Americans Under Age 40 Are as Likely to Donate to Japan Disaster Relief Through Electronic Means as Traditional Means

Presents survey findings about giving online or by cellphone, as opposed to by phone, mail, or in person, to relief efforts after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Compares data with giving after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and by age and education

Holographic Imaging and Iterative Phase Optimization Methods for Focusing and Transmitting Light in Scattering Media.

Existing methods for focusing and imaging through strongly scattering materials are often limited by speed, the need for invasive feedback, and the shallow depth of penetration of photons into the material. These limitations have motivated the present research into the development of a new iterative phase optimization method for improving transmission of light through a sample of strongly scattering material. A new method, based on the detection of back-scattered light combined with active (phase-only) wavefront control was found to be partially successful, decreasing the power of backscattered incident light at 488 nm wavelength by approximately 35% in a 626 μm thick sample of Yttria (Y2O3) nanopowder (mean particle size 26 nm) in clear epoxy with transport mean free path length ~116 μm. However, the observed transmitted power did not show simultaneous improvement. The conclusion was reached that scattering to the sides of the sample and polarization scrambling were responsible for the lack of improved transmission with this method. Some ideas for improvement are discussed in the thesis. This research subsequently led to the development of a lensless holographic imaging method based on a rotating diffuser for statistical averaging of the optical signal for overcoming speckle caused by reflection from a rough surface. This method made it possible to reduce background variations of intensity due to speckle and improve images reflected from rough, immobile surfaces with no direct path for photons between the object and camera. Improvements in the images obtained with this technique were evaluated quantitatively by comparing SSIM indices and were found to offer practical advances for transmissive and reflective geometries alike.PHDApplied PhysicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135741/1/mjpur_1.pd

The Family LLC: A New Approach to Insuring Dynastic Wealth

This Article introduces the taxpayer to the basic background principles needed to understand the inner workings of the investment, then provides a guide to drafting considerations for the family\u27s attorney, and concludes with a general plan to maintain business legitimacy and take advantage of tax-favored status, while retaining the flexibility essential to combating the unexpected. Part II addresses the historically favored tax treatment of life insurance products, as well as relatively recent restrictive reforms. Part III addresses the background foundation of the LLC entity and surveys its skeletal structure. Part IV introduces a practical example of how to create an LLC that will serve the unique purpose of estate planning. Part V demonstrates the way in which the LLC interacts with specific types of assets throughout its use. Finally, Part VI discusses the transfer of LLC assets from one generation to the next, both during the lifetime and after the death of the founding members. Through this proposal, significant tax and legal benefits will be utilized to stabilize and maintain the family assets

Master of Science in Geology

thesisA complex mixture of wave, tide, and fluvial energies form paralic strata, and although these units are important hydrocarbon reservoirs, they are complex and poorly understood. This study documents the architecture of an estuarine succession using outcrops of the Upper Cretaceous John Henry Member of the Straight Cliffs Formation, southern Utah (USA). Terrestrial LiDAR, photomosaics, 18 detailed measured sections, and 652 paleocurrent indicator measurements inform this stratigraphic analysis. The ~65-m-thick interval of interest records evolution of a mixed-energy to wave-dominated estuary, with basal elongate tidal bars overlain by carbonaceous bay fill, tidal flat deposits, a bayhead delta, and ultimately a coastal plain succession. A detailed interpretation of the ~8.5-m-thick by 550-m-wide bayhead delta outcrop highlights internal architecture as well as the relationship between the bayhead delta, the underlying tidal bar units, and the overlying coastal plain strata. Within the bayhead delta, beds are composed of very fine- to medium-grained trough cross-stratified, rippled (some climbing), planar laminated, planar cross-stratified sandstones, and interbedded mudstone/siltstone. These units thicken and coarsen vertically. Statistical analysis of the bayhead delta indicates that average bedding thickness, net to gross, amalgamation ratio and grain size increase down-dip, and vertically up-section. This study compares grain size analysis results to a published study of a heterolithic fluvial point bar to provide guidelines for subsurface differentiation of inclined heterolithic strata, and to better predict the impact on reservoir distribution and probable fluid flow pathways. Understanding the variety of expressions and reservoir behavior of IHS intervals will guide future studies of heterogeneous paralic reservoirs

