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pseudoaneurysms of the axillary artery are uncommon and usually encountered after penetrating or blunt trauma to the axilla ( 1 ) . in the case of blunt trauma there tends to be an associated bony injury to the shoulder and most often an anterior dislocation ( 2 ) , in which axillary artery damage has been reported at around 0.3% prevalence ( 3 ) . other injuries that have been described are fractures of the neck of the humerus and proximal humerus ( 4 ) . the usual presenting complaint is a mass near the site of the trauma that is pulsating , painful , and warm . indeed clinical suspicion can be lessened by the absence of hard initial signs of arterial injury ( 6 ) and the patient may present much later with potentially irreversible sequelae , particularly brachial plexus injuries ( 5 ) . here we describe a unique case , where the patient presented without typical features of pseudoaneurysm and no dislocation or fracture and indeed the full consequences of the injury only became apparent when significant secondary neurological deficit had occurred . a 30 year old patient presented to our institute after six months of an injury sustained to his left shoulder during a fall from a tree with complaints of progressively growing mass in left axillary region and gradual progression of neurological deficit to the point at which the arm became useless and insensate . on examination 1 ) . clinical photograph of pseudoaneurysm of left axillary artery the left radial , ulnar and brachial pulses were palpable but decreased as compared to the right side . subsequent doppler study to look for vascular compression revealed pseudoaneurysm of axillary artery , which was confirmed by ct angiography ( fig . ct angiographic cut showing pseudoaneurysm 3d reconstruction of ct angiogram showing displacement of vessel and leakage of blood into pseudoaneurysmal sac the patient was taken up for surgical management . exploration was done and the proximal and the distal part of the axillary artery were controlled with umbilical tape and brachial plexus cords were identified and preserved . after administering 1 cc heparin ( 5,000 iu ) intravenously , we clamped the proximal and distal vascular structures and opened the capsule of the pseudoaneurysm with a direct incision . the capsule was dissected and evaluated histopathologically and microbiologically . in order to avoid increasing the risk of major hemorrhage or nerve injury , we did not resect the aneurysmal pouch completely . saphenous vein graft interpositioning was then performed because vascular structure was not conducive to end - to - end anastomosis . there had been no recovery of neurological function in the arm at two months follow up . aneurysms at less common locations are generally due to major trauma , syphilis , marfan syndrome , or infection . atherosclerotic aneurysms are often seen in large arteries and in patients of advanced age , but pseudoaneurysms due to penetrating or blunt trauma are seen in patients of every age and at any location ( 7 ) . frequency of pseudoaneurysms in the upper extremities is much lower than that in the lower extremities . however , as lifespans increase and diagnostic and evaluation processes improve , the detection of such pseudoaneurysms is becoming more common . infection , polyarteritis nodosa , congenital arterial defects , and especially trauma play a role in the pathogenesis of upper extremity pseudoaneurysms . if the only causal factor is trauma , the aneurysm takes the form of a pseudoaneurysm . sometimes , as in our report , patients are admitted to hospitals with pseudoaneurysms months or years after the trauma ( 7,8 ) . pseudoaneurysms typically present as a mass near the site of the trauma that is pulsating , painful , and warm . since this patient presented late and without any typical features of pseudoaneurysm or evident bony injury , it was misdiagnosed as soft tissue tumor . pseudoaneurysms after blunt trauma to the shoulder tend to occur in the third part of the axillary artery . one theory for this is the lesser mobility of this region of artery because of the relatively fixed nature of the circumflex humeral and subscapular arteries , leading to tearing of the axillary artery with attempts at mobilisation ( 3,4 ) . pseudoaneurysms of axillary artery are very rare in absence of bony injury in blunt trauma ( 9 ) . in our case patient this has been described by several authors and can occur as a primary injury or delayed , as the aneurysm grows in size and compresses the plexus ( 10 ) . delay in decompression is of paramount importance for recovery ( 1 ) . in this case decompression two months post surgery , assessment by the rehabilitation team had not shown any sign of recovery . the poor outlook is supported by several authors , including robbs et al ( 5 ) , who reported 12 cases of delayed ( after one to six weeks ) compression of the brachial plexus by an axillary pseudoaneurysm in a variety of injuries . the outcome of the six patients presenting initially with total brachial plexus lesions were that none recovered fully and one showed no recovery whatsoever at 18 months . the lesion was repaired by open surgical approach so as to remove organised thrombus , which was causing compression of the neurovascular bundle of arm . an endovascular approach with insertion of a covered stent is a less invasive option for early cases of pseudoaneurysms .

traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the axillary artery is a rare sequela of injury to shoulder region . we report here a unique case of delayed presentation of axillary artery pseudoaneurysm after a blunt injury , clinically mimicking soft tissue tumor without evidence of gross bony injury . the gentleman presented after six months of injury with a progressively growing mass in left axillary region and neurological deficit . ultimate management of the lesion was surgical resection and saphenous vein graft interpositioning . unfortunately the lack of subsequent neurological recovery parallels some of the findings in the literature , from cases where decompression of the brachial plexus was not undertaken soon enough .

And forces are now converging to heighten the tension in this seemingly unlikely pollution story. Civil fines by Fairbanks North Star Borough — which includes the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, with a total population of about 100,000 — could be assessed in coming days against residential polluters. The E.P.A. could declare the entire area to be in “serious” noncompliance of the Clean Air Act early next year, with potentially huge economic implications, including a cutoff of federal transportation funds. Some residents said they feared that an overreaching government, locally and in Washington, was out to take away their stoves. Others, like Dr. Olson, who works with racing sled dogs in her veterinary practice and volunteers with Citizens for Clean Air, a local group that has sued the E.P.A. to force a decision on Fairbanks pollution, said the exact opposite. The government, Dr. Olson said, has been endangering public health by dragging its feet. For six consecutive days in mid-December, the air here was declared “unhealthy,” for high particulate content — the longest streak since the current monitoring system began in late 2015, according to the borough’s air quality division. Photo “Both sides are digging in their heels,” said the borough’s mayor, Karl Kassel, who has been calling residents to chat about their heating systems and to urge them to upgrade, with financial help from the borough, to more efficient wood stoves. “We have been settieng ourselves up for a crescendo.” Certainly, no one from the E.P.A. or in local government is saying this part of Alaska is universally polluted. The problem, they say, is often block by block or street by street, because in the deep cold inversions, particulate pollution settles to the lowest areas in a basin surrounded by hills. Fairbanks North Star Borough is about the size of New Jersey, most of it wooded, wild and dazzlingly beautiful in winter. “We have a weather problem, we have inversions here that trap air, and it’s something that can’t be solved,” said Lance Roberts, a member of the Borough Assembly. Residents are also trapped, he said, by economics. Natural gas, a much cleaner fuel source, is not widely available in this part of Alaska, and heating oil can be very expensive. Oil also produces particulate pollution, though less than wood. A study for the borough last year said residents here spent, on average, almost four times the national average in annual heating costs. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “People up here tend to be more independent,” Mr. Roberts added. “They came up here to get away from the regulatory environment that’s down in the lower 48, so they definitely see the E.P.A. as coming after wood stoves and trying to cut out that kind of independent lifestyle where you can live off the grid.” Photo Mr. Hamlin, the E.P.A. official, said his agency was definitely not trying to take away anyone’s wood stove, or make life more expensive. But he said the Clean Air Act, passed by Congress in 1970, requires a standard of breathable air for all Americans. The E.P.A. was given the job of enforcing that standard. “We don’t want to be telling people what to do, but the standard is what it is, and we want to work with you to be able to get there,” he said. Critics of government intervention, led by a local representative in the Alaska Legislature, Tammie Wilson, said they were ready to fight back with a lawsuit if the borough started fining homeowners for smoke violations, especially if their homes are far from the monitor that is recording air quality in the community. The North Pole air monitor regularly records some of the highest local concentrations of particulate pollution in the nation. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. “They’re allowing themselves to be bullied by the E.P.A.,” said Ms. Wilson, a Republican. “And there’s going to be an uproar. We already have a big group of people who will make sure there is money to take it to court so that we can finally prove that the way they’re doing air quality doesn’t make any sense.” Some residents are taking action on their own. Morgan Boatman said he had begun to understand local air quality problems more deeply in chatting with Dr. Olson, who cares for his dogs at her veterinary clinic. Last month, he shut down his old boiler system and had a high-efficiency masonry furnace installed in its place, at a cost of about $25,000. “I’m not big on government, and I think there’s a lot of overreach, but I’m trying to be a good steward,” he said. “I see now that there is a problem.” ||||| If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Go to form

– Odds are old Saint Nick was happy to flee the North Pole to make his annual rounds this Christmas. A dirty haze has settled over this part of northern Alaska, hovering over streets named Santa Claus Lane. The New York Times pins the blame on what it calls an "only-in-Alaska" pollution problem: People use old, inefficient wood-burning stoves, and when the smoke goes out their chimneys, frigid temperatures force it back down to ground level. That results in the highest readings in the nation of a pollution measure called PM 2.5, which refers to fine-particulate matter. In fact, the area suffered a record stretch of six consecutive days earlier this month with air deemed unhealthy, reports the Fairbanks News-Miner. This ground-level pollution is seen as particularly dangerous because it can get directly into lungs. The dirty woodstove problem is particularly pronounced in the Fairbanks-North Pole area, about the size of New Jersey. With cleaner natural gas in short supply and heating oil expensive, wood is the fuel of choice as temperatures hover around minus 20 below. Upgrading to a more efficient wood stove is expensive, even with local government assistance, and many independent Alaskans balk at the cost—and being told what to do. (An education campaign is trying to spread the word that upgrading is actually a wise investment, notes the Frontiersman.) Failing to comply could result in residents being fined, and the borough losing federal transportation funds if the EPA declares the area in violation of the Clean Air Act. "Both sides are digging in their heels," Mayor Karl Kassel tells the Times. (Some in China are buying Canadian air in a can.)

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2015''. SEC. 2. INCREASE IN THE REHABILITATION CREDIT FOR CERTAIN SMALL PROJECTS. (a) In General.--Section 47 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(e) Special Rule Regarding Certain Small Projects.-- ``(1) In general.--In the case of any qualified rehabilitated building or portion thereof-- ``(A) which is placed in service after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and ``(B) which is a small project, subsection (a)(2) shall be applied by substituting `30 percent' for `20 percent'. ``(2) Maximum credit.--The credit under this section (after application of this subsection) with respect to any project for all taxable years shall not exceed $750,000. ``(3) Small project.-- ``(A) In general.--For purposes of this subsection, the term `small project' means any certified historic structure or portion thereof if-- ``(i) the total qualified rehabilitation expenditures taken into account for purposes of this section with respect to the rehabilitation do not exceed $3,750,000, and ``(ii) no credit was allowed under this section for either of the two immediately preceding taxable years with respect to such building. ``(B) Progress expenditures.--Credit allowable by reason of subsection (d) shall not be taken into account under subparagraph (A)(ii).''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply to periods after the date of the enactment of this Act, under rules similar to the rules of section 48(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990). SEC. 3. ALLOWANCE FOR THE TRANSFER OF CREDITS FOR CERTAIN SMALL PROJECTS. (a) In General.--Section 47(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by section 2, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(4) Transfer of small project credit.-- ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B) and such regulations or other guidance as the Secretary may provide, the taxpayer may transfer to any other taxpayer all or a portion of the credit allowable to the taxpayer under subsection (a) for a small project. ``(B) Certification.--A transfer under subparagraph (A) shall be accompanied by a certificate which includes-- ``(i) the certification for the certified historic structure, ``(ii) the taxpayer's name, address, and tax identification number, ``(iii) the transferee's name, address, and tax identification number, ``(iv) the date of project completion and the amount of credit being transferred, and ``(v) such other information as may be required by the Secretary. ``(C) Credit may only be transferred once.--A credit transferred under subparagraph (A) is not transferable by the transferee to any other taxpayer. ``(D) Tax treatment of transfer.-- ``(i) Disallowance of deduction.--No deduction shall be allowed for any amount of consideration paid or incurred by the transferee in return for the transfer of any credit under this paragraph. ``(ii) Allowance of credit.--The amount of credit transferred under subparagraph (A)-- ``(I) shall not be allowed to the transferor for any taxable year, and ``(II) shall be allowable to the transferee as a credit under this section for the taxable year of the transferee in which such credit is transferred. ``(E) Recapture and other special rules.--For purposes of section 50, the transferee of a credit with respect to a smaller project under this paragraph shall be treated as the taxpayer with respect to the smaller project. ``(F) Information reporting.--The transferor and the transferee shall each make such reports regarding the transfer of an amount of credit under paragraph (A), and containing such information, as the Secretary may require. The reports required by this subparagraph shall be filed at such time and in such manner as may be required by the Secretary.''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to periods after December 31, 2015. SEC. 4. INCREASING THE TYPE OF BUILDINGS ELIGIBLE FOR REHABILITATION. (a) In General.--Section 47(c)(1)(C)(i)(I) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``50 percent of'' before ``the adjusted basis''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015. SEC. 5. REDUCTION OF BASIS ADJUSTMENT FOR REHABILITATION PROPERTY. (a) In General.--Section 50(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(6) Special rule relating to the rehabilitation credit.-- In the case of any rehabilitation credit-- ``(A) only 50 percent of such credit shall be taken into account under paragraph (1), and ``(B) only 50 percent of any recapture amount attributable to such credit shall be taken into account under paragraph (2).''. (b) Coordination With Basis Adjustment.--Subsection (d) of section 50 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``For purposes of paragraph (5), in applying the provisions of section 48(d)(5)(B) (as so in effect) to a lease of property eligible for the credit under section 47, gross income of the lessee of such property shall include, ratably over the shortest recovery period applicable to such property under section 168, an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount of the credit allowable under section 38 to such lessee with respect to such property.''. (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act. SEC. 6. SPECIAL RULES FOR DISPOSITIONS OF STATE HISTORIC TAX CREDITS. (a) In General.--Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 139F the following new section: ``SEC. 139G. DISPOSITIONS OF STATE HISTORIC TAX CREDITS. ``(a) Exclusion From Income; Basis Reduction.-- ``(1) In general.--In the case of a taxpayer who receives a State historic tax credit and transfers such credit by sale, allocation, or otherwise, or receives a refund of all or a portion of such credit-- ``(A) no portion of the net proceeds of such allocation, disposition, or refund of such credit shall constitute income to such taxpayer under section 61(a), and ``(B) the taxpayer's basis for purposes of this title in the property with respect to which the State historic tax credit is allowed shall be reduced by the net proceeds of such sale, allocation, disposition, or refund under the rules of paragraph (2). ``(2) Application of reduction in basis.-- ``(A) In general.--The reduction in basis under paragraph (1)(b) shall be applied-- ``(i) first, against the basis in the land, ``(ii) second, against so much of the basis of any building or interest therein as was not treated as a qualified rehabilitation expenditure by reason of clause (ii) or (iii) of section 47(c)(2)(B), and ``(iii) third, against the remaining basis in the property. ``(B) Adjustment in basis of interest in partnership or s corporation.--The adjusted basis of-- ``(i) a partner's interest in a partnership, or ``(ii) stock in an S corporation (as defined in section 1361(a)(1)), shall be appropriately adjusted to take into account adjustments made under this paragraph in the basis of property held by the partnership or S corporation (if any). ``(b) Election To Include in Income.-- ``(1) In general.--In the case of a taxpayer who elects to have this subsection apply in lieu of subsection (a)-- ``(A) the net proceeds of the allocation, disposition, or refund described in subsection (a)(1) shall constitute income to the taxpayer under section 61(a), and ``(B) subsection (a)(1)(B) shall not apply. ``(2) Making of election.--An election under this subsection shall be made at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe. Such election shall apply for the taxable year for which it is made and for all subsequent taxable years and may be revoked only with the consent of the Secretary of the Treasury. ``(c) Effect on Qualified Rehabilitation Expenditures and Rehabilitation Credits.--For purposes of determining the rehabilitation credit allowable to a taxpayer under section 47, the transfer or allocation of State historic tax credits with respect to any property by a taxpayer shall not affect or reduce the amount of qualified rehabilitation expenditures (as defined in section 47(c)(2)) taken into account with such property, nor shall such transfer or disposition, or any basis adjustment under subsection (a), be treated as an early disposition of investment credit property for purposes of the recapture provisions of section 50. ``(d) State Historic Tax Credit.--For purposes of this section, the term `State historic tax credit' means any credit against State or local tax liabilities which-- ``(1) is allowable under the laws of any State or political subdivision thereof to a taxpayer with respect to expenditures made for the rehabilitation of property identified by such laws, and ``(2) can be allocated, disposed, or refunded under such laws.''. (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 139F the following new item: ``Sec. 139G. Dispositions of State historic tax credits.''. (c) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to transfers or dispositions made, or refunds received, after the date of the enactment of this Act. SEC. 7. MODIFICATIONS REGARDING CERTAIN TAX-EXEMPT USE PROPERTY. (a) In General.--Section 47(c)(2)(B)(v)(I) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``, and subclauses (I), (II), and (III) of section 168(h)(1)(B)(ii) shall not apply'' after ``thereof''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to property placed in service after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act of 2015 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the tax credit for the rehabilitation of buildings and historic structures, to: (1) allow an increased 30% credit, up to $750,000, for projects with rehabilitation expenditures not exceeding $3.75 million, for which no credit was allowed in either of the two immediately preceding taxable years (small projects); (2) allow the transfer of tax credit amounts for small projects; (3) treat a building as substantially rehabilitated if rehabilitation expenditures exceed the greater of 50% of the adjusted basis of the building or $5,000 (currently, the greater of the adjusted basis of the building or $5,000); (4) exempt from tax the proceeds of a state historic tax; and (5) limit the application of disqualified lease rules to tax-exempt use property.

due to their low mass , dwarf galaxies are unique laboratories for studying the interplay between violent feedback ( eg . sn - driven outflows and starbursts ) , relatively quiescent inflow of both primordial and re - accreted , radiatively - cooled , metal - enhanced wind material , and the hierarchical assembly of these building blocks into more massive systems . dwarfs may also give rise to distant high - column density gas clouds seen in absorption towards even more distant qsos . further , lg dwarfs are one of the few places in the universe , outside the milky way , where ( i ) individual stellar abundances can be derived and ( ii ) empirical sfhs can be derived from the colour - magnitude diagrams of resolved stellar populations . environment clearly plays an important role in shaping the sfhs and stellar populations of dwarfs , with gas - poor , predominantly old , dsphs clustered near the milky way , and gas - rich dirrs , with more extended sfhs , more widely distributed . to investigate the differences between dsphs and dirrs , we have simulated the chemical evolution of ten lg dwarfs , exploring a wide range of prescriptions for sn feedback , cooling and re - accretion of galactic winds , and nucleosynthetic yields ( including neutron capture elements ) . a unique aspect of our efforts is the ( attempted ) elimination of both star formation and infall as `` free parameters '' . we end ( appendix a ) with a cautionary note regarding the claimed association between one of the newly - discovered lg dwarfs - ursa major ii ( umaii ) - and high - velocity cloud ( hvc ) complex a. chemical enrichment histories were simulated using an updated version of getool ( fenner & gibson 2003 ) ; enhancements included : ( i ) sne - driven outflows , ( ii ) empirically - derived sfhs ( dolphin et al . 2005 ) , ( iii ) semi - empirically - constrained infall rates , , including a provision for the incorporation of diluted , metallicity - dependent , radiatively - cooled , re - accreted wind material , and ( iv ) inclusion of both rapid- and slow - neutron capture nucleosynthetic yields . we have relaxed the assumption that differential galactic winds act in proportion to the current star formation rate ( eg . lanfranchi et al . 2006 ) , instead linking directly to the underlying sne rates . we also allow for the mass - loading of cold , entrained , ism gas to the sne - driven galactic outflows , a key parameter determining the metallicity of the outflows . fig . 1 summarises the observed and predicted abundance ratios for 17 elements for the current sample of ten lg dwarfs . the loci of small dots in each panel correspond to simulated model stars ( for our template grid of models ) - for the sake of brevity , loci of both dsph and dirr models have been overlaid.@xmath2@xmath31 , where the dots are essentially associated only with simulated dirr stars . ] the larger symbols in each panel correspond to the extant data for each galaxy listed in the upper left panel . broadly speaking , the template models reproduce many of the features common to the dwarfs , including the ( i ) low absolute metallicities , ( ii ) relatively low ratios of [ @xmath4,sc , mn , cu , y / fe ] , and ( iii ) trends of [ ba / eu , y ] , indicative of significant pollution from lims . the latter is understood in our models as a consequence of the strongly metallicity - dependent s - process asymptotic giant branch ( agb ) yields . at low metallicities , the ratio of the neutron flux ( provided by the @xmath5c pocket ) to seed nuclei is high , and the s - process can operate efficiently to produce a bottleneck at pb . with increasing metallicity , there are fewer neutrons per seed nuclei and the s - process tends to produce relatively fewer heavy s - elements and more lighter s - elements . this should lead to a steep rise in ba / y with increasing fe / h in systems with a significant agb contribution . general failures of the model are self - evident and reflect our poor understanding of certain stellar evolutionary nucleosynthetic pathways ( note : no _ a posteriori scaling of the chemical evolution models or yields has been applied ) . these failures have been discussed by fenner et al . ( 2006 ) and include the ( i ) significant overproduction of na and ni , ( ii ) mild underproduction of mg , and ( iii ) inability to reach [ eu / fe]@xmath6@xmath71 . _ 0.1 dex was imposed upon model star abundances to mimic observational errors . ] using the template models and their predicted outflow properties , we determined the redshift evolution of [ o , si / c ] in the intergalactic medium ( igm ) , in order to compare with that observed in the igm at redshifts 2@xmath0@xmath1@xmath04 ( [ o , si / c]@[email protected]@[email protected] ) . the expected pollution from lg dwarfs was evaluated by summing the mass of metals ejected from our grid of dsph and dirr models and applying a weighting factor to account for their observed frequency in the lg . the ratios thusly predicted over this redshift range match the observations regardless of stripping assumptions , and are fairly robust to model parameters and the relative number of dirrs to dsphs . it has been suggested that anomalous mg isotopic abundances within redshift @xmath1@xmath02 qso absorbers could mimic the effect of a varying fine structure constant @xmath4 . an initial mass function ( imf ) biased towards intermediate mass stars early in the evolution of a milky way - like system could produce the requisite factor of ten enhancement needed to reach such extreme @xmath10mg/@xmath11 mg ratios , although at the expense of introducing peculiar ( and unobserved ) nitrogen abundances and carbon isotope ratios ( fenner et al . conversely , the neutral gas of our simulated dwarfs galaxies bears the imprint of lims pollution , provided there has been preferential loss of sne ejecta , without the need to invoke a finely - tuned non - standard imf . we find that the ism of our model dsphs readily populate the enhanced @xmath10mg/@xmath11 mg regime required , but by redshift @xmath1@xmath02 , most are expected to have lost so much of their gas as to fall below the neutral hydrogen ( hi ) column density detection limit of qso absorber studies . the better retention of gas by dirrs could afford them greater representation in the low redshift sample . two of our three dirr models achieve @xmath10mg/@xmath11 mg ratios that fall within the range that could account for the varying-@xmath4 measurement . having said that , these two models assume that sne - driven winds are permanently lost ; only a modest fraction of the wind needs to be re - accreted to bring the @xmath10mg/@xmath11 mg ratio back down to near - solar . the so - called `` field of streams '' has proven to be a boon for lg dwarf studies , leading to the discovery of many new dwarfs , and the fascinating orphan stream ( belokurov et al . 2007 ) . belokurov et al , fellhauer et al . ( 2007 ) , and jin & lynden - bell ( 2007 ) each note the spatial and kinematical coincidence of hvc complex a with the predicted orbit of one of these new dwarfs , umaii . with fellhauer et al . making the reasonable suggestion ( via the use of n - body simulations ) that the progenitor of umaii was likely to have had a _ dynamical _ mass of @xmath63@xmath1210@xmath13 m@xmath14 ( and certainly @xmath010@xmath15 m@xmath14 ) and now lies at a heliocentric distance of @xmath630 kpc ( with an absolute magnitude of @[email protected] ) . while we find it likewise tempting to associate umaii and the orphan stream with complex a , the latter association appears difficult to reconcile with the following points : * complex a lies 4 - 10 kpc from the sun , and not 30 kpc * assuming umaii adheres to the luminosity - metallicity relation , much like the other lg dsphs , one would expect a metallicity @xmath161% solar , for its luminosity , while complex a almost certainly possesses a metallicity @xmath210 - 20@xmath12 that value * the @xmath4/fe ratio within complex a is likely enhanced , as in complex c , and consistent with a sneii signature , while present - day lg dsphs typically present sub - solar @xmath4/fe * perhaps most difficult to reconcile is the fact that at a putative distance of 30 kpc , the hi mass of complex a would be @xmath610@xmath17 m@xmath14 ( even neglecting the known and substantial ionised gas components associated with complex a ) , @xmath630@xmath12 the dynamical mass of the putative umaii progenitor , alone . even at the lowest allowable distance ( 4 kpc ) , the hi mass of complex a already equates to the putative umaii progenitor s dynamical mass , leaving no room for a dark matter or stellar component . * a further @xmath610@xmath15 m@xmath14 of stars would also be required to enrich the 10@xmath17 m@xmath14 of gas to 10% solar metallicity , only exacerbating this mass `` problem '' this work could not have been undertaken without the remarkable skills of yeshe fenner ; her contributions are gratefully acknowledged , as is the ongoing guidance of leticia carigi , andrea marcolini , stphanie courty , and patricia snchez - blzquez .

simulations of the chemical enrichment histories of ten local group ( lg ) dwarf galaxies are presented , employing empirically - derived star formation histories ( sfhs ) , a rich network of isotopic and elemental nucleosynthetic yields , and a range of prescriptions for supernova ( sn)-driven outflows . our main conclusions are that ( i ) neutron - capture element patterns ( particularly that of ba / y ) suggest a strong contribution from low- and intermediate - mass stars ( lims ) , ( ii ) neutron star mergers may play a relatively larger role in the nucleosynthesis of dwarfs , ( iii ) sn feedback alone can explain the observed gas fraction in dwarf irregulars ( dirrs ) , but dwarf spheroidals ( dsphs ) require almost all their gas to be removed via ram pressure and/or tidal stripping , ( iv ) the predicted heavy mg isotope enhancements in the interstellar medium ( ism ) of dwarfs may provide an alternate solution to claims of a varying fine structure ( v ) the gas lost from dwarfs have o , si / c abundances in broad agreement with intergalactic medium abundances at redshifts 2@xmath0@xmath1@xmath04 , and ( vi ) the chemical properties of dsphs are well - matched by preventing galactic winds from re - accreting , whilst those of dirrs are better - matched by incorporating metallicity - dependent cooling and re - accretion of hot winds . finally , doubts are cast upon a claimed association between lg dsph umaii and hvc complex a.

during the last few years there has been many interesting phenomena observed in experiments at rhic . the vast majority of such phenomena has been studied and interpreted using well known models that incorporate energy loss dynamics . the broadening of the away - side peak appearing in azimuthal correlation studies in au+au collisions and absent in p+p collisions at the same energies , is one of these remarkable observations . this has yet to have a complete understanding that incorporates the medium characteristics and , at the same time , that is coherent with previous correlation studies . in fact , this particular double hump structure has been the subject of different theoretical analysis which are based on the assumption that unlike p+p collisions , a+a collisions are strongly influenced by collective phenomena . the purpose of this work is to put forward our particular approach to explore the origins of such structure in the away side . the details of this work have been provided in @xcite and soon will be reported in greater extent elsewhere @xcite . in relativistic heavy ion collisions , high @xmath0 partons are produced through hard processes in the initial binary nucleon collisions and they are the perfect tool to probe the dynamics of such ephimeral conditions . in fact , just by studying the way partons hadronize under such conditions , we can obtain information on the nature of the medium . just after the ion collision , many partons are produced due to the binary collisions between nucleons . these partons have to travel through the hot and dense medium , before they can hadronize . if these partons were to hadronize with little interaction , then the number of produced high @xmath0 hadrons detected , should scale with the number of binary collisions . it was quickly realised some time ago that the experimental evidence was telling a different story : the number of produced high @xmath0 hadrons is reduced significantly in these sort of collisions : up to 5 times in most central au + au collisions @xcite . this strengthens the idea that the medium produced in such collisions is opaque for high @xmath0 partons . to study these ideas further , more differential studies were devised by measuring azimuthal correlations between particle pairs at high @xmath0 . and , as it is shown in fig . [ notthere ] , the near - side correlation is similar for the p + p and au + au collisions , while the away - side correlation is not there for central au + au events @xcite . ranges in p+p and au+au collisions . reprinted figure with permission from star collaboration ( j. adams et al . ) , * 95 * , 152301 , 2005 . copyright 2005 by the american physical society . @xcite ] many ideas were put forward to encompass a coherent explanation to what was being observed in these correlation studies . among others , there were many _ elliptic flow studies _ implemented . these studies are based on the fact that an anisotropy in the momentum distribution of particles may arise after the initial binary collisions . they consider that the initial geometry of the collision region is anisotropic in the azimuthal direction so that after the interacting system reaches local thermal equilibrium , preassure gradients are steeper in the impact parameter direction and these generate the elliptic flow . so up until then , the elliptic flow together with the two particle correlation studies applied on different analisis , gave an indication that an opaque , strongly interacting partonic matter had been created in the high energy au + au collisions at rhic . in 2005 there was a rich correlation structure in au + au vs p + p reported by the leading collaborations at rhic . they observed a _ ridge _ and _ broad away side _ in the correlation studies performed at the time . more precisely , they reported an excess yield of correlated particles at @xmath1 and @xmath2 extending out to @xmath3 @xcite bins . reprinted figure with permission from phenix collaboration ( a. adare et al . ) , phys . c * 78 * , 014901 , 2008 . copyright 2008 by the american physical society . @xcite ] ( _ head / shoulder _ ) for different @xmath0 bins . reprinted figure with permission from phenix collaboration ( a. adare et al . ) , phys . c * 78 * , 014901 , 2008 . copyright 2008 by the american physical society . @xcite ] in fig . [ headshoulder ] we can see that , to analize the origins of such structure the phenix collaboration identified _ head _ and _ shoulders _ regions and defined a ratio @xmath4 ( _ head / shoulder _ ) . looking closely at the ratio @xmath4 in fig . [ ratiorhs ] , we can see that for p+p collisions @xmath4 grows with @xmath0 , which can be interpreted as a production of a narrower jet , whereas for au + au , jet fragmentation dominates at high @xmath0 over medium effects . several theoretical models have been proposed to look for the origins of such structures , among others the literature focuses mainly on * mach or cerenkov cone due to medium reaction @xcite : the _ double hump _ can be explained by considering how the medium reacts to the passing of a fast parton . in principle this would produce such structures since the medium would eject two bunches of hadrons in the away side . * triangularity and triangular flow @xcite : the _ double hump _ can be explained by considering event - by - event fluctuations in the initial collision geometry as a next order collective flow effect , after considering the elliptic flow effects . we can see that all of the theoretical models rely on the description of such away - side structures as the manifestation of emergent behaviour due to the collective ( e.g. triangular flow : relies crucially on the existence of initial geometry fluctuations ) . in fact , there are a couple of recent reviews on the models posed to solve this puzzle : up until 2009 , j. l. nagle @xcite argued that `` ... none of the theoretical models are succesful to describe all the special characteristics of these structures ... '' and this year , m. j. tannenbaum @xcite argued that `` ... no clear paradigm has emerged for the two - lobed wide away - jet structure ... '' in a nutshell , our proposal @xcite regarding the origins of the double - hump in the away side of two - particle correlation studies in a + a collisions , is as follows * we account for the medium induced energy loss effects on the calculation of @xmath5 cross sections * we also take into account the different path lengths for the trajectories of 3 as opposed to 2 particles in the final state of an a + a collision * finally , considering that one particle is absorbed by the medium and the other one punches through * this gives on average , a double hump structure in other words , when we have a @xmath6 scattering process , we have a correlation between the leading and the away side that looks , schematically as shown in fig . [ dist1 ] . there , one expects the defined humps to be around @xmath7 and @xmath8 . but when one considers the possibility of a significant contribution to this correlation studies , coming from a promotion of the @xmath9 scattering processes , on average one has a double hump structure ( roughly at around @xmath10 and @xmath11 ) , as shown in fig . [ dist2 ] , again schematically . [ dist1 ] process.,title="fig : " ] [ dist2 ] [ cols="^ " , ] in our calculation , we use the cteq6 parametrization for the parton distribution functions @xcite and the kkp parametrization @xcite for the ( unmodified ) parton fragmentation funtions together with lo - diphox @xcite to compare with the @xmath6 result . in the case of p + p collisions the @xmath12 final state particle differential cross section at @xmath13 gev is shown in fig . [ ppxsec ] for the away side hadrons as a function of the azimuthal angle . we focus on midrapidity region ( @xmath14 ) and as an example that simplifies the calculation , consider a situation in which all hadrons carry @xmath15 gev / c . we can see that we have two well defined peaks at @xmath16 ( @xmath17 ) , for a @xmath18 ( @xmath19 ) particle final state . [ ppxsec ] final state particle differential cross section at @xmath13 gev for p + p collisions @xcite , title="fig : " ] in order to describe the same observables but for a au + au collision , we now use modified parton fragmentation functions proposed by zhang et al @xcite , to account for the effects of the medium on the propagation of the produced partons . these fragmentation functions are parametrized as follows : @xmath20 + e^{- { \langle\frac{l}{\lambda}\rangle } } d^0_{h / i}(z_i,\mu^2 ) \nonumber \\\end{aligned}\ ] ] where * @xmath21 is the rescaled momentum fraction of the leading parton with flavor @xmath22 , * @xmath23 is the rescaled momentum fraction of the radiated gluon , * @xmath24 is the average number of scatterings * and the average radiative parton energy loss is taken to be @xmath25 also @xmath26 is the transverse plane location of the hard scattering where the partons are produced , @xmath27 is the direction in which the produced hard parton travels in the medium and for most central collisions @xmath28 . in our calculation , we use @xmath24 , @xmath29 and @xmath30 ( motivated by the geometry ) as suggested in @xcite . taking into account the modified parton fragmentation function , in fig . [ aaxsec ] we show the appropiate differential cross section for a @xmath12 particle final state in au + au collisions , as was done previously for p + p. notice that in both cases the 3 hadron production cross section is suppressed with respect to the 2 hadron final state result . however , this suppression is smaller in a + a collisions than in p + p collisions . dividing this ratio in a + a to that in p + p , we get as a function of @xmath31 approximately a constant : @xmath32 [ aaxsec ] final state particle differential cross section at @xmath13 gev for au + au collisions @xcite , title="fig : " ] notice that the sole ingredient that induced this enhancement from the calculation of @xmath33 vs @xmath6 in au + au to that of p + p collisions is the energy loss of partons that hadronize collinearly . so this must be correlated to the different geometry for the trajectories of 3 as opposed to 2 particles in the final state . in order to test this idea we computed the distribution of path lengths with two and three hadrons in the final state by taking a nuclear overlap area with a distribution of scattering centers denser in the middle and decreasing toward the edge , as shown in fig . [ nuclearover ] . [ nuclearover ] [ paths ] in each case we disregard the path length that would correspond to the trigger particle and in fig . [ paths ] we compute the distribution of the path lengths corresponding to the away side particles . as you can see , when there are three hadrons in the final state , the large ( short ) path length in the away side is greater ( smaller ) than the case of the away side particle when there are two hadrons in the final state , i.e. @xmath34 . this means that for the case of three particles in the final state , even if one of the non - leading particles with the largest path length gets absorbed by the medium , the remaining particle has a larger probability of punching through than in the case when one has two particles in the final state . so , in processes with 3 particles in the final state , there is a large probability to have one of the two away side particles being absorbed and the other randomly getting out , producing on the average , a double hump structure in the correlation studies . we want to emphasize that @xmath33 processes have to be accounted for in current heavy ion experiments , given that the medium levels out the @xmath35 processes rates . in other words , their observation should be enhanced with respect to suppressed @xmath35 processes . moreover , we claim that this effect may have bearing on the away side shape for different kinematical cuts in au + au collisions . we realize that we need three - particle - correlation measurements to distinguish between ours and other scenarios that might be responsible for this shape in 2 particle correlation studies and in fact we are working towards providing our predictions in this context . the authors thank the organizers of the _ 5th international workshop on high @xmath0 physics at the lhc , 2010 _ at icn - unam , mexico , where this work was presented . m.e.t . appreciates the support provided by _ conacyt and departamento de fsica at universidad de sonora . a. ayala , j. jalilian - marian , j. magnin , a. ortiz , g. paic and m. e. tejeda - yeomans , phys . lett . * 104 * , 042301 ( 2010 ) a. ayala , j. jalilian - marian , j. magnin , a. ortz , g. pai and m. e. tejeda - yeomans , in progress . b. b. back et al . b * 578 * , 297 - 303 ( 2004 ) ; s. s. adler et al . c * 69 * , 034910 ( 2004 ) ; j. adams et al . lett . * 91 * , 172302 ( 2003 ) . j. adams et al . phys . a * 757 * , 102 - 183 ( 2005 ) ; c. adler et al . lett . * 90 * , 082302 ( 2003 ) . b. alver et al . . lett . * 104 * , 062301 ( 2010 ) . john adams et al . * 95 * , 152301 ( 2005 ) ; a. adare et al . c * 77 * , 011901 ( 2008 ) ; b. i. abelev et al . c * 80 * , 064912 ( 2009 ) ; a. adare et al . c * 78 * , 014901 ( 2008 ) ; b. i. abelev et al . * 102 * , 052302 ( 2009 ) . phenix collaboration ( a. adare et al . ) , phys . c * 78 * , 014901 ( 2008 ) . j. ruppert and t. renk , acta phys . supp . 1 , 633 - 637 ( 2008 ) . b. alver et al , phys . c * 81 * , 024904 ( 2010 ) . j. l. nagle , nucl . a * 830 * , 147c-154c ( 2009 ) .

in high energy heavy ion collisions at rhic there are important aspects of the medium induced dynamics , that are still not well understood . in particular , there is a broadening and even a double hump structure of the away - side peak appearing in azimuthal correlation studies in au+au collisions which is absent in p+p collisions at the same energies . these features are already present but suppressed in p+p collisions : 2 to 3 parton processes produce such structures but are suppressed with respect to 2 to 2 processes . we argue that in a+a collisions the different geometry for the trajectories of 3 as opposed to 2 particles in the final state , together with the medium induced energy loss effects on the different cross sections , create a scenario that enhances processes with 3 particles in the final state , which gives on average this double hump structure . address = instituto de ciencias nucleares , universidad nacional autnoma de mxico , + apartado postal 70 - 543 , mxico distrito federal 04510 , mxico . address = department of natural sciences , baruch college , new york , ny 10010 , usa , altaddress = cuny graduate center , 365 fifth ave . , new york , ny 10016 , usa . address = centro brasileiro de pesquisas fsicas , cbpf , + rua dr . xavier sigaud 150 , 22290 - 180 , rio de janeiro , brazil . address = instituto de ciencias nucleares , universidad nacional autnoma de mxico , + apartado postal 70 - 543 , mxico distrito federal 04510 , mxico . address = instituto de ciencias nucleares , universidad nacional autnoma de mxico , + apartado postal 70 - 543 , mxico distrito federal 04510 , mxico . address = departamento de fsica , universidad de sonora , + blvd . luis encinas y rosales , col . centro , hermosillo , sonora 83000 , mxico .

let @xmath6 be a group . we say that @xmath6 has _ spread r _ if for any set of distinct non - trivial elements @xmath7 there exists an element @xmath8 with the property that @xmath9 for every @xmath10 . we say that @xmath11 is a _ mate _ to @xmath12 . we say @xmath6 has _ exact spread _ @xmath13 if @xmath6 has spread @xmath14 but not @xmath15 . this concept was first introduced by brenner and wiegold in @xcite , extending earlier work of binder in @xcite . the concept of spread may be thought of as a generalization of the idea of 3/2-generation . since this note is not intended for publication , we omit background and motivation , but the interested reader may wish to consult @xcite . the reader should at least note that there has been considerable interest in determining , or at least bounding , the exact spreads of the finite simple groups and in particular the exact spreads of the sporadic simple groups . the precise value of the exact spread of a finite simple group is known in very few cases . here we prove the following . first note that from ( * ? ? ? * table 1 ) ( itself a heavily corrected version of ( * ? ? ? * table 1 ) ) we have that @xmath17 and so it is sufficient to show that any set of 8064 elements from m@xmath1 has a mate . let @xmath18 m@xmath3 be a set of 8064 distinct elements . now , from the maximal subgroups of m@xmath3 listed in @xcite we see that an element of order 23 is contained in only one maximal subgroup - a copy of the frobenius group 23:11 . since the normalizer in m@xmath3 of a cyclic subgroup of order 11 is a frobenius group 11:5 , each element of order 11 is contained in five disctinct copies of 23:11 . it follows that the only way @xmath12 can avoid having a mate of order 23 is if @xmath12 consists of a well chosen configutation of elements of order 11 . finally , note that of the maximal subgroups of m@xmath3 containing elements of order 11 , which are each isomorphic to one of m@xmath19 , m@xmath20 or 23:11 , none contain elements of order 14 . it follows that even if @xmath12 only contains elements of order 11 , @xmath12 must have a mate and so @xmath21 .

we show that if @xmath0 m@xmath1 then there exists an element @xmath2 m@xmath3 such that @xmath4 m@xmath3 for every @xmath5 and that no larger set of distinct elements of m@xmath3 has this property .

