare data generated with the NSF45K array with published results, we developed publicly available, web-based tools (www.ricearray.org). The Oligo and EST Anatomy Viewer enables visualization of EST-based expression profiling data for all genes on the array. The Rice Multi-platform Microarray Search Tool facilitates comparison of gene expression profiles across multiple rice microarray platforms. Finally, we incorporated gene expression and biochemical pathway data to reduce the number of candidate gene products putatively participating in the eight steps of the photorespiration pathway from 52 to 10, based on expression levels of putatively functionally redundant genes. We confirmed the efficacy of this method to cope with redundancy by correctly predicting participation in photorespiration of a gene with five paralogs. Applying these methods will accelerate rice functional genomics

A united statement of the global chiropractic research community against the pseudoscientific claim that chiropractic care boosts immunity.

BACKGROUND: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) posted reports claiming that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. These claims clash with recommendations from the World Health Organization and World Federation of Chiropractic. We discuss the scientific validity of the claims made in these ICA reports. MAIN BODY: We reviewed the two reports posted by the ICA on their website on March 20 and March 28, 2020. We explored the method used to develop the claim that chiropractic adjustments impact the immune system and discuss the scientific merit of that claim. We provide a response to the ICA reports and explain why this claim lacks scientific credibility and is dangerous to the public. More than 150 researchers from 11 countries reviewed and endorsed our response. CONCLUSION: In their reports, the ICA provided no valid clinical scientific evidence that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. We call on regulatory authorities and professional leaders to take robust political and regulatory action against those claiming that chiropractic adjustments have a clinical impact on the immune system

The Public View Toward Weather Modification in Illinois: a Social Assessment

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Hail Suppression and Society

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Organizational Response to an Explosion at Medina AEC Base, San Antonio, Texas, November 13, 1963

The materials presented in this report were secured as part of a "training mission" and should not be construed as the result of a systematic field study. The observations and statements presented are based on semistructured discussions with some of the higher eschelon personnel in each of the local organizations which were signicantly involved in the incident. Because the incident was a case of potential rather than actual disaster, the research effort was deliberately limited to obtaining a general rather than a detailed picture of what had occurred. Thus, the findings are presented as hypotheses rather than conclusions. The report includes a very brief summeary of the events surrounding an explosion on November 13, 1963 at the Medina Facility of the United States Atomic Energy Commission near San Antonio, Texas. Following the description several hypotheses are presented and their significance for organizational planning for emergency conditions is discussed.Office of Civil Defense, Office of the Secretary of the Army, under Contract No. OCD-PS-64-46, Subtask 2615A

The Size of the Supportive Component in Organ, Izations: A Multi, Organizational Analysis

In an Analysis of Thirty Organizations of Various Types, the Authors Examine the Relation of Varying Size of the Supportive Component to Other Organizational Characteristics Such as Total Size, Age, Number of Operating Sites, Diversification of Activities Performed, and Type of Organizational Function. Total Organizational Size and Number of Locations Appear to Be Related to Size of Supportive Component But They Vary Inversely. © 1963, Oxford University Press. All Rights Reserved