PARTICIPATION DECISIONS, ANGLER WELFARE, AND THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SPORTFISHING

We link a stochastic binary choice model of individual decisions to participate in the marine sport fisheries in Cook Inlet, Alaska, with a simulation- based sample enumeration procedure for aggregating estimates of individual angler welfare and a regionally adjusted zip code-level input-output model of regional economic activity. The result is a behaviorally based model for predicting changes in angler welfare and regional economic activity occasioned by changes in the demand for sportfishing that arise from changes in trip costs or the expected number, size, or mix of species caught. The advantages of this approach are that: changes in angler participation are determined by variables that are observable, predictable, or subject to management control; participation reflects declining marginal utility, and substitution and complementary effects across trip attributes; estimates of changes in aggregate angler welfare and changes in regional economic impacts are derived from changes in individual participation probabilities.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Hominin Baraminology Reconsidered with Postcranial Characters

Statistical baraminology studies of the fossil hominins began in 2010 with a provocative paper that identified a tentative holobaramin of humans that included such surprising taxa as Homo habilis and Australopithecus sediba. Subsequent research on Homo naledi reinforced the membership of this holobaramin, and recent studies with an expanded dataset and additional clustering methods also confirmed the original results. Nevertheless, the last decade of research has focused almost entirely on craniodental characteristics, which fall short of the holistic ideal of baraminology research. Past work with postcranial characters suffered from a small sample size, a small number of characters, and a bias towards hand characters, and was therefore inconclusive. We therefore assembled a new character matrix of postcranial characters based on published photographs and descriptions of key fossils, digital scans, casts, and original specimens. Our matrix contains 239 characters scored for fourteen taxa, and 65.7% of all characters have been scored. The characters sample nearly every significant postcranial element, and the taxon sample includes eight members of genus Homo, three members of genus Australopithecus, Ardipithecus ramidus, and the ape outgroups Pan and Gorilla. Taxon relevance currently ranges from 22.2% for Ar. ramidus to 97.9% for Gorilla. Overall, this matrix promises to be an excellent new resource for better understanding the human holobaramin. Our preliminary results using standard baraminic distance correlation on the new matrix implies that the previously recognized baraminic groups are confirmed with postcranial characters. The only exception is Au. sediba, which at present is not correlated with any other taxa. H. floresiensis also continues to show no correlation with any other taxa. We plan to do additional work with the full suite of BARCLAY options, including Jaccard distances, Spearman correlations, medoid partitions, and fuzzy analysis, to further characterize the hominin clusters. Since this work is based on a completely new postcranial character matrix it is unquestionably unique, and the International Conference on Creationism is a particularly suitable and visible platform for its publication. The further development of hominin baraminology is inextricably linked to the creation model of origins as the first step in reinterpreting putative evidence for “human evolution” in the context of our special creation. Past research has continually supported a clear recognition of a uniquely human group of taxa, and this research will likely do the same

HEART RATE EFFECTS OF LONGBOARD SKATEBOARDING

The longboard skateboard has a longer, and usually wider, deck than the standard skateboard to provide greater support of the rider during the higher speeds attained on this version of the skateboard. Fourteen volunteer subjects participated in downhill and uphill longboarding trials. Heart rates were monitored during both trials, and the downhill and uphill average heart rates were compared with resting heart rates and then compared with accepted intensity recommendations for health and fitness benefits. The study questions were: Does longboarding have an acute effect on heart rates? If so, will longboarding uphill and/or downhill cause heart rate changes to levels recommended to improve cardiorespiratory health and fitness?   With these questions as guidance we developed four hypotheses. With an average resting heart rate of 59.9 beats/minute, average downhill heart rate of  131.4 beats/minute and average uphill heart rate of 167.8 beats/minute statistical analysis showed statistically significant p values < .0001 and each null hypothesis was rejected in favor of their respective research hypotheses.  Based on average age and average resting heart rate, average age-predicted maximum heart rate was 193.2 beats/minute and heart rate reserve was 133.2 beats/minute. The average percentages of heart rate reserve for the downhill section (131.4 beats/minute) and the uphill section (167.8 beats/minute) were 54% and  81%, respectively. Downhill heart rates are within moderate intensity levels, 40% to  60% of heart rate reserve, and uphill heart rates are within vigorous intensity levels, greater than 60 % of heart rate reserve. These results indicate that longboarding can increase heart rate to suggested levels suggested by the American College of Sports Medicine for improving cardiovascular health and fitness

Using Light to Treat Mucositis and Help Wounds Heal

A continuing program of research and development is focusing on the use of controlled illumination by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to treat mucositis and to accelerate healing of wounds. The basic idea is to illuminate the affected area of a patient with light of an intensity, duration, and wavelength (or combination of wavelengths) chosen to produce a therapeutic effect while generating only a minimal amount of heat. This method of treatment was originally intended for treating the mucositis that is a common complication of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer. It is now also under consideration as a means to accelerate the healing of wounds and possibly also to treat exposure to chemical and radioactive warfare agents. Radiation therapy and many chemotherapeutic drugs often damage the mucosal linings of the mouth and gastrointestinal tract, leading to mouth ulcers (oral mucositis), nausea, and diarrhea. Hyperbaric-oxygen therapy is currently the standard of care for ischemic, hypoxic, infected, and otherwise slowlyhealing problem wounds, including those of oral mucositis. Hyperbaric-oxygen therapy increases such cellular activities as collagen production and angiogenesis, leading to an increased rate of healing. Biostimulation by use of laser light has also been found to be effective in treating mucositis. For hyperbaricoxygen treatment, a patient must remain inside a hyperbaric chamber for an extended time. Laser treatment is limited by laser-wavelength capabilities and by narrowness of laser beams, and usually entails the generation of significant amounts of heat