The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| Last night Gawker received a tip from a person claiming to be friends with the graphic designer allegedly responsible for the Internet's new favorite thing: The fake Guy Fieri menu currently parked at GuysAmericanKitchenAndBar.com. According to this friend, Bryan Mytko, the NYC-based programmer who claims to have purchased the restaurant's domain after Fieri "forgot" to, is a "dick" for not bothering to credit Pauline Vassiliadis with having actually designed the uproarious menu that is making everyone ROTFLTAO. But it seems the dick hole goes even deeper than that. Late last night, "weird twitter" ambassador @boring_as_heck noted that many of the jokes that appear on the faux-menu have been lifted wholesale from various Twitter accounts. A more detailed assessment of the plagiarism accusation by @a_girl_irl shows that approximately 50% of all the yucks were "borrowed" from a just one Twitter account: @DinkMagic. "[M]aking fun of guy fieri is literally the easiest thing on earth to do and that guy just ripped people off instead," @DinkMagic tweeted after the intellectual theft was brought to their attention. For his part, Mytko released a statement (since deleted, but still online) asserting that he didn't bother mentioning Vassiliadis initially because "she doesn't have twitter," and also didn't think his prank would blow up as big as it did. He continues: I barely use Twitter and have no idea who @DadBoner @a_girl_irl @DinkMagic @Lowenaffchen etc. are. If any of the content was stolen from them, well, I have no idea what to tell you. Laugh at the menu or don't. There are more important things to stress over in life than Twitter. Back on his Twitter feed, Mytko concluded a night of responding to aggrieved joke authors and their supporters by saying, "and I hope all you haters picked up a few followers to help fill that empty void in your soul." Vassiliadis has been reached for comment, but has yet to respond. This post will be updated if and when she does. [image via @a_girl_irl]

– Guy Fieri decided to go with the simple "guysamerican.com" for his restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. But he really should have also registered the longer version, too, Fast Company reports. Instead, Bryan Mytko snapped up GuysAmericanKitchenAndBar.com and posted a hilarious fake menu there that's gone viral. Sample items: Honky-Tonky Double Barrel Meat Loaded Blast: "A Sammy Hagar lookalike pushes your face into a leather bag filled with oil." Reno!!!: "Popcorn crusted popcorn chicken stuffed inside Guy's Nuthin' Fancy Meatloaf." (To this one, you can "Add a Cinnabon and two more Cinnabons" for just $4.95.) Superbowl Bash Bro'det: This one involves a lot of Velveeta and is served in a bidet that's actually "an MP3 player that plays Smash Mouth while you eat." Sadly, the menu is tinged with scandal: Someone claiming to be a friend of Mytko's tells Gawker Mytko didn't credit Pauline Vassiliadis with the menu's design. And, making matters worse, a few people also pointed out on Twitter that Mytko seems to have stolen many of the jokes from other Twitter users (comparisons here and here). (Mytko, for his part, says he "had no idea the stuff was theirs.") Despite the controversy, we say the menu is still worth reading: It's almost as funny as last year's scathing New York Times review of the restaurant.

although many tissues are known to contain lineage - committed progenitor cells for tissue maintenance and repair , several studies have also demonstrated the presence of uncommitted progenitor cells within the matrix of connective tissues . for instance , human adipose tissue - derived multilineage ( stromal ) cells have the potential to differentiate into bone , cartilage , fat , myocardium , skin , skeletal muscle , and neurons [ 8 , 9 ] . no significant differences have been observed between adipose tissue - derived stromal cells ( ascs ) and human bone marrow - derived mesenchymal stem cells from the same patient with regard to yield of adherent cells , growth kinetics , cell senescence , differentiation capacity , or gene transduction efficiency . furthermore , transplantation of constructs cultured with human ascs significantly stimulates skin repair , angiogenesis , and re - epithelialization in athymic mice when compared with constructs cultured with human fibroblasts . the multipotent characteristics of ascs , as well as their abundance in the human body , make ascs a potential resource for wound repair and tissue engineering applications . wound healing proceeds in 3 overlapping phases : inflammation , proliferation ( including formation of granulation tissue ) , and matrix formation and remodeling . this sequential process requires the interaction of cells in the dermis and epidermis as well as the activity of chemical mediators released from inflammatory cells , fibroblasts , and keratinocytes . an absence of the cellular and molecular signals required for normal wound repair processes such as inflammation , angiogenesis , contraction , deposition of extracellular matrix , granulation tissue formation , epithelialization , and remodeling may contribute to poor healing of some wounds , such as diabetic ulcers [ 1214 ] . numerous strategies have been investigated for coverage of such skin defects , including temporary skin substitutes ( porcine xenografts , synthetic membranes , atelocollagen sponge , and allogenic substitutes ) and permanent skin substitutes ( cultured epidermis and dermal substitutes ) [ 15 , 16 ] . artificial dermal substitutes , such as atelocollagen matrix ( acm ; pelnac ; johnson & johnson japan , tokyo , japan ) , are structurally optimized to incorporate into surrounding tissue and to allow cell invasion by fibroblasts and capillaries for subsequent dermal remodeling [ 16 , 17 ] . nevertheless , effective coverage is still not established when the area to be covered is large or the local conditions are poor as in cases of severe contamination , very poor blood flow and vascularity , or congenital skin disorders like epidermolysis bullosa [ 16 , 18 ] . a previous wound healing study using a mitomycin c - treated , healing - impaired rat model showed that the application of an acm containing inbred ascs onto an open wound significantly induced the formation of granulation tissue and capillaries and accelerated wound healing . the effectiveness of acm containing autologous ascs has been evaluated using full - thickness skin incisions on the backs of healing - impaired diabetic ( db / db ) mice . the present study demonstrated that cultured ascs from db / db mice proliferated well , secreted substantial amounts of growth factors and cytokines , and generated type i collagen , all of which are suitable for wound repair . furthermore , the majority of the seeded labeled ascs were incorporated into the regenerated epidermis , dermis , and capillaries . male mutant diabetic mice ( c57bl / ksj db / db ) and their normal littermates ( db/+ ) ( crea japan inc . , tokyo , japan ) were used . all mice were maintained on a standard laboratory diet and water ad libitum and were used experimentally after reaching 10 weeks of age . prior to the experiments , urinary glucose and protein were analyzed using reagent strips ( uro - labstix ; bayer medical ltd . , tokyo , japan ) , and all of the db / db and db/+ mice were diagnosed to be severely diabetic and normal , respectively . adipose tissue was obtained from the abdomens of the db / db and db/+ mice . briefly , approximately 1 g of adipose tissue from 1 db / db mouse was washed extensively with 10 ml of phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ) . similarly , 1 g of adipose tissue was prepared from the inguinal adipose tissue of 310-week - olddb/+ mice . the extracellular matrices were digested with 0.075% collagenase at 37c for 1 h. after the addition of dulbecco 's modified eagle 's medium ( dmem ) containing 10% fetal bovine serum ( fbs ) and antibiotics , the samples were centrifuged at 1,200 g for 10 min . the cell pellet was resuspended in medium and incubated at room temperature for 10 min . after the cellular remains were filtered with a 100-m nylon mesh , the cells were resuspended with control medium , and about 5 10 cells were plated into each round acm disc ( 1.5 cm in diameter ; pelnac ; gunze co. , kyoto , japan ) . the acm containing the ascs was incubated in control medium at 37c for 2 h before transplantation . the yield of adhered ascs was estimated to be about 4 10 to 6 10 cells per gram of adipose tissue obtained from both db / db and db/+ mice . after the removal of cellular remains through a 100-m nylon mesh , ascs were incubated in dmem containing 10% fbs and antibiotics in a dish ( 100 mm in diameter ) . when the adhered cells became subconfluent after 4 days of culture , they were subcultured . for the in vitro experiments , the cells were released from the culture dish by treatment with a trypsin - edta solution ( 1 ; 0.2 g edta and 0.5 g porcine trypsin per liter of hbss ; sigma aldrich japan , tokyo ) at 37c for 5 min , and the suspension was centrifuged to pellet the cells . the cells were then resuspended in dmem containing 10% fbs and antibiotics and used as ascs . ascs from db / db and db/+ mice were cultured for 4 days in dmem containing 10% fbs and antibiotics to an almost confluent monolayer . the cultures were washed with pbs and fixed for 30 min in a solution of 2% paraformaldehyde and 0.5% glutaraldehyde , followed by a wash with pbs . the culture plates were then incubated with primary polyclonal antibody ( antimouse / rabbit type i collagen ; cosmo bio co. ltd . , tokyo , japan ) at room temperature for 1 h and with secondary antibody ( goat antirabbit biotinylated anti - igg ; cosmo bio co. ltd . ) for 30 min , followed by a wash with pbs . the primary antibody was then visualized with abc - peroxidase reagent and novared substrate , according to the manufacturer 's instructions ( vector laboratories , peterborough , uk ) , and the culture plates were examined under a light microscope ( leica dm - irb ( slr ) ; leica microsystems , tokyo , japan ) . ascs from db / db and db/+ mice were plated on 10-cm - diameter plastic dishes ( 1 10 cells per dish ) . asc - conditioned medium was collected at 4 days after plating . at the end of the culture period , supernatants were collected and stored at 80c until analysis . the presence of cytokines was analyzed using the bioplex system ( bio - rad laboratories co. ltd . the following cytokines were analyzed : interleukin 6 ( il-6 ) , granulocyte - macrophage colony - stimulating factor ( gm - csf ) , macrophage colony - stimulating factor ( m - csf ) , basic fibroblast growth factor ( b - fgf ) , platelet - derived growth factor bb ( pdgf - bb ) , and vascular endothelial growth factor ( vegf ) . hepatocyte growth factor ( hgf ) levels in the cell culture supernatants were measured using an elisa kit ( institute of immunology co. ltd . , tokyo , japan ) . isolated ascs from db / db mice ( 1 10 cells ) were suspended in serum - free dmem and fluorescent labeled by adding 5 l of vybrant dii cell - labeling solution ( cambrex bioscience inc . , charles city , iowa , usa ) to the cell suspension for 20 min at 37c , according to the manufacturer 's instructions . acms containing labeled ascs were prepared and then applied to wounds , as described below . under general anesthesia with pentobarbital sodium ( dainippon sumitomo pharma co. ltd . osaka , japan ) , the dorsal area was totally depilated , and 2 full - thickness round wounds ( approximately 1.5 cm in diameter ) were created on the back of each db / db mouse with a pair of sharp scissors and a scalpel . an acm alone ( control ) or an acm containing freshly isolated ascs was applied to the wound using 6-o nylon sutures ( kono seisakusho co. ltd . , the skin area surrounding the wound was removed from each db / db mouse for histological examination at 1 and 2 weeks after treatment ( n = 6 for each time point ) . these animal experiments were approved and carried out following the guidelines for animal experimentation of the national defense medical college , tokorozawa , saitama , japan . removed skin samples including wound tissue were fixed in a 10% formaldehyde solution , embedded in paraffin , and sectioned in 4-m increments ( yamato kohki inc . sections were made perpendicular to the anterior - posterior axis and perpendicular to the surface of the wound and were stained with hematoxylin - eosin reagent . for each section , a randomized area showing granulation and capillary formation was photographed ( 100 magnification ) , and the thickness of granulation formation and number of capillary lumens per microphotograph were evaluated . only mature vessels containing erythrocytes were counted . for immunohistochemistry , the frozen sections were also immunostained with rabbit antimouse cd31 antibody ( takara bio inc . ) . wound closure was quantified by the epithelialization rate ( % ) , which was calculated as ( 1 open wound area / original wound area ) 100 ( table 1 ) . a paired student 's t - test was used to determine the probability of significant differences . a value of p < .05 was considered to be statistically significant . after cell isolation with enzymes as described above , more than 5 10 nucleated cells adhering to the culture plates were obtained from about 1 g of adipose tissue from db / db and db/+ mice . after 4 days , cells from both types of mice were subconfluent and fibroblast - like . when detached and subcultured for 3 days , the 2 groups of cells showed identical growth rates ( figure 1 ) . after a total of 8 days in culture ( 2 passages ) , the cells were collected and used as ascs ; at this point , the number of ascs was at least 25 times higher than the number of originally plated cells . there was no significant difference in asc yield between the db / db and db/+ mice . ascs from db / db and db/+ mice were cultured to an almost confluent monolayer and then immunostained with primary antibody ( anti - type i collagen ) . there was no significant difference between the cell cultures in the specific binding of the primary antibody ( figure 2 ) . cultured ascs from db / db and db/+ mice secreted significant amounts of growth factors and cytokines , including il-6 , b - fgf , pdgf - bb , vegf , and hgf over a 4-day period ( figure 3 ) . no statistically significant differences were observed between ascs from db / db and db/+ mice in the secretion of those angiogenic factors . the generation of growth factors might be suitable for regenerative asc therapy for healing - impaired wounds . about 25%30% of the ascs isolated from db / db mice were labeled with dii ( figure 4(a ) ) . acms containing labeled ascs were prepared and applied to wounds ( n = 6 ) ( figure 4(b ) ) . figures 5(a ) and 5(b ) show cd31-immunostaining and dii - labeled tissue , respectively , on the transplant area of db / db mice at 2 weeks . the transplanted dii - labeled ascs were mainly incorporated into regenerated granulation and epithelial tissues ( figure 5(b ) ) . some microvessels were double - labeled with fluorescence ( dii ) and cd 31 ( figure 5(c ) ) , suggesting that some of the seeded ascs may incorporate into blood vessels as endothelial - progenitor cells . we observed no signs of undesirable inflammation , infection , neovascularization , or adipose tissue formation in wounds treated with acm alone or with acm containing ascs . wound areas were recorded with the aid of a digital camera at 1 and 2 weeks ( figure 6 ) . although wound closures ( epithelialization rates ) did not appear to be stimulated in the wounds treated with acm containing ascs at 1 week , there was significantly enhanced wound closure at 2 weeks , compared with the control ( acm alone ) wounds ( table 1 ) . significant stimulation of granulation tissue formation was observed in the acm containing ascs at 1 and 2 weeks ( table 1 ) . significant stimulatory effects on capillary formation were also seen in the wounds treated with acm containing ascs at 1 and 2 weeks ( table 1 ) . when the effects of treatment with acm alone or acm containing ascs were assessed in the wounds of db/+ mice , no statistically significant differences were observed regarding granulation , epithelial , and capillary formation ; both wounds were almost repaired after 1 week ( table 1 ) . other researchers and we have previously reported that stromal cells derived from adipose tissue possess the ability to produce cartilage and bone matrix [ 13 ] . large quantities of ascs can be obtained from human adipose tissue by liposuction under local anesthesia ; thus , cell multiplication under expensive and laborious cell - culture conditions is not required . approximately 5 10 cells per gram of adipose tissue can be obtained from human adipose tissue by liposuction ( data not shown ) . in contrast to a cultured dermal substitute , our acm containing ascs can be prepared within a few hours in a clinical setting . furthermore , the use of autologous ascs reduces the risks of infectious disease transmission and cellular rejection . thus , ascs represent an abundant , safe , practical , and appealing source for autologous cell replacement . in this study , ascs from db / db and db/+ mice proliferated for 3 days with identical growth rates . there was no significant difference in the production of type i collagen between the cell cultures from db / db and db/+ mice . furthermore , ascs from db / db and db/+ mice both showed high levels of cd34 and sca1 but not of c - kit ( data not shown ) , suggesting that the 2 sets of ascs include similar populations of mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow [ 21 , 22 ] . cultured ascs from db / db and db/+ mice secreted a number of angiogenic cytokines including b - fgf , pdgf - bb , vegf , and hgf at similar , bioactive levels . introduction of ascs in vivo might also upregulate expression of these growth factors by autocrine and/or paracrine actions in the wound . by using fluorescent ( dii ) labeling of ascs from db / db mice and autologous transplantation , we investigated the fates of autologous ascs seeded into healing - impaired wounds , the differentiation of autologous ascs , and the interactions between seeded autologous ascs and their environment . the results suggested that the majority of seeded autologous ascs were incorporated into the regenerated granulation and epithelial tissues . in addition , some of the seeded ascs may incorporate into blood vessels as endothelial - progenitor cells . in fact , application of ascs has been suggested as having potential for angiogenic therapy for ischemic disease . the application of acm alone to an open wound in db / db mice resulted in minor effects on granulation tissue formation , epithelialization , and capillary number . however , parameters such as granulation tissue thickness , epithelium , and vessel formation were significantly increased in the wounds treated with acm containing autologous ascs at 1 or 2 weeks in the db / db mice . although the mechanism responsible for impaired wound healing in db / db mice is not completely understood , it is likely that the presence of macrophages has a significant effect on the formation of wound granulation tissue and that macrophage accumulation is impaired in db / db mice . furthermore , a defect in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor may be associated with any wound - healing disorder . it is interesting to note that the addition of autologous ascs into the acm had only minor effects on the degree of healing in normal ( db/+ ) mice . as explained above , macrophages have a significant effect on the formation of wound granulation tissue ; it is likely that sufficient macrophages accumulate in db/+ mice but not in db / db mice . thus , it is possible that db/+ mice have a sufficient amount of growth factors in the wound and wound fluid to permit a maximal rate of healing , and therefore , only a minor increase in wound repair can result from the application of autologous ascs . in addition , the wound closure assay and histological examinations used in this study might not be sensitive enough to detect small effects . ascs from both db / db and db/+ mice proliferated with identical growth rates , produced type i collagen , and secreted a number of angiogenic cytokines at similar levels . wound healing experiments using the db / db mouse model showed that the application of acm containing autologous ascs onto an open wound induced the formation of significant granulation tissue , epithelium , and capillaries , thereby accelerating wound healing .

we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of an atelocollagen matrix containing autologous adipose tissue - derived stromal cells ( ascs ) on wound healing in diabetic ( db / db ) mice . cultured ascs from db / db mice and from db/+ mice secreted identical amounts of growth factors , cytokines , and type i collagen . ascs from db / db mice proliferated at the same rate as those from db/+ mice . when dii - labeled ascs were applied to full - thickness round skin wounds on the backs of diabetic db / db mice , histological observation at 2 weeks showed that red fluorescent - labeled tissues were formed in the epidermis , dermis , and capillaries . twelve db / db mice were treated with either matrix alone or matrix containing ascs and then sacrificed at 1 or 2 weeks . a histological examination demonstrated significantly advanced granulation tissue formation , capillary formation , and epithelialization in those wounds treated with atelocollagen matrix containing ascs , compared with wounds treated with matrix alone .

in the last half century , considerable studies have been made on the boltzman - gibbs - shannon entropy and the fisher information entropy ( matrix ) , both of which play important roles in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of classical and quantum systems @xcite-@xcite . the entropy flux and entropy production have been investigated in connection with the space volume contraction @xcite . in the information geometry @xcite , the fisher information matrix provides us with the distance between the neighboring points in the rieman space spanned by probability distributions . the fisher information matrix gives the lower bound of estimation errors in the cramr - rao theorem . in a usual system consisting of @xmath0 particles , the entropy and energy are proportional to @xmath0 ( _ extensive _ ) , and the probability distribution is given by the gaussian distribution belonging to the exponential family . in recent year , however , many efforts have been made for a study on _ nonextensive _ systems in which the physical quantity of @xmath0 particles is not proportional to @xmath0 @xcite . the nonextensivity has been realized in various systems such as a system with long - range interactions , a small - scale system with large fluctuations in temperature and a multi - fractal system @xcite . tsallis has proposed the generalized entropy ( called the tsallis entropy hereafter ) defined by @xcite @xmath1 where @xmath2 is the entropic index , @xmath3 denotes the probability distribution of a state @xmath4 at time @xmath5 , the boltzman constant @xmath6 is hereafter unity and @xmath7 expresses the @xmath2-logarithmic function defined by @xmath8 . the tsallis entropy accounts for the nonextensivity of the entropy in nonextensive systems . in the limit of @xmath9 , @xmath7 reduces to the normal @xmath10 and then @xmath11 agrees with the boltzman - gibbs - shannon entropy expressed by @xmath12 the probability distribution derived by the maximum - entropy method ( mem ) with the use of the tsallis entropy is given by non - gaussian distribution @xcite , which reduces to the gaussian and cauchy distributions for @xmath13 and @xmath14 , respectively . many authors have discussed the fisher information matrix in nonextensive systems @xcite-@xcite . in order to derive the _ generalized _ fisher information matrix g whose components are given by @xcite-@xcite @xmath15 the generalized kullback - leibler distance of @xmath16 between the two distributions @xmath17 and @xmath18 has been introduced : @xmath19 with @xmath20\ : dx , \nonumber \\ & = & - \:\frac{1}{(q-1 ) } \left [ 1-\int p(x)^q\:p'(x)^{1-q } \:dx \right ] , \label{eq : a6}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath21 and @xmath22 denotes a set of parameters specifying the distribution . in the limit of @xmath23 , @xmath24 given by eq . ( [ eq : a4 ] ) reduces to the conventional fisher information matrix . it should be remarked that csiszr @xcite had proposed the generalized divergence measure given by @xmath25 dx , \label{eq : a7}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath26 is assumed to be a convex function with the condition @xmath27 . for @xmath28 , eq . ( [ eq : a7 ] ) yields the conventional kullback - leibler divergence @xcite given by @xmath29 dx . \label{eq : a8}\end{aligned}\ ] ] equation ( [ eq : a7 ] ) for @xmath30 leads to the generalized kullback - leibler distance given by eqs . ( [ eq : a5 ] ) and ( [ eq : a6 ] ) . the generalized divergence given by eq . ( [ eq : a6 ] ) , which is in conformity with the tsallis entropy , is equivalent to the @xmath31-divergence of amari @xcite with @xmath32 @xcite . the escort probability and the generalized fisher information matrix are discussed in refs . the fisher information entropy in the cramr - rao inequality has been studied for nonextensive systems @xcite . extensive studies on the tsallis and fisher entropies have been made for reaction - diffusion systems , by using the mem with exact stationary and dynamical solutions for nonlinear fpe @xcite . these studies nicely unify the concept of normal , super- and sub - diffusions by a single picture . the purpose of the present paper is to investigate the stationary and dynamical properties of the information entropies in the coupled langevin model which has been widely adopted for a study of various stochastic systems ( for a recent review , see @xcite ) . the langevin model subjected to multiplicative noise is known to be one of typical nonextensive systems @xcite . recently the coupled langevin model subjected to additive and multiplicative noise has been discussed with the use of the augmented moment method @xcite which is the second - moment method for local and global variables @xcite . we will obtain the probability distribution of the nonextensive , coupled langevin model by using the fokker - planck equation ( fpe ) method with the mean - field approximation . we have made a detailed study on effects on the stationary information entropies of additive and multiplicative white noise , external force , input signal , couplings and the number of constituent elements in the adopted model . by solving the fpe both by the proposed analytical scheme and by the partial difference equation ( pde ) method , we have investigated the transient responses to an input signal and an external force which are applied to the stationary state . the outline of the paper is as follows . in sec . 2 , we describe the adopted , @xmath0-unit coupled langevin model . analytical expressions for the tsallis entropy and generalized fisher information entropy in some limiting cases are presented . numerical model calculations of stationary and dynamical entropies are reported . in sec . 3 , discussions are presented on the entropy flux and entropy production and on a comparison between @xmath2-moment and normal - moment methods in which averages are taken over the escort and normal distributions , respectively . section 4 is devoted to our conclusion . in the appendix , we summarize the information entropies calculated with the use of the probability distribution derived by the mem . the cramr - rao inequality in nonextensive systems is shown to be expressed by the _ extended _ fisher information entropy which is different from the _ generalized _ fisher entropy . we will discuss effects of additive and multiplicative _ colored _ noise on information entropies , by using the result recently obtained by the functional - integral method @xcite . we have adopted the @xmath0-unit coupled langevin model subjected to additive and multiplicative white noise given by @xmath33 with @xmath34+i(t ) . \hspace{1cm}\mbox{($i=1 $ to $ n$ ) } \label{eq : f2}\ ] ] here @xmath35 and @xmath36 denote arbitrary functions of @xmath4 , @xmath37 the coupling strength , @xmath38 an external input , @xmath31 and @xmath39 are the strengths of multiplicative and additive noise , respectively , and @xmath40 and @xmath41 express zero - mean gaussian white noises with correlations given by @xmath42 we have adopted the mean - field approximation for @xmath43 given by @xmath44+i(t ) , \label{eq : f3}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath45 , \label{eq : f4}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where the @xmath46 $ ] expresses the average over the escort distribution to be shown below [ eqs . ( [ eq : g3])-([eq : g4 ] ) ] . owing to the adopted mean - field approximation given by eq . ( [ eq : f3 ] ) , each element of the ensemble is ostensibly independent . the total probability distribution of @xmath47 is given by the product of that of each element : @xmath48 where the fpe for @xmath49 in the stratonovich representation is given by @xmath50 p_i(x_i , t ) + \left(\frac{\beta^2}{2}\right ) \frac{\partial^2}{\partial x_i^2}p_i(x_i , t ) \nonumber \\ & + & \left ( \frac{\alpha^2}{2 } \right ) \frac{\partial } { \partial x_i } g(x_i ) \frac{\partial } { \partial x_i } g(x_i ) p_i(x_i , t ) . \label{eq : g2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] the expectation value of @xmath51 is given by @xmath52,\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath53 & = & \int p_{iq}(x_i , t ) \ : x_i^m \:dx_i , \hspace{0.5cm}\mbox{($m=1,2 $ ) } \label{eq : g3}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where the escort probability distribution @xmath54 is given by @xmath55 it is noted that @xmath51 and @xmath49 are self - consistently determined from eqs . ( [ eq : f3 ] ) and ( [ eq : g2 ] ) . the relevant fluctuation ( variance ) of @xmath56 is given by @xmath57 . \label{eq : g5}\ ] ] when we adopt @xmath35 and @xmath36 given by @xmath58 where @xmath59 denotes the relaxation rate , the fpe for @xmath3 is expressed by ( the subscript @xmath60 is hereafter neglected ) @xmath61 \ : \frac{\partial}{\partial x } p(x , t)\nonumber \\ & + & \left ( \frac{\alpha^2}{2 } x^2 + \frac{\beta^2}{2 } \right ) \frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2}p(x , t ) , \label{eq : g8}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath62 from the fpe given by eq . ( [ eq : g8 ] ) , the stationary distribution is given by @xcite @xmath63 + y(x ) , \label{eq : g10 } \end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath64 where the entropic index is given for @xmath65 . equation ( [ eq : g10 ] ) yields the @xmath2-gaussian distribution given by @xmath66 with @xmath67 where @xmath68 stands for the @xmath2-exponential function defined by @xmath69_+^{1/(1-q)}$ ] where @xmath70_+=y$ ] for @xmath71 and 0 for @xmath72 . some limiting cases of eqs . ( [ eq : g14 ] ) are examined in the following . \(1 ) for @xmath73 and @xmath74 ( _ i.e. _ additive noise only ) @xmath75 which yield @xmath76 \(2 ) for @xmath77 , @xmath78 , ( _ i.e. _ multiplicative noise only ) @xcite , @xmath79 with @xmath80 where @xmath81 and @xmath82 denotes the gamma and heaviside functions , respectively , and @xmath83 diverges for @xmath84 . for @xmath85 , eqs . ( [ eq : g19 ] ) and ( [ eq : g24 ] ) yield @xmath86 the distribution given by eq . ( [ eq : g19 ] ) has a peak at @xmath87 . \(3 ) for @xmath77 , @xmath74 , @xmath88 ( _ i.e. _ without coupling and external input ) , @xcite @xmath89 which lead to @xmath90 it is noted that when we adopt normal moments averaged over the @xmath2-gaussian given by @xmath91 & = & \int p(x , t ) \ : x(t)^m \:dx , \label{eq : g25}\end{aligned}\ ] ] in stead of the @xmath2-moments given by eq . ( [ eq : g3 ] ) , its stationary variance is given by @xmath92)^2]=\beta^2/2(\lambda-\alpha^2)$ ] which diverges at @xmath93 @xcite . with the use of the total distribution of @xmath94 given by eq . ( [ eq : g1 ] ) , the tsallis entropies of single - unit and @xmath0-unit ensembles are given by @xmath95 with @xmath96 eliminating @xmath97 from eqs . ( [ eq : x2 ] ) and ( [ eq : x3 ] ) , we get @xmath98 where @xmath99 . equation ( [ eq : x5 ] ) shows that the tsallis entropy is non - extensive except for @xmath100 , for which @xmath101 reduces to the extensive boltzmann - gibbs - shannon entropy : @xmath102 . substituting the stationary distributions given by eqs . ( [ eq : g16 ] ) , ( [ eq : g19 ] ) and ( [ eq : g22 ] ) to eq . ( [ eq : a1 ] ) , we get the analytic expression for the tsallis entropy of a single unit given by @xmath103 , \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ \alpha=0 $ , $ \beta \neq 0 $ } \label{eq : h1}\\ & = & \left ( \frac{1-c_q}{q-1 } \right ) , \hspace{0.5cm}\mbox{for $ \alpha \neq 0 $ } \label{eq : h2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath104 where @xmath105 stands for the beta function , and @xmath83 in eqs . ( [ eq : h4 ] ) and ( [ eq : h3 ] ) are given by eqs . ( [ eq : g24 ] ) and ( [ eq : g23 ] ) , respectively . we consider the generalized fisher information entropy given by @xmath106 from eqs . ( [ eq : g1 ] ) and ( [ eq : h7 ] ) , the generalized fisher entropy for the @xmath0-unit system is given by @xmath107 , \label{eq : x7 } \\ & = & q \int \cdot\cdot \int \left(\sum_i \frac{\partial \ln p_i(x_i)}{\partial \theta } \right)^2 \:\pi_i\ : p_i(x_i)dx_i , \label{eq : x8 } \\ & = & q \sum_i \int \left ( \frac{\partial \ln p_i(x_i)}{\partial \theta}\right)^2 \:p_i(x_i)\:dx_i + \delta g_q , \label{eq : x9 } \\ & = & n g_q^{(1 ) } , \label{eq : x10}\end{aligned}\ ] ] because the cross term @xmath108 of eq . ( [ eq : x9 ] ) vanishes : @xmath109 where @xmath110 stands for the generalized fisher entropy in a single subsystem . the generalized fisher information entropy is extensive in the nonextensive system as shown in @xcite : @xmath111 the probability distribution @xmath112 obtained by the fpe for our langevin model is determined by the six parameters of @xmath59 , @xmath31 , @xmath39 , @xmath37 , @xmath113 and @xmath0 . when adopt @xmath114 in eq . ( [ eq : h7 ] ) , for example , we get the generalized fisher entropy given by @xmath115 -e\left [ \left ( \frac{\partial y(x)}{\partial i } \right ) \right]^2 \right),\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath116 $ ] expresses the average over @xmath112 [ eq . ( [ eq : g25 ] ) ] . alternatively we have adopted the generalized fisher entropy given by @xmath117 which is obtainable for @xmath118 with @xmath119 in eq . ( [ eq : h7 ] ) if @xmath112 is given by the mem [ eqs . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) and ( [ eq : d3 ] ) ] . although @xmath112 derived by the fpe is not explicitly specified by @xmath120 and @xmath121 , we have employed eq . ( [ eq : h11 ] ) in our following discussion , expecting it is meaningful for both cases of the fpe and mem . substituting the stationary distributions given by eqs . ( [ eq : g16 ] ) , ( [ eq : g19 ] ) and ( [ eq : g22 ] ) to eq . ( [ eq : h11 ] ) , we get the analytic expression for the generalized fisher entropy for @xmath122 given by @xmath123 where @xmath121 in eqs . ( [ eq : h12 ] ) and ( [ eq : h9 ] ) are given by eqs . ( [ eq : g26 ] ) and ( [ eq : g27 ] ) , respectively . the adopted langevin model includes six parameters of @xmath59 , @xmath31 , @xmath39 , @xmath37 , @xmath113 and @xmath0 . the dependence of the tsallis entropy and generalized fisher information entropy on these parameters have been studied by numerical methods . we have calculated the distribution @xmath112 by the fpe [ eqs . ( [ eq : g14 ] ) and ( [ eq : g15 ] ) ] , and also by direct simulations ( dss ) for the langevin model [ eqs . ( [ eq : f1 ] ) and ( [ eq : f2 ] ) ] with the heun method : ds results are averages of 100 trials . figures [ figa](a)-[figa](c ) show three examples of the stationary distribution @xmath112 for @xmath124 ( 0.0 , 0.0 ) , ( 0.0 , 0.5 ) and ( 0.5 , 0.5 ) with @xmath125 , @xmath126 , @xmath127 and @xmath128 . solid curves show the results calculated with the use of the fpe whereas dashed curves those of dss for the langevin equation : both results are in good agreement and indistinguishable . when the coupling strength is increased from @xmath129 to @xmath130 with @xmath131 , the width of @xmath112 is decreased because of a decreased @xmath132 in eq . ( [ eq : g12 ] ) . when an input of @xmath133 is applied , @xmath112 changes its position by an amount of about 0.5 with a slight variation of its shape : @xmath112 for @xmath134 is not a simple translational shift of @xmath112 for @xmath135 . in the following , we will discuss model calculations of the dependence on @xmath31 , @xmath39 , @xmath113 , @xmath37 and @xmath0 , whose results are shown in figs . [ figb ] , [ figc ] , [ figd ] , [ fige ] and [ figf ] , respectively ( dotted curves in the frames ( a ) and ( b ) in figs . [ figb]-[fige ] will be explained in sec . 3.6.1 ) . * @xmath31 dependence * first we show @xmath120 , @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 in figs . [ figb](a ) , [ figb](b ) , [ figb](c ) and [ figb](d ) , respectively , plotted as a function of @xmath137 for @xmath131 ( chain curves ) , @xmath133 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath138 ( solid curves ) with @xmath125 , @xmath127 and @xmath129 . figure [ figb](a ) shows that the @xmath31 dependence of @xmath120 is very weak . we note in fig . [ figb](b ) that for @xmath133 and @xmath138 , @xmath121 is linearly increased with increasing @xmath137 though @xmath121 is independent of @xmath31 for @xmath131 . figure [ figb](c ) shows that with increasing @xmath137 , @xmath136 is increased with broad maxima at @xmath139 for @xmath138 and at @xmath140 for @xmath133 . with increasing @xmath137 from @xmath141 , in contrast , @xmath118 is decreased for @xmath133 and @xmath138 with broad minima , whereas @xmath118 is independent of @xmath137 for @xmath131 . for larger @xmath113 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 have stronger @xmath137 dependence . * @xmath39 dependence * figures [ figc](a ) , [ figc](b ) , [ figc](c ) and [ figc](d ) show @xmath120 , @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 , respectively , plotted as a function of @xmath142 for @xmath131 ( chain curves ) , @xmath133 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath138 ( solid curves ) with @xmath125 , @xmath126 and @xmath129 . with increasing @xmath39 , @xmath120 has no changes although @xmath121 is linearly increased . with increasing @xmath142 from @xmath143 , @xmath136 ( @xmath118 ) is significantly increased ( decreased ) . this trend is more significant for @xmath131 than for @xmath133 and @xmath138 . * @xmath113 dependence * the @xmath113 dependence of @xmath120 , @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 are shown in figs . [ figd](a)-[figd](b ) for @xmath144 ( chain curves ) , @xmath126 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath145 ( solid curves ) with @xmath125 . the gradient of @xmath120 versus @xmath113 is slightly larger for larger @xmath31 . in the case of @xmath144 , @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 are independent of @xmath113 [ see eqs . ( [ eq : h1 ] ) and ( [ eq : h8 ] ) ] . with increasing @xmath113 for finite @xmath31 , @xmath136 is increased while @xmath118 is decreased . * @xmath37 dependence * we show the @xmath37 dependence of @xmath120 , @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 in figs . [ fige](a)-[fige](b ) , for @xmath131 ( chain curves ) , @xmath133 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath138 ( solid curves ) with @xmath125 , @xmath126 , @xmath127 and @xmath128 . we note that @xmath120 is independent of @xmath37 . with increasing @xmath37 , @xmath121 and @xmath136 are linearly decreased whereas @xmath118 is increased . * @xmath0 dependence * figure [ figf ] shows the tsallis entropy per element , @xmath146 , given by [ eq . ( [ eq : x6 ] ) ] @xmath147 for @xmath144 ( dotted curve ) , @xmath148 ( solid curve ) , @xmath126 ( dashed curve ) and @xmath145 ( chain curve ) with @xmath125 , @xmath127 , @xmath131 and @xmath129 . note that for @xmath144 ( @xmath100 ) , the system is extensive because @xmath149 . for finite @xmath31 , however , it is nonextensive : @xmath146 is more significantly decreased for larger @xmath31 , though the generalized fisher information entropy @xmath118 is extensive [ eq . ( [ eq : h10 ] ) ] . in order to discuss the dynamical properties of the entropies , we have to calculate the time - dependent probability @xmath3 , solving the fpe given by eq . ( [ eq : g8 ] ) . in the case of @xmath100 , we may obtain the exact solution of the gaussian distribution given by @xmath150 ^ 2/2 \sigma_1(t)^2 } , \label{eq : k1}\ ] ] where @xmath151 and @xmath152 satisfy equations of motion given by @xmath153 in order to obtain an analytical solution of the fpe for @xmath154 , we have adopted the following method : \(1 ) starting from an equation of motion for @xmath155th @xmath2-moment of @xmath156 $ ] given by @xmath157}{d t } & = & \frac{d}{d t } \int p_q(x , t)\:x^n \:dx,\\ & = & \frac{q}{c_q}\int \left ( \frac{\partial p(x , t)}{\partial t}\right)\:p(x , t)^{q-1}\:x^n \:dx -\frac{1}{c_q}\left ( \frac{d c_q}{dt } \right ) e_q[x^n ] , \label{eq : l2 } \\ \frac{d c_q}{dt } & = & q \int \left ( \frac{\partial p(x , t)}{\partial t}\right)\:p(x , t)^{q-1}\:dx , \label{eq : l0}\end{aligned}\ ] ] we have obtained equations of motion for @xmath51 ( @xmath158 $ ] ) and @xmath56 ( @xmath159-e[x]^2 $ ] ) , valid for @xmath160 and @xmath161 , as given by @xcite @xmath162 equations ( [ eq : l3 ] ) and ( [ eq : l4 ] ) lead to the stationary solution given by @xmath163 \(2 ) we rewrite the distribution of @xmath112 given by eqs . ( [ eq : g11])-([eq : g15 ] ) in terms of @xmath120 , @xmath121 and @xmath2 , as @xmath164^{\frac{1}{1-q } } e^{y(x ) } , \label{eq : l7 } \end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath165 where @xmath83 expresses the normalization factor [ eq . ( [ eq : g15 ] ) ] . in deriving eqs . ( [ eq : l7])-([eq : l9 ] ) , we have employed relations given by @xmath166,\end{aligned}\ ] ] which are obtained from eqs . ( [ eq : g11 ] ) , ( [ eq : l5 ] ) and ( [ eq : l6 ] ) . \(3 ) then we have assumed that a solution of @xmath3 of the fpe given by eq . ( [ eq : g8 ] ) is expressed by eqs . ( [ eq : l7])-([eq : l9 ] ) in which stationary @xmath120 and @xmath121 are replaced by time - dependent @xmath51 and @xmath56 with equations of motion given by eqs . ( [ eq : l3 ] ) and ( [ eq : l4 ] ) . dotted curves in the frames ( a ) and ( b ) of figs . 3 - 6 express the results of stationary @xmath120 and @xmath121 calculated by eqs . ( [ eq : l5 ] ) and ( [ eq : l6 ] ) for some typical sets of parameters . they are in good agreement with those shown by solid curves obtained with the use of the stationary distribution of @xmath112 given by eq . ( [ eq : g14 ] ) . as will be shown shortly , the approximate , analytical method given by eqs . ( [ eq : l3 ] ) , ( [ eq : l4 ] ) , ( [ eq : l7])-([eq : l9 ] ) provides fairly good results for dynamics of @xmath51 , @xmath56 and @xmath11 , and also for that of @xmath167 except for the transient period . in order to examine the validity of the analytical method discussed above , we have adopted also the numerical method , using the partial difference equation ( pde ) derived from eq . ( [ eq : g8 ] ) , as given by @xmath168 \left(\frac{b}{2 a}\right)[p(x+a)-p(x - a ) ] \nonumber \\ & + & \left(\frac{\alpha^2}{2 } x^2 + \frac{\beta^2}{2 } \right ) \left(\frac{b}{a^2}\right)[p(x+a , t)+p(x - a , t)-2p(x , t ) ] , \label{eq : k4}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath169 where @xmath170 and @xmath171 denote incremental steps of @xmath4 and @xmath5 , respectively . we impose the boundary condition : @xmath172 with @xmath173 , and the initial condition of @xmath174 where @xmath175 is the stationary distribution given by eqs . ( [ eq : g14 ] ) and ( [ eq : g15 ] ) . we have chosen parameters of @xmath176 and @xmath177 such as to satisfy the condition : @xmath178 , which is required for stable , convergent solutions of the pde . * response to @xmath38 * we apply the pulse input signal given by @xmath179 where @xmath180 and @xmath181 denotes the heaviside function : @xmath182 for @xmath183 and zero otherwise . figure [ figg ] shows the time - dependent distribution at various @xmath5 for @xmath125 , @xmath126 , @xmath127 and @xmath129 . solid and dashed curves express the results of the pde method and the analytical method ( sec . 3.6.1 ) , respectively . when input of @xmath184 is applied at @xmath185 , the distribution is gradually changed , moving rightward . the results of the analytical method are in good agreement with those obtained by the pde method , except for @xmath186 and @xmath187 . this change in @xmath3 induces changes in @xmath51 , @xmath56 , @xmath11 and @xmath167 , whose time dependences are shown in figs . [ figh](a ) and [ figh](b ) , solid and dashed curves expressing the results of the pde method and the analytical method , respectively . by an applied pulse input , @xmath120 , @xmath121 and @xmath136 are increased while @xmath118 is decreased . the result for @xmath11 of the analytical method is in fairly good agreement with that obtained by the pde method . the calculated @xmath167 of the analytical method is also in good agreement with that of the pde method besides near the transient periods at @xmath188 and @xmath189 just after the input signal is on and off . this is expected due to the fact that @xmath167 given by eq . ( [ eq : h11 ] ) is sensitive to a detailed form of @xmath3 because it is expressed by an integration of @xmath190 over @xmath3 , while @xmath11 is obtained by a simple integration of @xmath191 . for a comparison , we show by chain curves , the results of the pde method when the step input given by @xmath192 is applied . the relaxation time of @xmath136 and @xmath118 is about 2.0 . it is noted that input signal for @xmath73 induces no changes in @xmath11 and @xmath167 , which has been already realized in the stationary state as shown by chain curves in figs . [ figd](c ) and [ figd](d ) . * response to @xmath193 * we modify the relaxation rate as given by @xmath194 which expresses an application of an external force of @xmath195 ( @xmath196 ) at @xmath197 with @xmath198 . figure [ figi](a ) and [ figi](b ) show the time dependence of @xmath121 , @xmath136 and @xmath118 with @xmath126 , @xmath127 , @xmath131 and @xmath129 for which @xmath199 . solid and dashed curves express the results of the pde method and the analytical method , respectively . when an external force is applied , @xmath121 and @xmath136 are decreased whereas @xmath118 is increased . the results of the analytical method are in good agreement with those of the pde method . the relaxation times of @xmath136 and @xmath118 are 0.47 and 0.53 , respectively . in the preceding sec . 2 , we have discussed the information entropies by using the probability distribution obtained by the fpe for the langevin model . it is worthwhile to compare it with the probability distribution derived by the mem . the variational condition for the tsallis entropy given by eq . ( [ eq : a1 ] ) is taken into account with the three constraints : a normalization condition and @xmath2-moments of @xmath4 and @xmath200 , as given by @xcite @xmath201=\int p_q(x ) \:x \ : dx , \label{eq : b2 } \\ \sigma_q^2 & = & e_q[(x-\mu_q)^2 ] = \int p_q(x ) \:(x-\mu_q)^2\:dx , \label{eq : b3}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath46 $ ] expresses the average over the escort probability of @xmath202 given by @xmath203 the entropic index @xmath2 being assumed to be @xmath204 . after some manipulations , we get the @xmath2-gaussian ( non - gaussian ) distribution given by @xcite @xmath205 with @xmath206 in the limit of @xmath9 , @xmath112 in eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) becomes the gaussian distribution : @xmath207 the probability distribution given by eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) derived from the mem is different from that of eq . ( [ eq : g14 ] ) obtained by the fpe although both expressions are equivalent for @xmath208 with @xmath209 . note that the former is defined for @xmath204 while the latter is valid for @xmath65 . a comparison between the probability distributions obtained by the fpe and mem is made in figs . [ figr ] and [ figs ] . figure [ figr](a ) shows the probability distributions calculated by the fpe of the langevin model for @xmath144 , 0.5 , 1.0 , 1.5 and 2.0 , which yield @xmath210 , @xmath211 , @xmath212 , @xmath213 and @xmath214 , respectively , with @xmath215 for @xmath138 , @xmath125 , @xmath127 and @xmath129 [ eqs . ( [ eq : l5 ] ) and ( [ eq : l6 ] ) ] . figure [ figr](b ) shows corresponding distributions calculated by the mem with the respective parameters of @xmath2 , @xmath120 and @xmath216 . for @xmath144 ( @xmath100 ) , both distributions of the fpe and mem are gaussian centered at @xmath217 . for @xmath218 , @xmath112 of the fpe becomes asymmetric with respect to @xmath219 while that of the mem is still symmetric . the peak position of @xmath112 of the mem is at @xmath217 independent of @xmath2 while that of the fpe moves leftward with increasing @xmath31 . it is noted that @xmath112 of the fpe for @xmath77 and @xmath220 given by eq . ( [ eq : g19 ] ) has a peak at @xmath221 . figure [ figs](a ) shows @xmath112 of the fpe for various inputs of @xmath131 , 0.5 , 1.0 , 1.5 and 2.0 , which yield @xmath222 , @xmath223 , @xmath224 , @xmath225 and @xmath226 , respectively , for @xmath125 , @xmath145 , @xmath127 and @xmath129 [ eqs . ( [ eq : l5 ] ) and ( [ eq : l6 ] ) ] ; corresponding @xmath112 of the mem with the respective parameters of @xmath227 , @xmath120 and @xmath216 are plotted in fig . [ figs](b ) . for @xmath228 , both the distributions agree . although centers of both distributions move rightward with increasing @xmath120 , their profiles and peak positions are different between the two distributions . we note that the magnitude of @xmath112 at @xmath229 of the fpe is smaller than that of the mem for @xmath230 . the information entropies calculated with the use of the distribution given by eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) are summarized in the appendix . one of the advantages of the mem is that its distribution is explicitly specified by the parameters of @xmath231=@xmath232 while that of the fpe is given in an implicit way [ _ cf . ( [ eq : l7])-([eq : l9 ] ) ] . we may discuss the upper bound of estimation errors by the cramr - rao inequality , which is shown to be expressed by the _ extended _ fisher entropy [ eq . ( [ eq : e0 ] ) ] but not by the generalized fisher entropy [ eq . ( [ eq : d0 ] ) ] . in order to discuss the dynamics within the mem for @xmath233 , we have once tried to obtain an analytic solution of its distribution @xmath3 , assuming that it is given by eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) : @xmath234 , \label{eq : l1}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where the @xmath2-dependent coefficient @xmath235 is determined from eqs . ( [ eq : b8])-([eq : b10 ] ) , and equations of motion for @xmath51 and @xmath56 are derived so as to meet the fpe after refs . @xcite . unfortunately , we could not uniquely determined them : we got two equations for @xmath236 and three equations for @xmath237 which are mutually not consistent ( except for @xmath100 ) . this implies that the exact analytic solution of the fpe is not given by eq . ( [ eq : l1 ] ) . indeed , the exact solution for @xmath238 in eq . ( [ eq : g8 ] ) does not have a functional form given by eq . ( [ eq : l1 ] ) @xcite . it is interesting to discuss the entropy flux and entropy production from the time derivative of the tsallis entropy given by @xmath239 with @xmath240 \ : \nonumber \label{eq : p5}\\ & & \end{aligned}\ ] ] here @xmath241 denotes the entropy flux , and @xmath242 and @xmath243 stand for entropy productions due to additive and multiplicative noise , respectively . by using the stationary distribution given by eq . ( [ eq : g22 ] ) , we get @xmath241 , @xmath242 and @xmath243 in the stationary state with @xmath244 ( _ i.e. _ without couplings and external input ) : @xmath245 where @xmath83 is given by eq . ( [ eq : g23 ] ) . equations ( [ eq : p6])-([eq : p8 ] ) satisfy the stationary condition : @xmath246 . it is worthwhile to examine the limit of @xmath247 ( @xmath248 ) , in which eqs . ( [ eq : p1 ] ) , ( [ eq : p6])-([eq : p8 ] ) yield @xmath249 with @xmath250 with noticing the relation : @xmath251=1 $ ] @xcite , we may see that eqs . ( [ eq : p11 ] ) and ( [ eq : p12 ] ) lead to @xmath252 and @xmath253 in the limit of @xmath9 . in the opposite limit of @xmath254 , eqs . ( [ eq : p6])-([eq : p8 ] ) yields that each of @xmath241 . @xmath242 and @xmath243 is proportional to @xmath255 and then divergent in this limit , though @xmath256 . it is noted that @xmath257 for @xmath258 and @xmath254 @xcite . we present some model calculations of @xmath241 , @xmath242 and @xmath243 in the stationary state , which are shown in fig . [ figl ] as a function of @xmath31 for @xmath259 ( dashed curves ) , @xmath127 ( chain curves ) and @xmath260 ( solid curves ) . we note that @xmath261 and @xmath262 . with increasing @xmath31 , @xmath241 is decreased in the case of @xmath259 , while it is increased in the cases of @xmath127 and 1.0 . bag @xcite showed that @xmath241 is always decreased with increasing @xmath31 which disagrees with our result mentioned above : eqs . ( [ eq : p6])-([eq : p8 ] ) are rather different from eqs . ( 36 ) and ( 37 ) in ref . @xcite where non - gaussian properties of the distribution is not properly taken into account . in refs . @xcite , we have discussed equations of motion for normal moments of @xmath263 ( @xmath264 $ ] ) and @xmath265 ( @xmath266 $ ] ) [ eq . ( [ eq : g25 ] ) ] in the langevin model with @xmath267 , as given by @xmath268 these equations of motion are rather different from those for the @xmath2-moments of @xmath120 and @xmath121 given by eqs . ( [ eq : l3 ] ) and ( [ eq : l4 ] ) . indeed , eqs . ( [ eq : l11 ] ) and ( [ eq : l12 ] ) yield stationary normal moments given by @xmath269 which are different from the stationary @xmath2-moments of @xmath120 and @xmath121 given by eqs . ( [ eq : l5 ] ) and ( [ eq : l6 ] ) , and which diverge at @xmath270 and @xmath93 , respectively . the time dependence of @xmath271 and @xmath272 becomes considerably different from those of @xmath51 and @xmath56 for an appreciable value of @xmath31 . figure [ figp](a ) , ( b ) , ( c ) and ( d ) show some examples of @xmath51 , @xmath56 , @xmath271 and @xmath272 , respectively , when a pulse input given by eq . ( [ eq : k7 ] ) is applied with @xmath273 ( chain curves ) , @xmath126 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath274 ( solid curves ) . although @xmath51 is independent of @xmath31 , @xmath56 , @xmath271 and @xmath272 are much increased at @xmath197 for larger @xmath31 . in particular , @xmath272 is significantly increased because of the @xmath137 term in eq . ( [ eq : l12 ] ) . we have so far considered additive and multiplicative _ white _ noise . in our recent paper @xcite , we have taken into account the effect of _ colored _ noise by employing the functional - integral method . we have assumed the langevin model subjected to additive ( @xmath275 ) and multiplicative ( @xmath276 ) colored noise given by @xmath277 with @xmath278 , \label{eq : r2 } \\ \frac{d \phi(t)}{d t } & = & -\frac{1}{\tau_m } [ \phi(t)- \alpha \;\eta(t ) ] , \label{eq : r3 } \end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath279 and @xmath39 ( @xmath280 and @xmath31 ) express the relaxation time and strength of additive ( multiplicative ) noise , respectively , and @xmath281 and @xmath282 stand for independent zero - mean gaussian white noise . by applying the functional - integral method to the langevin model given by eqs . ( [ eq : r1])-([eq : r3 ] ) , we have obtained the effective one - variable fpe , from which the effective langevin model is derived as @xcite @xmath283 with @xmath284}. \label{eq : r6 } \ ] ] here @xmath271 is given by eq . ( [ eq : l11 ] ) with @xmath285 , from which @xmath286 is determined in a self - consistent way . in the stationary state where @xmath287 given by eq . ( [ eq : l13 ] ) with @xmath288 , we get @xmath286 from eq . ( [ eq : r6 ] ) : @xmath289 } , \label{eq : r7 } \\ & = & \frac{1}{\tau_m } \left[(1+\lambda \tau_m)-\sqrt{(1+\lambda \tau_m)^2 - 2 \tau_m \alpha^2}\right ] . \label{eq : r8 } \end{aligned}\ ] ] we get an approximate expression given by @xcite @xmath290 which is shown to be a good approximation both for @xmath291 and @xmath292 @xcite . equations ( [ eq : r5 ] ) and ( [ eq : r9 ] ) show that effects of additive and multiplicative colored noise are described by @xmath293 and @xmath294 which are reduced by factors of @xmath295 and @xmath296 ) , respectively , from original values of @xmath137 and @xmath142 . the @xmath279 dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 is plotted in fig . [ figq](a ) and [ figq](b ) with @xmath297 for @xmath131 ( chain curves ) , @xmath133 ( dashed curves ) and @xmath138 ( solid curves ) with @xmath125 , @xmath126 and @xmath127 . we note that with increasing @xmath279 , @xmath118 is much increased for smaller @xmath113 whereas @xmath136 is much decreased for smaller @xmath113 . the dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 on @xmath279 may be understood from their @xmath39 dependence shown in figs . [ figc](c ) and [ figc](d ) . the @xmath280 dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 is plotted in fig . [ figq](a ) and [ figq](b ) with @xmath298 with @xmath125 , @xmath126 and @xmath127 . with increasing @xmath280 , @xmath136 ( @xmath118 ) is decreased ( increased ) for @xmath133 and @xmath138 while no changes for @xmath131 . these behavior may be explained from figs . [ figb](c ) and [ figb](d ) showing the @xmath31 dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 . we have discussed stationary and dynamical properties of the tsallis and fisher entropies in nonextensive systems . our calculation for the @xmath0-unit coupled langevin model subjected to additive and multiplicative noise has shown the followings : \(i ) the dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 on the parameters of @xmath59 , @xmath31 , @xmath39 , @xmath113 , @xmath37 and @xmath0 in the coupled langevin model are clarified ( figs . [ figb]-[figf ] ) , and ( ii ) dynamical properties are well described by the analytical method for the fpe proposed in sec . 2.6.1 , which shows that the relaxation times in transient responses of @xmath136 and @xmath118 to a change in @xmath59 are short ( @xmath299 ) while those in @xmath113 are fairly long ( @xmath300 ) . the difference between the parameter dependence of @xmath136 and @xmath118 in the item ( i ) arises from the fact that @xmath136 provides us with a global measure of ignorance while @xmath118 a local measure of positive amount of information @xcite . we have calculated the information entropies also by using the probability distribution derived by the mem , from which we get the followings : \(iii ) @xmath112 derived by the mem is rather different from that of the fpe for @xmath301 ( figs . [ figr ] and [ figs ] ) , for which the information entropies of the mem are independent of @xmath120 while those of the fpe depend on @xmath120 ( _ i.e. _ @xmath113 ) , and \(iv ) the cramr - rao inequality is expressed by the extended fisher entropy [ eq . ( [ eq : e0 ] ) ] which is different from the generalized fisher entropy [ eq . ( [ eq : d0 ] ) ] derived from the generalized kullback - leibler divergence [ eq . ( [ eq : a6 ] ) ] . the item ( iv ) has not been clarified in previous studies on the fisher entropies in nonextensive systems @xcite-@xcite . the langevin model has been employed for a study of a wide range of stochastic systems @xcite . quite recently , the present author has proposed the generalized rate - code model for neuronal ensembles which is described by the coupled langevin - type equation @xcite . it would be interesting to discuss the dynamics of information entropies in such neural networks , which is left for our future study . this work is partly supported by a grant - in - aid for scientific research from the japanese ministry of education , culture , sports , science and technology . with the use of eqs . ( [ eq : a1 ] ) and ( [ eq : b6 ] ) , the tsallis entropy is given by @xmath302 , \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ q = 1 $ } \label{eq : c1 } \\ & = & \left(\frac{1-c_q}{q-1 } \right ) , \hspace{2cm}\mbox{for $ q \neq1 $ } \label{eq : c2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath303 which yield @xmath304 here @xmath83 for @xmath305 and @xmath306 are given by eqs . ( [ eq : b8 ] ) and ( [ eq : b10 ] ) , respectively . the distribution @xmath112 given by eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) is characterized by two parameters of @xmath307 . by using eqs . ( [ eq : a4 ] ) and ( [ eq : b6 ] ) , we obtain the component of the generalized fisher information matrix g given by @xcite-@xcite @xmath308 , \label{eq : d0 } \\ & = & q\:e [ ( x_i - e[x_i ] ) ( x_j - e[x_j ] ) ] , \label{eq : d1 } \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ i , j=1,2$}\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath309 , \label{eq : d2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath310 $ ] denotes the average over the @xmath2-gaussian distribution of @xmath112 whereas @xmath46 $ ] stands for the average over the escort distribution of @xmath202 . substituting the probability given by eq . ( [ eq : b6 ] ) to eq . ( [ eq : d0 ] ) , we get @xmath311 which yield @xmath312 a similar calculation leads to the ( 2,2)-component given by @xmath313 next we discuss the cramr - rao inequality in nonextensive systems . for the escort distribution given by eq . ( [ eq : b4 ] ) which satisfies eqs . ( [ eq : b2 ] ) and ( [ eq : b3 ] ) with @xmath317 = \int p_q(x)\ : dx,\ ] ] we get the cramr - rao inequality @xcite @xmath318 here @xmath319 denotes the covariance error matrix whose explicit expression will be given shortly , and is referred to as the _ extended _ fisher information matrix whose components are expressed by @xmath320 , \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ i , j=1,2 $ } \label{eq : e0}\\ & = & e_q \left [ ( \tilde{x}_i - e_q[\tilde{x}_i ] ) ( \tilde{x}_j - e_q[\tilde{x}_j ] ) \right],\end{aligned}\ ] ] with @xmath321 , \\ & = & q ( x_i - e[x_i ] ) , \label{eq;e2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] @xmath322 being given by eq . ( [ eq : d2 ] ) . note that @xmath323 is different from @xmath24 given by eq . ( [ eq : d0 ] ) except for @xmath100 . the ( 1,1 ) component of is given by @xmath324 , \label{eq : e3 } \\ & = & \left ( \frac{q^2}{c_q } \right ) \int p(x)^q \left ( \frac{\partial \ln p(x ) } { \partial x}\right)^2 \:dx , \label{eq : e4 } \\ & = & \left(\frac{2q^2}{\nu \sigma_q^2 ( q-1)}\right ) \frac{b(\frac{3}{2},\frac{q}{(q-1)}+\frac{1}{2 } ) } { b(\frac{1}{2},\frac{q}{(q-1)}-\frac{1}{2 } ) } , \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ 1 < q < 3 $ } \label{eq : e5 } \\ & = & \frac{1}{\sigma_q^2 } , \hspace{7cm}\mbox{for $ q=1 $ } \label{eq : e6 } \\ & = & \left ( \frac{2q^2}{\nu \sigma_q^2 ( 1-q ) } \right ) \frac{b(\frac{3}{2},\frac{q}{(1-q)}-1 ) } { b(\frac{1}{2},\frac{q}{(1-q)}+1 ) } , \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ 1/2 < q < 1 $ } \label{eq : e7}\end{aligned}\ ] ] which lead to @xmath325 similarly , the ( 2,2 ) component of @xmath326 is given by @xmath327 , \label{eq : e10 } \\ & = & \frac{(q+1)}{4 ( 2 q-1)\sigma_q^4}. \hspace{1cm}\mbox{for $ 1/2 < q < 3 $ } \label{eq : e9}\end{aligned}\ ] ] the extended fisher information matrix @xmath326 is expressed by @xmath328 whose inverse is given by @xmath329 a calculation of the @xmath330 component ( @xmath331 ) of the covariance error matrix @xmath319 leads to @xmath332 in the limit of @xmath13 , the matrices reduce to @xmath333 chain and solid curves in fig . [ fign](a ) express the @xmath2 dependence of @xmath335 and @xmath336 , respectively . when @xmath2 is further from unity , @xmath337 is much decreased and it vanishes at @xmath338 and 3 . the lower bond of @xmath339 is expressed by the cramr - rao relation because it is satisfied by @xmath340 : @xmath341 chain , dashed and solid curves in fig . [ fign](b ) show @xmath342 , @xmath343 and @xmath344 , respectively . it is noted that @xmath345 diverges at @xmath346 . the following relations hold : @xmath347 equation ( [ eq : e12 ] ) means that @xmath348 can not provide the lower bound of @xmath345 . equations ( [ eq : e11])-([eq : e13 ] ) clearly show that the lower bound of @xmath319 is expressed by the extended fisher information matrix @xmath326 , but not by the generalized fisher information matrix @xmath349 . a. palstino and a. r. plastino , physica a * 222 * , 347 ( 1995 ) . c. tsallis and d. j. bukman , phys . e * 54 * , r2197 ( 1996 ) . a. palstino , a. r. plastino , and h. g. miller , physica a * 235 * , 577 ( 1997 ) . f. pennini , a. r. plastino , and a. plastino , physica a * 258 * , 446 ( 1998 ) . l. borland , f. pennini , a. r. plastino , and a. plastino , eur . j. b. * 12 * , 285 ( 1999 ) . a. r. plastino , m. casas , and a. plastino , physica a * 280 * , 289 ( 2000 ) . s. abe , phys . e * 68 * , 031101 ( 2003 ) .

