Uncommon Valor: A Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War

Understanding Courage in Battle The literature on the American Civil War is replete with tales of soldierly courage. Scholars have written countless books and articles commemorating the brave deeds of both lowly privates and high-ranking officers. While this literature tends to be redund...

Social Revolution: William Wells Brown\u27s Manifesto

Social revolution William Wells Brown\u27s manifesto Most people think history concerns only the past, but it derives its greatest potency from serving the needs of the present. No one understood this better than William Wells Brown, who had been born a slave in 1814, escaped from ...

Managing Insect and Mite Pests of Texas Corn.

20 p

Numerical Studies of a Supersonic Fluidic Diverter Actuator for Flow Control

The analysis of the internal flow structure and performance of a specific fluidic diverter actuator, previously studied by time-dependent numerical computations for subsonic flow, is extended to include operation with supersonic actuator exit velocities. The understanding will aid in the development of fluidic diverters with minimum pressure losses and advanced designs of flow control actuators. The self-induced oscillatory behavior of the flow is successfully predicted and the calculated oscillation frequencies with respect to flow rate have excellent agreement with our experimental measurements. The oscillation frequency increases with Mach number, but its dependence on flow rate changes from subsonic to transonic to supersonic regimes. The delay time for the initiation of oscillations depends on the flow rate and the acoustic speed in the gaseous medium for subsonic flow, but is unaffected by the flow rate for supersonic condition

Evidence that stimulation of gluconeogenesis by fatty acid is mediated through thermodynamic mechanisms

AbstractWe have studied the stimulatory effects of palmitate on the rate of glucose synthesis from lactate in isolated hepatocytes. Control of the metabolic flow was achieved by modulating the activity of enolase using graded concentrations of fluoride. Unexpectedly, palmitate stimulated gluconeogenesis even when enolase was rate-limiting. This stimulation was also observed when the activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and aspartate aminotransferase were modulated using graded concentrations of quinolinate and aminooxyacetate, respectively. Linear force-flow relationships were found between the rate of gluconeogenesis and indicators of cellular energy status (i.e. mitochondrial membrane and redox potentials and cellular phosphorylation potential). These findings suggest that the fatty acid stimulation of glucose synthesis is in part mediated through thermodynamic mechanisms

Can Increased Training and Awareness Take Forest Research to New Heights?

Forest canopies contribute significantly to global forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, yet are declining and understudied. One reason for a knowledge gap is that accessing forest canopies can be difficult and dangerous. Thus, lack of relevant canopy access skills may compromise knowledge gain and personal safety. We assessed skill levels in canopy access methods and self-perception of skills amongst ecologists worldwide via a web-based survey, available in four languages. We obtained responses from expert arborists as a control group. From 191 respondents who said canopy access is relevant to their research (of 1,070 total responses), we found that ecologists are not attaining the full potential provided by existing methods of canopy access. Specifically, most respondents are unable to access much of the forest canopy, especially areas away from the trunk and between trees. The survey further revealed the common use of unsafe and inefficient practices among ecologists and that few are adequately equipped with aerial rescue skills. Importantly, ecologists with the lowest skill levels overestimate their expertise the most. Proper field techniques are key components of good science: they can improve study design, increase potential for data collection, and ultimately reveal greater knowledge on canopy organisms and processes. By safely allowing greater access to the forest canopy, proper techniques can reduce bias in our scientific understanding of forest ecology. To facilitate safe and effective canopy access for ecological research, we recommend increasing instruction and collaboration, implementing certification programs, and conducting audits of canopy research programs. With increased access to such opportunities, ecologists will acquire improved skills in accessing forest canopies, develop a greater appreciation for the full breadth of possibilities among methods of canopy access, and more safely and effectively gather the data needed to better understand forest ecosystems

Cost-effectiveness of home versus hospital management of children at onset of Type 1 Diabetes: The DECIDE randomised controlled trial