On-Orbit Performance of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument is a major component of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Since beginning normal science operations on 1 May 2010, HMI has operated with remarkable continuity, e.g. during the more than five years of the SDO prime mission that ended 30 September 2015, HMI collected 98.4% of all possible 45-second velocity maps; minimizing gaps in these full-disk Dopplergrams is crucial for helioseismology. HMI velocity, intensity, and magnetic-field measurements are used in numerous investigations, so understanding the quality of the data is important. We describe the calibration measurements used to track HMI performance and detail trends in important instrument parameters during the mission. Regular calibration sequences provide information used to improve and update the HMI data calibration. The set-point temperature of the instrument front window and optical bench is adjusted regularly to maintain instrument focus, and changes in the temperature-control scheme have been made to improve stability in the observable quantities. The exposure time has been changed to compensate for a 15% decrease in instrument throughput. Measurements of the performance of the shutter and tuning mechanisms show that they are aging as expected and continue to perform according to specification. Parameters of the tunable-optical-filter elements are regularly adjusted to account for drifts in the central wavelength. Frequent measurements of changing CCD-camera characteristics, such as gain and flat field, are used to calibrate the observations. Infrequent expected events, such as eclipses, transits, and spacecraft off-points, interrupt regular instrument operations and provide the opportunity to perform additional calibration. Onboard instrument anomalies are rare and seem to occur quite uniformly in time. The instrument continues to perform very well.Comment: 50 pages, 18 figures, 20 table

Cardiomyopathy Secondary to Thyroid and Parathyroid Dysfunction: Case Report and Literature Review

Heart failure due to metabolic derangements is not common in clinical practice. However, outcome is usually positive given that the precipitating factor is recognized and treatment is initiated in a timely fashion. We report an unusual case of reduced left ventricular systolic function as a result of hypocalcemia and long standing untreated primary hypothyroidism in a patient without structural heart disease. Delay in seeking appropriate medical attention for both disorders has culminated in cardiac dysfunction that was favorably altered with correction of underlying etiologies. Therefore, early recognition and expedient management of hypocalcemia and hypothyroidism can result in an imminent improvement of cardiac function

Pathways to a rising caesarean section rate: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the obstetric pathways leading to caesarean section changed from one decade to another. We also aimed to explore how much of the increase in caesarean rate could be attributed to maternal and pregnancy factors including a shift towards delivery in private hospitals. DESIGN: Population-based record linkage cohort study. SETTING: New South Wales, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: For annual rates, all women giving birth in NSW during 1994 to 2009 were included. To examine changes in obstetric pathways two cohorts were compared: all women with a first-birth during either 1994–1997 (82 988 women) or 2001–2004 (85 859 women) and who had a second (sequential) birth within 5 years of their first-birth. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Caesarean section rates, by parity and onset of labour. RESULTS: For first-births, prelabour and intrapartum caesarean rates increased from 1994 to 2009, with intrapartum rates rising from 6.5% to 11.7%. This fed into repeat caesarean rates; from 2003, over 18% of all multiparous births were prelabour repeat caesareans. In the 1994–1997 cohort, 17.7% of women had a caesarean delivery for their first-birth. For their second birth, the vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) rate was 28%. In the 2001–2004 cohort, 26.1% of women had a caesarean delivery for their first-birth and the VBAC rate was 16%. Among women with a first-birth, maternal and pregnancy factors and increasing deliveries in private hospitals, only explained 24% of the rise in caesarean rates from 1994 to 2009. CONCLUSIONS: Rising first-birth caesarean rates drove the overall increase. Maternal factors and changes in public/private care could explain only a quarter of the increase. Changes in the perceived risks of vaginal birth versus caesarean delivery may be influencing the pregnancy management decisions of clinicians and/or mothers

UV Absorption Lines from High-Velocity Gas in the Vela Supernova Remnant: New insights from STIS Echelle Observations of HD72089

The star HD72089 is located behind the Vela supernova remnant and shows a complex array of high and low velocity interstellar absorption features arising from shocked clouds. A spectrum of this star was recorded over the wavelength range 1196.4 to 1397.2 Angstroms at a resolving power lambda/Delta lambda = 110,000 and signal-to-noise ratio of 32 by STIS on the Hubble Space Telescope. We have identified 7 narrow components of C I and have measured their relative populations in excited fine-structure levels. Broader features at heliocentric velocities ranging from -70 to +130 km/s are seen in C II, N I, O I, Si II, S II and Ni II. In the high-velocity components, the unusually low abundances of N I and O I, relative to S II and Si II, suggest that these elements may be preferentially ionized to higher stages by radiation from hot gas immediately behind the shock fronts.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Latex. Submitted for the special HST ERO issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letter