the tsallis entropy and fisher information entropy ( matrix ) are very important quantities expressing information measures in nonextensive systems . stationary and dynamical properties of the information entropies have been investigated in the @xmath0-unit coupled langevin model subjected to additive and multiplicative white noise , which is one of typical nonextensive systems . we have made detailed , analytical and numerical study on the dependence of the stationary - state entropies on additive and multiplicative noise , external inputs , couplings and number of constitutive elements ( @xmath0 ) . by solving the fokker - planck equation ( fpe ) by both the proposed analytical scheme and the partial difference - equation method , transient responses of the information entropies to an input signal and an external force have been investigated . we have calculated the information entropies also with the use of the probability distribution derived by the maximum - entropy method ( mem ) , whose result is compared to that obtained by the fpe . the cramr - rao inequality is shown to be expressed by the _ extended _ fisher entropy , which is different from the _ generalized _ fisher entropy obtained from the generalized kullback - leibler divergence in conformity with the tsallis entropy . the effect of additive and multiplicative _ colored _ noise on information entropies is discussed also . = 1.333 * stationary and dynamical properties of information entropies + in nonextensive systems * hideo hasegawa _ department of physics , tokyo gakugei university + koganei , tokyo 184 - 8501 , japan _ ( ) _ pacs no . _ 05.10.gg , 05.45.-a

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Imagery, Mapping, and Geospatial Enhancement Act of 2006''. SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE OF SPACE COMMERCIALIZATION. Section 8 of the Technology Administration Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 1511e) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: ``(d) Additional Functions.--Additional functions of the Office shall be to promote growth and advancement in United States space and airborne remote sensing technologies, and value-added services related thereto, by carrying out the following responsibilities: ``(1) Examine the role of commercial remote sensing firms, including small business, in the United States economy and the contribution which such firms can make in-- ``(A) improving competition in the marketplace; ``(B) enhancing the role of commercial remote sensing firms in the economy of the United States; ``(C) ensuring that United States firms continue to lead in the global marketplace; ``(D) applying commercial remote sensing data, products, and services to national priorities; ``(E) expanding employment opportunities; ``(F) increasing productivity; ``(G) stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship; and ``(H) providing an avenue through which new and untested products and services can be brought to the marketplace. ``(2) Assess the effectiveness of existing Federal agency use of remote sensing data, products, and services, including grant, subsidy, and assistance programs to non-Federal entities, and facilitate a reduction in the use of such governmental remote sensing data, products, and services and increase the use of commercial remote sensing firms. ``(3) Promote the objectives of the U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy, issued by the President on May 13, 2003, particularly its provisions on relying to the maximum practical extent on United States commercial remote sensing capabilities and developing a long term, sustainable relationship between the Federal Government and the United States commercial remote sensing community. ``(4) Advocate and implement appropriate measures for creating an environment in which all commercial remote sensing firms will have the opportunity to compete effectively and expand to their full potential. ``(5) Evaluate the efforts of each Federal agency, and of the private sector, to assist commercial remote sensing firms, provide statistical information on the utilization of such firms by the Federal Government, and make appropriate recommendations to the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the President, and the Congress in order to promote the establishment and growth of commercial remote sensing firms. ``(6) Serve as a focal point for the receipt of complaints, criticisms, and suggestions concerning the policies and activities of any Federal agency which affects commercial remote sensing firms. ``(7) Counsel commercial remote sensing firms on how to resolve questions and problems concerning the relationship of such firms to the Federal Government. ``(8) Develop proposals for changes in the policies and activities of any agency of the Federal Government which will better fulfill the purposes of this section and communicate such proposals to the appropriate Federal agencies. ``(9) Represent the views and interests of commercial remote sensing firms before other Federal agencies whose policies and activities may affect such firms. ``(10) Enlist the cooperation and assistance of commercial remote sensing firms, and any association of such firms, in the development of procurement strategies, policies, and methodologies that enhance the utilization of commercial remote sensing firms by Federal agencies (including Federal, State, and local government agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and foreign governments that expend Federal funds), and strengthen the selection of such firms based on demonstrated competence and qualifications. ``(11) Cooperate with public and private agencies, businesses, and other organizations in disseminating information about the use and application of remote sensing, the capabilities of commercial remote sensing firms, and how such firms can participate in or assist such entities, programs. ``(12) Make such other recommendations as may be appropriate to assist the development and strengthening of commercial remote sensing firms. ``(e) Definitions.--As used in this section, the term-- ``(1) `remote sensing' means any activity associated with and related to geospatial activities associated with measuring, locating, and preparing maps, charts, surveys, aerial photographs, satellite images, or other graphical or digital presentations depicting natural or manmade physical features, phenomena, and legal boundaries of the Earth from airborne or spaceborne platforms or other types and sources of data; and ``(2) `firm' means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity in the United States organized and permitted by law to engage in the business of practicing in the profession of remote sensing through the devotion of time, attention, and labor to providing remote sensing data, products, technology, or services as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the sale or distribution thereof.''.

Imagery, Mapping, and Geospatial Enhancement Act of 2006 - Amends the Technology Administration Act of 1998 to include among the functions of the Office of Space Commercialization promoting growth and advancement in U.S. space and airborne remote sensing technologies and related value-added services by: (1) examining the role of, and federal agency use of, commercial remote sensing firms, facilitating a reduction in the use of government remote sensing products and services, and increasing the use of commercial remote sensing firms; (2) promoting the objectives of the U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy, particularly provisions on relying on U.S. capabilities and developing a long-term relationship between the government and the U.S. commercial remote sensing community; (3) creating an environment in which all such firms have the opportunity to compete and expand; (4) evaluating federal and private sector efforts to assist such firms and making recommendations to promote their establishment and growth; (5) serving as the focal point for complaints and suggestions concerning federal activities that affect such firms; (6) counseling such firms on government relations; (7) proposing needed changes in federal policies; (8) representing such firms before government agencies; (9) involving such firms in developing federal procurement strategies; (10) disseminating information about the use of remote sensing and the capabilities of such firms; (11) making recommendations to assist the development and strengthening of such firms.

we measured high precision lead isotope ratios and lead concentrations in blood , urine , and environmental samples to assess the significance of diet as a contributing factor to blood and urine lead levels in a cohort of 23 migrant women and 5 australian - born women . we evaluated possible correlations between levels of dietary lead intake and changes observed in blood and urine lead levels and isotopic composition during pregnancy and postpartum . mean blood lead concentrations for both groups were approximately 3 microg / dl . the concentration of lead in the diet was 5.8 + /- 3 microg pb / kg [ geometric mean ( gm ) 5.2 ] and mean daily dietary intake was 8.5 microg / kg / day ( gm 7.4 ) , with a range of 2 - 39 microg / kg / day . analysis of 6-day duplicate dietary samples for individual subjects commonly showed major spikes in lead concentration and isotopic composition that were not reflected by associated changes in either blood lead concentration or isotopic composition . changes in blood lead levels and isotopic composition observed during and after pregnancy could not be solely explained by dietary lead . these data are consistent with earlier conclusions that , in cases where levels of environmental lead exposure and dietary lead intake are low , skeletal contribution is the dominant contributor to blood lead , especially during pregnancy and postpartum.imagesfigure 1figure 2figure 3figure 4figure 5figure 6figure 7

compelling evidence from different types of observation shows that the expansion of the universe is accelerating at late times ( see @xcite for a review ) . within the framework of general relativity , this indicates that there should exist an energy source with significant negative pressure , termed dark energy , to drive this acceleration . the nature of dark energy is generally regarded as one of the most tantalizing problems in cosmology . many dark energy models have been proposed and studied ( see @xcite , and references therein ) . while the cosmological constant remains the simplest realization of dark energy , current observations do not rule out the possibility of time - evolving dark energy @xcite@xmath5@xcite . in the pursuit of revealing the nature of dark energy , cosmological observations serve to constrain the behavior of dark energy . theoretical studies , on the other hand , should determine whether dark energy models can be distinguished by their observational consequences . the ratio of pressure to energy density for dark energy , the equation of state @xmath6 , is the characteristic of how the energy density evolves with time . the cosmological constant relates to the constant equation of state @xmath7 , while other dark energy models generally have time - evolving @xmath0 . the time - derivative of @xmath0 in units of the hubble time , @xmath8 , characterizes the dynamical behavior of the equation of state . studies of the dynamical behaviors and classification of dark energy models in the @xmath9 phase plane have been carried out @xcite@xmath5@xcite . it is found that different dark energy models are bounded in different sectors in the @xmath9 plane . in this paper , on the one hand , we gather the bounds for various dark energy models in the @xmath10 plane . on the other hand , we obtain the constraints on the @xmath2 plane in the redshift region @xmath11 , by adopting a widely used parametrization @xcite , @xmath12 , based on the current observational data . the data set we use includes the recently compiled `` constitution set '' of type ia supernovae ( sn ia ) data @xcite@xmath5@xcite , the cosmic microwave background ( cmb ) measurement from the five - year wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe ( wmap ) @xcite , and the baryon acoustic oscillation ( bao ) measurement from the sloan digital sky survey ( sdss ) @xcite and the 2df galaxy redshift survey ( @xmath13dfgrs ) @xcite . we then compare the dark energy models with the constraints on the @xmath14 plane for @xmath11 . the work close to ours is that of barger et al . @xcite , in which they used the earlier data set and examined the dark energy models in the @xmath15 plane only at the redshift @xmath16 . _ quintessence _ the quintessence model @xcite@xmath5@xcite , which invokes a time - varying scalar field , generally allows its energy density and equation of state to evolve with time , and has @xmath17 . the equation of motion of the quintessence field is @xmath18 , where @xmath19 is the hubble expansion rate , and @xmath20 . in terms of @xmath0 and @xmath1 , the equation of motion can be written as @xcite @xmath21,\ ] ] where the minus sign corresponds to @xmath22 and the plus sign to the opposite , @xmath23 is the dimensionless energy density of the quintessence field , and @xmath24 . for the down - rolling quintessence field ( @xmath25 ) , the left - hand side of eq . ( [ eq : q1 ] ) is positive , and the bound of @xmath0 and @xmath1 can be obtained as @xmath26 @xcite . the up - rolling quintessence field ( @xmath27 ) takes the other side , @xmath28 . the bound of the tracker quintessence @xcite is obtained in @xcite . however , strong acceleration today , with @xmath29 , requires the breakdown of tracking @xcite . the bound should only apply to the high redshift @xcite , @xmath30 , which is not the region of interest in this paper . a conjectured limit of quintessence has been proposed in @xcite as @xmath31 , where @xmath32 is the plank mass . however , the physical origin of this limit is not clear @xcite . we therefore do not impose this constraint on the quintessence model . caldwell and linder identified two categories of quintessence models , `` thawing '' and `` freezing '' , based on their dynamical behavior @xcite . for the thawing models , the equation of state is @xmath33 at early times , but grows less negative with time as @xmath34 . the bounds of the thawing models are @xmath35 . for the freezing models , initially the equation of state is @xmath17 with @xmath36 , but the field is frozen at late times where @xmath37 and @xmath38 . the bounds of the freezing models are @xmath39 . note that the upper bound for the freezing models is only valid for @xmath40 . _ phantom _ the phantom model has negative kinetic energy and the equation of state @xmath41 @xcite . the equation of motion of the phantom field is @xmath42 . in terms of @xmath0 and @xmath1 , the equation of motion can be written as @xcite @xmath43,\ ] ] where the plus sign corresponds to @xmath22 and the minus sign to the opposite , @xmath23 is the dimensionless energy density of the phantom field , and @xmath44 . for the up - rolling phantom field ( @xmath27 ) , the left - hand side of eq . ( [ eq : p1 ] ) is positive , and the bound of @xmath0 and @xmath1 can be obtained as @xmath45 . the down - rolling phantom field ( @xmath25 ) takes the other side @xmath46 . note that eq . ( [ eq : p1 ] ) and the bounds are different from those obtained in @xcite . _ barotropic fluids _ barotropic fluids are those for which the pressure is an explicit function of the energy density , @xmath47 ( see @xcite and references therein ) . the expression for @xmath48 can be written as @xcite @xmath49 the sound speed for a barotropic fluid is given by @xmath50 . to ensure stability , we must have @xmath51 , which gives the bound @xmath52 for non - phantom ( @xmath17 ) barotropic fluids @xcite . for causality , we further require @xmath53 @xcite , which gives the bound @xmath54 for @xmath17 @xcite . the classification of the above - mentioned dark energy models in the @xmath10 plane is shown in fig . note that all of the bounds are valid at late times for @xmath11 . we use the combined data set from three types of observations including the sn ia observation , the cmb measurement , and the bao measurement . we assume that the universe is flat in this paper . we use the constitution set of sn ia data compiled by hicken et al . @xcite@xmath5@xcite , which provides the information of the luminosity distance and the redshift . the sn ia samples lie in the redshift region @xmath55 . the luminosity distance - redshift relation is given by @xmath56 we use the cmb shift parameter measured by the five - year wmap observation @xcite , @xmath57 where @xmath58 is the hubble constant and @xmath59 is the dimensionless matter density at present . we use the bao measurement from the joint analysis of the sdss and 2dfgrs data @xcite , which gives @xmath60 , where @xmath61^{1/3},\ ] ] and @xmath62 is the angular diameter distance , @xmath63 to obtain the constraints on the @xmath10 plane , we invoke a broadly used form of parametrization of the equation of state @xcite , @xmath64the constraint of @xmath65 , @xmath66 and @xmath59 is obtained by fitting the three parameters to this combined data set . the estimate of the parameters are found to be @xmath67 the two - dimensional constraint of @xmath68 is obtained and shown in fig . [ fig2 ] . we reconstruct the the @xmath69 plane via eq . ( [ eq : w0wa - parametrization ] ) and @xmath70 at late times for @xmath11 . at each redshift , the two - dimensional constraint is obtained by converting the points on the boundaries of the confidence regions in the @xmath68 plane to the corresponding points in the @xmath10 plane , following eq . ( [ eq : w0wa - parametrization ] ) and eq . ( [ eq : w_prime ] ) , for the @xmath3 and the @xmath4 confidence regions respectively.^2\rangle = var(w_0)+(1-a)^2var(w_a)+2(1-a)cov(w_a , w_a)$ ] and @xmath71 . ] since the transformation between ( @xmath72 ) and ( @xmath73 ) is linear , each point inside a confidence region in the @xmath68 plane gives a distinct point inside the corresponding confidence region in the the @xmath10 plane . in the @xmath10 plane , we find that the cosmological constant , the phantom models , the up - rolling quintessence models , and the non - phantom barotropic fluids lie outside the @xmath3 confidence region in the redshift regions @xmath11 , @xmath74 , @xmath75 and @xmath76 , respectively . this shows that the four models are ruled out at the @xmath3 confidence level . on the contrary , the down - rolling quintessence models , including the thawing and the freezing models , overlap with the @xmath3 confidence region for @xmath11 . all of the models overlap with the @xmath4 confidence region for @xmath11 . samples of the constraints on the @xmath10 plane at redshifts @xmath77 , @xmath78 , @xmath79 and @xmath80 , together with the models , are shown in fig . in sec . [ phase_constraints ] , we invoked a criterion that a model is ruled out at the @xmath3 confidence level if for some redshift the model s corresponding sector in the @xmath10 plane does not overlap with the confidence region at all . to test the validity of this criterion and to address the concern about the inherent bias of the parametrization against certain models , we perform a monte carlo test of our method . the criterion is invalid if for some redshift the resulting @xmath3 region from the monte carlo realization of the fiducial model does not overlap at all with the model s corresponding sector in the @xmath10 plane . we pick one or two fiducial models for each model category to test our method . the fiducial models used in the test include _ cosmological constant _ : @xmath81 , _ thawing _ : @xmath82 , _ freezing _ : @xmath83 , _ up - rolling quintessence _ : @xmath84 , _ up - rolling phantom _ : ( a ) @xmath85 , ( b ) @xmath86 , _ down - rolling phantom _ : @xmath87 , and _ none - phantom barotropic fluids _ : @xmath88 . for all models , @xmath59 is 0.25 and @xmath89 is equal to @xmath90 . all models have @xmath91 for strong acceleration today . the trajectories of the models in the @xmath10 plane are shown in fig . [ fig4 ] in the redshift region @xmath11 . in the test , we realize each fiducial model by simulating the sn ia , the bao and the cmb data assuming current data quality . 1000 sets of simulated data are generated and fitted with the three parameters @xmath65 , @xmath66 and @xmath59 . the values of @xmath65 and @xmath66 are converted to @xmath0 and @xmath1 via eq . ( [ eq : w0wa - parametrization ] ) and eq . ( [ eq : w_prime ] ) at each redshift . the 683 and the 954 of the 1000 monte carlo realizations , representing the @xmath3 and the @xmath4 region , are selected via their chi - square from the fiducial model . as a result , the criterion passes the test for all the models , that is , for each model the corresponding sector overlap with the @xmath3 monte carlo realized region in the @xmath10 plane in the redshift region @xmath11 . samples of the test results at redshifts @xmath77 , @xmath92 , @xmath79 and @xmath80 are shown in fig . it is seen that applying the criterion up to @xmath16 might be pushing it to the limit , especially for the up - rolling quintessence , down - rolling phantom and the non - phantom barotropic fluid cases . yet the conclusion that the three models are ruled out at the @xmath3 confidence level in sec . [ phase_constraints ] still holds if we apply the the criterion only for @xmath93 . applying the bounds for various dark energy models in the @xmath14 plane for redshift @xmath11 , we find that several models including the cosmological constant , phantom , non - phantom barotropic fluids , and monotonic up - rolling quintessence are ruled out at the @xmath3 confidence level based on the current observational data . on the other hand , down - rolling quintessence , including the thawing and the freezing models , is consistent with the current observations . all the models are still consistent with the data at the @xmath4 confidence level . using the same sn ia data set , shafieloo et al . @xcite and huang et al . @xcite also found the cosmological constant inconsistent with the data at the @xmath3 confidence level . barger et al . @xcite found the non - phantom barotropic fluids excluded at the @xmath4 confidence level based on the earlier data set . we notice that there was a time the observations favored @xmath94 @xcite but now the observations favor @xmath95 . however , the conclusions are drawn at the @xmath3 confidence level at most . it is hoped that the next - generation observations will constrain the dark energy equation of state an order of magnitude better @xcite . we shall be able to identify dark energy at higher confidence in the coming future . chen is supported by the taiwan national science council under project no . nsc 95 - 2119-m-002 - 034 and nsc 96 - 2112-m-002 - 023-my3 , p. chen by the taiwan national science council under project no . nsc 97 - 2112-m-002 - 026-my3 and by us department of energy under contract no . de - ac03 - 76sf00515 , and gu by the taiwan national science council under project no . nsc 98 - 2112-m-002 - 007-my3 . all the authors thank leung center for cosmology and particle astrophysics for the support . a. albrecht et al . , arxiv : astro - ph/0609591 . r. r. caldwell and e. v. linder , phys . 95 , 141301 ( 2005 ) [ arxiv : astro - ph/0505494 ] . r. j. scherrer , phys . d 73 , 043502 ( 2006 ) [ arxiv : astro - ph/0509890 ] . t. chiba , phys . d 73 , 063501 ( 2006 ) [ arxiv : astro - ph/0510598 ] . e. v. linder , phys . d 73 , 063010 ( 2006 ) [ arxiv : astro - ph/0601052 ] . e. v. linder and r. j. scherrer , arxiv:0811.2797 [ astro - ph ] . m. chevallier and d. polarski , int . j. mod . d 10 , 213 ( 2001 ) [ arxiv : gr - qc/0009008 ] . e. v. linder , phys . 90 , 091301 ( 2003 ) [ arxiv : astro - ph/0208512 ] . a. g. riess et al . 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classification of dark energy models in the plane of @xmath0 and @xmath1 , where @xmath0 is the dark energy equation of state and @xmath1 its time - derivative in units of the hubble time , has been studied in the literature . we take the current sn ia , cmb and bao data , invoke a widely used parametrization of the dark energy equation of state , and obtain the constraints on the @xmath2 plane . we find that dark energy models including the cosmological constant , phantom , non - phantom barotropic fluids , and monotonic up - rolling quintessence are ruled out at the @xmath3 confidence level based on the current observational data . down - rolling quintessence , including the thawing and the freezing models , is consistent with the current observations . all the above - mentioned models are still consistent with the data at the @xmath4 confidence level .

The architectural career of Zaha Hadid has not been traditional or easy. She entered the field with illustrious credentials. Born in Baghdad, she studied at the highly regarded Architectural Association in London, was a partner in the avant-garde Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Rem Koolhaas, and has held prestigious posts at one time or another at the world’s finest universities including Harvard, Yale, and many others. Much admired by the younger generation of architects, her appearance on campuses is always a cause for excitement and overflowing audiences. Her path to worldwide recognition has been a heroic struggle as she inexorably rose to the highest ranks of the profession. Clients, journalists, fellow professionals are mesmerized by her dynamic forms and strategies for achieving a truly distinctive approach to architecture and its settings. Each new project is more audacious than the last and the sources of her originality seem endless. Ms. Hadid has become more and more recognized as she continues to win competition after competition, always struggling to get her very original winning entries built. Discouraged, but undaunted, she has used the competition experiences as a “laboratory” for continuing to hone her exceptional talent in creating an architectural idiom like no other. It is not surprising that one of the architects whose work Ms. Hadid admires is another Pritzker Prize winner, the preeminent South American author of Brasilia, and other major works—Oscar Niemeyer. They share a certain fearlessness in their work and both are unafraid of risk that comes inevitably with their respective vocabularies of bold visionary forms. The competition winning phase of Ms. Hadid’s career gradually began to result in built works such as the Vitra Fire Station, the LFone in Weil am Rhein, the Mind Zone in the Millennium Dome and reached a recent high point with the opening of the critically acclaimed Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. The full dimensions of Ms. Hadid’s prodigious artistic outpouring of work is apparent not only in architecture, but in exhibition designs, stage sets, furniture, paintings, and drawings. The jury is pleased to acknowledge one of the great architects at the dawning of the twenty-first century by awarding the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Zaha Hadid, to commend her extraordinary achievements, and to wish her continued success. ||||| Zaha Hadid has died aged 65. Getty Images / Jeff J Mitchell The late architect Zaha Hadid, known as "The Queen of Curves" for the modern curving designs of her buildings, died Thursday at the age of 65. Her legendary career led her to become the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of her field) in 2004. She also received numerous other awards and honors, including being named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DME) in 2012 and earning the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal in 2015 — the first ever given to a woman. The Iraqi-born British architect died in a Miami hospital after suffering a heart attack, a representative for Zaha Hadid Architects confirmed with Business Insider. She had been admitted to the hospital after contracting bronchitis earlier this week. Hadid designed everything from a metro station in Saudi Arabia to the aquatics center for the 2012 London Olympics to a city center in downtown Belgrade— all in her signature flowing style. One of her newest buildings was just completed in New York City — an 11-story condominium made of steel and glass that incorporates a unique chevron pattern. Click through to see how her style has evolved over time, and remember the artist through the body of work she has left behind all over the world. ||||| One of contemporary architecture’s biggest stars, the Iraqi-born, London-based Zaha Hadid, died in Miami of a heart attack today, Mar. 31. She was 65. Hadid, the only female member of the elite tribe of so-called “starchitects,” celebrities of the profession, was the winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize and was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio The Broad Art Museum in Michigan “She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital,” her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, said in a statement. “Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today.” “Working with office partner Patrik Schumacher, her interest was in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology; which her practice integrates with the use of innovative technologies often resulting in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.” ReutersVictor Fraile Pavilion for Chanel’s “Mobile Art” exhibition in Hong Kong. Hadid was known for imaginative, gravity-defying structures, including the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, the MAXXI museum in Rome, and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. In addition to accolades, Hadid’s work has also received criticism. She did not shy away from designing for autocratic regimes including Qatar and Azerbaijan, both known to violate human rights. Nevertheless, in a field that has often disregarded women and championed men, Hadid’s career was a beacon to many female architects. She established her practice in London in 1979, and was named a Dame in 2012. An exterior view of Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in downtown of Baku, Azerbaijan. EPA/Robert Ghement. EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga Hadid poses in the newly constructed Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, in London, Britain. EPA/Yna Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Reuters/Kyodo Hadid’s design for the Tokyo National Stadium, scrapped by the Japanese government because it was too expensive. Reuters/Jason Lee The Galaxy Soho building in Beijing. Reuters/Andrew Winning A sculpture by Zaha Hadid titled “Kloris” at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London. Reuters/Victor Fraile Hadid’s futuristic pavilion for Chanel’s “Mobile Art” exhibition, placed in Hong Kong’s Central district.

– Zaha Hadid, the literally and metaphorically groundbreaking architect who reshaped the design landscape with what the New York Times describes as "buildings of extravagant sculptural invention, spectacles of curving, swooping, unprecedented forms," died at the age of 65 in Miami on Thursday. Hadid had been taken to a local hospital for bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while she was being treated there, per a statement from her London office. Known as the "Queen of Curves" for her "signature flowing style," Business Insider notes, she was the only female architect to ascend to the ranks of what Quartz labels as her profession's elite "starchitects" group. The Iraqi-born Brit was known for her designs for, among others, the London Aquatic Center (a 2012 Olympics venue), China's Guangzhou Opera House, and Cincinnati's Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. Hadid was the first woman to ever take home the Pritzker Prize, the architecture world's highest honor, and was also the first woman to receive Britain's esteemed RIBA Gold Medal. The Times points out that Hadid's designs were often not the most practical (nor the cheapest): Her plans for the 2020 Olympics' main venue in Tokyo had to be ditched after anticipated costs blew up to around $2.5 billion, more than double the original estimate. But she came up during a time when architects morphed into celebrities, and she was one of the hottest and most imaginative of them all, cranking out such complicated theoretical designs in the beginning of her career that they were never able to be brought to fruition. "Each new project is more audacious than the last and the sources of her originality seem endless," the Pritzker jury wrote upon awarding her its prize in 2004. (Check out pics of her most well-known works at Business Insider and Quartz.)

agn and starburst activity are important physical processes that influence the ism in the central regions of active galaxies . besides their strong radiation - field that ionizes the gas , jet - cloud interactions , as well as agn and starburst driven winds , shock the gas and may create ( in some cases massive ) outflows . feedback mechanisms of this activity can be important for the evolution of the host galaxy . the agn activity may e.g. regulate the correlation between the mass of the central black hole and the galaxies bulge properties , while supernova explosions and galactic winds are processes that regulate star formation in galaxies . due to the complex gas dynamics and ionization - processes in the active central regions , the study of interactions between ism and radio / starburst activity is often quite complicated . nearby radio galaxies provide excellent cases to study these physical processes in great detail , which is important for understanding the evolution of high-_z _ radio galaxies and quasars . in a number of nearby radio galaxies unambiguous evidence exists for outflows in the ionized gas , ascribed to the presence of a central radio source ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) . in the seyfert galaxy mrk 3 , @xcite have studied the impact of a radio jet on the ionized ism in great detail . however , to get a complete picture on the outflow - related processes it is essential to look at the different phases of the ism . for example , in addition to the fast ionized gas outflow in pks 1345 + 12 @xcite , @xcite have observed a fast outflow of neutral hydrogen gas detected in absorption against the radio continuum . with similar hi absorption measurements @xcite detected a hi outflow in the seyfert galaxy mrk 1 . and in seyfert ic 5063 @xcite detected an outflow of hi at the location of the extended radio lobe ( very similar to an outflow of ionized gas ; * ? ? ? * ) . in a recent paper ( * ? ? ? * hereafter paper 1 ) we discovered a fast outflow of neutral hydrogen ( with velocities up to @xmath01000 km / s ! ) in the nearby radio galaxy 3c 293 . in this paper we further analyze this outflow , both in the neutral as well as the ionized gas . the radio continuum image of figure [ fig : ionized ] ( left ) shows that 3c 293 has two extended radio lobes as well as a steep spectrum core ( consisting of a flat spectrum nucleus and two inner radio jets ) , possibly indicating re - started activity @xcite . the host galaxy of 3c 293 has a complex , disk - like optical morphology that extends toward an apparent companion @xcite . @xcite revealed young stellar populations throughout the galaxy ( the age of this population in the nuclear region is 1.0 - 2.5 gyr ) . the central few kpc of the galaxy contains extensive filamentary dust lanes and large amounts of cold gas @xcite . the presence of a dense ism , a young stellar population and a distorted radio morphology makes 3c 293 an excellent case for a study of the interplay between ism , star - formation history and agn activity . throughout this paper we use h@xmath1 = 71 km s@xmath2 mpc@xmath2 , putting 3c 293 at a distance of 189 mpc and 1 arcsec @xmath0 0.92 kpc . we detect a fast outflow of ionized gas at the position of a bright radio hot - spot in the inner radio jet of 3c 293 . evidence comes from a detailed emission - line analysis of optical long - slit spectra that were taken with isis on the wht along the major axis of the host galaxy as well as along the inner radio axis . this is shown in figure [ fig : ionized ] . [ oii]@xmath3 shows a strong , narrow emission - line component all across 3c 293 . this component represents gas with kinematics characteristic for normal rotation along the direction of the optical disk ( p.a . 60@xmath4 ) with a total extent of @xmath030 kpc , i.e. larger than what has been seen before by @xcite . when fitting the line - profile in the region of the bright eastern radio hot - spot , @xmath01 kpc east of the nucleus , we need to include an additional broad emission - line component to get a good fit ( see fig.[fig : ionized ] ) . for this broad component we derive a fwhm of 986 @xmath5 146 km / s and a blueshift w.r.t . the narrow component of 636 @xmath5 125 km / s . together with the distorted morphology of the radio plasma in the hot - spot region @xcite and the presence of a dense ism in the inner few kpc of 3c 293 , this suggests that the broad component represents an outflow of ionized gas that is driven by interaction with the radio plasma . the outflow is also seen in the [ sii]@xmath6 doublet . along the inner radio axis ( p.a . 93@xmath4 ) the position of the different spectral features is known quite accurately by comparing the shape of the continuum in the optical spectra around the [ sii]-line with the the hst image ( zoom in of fig.[fig : ionized ] ) . like for [ oii ] , the outflow in [ sii ] is clearly located at the position of the radio hot - spot , @xmath01 kpc east of the nucleus , as can be seen in figure [ fig : rotcurve93 ] . also the narrow component is seen in [ sii ] along the 93@xmath4 spectrum , showing the kinematics of rotation ( projected onto this axis ) . in addition , on the eastern side ( further away from the nucleus ) a more modest outflow of gas is seen . on the entire western side of the nucleus the emission - line is much fainter , but it is asymmetric with a redshifted wing . this could either indicate a very mild outflow of order 100 km / s ( in this case possibly due to a receding radio jet ) or it could be just the effect of integration along the line of sight . at the position of the nucleus the emission line profile is significantly broadened , but very symmetric without any sign of outflow . this might merely reflect a very dynamic state of the ionized gas around the nucleus ( a similar line - broadening is also seen in the hi absorption lines on top of the nuclear radio emission , * ? ? ? * ) . in a forthcoming paper @xcite we will give a full kinematical analysis of the ionized gas in 3c 293 . in paper 1 we describe the detection of an outflow of neutral hydrogen gas from the central region of 3c 293 . this outflow has been detected with the 20mhz band of the wsrt as very broad but very shallow hi absorption against the strong central radio continuum . in figure [ fig : profilefit3 ] we show a 6-component gaussian fit to the hi absorption profile from 1 hour of data taken in january 2003 . the narrow , deep components have already been studied in detail by @xcite and @xcite with higher spatial resolution . this enabled them to spatially disentangle these ( plus several other ) components , allowing a much more accurate fit to each component separately than we can achieve with our wsrt data . for the broad outflow component our fit gives a fwhm of 852 @xmath5 41 km / s and central velocity of 13,156 @xmath5 24 km / s , therefore blue - shifted by 345 km / s w.r.t . the deepest hi absorption . due to the limited spatial resolution of the wsrt we are not able to determine the exact location of this hi outflow . nevertheless , the hi outflow is remarkably similar to the outflow of ionized gas at the position of the radio hot - spot ( see also fig.2 of paper 1 ) . this suggests that one and the same mechanism is likely responsible for the outflow of both the ionized as well as the neutral hydrogen gas . using older 10 mhz wsrt observations ( may 7th 2001 ) we detect three nearby companions of 3c 293 in hi . figure [ fig : fig_emission1 ] ( top ) shows a total intensity plot of the hi gas in these companions . optical counterparts for companions 1 and 3 are listed in the literature @xcite . also companion 2 appears to have an optical counterpart in fig.[fig : fig_emission1 ] , but this is hard to tell solely from the dss image . to our knowledge the redshifts of these companions were up to now unknown . table [ tab : companions ] gives the ra and dec , total hi mass content , projected distance to 3c 293 and velocity of the three companions . given the relatively narrow band of these observations ( that is therefore mostly filled by the broad hi absorption ) the quality of the final data - cube is not ideal for looking for very faint hi emission , in particular not near the strong ( @xmath03.8 jy ) radio continuum nuclear region of 3c 293 . new observations will be necessary to investigate the presence of faint hi emission directly around 3c 293 and its close south - western companion ( vv 5 - 33 - 12 ) , toward which the optical disk of 3c 293 seems to extend ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? merger and interaction events are often invoked as the trigger mechanism of agn activity . also 3c 293 has often been suggested to be the result of a gas - rich ( major ) merger event . this is indicated by the complex dust - lanes and the presence of large amounts of dense molecular and neutral gas @xcite and by the detection of a young stellar population @xcite . gas - rich mergers are likely to produce long - lived signatures in the form of hi tails , bridges or disks ( see e.g. the case of the antennae , hibbard et al . 2001 , or cases of radio galaxies like b2 0648 + 27 , morganti et al . 2003a , c ) . tidal hi tails may even form condensations evolving into ( dwarf ) galaxies @xcite . we do not see any tails or other remnant hi feature around 3c 293 , at least not at the sensitivity of our present observations . the presence of three hi companions , all located within 400 kpc and 300 km / s , appears similar to e.g. the case of the ngc 3656 group @xcite where a number of hi companions could be gravitationally bound to the system . cccccc @xmath7 & ra & dec & m@xmath8 & distance & velocity + & ( h : m : s ) & ( @xmath4: : ) & ( m@xmath9 ) & ( kpc ) & ( km / s ) + 1 & 13:52:20 & + 31:29:00 & 1.6@xmath1010@xmath11 & 124 & 13,416 + 2 & 13:52:29 & + 31:28:11 & 3.9@xmath1010@xmath12 & 170 & 13,300 + 3 & 13:52:47 & + 31:28:57 & 2.3@xmath1010@xmath12 & 366 & 13,147 + [ tab : companions ] in paper 1 we already concluded that the most likely driving mechanism for the outflow of the neutral hydrogen gas is an interaction between the radio plasma and the ism . other explanations are unlikely : an outflow driven by winds from the 1.0 - 2.5 gyr young stars in the central region of 3c 293 @xcite would have to be `` fossil '' , in which case it is unlikely limited only to the central region where we see it . an agn radiation - pressure driven outflow seems unlikely given the fact that the agn in 3c 293 is probably too weak to create the fast outflow . ( the ionization in the central region of 3c 293 appears to be very low ; * ? ? ? * ) . also the far - ir luminosity of 3c 293 , l@xmath13/l@xmath9 = 10.08 , is only at the lower end of the luminosity for quasars ; neugebauer et al . 1986 . ) our analysis of the ionized gas gives additional observational evidence in favor of a jet - ism interaction as the driving mechanism for the outflow . if the outflowing ionized and neutral gas are indeed different phases of the same physical phenomenon , this shows that despite the high energies that must be involved in the jet - ism interaction , part of the gas remains , or becomes again , neutral . a possible explanation of this effect is given by @xcite , who simulate an ionized cloud that is overtaken by a shock - front due to a jet - cloud interaction . shocks travel into the cloud and fragment it . due to rapid cooling , dense clumps of gas are formed that that can survive for a long time and that reach velocities up to 500 km / s . the models by @xcite give credibility to jet - induced star - formation . in the light of our observations it would be nice to further investigate if the dense clumps of gas could consist of neutral hydrogen and if velocities up to @xmath01000 km / s can be reached . akujor , c. e. , leahy , j. p. , garrington , s. t. , sanghera , h. , spencer , r. e. , & schilizzi , r. t. 1996 , , 278 , 1 baan , w. a. , & haschick , a. d. 1981 , , 243 , l143 balcells , m. , van gorkom , j. h. , sancisi , r. , & del burgo , c. 2001 , , 122 , 1758 beswick , r. j. , peck , a. b. , taylor , g. b. & giovanni , g. 2004 , , 352 , 49 beswick , r. j. , pedlar , a. , & holloway , a. j. 2002 , , 329 , 620 bridle , a. h. , fomalont , e. b. , & cornwell , t. j. 1981 , , 86 , 129 capetti , a. , axon , d. j. , macchetto , f. d. , marconi , a. & winge , c. 1999 , , 516 , 187 emonts , b. h. c. , morganti , r. , tadhunter , c. n. , oosterloo , t. a. , holt , j. , & van der hulst , j. m. 2005 , mnras , submitted evans , a. s. , sanders , d. b. , surace , j.a . , & mazzarella , j.m . 1999 , , 511 , 730 haschick , a. d , & baan , w. a. 1985 , , 289 , 574 hibbard , j. e. , van der hulst , j. m. , barnes , j. e. , & rich , r. m. 2001 , , 122 , 2969 holt , j. , tadhunter , c. n. , morganti , r. 2003 , , 342 , 227 mellema , g. , kurk , j. d. , & rttgering , h. j. a. 2002 , , 395 , l13 morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. a. , tadhunter , c. n. , vermeulen , r. , pihlstrm , y. m. , van moorsel , g. & wills , k. a. 2004a , , 424 , 119 morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. a. , emonts , b. h. c. , tadhunter , c. n. , & holt , j. 2004b , iaus , 217 , 332 morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. , tadhunter , c. , & emonts , b. 2003a , newar , 47 , 273 morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. a. , emonts , b. h. c. , van der hulst , j. m. , & tadhunter , c. n. 2003b , , 593 , l69 ( paper 1 ) morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. a. , capetti , a. , de ruiter , h. r. , fanti , r. , parma , p. , tadhunter , c. n. , & wills , k. a. 2003c , , 399 , 511 neugebauer , g. , miley , g. k. , soifer , b. t. , & clegg , p. e. 1986 , , 308 , 815 omar , a. , dwarakanath , k. s. , rupen , m. & anantharamaiah , k. r. 2002 , , 394 , 405 oosterloo , t. a. , morganti , r. , tzioumis , a. , reynolds , j. , king , e. , mcculloch , p. , & tsvetanov , z. 2000 , , 119 , 2085 paturel , g. , petit , c. , garnier , r. , & prugniel , p. 2000 , , 144 , 475 tadhunter , c. n. , robinson , t. g. , gonzlez - delgado , r. m. , wills , k. , & morganti r. 2005 , , 356 , 480 tadhunter , c. , wills , k. , morganti , r. , oosterloo , t. , & dickson , r. 2001 , , 327 , 227 van breugel , w. , heckman , t. , butcher , h. , & miley , g. 1984 , , 277 , 82 villar - martin , m. , tadhunter , c. , morganti , r. , axon , d. , & koekemoer , a. 1999 , , 307 , 24

we detect a fast outflow of neutral and ionized gas with velocities up to @xmath01000 km / s from the central region of radio galaxy 3c 293 . with optical spectroscopy we locate the bulk of the ionized gas outflow at the position of a bright radio hot - spot in the inner radio jet , about 1 kpc east of the nucleus . given the presence of large amounts of cold gas and the distorted morphology of the radio jet in this region , we argue that the ism is pushed out by a severe interaction with the radio plasma . the similarity of the outflow of hi with the ionized gas outflow that we see at the position of the radio hot - spot suggests that despite the high energies involved in the jet - ism interaction , part of the gas stays , or becomes again , neutral . in this paper we also present the detection of hi emission in three nearby companions of 3c 293 .