Watchdog or Lapdog: Limits of African Media Coverage of the Extractive Sector

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of African media coverage of the extractive industries. This sector plays prominently on the African political, economic, social and journalistic landscape, yet coverage of these industries remains a challenge for African journalists. The financial and technical aspects of the extractive sector are complex, and both governments and companies often have a vested interest in withholding information from journalists. Many reporters lack sufficient training, resources and/or journalistic freedom to publish accurate, well‐researched, in‐depth coverage. As a result, what are arguably some of the most critical industries on the continent operate in relative freedom from public scrutiny. By making a careful study of African media coverage of the extractive sector in three countries, this report hopes to identify key strengths and weaknesses in extractive industry reporting as well as opportunities for media support and the expansion or revision of current media training efforts. The discovery of oil in Uganda in 2006 and in Ghana in 2007 brought both a great deal of excitement and a considerable level of worry to these countries. While extractive resources (oil, gas and mining) are a leading source of wealth for many African countries, this wealth often leads to corruption and conflict. In fact, countries with abundant natural resources tend to fall below less resource‐wealthy countries in terms of human development, a paradox economist Richard Auty and subsequent researchers have labeled the "resource curse." This report is based on two premises: first, that if Africans are to benefit from the immense resource stores that lie beneath their soil, great efforts must be made toward transparency in how these resources are handled. Second, the call for transparency cannot come from non‐governmental organizations and individual political leaders alone. The African media have a critical responsibility to push toward government and corporate openness in the extractive industries. African media have made great strides since the latter half of the twentieth century, but they continue to struggle to fulfill their role as society's watchdog. Instead of keeping governments in check through enterprising stories or investigative pieces, most African media have instead been leashed by a confluence of factors. Lack of resources, government intimidation and interference, media ownership, revenue structures and declining educational quality all make the job of the African journalist difficult. To mitigate some of these constraints, local and international non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), media outlets and in some cases government agencies are training journalists to more fully understand the intricacies of the areas that they cover

Mystery of the Other, and its reduction in Rahner and Levinas

Karl Rahner, responding to the problems raised by Kant's critical philosophy, sought to present a Thomistic metaphysics of realism in a modern thought-form through a reduction of the interrogative thrust of the intellect to its possibility conditions, and so, like Marechal before him, attain an absolute affirmation of Being. Rahner's transcendental system, however, would seem to have been overtaken by a more existential stress in phenomenological thinking. Emmanuel Levinas, with his thought of the Other and his attempt at an excendence from Being, would seem at first glance to sit uncomfortably alongside Rahner's system, yet, a closer reading of both unearths a remarkable convergence in their thinking. The deeper phenomenological reduction which Levinas undertakes to reveal the inter-subjective context of consciousness helps to humanise Rahner's approach. This thesis attempts a fruitful confrontation of both thinkers by, firstly, indicating the tension between Rahner's own philosophical propaedeutic and his theological writings, particularly on grace, mystery and the love of God and neighbour, where he affirms that human existence is ultimately reductio in mysterium and that human fulfilment is to be found in a personal relationship with a human Other. A second purpose is to show how these same theological themes can be developed from within Levinas' own thought, and how his own philosophy can provide a worthwhile context for Christian theology. The thesis unfolds by considering the various methods - metaphysical, transcendental and phenomenological - which surround both thinkers (Chapter 1) and then proceeds to outline their various philosophical influences (Chapter 2). Since the notion of Being as self-presence is fundamental in Rahner, and since Levinas refuses a philosophy of presence, Chapter 3 questions the privilege of presence. This will lead, in its turn, to a rethinking of the notion of subjectivity: the subject is not to be consider as presence-to-self but as a relationship with the Other (Chapter 4). This relationship is experienced in Desire (Chapter 5) and in the responsibility experienced before the face of the Other (Chapter 6). The relation between ethics (the good) and Being is pursued in chapter 7. Finally, the notion of mystery is indicated as the theme which inspires the work of both Rahner and Levinas (Chapter 8). Rahner's unmastered mystery will become Levinas' incomprehensible infinity in the presence of which the subject is called to response and responsibility