Objective The aim of this economic evaluation was to assess whether home management could represent a cost-effective strategy in the patient pathway of Type 1 diabetes (T1D). This is based on the DECIDE trial (ISRCTN78114042), which compared home versus hospital management from diagnosis in childhood diabetes and found no statistically significant difference in glycaemic control at 24 months. Design Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a randomised controlled trial. Setting Eight paediatric diabetes centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Participants 203 clinically well children aged under 17 years, with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and their carers. Outcome measures The base case analysis adopted an NHS perspective. A scenario analysis assessed costs from a broader societal perspective. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) expressed as cost per mmol/mol reduction in HbA1c, was based on the mean difference in costs between the home and hospital groups, divided by mean differences in effectiveness (HbA1c). Uncertainty was considered in terms of the probability of cost-effectiveness. Results At 24 months post-intervention, the base case analysis showed a difference in costs between home and hospital, in favour of home management (mean difference -£2,217; 95% CI -£2,825 to -£1,609; p<0.001). Home care dominated, with an ICER of £7,434 (saved) per mmol/mol reduction of HbA1c. The results of the scenario analysis also favoured home management. The greatest driver of cost differences was hospitalisation during the initiation period. Conclusions Home management from diagnosis of children with T1D who are medically stable represents a less costly approach for the NHS in the UK, without impacting clinical effectiveness

Classical and Thermodynamic Stability of Black Branes

It is argued that many non-extremal black branes exhibit a classical Gregory-Laflamme instability if, and only if, they are locally thermodynamically unstable. For some black branes, the Gregory-Laflamme instability must therefore disappear near extremality. For the black $p$-branes of the type II supergravity theories, the Gregory-Laflamme instability disappears near extremality for $p=1,2,4$ but persists all the way down to extremality for $p=5,6$ (the black D3-brane is not covered by the analysis of this paper). This implies that the instability also vanishes for the near-extremal black M2 and M5-brane solutions.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX. v2: Various points clarified, typos corrected and reference adde

Corotating and irrotational binary black holes in quasi-circular orbits

A complete formalism for constructing initial data representing black-hole binaries in quasi-equilibrium is developed. Radiation reaction prohibits, in general, true equilibrium binary configurations. However, when the timescale for orbital decay is much longer than the orbital period, a binary can be considered to be in quasi-equilibrium. If each black hole is assumed to be in quasi-equilibrium, then a complete set of boundary conditions for all initial data variables can be developed. These boundary conditions are applied on the apparent horizon of each black hole, and in fact force a specified surface to be an apparent horizon. A global assumption of quasi-equilibrium is also used to fix some of the freely specifiable pieces of the initial data and to uniquely fix the asymptotic boundary conditions. This formalism should allow for the construction of completely general quasi-equilibrium black hole binary initial data.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, revtex4; Content changed slightly to reflect fact that regularized shift solutions do satisfy the isometry boundary condition

Evidence for a persistent, major excess in all cause admissions to hospital in children with type-1 diabetes: results from a large Welsh national matched community cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the excess in admissions associated with type1 diabetes in childhood. DESIGN: Matched-cohort study using anonymously linked hospital admission data. SETTING: Brecon Group Register of new cases of childhood diabetes in Wales linked to hospital admissions data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. POPULATION: 1577 Welsh children (aged between 0 and 15 years) from the Brecon Group Register with newly-diagnosed type-1 diabetes between 1999–2009 and 7800 population controls matched on age, sex, county, and deprivation, randomly selected from the local population. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Difference in all-cause hospital admission rates, 30-days post-diagnosis until 31 May 2012, between participants and controls. RESULTS: Children with type-1 diabetes were followed up for a total of 12 102 person years and were at 480% (incidence rate ratios, IRR 5.789, (95% CI 5.34 to 6.723), p<0.0001) increased risk of hospital admission in comparison to matched controls. The highest absolute excess of admission was in the age group of 0–5 years, with a 15.4% (IRR 0.846, (95% CI 0.744 to 0.965), p=0.0061) reduction in hospital admissions for every 5-year increase in age at diagnosis. A trend of increasing admission rates in lower socioeconomic status groups was also observed, but there was no evidence of a differential rate of admissions between men and women when adjusted for background risk. Those receiving outpatient care at large centres had a 16.1% (IRR 0.839, (95% CI 0.709 to 0.990), p=0.0189) reduction in hospital admissions compared with those treated at small centres. CONCLUSIONS: There is a large excess of hospital admissions in paediatric patients with type-1 diabetes. Rates are highest in the youngest children with low socioeconomic status. Factors influencing higher admission rates in smaller centres (eg, “out of hours resources”) need to be explored with the aim of targeting modifiable influences on admission rates