osteoporosis is a devastating disease characterized by low bone density , microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue , and increased susceptibility to fracture . vertebral compression fracture ( vcf ) is a common manifestation of osteoporosis in the elderly with an incidence of 700,000 cases per year in the united states alone . vcfs can precipitate in a downward spiral of physical functioning characterized by chronic back pain , limited mobility , functional impairment , and kyphosis resulting in reduced pulmonary capacity , loss of stature , and greater risk of subsequent nonvertebral and additional vertebral fractures [ 2 , 3 ] . vertebral compression fractures also represent a significant economic burden in the united states , accounting for an estimated 17.5 billion dollars in annual medical costs . as the population continues to age conservative treatment of painful vcfs , such as bed rest , braces , and/or narcotic analgesic medication , has only modest short - term effectiveness and is associated with poor long - term outcomes , including exacerbation of bone loss , increased risk of subsequent fracture , decreased mobility , and increased mortality [ 57 ] . percutaneous techniques such as vertebroplasty and balloon kyphoplasty ( bk ) are minimally invasive treatments for acutely painful vcfs and have been used with increasing frequency over the last two decades . vertebroplasty involves injecting polymethylmethacrylate ( pmma ) into the collapsed vertebrae to reduce pain via vertebral stabilization . balloon kyphoplasty involves creation of a cavity before cement injection , which theoretically provides an advantage by correcting for sagittal alignment and reducing the risk of cement leakage . vertebroplasty and bk are both safe and effective procedures for treatment of osteoporotic vcf although bk may result in better clinical outcomes and fracture reduction compared to vertebroplasty in patients with significant vertebral body height loss . radiofrequency - targeted vertebral augmentation ( rf - tva ) is a novel percutaneous vertebral augmentation technique that was developed to address some of the limitations of bk while maintaining the benefit of vertebroplasty and bk . the purpose of this study was to assess the initial safety and effectiveness of rf - tva in osteoporotic patients with symptomatic vcf . all study procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical principles stated in the declaration of helsinki , and this research was approved by the institutional review board at the investigative site . this prospective , single - site postmarket study was conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of rf - tva in patients with single - level , symptomatic osteoporotic vcf . main inclusion criteria included age between 50 and 90 years , single - level osteoporotic vcf located between t10 and l5 , back pain severity > 4 on a 0-to-10 scale , oswestry disability index ( odi ) 21% , vertebral height loss between 20% and 90% compared to adjacent vertebral body , and fracture age < 6 months . main exclusion criteria included primary tumor or metastasis , neurologic deficit associated with the index level , pedicle fracture , significant kyphosis ( > 30 ) or translation ( > 4 mm ) , and active infection . patients underwent a physical examination , complete medical history , and radiographic imaging studies including thoracolumbar lateral and anteroposterior radiographs to confirm the presence and characteristics of the vcf . symptomatic levels were confirmed with radionuclide bone scan and computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging . patient - reported back pain severity was quantified using an 11-point ( 0 to 10 ) numeric scale . back - specific functional disability was self - reported with the odi ( version 2 ) on a 0 to 100% scale . patients were first placed in the prone position and prepped and draped in the usual manner . rf - tva was performed via a unipedicular approach with site - specific cavity creation followed by remotely controlled delivery of ultrahigh viscosity pmma ( stabilit er bone cement ) using the stabilit vertebral augmentation system ( dfine , inc , san jose , ca , usa ) ( figure 1 ) . after placement of a working cannula , an initial cavity was created by inserting a straight coring osteotome ( vertecor straightline osteotome ) that permits biopsy . a navigational osteotome ( vertecor midline osteotome ) the midline osteotome was navigated through the vertebral body by rotating the handle to articulate the distal beveled tip as the osteotome was advanced through the vertebral body to the anterior third and across the midline in a controlled fashion ( figure 2(a ) ) . the midline osteotome was then reoriented , and additional passes were made to create site - specific cavities . this resulted in well - defined cavities with minimal disruption of adjacent trabeculae that served as preferential paths for cement delivery ( figures 2(b ) and 2(c ) ) . the pmma , which has an extended working time compared to standard pmma , was then converted to ultrahigh viscosity pmma as it passed through the activation element ( where it was heated by application of radiofrequency ) immediately prior to entering the delivery cannula , thus providing a constant viscosity throughout the procedure . the ultrahigh viscosity pmma was delivered at a continuous rate of 1.3 cc / min using a remotely controlled automated hydraulic delivery system . intermittently during pmma delivery , intravertebral filling was fluoroscopically monitored and terminated when the treating physician deemed that there was a risk of extravasation or that the fill was adequate ( figure 2(d ) ) . in cases where cement delivery was halted due to risk of extravasation but prior to optimal filling , the long working time allowed for cement delivery to be reinitiated after cement in the areas of potential extravasation had set . the remote control cement delivery feature of this device allows the physician user to perform the procedure at a safe distance from the fluoroscopic unit ( > 10 feet ) , providing a marked reduction in operator radiation exposure . final imaging was then obtained to confirm alignment and fill ( figures 2(e ) and 2(f ) ) . back pain severity was assessed at discharge and at 1 week , 1 month , and 3 months posttreatment . use of pain medications was reported according to the world health organization three - step analgesic pain ladder , a semiquantitative scale used to describe use of pain management drugs . current pain medication use is defined as 0 for no current pain medication use , 1 for current use of nonopioid pain medication ( e.g. , paracetamol ) , 2 for current use of weak opioid pain medication ( e.g. , codeine ) , and 3 for current use of strong opioid pain medication ( e.g. , morphine ) . adverse events were collected throughout the study and were defined as any reported complication , regardless of the relationship with the procedure or device . data were analyzed using predictive analytics software ( v. 18 , spss , inc . , all continuous data were verified to be normally distributed using the shapiro - wilk test . continuous data were reported as mean 95% confidence interval ( ci ) using exact methods , and categorical data were reported as frequencies and percentages . longitudinal changes in back pain severity and odi values were assessed with repeated measures analysis of variance . clinical success was defined as an improvement of 30% compared to pretreatment values for back pain severity and odi , respectively [ 12 , 13 ] . patients had severe back pain ( 7.9 , 95% ci : 7.1 to 8.6 ) and dysfunction ( odi : 74% , 95% ci : 69% to 79% ) at pretreatment . most patients also presented with associated diseases , most commonly hypertension ( n = 14 ) , coronary artery diseases ( n = 8) , and diabetes mellitus ( n = 5 ) ( table 1 ) . three patients were unable to receive treatment due to difficulty with placing a cannula in patients with a high body mass index . ultimately , 20 patients underwent treatment with the rf - tva system between june 2009 and february 2011 . the procedures were performed with deep sedation and local anesthetic in 19 of 20 cases . mean procedure time was 19 ( 95% ci : 14 to 23 ) minutes with average cement volume delivery of 4.0 ( 95% ci : 3.3 to 4.7 ) cc . hospital stay following the rf - tva procedure was minimal , with same day discharge in 70% of patients and next day discharge in 30% of patients . back pain severity rapidly improved from 7.9 ( 95% : 7.1 to 8.6 ) at pretreatment to 4.4 ( 95% ci : 3.1 to 5.6 ) at hospital discharge . over 3-month follow - up , back pain continued to improve with mean scores of 2.7 ( 95% ci : 1.5 to 4.0 ) at 3 months , representing a 66% ( p < 0.001 ) overall improvement ( figure 3 ) . back function similarly improved from 74% ( 95% ci : 69% to 79% ) at pretreatment to 60% ( 95% ci : 54% to 66% ) at 1 week and 40% ( 95% ci : 33% to 47% ) at 3 months , representing a 46% ( p < 0.001 ) overall improvement ( figure 4 ) . clinical success rates were 84% for back pain severity and 79% for odi at 3-month follow - up . patients were able to wean off pain medications over the 3-month follow - up period . at pretreatment , 70% of patients were routinely consuming pain medications , including 60% who regularly consumed opioids . at 3 months , only 21% of patients were regularly consuming pain medication with 16% consuming opioids ( table 2 ) . no adverse events related to the device or procedure were reported during the study ( 0 of 20 patients ) . one patient died from causes unrelated to the procedure before the 3-month follow - up visit . the rf - tva system is a novel , safe technique for percutaneous vertebral augmentation in osteoporotic patients with symptomatic vcfs . our early experience with this device demonstrates significant improvements in back pain severity and back function and reduced pain medication use with no observed complications . the results of this study are consistent with outcomes observed in an ex vivo biomechanical study of the rf - tva system . this study reported that rf - tva produced more discrete cavities and less native trabecular destruction compared to marked trabecular destruction observed with bk . additionally , rf - tva consistently showed a well - identified focal area of pmma with an extensive peripheral zone of pmma interdigitation , providing mechanical interlock into the adjacent intact trabecular matrix . additionally , several retrospective studies of rf - tva for treatment of vcfs have demonstrated consistent improvements in back pain severity and odi and no procedural complications [ 1517 ] . the results of these studies and of the current prospective study provide increasing evidence that treatment with rf - tva is optimized by the targeted delivery and interdigitation of ultrahigh viscosity rf - heated cement into the remaining trabeculae . in vertebral augmentation procedures , pmma cement may leak laterally to the soft tissues , superiorly or inferiorly into the adjacent disc space , or posteriorly , where it may involve the exiting nerve root or the spinal canal . the rf - tva system utilizes a fill control mechanism to ensure a controlled , constant rate of bone cement delivery , which encourages pmma interdigitation and may enhance fracture stability . additionally , the midline osteotome allows unipedicular access to the vertebra , enables targeted site- and size - specific cavity creation across the vertebral midline , and spares cancellous bone , thereby creating preferential pathways for the high - viscosity bone cement . our first experience in 20 patients performing the rf - tva procedure yielded no cement extravasation . these results compare favorably to cement leakage rates of 7% to 72% reported with kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty [ 1923 ] . the ultrahigh viscosity pmma also allows for an extended working time , which is particularly advantageous in patients with multiple levels requiring treatment or in vertebrae at risk of extravasation . the ability to discontinue cement delivery for extended periods of time ( due to the long working time cement and rf activation immediately prior to delivery ) , while that cement in the patient hardens serving as a barrier , enables more complete augmentation with decreased potential for extravasation . minimizing physician exposure to radiation during minimally invasive procedures for treatment of vcfs remains a concern . although the use of methods such as shielding and intermittent fluoroscopy has dramatically reduced physician users exposure to radiation during traditional vertebral augmentation procedures [ 24 , 25 ] , whole body radiation exposure rates of 0.31.1 microsieverts per minute during device positioning and 0.22.9 microsieverts during cement injection have been reported . for reference , a mammogram exposes a patient to a whole body radiation dose of 0.4 microsieverts . the use of a hand switch to remotely control cement delivery in stabilit system allows the operator to remain as far as 20 feet from the radiation source versus 0 to 2 feet for competitive devices [ 27 , 28 ] , thereby exponentially reducing user radiation exposure . this is a significant advantage to physicians who perform a high volume of vertebral augmentation cases . strengths of this study included the prospective design , use of validated measures of patient - reported outcomes , and strict inclusion / exclusion criteria . limitations of this study include lack of a control group , inclusion of only single - level fracture cases , and a relatively short follow - up period . the results from our initial clinical experience showed that rf - tva dramatically reduces back pain severity , improves back function , and reduces pain medication requirements with no observed complications in patients with osteoporotic vcf . overall , the initial clinical results of this prospective trial are promising and warrant further study in larger series with longer follow - up periods .

vertebral augmentation procedures are widely used to treat osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures ( vcfs ) . we report our initial experience with radiofrequency - targeted vertebral augmentation ( rf - tva ) in 20 patients aged 50 to 90 years with single - level , symptomatic osteoporotic vcf between t10 and l5 , back pain severity > 4 on a 0 to 10 scale , oswestry disability index 21% , 20% to 90% vertebral height loss compared to adjacent vertebral body , and fracture age < 6 months . after treatment , patients were followed through hospital discharge and returned for visits after 1 week , 1 month , and 3 months . back pain severity improved 66% ( p < 0.001 ) , from 7.9 ( 95% ci : 7.1 to 8.6 ) at pretreatment to 2.7 ( 95% ci : 1.5 to 4.0 ) at 3 months . back function improved 46% ( p < 0.001 ) , from 74 ( 95% ci : 69% to 79% ) at pretreatment to 40 ( 95% ci : 33% to 47% ) at 3 months . the percentage of patients regularly consuming pain medication was 70% at pretreatment and only 21% at 3 months . no adverse events related to the device or procedure were reported . rf - tva reduces back pain severity , improves back function , and reduces pain medication requirements with no observed complications in patients with osteoporotic vcf .

peripheral nerves which connect the brain and spinal cord to the body , if injured can lead to neuropathic pain , a chronic debilitating condition manifested as allodynia and hyperalgesia ( brookoff , 2000 ) . it is a common clinical problem associated with 87% of traumatic conditions and 12% owing to surgeries . peripheral nerve lesions occur approximately in 2.8% of multiple trauma patients , or 5% root and plexus injured patients ( hulsebosch et al . , 2009 ) . clinical symptoms are characterized by abnormalities in the pain sensation which may be sensations like shooting pain , burning , tingling , numbness , allodynia and hyperalgesia ( baron et al . , 2010 ) . peripheral nerve injury results in orchestrated changes similar to the wallerian degeneration leading to structural and functional alterations which affect the whole peripheral nervous system including peripheral nerve endings , afferent fibers , dorsal root ganglion ( drg ) and also central afferent terminals in the spinal cord ( austin et al . , the changes include cell body swelling , loss of nissl bodies , and displacement of the nucleus from the center of the neuron to a position near the cell membrane . after peripheral nerve injury , the nerve derangement , axon degeneration , endoneurial edema and massive demyelination were observed in peripheral nerves whereas there was axon degeneration , swelling and immune cell infiltration in drg and dorsal horns of lumbar spinal cord ( zochodne , 2012 ) . aftermath of nerve injury includes functional and behavioural deficits which pose challenges for the identification of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of neuropathic pain . unfortunately , despite several years of research experience in repair of peripheral nerve , functional recovery after the injury is disappointing . the available drugs provide symptomatic relief from neuropathic pain and suffer from several limitations like resistance ( opioids ) , dose - limiting side effects ( antidepressants and anticonvulsants ) and no uniform success ( nickel et al . , 2012 ) . therefore , understanding the exact pathomechanism is necessary for finding better treatment options as well as the development of novel pharmacological interventions . the next question was to select a suitable experimental model which can be as close as possible to human pathophysiology of trauma / injury induced neuropathy and neuropathic pain . the animal model of chronic constriction injury ( cci ) of the sciatic nerve was preferred , as it is one of the most commonly used peripheral neuropathic pain models which is a reliable and easily reproducible model ( bennett and xie , 1988 ; austin et al . , 2012 ) . the constriction of the sciatic nerve by placing 4 loose ligatures around the sciatic nerve proximal to the trifurcation is associated with an epineural inflammatory lesion , intraneural edema , focal ischemia and wallerian degeneration . the behavioral signs of spontaneous pain , excessive guarding and licking , limping off the ipsilateral hind paw and avoidance of placing weight on the injured paw have been reported ( wang and wang , 2003 ) . various other behavioral changes like mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia , chemical cold allodynia have been noted to develop within a week with maximal pain - related behaviors and postural asymmetries during the second week of post - surgery . the pathological alterations in both myelinated and non - myelinated neurons may be responsible for this decrease in nerve conduction velocities ( gabay and tal , 2004 ) . partial damage to the nerve leads to sensitization of both a and c fibers and thus plays a major role in initiating and maintenance of pain behavior . hence , it produces unilateral peripheral mononeuropathy and it has been observed that symptoms in this rat model match to causalgia or complex regional pain syndrome is seen in patients suffering from trauma - induced neuropathic pain ( campbell and meyer , 2006 ) . therefore , evaluating the therapeutic potential of pharmacological interventions in the animal model of cci can be correlated to the clinical trauma - induced neuropathy and neuropathic pain . then we took an overview of all the known mechanisms reported for contributing to the genesis of neuropathy associated changes . pathogenesis of nerve injury involves peripheral and central sensitization in which oxidative / nitrosative stress play a major role . prominently the role of various transcription pathways like nuclear factor-b ( nf-b ) , p38 mitogen - activated protein ( map ) kinase ( mapk ) , jun amino - terminal kinases ( jnk ) , wnt/-catenin has been well studied and reported ( hulsebosch et al . , 2009 ) . under such extreme stress conditions , hydroxyl radicals , superoxide and nitric oxide are produced in the cytoplasm by various enzymatic reactions , which are activated by increased intracellular calcium ( areti et al . , 2014 ) . oxidative modification of neuronal biomolecules leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and drives the cell towards apoptosis ( ott et al . , 2007 ) . superoxide and nitric oxide can readily convert to a highly reactive and toxic peroxynitrite that attacks nucleic acids . peroxynitrite , a strong oxidizing and nitrating agent attacks various biomolecules like proteins , enzymes and nucleic acids etc . and results in their malfunctioning ( sandireddy et al . , 2014 ) . nitrite species generally attack the proteins and render them nonfunctional due to various modifications including nitrosylation . especially , peroxynitrite radicals attack mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and cause its inactivation ( macmillan - crow et al . , 1998 ) . it also alters the glutamatergic transmission and inactivates glutamine transferase which helps in the synthesis of endogenous antioxidant , glutathione ( little et al . , 2012 ) . this results in loss of antioxidant defenses and alters the neurotransmission which aggravates the vicious cycle of oxidative / nitrosative stress and loss of nerve functionality . in addition to protein nitrosylation , peroxynitrite also attacks dna and can possibly amplify poly(adp - ribose ) polymerase ( parp ) overactivation ( moylan et al . , 2014 ) . parp is a ubiquitous enzyme linked to dna repair and associated with cellular functions such as preservation of genomic stability and cell death ( jagtap and szabo , 2005 ) . but oxidative dna damage overactivated parp which rapidly depletes the cellular nad and atp leading to the bioenergetic crisis . parp acts on mitochondria and initiates cell death process through mitochondrial depolarization / membrane permeability transition ( mpt ) and release of cytochrome c ( cyt c ) , apoptosis - inducing factor ( aif)/endonuclease g into the cytosol . parp activation also leads to transport and binding of poly ( adp ) ribosyl ( par ) units to mitochondrial membranes thereby catalyzes mitochondrial mpt and initiates apoptotic cell death ( galluzzi et al . , 2011 ) . the cellular dysfunction is further enhanced by the activation of pro - inflammatory gene expression by parp , through the promotion of map kinase , nf-b and activator protein-1 ( ap-1 ) activation . the parp overactivation especially in neuronal tissues results in an increased expression of ap-1 and nf-b dependent genes such as inducible nitric oxide synthase ( inos ) , intracellular adhesion molecule-1 ( icam-1 ) , monocyte chemotactic protein-1 ( mcp-1 ) , complement proteins ( c3 ) , cyclooxygenase -2 ( cox-2 ) and proinflammatory cytokines ( such as il-1 , tnf- ) ( de la lastra et al . , 2007 ) . activation of transcription factor nf-b induces inflammatory process through pro - inflammatory cytokines plays a critical role in the maintenance of persistent pain . cox-2 enhances the synthesis of prostaglandins and sensitize the nociceptors whereas tnf- and il-6 modulate excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission , respectively in spinal dorsal horn causing hyperalgesia and allodynia ( komirishetty et al . , 2016b ) . hence , parp overactivation causes energy depletion , mitochondrial dysfunction through excess ribosylation of proteins and neuroinflammation , thus aggravates the cycle of nerve damage ( tentori et al . , 2002 ) . this consequently forces the cell to undergo death because of bioenergetic crisis & neuronal dysfunction . parp overactivation is associated with several nervous system disorders like neurodegenerative diseases , ischemia - reperfusion and traumatic injury ( jagtap and szabo , 2005 ) . there has been substantial research on the role of peroxynitrite , overactivation of parp and inflammatory mediators in the progression of different types of neuropathies and neuropathic pain ( ilnytska et al . , 2006 ) . mounting evidence indicates that targeting parp overactivation could counteract the pathogenic effects against diabetic and chemotherapy induced neuropathies and interestingly parp inhibitors also provide neuroprotection from the unanticipated pathomechanisms in neuropathy conditions ( obrosova et al . , 2005 ) . but the role of parp overactivation and related neuroinflammation has not been clearly explored for their involvement in the peripheral nerve injury - induced neuropathy . hence , we have explored the role of oxidative / nitrosative stress and parp overactivation in the animal model of cci - induced neuropathic pain . cci produced significant rise in the levels of oxidative stress markers like nitrites and malondialdehyde ( mda ) , an indicative of nitro - oxidative stress in the tissues of the sciatic nerve and spinal cord ( komirishetty et al . the extreme nitrosative stress can be explained by the expression of nitrotyrosine positive cells in both the tissues . parp overactivation showed the mitochondrial dysfunction through the loss of membrane potential and electron transport chain inactivation in the sciatic nerve ( komirishetty et al . , 2016c ) . oxidant - induced dna damage and parp - induced neuronal apoptosis were prominently observed in three types of neuronal tissues i.e. , ipsilateral sciatic nerve , l46 drg and lumbar spinal cord through tunel positive cells ( komirishetty et al . increased par immunoreactivity in sciatic nerve and lumbar spinal cord sections indicated the oxidative / nitrosative stress induced parp overactivation . it also led to nad and atp depletion driving the cell towards bioenergetic crisis induced cell death . hence , parp overactivation after peripheral nerve injury has been demonstrated to switch cell death pathways from the well - controlled and highly regulated apoptosis to the more inflammatory necrosis in the event of high levels of reactive oxygen species . it also serves as a co - factor for nf-b thus its activation elevates the expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines tnf- , il-6 , inos , cox-2 in the peripheral nerve tissues ( kumar et al . , 2011 , 2012 ) . therefore , parp - induced neuroinflammation aggravates the neurodegeneration process and challenges for the cell survival after the peripheral injury . cci - induced alterations in the expression levels of oxidative / nitrosative stress markers and inflammatory markers can modulate excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in spinal dorsal horn which can be correlated to the observed hyperalgesia and allodynia ( komirishetty et al . , 2016a , b ) . functional and behavioural deficits after the nerve injury can be explained through the parp - induced bioenergetic failure and neuronal dysfunction . parp inhibition ameliorates par accumulation in neuronal vasculature and axons , thus restores normal neuronal functions like conduction velocities and nerve blood flow ( obrosova et al . , 2004 ) . sciatic functional evaluation is important to know the extent of myelin degradation and nerve injury ( jessen and mirsky , 2008 ) . a significant sciatic functional loss and cci of sciatic nerve induced morphological & structural changes like axon degeneration , ganglia nucleolar , nuclear and somatic size reduction with nucleolar segregation induced by damage to cell bodies in dorsal root ganglia , peripheral sensory and motor neurons makes them more susceptible to oxidant - induced nervous damage ( komirishetty et al . , 2016b ) . the recent findings also suggest the nitro - oxidative stress and parp overactivation is bidirectional rather than unidirectional ( obrosova et al . , 2005 ) . hence , parp overactivation after the nerve injury feed forwards the neurodegenerative mechanisms leading to the functional , behavioural and biochemical deficits ( figure 1 ) . identifying the pathological role of parp overactivation in trauma - induced neuropathy , our research group evaluated the neuroprotective potential of parp inhibitors like morin hydrate , 3-aminobenzamide ( 3-ab ) , 1,5-isoquinolinediol ( iso ) and 4-amino 1,8-napthalimide ( 4-ani ) in the cci model of neuropathic pain . interestingly , administration of parp inhibitors for 14 days in rats recovered the sciatic functional index , foot posture . they also attenuated the cci - induced behavioral changes including thermal hyperalgesia , cold allodynia , dynamic mechanical allodynia , mechanical hyperalgesia , mechanical allodynia and spontaneous pain . improved functional and behavioural deficits with the treatment indicate the therapeutic potential of parp inhibitors against sciatic nerve constriction induced axon degeneration , demyelination and disturbed sensory motor inputs . our studies also demonstrated that treatment with parp inhibitors attenuated the cci - induced bioenergetic crisis , neuronal apoptosis , cellular dysfunction and neuroinflammation through improved nad & atp levels , reduced tunel positive cells , par immunoreactivity and nf-b activation respectively in the sciatic nerve and lumbar spinal cord after the nerve injury ( komirishetty et al . schematic representation of the role of oxidative / nitrosative stress & parp overactivation and therapeutic potential of parp inhibitors in cci - induced peripheral neuropathy . atp : adenosine triphosphate ; cci : chronic constriction injury ; gsh : glutathione ; il-6 : interleukin 6 ; inos : inducible nitric oxide synthase ; mda : malondialdehyde ; nad : nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ; nf-b : nuclear factor-b ; no : nitric oxide ; parp : poly ( adp - ribose ) polymerase ; sod : superoxidase dismutase ; tnf- : tumor necrosis factor . in summary , our studies demonstrated the role of nitro - oxidative stress and parp overactivation in an experimental model of trauma - induced neuropathic pain . parp inhibitors mitigated the neuroinflammation and nitro - oxidative stress induced functional , behavioural and biochemical deficits , thus showed protection against parp - overactivation induced neuronal damage in an experimental model of trauma - induced neuropathy . hence , it can be speculated that parp inhibitors may facilitate promising therapeutic benefits in the treatment of peripheral nerve injury - induced neuropathic pain .

neuropathic pain is triggered by the lesions to peripheral nerves which alter their structure and function . neuroprotective approaches that limit the pathological changes and improve the behavioral outcome have been well explained in different experimental models of neuropathy but translation of such strategies to clinics has been disappointing . experimental evidences revealed the role of free radicals , especially peroxynitrite after the nerve injury . they provoke oxidative dna damage and consequent over - activation of the poly(adp - ribose ) polymerase ( parp ) upregulates pro - inflammatory pathways , causing bioenergetic crisis and neuronal death . along with these changes , it causes mitochondrial dysfunction leading to neuronal apoptosis . in related preclinical studies agents that neutralize the free radicals and pharmacological inhibitors of parp have shown benefits in treating experimental neuropathy . this article reviews the involvement of parp over - activation in trauma induced neuropathy and therapeutic significance of parp inhibitors in the experimental neuropathy and neuropathic pain .

Truth rating: 0 By Daniel Gates “Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have spent just over £500,000 on four gold-plated toilets,” claims The Sun. That’s roughly $765,000. Um… what?! The Sun says that the couple’s new mansion in Bel Air will be outfitted with insanely expensive furnishings including “six special-edition beds” costing $175,000 apiece and a “Swarovski-encrusted fridge freezer.” If those expenditures seem outrageous even given the couple’s wealth, that’s because The Sun pulled the numbers from… well, let’s just say a place intimately familiar with toilets. The story is “not true,” a source assures Gossip Cop. Given The Sun’s recent bogus report about a West-Kardashian engagement, and previous missteps with the couple, we’re not surprised. Consider this story flushed. Follow @GossipCop on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!

– The Kimye camp is denying this, but it seems totally within the realm of possibility: The Sun reports that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West recently shelled out more than $764,000 for four toilets (which are, obviously, gold-plated) for their new Bel Air mansion. A source explains, "They expect the interior to cost twice as much as the property. They’re spending more than a million on a security system alone." The source adds that they've also spent the same amount on kitchen gear (including a Swarovski crystal-studded freezer) as they did on the toilets, plus more than $174,00 each on six swanky special-edition beds. Of course, a source (who, we assume, is friends with Kim or Kanye) insists to Gossip Cop that the story isn't true, but we give you permission to choose to believe it anyway.

March 31, 2013 11:50 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – New Yorkers and visitors from around the world descended on St. Patrick’s Cathedral on this Easter Sunday. It was standing-room only inside St. Pat’s as Cardinal Timothy Dolan delivered his Easter Mass. As CBS 2’s Steve Langford and 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck reported, Dolan compared Jesus Christ’s resurrection to the rebirth of the Catholic church under a new pope. “The Church, with a capital C, is undergoing renewal, repair, resurrection. I kind of think we’re seeing it today in a particularly fresh and new way with our beloved new Holy Father,” said Dolan. play pause Packed Crowd Fills St. Pat's For Easter Mass 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck Reports There was also vintage Dolan, cracking jokes about the size of the crowd on hand, Schuck reported. “Boy oh boy, we’ve got people back there and…the ushers know that to get the collection basket back there, don’t they, monsignor?” said Dolan. Hundreds got to the famous cathedral early on Sunday. One woman said she drove up last night from Pennsylvania to celebrate the day in New York. “We think it’s one of the most holy days that we can celebrate and it’s a family tradition for us since we were children to attend Easter services and that’s why we’re here,” the woman told Schuck. Steve and Susan Turner from Toronto said they got up before dawn to make sure they got a seat inside St. Pat’s. play pause Christians Around The World Celebrate Easter WCBS 880's Monica Miller Reports “Catholic guilt would get the best of us if we weren’t at Mass on Easter Sunday,” Susan Turner told WCBS 880’s Monica Miller. Turner said this is one of the most important and holiest days of the year for her. “Spring renewal, starting fresh,” she said. Before Mass, a group of some 85 high school students from Grand Haven High in Michigan stood together on the steps at St. Pat’s at sunrise to offer their prayer in song. play pause New Yorkers Put On Their Easter Best For Annual Parade 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck Reports Meanwhile, some New York Metro area churches took a high-tech approach to sharing their Easter celebrations. Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue held a live-streaming Webcast of its services, as it does every weekend. Marble Collegiate is the oldest Protestant organization in North America. The historic Trinity Church on Wall Street also put its Easter services online. Trinity was founded in 1697. And outside St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral on the East Side, there was an annual “release of the doves” ceremony to symbolize love and peace. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released an Easter message on this holy day. “Today, New Yorkers across the state will gather with family and friends to celebrate Easter. For New Yorkers of Christian faith, this is a day of reflection as well as an occasion to celebrate rebirth and new opportunities. As we work towards a stronger and more just New York, let us come together in that spirit, so that all can look forward to a brighter future here in the Empire State. To all the New Yorkers celebrating this special Sunday, I offer my sincerest blessings and wish you a happy and warm Easter,” the statement read. Pope Francis Delivers First Easter Homily This was also Pope Francis’ first Easter Mass as pontiff. Francis delivered a plea for peace in his first Easter Sunday message to the world, decrying the seemingly endless conflicts in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula after celebrating Mass along with more than 250,000 faithful. After the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Francis shared in the crowd’s exuberance as they celebrated the belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead following crucifixion. Aboard an open-topped popemobile, Francis took a lighthearted spin through the joyous gatherers, kissing babies and patting children on the head. One admirer of the pope and the pope’s favorite soccer team, Argentina’s Saints of San Lorenzo, insisted that Francis take a team jersey he was waving at the pontiff. A delighted Francis obliged, briefly holding up the shirt. Since the start of his papacy on March 13, Francis has repeatedly put his concern for the poor and suffering at the center of his messages, and the Easter speech he delivered from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica reflected his push for peace and social justice. He said he wished a “Happy Easter” greeting could reach “every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.” Francis prayed that Christ would help people “change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.” As popes before him have, he urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks and end a conflict that “has lasted all too long.” And, in reflecting on the two-year-old Syrian crisis, Francis asked, “How much suffering must there still be before a political solution” can be found? The pope also expressed desire for a “spirit of reconciliation” on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea says it has entered “a state of war” with South Korea. He also decried warfare and terrorism in Africa, as well as what he called the 21st century’s most extensive form of slavery: human trafficking. Francis, the first pope from Latin America and a member of the Jesuit order, lamented that the world is “still divided by greed looking for easy gain.” He wished for an end to violence linked to drug trafficking and the dangers stemming from the reckless exploitation of natural resources. Earlier, wearing cream-colored vestments, Francis celebrated Mass on the esplanade in front of the basilica at an altar set up under a white canopy. The sun competed with clouds in the sky Sunday, but the square was a riot of floral color in Rome, where chilly winter has postponed the blossoming of many flowers. Yellow forsythia and white lilies shone, along with bursts of lavender and pink, from potted azalea, rhododendron, wisteria and other plants. Francis thanked florists from the Netherlands for donating the flowers. He also advised people to let love transform their lives, or as he put it, “let those desert places in our hearts bloom.” The Vatican had prepared a list of brief, Easter greetings in 65 languages, but Francis didn’t read them. The Vatican didn’t say why not, but has said that the new pope, at least for now, feels at ease using Italian, the everyday language of the Holy See. Francis also has stressed his role as a pastor to his flock, and, as Bishop of Rome, Italian would be his language. Many Americans said Francis needs to address the priest sex abuse crisis, and restore the church’s credibility in the United States. “I would definitely like to see him tackling that as one of his top priorities,” said Demarie Constable of Las Vegas. In a pre-taped interview with CBS News’ Bob Schieffer for “Face The Nation,” Cardinal Dolan reflected on the meaning of the day and the new pope. Dolan said he’s hopeful Francis will help restore people’s faith in the church. “More and more people are saying, ‘you know what, I don’t have trouble with God. I don’t have trouble with Jesus. I don’t have trouble with faith. I do have some troubles with the church.’ That’s a major challenge, not only for us as Catholics but for the other revealed religions,” Dolan told “Face The Nation.” Dolan also discussed the papal conclave, the voting process and what it means to so many to have an Argentinian pope. “I can’t go anywhere in New York City where I’ve got people from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, who are coming up in tears saying, ‘we have a Latin American Pope.’ It’s a real shot in the arm for us as Catholics,” said Dolan. “That is one of the most exciting events in my whole life and I think it’s going to take me a long time to work through it and to process it. It was a combination of nervousness, intimidation, awe, a real genuine experience of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and at the end, a sense of resolution, peace and excitement.” (TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) ||||| Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged on Sunday that there was still much to do to make the church welcoming to gay and lesbian Catholics. "We gotta do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit, we haven't been too good at that. We try our darndest to make sure we're not an anti-anybody," he said in an interview to be aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week.". But the archbishop of New York said he wasn't sure how that outreach might work. "I don't know. We're still trying. We're trying our best to do it. We got to listen to people," he said. "Jesus died on the cross for them as much as he did for me." But Dolan, who recently participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, reiterated his position that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman. "Sexual love... is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally," he said. Still, Dolan acknowledged, "Sometimes we're not as successful or as effective as we can be in translating that warm embrace into also teaching what God has told us about the way He wants us to live." Read more about: Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Marriage, Timothy Dolan, Jesus ||||| "The Catholic Church welcomes everyone," Cardinal Donald Wuerl said when pressed on gay marriage on "Fox News Sunday." Wuerl said the church is accepting of and provides counsel to all its members, it would be unable to recognize same-sex marriage. "You're not supposed to be following a moral law apart from what Christ has said to us," he said. Host Chris Wallace brought up same-sex marriage by asking the cardinal how he would address a "good, gay Catholic" who is committed to the church but openly gay. And Wuerl pledged to "walk with" all members of the church. Wuerl defended the church from charges of bigotry, saying that it could not accept men and women getting re-married in the same way it could not accept gay marriage. Read more about: Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace, Gay Marriage, Donald Wuerl

– As Pope Francis celebrated his first Easter today, Cardinal Timothy Dolan was singing his praises on ABC's This Week, calling the new pope "a real shot in the arm for us as Catholics"—and calling for a more inclusive approach toward gay Catholics. "The first thing I'd say to them is, 'I love you, too,'" he said. "And God loves you. And we want your happiness." Of the church's outreach, Dolan admits "we haven't been too good at that. We gotta do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people." But Dolan was firm on gay marriage, notes Politico: "Sexual love is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally." Cardinal Donald Wuerl was also pressed on the matter, saying that while "the Catholic Church welcomes everyone" and that he personally would "walk with" all the church's members, "you're not supposed to be following a moral law apart from what Christ has said to us."

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Aug. 29. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Melania's stiletto sideshow As the first lady departed to see storm fallout in Texas, Twitter erupted with critiques of her shoe choice. Melania Trump, the former model and reluctant first lady, often lets her fashion choices do the talking for her. Since her belated move into the White House in June, Melania Trump hasn’t yet announced an issue, or even an area of interest, for which she plans to advocate from her powerful platform. She has made few public speeches or statements, beyond introductions at campaign rallies she attends with her husband. But she’s dutifully stepped into the silent role of enhancing her husband by appearing impeccably and appropriately dressed by his side. Story Continued Below “Classy and conservative,” were the reviews from the local Saudi Arabian press after the first lady landed in Riyadh last spring dressed in a black, belted jumpsuit. The deep red Christian Dior “bar suit” she wore to visit Paris for Bastille Day in July was deemed to be a culturally appropriate choice highlighting an icon of French fashion. But on Tuesday, she appeared to put the wrong foot forward when she boarded Marine One, en route to visit emergency responders in hurricane-ravaged Texas, wearing towering black snakeskin stilettos. The emblematic first image of the first lady heading off to visit a hurricane in heels — a moment that the president has seized on as an opportunity to project strength and show off decisive leadership — instead became another symbol of a White House that can often seem out of touch. The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. Lisa Kline, who worked as a stylist to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during the 2008 election, said in an interview she thought “it was a mistake in the message it relays. A lot of eyes were on them. They’re going to a devastated area. She should be dressed accordingly.” The heels at least temporarily stole the spotlight from a gloomy president who aides said has been buoyed by what he sees, so far, as an effective coordinated response to a record-breaking storm. “Tan suit looks pretty good today, doesn’t it?” Valerie Jarrett, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted, referring to the Republican outcry over Obama’s summer look to discuss serious national security issues at a news conference in 2014. Former first lady Michelle Obama also created her own fashion scandal in 2009, when she wore a pair of $540 Lanvin sneakers to volunteer at a food bank in Washington. “Small gestures send big messages,” journalist Jamil Smith wrote on Twitter, regarding the first lady’s shoe choice. “It isn’t that they keep getting it wrong. They don’t care about getting it right.” On board Air Force One to Corpus Christi, as the picture of the delicate heels ricocheted across the Internet, Melania Trump changed into a pair of bright, white sneakers, which looked fresh out of the box. She wasn’t the only female member of the Trump delegation wearing footwear that raised eyebrows — two other women were spotted on Air Force One wearing pumps and suede heels. The debate over the first lady’s shoes wasn’t an isolated fashion faux pas for the women who act as the face of the Trump administration. A week after her father’s inauguration in January, Ivanka Trump posted a picture of herself wearing a $5,000 silver Carolina Herrera gown — the same night protests erupted at airports across the country over Trump’s executive order banning refugees from majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. People close to the first daughter said at the time she felt “terrible” about the dissonance between the image projected from her Kalorama mansion and the painful photographs of refugees being detained at international airports. But the picture still lives on her public Instagram account, where it has been applauded with more than 266,000 “likes.” Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, seemed to relish her distance from the average, middle-class American woman when she posted a Jackie O.-inspired snap of herself on Instagram, while accompanying her husband on a “day trip” to Kentucky earlier this month aboard a government plane. In the photo, Linton tagged all of the designer labels she was sporting, including her Hermes scarf and her Valentino rockstud heels. She then lashed out with snide vitriol at a mother of three from Oregon who expressed distaste at her public post. An apology came later, via a crisis-managing publicist, in which Linton called the post and her comments “highly insensitive.” There was no acknowledgment from the White House that the first lady’s storm attire was at all off-key. Instead, her staff blamed the media for creating a “sad” side circus to an otherwise somber day. “It’s sad that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas,” said Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the first lady, “and people are worried about her shoes.” Later Tuesday, the first lady’s office released a statement on the storm. “I want to be able to offer my help and support in the most productive way possible, not through just words, but also action,” the first lady said. “What I found to be the most profound during the visit was not only the strength and resilience of the people of Texas, but the compassion and sense of community that has taken over the state. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of Texas and Louisiana.” ||||| Vanessa Friedman ON THE RUNWAY When is a shoe not just a shoe? When it is a pair of very high, needle-thin heels worn by the first lady of the United States on her way to the site of a natural disaster. Then it becomes a symbol for what many see as the disconnect between the Trump administration and reality; another example of the way in which this president and his family continue to define “appropriate” their own way; and an excuse for partisan name-calling. Or so became apparent Tuesday morning when President Trump and his wife left the White House to fly to Texas for a briefing on the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, and Mrs. Trump appeared on the lawn in black pegged trousers, black shades, an olive green bomber jacket — and her stilettos, now a trademark. Very much the same kind of shoes, in other words, she has been wearing since long before she joined her husband on the campaign trail. Though by the time the plane had landed Mrs. Trump looked altogether more grounded, in white sneakers and crisp white shirt, with a ponytail pulled through a black baseball cap emblazoned with the word “FLOTUS,” during her time in the air the original shoes went from being mere footwear to objects of vilification thanks to social media’s specific kind of alchemy. Nothing says I'm in touch with the people like... https://t.co/ZD6cEfG0LS — Todd Stashwick (@ToddStashwick) August 29, 2017 In response to the critical reaction, Stephanie Grisham, Mrs. Trump’s communications director, emailed the following statement: “It’s sad that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas, and people are worried about her shoes.” The president and Mrs. Trump arriving in Corpus Christi, Tex., on Tuesday. Doug Mills / The New York Times That’s a fair point, to a certain extent. Certainly there was a backlash to the backlash, with Chelsea Handler, for example, being attacked in turn for her tweet attacking Mrs. Trump’s spikes. Not to mention some partisan crowing about the sneakers. Look at that - Melania in Jeans/Sneakers - Fake News Strikes Out again. Thank you POTUS & FLOTUS for showing support to the people of TX! pic.twitter.com/vqLw727ISy — DARSAVMO (@darsavmo) August 29, 2017 But to dismiss all this as merely much ado about heels, or an example of the pettiness of our divided electorate, is to ignore the reality of the current conversation around the president — to pretend not to notice how sensitized everyone has become to his unpredictable reactions to major events, and to deny the power of the telling detail to invite applause, condemnation or misinterpretation. It is precisely the superficial nature of clothing, the fact that garments are immediately accessible to all, that makes them the go-to stand-in for more nuanced, complicated emotions and issues. Mrs. Trump’s heels, after all — they appear to be classic Manolo Blahniks — are redolent of a certain clichéd kind of femininity: decorative, impractical, expensive, elitist (all adjectives often associated with the brand “Trump”). That they also are part of the identity the first lady brought to Washington — that her comfort level and ability to walk in exactly the kind of shoes that cause other women, wearing more solid shoes, to wince and crunch their toes in imaginary pain was part of her narrative and image from the start — does not obviate the fact that they have also come to represent her remove, for both good and ill. Women in the capital are generally more associated with sensible pumps than teetering patent leather numbers. This Mrs. Trump understands, which is why she changed into a more suitable costume (I use that word deliberately) for her arrival in Corpus Christi, Tex. The problem is that, as first lady, in an environment as fraught as the current one, there is no such thing as offstage. Even boarding a plane becomes a quasi-official moment in which all messaging, spoken or assumed, is mined for meaning. Mrs. Trump clearly knows this to a certain extent and has accepted it as an exigency of her job; how else to interpret the Dolce & Gabbana black lace coat and veil she wore to visit the pope on the president’s first foreign tour, or the classic red Dior suit she chose for her arrival in France for Bastille Day? Or the fact that, while hosting Akie Abe, the first lady of Japan, on Mrs. Abe’s visit to Mar-a-Lago, she wore flat sandals for their tour of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens? (When in Florida. ...) The sharp point of the stilettos is that this kind of proactive analysis needs to be applied as consistently as possible across all public appearances (which, when you are in the White House, is all appearances). In Mrs. Trump’s job, as in her husband’s, details matter. Even shoes. Put your best foot forward, and all that.

– When first lady Melania Trump set off for Texas on Wednesday with her husband to view the destruction of Harvey, she set off a mini furor on Twitter over her shoes. That's because the first lady was seen boarding a presidential helicopter wearing stilettos. The criticism came quickly, with a common refrain being that the first lady looked insensitive and out of touch. Then came the backlash, with defenders criticizing those critics for focusing on fashion choices in dire times. By the time the first lady landed in Texas, she had switched to sneakers. “It’s sad that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas, and people are worried about her shoes," said a spokeswoman for the first lady. As the Washington Post notes, one of the first lady's most surprising public defenders turned out to be Trevor Noah. "I don’t know why anyone should care what anyone wears when they’re on their way to help people,” he said on his show. "Who cares? Look at the pope, you see how he dresses? All white … he looks like he’s going to a P Diddy party. But we don’t say, hey he can’t go out helping people dressed like that." Another defender was none other than Kathy Griffin: "There are many reasons the Trump administration concerns me," she tweeted. "Melania Trump's shoes aren't one of them." But for every sentiment like those is one like this: "It was a mistake in the message it relays," a stylist who worked with Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign tells Politico. "She should be dressed accordingly." For the record, the shoes appeared to be "classic Manolo Blahniks," note the New York Times in its assessment of the brouhaha and the deeper meaning of the "telling detail."