Predictive Value of POSSUM and ACPGBI Scoring in Mortality and Morbidity of Colorectal Resection: A Case–Control Study

Contains fulltext : 97239.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Preoperative risk prediction to assess mortality and morbidity may be helpful to surgical decision making. The aim of this study was to compare mortality and morbidity of colorectal resections performed in a tertiary referral center with mortality and morbidity as predicted with physiological and operative score for enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM), Portsmouth POSSUM (P-POSSUM), and colorectal POSSUM (CR-POSSUM). The second aim of this study was to analyze the accuracy of different POSSUM scores in surgery performed for malignancy, inflammatory bowel diseases, and diverticulitis. POSSUM scoring was also evaluated in colorectal resection in acute vs. elective setting. In procedures performed for malignancy, the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) score was assessed in the same way for comparison. METHODS: POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM predictor equations for mortality were applied in a retrospective case-control study to 734 patients who had undergone colorectal resection. The total group was assessed first. Second, the predictive value of outcome after surgery was assessed for malignancy (n = 386), inflammatory bowel diseases (n = 113), diverticulitis (n = 91), and other indications, e.g., trauma, endometriosis, volvulus, or ischemia (n = 144). Third, all subgroups were assessed in relation to the setting in which surgery was performed: acute or elective. In patients with malignancy, the ACPGBI score was calculated as well. In all groups, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed. RESULTS: POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM have a significant predictive value for outcome after colorectal surgery. Within the total population as well as in all four subgroups, there is no difference in the area under the curve between the POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM scores. In the subgroup analysis, smallest areas under the ROC curve are seen in operations performed for malignancy, which is significantly worse than for diverticulitis and in operations performed for other indications. For elective procedures, P-POSSUM and CR-POSSUM predict outcome significantly worse in patients operated for carcinoma than in patients with diverticulitis. In acute surgical interventions, CR-POSSUM predicts mortality better in diverticulitis than in patients operated for other indications. The ACPGBI score has a larger area under the curve than any of the POSSUM scores. Morbidity as predicted by POSSUM is most accurate in procedures for diverticulitis and worst when the indication is malignancy. CONCLUSION: The POSSUM scores predict outcome significantly better than can be expected by chance alone. Regarding the indication for surgery, each POSSUM score predicts outcome in patients operated for diverticulitis or other indications more accurately than for malignancy. The ACPGBI score is found to be superior to the various POSSUM scores in patients who have (elective) resection of colorectal malignancy

The Carina Nebula and Gum 31 molecular complex: II. The distribution of the atomic gas revealed in unprecedented detail

We report high spatial resolution observations of the HI 21cm line in the Carina Nebula and the Gum 31 region obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The observations covered $\sim$ 12 deg$^2$ centred on $l= 287.5\deg,b = -1\deg$, achieving an angular resolution of $\sim$ 35 arcseconds. The HI map revealed complex filamentary structures across a wide range of velocities. Several "bubbles" are clearly identified in the Carina Nebula Complex, produced by the impact of the massive star clusters located in this region. An HI absorption profile obtained towards the strong extragalactic radio source PMN J1032--5917 showed the distribution of the cold component of the atomic gas along the Galactic disk, with the Sagittarius-Carina and Perseus spiral arms clearly distinguishable. Preliminary calculations of the optical depth and spin temperatures of the cold atomic gas show that the HI line is opaque ($\tau \gtrsim$ 2) at several velocities in the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm. The spin temperature is $\sim100$ K in the regions with the highest optical depth, although this value might be lower for the saturated components. The atomic mass budget of Gum 31 is $\sim35 \%$ of the total gas mass. HI self absorption features have molecular counterparts and good spatial correlation with the regions of cold dust as traced by the infrared maps. We suggest that in Gum 31 regions of cold temperature and high density are where the atomic to molecular gas phase transition is likely to be occurring.Comment: 20 pages, 1 table, 16 Figures, Accepted for Publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journa