SECTION 1. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) In the 1830s, members of the Cherokee Nation were removed from their lands in the southeastern United States and forced to migrate to Oklahoma along a route known as the Trail of Tears. Among those persons forced to migrate were the Black slaves of Cherokees, free Blacks married to Cherokees, and the children of mixed-race families, known now as the ``Black Cherokees''. (2) In 1861, the Cherokee Nation executed a treaty with the Confederate States of America, thereby severing its relations with the United States Government. Members of the Cherokee Nation held positions in the Congress and military of the Confederate States of America and waged war against the United States during the Civil War. (3) Following the Civil War, the United States reestablished relations with the Cherokee Nation through the Treaty of 1866. The Treaty of 1866 declared that the Black Cherokees, also known as ``Cherokee Freedmen'', were to be made citizens of the Cherokee Nation and to have all the rights of Cherokees. (4) The Treaty of 1866 further guarantees the following: (A) Laws ``shall be uniform throughout said nation'' and that if ``any law, either in its provisions or in the manner of its enforcement, in the opinion of the President of the United States, operate unjustly in [the Freedmen] district, he is hereby authorized and empowered to correct such evil.''. (B) The Cherokee Freedmen are given the right to elect officials and to representation ``according to numbers'' on the national council. (5) Following the Treaty of 1866, the Cherokee National Council amended its constitution to guarantee the Cherokee Freedmen full rights as citizens of the Cherokee Nation. (6) Also following the Treaty of 1866, the Courts upheld the Cherokee Freedmen's treaty rights, including-- (A) in 1895, the Court of Claims held that the Cherokee Freedmen were entitled to share in the tribe's land sale proceeds and the Cherokee Nation's sovereignty could not be exercised in a manner that breached the nation's treaty obligations to the United States (Whitmire, Trustee for the Cherokee Freedmen v. Cherokee Nation, 30 CT Cl. 138, 180 (CT Cl. 1895); and (B) in 1906, the Supreme Court noted that the Cherokee Freedmen are citizens of the Cherokee Nation entitled to the same property rights as other members of the Cherokee Nation under the Treaty of 1866 (Red Bird v. United States, 203 U.S. 76, 84). (7) In a December 19, 2006, ruling in Vann v. Kempthorne, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that in 1906, the Dawes Commission registered members of the Cherokee Nation under separate categories: the ``Freedmen Roll'' for the Black Cherokees and the ``Blood Roll'' for other Cherokees. Individuals possessing African blood were placed on the Freedmen Roll, where no levels of Indian blood were recorded. Those possessing no African blood were placed on the Blood Roll, where levels of Indian blood were recorded. The Dawes Commission declared that persons recorded on the Freedmen Roll were on equal footing with those on the Blood Roll. (8) In 1970, Congress passed the ``Principal Chiefs Act'' requiring the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee Nations to obtain approval for their voting laws for selection of the principal chief. The Department of the Interior drafted a policy stating that it was not necessary that each of these groups have identical or similar regulations, but that three conditions are deemed fundamental to the democratic selection of a principal tribal official. One of the three conditions stipulated by the Department is that voter qualifications of the Cherokees must be broad enough to include the enrolled Cherokee Freedmen citizens. (9) In May 2003, the Cherokee Nation held an election for its officers and ratification of a new constitution. The vote proposed to amend the 1999 constitution of the Cherokee Nation by removing the requirement that the United States Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs approve amendments to the Cherokee Nation Constitution. The Cherokee Freedmen were not permitted to vote or run for office. The election violated the Treaty of 1866, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Principal Chiefs Act of 1970, and the Department of the Interior's guidance on the ratification of a new constitution. (10) In May 2003, the Cherokee Nation held an election for its officers and the ratification of a new constitution. The new constitution removed the requirement that the United States Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs approve amendments to the Cherokee Nation constitution. The Cherokee Freedmen were not permitted to vote in this election. The election violated the Treaty of 1866, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the Principal Chiefs Act of 1970. (11) The Department of the Interior has not recognized the May 2003 vote to amend the Cherokee Nation's constitution. The Cherokee Nation has subsequently removed its request for approval from the Department of the Interior. (12) Currently, the Cherokee Nation operates under a Principal Chief elected in violation to the 1970 Principal Chiefs Act and Treaty of 1866, a National Council constituted without Cherokee Freedmen representatives in violation of the Treaty of 1866, and a Constitution not approved by the United States pursuant to Article XV, Section 10 of the 1975 Cherokee Nation Constitution. (13) In May 2003, the Cherokee Nation renamed its highest court, formerly named the Judicial Appeals Tribunal and newly renamed the Supreme Court, after the Judicial Appeals Tribunal ruled in a 2-1 decision that the Cherokee Freedmen were entitled to citizenship pursuant to the 1975 Cherokee Nation constitution. Pursuant to the new May 2003 constitution, which still has not been approved by the Department of the Interior, the illegally elected Principal Chief appointed two additional judges to the Supreme Court. The panel of five Supreme Court judges ruled in a 3-2 decision that the Cherokee Nation could hold a vote on the tribal status of the Cherokee Freedmen. (14) Operating under the unapproved Constitution, the Cherokee Nation held an election in March 2007, to remove the Cherokee Freedmen from the Cherokee Nation. In a vote of less than 4 percent of the total Cherokee Nation population, the voters elected to remove Cherokee Freedmen not on the Dawes blood rolls from the Nation. (15) In May 2007, the Cherokee Nation leadership determined that it would allow registered Freedmen to vote in the June 23, 2007 election for tribal officers. Despite the Cherokee Nation's decision to allow Freedmen to vote, Freedmen's rights as members of the Cherokee Nation are severely restricted: Freedmen are not allowed to run for office in the June 2007 election in violation of the Treaty of 1866; the registration of Freedmen entitled to Cherokee citizenship under the 1906 Dawes Rolls has been halted; and the election is to be held under provisions of an unapproved constitution and in violation of the 1970 Principal Chiefs Act that requires the Cherokee leadership to submit its voting requirements for the election to the Secretary of the Interior for his approval. Further, the actions of the Cherokee Nation in halting citizenship application processing and voter registration of Freedmen have disproportionately reduced the number of Freedmen voters that can participate in the election. (16) The manner in which the Cherokee Nation is conducting the relationship between the United States and the tribal entity is not in the best interest of the United States Government, citizens of the Cherokee Nation, and violates existing treaties and laws governing the relationship between the United States Government and the Cherokee Nation. (17) Current efforts of the Cherokee Nation to expel members of the Cherokee Freedmen from the tribal rolls and abolish Department of the Interior oversight are being pursued in violation of the treaty rights extended to the Cherokee Freedmen in a treaty agreement between the United States and Cherokee Nation in the 1866 Treaty and in violation of Freedmen citizenship under the federally approved Cherokee Nation constitution of 1975. (18) The Department of the Interior has failed to uphold its fiduciary responsibility by recognizing the May 2003 Cherokee Nation election for Principal Chief in which Freedmen were not allowed to vote in violation of the Principal Chiefs Act and the Treaty of 1866 and by failing to take any administrative action against the Cherokee Nation leadership for its decision to sanction a referendum in March 2007 in which the Freedmen were expelled from the Cherokee Nation. SEC. 2. SEVERANCE OF RELATIONS WITH THE CHEROKEE NATION. (a) In General.--The United States hereby severs all relations with the Cherokee Nation, including all financial obligations or otherwise, until such time as the Cherokee Nation is meeting all of its treaty obligations and other federal statutory obligations (including all obligations of the Treaty of 1866, the Principal Chiefs Act, holding elections for tribal leaders that are in compliance with the Act, and has restored the rights of all Cherokee Freedmen disenfranchised from the Cherokee Nation in the March 3, 2007, Cherokee Nation vote), as determined by a final certification under section 2(d). (b) Compliance With the Requirements of the Act.--The Secretary shall coordinate with all departments and agencies of the United States Government to ensure that every effort is being made by the United States Government to comply with this Act. (c) Reports.-- (1) Federal agencies.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and continuing annually until the final certification as determined under section 2(d), all departments and agencies under the jurisdiction of the United States Government shall submit a report to the Secretary describing-- (A) all Federal programs under their jurisdiction that provide financial assistance and other services to the Cherokee Nation; and (B) the efforts that are being undertaken comply with all requirements of this Act. (2) Status reports.--Until the Secretary certifies to Congress that the Cherokee Nation is in compliance with its treaty obligations, the Secretary shall submit monthly public reports to Congress on the status of the United States Government's efforts to ensure that all departments and agencies of the Federal Government are in compliance with the requirements of this Act. (3) Other freedman indians.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a public report to Congress on the status of freedmen in the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma. The report shall address whether each of those Indian tribes is complying with all treaty obligations and Federal laws with respect to its freedmen members, the level of participation of freedmen in tribal leadership positions, tribal benefits received by the freedmen, and previous or current efforts on the part of those Indian tribes to disenfranchise its freedmen members. (d) Congressional Certification.--After the Secretary has certified to Congress that the Cherokee Nation is in full compliance with all its treaty obligations and Congress approves the Secretary's certification by a vote taken on a resolution introduced in both chambers of Congress certifying that the Cherokee Nation is in full compliance with its treaty obligations, the final certification of the Cherokee Nation's treaty compliance shall take effect. SEC. 3. SUSPENSION OF RIGHT TO CONDUCT GAMING OPERATIONS. (a) In General.--The Cherokee Nation's authority to conduct gaming regulated under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and to administer any funds from such gaming are suspended until such time that the Cherokee Nation is in compliance with all treaty and other obligations with the United States, as determined by a final certification under section 2(d). (b) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the National Indian Gaming Commission shall submit a report to Congress detailing the actions that have been taken to enforce subsection (a). SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. (a) ``Cherokee''and ``Cherokee Nation''.--The terms ``Cherokee'' and ``Cherokee Nation'' mean the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. (b) ``Cherokee Freedmen'', ``Freedmen'', and ``Black Cherokees''.-- The terms ``Cherokee Freedmen'', ``Freedmen'', and ``Black Cherokees'' refer to individuals who can trace their ancestry to individuals listed on the 1906 Dawes Commission Roles for the Cherokee Freedmen. (c) ``Other Freedman Indians''.--The term ``Other Freedmen Indians'' refers to individuals who can trace their ancestry to the 1906 Dawes Commission Rolls who are members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations. (d) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 5. NONCOMPLIANCE. (a) Effective Date.--Notwithstanding any decision by Congress under section 2(d) of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall again take effect if at any future date the Secretary certifies to Congress that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is not in full compliance with its treaty obligations or Federal statutes that govern its relations with the United States Government. (b) Private Action.--Any Cherokee Freedmen shall have a private right to bring actions for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or monetary damages against the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, officials of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, or Federal officials for noncompliance with this Act or for violations of the terms of the Treaty of 1866, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, or the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. The appropriate Federal courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over actions brought under this subsection. SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. The Attorney General shall issue a finding on whether the Federal civil rights of the Cherokee Freedmen have been violated by either the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma or the Department of the Interior, or both. Individual Freedmen shall also have a private right of action to compel the Attorney General to investigate federal civil rights violations and provide a determination of whether a violation has occurred within 180 days of submitting a complaint describing the violation in writing. SEC. 7. GAO REPORT ON EXPENDITURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. The Government Accountability Office shall issue a public report to Congress detailing for each of the 5 years ending immediately before the report was completed the Cherokee Nation's expenditure of all Federal funds. The report shall include an analysis of Federal funds allocated by the Cherokee Nation's leadership for its member benefits and services and for administrative and other purposes. The report shall determine whether or not the Cherokee Nation is in full compliance with all Federal regulations and laws regarding the management and disbursement of Federal funds.

Severs the United States relations with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma until the Cherokee Nation is meeting all of its treaty obligations and other federal statutory obligations, including all obligations with the Treaty of 1866 and has restored the rights of Cherokee Freedmen disenfranchised from the Cherokee Nation in the March 3, 2007, Cherokee Nation vote to remove them from the Cherokee Nation. Requires a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Cherokee Nation's expenditure of federal funds, as well as other specified reports from federal agencies, the Secretary of the Interior, and the National Indian Gaming Commission. Suspends the Cherokee Nation's authority to conduct gaming operations until it is in compliance with all treaty and other obligations with the United States. Grants any Cherokee Freedman a private right to bring actions for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or monetary damages against the Cherokee Nation, officials of the Cherokee Nation, or federal officials. Directs the Attorney General to issue a finding on whether the federal civil rights of the Cherokee Freedmen have been violated by the Cherokee Nation and/or the Department of the Interior.

during recent years , the experimental observation of a large number of so - called @xmath9 states has inspired tremendous effort to unravel their nature beyond the conventional quark model @xcite . in @xmath10 , the belle collaboration first reported the observation of @xmath2 in the @xmath11 invariant mass spectrum of @xmath12 @xcite which was subsequently confirmed by the babar collaboration @xcite in the same channel . it was also discovered in proton - proton / antiproton collisions by the d0 @xcite , cdf @xcite , and lhcb collaborations @xcite . the @xmath2 is the first , and perhaps the most renowned exotic candidate ; however , its nature is still ambiguous due to its peculiar properties . first , only an upper bound of the total width has been measured experimentally : @xmath13 mev @xcite , which is tiny compared to typical hadronic widths . second , the mass is located close to the @xmath14 threshold , @xmath15 mev @xcite , which leads to speculation that the @xmath2 is presumably a meson - meson molecular state @xcite . many studies on the production and decay of the @xmath2 have been carried out in order to understand its nature . the discrimination of a compact multiquark configuration and a loosely bound hadronic molecule configuration is one important aspect . from this point , it is also valuable to look for the counterpart in the bottom sector , denoted as @xmath1 following the notation in ref . @xcite , as states related by heavy quark symmetry may have universal behaviors . since the @xmath1 is very heavy and its quantum numbers @xmath16 , it is less likely discovered at the current electron - positron collision facilities , though the super kekb may provide an opportunity in @xmath17 radiative decays @xcite . the production of @xmath1 at the lhc and the tevatron @xcite and other exotic states at hadron colliders @xcite have been extensively investigated . on one hand , it is shown that the production rates at the lhc and the tevatron are sizeable @xcite . on the other hand , the search for @xmath1 also depends on reconstructing the @xmath1 , which motivates us to study the @xmath1 decays . in ref . @xcite , we have studied the radiative decays of @xmath18 ( @xmath19 ) , with @xmath1 being a candidate for the meson - meson molecular state , and found that the partial widths into @xmath20 are about @xmath21 kev . since this meson is expected to be far below threshold and the mass difference between neutral and charged @xmath22 mesons is very small , the isospin - violating decay mode , for instance @xmath23 , is highly suppressed , and this may explain the escape of @xmath1 in the recent cms search @xcite . as a consequence , the isospin - conserved decays @xmath24 , on which we will focus this paper , will be of high priority . to calculate @xmath24 , we investigate the intermediate meson - loop ( iml ) contributions . as is well known , iml transitions have been one of the important nonperturbative transition mechanisms in many processes , and their impact on the heavy quarkonium transitions has been noticed for a long time @xcite . recently , this mechanism has been applied to study @xmath22 decays @xcite , the production and decays of exotic states @xcite and a global agreement with experimental data were obtained . thus , this may be an effective approach to deal with the @xmath1 hidden bottomonium decays . the rest of this paper is organized as follows . in sec . [ sec : formula ] , we introduce the formalism used in this work . numerical results are presented in sec . [ sec : results ] , and the summary is given in sec . [ sec : summary ] . with the @xmath25 as the intermediate states.,scaledwidth=70.0% ] a state of the heavy meson pair can be decomposed in terms of the total spin of the @xmath26 pair @xmath27 and the total angular momentum @xmath28 of the rest degrees of freedom , for which the latter includes both the total spin of the light quark pair @xmath29 and any orbital momentum @xcite . in the s - wave @xmath25 molecular picture of @xmath1 , the heavy quark spin structure is mandated to be @xmath30 @xcite . however , in the tetraquark picture of @xmath1 , the total spin @xmath27 can be either @xmath31 or @xmath21 . as a result , the dominant hidden bottomonium decay channel is @xmath32 in the molecule picture of @xmath1 , while the hidden bottomonium decay channels of @xmath1 can be those channels with @xmath33 or @xmath21 final bottomonium . from this point of view , it seems that a molecule @xmath1 may have a bigger branching ratio of @xmath34 than a tetraquark @xmath1 . generally speaking , we should include all the possible intermediate meson loops in the calculation . in reality , the breakdown of the local quark - hadron duality allows us to pick up the leading contributions as a reasonable approximation @xcite . since we consider the isoscalar @xmath1 as an @xmath35-wave molecular state with @xmath36 given by the superposition of @xmath37 and @xmath38 hadronic configurations as @xmath39 meson loops here . the coupling of @xmath1 to the bottomed meson pair is based on the following effective lagrangian , @xmath40 + h.c.,\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath41 denotes the coupling constant . for the @xmath1 below the @xmath35-wave @xmath42 threshold , the effective coupling of this state is related to the probability of finding the two - hadron component in the physical wave function of the bound states and the binding energy , @xmath43 @xcite @xmath44 where @xmath45 , @xmath46 is the reduced mass . here , the coupling constant @xmath41 in eq . ( [ eq : coupling - xb ] ) is based on the assumption that @xmath1 is a shallow bound state where the potential binding the mesons is mostly contact range . based on the heavy quark symmetry , the leading - order effective lagrangian for the @xmath47 can be expressed as @xcite @xmath48 where @xmath49 and @xmath50 correspond to the bottom meson isodoublets . @xmath51 is the antisymmetric levi - civita tensor and @xmath52 . due to the heavy quark symmetry , the following relationships of the couplings can be used @xcite @xmath53 where @xmath54 , @xmath55 and @xmath56 denote the mass and decay constant of @xmath47 , respectively . the decay constant @xmath56 can be extracted from the @xmath57 , @xmath58 where @xmath59 is the electromagnetic fine - structure constant . using the mass and leptonic decay width of the @xmath47 state , @xmath60 kev @xcite , one can obtain @xmath61 mev . for the lagrangians relevant to the light vector mesons used in this work , we can write them in the chiral and heavy quark limits @xcite , @xmath62 where the heavy meson couplings to light vector mesons have the following relationships , @xmath63 with the parameters @xmath64 , @xmath65 , and @xmath66 @xcite . based on the relevant lagrangians given above , the loop transition amplitudes in fig . [ fig : loops ] can be expressed in a general form as follows , @xmath67 where @xmath68 and @xmath69 are the vertex functions and the denominators of the intermediate meson propagators , respectively . for example , in fig . [ fig : loops ] ( b ) , @xmath70 are the vertex functions for the initial @xmath1 , final bottomonium and final @xmath71 , respectively . @xmath72 are the denominators for the intermediate @xmath73 , @xmath74 and @xmath75 propagators , respectively . in order to take care of the off - shell effects of the exchanged particles @xcite , we adopt a dipole form factor @xmath76 with @xmath77 , and the qcd energy scale @xmath78 mev . many phenomenological studies have suggested the cutoff parameter @xmath79 . the explicit expression of transition for @xmath34 amplitudes is given in appendix [ appendix - a ] . .predicted partial widths ( in units of kev ) of the @xmath1 decays . the parameter in the form factor is chosen as @xmath80 , @xmath81 , and @xmath82 , respectively . [ cols="^,^,^,^",options="header " , ] on the @xmath83 using dipole form factors with @xmath80 ( solid lines ) , @xmath84 ( dashed lines ) , and @xmath85 ( dotted lines ) , respectively.,scaledwidth=70.0% ] both the tetraquark model @xcite and hadronic molecular calculations @xcite have predicted the existence of the @xmath1 . in ref . @xcite , a. ali _ et al . _ predicted the mass of the lowest - lying @xmath86 @xmath87 tetraquark to be @xmath88 mev , while the mass of the @xmath3 molecule is a few tens of mev higher @xcite . in ref . @xcite , the mass was predicted to be @xmath89 mev , which corresponds to a binding energy @xmath90 mev . these studies can provide a range for the binding energy , and in the following we will choose a few illustrative values : @xmath91 mev . in table [ tab : results-1 ] , we list the predicted partial widths by choosing the dipole form factor and three values for the cutoff parameter @xmath92 . from this table , we can see that the widths for the @xmath34 are about tens of kevs . the particle data group gives an upper bound for the total width of @xmath2 to be @xmath93 mev @xcite . if we consider the similarity between @xmath1 and @xmath2 , the full width for @xmath1 should be narrow . hence , our results would indicate a sizeable branching fraction for @xmath34 . in fig . [ fig : widthonexb ] , we present the partial widths for the @xmath0 in terms of the @xmath83 with the dipole form factors @xmath94 ( solid lines ) , @xmath81 ( dashed line ) , and @xmath82 ( dotted lines ) , respectively . as shown in this figure , there is no cusp structure in the curve . this is because the mass of @xmath1 lies below the intermediate @xmath42 threshold . the uncertainties caused by the form factors indicate our limited knowledge on the applicability of the effective lagrangian . however , fortunately , the dependence of the partial widths are not drastically sensitive , which indicates a reasonable cutoff of the ultraviolet contributions by the empirical form factors . both the coupling strength of @xmath1 in eq . ( [ eq : coupling - xb ] ) and the threshold effects influence the binding energy dependence of the partial width . on the one hand , as shown in eq . ( [ eq : coupling - xb ] ) , the coupling strength of @xmath1 increases with the binding energy @xmath83 . on the other hand , the threshold effects decrease with @xmath83 . both the coupling strength of @xmath1 and the threshold effects change quickly in the small @xmath83 region and slowly in the large @xmath83 region . as a result , the behavior of the partial width is relatively sensitive at small @xmath83 , while it becomes smooth at large @xmath83 . as mentioned above , the coupling constant @xmath41 in eq . ( [ eq : coupling - xb ] ) is based on the assumption of a shallow bound state , so our determination of this coupling has uncertainties which are mainly due to the nonperturbative pion exchange . for the interaction between two heavy hadrons forming a bound state , one can formulate an effective field theory ( eft ) description @xcite of hadronic molecules , which is analogous to that of the eft formulation of the nucleon - nucleon interaction @xcite . there are two main simplifications for heavy hadrons : the first one is that heavy quark symmetry severely constrains the low - energy interactions among them @xcite ; the second is that pion exchanges are usually perturbative and only produce small effects @xcite . the only exception is the isoscalar in the bottom sector where the pions might be nonperturbative due to the large masses of the bottom mesons @xcite . in ref . @xcite , the studies indicate that the relative errors of @xmath95 are about 20% for the isoscalar @xmath1 . so even if we consider the impact of this effect , the estimated order of the magnitude for the branching ratio @xmath24 may also be sizeable and can be measured in experiments . in the heavy quark symmetry limit , one may correlate the transition matrix element of the @xmath0 with that of @xmath96 . generally speaking , with the experimental measurements of the masses of @xmath2 and the experimental lower limit branching ratio of @xmath97 @xcite , one can first use the heavy quark symmetry to determine the cutoff parameter value @xmath92 and then give a round estimation of the possible experimental measurements on @xmath34 . however , we should also notice that the phase space dependence behavior of the partial widths may be quite different for these two decay channels . for the process @xmath97 , the allowed phase space is very small , while the phase space is large enough for the process @xmath34 . maybe systematic experimental and theoretical studies on these decay processes can test this point . in the case of hidden bottomonium decays of @xmath1 ( such as @xmath34 and @xmath98 ) with @xmath1 being an @xmath35-wave @xmath99 molecule candidate , since the heavy quarks in the @xmath99 meson pair have to recombine to form the final bottomonium , the transition from the @xmath99 meson pair into the @xmath100 plus @xmath71 ( or photon ) occurs at a distance much smaller than both the size of the @xmath1 as a hadronic molecule and the range of forces between the @xmath22 and @xmath101 mesons . as a consequence , these processes are not sensitive to the @xmath99 wave function at long distances which is governed by the binding energy , but rather they are determined by the short distance part of the @xmath1 . as shown in ref . @xcite , the radiative decays @xmath102 , and especially their ratio @xmath103 , are not sensitive to the long - range structure of the @xmath1 , and thus they can not be used to rule out the picture that the @xmath1 is dominantly a hadronic molecule . in order to further investigate the structure of @xmath1 , it is necessary to explore other decay channels , and the radiative decay @xmath104 might give the best hint about the molecular nature of @xmath1 . in the case of @xmath104 , one of the constituent hadrons ( @xmath22 ) is in the final state and the rest of the final particles are products of the decay of the other constituent hadron ( @xmath105 ) of the @xmath1 molecule . in these processes , the relative distance between the @xmath3 pair can be as large as allowed by the size of the @xmath1 , since the final state is produced by the decay of @xmath105 instead of the rescattering transition . so this process is sensitive to the long - distance part of the wave function of a hadronic molecule and can be used to probe the long structure of @xmath1 . the experimental observation of @xmath1 , hunting for hidden bottomonium decays ( @xmath6 , @xmath106 ) and @xmath104 can help us understand the structure of @xmath1 . in this work , we have investigated the isospin - conserved hidden bottomonium decay @xmath0 , where @xmath1 is taken to be the counterpart of @xmath2 in the bottomonium sector as a meson - meson molecule candidate . since the mass of this state may be far below the @xmath3 threshold , the isospin - violating decay channel @xmath23 would be highly suppressed and stimulate the importance of the isospin - conserved decay channel @xmath0 . we explore the rescattering mechanism with the effective lagrangian based on the heavy quark symmetry . the calculated partial width of @xmath0 is about tens of kevs . taking into account the fact that the total width of @xmath1 may be smaller than a few mev like @xmath2 , the calculated branching ratios may reach to orders of @xmath5 . this study of hidden bottomonium decay along with the previous work on production rates in hadron - hadron collisions @xcite and radiative decays of @xmath1 @xcite have indicated a promising prospect to find the @xmath1 at hadron colliders , in particular , the lhc , and we suggest that our experimental colleagues perform an analysis . also , the associated studies of hidden bottomonium decays @xmath6 , @xmath7 , and @xmath8 may help us investigate the structure of @xmath1 systematically . such attempt will likely lead to the discovery of the @xmath1 and enrich the exotics spectrum in the heavy quarkonium sector . the authors thank xiao - hai liu , qian wang , and wei wang for useful discussions . this work is supported by the national natural science foundation of china ( grant no . 11275113 ) . [ appendix - a ] in this appendix , we give the transition amplitudes for the intermediate heavy meson loops in fig . [ fig : loops ] in the framework of the ela . @xmath107 , @xmath108 , and @xmath109 are the four - vector momenta for initial state @xmath1 , final heavy quarkonium @xmath47 , and final light vector meson @xmath71 , respectively . @xmath110 , @xmath111 and @xmath112 are the four - vector momenta for the intermediate heavy mesons . @xmath113 , @xmath114 and @xmath115 are the polarization vectors for initial state , final quarkonium , and final light vector meson , respectively . @xmath116}&= & \int \frac { d^4q_2 } { ( 2\pi)^4}[g_{x_{b } } \varepsilon_{1\mu } ] [ g_{\upsilon(1s ) bb}(q_1-q_2)_\rho \varepsilon_2^{*\rho } ] [ -2f_{b^*bv } \varepsilon_{\lambda \theta \phi\kappa } p_3^\lambda \varepsilon_3^ { * \theta } ( q_2+q_3)^\phi ] \nonumber \\ & & \times \frac { i } { q_1 ^ 2-m_1 ^ 2 } \frac { i } { q_2 ^ 2-m_2 ^ 2 } \frac { i(-g^{\mu\kappa } + q_3^\mu q_3^\kappa / m_3 ^ 2 ) } { q_3 ^ 2-m_3 ^ 2 } { \cal f}(m_{2 } , q_2 ^ 2 ) , \nonumber \\ { \cal a}_{bb^ * [ b^ * ] } & = & \int \frac { d^4q_2 } { ( 2\pi)^4}[g_{x_{b } } \varepsilon_{1\mu } ] [ -g_{\upsilon(1s ) b^*b}\varepsilon_{\rho \sigma \xi\tau}p_2^\rho \varepsilon_2^{*\sigma}q_2^\xi ] [ 2g_{b^*b^*v } q_{2\theta } \varepsilon_3^ { * \theta } g_{\phi\kappa } + 4f_{b^*b^*v } ( p_{3}^{\theta}\varepsilon_{3\phi}^ * - p_{3\phi}\varepsilon_{3}^{*\theta})g_{\kappa \theta } ] \nonumber \\ & & \times \frac { i } { q_1 ^ 2-m_1 ^ 2 } \frac { i(-g^{\tau\phi } + q_2^\tau q_2^\phi / m_2 ^ 2 ) } { q_2 ^ 2-m_2 ^ 2 } \frac { i(-g^{\mu\kappa } + q_3^\mu q_3^\kappa / m_3 ^ 2 ) } { q_3 ^ 2-m_3 ^ 2 } { \cal f}(m_{2 } , q_2 ^ 2 ) , \nonumber \\ { \cal a}_{b^*b [ b ] } & = & \int \frac { d^4q_2 } { ( 2\pi)^4}[g_{x_{b } } \varepsilon_{1\mu } ] [ -g_{\upsilon(1s ) b^*b}\varepsilon_{\rho \sigma \xi\tau}p_2^\rho \varepsilon_2^{*\sigma}q_1^\xi ] [ -g_{bbv } ( q_2+q_3)_\lambda \varepsilon_3^{*\lambda } ] \nonumber \\ & & \times \frac { i(-g^{\mu\tau } + q_1^\mu q_1^\tau / m_1 ^ 2 ) } { q_1 ^ 2-m_1 ^ 2 } \frac { i } { q_2 ^ 2-m_2 ^ 2 } \frac { i } { q_3 ^ 2-m_3 ^ 2 } { \cal f}(m_{2 } , q_2 ^ 2 ) \nonumber \\ { \cal a}_{b^*b [ b^*]}&= & \int \frac { d^4q_2 } { ( 2\pi)^4}[g_{x_{b } } \varepsilon_{1\mu } ] [ g_{\upsilon(1s ) b^*b^*}\varepsilon_2^{*\rho } ( ( q_2-q_1)_\rho g_{\sigma\xi}+p_{2\xi } g_{\rho\sigma}+p_{2\sigma } g_{\rho\xi})][2f_{b^*bv } \varepsilon_{\lambda \theta \phi\kappa } p_3^\lambda \varepsilon_3^ { * \theta } ( q_2+q_3)^\phi ] \nonumber \\ & & \times \frac { i(-g^{\mu\sigma } + q_1^\mu q_1^\sigma / m_1 ^ 2 ) } { q_1 ^ 2-m_1 ^ 2 } \frac { i(-g^{\xi\kappa } + q_2^\xi q_2^\kappa / m_2 ^ 2 ) } { q_2 ^ 2-m_2 ^ 2 } \frac { i } { q_3 ^ 2-m_3 ^ 2 } { \cal f}(m_{2 } , q_2 ^ 2 ) , \nonumber \\\end{aligned}\ ] ] n. brambilla , s. eidelman , b. k. heltsley , r. vogt , g. t. bodwin , e. eichten , a. d. frawley and a. b. meyer _ et al . _ , j. c * 71 * , 1534 ( 2011 ) [ arxiv:1010.5827 [ hep - 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in this work , we study the isospin conserved hidden bottomonium decay of @xmath0 , where @xmath1 is taken to be the counterpart of the famous @xmath2 in the bottomonium sector as a candidate for the meson - meson molecule . since it is likely that the @xmath1 is below the @xmath3 threshold and the mass difference between the neutral and charged bottom meson is small compared to the binding energy of the @xmath1 , the isospin violating decay mode @xmath4 would be greatly suppressed . we use the effective lagrangian based on the heavy quark symmetry to explore the rescattering mechanism of @xmath0 and calculate the partial widths . our results show that the partial width for the @xmath0 is about tens of kevs . taking into account the fact that the total width of @xmath1 may be smaller than a few mev like @xmath2 , the calculated branching ratios may reach to orders of @xmath5 . these hidden bottomonium decay modes are of great importance in the experimental search for the @xmath1 particularly at the hadron collider . also , the associated studies of hidden bottomonium decays @xmath6 , @xmath7 , and @xmath8 may help us investigate the structure of @xmath1 deeply . the experimental observation of @xmath1 will provide us with further insight into the spectroscopy of exotic states and is helpful to probe the structure of the states connected by the heavy quark symmetry .

Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Neighbours have told how they were “driven to despair” by their neighbour who was jailed after breaching a court order by making “loud sex noises”. Gemma Wale, from Small Heath, was given a two-week prison sentence after a civil court judge concluded that she had breached the order by “screaming and shouting whilst having sex” at a “level of noise” which annoyed a neighbour.. Detail has emerged in a written ruling by Judge Emma Kelly following a hearing in Birmingham County Court. The judge concluded that she had also breached the order by arguing with her boyfriend, swearing at a neighbour, “banging around the house” and “running around in the property”. She said Birmingham City Council took legal action after a neighbour in Berrowside Road complained. One former neighbour of Wale’s at a former address described how the community had been driven to despair by her behaviour. The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “There were men going in and out of her flat all the time. “Then she would sleep all day. It was the worst two years of my life. “All the neighbours banded together to get her out. “I lost count of the number of times I had to knock on her door at 3, 4, 5 o’clock in the morning. “We complained to the police, social services and the council. “It took the council a good year to do anything about it. It doesn’t surprise me she ended up being jailed. She deserved it. “She drove us all to despair - I have never had a neighbour like her.” In the ruling the judge did not give Miss Wale’s age in her ruling but said she had a boyfriend called Wayne. Judge Kelly said the anti-social behaviour order had barred Miss Wale from making “loud sex noises”. The order had also barred her from causing nuisance by playing loud music, shouting, swearing, making banging noises, stamping and slamming doors. The judge concluded that she had also breached the order by arguing with her boyfriend, swearing at a neighbour, “banging around the house” and “running around in the property”. She imposed separate two-week jail terms on Miss Wale for each breach but said all terms would run concurrently. Judge Kelly said another judge had imposed an anti-social behaviour order in January. She said she had analysed allegations that the order had been breached at a hearing in May. The judge indicated that Miss Wale lived in a property owned by Birmingham council and said she had heard evidence from a council housing officer and one of Miss Wale’s neighbours. It is now understood that Miss Wale has left the property. Judge Kelly said a neighbour had complained that at around 5am on January 29 “paragraph 3 of the order” had been breached. “Gemma started screaming and shouting whilst having sex, which woke us up,” said the neighbour. “This lasted 10 minutes.” The judge concluded: “I am satisfied that during the course of the early hours of 29th January 2015, at around 5am, the defendant was guilty of screaming and shouting whilst having sex at a level of noise which caused nuisance or annoyance to (a neighbour).” • Have you downloaded our smartphone app yet? Our free app brings you the latest news, sports and what's on information. Just one quick sync and you can read our content on the move without being online. Download it now and get involved. Below - all these people were jailed by Birmingham's courts last month - do you know any of them? ||||| Image copyright Google Image caption Gemma Wale lived in Small Heath, Birmingham A woman who breached a court order that barred her from making "loud sex noises" has been jailed. Gemma Wale, of Small Heath, Birmingham, was given a two-week prison sentence. A civil court judge concluded she had breached an anti-social behaviour order by "screaming and shouting whilst having sex" at a "level of noise" that annoyed a neighbour. The details emerged in a written ruling by Judge Emma Kelly following a hearing in Birmingham County Court. Birmingham City Council took legal action after a neighbour complained. 'Screaming and shouting' The judge did not give Miss Wale's age in her ruling but said she had a boyfriend called Wayne. Judge Kelly said she had also breached the order by arguing with her boyfriend, swearing at a neighbour, "banging around the house" and "running around in the property". She said a neighbour had complained "paragraph 3 of the order" had been breached at about 05:00 on 29 January. "Gemma started screaming and shouting whilst having sex, which woke us up," said the neighbour. "This lasted 10 minutes." The judge concluded: "I am satisfied that during the course of the early hours of 29 January 2015, at around 5am, the defendant was guilty of screaming and shouting whilst having sex at a level of noise which caused nuisance or annoyance to (a neighbour)."

– A woman whose loud sex noises made her neighbors' lives misery has been jailed for waking them up one too many times. Gemma Wale of Birmingham, England, was sentenced to two weeks behind bars after a judge concluded she was "guilty of screaming and shouting whilst having sex at a level of noise which caused nuisance or annoyance" at 5am one morning early this year, the BBC reports. A court order imposed after complaints from neighbors had banned Wale from loud sex and other noisy behavior. The judge ruled that she had also breached the court order by "banging around the house," "running around in the property," swearing at a neighbor, and arguing loudly with her boyfriend—who wasn't prosecuted. Neighbors tell the Birmingham Mail that Wale "drove us all to despair" and it took years of complaints before authorities acted. (Decibel records could be broken if Wale ever gets together with this Italian man.)

CATOOSA, Okla. -- One person is in the hospital and three people have been arrested in a shooting accident in Oklahoma on Saturday night. The story -- two guys out hunting in the woods in Oklahoma. One man gets scared and shoots his buddy in the back, all while in search of a Sasquatch. But the Roger County Sheriff’s Office isn’t buying it. "Any story that starts out that someone is on a hunt for Sasquatch, we probably have problems with you from the get go," said Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton. A 911 call came in late Saturday night from the QuikTrip near Interstate 44 and 161st Street. Deputies arrived and transported the wounded man to the hospital where he underwent surgery. Authorities said he remains in stable condition. Deputies questioned everyone involved a second time and it became clear there was no Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti involved in the shooting. “It was their remarks for going out in the woods or whatever at night and looking for varmints," Walton said. As more of the truth comes out, the Rogers County sheriff says it became clear that one of the men had his wife with him -- the man became startled and shot the second man, while a fourth individual helped dispose of the gun in a nearby lake. "A situation where probably no one would have went to jail if they would have just told the truth at first, but as it unfolds we had three booked in to custody and one in the hospital," Walton said. Officials tell 2NEWS Omar Pineda is being held for reckless conduct with a firearm and obstructing an officer. His wife, Lacey Pineda, is accused of obstructing an officer and Perry James was arrested for destroying evidence. A Tulsa County sheriff's dive team recovered the handgun they believe was used -- a 9 millimeter handgun -- as the sheriff's investigation wrapped up. Two of the three charged in the shooting have bailed out of Rogers County Jail. The alleged gunman, Omar Pineda, remains in jail. ||||| File photo.Rogers County deputies arrested three people after another man was shot in the back Saturday during a reported "Sasquatch hunt." Walton said the dishonesty of the "hunters" wasted several hours of time for two agencies. Rogers County Sheriff's Department arrested three people in what appears to be an accidental shooting. One of the men told deputies he'd shot his friend while the two were on a Sasquatch hunting expedition. "If [they] had just been factual, upfront and truthful with us and explained that this was truly an accident, as strange as it might sound, we would have went ahead and investigated and probably nobody would have [gone] to jail," Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said. The two men were hunting - apparently for Bigfoot - around 177th East Avenue and Tiger Switch Road Saturday night. Omar Pineda reportedly heard a "barking noise," jerked and shot his friend in the back, authorities say. "When you start off with an explanation like that, do you believe anything after that?" Walton said Sunday morning. The men met emergency responders at a QuikTrip near Interstate 44 and 161st Street. The wounded man is expected to survive. Pineda, 21, was arrested for reckless conduct with a firearm and obstruction. Deputies also arrested Perry Don James, Pineda's father-in-law. James threw his son-in-law's gun in a pond on the property because he is a convicted felon and was afraid to have the gun on his property, Walton said. James, 53, was booked on complaints of felon in possession of a firearm and destruction of evidence. The shooting victim was also carrying a gun, though he dropped it when he got shot, according to a news release. Dive teams spent much of the day looking for a gun tossed in the pond. "The aggravating part of this whole deal is that their dishonesty wasted several man hours of not only the Rogers County Sheriff's Office, but our partners at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office," Walton said. Deputies arrested 22-year-old Lacey Jane Pineda, Omar's wife, for obstruction because she told police at one point that someone else had shot at her husband and his friend, according to RCSO. "To our knowledge, no Bigfoot sightings in Rogers County," Walton said. "I think our focus is career criminals and thugs, and we're going to stay focused on that and let somebody else go after Bigfoot."

– If Bigfoot is lurking in the woods of Rogers County, Oklahoma, this sounds like the wrong group to send to hunt the creature down: Three people were arrested and one was hospitalized after a hunting trip, supposedly to find Sasquatch, went incredibly wrong, News9 reports. After Omar Pinera, 21, was startled by a noise and shot his friend in the back, he was arrested, as was his wife and father-in-law, after they all told deputies conflicting stories about the incident. Pinera was charged with obstruction and reckless conduct with a firearm, his wife was charged with obstruction for claiming somebody else had fired a shot, and his father-in-law was busted for destruction of evidence after throwing Pinera's handgun in a lake, according to WPTV. The shot man is expected to survive, and Bigfoot remains elusive. "To our knowledge, no Bigfoot sightings in Rogers County," the county sheriff says. "I think our focus is career criminals and thugs, and we're going to stay focused on that and let somebody else go after Bigfoot." (Last year, a Montana man dressed up as Bigfoot, and ended up getting killed.)

the ground state of yang - mills ( ym ) theories plays a critical role in both particle physics and cosmology . in particular , the gluon condensate in quantum chromo dynamics ( qcd ) largely determines non - trivial properties of the topological qcd vacuum and is responsible e.g. for the color confinement effects and hadron mass generation which can be understood beyond the perturbation theory ( pt ) only ( for a comprehensive review on the qcd vacuum , see e.g. refs . @xcite and references therein ) . the gluon condensate directly influences properties of the quark - gluon plasma and its hadronisation , as well as dynamics of the qcd phase transition . on the other hand , ym condensates have various implications in the cosmological evolution ranging from the cosmic inflation @xcite to the phenomenon of late - time acceleration and the dark energy ( de ) @xcite ( see also refs . @xcite ) . currently , the cosmological constant ( cc ) with the vacuum equation of state @xmath0 is a preferred scenario for the late - time acceleration epoch supported by a wealth of recent observations provided that @xmath1 ( see e.g. refs . @xcite ) . despite of many de / cc models existing in the literature , there is not a compelling resolution of the cc problem i.e. why the cc term is small and positive as well as why the cc term is non - zeroth and exists at all . from the quantum field theory ( qft ) viewpoint , the ground state energy density of the universe should account for a bulk of various contributions from existing quantum fields at energy scales ranging from the quantum gravity ( planck ) scale , @xmath2 gev , down to the qcd confinement scale , @xmath3 gev . even such relatively well - known vacuum subsystems of the standard model ( sm ) as the higgs and quark - gluon condensates exceed by far the observed cosmological constant which is often considered as a severe problem @xcite ( for recent reviews on this topic , see e.g. refs . @xcite and references therein ) . also it is well known , that an every field in the universe forms a divergent perturbative vacuum contribution , which is usually cut off at the planck scale . the cancellation of these contributions may need the introduction of additional bosonic and fermionic fields putting important constraints for the particle spectrum @xcite . in this work , we discuss the problem connected with formation of big non - perturbative vacuum contributions on the hadronic scale after the qcd phase transition , assuming that the contributions from higher scales are already compensated . in the case of confined qcd with color @xmath4 gauge symmetry , there is a rather unique ( negative - valued ) contribution to the ground state energy of the universe originating from the non - perturbative quantum fluctuations of the quark and gluon fields @xcite , @xmath5 . given the fact that the cc term observed in astrophysical measurements is very small ( and positive - valued ) , @xmath6 one must eliminate the qcd vacuum contribution , @xmath7 , with an unprecedented accuracy over forty decimal digits . a dynamical mechanism for such a gross cancellation of vacua terms is yet theoretically unknown although several possible scenarios have been discussed so far e.g. in refs . this work is devoted to making a further step in exploring this possibility in quantum ym theories with a non - trivial ground state . clearly , in order to cancel the qcd vacuum contribution , @xmath7 , formed during the qcd phase transition epoch , a positive contribution to the vacuum energy density should be formed at the same qcd energy scale @xmath8 . where could such an extra contribution originate from ? here we suggest a new scenario of compensation realized by means of a hidden ( mirror ) sector of particles @xcite which correspond to the extra non - abelian gauge group and whose possible interaction with the visible sm sectors is strongly suppressed . in particular , a class of models known as neutral naturalness theories has been proposed in the literature @xcite as a promising solution of the naturalness problem in the sm protecting the weak scale from large radiative corrections . various phenomenological implications of such a `` mirror world '' concept have been discussed e.g. in ref . in particular , the mirror color @xmath4 gauge group is typically assumed to be a symmetry describing the confined phase in full analogy with ordinary qcd revealing interesting signatures at the large hadron collider due to e.g. a mixing of mirror glueballs with the higgs boson @xcite . quite naturally , the quantum vacua contributions from the `` mirror world '' should contribute to the cc on the same footing as known vacua since `` mirror '' particles are expected to gravitate in the same way as the usual ones . we argue that mirror qcd ( mqcd ) sector , if exists , should affect the cosmological expansion , in particular , via an extra non - trivial `` mirror gluon '' contribution into the ground state energy of the universe . below , we will demonstrate that under certain conditions the mirror gluon condensate can contribute to the energy density of the universe with positive sign and thus may , in principle , eliminate the negative qcd vacuum effect yielding a vanishingly small cc term . attributing the positive vacuum energy contribution to the mqcd sector non - interacting with quarks and gluons in ordinary qcd , one may therefore resolve the issue of why such a positive - valued condensate energy density does not emerge in qcd hadron physics and affects the cc - term only . then the observed cc can , in principle , be formed as a remnant of the gluon condensate cancellation in expanding universe ( e.g. due to an uncompensated quantum gravity correction to the qcd ground state energy ) @xcite , which appears to be remarkably consistent with the observed cc and with the zeldovich scaling relation @xcite . the exact compensation of the qcd vacuum effect by means of the mirror gluon condensate is therefore the central point to the observable smallness of the cc . the condensate in qcd is formed by the contributions of gluon and quark non - perturbative quantum fluctuations @xmath9 usually , the dominant gluon contribution is given by means of the trace anomaly relation in qcd @xmath10 which to one - loop order reads @xcite @xmath11 where @xmath12 is the first ( one - loop ) coefficient of the negative perturbative @xmath13-function in @xmath4 gluodynamics with three light flavors @xmath14 with @xmath8 being the qcd scale parameter ( the normalization of @xmath13 corresponds to ref . the formation of the chromomagnetic gluon condensate @xmath15 is typically considered at characteristic momentum scales @xmath16 inverse to the correlation length @xmath17 , i.e. @xmath18 gev @xcite , where the perturbative qcd still provides a realistic estimate . this validates the use of one - loop approximated expression ( [ linst-2 ] ) . one would like to explain why such a big negative contribution ( [ linst-0 ] ) , which is responsible for a variety of well - known phenomena in hadron physics and is rather unique for qcd , does not affect the cosmological expansion at late times . provided that the observed cc - term density @xmath19 is tiny compared to the qcd vacuum density ( [ linst-2 ] ) , the latter should be almost totally eliminated during the qcd phase transition epoch . which mechanism could be responsible for that ? a mirror copy of qcd may generate a similar gluon contribution to the trace anomaly proportional to the corresponding @xmath13-function in mqcd , @xmath20 in mqcd framework mirror quarks can be much heavier than in ordinary qcd @xcite . applying the idea , that mqcd is similar in main features to usual qcd , this means , that in mqcd the vacuum is formed only by mirror gluon contribution with pure gluonic @xmath13-function , as long as the heavy quark condensates @xcite are compensated by quark part of @xmath13-function , i.e. @xmath21 a possible cancellation of qcd and mqcd vacuum may ensure a required smallness of the observable cc density @xmath22 which means that the corresponding mirror gluon condensate should provide a positive contribution to the vacuum density , i.e. @xmath23 . we suppose , that mqcd gluon condensate can compensate both gluon and quark condensates of usual qcd . adopting the traditional hypothesis that the mqcd sector of mirror quarks and gluons is confined but is not ( or very weakly ) interacting with the observed sm sectors @xcite and considering only chromomagnetic condensates , the compensation condition ( [ compc-1 ] ) can be satisfied if and only if the mqcd @xmath13-function is positive , i.e. @xmath24 which is not realized in the perturbative mqcd regime due to eq . ( [ beta ] ) . it is , however , possible to achieve the positivity of the non - perturbative @xmath13-function provided that at the characteristic scale of the qcd gluon condensate formation , @xmath16 , the mqcd sector is in deeply non - perturbative regime . the latter condition can be satisfied if the mqcd scale parameter is large , i.e. @xmath25 such that the mirror gluon condensate would be in deeply non - perturbative regime by the moment in the cosmological evolution when its density gets precisely cancelled with the qcd contribution . note that the compensation conditions for the qcd and mqcd contributions ( [ compc-1 ] ) and ( [ compc-2 ] ) , if indeed realized in nature , may be one of the most important implications of the mirror qcd in cosmology yielding a vanishing cc - term and thus providing a dynamical way to resolve the cc problem . can the sign of the @xmath13-function in mqcd become positive in the non - perturbative regime ? in order to answer this question , one has to employ a proper formalism which extends the effective action approach in a gauge theory beyond the perturbativity domain . indeed , the compensation ( [ compc-1 ] ) emerges as a long - distance phenomenon and thus should hold beyond the pt . the effective action of the quantum ym gauge @xmath26(@xmath27 ) theory consistently accounting for the trace anomaly and properly generalised to the flrw background reads @xcite ( see also ref . @xcite ) @xmath28 = \int \mathcal{l}_{\rm eff}\sqrt{-g } d^4x \ , , \qquad \mathcal{l}_{\rm eff}=\frac{j}{4{\bar g}^2(j)}\ , , \qquad j=-\frac{\mathcal{f}^2}{\sqrt{-g}}\ , , \qquad \mathcal{f}^2\equiv \mathcal{f}^a_{\mu\nu}\mathcal{f}_a^{\mu\nu}\ , , \\ & & g\equiv { \rm det}(g_{\mu\nu } ) \ , , \qquad g_{\mu\nu}=a(\eta)^2\mathrm{diag}(1,\,-1,\,-1,\,-1)\ , , \qquad t = \int a(\eta ) d\eta \ , , \label{lrg}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where the ym field and the corresponding stress tensor are defined as usual : @xmath29 with internal ( in adjoint representation ) @xmath30 and lorentz @xmath31 indices and the gauge coupling @xmath32 satisfying the rg evolution equation @xcite @xmath33 depending on the sign of the invariant @xmath34 , one distinguishes the chromoelectric @xmath35 and chromomagnetic @xmath36 ym fields . the effective ym equation of motion in a non - trivial background metric reads @xmath37=0 \,.\end{aligned}\ ] ] and can be employed beyond the pt as long as the non - perturbative @xmath13-function is known . remarkably enough , this equation has a simple manifestly non - perturbative ground - state solution with positive @xmath13-function @xmath38 which is a complete analog of similar solution ( see ref . @xcite , eqs . ( 13 ) and ( 17 ) ) found in the euclidian case with the negative coupling and the @xmath13-function corresponding to the ferromagnetic vacuum . it is also a non - perturbative analog of the perturbative solution @xcite eliminating the traceless part of the energy - momentum tensor @xmath39 \big(-\frac{\mathcal{f}^a_{\mu\lambda}\mathcal{f}_a^{\nu\lambda}}{\sqrt{-g}}-\frac{1}{4}\delta_{\mu}^{\nu}\,j\big ) - \frac{\delta_{\mu}^{\nu}\beta({\bar g}^2)}{8{\bar g}^2}\,j \ , , \label{t}\end{aligned}\ ] ] which then takes the following form @xmath40 it is important to point out , that the equations ( [ ss]-[t1 ] ) were obtained in the pure ym case when the interaction with other fields can be neglected . in particular , we neglect the mqcd quark current in the right hand side of eq . ( [ ymeq ] ) . let us also stress that we consider the effective ym lagrangian ( [ lrg ] ) and energy - momentum tensor ( [ t ] ) as a classical model @xcite which possesses well - known properties of the full quantum theory such as ( i ) local gauge invariance , ( ii ) rg evolution and asymptotic freedom , ( iii ) correct quantum vacuum configurations , and ( iv ) trace anomaly given by the last term in eq . ( [ t ] ) . these provide a sufficient motivation and physics interest in cosmological aspects of the considering effective model . as the solution ( [ ss ] ) leads to the energy - momentum tensor of vacuum type ( [ t1 ] ) , it immediately follows from the friedmann equations that the corresponding energy density is constant @xmath41 thus , the contribution of the ym fields has a cosmological constant form . in particular , this can be realised if @xmath42 . indeed , the solution ( [ ss ] ) fixes the invariant @xmath34 to its constant initial value @xmath43 such solutions were also considered in refs . @xcite in connection with the spontaneous vacuum magnetisation and in the domain concept of the qcd vacuum @xcite ( see also the recent paper @xcite and references therein ) . further , we will apply the solution ( [ ss ] ) and ( [ j ] ) to the the mqcd theory in the non - perturbative regime . the energy - momentum tensor in this case becomes constant as expected @xmath44 where @xmath45 . the coupling @xmath46 touches the linear function @xmath47 at the point @xmath48 ( indeed , it has the same value and derivative ) . and vice versa , if @xmath46 touches @xmath49 at some point @xmath48 , then @xmath50 , which means that eq . ( [ ss ] ) is satisfied at @xmath48 . indeed , the existence of such a contact point is a necessary and sufficient condition for the solution ( [ ss ] ) with fixed @xmath51 . this allows us to constrain generic non - perturbative behavior of the corresponding @xmath46 . an illustration of the corresponding infrared behavior of the mqcd coupling in consistency with both the non - perturbative asymptotics for the @xmath13-function ( [ ss ] ) and the conventional perturbative regime of asymptotic freedom ( [ beta ] ) is shown in fig . [ fig : g2 ] . a desirable non - monotonic shape of the coupling was earlier discussed in the case of usual qcd @xcite . behavior as a function of @xmath34 in consistency with the non - perturbative solution found in eq . ( [ ss]).,scaledwidth=45.0% ] from eq . ( [ const ] ) one notices that the mqcd gauge field give a constant vacuum contribution to the energy - momentum tensor in the einstein equations . since the qcd and mqcd contributions to the ground - state energy density have opposite signs there is a compelling possibility that they can , in principle , cancel each other at some moment in the cosmological history provided that @xmath52 in the infrared regime of mqcd . keeping @xmath53 in both qcd and mqcd , we arrive at the following form of the compensation condition ( [ compc-1 ] ) @xmath54 which means , that mqcd condensate has to be chromomagnetic . after such a compensation is achieved , only a very small @xmath55 contribution , which could be formed by other vacuum sources @xmath56 and possibly by a non - compensated part of mqcd and qcd vacua contributions @xmath57 , remains . of course , a fine - tuning is unavoidable to match the observations , although would not be entirely unreasonable due to the same order magnitude of the qcd and mqcd contributions . such a vacua alignment , if realised in nature , can be suggested e.g. by their common anthropic origins @xcite . then the standard friedmann equation in the non - stationary flrw universe @xmath58 determines the cosmological evolution , @xmath59 , driven by the gluon and mirror gluon condensate densities ( compensating each other exactly or in part ) , the matter contribution , @xmath60 , and other possible vacua contributions of a different kind , @xmath56 . let us notice for completeness , that eq . ( [ ss ] ) allows for a more specific solution apart from constant fields ( [ j ] ) . this another solution appears , if the non - perturbative @xmath13-function becomes constant satisfying eq . ( [ ss ] ) in some finite domain which corresponds to the strong coupling regime ( saturated behaviour ) . in this case , eq . ( [ ss ] ) can be substituted into the rg equation @xmath61 ( @xmath62 is a numerical parameter ) which implies that the mqcd coupling is proportional to @xmath34 in the infrared limit , e.g. @xmath63 such behaviour clearly guarantees a constant vacuum energy ( see eq . ( [ t1 ] ) ) as well as a possibility for the qcd / mqcd vacua compensation . according to eq . ( [ j0 ] ) the gauge coupling squared has to approach the linear @xmath64 asymptotics in the non - perturbative regime ( note , for the constant field solution ( [ j ] ) @xmath65 has to satisfy a much less restrictive constraint and just touches the linear asymptotics @xmath64 at a fixed point ) . so , within the qcd / mqcd vacua compensation hypothesis , both vacua subsystems should be generated in early universe at close ( but different ) energy scales and then get compensated during the cosmological qcd phase transition epoch . as was shown above , this can be realised in a deeply non - perturbative regime for the mirror gluon condensate which asymptotically acquires the same absolute value of energy density and opposite sign compared to the qcd gluon one , such that they almost exactly eliminate each other at macroscopically large space - time separations . in this letter , we have considered cosmological consequences of a possible exact cancellation of vacuum energies between qcd and a mirror high - scale copy of qcd in the confined regime . one of the most important implications of such a cancellation is a possibility for the dynamical elimination of the qcd vacuum density contribution to the cosmological constant resulting in its observed smallness ( provided that all perturbative vacua are eliminated by some other mechanism , see e.g. ref . @xcite ) . by an appropriate fine - tuning of qcd and mirror qcd vacua parameters , the compensation is provided by a partial non - perturbative solution of the yang - mills equation of motion corresponding to a positive constant @xmath13-function in deeply infrared regime of mirror qcd . such a dynamical vacua compensation due to different signs of @xmath13-functions in qcd and mirror qcd can be yet another implication of the anthropic principle @xcite realised for qcd and mirror gluon condensates . r. pasechnik , v. beylin and g. vereshkov , jcap * 1306 * , 011 ( 2013 ) [ arxiv:1302.6456 [ gr - qc ] ] . p. don , a. marcian , y. zhang and c. antolini , phys . d * 93 * , no . 4 , 043012 ( 2016 ) [ arxiv:1509.05824 [ gr - qc ] ] . d. v. galtsov and m. s. volkov , phys . b * 256 * , 17 ( 1991 ) . a. y. kamenshchik , a. tronconi , g. p. vacca and g. venturi , phys . d * 75 * ( 2007 ) 083514 doi:10.1103/physrevd.75.083514 [ hep - th/0612206 ] . g. l. alberghi , a. y. kamenshchik , a. tronconi , g. p. vacca and g. venturi , jetp lett . * 88 * ( 2008 ) 705 . doi:10.1134/s002136400823001x a. y. kamenshchik , a. a. starobinsky , a. tronconi , g. p. vacca and g. venturi , arxiv:1604.02371 [ hep - ph ] . p. boucaud _ et al . _ , phys . d * 66 * , 034504 ( 2002 ) [ hep - ph/0203119 ] . m. hutter , hep - ph/0107098 . r. pasechnik , v. beylin and g. vereshkov , phys . rev . d * 88 * ( 2013 ) 2 , 023509 [ arxiv:1302.5934 [ gr - qc ] ] . e. j. copeland , m. sami and s. tsujikawa , int . j. mod . d * 15 * , 1753 ( 2006 ) [ hep - th/0603057 ] . a. d. dolgov and m. kawasaki , astro - ph/0307442 ; + a. d. dolgov and m. kawasaki , astro - ph/0310822 . m. j. strassler and k. m. zurek , phys . b * 651 * , 374 ( 2007 ) doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2007.06.055 [ hep - ph/0604261 ] . z. chacko , h. s. goh and r. harnik , phys . * 96 * , 231802 ( 2006 ) [ hep - ph/0506256 ] . g. burdman , z. chacko , h. s. goh and r. harnik , jhep * 0702 * , 009 ( 2007 ) [ hep - ph/0609152 ] . h. cai , h. c. cheng and j. terning , jhep * 0905 * , 045 ( 2009 ) [ arxiv:0812.0843 [ hep - ph ] ] . r. barbieri , t. gregoire and l. j. hall , hep - ph/0509242 . z. chacko , d. curtin and c. b. verhaaren , phys . d * 94 * , no . 1 , 011504 ( 2016 ) doi:10.1103/physrevd.94.011504 [ arxiv:1512.05782 [ hep - ph ] ] . y. b. zeldovich , jetp lett . * 6 * , 316 ( 1967 ) [ pisma zh . fiz . * 6 * , 883 ( 1967 ) ] . o. nachtmann and a. reiter , z. phys . c * 24 * ( 1984 ) 283 . doi:10.1007/bf01410367 s. n. nedelko and v. e. voronin , phys . d * 93 * ( 2016 ) no.9 , 094010 doi:10.1103/physrevd.93.094010 [ arxiv:1603.01447 [ hep - ph ] ] . m. baldicchi , a. v. nesterenko , g. m. prosperi , d. v. shirkov and c. simolo , phys . lett . * 99 * , 242001 ( 2007 ) doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.242001 [ arxiv:0705.0329 [ hep - ph ] ] . d. shirkov , arxiv:0807.1404 [ hep - ph ] . s. weinberg , phys . * 59 * ( 1987 ) 2607 .

an analog of quantum chromo dynamics ( qcd ) sector known as mirror qcd ( mqcd ) can affect the cosmological evolution and help in resolving the cosmological constant problem . in this work , we explore an intriguing possibility for a compensation of the negative qcd vacuum contribution to the ground state energy density of the universe by means of a positive contribution from the chromomagnetic gluon condensate in mqcd . the trace anomaly compensation condition and the form of the mqcd coupling constant in the infrared limit have been proposed by analysing a partial non - perturbative solution of the einstein yang - mills equations of motion . lu tp 16 - 54 + september 2016

Touchscreen devices like smartphones and tablets are now fixtures of many households, so it comes as little surprise to learn that young children who don’t work or go to school are among their most active users. In the first study of its kind, researchers have learned that infants and toddlers who spend more time on these devices sleep less at night. It’s a troubling finding, but the reasons for these sleep disruptions are still unclear. Traditional screen time, like television and video games, has been linked to sleep problems in children, but less is known about portable touchscreens, such as smartphones and tablets. In the first study to investigate potential links between touchscreens and sleep in young children, a research team led by Tim Smith from Birkbeck University of London has found that the same sleep disruption effect applies to these modern devices. By surveying parents about their kids’ touchscreen use and sleep patterns, these researchers have found that every additional hour of tablet or smartphone use among children between the ages of six months and three years results in about 15 minutes less total sleep. These findings now appear in Scientific Advances. Advertisement From June 2015 to March 2016, the parents of 715 infants and toddlers aged six months to 36 months (3 years) participated in the online survey. Roughly 70 percent of the parents surveyed owned a touchscreen device of some kind. In these households, 75 percent of young children used a touchscreen on a daily basis. Amongst children who had daily access to touchscreens, 51 percent were between the ages of six to 11 months, and 92 percent were between 25 to 36 months. Parents were asked to report on the average duration of their child’s daytime and nighttime sleep, the time it typically takes for their child to fall asleep, and the frequency of their night awakenings. When parsing the results, the researchers controlled for age, sex, TV exposure, and maternal education. According to their findings, babies and toddlers who spent more time with a touchscreen device slept less at night. Some of these kids managed to nap a bit longer during the day, but they still slept for less time overall. On average, each hour that a child spent on a smartphone or tablet resulted in 26 minutes less nighttime sleep, and about 10 minutes more daytime sleep, amounting to 15.6 minutes less total sleep. Touchscreen use was also linked to an increase in the time it took these kids to fall asleep, but there appeared to be no effect on the number of times these kids woke up at night. Advertisement “These results indicate that the popularity and accessibility of touchscreen devices has led to high levels of usage by babies and toddlers, and this is associated with reduced sleep,” noted Smith in a release. “Future research is now needed to build on this initial study to try and understand whether touchscreen use is causing sleep problems and how types of use may mitigate these risks.” Looking ahead, the researchers would like to understand the mechanics behind this link, and to develop more objective measures of sleep. Online surveys are just a start—what’s required now are empirical sleep tracking studies to confirm the parent-reported findings. Michael Gradisar, a psychologist at Flinders University who wasn’t involved with the study, says this research raises awareness of the fact that babies are using technological devices, but does little to explain the reasons behind the reported correlations. “This was a survey of infants’ and toddlers’ touchscreen use and sleep, and so the type of protocol used does not tell us if touchscreen use causes poor sleep, or whether children with poor sleep are more likely to be given touch screen devices from their parents—for example, to distract them or settle them down,” Gradisar told Gizmodo. “There are also other factors that can affect a young child’s sleep—such as napping, evening stimulation (noise, artificial lighting)—that were not considered in the study’s prediction of infants’ nighttime sleep. If they were, the contribution of touch screen use to nighttime sleep might be less than anticipated.” Advertisement Gradisar brings up a bunch of good points, including the issue of artificial lighting. Previous studies have indicated that light from electronic devices may interrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythm, making it more difficult to fall asleep. This might explain why kids who use touchscreens are having a harder time falling asleep and why they’re getting less sleep overall, but more research is need to suss that out. Gradisar has some advice for the Birkbeck University researchers’ next steps. “From here, the researchers could examine babies’ touchscreen use and sleep over a longer period of time,” he said. “This should produce results that will make it more clear if an increase in touchscreen use in young children occurs before seeing sleep problems in these kids, or vice versa. This has been done in adults, and the findings showed that sleep problems occurred first, which were then followed by an increase in technology use. This might happen because people believe they may as well do something, rather than lie down in bed worrying in the dark.” Advertisement Denying our children access to these devices wholesale is neither desirable or achievable. Touchscreens are now a reality of modern life, so we need to figure out how and why these devices might be affecting our children, and develop sensible guidelines to manage their use. [Scientific Reports] ||||| Data from 715 UK infants and toddlers aged 6–36 months indicated a significant association between the frequency of touchscreen use and sleep quantity (reduced total duration, with reduced duration of night-time and increased daytime sleep), and longer sleep onset (time taken to fall asleep). Every additional hour of tablet use was associated with 15.6 minutes less total sleep (on average, 26.4 minutes less of night-time sleep and 10.8 minutes more of daytime sleep). However, we found no association between touchscreen use and the number of night awakenings. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between touchscreen use and infant/toddler sleep. Our results are consistent with a recent meta-review in older children and adolescents illustrating the negative effects of touchscreen use on sleep quality and quantity27, extending the findings to younger children under the age of 3. Our results also extend existing reports on the negative effects of TV exposure on sleep in this age group20,21,22,23,24. We show that, independent of other known factors related to sleep and touchscreen use (age, sex, maternal education and TV exposure), touchscreen use was robustly associated with many sleep attributes. Studies that have examined media use and sleep have hypothesized four potential mechanisms by which screen time can affect sleep in older children and adolescents. Firstly, electronic media may directly displace the time that children have available for sleep, leading to later bedtime and shorter night-time sleep duration6,7. Secondly, the content of the media may elevate psychological and physiological arousal, making it more difficult for children to fall asleep and reducing the quality of sleep28. Third, the bright blue light from screens can affect the circadian timing through melatonin suppression29,30, indirectly affecting arousal levels. Fourth, certain heritable traits in a child such as sensation seeking or hyperactivity, which correlate highly with his/her family environment, may also lead to both irregular sleep patterns and increased tablet use. As infants and toddlers have less control over their bedtime schedule, the displacement account is less likely to explain shorter sleep duration than in older children or adolescents, unless parents are, themselves inconsistent and irregular in their night-time routine. However, the portability of touchscreens does allow more flexibility in terms of where such devices are used. As such, some young children who have a touchscreen device in their bedroom may delay falling asleep in favor of playing on a touchscreen or even seek the device when restless in the night. Our finding of increased sleep latency could be due to increased physiological arousal from the media content or from the bright light. However, in the current study we are unable to confirm these hypotheses, as information on the time or nature of exposure is not available. Future research is needed to clarify this relationship by carefully documenting the time and content of use, and, if possible, also measure melatonin levels, physiological arousal and specific temperament traits. In addition to shorter night-time sleep, increased touchscreen use was also associated with increased daytime sleep. Similarly, increased background TV exposure (not necessarily TV that the child is watching) was also independently associated with reduced daytime sleep. Recent studies in toddlers suggest that daytime nap duration is negatively correlated with night-time sleep duration and sleep onset31. As such, touchscreen use may indirectly influence daytime sleep duration by reducing night-time sleep quality, or vice versa. This hypothesis would also be consistent with studies in older children, which found increased media use affecting daytime functioning due to indirect effects of poor quality and quantity of night-time sleep32. However, unlike school children, infants and toddlers regularly nap in the day. Thus, the indirect impact of media use on emotional and cognitive functioning through sleep might be lessened in this younger age group, as they are able to ‘catch up’ with their sleep during the day. Our findings indicate that this may not be the case, as despite on average sleeping more during the day, infants and toddlers who spend more time on a touchscreen still spend less overall time sleeping. Future studies that examine the impact of media use on developmental outcomes in this younger age group should take into account both daytime and night-time sleep duration. In addition to the quantity of sleep, Nakagawa and colleagues also reported an association between day time naps that occurred during late afternoon and shorter night-time sleep duration and late sleep onset time31. The extent to which increased touchscreen use affects timing of daytime naps cannot be determined in the present study, but warrants further investigation. Sleep fragmentation, as measured by the number of night awakenings, was not associated with touchscreen use in the current study, when controlling for the known confounds. Previous studies in older children and adolescents that included this variable have reported mixed results: while one study found a positive association between media use and self-report night-time awakenings in adolescents33, another study in younger children aged between 4 and 10 years did not34. However, sleep fragmentation in the previous and current study was based on self or parent-report, which may not be reliable. A recent study in infants using both parent-report and an objective actigraphy measure of sleep revealed a weak association between the two measures for the frequency of night awakening (r = 0.10), but a strong correlation for nocturnal sleep duration (r = 0.43)35. Furthermore, the objective measure of sleep fragmentation was also found to have the strongest impact on infant cognitive development35. Although we did not find an association between touchscreen use and sleep quality, this could be due to an underestimation of night awakenings by parent report. It is important that future studies also include an objective measure of sleep fragmentation, either using actigraphy or EEG measures. In this study, we included a range of specific sleep outcomes encompassing quality, quantity and onset of sleep. Our findings extend the limited knowledge at present on media use and sleep in toddlers beyond TV exposure. Yet, a few limitations should be noted. Firstly, our findings are based on cross-sectional data, therefore a directional relationship between touchscreen use and sleep cannot be established. It is possible that infants and toddlers who use touchscreen devices more frequently also require less sleep. Future longitudinal or intervention studies will be needed to examine the direction of causality. Secondly, as mentioned above, we did not include specific records of the timing, content and location of use. Such information would be crucial in future studies to elucidate the mechanisms by which touchscreen usage impacts sleep patterns. Previous studies in older children do suggest, however, that it is not the exposure to a media device per se that impacts sleep, but the modifiable aspects of media such as content, timing and environment that may have a damaging effect on sleep24. Third, the current study only investigated the association between touchscreen use and sleep, it will be important for future studies to establish whether this reduced sleep indirectly impacts cognitive functioning. It is worth noting that touchscreen use may also have positive effect on some aspects of development. In our recent study of the same sample of infants and toddlers, increased active touchscreen use was associated with earlier achievement in fine motor milestones12. Thus, total restriction of touchscreen use may limit young children in terms of the potential benefits of these devices. Together, our findings emphasize the need for a more in-depth understanding of how to maximize benefits and minimize negative consequences of this modern technology. ||||| Toddlers are fiddling more with tablets and smartphones during the day, and it's robbing them of sleep at night, a new study from England suggests. In the study, children ages 6 months to 3 years who spent more time playing with touch-screen devices during the day got less sleep overall and took longer to fall asleep, compared with the youngsters who used touch screens less frequently, the researchers found. The findings also showed that compared with the kids who used touch screens less frequently, the babies and small children who used touch screens more often slept more during the day but less at night, according to the study, published today (April 13) in the journal Scientific Reports. [7 Ways to Short-Circuit Kids' Mobile Addiction] This is the first study to look at the link between toddlers' touch-screen use and sleep, said lead study author Tim Smith, a lecturer in cognitive psychology at Birkbeck, University of London. Although the use of smartphones and tablets is widespread, little was known about the extent to which infants and toddlers were using touch-screen devices in the U.K. before the researchers carried out their study, Smith said. Still, despite a dearth of studies on the subject, parents had been advised to limit their small children's screen time due to concerns about its possible negative effects on sleep, he noted. In the new study, the researchers asked more than 700 families in the U.K. to complete an online questionnaire. This survey asked parents how often their youngsters played with a smartphone or tablet on a typical day. The parents also provided information about how much time their child spent sleeping, how often the child woke up each night and how long it took for the child to fall asleep. Previous studies in children and teens have shown that there's a connection between increased screen time and both a later bedtime and less shut-eye each night. But scientists had a limited understanding of the effects of touch-screen use on sleep in young children. The study found that infants that were 6 to 11 months old used touch screens for about 8 minutes a day, on average. Kids ages 12 to 18 months used them for an average of 19 minutes a day, and kids ages 19 to 25 months used them for 25 minutes a day on average. The 2-year-olds (older than 25 months) in the study logged about 44 minutes a day, on average, on the devices. And as touch-screen time increased among younger children, it cut into their sleep, the researchers found. Every additional hour of touch-screen use by young children was associated with 15.6 minutes less total sleep, according to the study. Specifically, each additional hour spent using a touch screen was linked to 26 fewer minutes of sleep at night, on average, and 11 more minutes of sleep during the day, on average, for a total of 15 fewer minutes of sleep overall. [25 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids] The researchers didn't look into why more use of tablets and smartphones interfered with sleep in young children. Other research, however, has suggested some possible ways that more screen time can affect sleep in older children and teens, and these factors may also affect younger children, the researchers noted. One explanation is that time spent using these devices cuts into the time available for older kids and teens to nod off, Smith told Live Science. In other words, instead of sleeping, adolescents are spending time on smartphones and tablets. In addition, using touch screens can stimulate a child mentally and physiologically, making it more difficult for them to fall asleep and preventing them from sleeping as well as they otherwise would, Smith said. Nor did the researchers look at whether the reduced amount of sleep in young children had a negative effect on their health, well-being or development, Smith said. But in future studies, the research team hopes to examine the long-term effects of touch-screen use on children's brains, development and cognitive abilities, he said. [11 Facts Every Parent Should Know About Their Baby's Brain] In the meantime, Smith said, the best guidelines for parents on electronic media use in children comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP advises limiting a child's overall use of these devices coupled with carefully supervising the activities that children are doing on these devices, he noted. It's also a good idea for children to avoid using smartphones and tablets in the hour before bedtime, Smith added. Originally published on Live Science.

– It's been established that screen time in its traditional form—think television and video games—is linked to sleep problems in kids, note researchers in introducing their more specific study: one that, for the first time, looks at touch-screen use among very young children. What they found is a link to poorer sleep, and it starts as early as infancy. Reporting in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers find that the more kids ages 6 months to 3 years use touch screens during the day, the longer it takes them to fall asleep and the less sleep they log in total. The study is observational and does not prove that the use of touch screens causes sleep issues, but researchers say the link warrants further study. According to a survey of 715 UK parents, kids 6 to 11 months old use touch screens (in the form of smartphones and/or tablets) an average of 8 minutes a day. That goes up to 19 minutes for kids ages 12 to 18 months, up again to 25 minutes for kids 19 to 25 months, and up again to 44 minutes for 2-year-olds, reports Live Science. Every hour of additional touch-screen use was associated with about 15 minutes less total sleep, though interestingly that increase in use was linked to 26 fewer minutes at night but 11 more during daytime napping. It's unclear why, though Gizmodo notes artificial lighting has been shown to disrupt the body's circadian rhythm and make it harder to fall asleep. (Less sleep in kids is linked to ADHD and behavioral problems.)

Beverly Young Nelson, left, speaks to the media with her lawyer Gloria Allred, at a news conference where she has accused Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually abusing her when she was 16 on November 13, 2017 in New York City. (Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images) WASHINGTON – Beverly Young Nelson, who accused Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 16, said Friday that she added words to the inscription she said was written by Moore in her 1977 yearbook. "I had wrote under it where it happened at," she said on Good Morning America. "I want to make this straight." Nelson claims that Moore inscribed the words: "To a sweeter, more beautiful girl I could not say, 'Merry Christmas' 1977. Love, Roy Moore." A last line, "12-22-1977 Old Hickory House" was also inscribed under Moore's signature. The inscription also included "D.A." Later on Friday, Nelson's lawyer Gloria Allred said that the additions were made to "remind herself of who Roy Moore was, and where and when Mr. Moore signed her yearbook." Last month, Nelson became the fifth woman to accuse Moore, the Republican running to fill Alabama's Senate seat, of sexual misconduct. She said Moore groped and assaulted her in an attempt to have sex with her when she was 16. Moore was 30 at the time and an assistant district attorney. Moore faces allegations of sexually harassing assaulting teenagers as young as 14 while he was in his 30s. When Nelson first came forward, she showed the message at a press conference with Allred. She said he wrote the inscription in the weeks before he attacked her. The yearbook has become a hot topic among Moore's supporters, who have questioned the authenticity of the signature. At Friday's press conference, Allred provided a report to reporters from a forensic document expert, who assessed that the signature in the yearbook was Moore's. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2B3WyyO ||||| FILE- In this Nov. 30, 2017 file photo, former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, in Dora, Ala. In the Alabama Senate race, national Democrats and the... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Nov. 30, 2017 file photo, former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, in Dora, Ala. In the Alabama Senate race, national Democrats and the liberal grassroots are treading lightly, trying not to sink Doug Jones' upset bid against Republican... (Associated Press) MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An attorney for a woman who says Roy Moore assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old waitress says a handwriting expert has confirmed that his inscription in her 1977 yearbook is authentic. Moore's campaign says the accuser's admission that she added the time and place of Moore's yearbook inscription in her own handwriting undermines her entire story. Beverly Nelson's high school yearbook has become key evidence supporting her claim that the 34-year-old prosecutor was a regular at the Olde Hickory House restaurant where she worked as a teenager — and where she says he attacked her in his car after she accepted his offer of a ride home one cold winter night. Moore has denied knowing Nelson, or the restaurant in Gadsden, for that matter. With just days to go before Tuesday's voting in Moore's Senate race against Democrat Doug Jones, his campaign has been roiled by this and other accusations of sexual misconduct decades ago. Moore has aggressively sought to discredit his accusers, suggesting that both establishment Republicans and liberals are behind the claims. Moore has posted on Twitter frequently about the yearbook, calling his signature a forgery. The inscription reads, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say, 'Merry Christmas.'" It is followed by the signature "Roy Moore D.A." and the notation "12-22-77 Olde Hickory House." Gloria Allred said Friday that a hired handwriting expert found the signature to be authentic. "We think it's important evidence that supports Beverly's statements that Roy Moore asked to sign her yearbook when she was just 16 years old. And it demonstrates that when Roy Moore stated, quote, 'I do not know any of these women,' end quote, that statement does not appear to be true," Allred said. Allred acknowledged that Nelson added the date and restaurant name below the signature. Moore's attorney Phillip Jauregui said Friday that this admission undermines the credibility of Nelson's account and shows that they weren't telling the truth at an initial press conference. "What they said then was either a lie or what they said today was a lie. The voters are going to have to decide, were they lying then, or are they lying now?" Jauregui said. He asked Allred to release the yearbook so an independent expert can evaluate the signature and notation. "Until they release the yearbook, all we know is, they're not telling the truth and they've lied," he said. At a rally Friday night in Pensacola, Florida, President Donald Trump taunted Nelson. "Did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made," Trump said, shifting to a sing-songy voice. "She started writing things in the yearbook." Trump had reinforced his support for Moore earlier Friday by tweeting a similar message. ||||| Beverly Nelson, who accuses Moore of assaulting her when she was 16, made annotations on the message Moore, then 32, allegedly wrote in her 1977 yearbook Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has branded one of his accusers a liar, after she admitted adding notes to a crucial piece of evidence. Steve Bannon champions Roy Moore and attacks Mitt Romney for not serving in military Read more Moore faces – and denies – multiple accusations of sexual misconduct towards teenage girls decades ago, including one involving a 14-year-old. Beverly Young Nelson was 16 when, she alleges, Moore groped her and tried to force her into a sex act in his car. Nelson has offered as evidence a 1977 high school yearbook that she says was signed by Moore. The inscription reads: “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore, DA. 12-22-77 Olde Hickory House.” Olde Hickory House was the restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama, where Nelson worked when Moore, in his 30s at the time, allegedly assaulted her. The entire note was initially implied to have been written by Moore, which he denied. Nelson acknowledged on Friday that the date and location annotations were hers. “He did sign it,” she told ABC News. When interviewer Tom Llamasput put to her, “And you made some notes underneath,” Nelson replied: “Yes.” In a Friday afternoon press conference in Atlanta, the attorney Gloria Allred announced that the inscription and signature had been analysed by Arthur Anthony, a forensic document expert. In his report, which Allred presented to reporters, Anthony concluded that the note and signature belonged to Moore. “The expert’s opinion is important [and] we hope that the voters of Alabama will take into consideration when they vote next Tuesday,” Allred said. “We look forward to learning if Alabama voters will believe Roy Moore’s accusers or if they will ignore the evidence presented to them and instead elect a man who denies the allegations against him and who attacks those who dare to tell what they say is the truth about Roy Moore.” We look forward to learning if Alabama voters will believe Roy Moore’s accusers or if they will ignore the evidence Gloria Allred, Nelson's lawyer Allred brushed off claims from Moore supporters that Nelson’s admission undermined the authenticity of the yearbook entry. “It is also a defamatory statement to accuse her of a crime,” Allred said. “So I would say that anyone who accuses her of a crime or me should proceed at their own risk and their own peril. And I would say such risk and such peril are significant under the circumstances.” Nelson showed reporters the yearbook, turning to the page where she says Moore signed it. She also pointed to a photo of Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, who Nelson said was in her class in high school. “I am a Republican who supported Mr Trump for president,” Nelson said. “I did so because I thought that he cared about people like me. I am very disappointed that I was wrong. “President Trump has chosen to support a powerful politician like Mr Moore over women like me who accuse Roy Moore of preying on them when they were in their teens.” But the issue of the yearbook annotations was seized on by Moore. “Now she herself admits to lying,” read part of a tweet from his account. “Let’s count how many national outlets will ignore the fact that she admits to lying.” At a press conference in Montgomery, lawyer Phillip Jauregui said that in her first media appearance with Nelson, Allred had claimed “with her client … nodding in agreement, that everything written on that page was written by Judge Moore. Well, today it’s a different story, isn’t it? They’re not saying that any more. They’re saying that parts of it were not written by Judge Moore. “We suspected it back then and we demanded that they turn over the yearbook so that we could test the ink, test the writing and test everything. We renew that demand today: release the yearbook so that an independent expert – not your paid expert – an independent expert, a neutral third-party custodian can take it and look at the ink so we can find out: is the ink a month old or is it 40 years old?” Jauregui added: “The truth is out there and until she releases the yearbook all we know is they’re not telling the truth and they’ve lied.” He left the room with taking questions. Moore was endorsed by Trump last weekend and is running ahead of Democrat Doug Jones in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s election. Trump tweeted on Friday: “LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!” In her ABC interview, Nelson said: “Is the party more important really than what happened? I feel like my incident is being swept under the rug, literally, because he’s a Republican.” Nelson, who went public after the Washington Post reported on allegations made by four women, added: “It sickens me to wonder what may go on with him if he gets into office.” She said Moore offered her a ride home after work but instead parked the car and tried to assault her. He told her not tell anyone about the alleged incident, she said. “He could be doing this still,” Nelson added. “We don’t know. And, then again, I hope that he’s changed. I pray that he’s changed. I really do.” Moore has been embroiled in fresh controversy over comments he made at a rally in September. Asked by an African American member of the audience when he thought America was great, the former judge reportedly answered: “I think it was great at the time when families were united – even though we had slavery – they cared for one another. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.” The president was set to hold a Friday night rally in Pensacola, Florida, near the Alabama border.

– It's likely the most talked about 1977 yearbook in the country, and that status only intensified on Friday. Roy Moore accuser Beverly Young Nelson has said Moore signed her yearbook while pursuing a sexual relationship with her when she was 16; she accuses him of sexually assaulting her in a parking lot after offering her a ride home from the restaurant where she worked. Moore has demanded Nelson hand over the yearbook so an expert can examine it. In an appearance on Good Morning America Friday, Nelson admitted to elaborating on the inscription herself. She says Moore wrote this: "To a sweeter, more beautiful girl I could not say, 'Merry Christmas' 1977. Love, Roy Moore D.A." But she says she wrote "12-22-1977 Old Hickory House," which appears below the signature. Nelson says he signed her yearbook before the alleged assault. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, later on Friday said Nelson added to the inscription to "remind herself of who Roy Moore was, and where and when Mr. Moore signed her yearbook," reports USA Today. The Guardian notes Olde Hickory House was the restaurant Nelson worked at in Gadsden, Alabama. It adds that until Friday, "the entire note was initially assumed to have been written by Moore" (though the added portion is written in a different hand). The AP reports Moore has said he doesn't know Nelson or that restaurant. Allred says a handwriting expert has verified the signature as Moore's; Moore's campaign counters that Nelson's admission indicates they lied when they initially presented the yearbook. "What they said then was either a lie or what they said today was a lie," says Moore's lawyer.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| President Obama sat down for a 45-minute interview with Charlie Rose, which aired Monday night. Below are the highlights, pulled from a transcript of the interview provided to Post Politics: 1. On NSA surveillance programs: "But I think it’s fair to say that there're going to be folks on the left [criticizing me]. And what amuses me is now folks on the right who are fine when there’s a Republican president, but now, Obama’s coming in with the black helicopters." 2. And: Some people say, 'Well, you know, Obama was this raving liberal before. Now he's, you know, Dick Cheney.' Dick Cheney sometimes says, 'Yeah, you know? He took [the Bush-Cheney approach] all lock, stock and barrel.” My concern has always been not that we shouldn't do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism, but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances." 3. And: "...They'll say ... when you start looking at metadata, even if you don't know the names, you can match it up ... and you can yield all this information. All of that is true, except for the fact that for the government, under the program right now, to do that it would be illegal. We would not be allowed to do that." 4. On his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping about alleged cyberattacks by the Chinese: "We had a very blunt conversation about cybersecurity. ... You know, when you’re having a conversation like this, I don’t think you ever expect a Chinese leader to say, you know what, 'You’re right. You’ve caught us red-handed.'" 5. On similarities between Iraq 2003 and Syria 2013: "Now, on the other side there are folks who say, you know, 'We are so scarred from Iraq. We should have learned our lesson. We should not have anything to do with it.' Well, I reject that view as well because the fact of the matter is that we've got serious interests there. And not only humanitarian interests; we can't have the situation of ongoing chaos in a major country that borders a country like Jordan which in turn borders Israel. And we have a legitimate need to be engaged and to be involved." 6. On arming Syrian rebels: "And one of the challenges that we have is that some of the most effective fighters within the opposition have been those who frankly are not particularly [friendly] towards the United States of America, and arming them willy-nilly is not a good recipe for meeting American interests over the long term." 7. And: "...This argument that somehow we had gone in earlier or heavier in some fashion, that the tragedy and chaos taking place in Syria wouldn’t be taking place, I think is wrong. ... The fact of the matter is, the way these situations get resolved is politically. And the people who are being suppressed inside of Syria who develop into a military opposition -- these folks are carpenters and blacksmiths and dentists. These aren’t professional fighters. The notion that there was some professional military inside of Syria for us to immediately support a year ago or two years ago [is wrong]." 8. On Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: "But what's been clear is that Assad, at this point -- in part because of his support from Iran and from Russia -- believes that he does not have to engage in a political transition, believes that he can continue to simply violently suppress over half of the population. And as long as he’s got that mind-set, it’s going to be very difficult to resolve the situation there." 9. On negotiating with new Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani, and whether Obama would insist on preconditions: "I do think that there's a possibility that they decide -- the Iranians decide to take us up on our offer to engage in a more serious substantive way. ... I think that my general view is, we are open to discussions -- both through the P5+1 and through potential bilateral channels -- and we recognize that you're not going to solve problems all upfront, as a precondition for talks." ||||| Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com ||||| NSA leaker Edward Snowden summarized many people’s feelings toward President Obama when he said he had “believed in Obama’s promises,” but after the election, “He continued with the policies of his predecessor.” In a 45-minute interview with Charlie Rose on Monday night, Obama challenged the idea that he’s just “Bush-Cheney lite,” as Rose put it. The president suggests the biggest difference is that he’s more thoughtful than his predecessor; he’s not charging into Syria on skimpy evidence, and he’s added oversight to the NSA’s spy programs to protect civil liberties. “Some people say, ‘Well, you know, Obama was this raving liberal before. Now he’s, you know, Dick Cheney,’ ” Obama quipped. “Dick Cheney sometimes says, ‘Yeah, you know? He took it all lock, stock, and barrel.’” In his remarks on the NSA, most of which were leaked this afternoon, Obama argued that unlike Bush, he’s ensured that all of the government spying on his watch was approved by Congress and the secret FISA court. “My concern has always been not that we shouldn’t do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism, but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances?” said Obama. He added, “I think it’s fair to say that there are going to be folks on the left – and what amuses me is now folks on the right who are fine when there’s a Republican president, but now, Obama’s coming in with the black helicopters.” The first half of the interview was devoted to Syria, and President Obama’s decision last week to arm the rebels for the first time, though he objected to the idea that this is a “new policy,” and pointed out that he’s only said he’s “ramping up” military support (officials say that means sending weapons). Still, Obama shot down the idea that he’s been too hesitant on Syria: This argument that somehow we had gone in earlier or heavier in some fashion, that the tragedy and chaos taking place in Syria wouldn’t be taking place, I think is wrong. … The fact of the matter is, the way these situations get resolved is politically. And the people who are being suppressed inside of Syria who develop into a military opposition — these folks are carpenters and blacksmiths and dentists. These aren’t professional fighters. The notion that there was some professional military inside of Syria for us to immediately support a year ago or two years ago [is wrong]. Obama also noted that the U.S. has taken time to forge relationships with more moderate rebel groups, as opposed to those affiliated with Al Qaeda. “One of the challenges that we have is that some of the most effective fighters within the opposition have been those who frankly are not particularly [friendly] towards the United States of America, and arming them willy-nilly is not a good recipe for meeting American interests over the long term,” said Obama. The president went on to address those who make the opposite argument, saying there should be more aggressive intervention. Obama rattled off a list of the potential consequences of making a bad call in Syria, and said that unless you’ve been poring over intelligence in the Situation Room, “it’s kind of hard for you to understand the complexities of the situation.” He added, “We know what it’s like to rush into a war in the Middle East without having thought it through.” Despite the dig at John McCain and his hawkish brethren, Obama claimed that he embraces criticism, unlike our last president. “I think this is a healthy thing, because it’s a sign of maturity that this debate would not have been taking place five years ago. And I welcome it. I really do,” said Obama. “It’s useful to have a bunch of critics out there who are checking government power, who are making sure we’re doing things right, so that if we’ve triple checked how we’re operating any one of these programs, let’s go quadruple check it. And I’m comfortable with that, and I’m glad to see that we are starting to do that.”

– Appearing on Charlie Rose last night, President Obama had a few things to clear up: First, he's not, as Rose put it, "Bush-Cheney lite." "Some people say, 'Well, you know, Obama was this raving liberal before. Now he’s, you know, Dick Cheney,'" Obama said. "Dick Cheney sometimes says, 'Yeah, you know? He took it all lock, stock, and barrel.'" But Obama argued that he takes a different approach than that of his predecessors, the Daily Intelligencer notes. "What amuses me is now folks on the right who are fine when there’s a Republican president, but now, Obama’s coming in with the black helicopters," he says. His administration's version of government surveillance, he said, has congressional and secret-court approval—contrasting with Bush's. "My concern has always been not that we shouldn’t do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism, but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances?" Further, "The way I view it, my job is both to protect the American people and to protect the American way of life, which includes our privacy." Other key moments from the conversation: Should we avoid Syria completely after Iraq? No, Obama said, per the Washington Post: "We’ve got serious interests there. And not only humanitarian interests; we can’t have the situation of ongoing chaos in a major country that borders a country like Jordan, which in turn borders Israel." On the other hand, "This argument that somehow had we gone in earlier or heavier in some fashion, that the tragedy and chaos taking place in Syria wouldn’t be taking place, I think is wrong ... The fact of the matter is, the way these situations get resolved is politically." The Wall Street Journal hears Obama hinting it's time for Ben Bernanke to leave as Fed chief: Though an "outstanding partner," he "has already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to."

during treatment for pancreatic cancer , local failure is a major component of disease progression ( 30%-50%)@xmath0 . to that end , clinicians have begun to pursue intensified radiotherapy regimens to improve patient outcomes@xmath1 . stereotactic body radiation therapy ( sbrt)@xmath2 is especially appealing as a means of intensifying local therapy , and in recent years , encouraging clinical outcomes after sbrt for pancreas cancer have been reported from numerous centers@xmath3 . sbrt relies on accurate delivery of ablative , conformal doses to the target ; however , dose escalation in pancreatic cancer is complicated by the respiratory - induced motion of the abdomen . the pancreas undergoes significant breathing - induced motion as a result of respiratory activity ( as high as 2 - 3 cm ) , which necessitates expansion of the treatment margins@xmath4 . additionally , the pancreas resides in close proximity to the duodenum and stomach , which are radiosensitive organs that , if damaged , can result in significant gastrointestinal ( gi ) toxicity@xmath5 . under these conditions , pancreatic sbrt must balance a tradeoff between ensuring coverage of the mobile tumor while still limiting dose to nearby sensitive organs . compensation for respiratory motion is often accomplished using 4-dimensional computed tomography ( 4dct)@xmath6 . by acquiring a series of 3d anatomical images throughout the respiratory cycle , 4dct allows for the generation of a treatment volume which encompasses the entire range of motion of the tumor . 4dct is used extensively to account for motion in treatment of thoracic and abdominal tumors , and generates accurate and reproducible data concerning lung and liver tumor motion@xmath7 . pancreatic tumors , on the other hand , tend to exhibit respiratory motion with more unstable , inconsistent qualities@xmath8 . as a result , recent studies have demonstrated discrepancies between pancreatic motion predicted by 4dct and motion observed during treatment . et al _ demonstrated that , in the majority of patients , pancreatic tumors could be found outside the bounds set by 4dct over 10% of the time during treatment@xmath9 , and ge _ et al _ found that 4dct underestimated the safety margin needed to account for superior - inferior motion by an average of 4 mm@xmath10 . this lack of an accurate tool to measure and compensate for patient - specific pancreatic motion further hinders the ability to escalate dose , as additional safety margins must be added to the target volume to account for these uncertainties . the aim of this study was to improve pancreatic sbrt by better understanding and accounting for motion . to analyze the inaccuracies of 4dct , the motion of pancreatic tumors was measured using a novel mathematical method based on projection imaging . based on this motion , we developed metrics which predict whether the motion observed during treatment will deviate from the motion observed during 4dct imaging . finally , we investigated an adaptive treatment protocol which uses patient - specific respiratory information to derive individualized margins . 14 patients were treated for pancreatic carcinoma between october 2012 and february 2014 . prior to treatment , ct simulation was performed to acquire a 3d ct for dose calculation and a 4-dimensional ct ( 4dct ) for respiratory motion measurement . an abdominal bellows system was used to record the respiratory signal , and the acquired data were sorted into 10 phases based on temporal steps from maximal inspiration to another . 3d and 4dct images were reconstructed with a slice thickness of 3 mm . in the 4dct , the speed of table translation was set according to the patient s breathing rate , such that each voxel in the image was under irradiation for one full breathing cycle . tumors were located either in the head ( n=11 ) or body ( n=3 ) of the pancreas , and 30 gy was prescribed in 5 fractions to an internal target volume ( itv ) which encompassed the range of motion observed on pre - treatment 4-dimensional ct ( 4dct ) . additionally , the itv was expanded using patient - specific , 0 - 5 mm anisotropic margins to form the planning target volume ( ptv ) . for the purpose of this study , clinical tumor volumes ( ctv ) were also drawn on the 3d ct as part of our dosimetric analysis . to assist with localization , patients were implanted with radiopaque fiducial markers under endoscopic ultrasound guidance . the cylindrical markers were approximately 5 mm long with a < 1 mm diameter , and were composed either of gold ( 10 patients ) or titanium with a carbon coating ( 4 patients ) . markers were implanted into the pancreatic periphery via trans - gastric insertions though duodenum , and during simulation and treatment , 1 - 6 markers ( median=3 ) were present in the tumor . patients were simulated and treated under free - breathing , and cone - beam ct ( cbct ) was used to localize the target before treatment . in each patient , 5 - 7 cbct images were acquired over the course of treatment ( median=6 ) . pre - treatment 4dct images were imported into the mim software system ( mim software inc , cleveland , oh ) for analysis . each image consisted of 10 respiratory phases ; in each phase , the fiducial markers were contoured and the locations of the marker centroids were calculated . these centroid positions were used to calculate the motion of the fiducial markers in the 4dct images . figure 1 shows the approximate location of these tumors , and displays the motion of these tumors as observed in 4dct images . the daily trajectory of the tumor throughout the cbct acquisition was calculated using a previously developed and validated method@xmath11 . this technique was based on the work of poulsen _ _ et a__l@xmath12 and proceeded as follows . cbct images are formed from multiple 2d projection images acquired over time ; in our method , each projection constitutes a measurement of the tumor position . during cbct acquisition , approximately 650 projection images were acquired over a 2 minute timeframe . this method calculates the 3d position of the tumor ( in patient geometry ) using the position of the radiopaque fiducial markers in these projection images , and proceeds as follows . first , the image locations of the fiducial markers were determined automatically in each projection using a template matching algorithm . the location of the fiducial in the projection images confines the marker to lie along a line connecting the x - ray source to the point of detection in the imager . this measurement was also corrected for the effect of gantry sag . next , a 3d gaussian probability distribution function was computed for the daily tumor position distribution over all 650 images . this distribution was calculated through maximum - likelihood optimization in order to best fit the observed locations measured in the projection images . finally , for each sampled position , the position of the marker was calculated in the patient by finding the most likely position along the line of detection ( according to the gaussian pdf ) . since pancreatic tumors are highly mobile ( due to respiration ) , this analysis was performed independently for each phase of the breathing cycle . respiratory phases were determined using the superior - inferior position of the fiducial markers in the projection images , and projections were sorted using temporal phase - binning . this model was implemented using an in - house matlab program ( the mathworks , natick , ma ) . by applying this model , the daily trajectory of the tumor for each fraction of treatment was calculated . a total of 81 cbct datasets were analyzed , each containing roughly 650 projections acquired over 2 minutes . the fiducial marker positions determined by the automated template matching algorithm were manually reviewed to ensure accuracy , and errors greater than two pixels were corrected ( the position was determined correctly in roughly 95% of the projections ) . using our method , each cbct projection constituted a measurement of the tumor position in patient geometry ( given by coordinates in the anterior - posterior , left - right , and superior - inferior directions , ap / lr / si ) , otherwise known as the `` tumor trajectory . '' the tumor position was measured roughly five times per second , and a full dataset encompassed 30 - 50 respiratory cycles . note that this is substantially more than the 4dct , where each voxel contains motion information from only one respiratory cycle . fourier spectrum analysis was used to understand and measure the consistency of respiration between patients . for each tumor trajectory , the fourier transform of tumor motion in the si direction over time was calculated . figure 2 shows these trajectory data for a `` consistent '' and `` inconsistent '' breather . note that the spectrum of the consistent breather is dominated by a single frequency ( 0.3 hz , or 18 breaths per minute ) , whereas in the inconsistent breather , many frequencies ultimately contribute to the motion . we propose to use a metric , spectral coherence , to describe this behavior . given some threshold value n , spectral coherence ( sc ) is equal to the fraction of the spectrum with fourier transform values below n. as sc approaches 100% , the respiratory spectrum is dominated by fewer and fewer frequencies . likewise , lower values of sc indicate multiple respiratory frequencies contributing to tumor motion . in this work , the discrete fourier transform was calculated from 0 to 2.565 hz in intervals of 0.005 hz . each patient - specific trajectory exhibited at least some degree of respiratory inconsistency , and so the specific value of the threshold n determined what magnitude of consistency was considered meaningful . in this study , the value of n was used which maximized the ability of sc to predict motion inconsistencies ( i.e. maximize the correlation coefficient between sc and trajectory errors ) . to cross - validate this value , bootstrap re - sampling was performed . in this analysis , 10,000 random datasets were created by sampling ( with replacement ) from the full set of 81 tumor trajectories . in clinical practice , 4dct is often the gold standard for understanding and accounting for motion of the tumor during treatment . to measure the effects of motion in our pancreatic patients , several metrics were calculated using the difference in expected position ( from 4dct ) and actual position ( using the tumor trajectory measured during cbct acquisition ) . the position of the tumor ( either in 4dct images or daily trajectories ) was calculated as the mean position of all fiducial markers . this analysis treats the tumor as a rigid volume , and assumes that the fiducial markers do not migrate significantly between simulation and treatment@xmath13 . to test this assumption , the differences in position between each marker were calculated in the planning ct and each cbct . no changes greater than 0.5 mm were observed , which excludes the presence of any migration or deformation greater than this distance and validates our assumptions of rigidity . the 4dct trajectory described the motion of the tumor during ten phases of the respiratory cycle , and the daily trajectory described the daily motion of the tumor ( 650 samples over 2 minutes , across roughly 20 - 40 complete respiratory cycles ) . after binning the daily trajectory into the same ten phases as the 4dct , the error in position at each point in the trajectory was given as the absolute distance to the expected 4dct position ( for that phase ) . these values were computed relative to the centroid of tumor motion . by taking the mean absolute difference across the entire daily trajectory , the `` mean trajectory error '' was calculated . this metric describes the average magnitude of the displacement between the 4dct position and the actual position at a given moment in time . to evaluate the dosimetry of a given tumor motion trajectory , a hypothetical clinical scenario was considered . the clinically - drawn ctv was expanded using the observed 4dct motion to form a simulated itv . this itv was then expanded by some anisotropic margin to form a simulated ptv . the ctv ( a surrogate for the gross tumor ) underwent the daily motion trajectory calculated from the cbct projections ; for each measured position in the trajectory , the position of the ctv relative to its center was given by the calculated tumor position relative to the mean position . based on this translation , the position of each voxel in the ctv was calculated . the ptv was stationary with respect to the mean ctv position ; in other words , as the ctv moved with respiration , the ptv remained stationary in absolute space . to simplify the model , and to exaggerate differences between different trajectories and margin strategies , the dose within the ptv was assumed to equal the prescription , with zero dose outside the ptv . based on the ctv location relative to the ptv , the dose was calculated for each voxel in the ctv . the predictive power of spectral coherence was investigated by retrospectively implementing an adaptive protocol to account for patient - specific motion inconsistencies . the 4dct - based ctv volumes were used as target volumes . in the non - adaptive case , the itv - to - ptv margin was equal to 3 mm in the ap / lr directions and 5 mm in the si direction . in the adaptive case , margins were adjusted for each patient according to sc . in patients with consistent breathing , the margin for all fractions was lowered to 3 mm in the si direction ; in cases with less consistent breathing , the margin was increased to 7 mm in the si direction . specifically , margins were expanded for patients in the lower quartile of sc , contracted in the upper quartile , and remained the same in the middle 50% . dose - volume histograms were computed to compare the results of the adaptive and non - adaptive protocol . differences in the adaptive and non - adaptive protocols were compared using a paired t - test . using the projection dataset from each cbct acquisition , the daily trajectories of each tumor were reconstructed . the daily motion amplitude ( in the ap , lr , and si directions ) was computed from these trajectories . to exclude transient breathing excursions and/or outliers , the daily amplitude was computed for each dataset as the distance encompassing 95% of the measured positions , and was averaged for each patient across all fractions of treatment . figure 3 compares this daily amplitude to the predicted motion from 4dct imaging . 4dct significantly underestimated the amplitude of motion ( p < 0.01 ) , and the mean differences from the measured daily amplitude were 3.0 mm ( ap ) , 2.3 mm ( lr ) , and 3.5 mm ( si ) . figure 4 shows the tumor trajectories in the si direction for all fractions of treatment in all patients . first , these data provide further confirmation as to the inaccuracies of 4dct in predicting motion of pancreatic tumors . each dot represents one measurement of the tumor position , and each measurement beyond the 4dct margins represents a moment when the observed daily motion exceeded the pre - treatment prediction . figure 4 also highlights the large differences in motion between different patients . moreover , these data demonstrate the consistency of motion within each individual patient ; in particular , the relative stability of the uncertainty in si tumor position ( defined here as 1 standard deviation of the si trajectory ) . across all datasets , the uncertainty of a single trajectory differed from that patient s average uncertainty by 8.3% @xmath14 7.4% . the optimum value of the threshold n ( for the calculation of sc ) in our dataset was 0.075 cm , equal roughly to the 98th percentile of values in the fourier transform ( i.e. only 2% of respiratory frequencies had amplitudes greater than this value in the fourier analysis ) . from bootstrap resampling analysis , the standard deviation in the optimum threshold was 0.016 cm , with a 95% confidence interval of 0.029 0.086 cm . across all trajectories , the mean sc value was 0.980 0.011 ( range , 0.949 0.996 ) . the average difference between sc from a single fraction and that patient s average sc was 0.004 , whereas the standard deviation of mean sc between patients was 0.011 . in other words , the deviations in sc between patients were substantially larger than the deviations in sc in a single patient . note that since n is derived from the fft , it depends on the sampling interval ( 5.48 hz in this dataset ) . figure 5 shows the relationship between mean trajectory error and spectral coherence ( sc ) . these data demonstrate a strong correlation between sc ( a measure of respiratory consistency ) and mean trajectory error ( which quantifies differences between 4dct and observed daily motion ) . sc explains a large fraction of the variability in mean trajectory error ( r2 = 0.491 ) , and the 95% prediction interval for a given sc value is 2.1 mm . in addition , it was seen that sc added predictive value over the more straightforward approach of using the magnitude of motion as a predictor of trajectory error . the correlation coefficient between motion magnitude and mean trajectory error was r=0.55 ( compared to r=0.70 for sc ) . additionally , there was less than 10% deviation in correlation between sc and mean trajectory error across the 95% confidence interval of the threshold n. a strong correlation was also seen between sc and dosimetric quantities d90 ( r=0.75 ) , d95 ( r=0.77 ) , d99 ( r=0.78 ) , and minimum dose ( r=0.79 ) . these dose metrics were calculated using the simplified clinical model which incorporates the measured motion trajectories ( sect _ dosimetric calculations _ ) . table 1 shows the results of the sc - based adaptive protocol . in the adaptive scenario , itv - to - ptv margins were expanded for patients with in the lower quartile of mean sc , and shrunk in trajectories in the upper quartile of mean sc . d90 , d95 , and d99 were significantly increased under the adaptive protocol . also , minimum target dose trended towards a significant increase . in the adaptive case , the average margin was the same as in the non - adaptive case ; however , by using sc to selectively add or spare margins based on the consistency of breathing , the treatments were improved . .adaptive treatment based on spectral coherence improves dosimetry . in the non - adaptive case , ctv - to - ptv margins were 3 mm in the lr / ap directions , and 5 mm in the si direction . in the adaptive case , si margins were decreased 2 mm for the upper quartile of sc , and increased 2 mm in the lower quartile of sc . [ cols="<,^,^,^",options="header " , ] by combining high doses per fraction with small target volumes , sbrt can achieve large dose gradients between a tumor and the surrounding normal tissue . however , accurate and conformal dose delivery is crucial to the success of sbrt , and motion of the tumor presents a challenge to this therapy by blurring the boundary between these structures . in our patients , 4dct was unable to accurately measure and account for this motion ; on average , the motion of the tumor on the day of treatment exceeded the motion measured from 4dct by 3.0 mm , 2.3 mm , and 3.5 mm in the ap , lr , and si directions . these results agree well with previously published studies on pancreatic motion@xmath15 , and serve to further confirm the drawbacks of 4dct in abdominal imaging . the cause of these discrepancies is unknown ; however , there are several plausible explanations . 4dct uses external surrogates of motion ( such as a chest block or bellows ) to determine respiratory phase , and this motion may not correlate with the actual internal motion ( as seen in this study ) . moreover , 4dct images are formed from only a handful of respiratory cycles , and if breathing in a given patient is inconsistent from cycle to cycle then 4dct data would be a poor representation of the motion over a longer time period . respiratory coaching may limit this effect . in addition , it is possible that some patients may exhibit motion changes in the time interval between simulation and treatment ; however , this is less likely given the relative stability of motion observed from day - to - day of treatment ( fig 4 ) . we propose the use of spectral coherence ( sc ) to better account for patient - specific difference in pancreatic tumor motion , a metric which describes the relative contribution of different frequencies within the respiratory cycle to the overall motion of the tumor . patients with consistent breathing exhibit respiratory - induced tumor motion which is dominated by a single ( coherent ) frequency , whereas in patients with inconsistent breathing , many different frequencies of motion contribute significantly to the observed tumor path . daily respiratory inconsistencies are comprised of varying respiratory amplitudes , baseline shifts , and varying respiratory periods ; although sc can not differentiate between these different factors affecting motion inconsistencies , it distills information regarding this inconsistency into a single parameter , from which a clinical judgment can be made . our results show that daily sc is highly correlated with deviations from 4dct motion . additionally , in a simplified clinical scenario to determine the dosimetric effect of that motion , sc was also highly correlated with d90 , d95 , d99 , and minimum dose to the tumor . our calculations depend on the specific value n chosen as the threshold for computation of sc ; in our analysis it was shown that the ability of sc to predict trajectory errors is stable across the 95% confidence interval of the value for n ( 0.075 cm ) used in this study . these results also demonstrate the clinical relevance of sc . in a hypothetical adaptive protocol , the average tumor dosimetry was improved by expanding and contracting the ptv margins in cases with low and high sc , respectively . the utility of this approach is twofold . by identifying patients with consistent breathing and shrinking the size of treatment volumes in these cases , sc points towards cases where dose escalation may be beneficial . likewise , by identifying patients with inconsistent breathing , it is possible to design treatment volumes that better cover the full range of tumor motion . it remains to be seen how best to measure sc clinically . in this study , sc was measured from trajectories derived from cbct acquisitions , and in these cases no sc information is available until the first fraction of treatment . however , within a single patient , it was observed that the motion remained stable throughout all fractions of treatment , and it was seen that the trajectory derived from a single day s cbct acquisition can predict the general characteristics of that patient s future trajectories with an error of roughly 10% . for patients receiving three to five fractions of sbrt , this suggests that it may be possible to adapt the course of treatment based on respiratory motion observed during the initial fraction . a better workflow would be to measure sc pre - treatment , and it is possible , in theory , to measure sc using fluoroscopic imaging at the time of simulation . however , this extra pre - treatment imaging may constitute an additional burden to the patient . using projection imaging , the daily motion of 14 pancreatic tumors undergoing sbrt was measured immediately prior to each fraction of treatment . the amplitude of this motion exceeded the predictions of pre - treatment 4dct imaging by an average of 3.0 mm , 2.3 mm , and 3.5 mm in the ap , lr , and si directions . we developed a fourier - based approach which differentiates between consistent and inconsistent motion characteristics of respiration using a quantity termed spectral coherence ( sc ) . lower values of sc were strongly associated with larger deviations in motion from 4dct predictions , and sc was positively correlated with improvements in target dosimetry . the feasibility of an sc - based adaptive protocol was demonstrated , and this patient - specific respiratory information was used to improve target dosimetry by expanding coverage in inconsistent breathers while shrinking treatment volumes in consistent breathers . this work was funded in part by the national institutes of health under award number k12ca086913 , and by an award from varian medical systems . these funding sources had no involvement in the study design ; in the collection , analysis and interpretation of data ; in the writing of the manuscript ; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication . [ 1 ] willett cg , czito bg , bendell jc ryan dp . locally advanced pancreatic cancer . journal of clinical oncology 2005;23:4538 - 4544 . [ 3 ] koong ac , le qt , ho a , et al . phase i study of stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer . international journal of radiation oncology * biology * physics 2004;58:1017 - 1021 . [ 5 ] koong ac , christofferson e , le qt , et al . phase ii study to assess the efficacy of conventionally fractionated radiotherapy followed by a stereotactic radiosurgery boost in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer . international journal of radiation oncology * biology * physics 2005;63:320 - 323 . [ 6 ] mahadevan a , miksad r , goldstein m , et al . induction gemcitabine and stereotactic body radiotherapy for locally advanced nonmetastatic pancreas cancer . int j rad oncol * biol * phys 2011;81:e615-e622 . [ 7 ] chuong md , springett gm , freilich jm , et al . stereotactic body radiation therapy for locally advanced and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer is effective and well tolerated . international journal of radiation oncology * biology * physics 2013;86:516 - 522 . [ 11 ] mori s , hara r , yanagi t , et al . four - dimensional measurement of intrafractional respiratory motion of pancreatic tumors using a 256 multi - slice ct scanner . radiotherapy and oncology 2009;92:231 - 237 . [ 12 ] minn ay , schellenberg d , maxim p , et al . pancreatic tumor motion on a single planning 4d - ct does not correlate with intrafraction tumor motion during treatment . american journal of clinical oncology 2009;32:364 . [ 13 ] ge j , santanam l , noel c parikh pj . planning 4-dimensional computed tomography ( 4dct ) can not adequately represent daily intrafractional motion of abdominal tumors . int j rad oncol * biol * phys 2012 . [ 15 ] guckenberger m , wilbert j , meyer j , baier k , richter a flentje m. is a single respiratory correlated 4d - ct study sufficient for evaluation of breathing motion ? international journal of radiation oncology*biology*physics 2007;67:1352 - 1359 . [ 16 ] guckenberger m , sweeney ra , wilbert j , et al . image - guided radiotherapy for liver cancer using respiratory - correlated computed tomography and cone - beam computed tomography . ijrobp 2008;71:297 - 304 . [ 17 ] feng m , balter jm , normolle d , et al . characterization of pancreatic tumor motion using cine mri : surrogates for tumor position should be used with caution . international journal of radiation oncology * biology * physics 2009;74:884 - 891 . [ 20 ] poulsen pr , cho b keall pj . a method to estimate mean position , motion magnitude , motion correlation , and trajectory of a tumor from cone - beam ct projections for image - guided radiotherapy . international journal of radiation oncology * biology * physics 2008;72:1587 - 1596 . [ 22 ] sanders mk , moser aj , khalid a , et al . eus - guided fiducial placement for stereotactic body radiotherapy in locally advanced and recurrent pancreatic cancer . gastrointestinal endoscopy 2010;71:1178 - 1184 .

* purpose : * recent studies suggest that 4dct is unable to accurately measure respiratory - induced pancreatic tumor motion . in this work , we assessed the daily motion of pancreatic tumors treated with sbrt , and developed adaptive strategies to predict and account for this motion . * methods * : the daily motion trajectory of pancreatic tumors during cbct acquisition was calculated using a model which reconstructs the instantaneous 3d position in each 2d cbct projection image . we developed a metric ( termed `` spectral coherence , '' sc ) based on the fourier frequency spectrum of motion in the si direction , and analyzed the ability of sc to predict motion - based errors and classify patients according to motion characteristics . * results * : the amplitude of daily motion exceeded the predictions of pre - treatment 4dct imaging by an average of 3.0 mm , 2.3 mm , and 3.5 mm in the ap / lr / si directions . sc was correlated with daily motion differences and tumor dose coverage . in a simulated adaptive protocol , target margins were adjusted based on sc , resulting in significant increases in mean target d95 , d99 , and minimum dose . * conclusions * : our fourier - based approach differentiates between consistent and inconsistent motion characteristics of respiration and correlates with daily motion deviations from pre - treatment 4dct . the feasibility of an sc - based adaptive protocol was demonstrated , and this patient - specific respiratory information was used to improve target dosimetry by expanding coverage in inconsistent breathers while shrinking treatment volumes in consistent breathers . _ this manuscript was submitted to radiotherapy and oncology _

the optical colour magnitude relation ( cmr ) shows that brighter early - type galaxies are also redder @xcite , and is traditionally regarded as arising from the mass metallicity sequence ( cf . @xcite , @xcite ) . gas loss , caused by supernova wind , occurs earlier in less massive galaxies . therefore , a smaller fraction of gas is processed before being expelled from the less massive galaxy @xcite , resulting in lower average metallicities @xcite . @xcite found a very small intrinsic scatter in the @xmath5@xmath6 cmr ( @xmath20.05 mag ) and , due to the sensitivity of the @xmath5 band to the presence of young stars , interpreted this as a small age dispersion . age and metallicity are observed to have the same effect on broadband optical colours , whereas spectral line indices can be used to break the degeneracy @xcite . @xcite claimed that the cmr is driven by metallicity variations with luminosity , although @xcite found evidence for a strong age mass relation in addition to this metallicity mass trend ( see also @xcite , @xcite ) . the ultraviolet optical cmr for non - star - forming galaxies has an intrinsic scatter an order of magnitude larger than its optical counterpart ; @xmath20.5 mag compared to 0.05 mag ( e.g. @xcite ) . hot young stellar populations dominate the ultraviolet ( uv ) flux for @xmath2100 myr after an episode of star formation ( ten times longer than h@xmath4 emission after star formation ; @xcite ) . the large intrinsic scatter in the uv cmr is therefore often interpreted as differing quantities of very recent , albeit low level , star formation @xcite . in intermediate age populations ( @xmath213 gyr ) , the near - uv ( nuv ; 20003000 ) flux is dominated by hot stars on the main sequence turn - off ( e.g. * ? ? ? the sensitivity of the turn - off to the epoch of formation emphasises the importance of the uv bands for age determination @xcite . old ( @xmath210 gyr ) metal - poor populations have a significant uv flux contribution from very hot ( @xmath7 @xmath2 10000k ) blue horizontal branch ( bhb ) stars @xcite . however these tend to reside in globular clusters or galactic haloes ( where fe / h @xmath8 ) , where they are useful age indicators @xcite , rather than in relatively metal - rich elliptical galaxies . the uv picture is further complicated by the presence of the ultraviolet upturn ( or uv excess , uvx ) phenomenon . first observed by @xcite , this unanticipated upturn dominates the far - uv ( fuv ; @xmath9 2000 ) in uvx galaxies . in contrast , the nuv can be decomposed into two separate components : the blue end of the main sequence / subgiant branch , and the uvx contribution @xcite . @xcite found that the uvx can sometimes be appreciable at wavelengths as long as 2700 : for example , in ngc 4649 @xmath275 per cent of the nuv flux can be attributed to the uvx component . however , the uvx can not be explained by the bhb population , as the temperature required to fit the upturn would be @xmath7 @xmath10 20000k , whereas bhbs are usually no hotter than @xmath7 @xmath2 12000k @xcite . @xcite further reported that fuv flux ( assumed to trace the uvx ) is strongly correlated with the mg@xmath11 line strength ( @xmath2metallicity ) and also with the velocity dispersion , which is a proxy for galaxy mass . however , more recent studies ( e.g. @xcite ) have weakened the case for a strong uvx vs metallicity relation . from analysis of internal colour gradients , @xcite concluded that the fuv flux in most early - types originates from old stellar components . drawing on these results , the source of the uvx is tentatively identified as hot , low mass , helium burning stars , such as extreme horizontal branch ( ehb ) or ` failed ' agb ( agb - manqu ) stars and their progeny ( see @xcite , or the review @xcite ) . the _ galaxy evolution explorer _ ( _ galex _ ; launched in 2003 ; @xcite , @xcite ) is revolutionising uv astronomy , with high resolution imaging in two bands : near - ultraviolet ( @xmath0 ; @xmath12 ) and far - ultraviolet ( @xmath13 ; @xmath14 ) . using analysis of both @xmath0@xmath6 and @xmath13@xmath6 vs @xmath15@xmath6 relations , @xcite suggest that the @xmath13@xmath0 colour reflects an extension of the colour metallicity relation into the uv , as well as deducing that @xmath210 per cent of ellipticals have residual star formation . using the @xmath0@xmath16 colour , @xcite also find non - negligible young stellar populations in morphologically selected early - type galaxies . @xcite derive star formation rates ( sfrs ) from broadband photometry dominated by the uv , and find good agreement with sfrs deduced from spectroscopic indices ( predominantly using h@xmath4 ) . however , they also confirm that some galaxies with no h@xmath4 emission show signs of star formation in the uv bands and attribute this to post - starburst galaxies . here , we build upon these previous studies by exploring the relationship between the @xmath0@xmath1 colour and spectroscopic stellar population indicators for a sample of quiescent , red sequence galaxies in nearby clusters . this paper is organised as follows . section [ sec : data ] describes our two red sequence samples and associated 2mass and _ galex _ datasets . the criteria used to remove galaxies with emission are described . in section [ sec : results ] we show that a large intrinsic scatter is found in the @xmath0@xmath1 colours of these quiescent cluster galaxies . metallicity is shown to be strongly correlated with the @xmath0@xmath1 colour , although there remains a large residual scatter . section [ sec : discuss ] discusses possible explanations for this scatter , showing that morphological abnormalities , aperture bias and the uv upturn do not contribute significantly . we investigate simple ` frosting ' models with a low mass fraction of younger stars ( or alternatively a low mass fraction population of low metallicity , blue horizontal branch stars ) , and show that these could account for the scatter . the uncertainties in the @xmath0 k - correction are also discussed . our conclusions are given in section [ sec : conclusion ] . we use two complementary samples of red sequence galaxies in local clusters : the first is explicitly red sequence selected by optical colour , and is a large sample , containing @xmath210 times the number of galaxies ; the second has the advantage of higher quality spectroscopy , and uses an emission line cut ( sec . [ sec : cuts ] ) to ensure a red sequence sample . @xcite fig . 1 demonstrates that h@xmath4 selection efficiently removes all galaxies bluer than the red sequence and is more restrictive than a cut on colour . the noao fundamental plane survey ( nfps ; @xcite , @xcite ) is a study of x - ray selected clusters distributed over the whole sky and at redshifts between 0.015 @xmath9 z @xmath9 0.072 . more than 4500 galaxies lying within 1 mpc of the centre of each cluster , and within 0.2 mag of the cluster red sequence on the @xmath15@xmath17 cmr ( see @xcite fig . 3 ) , were observed spectroscopically . of these , 3514 have redshift , velocity dispersion and spectral line strength measurements ( from 2 arcsec diameter fibres ) . the second sample of galaxies concentrates on the core of the shapley supercluster ( ssc ; abell clusters a3556 , a3558 , a3562 at z @xmath18 0.049 ) . this sample consists of 541 galaxies selected from nfps imaging but to a deeper limit ( @xmath17 @xmath9 18 ; @xcite ) . follow - up spectroscopy for these targets were obtained using 2 arcsec diameter fibres , equating to 2 kpc at the distance of shapley . a set of three non - redundant line indices were fit to the models of @xcite in order to estimate age , metallicity ( z / h ) and @xmath4-abundance ( @xmath4/fe ) for each galaxy . the primary tracer of age in this scheme is h@xmath19f ; for metallicity fe5015 is used ; mgb5177 is the @xmath4-abundance indicator . this method is described in detail in @xcite . [ cols="<,^,>,<,>,^ , > , > " , ] notes original x and y parameters are given for reference . @xmath20 and @xmath21 are for relations in the form @xmath0@xmath1 @xmath22 , assuming the following colours : ( @xmath1@xmath23)@xmath24=0.2 , @[email protected] , ( @xmath1@xmath17)@[email protected] . @xmath28from @xcite . @xmath29from @xcite . @xmath30from @xcite . velocity dispersion provides an alternative mass proxy to luminosity , and , for optical colours , the @xmath31 correlation appears more fundamental @xcite . figure [ fig : logsig ] presents the samples in terms of their @xmath0@xmath1 colour and log@xmath32 . there is a clear correlation , with slopes of @xmath33 and @xmath34 for nfps and ssc respectively , but the rms scatter ( 0.36 and 0.32 mags ) is indistinguishable from that of the cmr . figure [ fig : blue_frac ] shows the fraction of ` blue ' galaxies as a function of log@xmath32 for our two samples . blue galaxies are defined by @xmath0@xmath1 @xmath9 6.4 mag , as used in @xcite who study sdss galaxies probing to much lower density environments than our samples . their blue galaxy fractions are plotted in fig . [ fig : blue_frac ] and show a markedly higher fraction for a given velocity dispersion . for example , our two samples have a blue fraction of @xmath240 per cent only at the lowest sigma ( log@xmath32 @xmath9 1.8 ) , while the @xcite sample reaches this blue fraction at log@xmath35 . at face value , this result suggests a large difference between field and cluster galaxy populations . however , the differences in sample selection have to be considered ( @xcite use a sample selected on morphology ) , which is beyond the scope of this study . @xmath1 vs log@xmath32 for nfps ( upper panel ) and ssc ( lower panel ) . median error bars are @xmath20.02 and @xmath20.01 for log@xmath32 in the two samples respectively and @xmath20.1 in the colour.,height=317 ] @xmath1 @xmath9 6.4 as a function of log@xmath32 . nfps : squares / solid line ; ssc : triangles / dashed line . estimates from figure 1 of @xcite are given for comparison ( circles / dotted line ) and show a much steeper increase in the number of blue galaxies with decreasing @xmath31.,height=317 ] in order to investigate the physical origin of the large intrinsic scatter found in the @xmath0@xmath1 colour , we examine the relationship between colour and the stellar population parameters ( age , metallicity , @xmath4-abundance ) for the ssc sample . in the following analysis , involving only the ssc sample , the derived limit on @xmath1 band apparent magnitude ( sec . [ sec : compare ] ) is not applied , allowing a larger number of galaxies . ( it should be noted that the subsequent conclusions are robust against the use of the @xmath1 band cut . ) the emission line selection criteria _ are _ retained , and the sample is further restricted by the overlap of the photometric and spectroscopic datasets ( see table [ tab : num_gals ] ) . @xmath0@xmath1 vs log(age ) is shown in figure [ fig : age ] ( upper panel ) . galaxies with nebular emission have been removed via the emission line criteria . therefore , if the uv sources also contribute to the optical flux and have strong balmer lines , the @xmath0@xmath1 and age for the remaining objects would be correlated . we find only a marginal correlation between age and @xmath0@xmath1 , with a slope of @xmath36 and an intrinsic scatter ( after accounting for the measurement error ) of 0.33 mag . from the upper panel of fig . [ fig : age ] , it is also apparent that more luminous , and by inference larger , red sequence galaxies ( @xmath1 band luminosity is shown in figs . [ fig : age][fig : alphafe ] by the symbol size ) are not solely confined to the redder @xmath0@xmath1 colours , although they do tend to be the oldest . @xmath1 ( upper ) and @xmath15@xmath17 ( lower ; from @xcite ) colours vs log(age ) for the ssc sample . symbol size represents @xmath1 band luminosity ; larger = brighter . note that the lower panel has a much smaller range in the vertical scale.,height=317 ] figure [ fig : age ] ( lower panel ) shows the relation between age and @xmath15@xmath17 colour for the same sample of galaxies ( note the much smaller range in the vertical scale ) . there is a strong correlation ; a slope of @xmath37 and rms dispersion of 0.05 mag . this figure confirms that the @xmath0 scatter is not due to contamination by optically blue galaxies . the analogous @xmath0@xmath1 correlation with the metallicity is given in figure [ fig : met ] . there is a strong trend between [ z / h ] and @xmath0@xmath1 , with a slope of @xmath38 and an rms dispersion of 0.32 mag ( @xmath290 per cent of which is intrinsic scatter ) . the lack of galaxies to the top left is not the result of a selection effect . of the two target galaxies undetected in the @xmath0 band ( see sec . [ sec : compare ] ) , only one has a low metallicity . assuming the non - detection is due to a redder - than - average colour , this would add a single galaxy to the upper left of the plot , but would not significantly affect the fit . in general , the most luminous galaxies form a ridgeline at redder colours , although there are significant bright outliers to this trend ( the most obvious being the bright , blue , metal - rich galaxy on the right ; nfpj132729.7312325 ) . lower metallicity galaxies tend to be bluer and less luminous . this supports @xcite , who use simulations to predict a correlation of @xmath0ir colour with metallicity , but little dependence on age in populations greater than 23 gyr after a star formation episode . however , the slope of our observed metallicity trend is 23 times weaker than that derived from theoretical spectra by @xcite . @xmath1 vs metallicity [ z / h ] . symbol size represents @xmath1 band luminosity ; larger = brighter.,height=317 ] model evolutionary tracks suggest that stellar evolution depends on @xmath4/fe @xcite . however , we find no discernible relation between the @xmath0@xmath1 colour and the @xmath4-abundance in this sample of red sequence galaxies ( rms scatter of 0.37 mag ; fig . [ fig : alphafe ] ) . @xmath1 vs @xmath4-abundance [ @xmath4/fe ] . symbol size represents @xmath1 band luminosity ; larger = brighter.,height=317 ] @xmath1 residuals from the [ z / h ] relation vs log(age ) . symbol size represents @xmath1 band luminosity ; larger = brighter.,height=317 ] figure [ fig : age_resid ] shows the residuals from the @xmath0 vs metallicity relation ( fig . [ fig : met ] ) against log(age ) . although the residuals are more strongly correlated with age ( @xmath2@xmath39 ) than the colours themselves are , the rms dispersion is only reduced to 0.3 mag ( @xmath20.25 mag intrinsic scatter ) . this is in contrast to the case of the @xmath15-@xmath17 colour where the majority of the scatter can be attributed to age and metallicity @xcite . this section explores possible causes of the large intrinsic scatter observed in the @xmath0@xmath1 colour . we investigate aperture bias , the uv upturn phenomenon and ` frosting ' by young or metal poor subpopulations . additionally , we comment on the uncertainty in the @xmath0 band k - corrections . the spectroscopy used to estimate the stellar parameters is derived from 2 arcsec diameter fibres , whilst the @xmath0@xmath1 colours are from 12 arcsec diameter aperture photometry . eliminating aperture bias completely would require matched apertures for the photometry and spectroscopy , but unfortunately the psf of the 2mass and _ galex _ images is too large for reliable 2 arcsec aperture photometry . broadband colours and spectroscopic measurements ( e.g. @xcite , @xcite ) show that elliptical galaxies generally have flat radial profiles in age , and regular metallicity gradients ( decreasing [ z / h ] with radius ) . the aperture effect therefore flattens the @xmath0@xmath1 vs z / h relation , as larger , redder galaxies will tend to exhibit higher metallicities within the fibre . however , the effect is small , with only @xmath20.1 dex change in metallicity over a 1 dex difference in aperture radius . inspection of the galaxies in high resolution images can ascertain whether there are morphological peculiarities , or neighbouring objects , contributing to an enhanced large radius @xmath0 flux . figure [ fig : withmorph ] shows colour vs age and metallicity ( as in figs . [ fig : age][fig : met ] ) , highlighting the few galaxies that have high resolution _ hst_-acs images available . fortunately , one of these objects is the most obvious outlier in the whole sample ( nfpj132729.7312325 ) ; it is the reddest in @xmath15@xmath17 , but has an unusually blue @xmath0@xmath1 colour for such a metal - rich , luminous galaxy . in the _ hst_-acs image ( fig . [ fig : obj ] ) , the galaxy appears to be a large elliptical with no abnormalities . there are also no obvious contaminating objects that could be responsible for an anomalous blue colour . on close examination , the other targets with _ hst_-acs images also appear to be ` normal ' ellipticals of various sizes , with no obvious peculiarities or large radius @xmath0 contributors . we conclude that a large scatter in @xmath0@xmath1 colour is present even in objects with confirmed regular early - type morphologies and no contaminants . additionally , a scatter of @xmath20.30.35 mag is still obtained when smaller matched apertures ( 4.5 arcsec diameter ) are used for the colour , despite the probability of a contaminating neighbour being reduced by @xmath285 per cent . band luminosity ( larger = brighter ) . in all cases , acs confirms early - type morphology , uncontaminated by neighbours.,height=317 ] another possible explanation for the scatter in @xmath0@xmath1 colour is @xmath0 contamination by the uv upturn ( uvx ) . the @xcite models used in the stellar populations parameter calculations include low - metallicity blue horizontal branch sub - populations and thermal pulsing asymptotic giant branch stars , but they do not include the low mass , metal - rich , helium burning stars with small envelopes currently thought to be the most likely candidate for the uv upturn @xcite . the uv upturn is one of the most heterogeneous photometric properties of old stellar populations in early - type galaxies , with a spread of up to @xmath24 magnitudes in the @xmath13 @xcite , so certainly seems a plausible explanation for the scatter . the hot uvx component appears in the spectra as a smooth continuum with an absence of emission and absorption lines . hence , the @xmath13 flux from a galaxy can be used to estimate the extent of the contribution in the @xmath0 band @xcite . unfortunately , none of the ssc galaxies have available @xmath13 photometry , so in order to estimate the extent of the uvx contribution , the corrections are calculated for all objects in the nfps sample that have the necessary @xmath13 data . however , stellar population ages have not been derived for individual nfps galaxies , so instead we compare the corrected @xmath0@xmath1 colours to the traditional ` age - tracing ' balmer line h@xmath19f . this line does not trace age cleanly , being affected to a small degree by the metallicity . vs @xmath0@xmath1 for the nfps sample is shown in figure [ fig : nfps_balmer ] . given the relative strengths of the colour vs. age and [ z / h ] relations ( figures [ fig : age ] and [ fig : met ] ) , the correlation seen here is most likely a reflection of the metallicity , rather than age , dependence of h@xmath19f . for comparison , the observations have been overlaid by age / metallicity grids constructed from the models of ( * ? ? ? * m05 ; upper panel ) and ( * ? ? ? * bc03 ; lower panel ) . both grids lie redward of the observed data , most likely due to neither model including ehb stars , although the bc03 grid provides the better description of the data . previous studies ( e.g. @xcite ) have noted that while the bc03 models do not explicitly include ehb stars , the uv light from old stellar populations ( primarily post - agb stars ) reproduce several of the correlations found in observational data , including the relation between @xmath13@xmath0 and @xmath15@xmath6 colours ( see * ? ? ? * particularly fig . @xmath1 ( without k - correction ) against h@xmath19f balmer index for nfps galaxies . upper panel : m05 grid ( age=\{5,12,15 gyr } , [ z / h]=\{0.33,0.00,+0.35 } ) . lower panel : bc03 grid ( age=\{5,12,15 gyr } , [ fe / h]=\{0.33,+0.09,+0.55 } ) . ( 5,0.33 ) is the bluest ( age,[z / h ] ) grid point . median error bars are shown top right.,height=317 ] @xcite introduced corrections to their @xmath0@xmath6 colours by considering the relative contributions of the hot and cool ( i.e. non - uvx ) components at @xmath13 , @xmath0 and @xmath6 . they assumed a negligible contribution of the cool component to the @xmath13 flux , but allowed hot stars to contribute at @xmath6 . here , we use analogous corrections for the @xmath0@xmath1 colours , which are simpler because it is safe to assume no uvx contribution at @xmath1 . the corrected colours are given by @xmath40\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath41 is the ratio of @xmath0 to @xmath13 flux for the hot component ( appropriate for a @xmath42k star , see dorman et al . ) . the resulting corrections are shown as vertical lines in figure [ fig : uvx_corr ] ( where the points indicate the value of the corrected colour ) . the corrections move the colours redward as expected , but are only of the order of @xmath20.2 magnitudes , and do not reduce the scatter in the @xmath0@xmath1 ( 0.29 mag before corrections , 0.30 mag after ) . obviously there are no extreme uvx galaxies with large hot component contributions to the @xmath0 flux in this sample , and as such the uvx phenomenon is unlikely to responsible for the scatter in @xmath0@xmath1 for nfps . we speculate that the uvx effects in the ssc sample are smaller because , on average , the galaxies have lower luminosities . @xmath1 ( without k - correction ) against h@xmath19f balmer index for galaxies with available @xmath13 data . points indicate the corrected colour , with the ` tail ' showing the correction vector . bc03 grid as in fig . [ fig : nfps_balmer ] ( lower panel ) . median error bars are shown top right.,height=317 ] the simple models can be generalised by constructing composite stellar populations . a common invocation of this is residual star formation in the form of ` frosting ' galaxies with a small mass fraction of young stars @xcite , which manifests itself in the observables as a bluer colour and a younger age than the base population . frosting should not affect the spectroscopic metallicity or @xmath4-abundance significantly as these are primarily driven by the larger , older population @xcite . figure [ fig : frosting ] shows the extent to which frosting can account for the scatter , after the effect of metallicity has been removed using the correlation of fig . [ fig : met ] . simple stellar population ( ssp ) tracks from both the m05 and bc03 models are shown . the slope of the bc03 track fits the observed red envelope well , whereas m05 predicts a much steeper variation with age . allowing for the systematic effects of aperture bias and the uv upturn ( @xmath20.3 mag bluer in observed @xmath0@xmath1 ) , @xmath230 per cent of the galaxies can not be accounted for by the ssp model . vectors of the frosting effect on @xmath0@xmath1 colour and spectroscopic age have been calculated using the bc03 models . frosting of a 15 gyr base population by a 1.5 gyr population with a mass fraction @xmath43=0.03 , and by a 0.7 gyr population of @xmath43=0.01 are shown . the m05 models result in marginally steeper frosting vectors , as would be expected given the steeper ssp track . the vectors show that frosting , even at a modest level of 12 per cent for a @xmath21 gyr population , could account for a sizeable portion of the scatter in the @xmath0@xmath1 colour . a young population of this size would not be apparent in the @xmath15@xmath17 colours . the spectroscopic age is sensitive to frosting via the increased hot - star contribution to the balmer lines , and for a given change to the spectroscopic age , the uv colours are affected more strongly by frosting than by lowering the age of a single - burst population . this supports the assertion that uv colours are partly dependent on low level recent star formation ( @xcite , @xcite , @xcite ) . however , there are spectroscopically old galaxies with blue colours ( @xmath210 per cent of the sample ) which can not be accounted for by the frosting scenario described above . additionally , rose caii index results @xcite appear not to support the presence of young stellar populations ( @xmath44 1.5 gyr ) in the majority of red sequence galaxies . for most of this study , we have neglected the blue horizontal branch ( bhb ) as cluster red sequence galaxies have [ z / h ] @xmath20 . however , it is possible that a low metallicity population with a bhb morphology may be present in some galaxies @xcite . therefore , an alternative ` frosting ' scenario consists of a low mass fraction , old , low metallicity , bhb stellar population embedded in a [ z / h]=0 galaxy . estimates from the m05 models show that ` frosting ' by a 45 per cent mass fraction population with [ z / h]=1.35 could give an @xmath0@xmath1 colour @xmath21 mag bluer , while changing the @xmath15@xmath17 by only @xmath20.03 mag . the effect of the low - metallicity frosting on the derived spectroscopic age is likely similar to the effect of frosting by a young component , since both cases are driven by increased a - star contribution to the balmer lines . @xmath1 colour ( correcting to [ z / h]=0 using the correlation from fig . [ fig : met ] ) vs log(age ) . vectors indicate two bc03 frosting scenarios with minor populations of \{@xmath43,age } @xmath45 \{0.03,1.5gyr } and \{0.01,0.7gyr } ( solid and dashed vector respectively).,height=317 ] k - corrections for the uv bands are poorly constrained , as the spectral shape of galaxies at wavelengths shorter than @xmath23000 is not well known . previous studies of the uv cmr largely ignore the k - correction , or in the case of ( * ? ? ? * who estimate corrections of @xmath46 mag for @xmath47 ) apply correcions based on the luminosity distance without considering the spectral shape of galaxies . @xcite compute @xmath0 k - corrections for best fit model seds derived from sdss and _ galex _ photometry . corrections of @xmath20.1 mag were found for redshifts z @xmath9 0.1 . however , corrections for their model of a 9 gyr old simple stellar population are much larger ( @xmath48 mag for 0.04 @xmath9 z @xmath9 0.11 ) . as an illustration , we calculate k - corrections from the models of ( * ? ? ? * m05 ) at various redshifts ( 0.015 @xmath9 z @xmath9 0.072 ) , both for simple populations and galaxies in the ` frosting ' scenario described in sec [ sec : frost ] . k - corrections of 0.21.2 mag are obtained , depending on the metallicity and age ( increasing either increases the correction ) , and on the mass fraction of the young stellar component . the corrections are dominated by the 2640 spectral break ( cf @xcite ) , which is redshifted completely out of the @xmath0 band by @xmath49 . in @xcite , who study the average spectra of 726 luminous , red , sdss galaxies at @xmath50 , the break appears less prominent than in the m05 spectra ( a @xmath250 per cent drop in flux as opposed to @xmath280 per cent ) . fig [ fig : kcor ] shows the regression line residuals from the colour magnitude diagram for the nfps sample ( fig [ fig : cmdiag ] ; upper panel ) plotted against the galaxy redshift in the heliocentric frame . the solid line shows the expected trend if the m05 k - corrections were necessary , but not applied . this implies the uncorrected residuals should have a steep correlation with redshift , which is not observed . a flatter k - correction is preferred by the data , as in @xcite . along with the @xcite spectrum described above , this result highlights the uncertainty in the uv k - corrections ( as well as the problems of stellar population models in the uv ) . ; upper panel ) vs heliocentric galaxy redshift . the filled squares and solid line show the predicted trend if the k - corrections from the m05 models were necessary , but not applied.,height=317 ] using _ galex _ uv and 2mass @xmath1 band photometry , we have investigated the relationship between uv ir colours and spectroscopically derived stellar population parameters ( age , metallicity and @xmath4-abundance ) for red sequence galaxies in local clusters . we select galaxies using strict emission criteria to avoid contamination from galaxies with very recent star formation . we analyse the @xmath0 colour magnitude relation ( cmr ) for our two samples of quiescent galaxies ( 920 in nfps ; 156 in ssc ) , and find rms dispersions of 0.37 and 0.30 mag ( intrinsic scatter of 0.36 and 0.29 mag ) respectively . this is similar to previously reported values of @xmath20.5 mag and is an order of magnitude larger than the scatter in the optical cmr ( @xmath20.05 mag ) . we compared the @xmath0@xmath1 colour to the spectroscopic stellar population parameters for 87 galaxies in the ssc sample and found the following : * there is a significant @xmath0@xmath1 vs metallicity trend , with a slope of @xmath38 and an rms dispersion of 0.32 mag . * there is only a weak @xmath0@xmath1 vs age trend after the metallicity effect has been removed , and no correlation with @xmath4-abundance . * there is a large intrinsic scatter ( @xmath20.25 mag ) in the @xmath0@xmath1 colour at fixed age and metallicity which can not be easily accounted for with simple stellar populations . the unexpected blue colours of at least some objects , including an influential outlier , can not be attributed to large radius contamination from other objects , and aperture bias can not account for the large scatter . corrections for the uv upturn ( uvx ) phenomenon are relatively small ( @xmath20.2 mag ) and are similar galaxy - to - galaxy , so do not reduce the intrinsic scatter . we find that the large @xmath0@xmath1 intrinsic scatter could be attributed to galaxy ` frosting ' by small ( @xmath9 5 per cent ) populations of either young stars or a low metallicity blue horizontal branch . tdr is supported by the stfc studentship ppa / s / s/2006/04341 . rjs is supported by the rolling grant pp / c501568/1 ` extragalactic astronomy and cosmology at durham 20052010 ' . based on observations made with the nasa galaxy evolution explorer . _ galex _ is operated for nasa by california institute of technology under nasa contract nas-98034 . this publication makes use of data products from the two micron all sky survey , which is a joint project of the university of massachusetts and the infrared processing and analysis center / california institute of technology , funded by nasa and the national science foundation . we thank chris haines and the sos team for providing the @xmath15@xmath17 colours used in figures [ fig : age ] and [ fig : withmorph ] . 99 bernardi m. , sheth r.k . , nichol r.c . , schneider d.p . , brinkmann j. , 2005 , apj , 129 , 61 bertin e. , arnouts s. , 1996 , a&a , 117 , 393b blanton m. r. et al . 2005 , aj , 129 , 2562 boselli a. et al . , 2005 , apj , 629 , l29 bower r.g . , lucey j.r . , ellis r.s . , 1992 , mnras , 254 , 601 bruzual g. , charlot s. , 2003 , mnras , 344 , 1000 burstein d. , bertola f. , buson l. , faber s. m. , lauer t. r. , 1988 , apj , 328 , 440 caldwell n. , rose j.a . , concannon k.d . , 2003 , aj , 125 289 cardelli j.a . , clayton g.c . , mathis j.s . , 1989 , apj , 345 , 245 code a. d. , 1969 , pasp , 81 , 482 donas j. et al . , 2006 , arxiv : astro - 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we present _ galex _ near - uv ( @xmath0 ) and 2mass @xmath1 band photometry for red sequence galaxies in local clusters . we define quiescent samples according to a strict emission threshold , removing galaxies with very recent star formation . we analyse the @xmath0@xmath1 colour magnitude relation ( cmr ) and find that the intrinsic scatter is an order of magnitude larger than for the analogous optical cmr ( @xmath20.35 rather than 0.05 mag ) , in agreement with previous studies . comparing the @xmath0@xmath1 colours with spectroscopically - derived stellar population parameters , we find a strong ( @xmath3 ) correlation with metallicity , only a marginal trend with age , and no correlation with the @xmath4/fe ratio . we explore the origin of the large scatter and conclude that neither aperture effects nor the uv upturn phenomenon contribute significantly . we show that the scatter could be attributed to simple ` frosting ' by either a young or a low metallicity subpopulation . [ firstpage ] galaxies : elliptical and lenticular , cd galaxies : stellar content ultraviolet : galaxies .

WASHINGTON – It was a good day for Bernie Sanders – and it came just when he needed one. In a string of victories Thursday morning for the insurgent Democratic presidential candidate, Sanders announced that his campaign had hit its goal of receiving 2 million individual campaign contributions, picked up the endorsement of the 700,000-member strong Communications Worker of America and earned a nod from the liberal group Democracy for America. It’s a much needed boost for a candidate whose campaign’s momentum seemed to stall a bit lately, and it comes just two days before the party’s next presidential debate in the crucial state of New Hampshire. Introducing Sanders at a joint press conference at the union’s headquarters here as “the next president of the United States,” CWA President Chris Shelton said the union decided to back Sanders only after its members had made their preference overwhelmingly clear in an online poll. RELATED: Bernie Sanders visits a mosque, highlighting an ugly partisan divide “The executive board stayed out of this, we did not want to influence what our members decided, they decided this on their own,” Shelton said. “This is absolutely a democratically come to decision.” Sanders has lost out on endorsements from a string of other major unions, who sided instead with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. But Sanders and Shelton suggested that the leadership of the unions might be out of step with their membership. Close video Can Sanders slow Clinton’s momentum? Hillary Clinton may be the prohibitive Democratic favorite, but Bernie Sanders just got a big boost to his campaign from the Communications Workers of America. CWA President Chris Shelton joins Chris Matthews. embed like save share group “What we are seeing is a lot of grassroots support in union after union throughout this country, but that support has not necessarily trickled up to the leadership,” Sanders said. “I can’t tell you what every member of the AFT or the NEA believes,” he said, referring to two major teachers unions that backed Clinton. “So the answer is, what I would have hoped is that unions who believe in democracy would have done what the CWA did, which was to really bring a wide open process … I think we would have won a lot more union support than is currently the case.” It’s a complaint common among Sanders supporters in the labor movement. “I believe that’s the way it should be done because I think an endorsement coming from me or our executive board alone would have been an empty endorsement,” added Shelton of his union’s process. The unusual process did not include the executive board interviews common in other unions, though CWA officials did interview the candidates when they appeared at the AFL-CIO’s summer meeting this year. CWA’s immediate past president Larry Cohen, joined Sanders’ campaign as a advisor shortly after stepping down this summer. Clinton is still ahead when it comes to organized labor, however, with 18 national labor unions and alliances in her column. “Hillary Clinton is humbled to have such tremendous support from labor unions who represent a diverse coalition of millions of hardworking union men and women across the country. She shares their commitment to fighting for an economy that works for every single American, not just those at the top,” said Clinton spokesperson Jesse Ferguson Thursday. Sanders, who has sworn off super PACs, has faced questions over spending on his behalf from a super PAC affiliated with a nurses union that endorsed him. CWA has it’s own super PAC and Shelton did not rule out using it to support Sanders. “Bernie doesn’t want to it take it – OK, I respect that,” he said. “We’ll do everything I can to get the vote out to make sure he’s the next president.” Sanders said comparing a super PAC funded by wealthy donors to one funded by union dues is a “false comparison.” WATCH: Sanders on ISIS fight: Silicon Valley needs to play a role The endorsement came the same day as Sanders’ campaign announced they had received 2 individual contributions, more than any non-incumbent presidential candidate in history. Just 261 of the campaign’s donors given the legal maximum contribution of $2,700, the campaign touted. “You can’t level the playing field with Wall Street banks and billionaires by taking their money,” Sanders says in new TV advertisement touting the number. And shortly after Sanders left CWA, Democracy for America, the liberal organizing group that grew out of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, threw its support behind Sanders. (Dean has personally endorsed Clinton.) DFA’s move was no major surprise, since the group tried to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 race, but it said nearly 90% of the members picked Sanders as their top choice. “Bernie Sanders is an unyielding populist progressive who decisively won Democracy for America members’ first presidential primary endorsement because of his lifelong commitment to taking on income inequality,” said DFA executive director Charles Chamberlain. Clinton has left few major endorsements still on the table after locking down support from huge swaths of Congress and among state elected officials in key states across the country, but allies say that’s fine with them. Last week, the Vermont senator also earned the backing of the Working Families Party, a labor-backed liberal group and political party that started in New York and has since expanded to nine other states. “The political revolution Bernie Sanders has called for is already starting to take shape. Young people and grassroots activists are volunteering in droves for Senator Sanders. Now, important progressive groups are adding their voices. Combined, those are the ingredients of a winning campaign,” said Working Families Party national director Dan Cantor Thursday. ||||| Sanders Passes 2 Million Donations, Nabs Two Endorsements Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images With voting in the first presidential nominating contests just weeks away, Bernie Sanders is trying to make a push before the end of the year. His campaign announced that he has surpassed 2 million donations. The only other person to do that at this point in a presidential campaign was Barack Obama in 2011. (Clinton had 600,000 donations from 400,000 donors through the end of the third quarter — end of September.) Sanders has been raising the bulk of his money in small donations — 71 percent of his donations were $200 or less in the third quarter. Clinton, on the other hand, has relied on larger donors — 74 percent of contributions to her campaign were $1,000 or more, according to numbers from the Campaign Finance Institute. The reliance on small donations is certainly on message for Sanders, who has consistently blasted America's campaign finance system as being "corrupt." "What our vision of a political revolution has already accomplished is to show that we can run a strong and we believe winning campaign without a super PAC, without contributions from millionaires and billionaires," Sanders said in a message to supporters. The obvious downside is that small donations are harder to add up to big numbers. By the end of the third quarter, Clinton's campaign had raised more than double Sanders' campaign overall. Sanders also got two endorsements Thursday — one from the Communications Workers of America, a major union with 700,000 members, the other from the progressive group Democracy For America, which is chaired by Jim Dean, Howard's brother. (Howard Dean has endorsed Clinton.) DFA endorsed after nearly 90 percent of its members said they backed Bernie. That's in addition to a CNN/WMUR poll that showed Sanders leading in New Hampshire by 10 points — 50 percent to 40 percent over Clinton. Clinton continues to hold large leads in national polls — but national polling won't determine the way forward in the campaign's immediate future. It's the early states that matter, and right now the two early contests — Iowa and New Hampshire — are a split decision. Things can change on a dime, as voters learned in 2008. Obama led Clinton by high single digits in every poll after his big win in Iowa, but Clinton wound up winning in a surprise. And her husband, Bill, was dubbed the "Comeback Kid" there. After Iowa, the contest moves on to New Hampshire, but it won't end there. The Clinton campaign sees a firewall in the South, where black voters are key. The Clintons have deep ties to the black community and Sanders is less known. But he's working on that and hopes a win in New Hampshire can be a springboard. A lot will shake out between Clinton and Sanders in the next few weeks, and the bigger key will be how the two camps come together. For all the talk of Donald Trump and his strength on the right, it's clear there's a very deep cadre of grass-roots support on the Democratic side, too.

– While Bernie Sanders may not have [expletive] around and got a triple-double, Ice Cube's good day doesn't have anything on the one Sanders is having. NPR reports the Sanders campaign was already celebrating receiving 2 million donations when news came in Thursday that two major endorsements had gone their way. According to MSNBC, the Communications Workers of America endorsed Sanders after an "overwhelming" victory in an online poll of its 700,000 members. That was followed by Democracy for America—a progressive group founded by Howard Dean's brother—throwing its support behind Sanders, NPR reports. "It’s a much needed boost for a candidate whose campaign’s momentum seemed to stall a bit lately," MSNBC states. The Sanders campaign announced hitting 2 million donations Wednesday night, the Washington Post reports. That's more than any other candidate from either party. In fact, Sanders is only the second presidential candidate ever to surpass 2 million donations—and his campaign is confident he can break the 2.2 million record set by Obama's reelection campaign. The average donation to the Sanders campaign is $30. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has raised nearly double what Sanders has—despite having only 600,000 donations at the end of September, according to NPR. Nearly 75% of donations to the Clinton campaign are $1,000 or more. A statement from the Sanders campaign states the 2 million donations show "we can run a strong and we believe winning campaign without a super PAC, without contributions from millionaires and billionaires." (Check out a rapper interviewing Sanders.)

extra neutral gauge bosons , known in the literature as @xmath0 , appear in many proposals for beyond - the - standard model ( bsm ) physics ; for a review , see for instance @xcite . here we focus on _ minimal _ @xmath0 , previously studied in @xcite , which stand out both for their simplicity , and because they could arise in several of the above mentioned bsm scenarios , such as , _ e.g. _ , grand unified theories ( guts ) and string compactifications . following @xcite , we consider a minimal extension of the sm gauge group that includes an additional abelian factor , labeled @xmath4 , commuting with @xmath5 . the fermion content of the sm is augmented by one right - handed neutrino per family . we require anomaly cancellation , as this allows us to write a renormalizable lagrangian . if family - universality is imposed , then the anomaly cancellation conditions yield a unique solution : @xmath6 , where @xmath3 and @xmath7 are baryon and lepton number respectively . , with @xmath8 arbitrary coefficients . however , the @xmath9 component can be absorbed in the kinetic mixing in the class of models we consider . ] however , if the requirement of family - universality is relaxed , it can be shown that the following set of family - dependent charges satisfy the anomaly cancellation conditions : @xmath10 , where @xmath11 are the lepton flavours , and @xmath12 are arbitrary coefficients . we will consider a specific example of such _ non - universal _ @xmath0 in the following . in the basis of mass eigenstates for vectors , and with canonical kinetic terms , the neutral current lagrangian reads @xmath13 where @xmath14 is the photon field coupled to the electromagnetic current , while @xmath15 are the massive states , which couple to the currents @xmath16 respectively , obtained from @xmath17 \ , \overline{f } \gamma^\mu f \,$ ] and @xmath18 \ , \overline{f } \gamma^\mu f \,$ ] via a rotation of the @xmath19 mixing angle @xmath20 . the explicit expression of the latter reads @xmath21 . thus , under our minimal assumptions , only three parameters beyond the sm ones are sufficient to describe the @xmath0 phenomenology : the physical mass of the extra vector , @xmath22 , and the two coupling constants @xmath23 . in the following discussion , we normalize these couplings to the sm @xmath24 coupling , namely @xmath25 . . the yellow band represents the region of couplings compatible with a gut , whereas dots and lines correspond to specific benchmark models or full supersymmetric gut models , see @xcite for details.,scaledwidth=70.0% ] because guts are one of the motivations for considering minimal @xmath0 , it is interesting to give an estimate of the constraints that a gut would imply on the weak - scale couplings @xmath26 . for choosing the boundary conditions at unification scale @xmath27 , we normalize all charges as in @xmath28 , and take @xmath29 gev . we allow the @xmath0 coupling at unification scale to vary within the interval @xmath30 , and using the rge of the model we obtain the gut - favoured region of weak - scale couplings , shown in fig.[gut ] for the universal case @xmath31 . since the boundary conditions at scale @xmath27 are symmetric under the reflection @xmath32 , it is evident from fig . [ gut ] that mixing effects in the rge ( due to the non - orthogonality of the generators @xmath9 and @xmath2 ) are important . the gut - favoured regions for non - universal models , computed along similar lines , can be found in @xcite . the measurements providing constraints on minimal @xmath0 can be divided into two classes : electroweak precision tests and direct searches at the tevatron . measurements performed at lep1 and at low energy mainly constrain @xmath19 mixing , whereas data collected at lep2 ( above the @xmath33 pole ) constrain effective four - fermion operators . to compute the bounds from ewpt on minimal @xmath0 , we integrate out the heavy vector and use the effective lagrangian thus obtained to perform a global fit to the data . the results are shown in fig . [ chi model ] , for the universal ` @xmath34 model ' , corresponding to a particular direction in the @xmath26 plane often considered in the literature . the cdf and d0 collaborations have derived , from the non - observation of discrepancies with the sm expectations , upper limits on @xmath35 ( @xmath36 ) , @xcite . to extract bounds on minimal @xmath0 , we compute the same quantity at nlo in qcd , and compare it with the limits published by the experimental collaborations . the comparison between bounds from ewpt and from the tevatron is most clear if we plot them in ( coupling _ vs. _ mass ) , for a chosen direction in the @xmath37 plane , as it is done in fig . [ chi model ] for the @xmath34 model . we see that bounds from ewpt have a linear behaviour , because all the effects due to the @xmath0 in the low - energy effective lagrangian depend on the ratio @xmath38 , whereas bounds from the tevatron become negligible above a kinematic limit , which is of the order of 1 tev . thus for low masses the tevatron data give the strongest limits , while above a certain value of @xmath22 ( which is of the order of 500 gev for the @xmath34 model ) , bounds from ewpt are stronger . in particular , for models compatible with guts the strongest bounds are those given by ewpt . at 7 tev , and 400 pb@xmath39 at 10 tev ) for the @xmath34 model ( right ) present bounds and discovery prospects of the lhc at 7 tev and 50 pb@xmath39 for the _ muonphilic _ model with @xmath40 . for @xmath41 , both the bounds from the tevatron and the lhc reach are indeed weaker , because of finite - width effects not included in the figure , but the general message is unaffected . the yellow bands correspond to the gut - favored region , see section [ sect : gut].,title="fig:",scaledwidth=50.0% ] at 7 tev , and 400 pb@xmath39 at 10 tev ) for the @xmath34 model . ( right ) present bounds and discovery prospects of the lhc at 7 tev and 50 pb@xmath39 for the _ muonphilic _ model with @xmath40 . for @xmath41 , both the bounds from the tevatron and the lhc reach are indeed weaker , because of finite - width effects not included in the figure , but the general message is unaffected . the yellow bands correspond to the gut - favored region , see section [ sect : gut].,title="fig:",scaledwidth=50.0% ] the present schedule foresees that in 2010/2011 the lhc will run at 7 tev in the center of mass , collecting up to 1 fb@xmath39 of integrated luminosity @xmath7 . therefore , it is interesting to ask whether there are any minimal @xmath0 which are both allowed by present constraints and accessible for discovery in such early phase . to answer this question , we have performed a nlo analysis similar to the one used in extracting bounds from tevatron data , requiring the @xmath0 signal to be at least a @xmath42 fluctuation over the sm - drell yan background . the results are displayed for the @xmath34 model in fig . [ chi model ] , where a comparison with present bounds is made . we see that for @xmath43 pb@xmath39 ( the luminosity approximately foreseen at the end of 2010 ) , no discovery is possible . on the other hand , for @xmath44fb@xmath39 some unexplored regions become accessible ; however , @xmath0 compatible with guts are still out of reach , and more energy and luminosity will be needed to test them . we have seen that universal models are strongly constrained by present data . on the other hand , when we consider non - universal couplings to leptons , the bounds can be significantly altered . in particular , let us consider the case where @xmath45 , which we called ` muonphilic @xmath46 ' . let us further assume that kinetic mixing is negligible , _ i.e. _ @xmath47 . in this case , the @xmath0 has no coupling to the first and third leptonic families , in particular it has no coupling to the electron . as a consequence , bounds from ewpt are strongly relaxed , the only surviving constraints coming from @xmath48 and @xmath49-@xmath50 scattering ( nutev ) . on the other hand , the tevatron reach is limited , as already noted in section [ bounds ] , to @xmath51 tev : therefore the lhc has access to a wide region of unexplored parameter space already with a very low integrated luminosity at 7 tev , as shown in fig . [ chi model ] . we have discussed the present experimental bounds and the early lhc reach on minimal @xmath0 models , showing that present constraints can not be neglected when assessing the discovery potential of the early lhc . in particular , we have found that exploration of universal models , coupled to @xmath2 , may need more energy and luminosity than those foreseen for 2010/2011 , in particular for values of the couplings compatible with guts . on the other hand , some non - universal models which are weakly constrained by present data , such as the _ muonphilic _ @xmath0 , could be discovered at the lhc with very low integrated luminosity . i am indebted to my collaborators f. zwirner , g. villadoro , and a. strumia . i would also like to thank the organizers of the 2@xmath52 young researchers workshop _ physics challenges in the lhc era _ for giving me the possibility to present this work . 99 p. langacker , rev . * 81 * ( 2008 ) 1199 , arxiv:0801.1345 [ hep - ph ] . t. appelquist , b. a. dobrescu and a. r. hopper , phys . d * 68 * ( 2003 ) 035012 , arxiv : hep - ph/0212073 . e. salvioni , g. villadoro and f. zwirner , jhep * 0911 * ( 2009 ) 068 , arxiv:0909.1320 [ hep - ph ] ; e. salvioni , a. strumia , g. villadoro and f. zwirner , jhep * 1003 * ( 2010 ) 010 , arxiv:0911.1450 [ hep - ph ] . t. aaltonen _ et al . _ [ cdf collaboration ] , phys . * 102 * ( 2009 ) 031801 , arxiv:0810.2059 [ hep - ex ] ; t. aaltonen _ et al . _ [ cdf collaboration ] , phys . * 102 * ( 2009 ) 091805 , arxiv:0811.0053 [ hep - ex ] ; [ d0 collaboration ] , d0 note 5923-conf ( july 2009 ) , http://www-d0.fnal.gov/run2physics/www/results/np.htm .

we consider a class of minimal extensions of the standard model with an extra massive neutral gauge boson @xmath0 . they include both family - universal models , where the extra @xmath1 is associated with @xmath2 , and non - universal models where the @xmath0 is coupled to a non - trivial linear combination of @xmath3 and the lepton flavours . after giving an estimate of the range of parameters compatible with a grand unified theory , we present the current experimental bounds , discussing the interplay between electroweak precision tests and direct searches at the tevatron . finally , we assess the discovery potential of the early lhc . = 11.6pt

a proper understanding of neutrino induced pion production is essential for the interpretation of current neutrino oscillations experiments . a good knowledge of the neutrino energy is required for a precise determination of oscillation parameters in @xmath1 disappearance measurements . these experiments search for a distortion in the neutrino flux at the detector positioned far away from the source . by comparing both , near and far neutrino energy spectra , one gains information about the oscillation probability and with that about mixing angles and mass squared differences . however , the neutrino energy is not measurable directly but has to be reconstructed from the reaction products . present oscillation experiments use the ccqe reaction both as signal event and to reconstruct the neutrino energy from the outgoing muon with two - body kinematics assuming the target nucleon is at rest . ccqe is defined as @xmath2 on a single nucleon ; in the nucleus , ccqe is masked by final - state interactions ( fsi ) . thus , the correct identification of ccqe events is directly related to the question of how fsi influence the event selection . the main background to ccqe is cc@xmath0 production . if the pion is absorbed in the nucleus and/or not seen in the detector , these events can be misidentified as ccqe . consequently , a proper understanding of ccqe _ and _ cc@xmath0 is essential for the reconstruction of the neutrino energy . the main task in a @xmath3 appearance experiment like miniboone is to detect electron neutrinos in a ( almost ) pure @xmath1 beam . the signal event , the @xmath3 ccqe interaction , is dominated by background . a major problem comes from misidentified events , mainly because of the fact , that the miniboone detector can not distinguish between a photon and an electron . thus , @xmath1 induced neutral current @xmath4 production , where the @xmath4 decays into two @xmath5s , is the major source of background when one of the photons is not seen or both cherenkov rings overlap . as all of the present oscillations experiments use nuclear targets , it is mandatory to consider fsi , i.e. , pion rescattering , with and without charge exchange , and absorption in the nuclear medium . a realistic treatment of the fsi can be achieved in the framework of a coupled - channel transport theory the gibuu model . after a brief review of our model , we first discuss the impact of pion production on ccqe measurements . we further investigate the influence of nuclear effects on cc@xmath0 and nc@xmath6 cross sections , and , where possible , we confront our model to recent data measured at miniboone . we treat neutrino - nucleus scattering as a two - step process . in the initial - state step , the neutrinos interact with nucleons embedded in the nuclear medium . in the final - state step , the outgoing particles of the initial reaction are propagated through the nucleus using a hadronic transport approach . in the energy region relevant for miniboone , sciboone and k2k , the elementary @xmath7 reaction is dominated by two processes : quasielastic scattering and the excitation of the @xmath8 resonance ( p@xmath9(1232 ) ) . additionally , our model includes the excitation of 12 @xmath10 and @xmath8 resonances with invariant masses less than 2 gev and also a non - resonant single - pion background . the nucleon , @xmath11 and @xmath12 vector form factors are based on recent electron - scattering data while the axial couplings are obtained assuming pcac ( partial conservation of the axial current ) . the @xmath13 dependence of the nucleon and @xmath11 axial form factors , @xmath14 and @xmath15 , is fitted to bubble chamber neutrino - scattering data . the neutrino - nucleon cross sections are modified in the nuclear medium . bound nucleons are treated within a local thomas - fermi approximation . they are exposed to a mean - field potential which depends on density and momentum . we account for this by evaluating the above cross sections with full in - medium kinematics , i.e. , hadronic tensor and phase - space factors are evaluated with in - medium four - vectors . we also take pauli blocking and collisional broadening of the outgoing hadrons into account . our model for neutrino-(bound)nucleon scattering is described in detail in ref . @xcite . after the initial neutrino - nucleon interaction , the produced particles propagate out of the nucleus . during propagation they undergo fsi which are simulated with the coupled - channel semi - classical gibuu transport model ( for details , see ref . @xcite and references therein ) . it is based on the buu equation which describes the space - time evolution of a many - particle system in a mean - field potential including a collision term . nucleons and resonances acquire medium - modified spectral functions and are propagated off - shell . herby we ensure , that vacuum spectral functions are recovered after leaving the nucleus . the collision term accounts for changes ( gain and loss ) in the phase - space density due to elastic and inelastic collisions between the particles , and also to particle decays into other hadrons . baryon - meson two - body interactions ( e.g. , @xmath16 ) are described by resonance contributions and a small non - resonant background term ; baryon - baryon cross sections ( e.g. , @xmath17 , @xmath18 , @xmath19 , @xmath20 ) are either fitted to data or calculated , e.g. , in pion exchange models . the three - body channels @xmath21 and @xmath22 are also included . the buu equations for all particle species are thus coupled through the collision term and also through the potentials . such a coupled - channel treatment is required to account for side feeding into different channels . one challenge is to identify _ true _ ccqe events in the detector , i.e. , muons originating from an initial qe process . to be more precise , true ccqe corresponds to the inclusive ccqe cross section including all medium effects , or , in other words , the ccqe cross section before fsi . the difficulty comes from the fact that the true ccqe events are masked by fsi in a detector built from nuclei . the fsi lead to misidentified events , e.g. , an initial @xmath8 whose decay pion is absorbed or which undergoes `` pion - less decay '' can count as ccqe event we call this type of background events `` fake ccqe '' events . we denote every event which looks like a ccqe event by `` ccqe - like '' . in general , at cherenkov detectors such as miniboone ccqe - like events are all those where no pion is detected while in tracking detectors such as k2k - scibar / scifi ccqe - like events are those where a single proton track is visible and at the same time no pions are detected . to investigate the relation between the ccqe - like and true ccqe cross section , we show their ratio as a function of proton and pion momentum thresholds in fig . [ fig : ccqelike_over_trueccqe_thresholds ] . as the proton is not at all relevant for the ccqe identification in cherenkov detectors , the ratio is independent of the proton momentum detection threshold ( dashed line in left panel ) . this is very different in tracking detectors which rely on the detected proton here the efficiency is reduced to @xmath2310% at a proton momentum threshold of 0.5 gev ( solid line in left panel ) . even at @xmath24 the efficiency does not exceed 80% because of charge - exchange processes that lead to the emission of undetected neutrons and because of secondary proton knockout that leads to multiple - proton tracks . focussing on the right panel of fig . [ fig : ccqelike_over_trueccqe_thresholds ] we find that the ccqe - like cross section increases for both detector types as @xmath25 increases . in this case even more events with pions in the final state appear as ccqe - like because these pions are below threshold and thus not detected . on at @xmath26 gev . the solid lines are obtained using the tracking detector identification , while the dashed lines are for cherenkov detectors . [ fig : ccqelike_over_trueccqe_thresholds],title="fig : " ] on at @xmath26 gev . the solid lines are obtained using the tracking detector identification , while the dashed lines are for cherenkov detectors . [ fig : ccqelike_over_trueccqe_thresholds],title="fig : " ] fixing the flux normalization with harp s pion - production data , the miniboone collaboration has presented their first , preliminary absolutely normalized total , differential and double differential cross sections for ccqe at this conference and finds an excess of about 35% compared to the total cross section measured at nomad , anl and bnl @xcite . we strongly emphasize that these absolute cross sections depend directly on the pion background subtraction which again is based on the monte carlo prediction ( cf . , @xcite ) . , title="fig : " ] , title="fig : " ] in fig . [ fig : miniboone_doublediff_qe ] , we show our prediction for the double differential cross section at miniboone in muon observables , all calculated with @xmath27 gev . the left panel shows the true ccqe events . to emphasize the role of `` fake '' ccqe events , we show the ratio ccqe - like / true ccqe in the right panel . unlike for monochromatic beams , the qe and @xmath8 peaks are not distinguishable any more but strongly overlap . this fact makes a model - independent cut based on muon variables to subtract the background impossible . /qe cross section ratio for cc interactions vs. neutrino energy on ch@xmath29 together with recent data from miniboone @xcite ( upper data set : corrected for fsi , lower data set : uncorrected for fsi ) . the solid lines denote the cc@xmath0-like / ccqe - like result ( cherenkov detector definitions ) , the dashed lines stand for the true cc@xmath0/true ccqe result , and the dash - dotted lines give the vacuum expectation , i.e. , the sum of the nucleon cross sections ( with two additional protons in the miniboone case ) . right panel : same but with a dipole form for @xmath15 ( see text ) . [ fig : mb_cc],title="fig : " ] /qe cross section ratio for cc interactions vs. neutrino energy on ch@xmath29 together with recent data from miniboone @xcite ( upper data set : corrected for fsi , lower data set : uncorrected for fsi ) . the solid lines denote the cc@xmath0-like / ccqe - like result ( cherenkov detector definitions ) , the dashed lines stand for the true cc@xmath0/true ccqe result , and the dash - dotted lines give the vacuum expectation , i.e. , the sum of the nucleon cross sections ( with two additional protons in the miniboone case ) . right panel : same but with a dipole form for @xmath15 ( see text ) . [ fig : mb_cc],title="fig : " ] in the left panel of fig . [ fig : mb_cc ] we give our results for the single-@xmath28/qe ratio for cc interactions on mineral oil ch@xmath29 . the solid lines denote the cc@xmath0-like / ccqe - like result , the dashed lines stand for the true cc@xmath0/true ccqe result , and the dash - dotted lines give the vacuum expectation . note that we have applied the cherenkov detector identification criteria . we emphasize that nuclear corrections cancel out in the ratio , only as long as fsi are not considered ( `` true '' vs. `` free '' ) . in general , the complexity of fsi prevent such cancellations as one can infer from the result denoted with `` like '' which does not coincide with the `` true '' and `` free '' ones . we further compare to very recent miniboone data @xcite ( fig . [ fig : mb_cc ] left ) . let us first focus on the data denoted with the triangles ( upper data set ) . these are corrected for fsi using a specific monte carlo generator , i.e. , they give the cross sections for bound nucleons `` before fsi '' . as this procedure introduces a model dependence in the data , a fully consistent comparison is not possible . ignoring this inconsistency , our calculation denoted with `` true '' should be the one to compare with . the agreement is perfect for energies up to 1.5 gev , and still within their error bars for higher @xmath30 . the miniboone data denoted with bullets ( lower data set ) is their result for the ratio of cc@xmath0-like to ccqe - like . as these data are not corrected for fsi within a specific monte carlo event generator , this observable is less model dependent . still , the energy reconstruction requires specific assumptions as well as the detector simulation . we find that our calculation clearly underestimates the uncorrected data . however , the perfect agreement with their corrected distribution indicates a significant difference between the pion absorption models . the underestimate of the pion / quasielastic ratio in particular at higher energies could be due to , among other possibilities , an underestimate of the pion production cross section or an overestimate of the ccqe - like cross section . both , which means for the latter the fake ccqe events , depend directly on the input at the nucleon level , i.e. , in particular on the axial form factor @xmath15 of the @xmath8 resonance ( see ref . @xcite for details ) . in the above calculations , we have used @xmath31_i = { { c_5^a(0)\left [ 1+\frac{a q^2}{b+q^2 } \right ] } { \left ( 1 + \frac{q^2}{{m_a^i}^2}\right)^{-2 } } } ; \label{eq : axialformfactorform}\ ] ] with @xmath32 , @xmath33 gev@xmath34 , @xmath35 gev obtained from a fit to the anl bubble chamber data and the pcac value of @xmath36 . however , the anl and bnl results differ with the bnl result being approximately 30% higher . to account for the bnl findings , we introduce following ref . @xcite a dipole form factor @xmath31_{ii } = c_5^a(0 ) { \left ( 1 + \frac{q^2}{{m_a^{ii}}^2}\right)^{-2 } } , \ ] ] with @xmath37 gev . the results for both parametrizations are shown in fig . [ fig : nucleon_qs_cc ] and fig . [ fig : nucleon_sigtot_cc ] together with the data of anl and bnl . the shape of the bnl distribution is described well by both form factors ( right panel of fig . [ fig : nucleon_qs_cc ] ) while the anl data are overestimated by the dipole form . still one should bear in mind that there is a small non - resonant background @xcite that has been neglected in this channel . for a discussion of possible deuterium effects , in particular at low @xmath13 , see refs . @xcite . d@xmath13 averaged over the anl flux ( left panel ) and the bnl flux ( right panel ) [ invariant mass cut at @xmath38 gev ] . the data are taken from refs . the form factors are detailed in the text . [ fig : nucleon_qs_cc],title="fig : " ] d@xmath13 averaged over the anl flux ( left panel ) and the bnl flux ( right panel ) [ invariant mass cut at @xmath38 gev ] . the data are taken from refs . the form factors are detailed in the text . [ fig : nucleon_qs_cc],title="fig : " ] ) , @xcite ( @xmath39 ) ] and bnl [ @xcite ( @xmath40 ) ] the solid line has been obtained with @xmath41_i$ ] while @xmath41_{ii}$ ] was used for the dashed line . [ fig : nucleon_sigtot_cc ] ] in the right panel of fig . [ fig : mb_cc ] we present our results for the single-@xmath28/qe ratio using the dipole form factor . we find a slight enhancement of the ratio but still underestimate the data . note that the enhancement is much more moderate than in fig . [ fig : nucleon_sigtot_cc ] . this is due to the fact , that both , numerator and denominator , i.e. , also the ccqe - like cross section , are increased when the dipole form factor is used and , as a consequence , the larger ccqe - like cross section compensates the enhancement in the pion cross section . from this comparison we conclude that an increase of the total pion production cross section on the nucleon compatible with the bnl data seems to be insufficient to describe this ratio at all energies . a similar result for the ratio has been recently obtained by athar _ et al . _ in the left panel of fig . [ fig : miniboone_k2k_nc ] , we show our results for nc single-@xmath4 production off as a function of the pion kinetic energy . we have averaged over the miniboone energy flux which peaks at about 0.7 gev neutrino energy @xcite . in nc reactions the total pion yield is dominated by @xmath4 production , while @xmath28 dominate in cc processes ( for details , see ref . @xcite and references therein ) . comparing the dashed with the solid line ( results without fsi and spectral function vs. full calculation ) , one finds a considerably change . the shape is caused by the energy dependence of the pion absorption and rescattering cross sections . pions are mainly absorbed via the @xmath8 resonance , i.e , through @xmath42 followed by @xmath43 . this explains the reduction in the region around @xmath44 gev . pion elastic scattering @xmath45 reshuffles the pions to lower momenta and leads also to charge exchange scattering into the charged pion channels . the vast majority of the pions comes from initial @xmath8 excitation ( dash - dotted line ) , their production in the rescattering of nucleons is not significant at these energies . the right panel of fig . [ fig : miniboone_k2k_nc ] shows the results for nc single-@xmath4 production off averaged over the k2k energy flux which peaks at about 1.2 gev neutrino energy @xcite . compared to the left panel , the spectrum is broader and extends to larger @xmath46 due to the higher neutrino energy . the reduction in the region around @xmath44 gev is mainly caused by the pion absorption via the @xmath8 resonance ( compare dashed and solid lines ) . again , pion production through initial qe scattering is not sizable . production on as a function of the pion kinetic energy averaged over the miniboone flux . the results were obtained with @xmath41_i$ ] . right panel : same on averaged over the k2k flux . the dashed lines show our calculation without fsi or spectral functions , both included in the full calculation denoted with the solid lines . the dash - dotted lines indicate the contribution from the @xmath8 resonance to the full calculation . [ fig : miniboone_k2k_nc],title="fig : " ] production on as a function of the pion kinetic energy averaged over the miniboone flux . the results were obtained with @xmath41_i$ ] . right panel : same on averaged over the k2k flux . the dashed lines show our calculation without fsi or spectral functions , both included in the full calculation denoted with the solid lines . the dash - dotted lines indicate the contribution from the @xmath8 resonance to the full calculation . [ fig : miniboone_k2k_nc],title="fig : " ] overall , the impact of fsi on observables is dramatic and not at all negligible . a qualitatively and quantitatively correct treatment is thus of great importance . more model - independent data are certainly needed . we thank o. lalakulich for fruitful discussions . this work has been supported by the deutsche forschungsgemeinschaft . t. katori , measurement of muon neutrino charged current quasielastic ( ccqe ) double differential cross section in miniboone , talk given at nuint 09 , may 17 - 22 , 2009 , sitges , spain , available online at http://nuint09.ifae.es/agenda.html . miniboone , a. a. aguilar - arevalo _ _ , arxiv:0904.3159 . k. m. graczyk , d. kielczewska and j. t. sobczyk , arxiv:0907.1886 . e. hernandez , j. nieves and m. valverde , phys . d * 76 * , 033005 ( 2007 ) , arxiv : hep - ph/0701149 . l. alvarez - ruso , s. k. singh and m. j. vicente vacas , phys . c * 59 * , 3386 ( 1999 ) , arxiv : nucl - th/9804007 . g. m. radecky _ et al . _ , d * 25 * , 1161 ( 1982 ) . t. kitagaki _ et al . d * 34 * , 2554 ( 1986 ) . s. j. barish _ et al . _ , d * 19 * , 2521 ( 1979 ) . m. s. athar , s. chauhan and s. k. singh , arxiv:0908.1442 . miniboone , a. a. aguilar - arevalo _ et al . _ , t. leitner , o. buss , u. mosel and l. alvarez - ruso , phys . rev . c * 79 * , 038501 ( 2009 ) , arxiv:0812.1787 . k2k , s. nakayama _ et al . b * 619 * , 255 ( 2005 ) , arxiv : hep - ex/0408134 .

we investigate charged and neutral current neutrino - induced incoherent pion production off nuclei within the gibuu model at energies relevant for the miniboone and k2k experiments . special attention is paid to the entanglement between measured ccqe and cc@xmath0 cross sections . we further give predictions and compare to recent data measured at miniboone . address = institut fr theoretische physik , universitt giessen , germany address = institut fr theoretische physik , universitt giessen , germany address = institut fr theoretische physik , universitt giessen , germany address = departamento de fsica , centro de fsica computacional , universidade de coimbra , portugal

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hilary Mantel was announced as the winner at London's Guildhall Hilary Mantel has won the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for her novel Bring up the Bodies, the sequel to Wolf Hall, which won the prize in 2009. Mantel is the first woman and the first living British author to win the prestigious literary prize twice. "This double accolade is uniquely deserved," said Sir Peter Stothard, chairman of the judges. The book is about Thomas Cromwell, an adviser to King Henry VIII, and charts the bloody downfall of Anne Boleyn. It is the second book in a trilogy. A third instalment, to be called The Mirror and the Light, will continue Cromwell's story until his execution in 1540. Mantel was announced as the winner at London's Guildhall on Tuesday night. Mantel's win also makes her the first person in Man Booker history to win the prize for a direct sequel. She is only the third double winner of the award, after JM Coetzee and Peter Carey. Receiving her award, she joked: "You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize and two come along at once." She added: "I know how privileged and lucky I am to be standing here tonight. I regard this as an act of faith and a vote of confidence." As well as the £50,000 cheque she also receives £2,500 for being shortlisted, along with the other five novelists in the race. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hilary Mantel: What I'm trying to do is make three books that stand up independently Sir Peter said that the judges had made their final decision on Tuesday after a "lengthy and forensic examination". He said: "This is a very remarkable piece of English prose that transcends the work already written by a great English prose writer. "This is a bloody story about the death of Anne Boleyn, but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood. She uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty of political life." He added: "She has recast the most essential period of our modern English history; we have the greatest modern English prose writer reviving possibly one of the best known pieces of English history. "It is well-trodden territory with an inevitable outcome, and yet she is able to bring it to life as though for the first time." Asked whether the book qualified as a thriller, Sir Peter referenced The Godfather: "You can see as much Don Corleone in this book as DH Lawrence." Man Booker Prize - 2012 shortlist Tan Twan Eng - The Garden of Evening Mists Deborah Levy - Swimming Home Hilary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies Alison Moore - The Lighthouse Will Self - Umbrella Jeet Thayil - Narcopolis Mantel's latest work has been widely praised. The Telegraph noted its "descriptive immediacy", while Margaret Atwood wrote in the Guardian "literary invention does not fail her: she's as deft and verbally adroit as ever." Jonathan Ruppin, web editor at Foyles bookshops, said: "Bring Up the Bodies has remained a strong seller since it was published in May, but this rare double Man Booker win confirms her output as essential reading. "Mantel has been writing superb fiction for much longer than she has been winning major awards, so many readers will soon discover that she is their new favourite author. There's every possibility she might pull off a unique treble when she completes the trilogy." The impact on sales for a Man Booker winner is considerable - every winning book since 1996 has grossed more than £1m. Yan Martel's Life of Pi, which won in 2002, made just under £10m. Last year's winner, Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending, has sold 300,000 copies so far. According to the latest figures, Mantel's Bring up the Bodies has sold 108,342 copies, which is more than the other 11 Man Booker longlisted novels combined. Mantel was previously longlisted in 2005 for Beyond Black. She was a judge for the prize in 1990 when AS Byatt won with Possession. ||||| London (CNN) -- British author Hilary Mantel has become the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice. Mantel, 60, won the prestigious £50,000 ($81,000) literary prize Tuesday for her novel "Bring up the Bodies," the second in a historical trilogy set during the reign of King Henry VIII. She also won the prize in 2009 for "Wolf Hall," the first novel in the trilogy. "You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize and then two come along at once," she told reporters, adding, "I feel a bit weak at the knees to be honest." "This double accolade is uniquely deserved," said Sir Peter Stothard, chairman of the judging panel and editor of the Times Literary Supplement. "In 'Bring up the Bodies,' our greatest modern writer retells the origins of modern England." Mantel is the third author to win the prize twice, alongside South-African-born J.M. Coetzee and Australian Peter Carey. This year, she overcome competition from 144 other entries, including the shortlisted, "Umbrella" by Will Self; "Narcopolis" by Jeet Thayil; "Swimming Home" by Deborah Levy; "The Lighthouse" by Alison Moore; and "The Garden of Evening Mists" by Tan Twan Eng. Also on Leading Women: Nobel Peace Prize winner rips fellow laureate over corruption A former social worker who lived in Botswana and Saudi Arabia before returning to the U.K., she did not have her first novel published until she was in her mid-30s. She said the idea for her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, first came to her when she was in her 20s, but she was not in a position to write it for more than three decades. Established in 1969, the Man Booker is the best-known fiction prize for English-language authors from Commonwealth countries and Ireland. It is intended to reward literary heavyweights rather than bestsellers. While sales are not a factor in the judges' decision, authors typically experience a dramatic increase in sales after receiving the prize. Weekly sales in the U.K. of last year's winner, "Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes, jumped from 2,535 to 14,534 -- an increase of 473% -- in the week it won, according to Nielsen Bookscan. In the week she won the prize in 2009, Mantel enjoyed a 463% rise in weekly sales and more than 600,000 in total sales in the U.K. She joked then that she would spend the prize money on "sex, drugs and rock and roll." This time around, she said she would probably spend it on her pension, although she said she still has writing years left in her, despite suffering "misadventure" since her first win and illness that stopped her from writing for most of 2010. "Bring up the Bodies" and "Wolf Hall" are being adapted into a six-part series for the BBC and stage plays. Mantel said she had turned down offers for movie adapations because she felt the plot was too complex and better suited to a television series. She is also at work on the third novel in her trilogy, which she plans to call, "The Mirror and the Light." "When I start writing again, I will forget all this (the award ceremony) because every day has its own problems and every day you feel like a beginner." Also on Leading Women: To my 15-year-old self

– British author Hilary Mantel made literary history last night by becoming the first woman to win the prestigious Man Booker prize twice, and the first author to win it with a direct sequel. Mantel, 60, overcame 144 other entries to win the prize with Bring Up the Bodies, the second in a historical trilogy set in the court of Henry VIII, CNN reports. She won the prize in 2009 with the first installment, Wolf Hall. "You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize and two come along at once," Mantel quipped when accepting the award at a ceremony in London. "I have to do something very difficult now: I have to go away and write the third part of the trilogy." Only two other authors have won the Booker twice. "This double accolade is uniquely deserved," says the chairman of the Booker judges. "This is a bloody story about the death of Anne Boleyn, but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood. She uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty of political life," he says. "It is well-trodden territory with an inevitable outcome, and yet she is able to bring it to life as though for the first time." Asked whether Bring Up the Bodies could be called a thriller, the chairman referenced The Godfather, the BBC reports. "You can see as much Don Corleone in this book as DH Lawrence," he said.

throughout the years , the ministry of health has launched some strategies to meet the health demands of the population . these have been published in ordinances , which recommend norms and strategies aiming at access to actions and services necessary to optimize beds and reorganize care . among these proposals , we find the decentralization of accomplishment , control , assessment , and regulation of the health system , which implies in structural and managerial changes , as well as preparing and developing new methods and instruments . one strategy used by the sistema nico de sade ( sus ) [ national healthcare system in brazil ] to guarantee such directives and to provide quality health care is the organization of central stations to regulate care provision , aiming to adjust the flow of health actions according to supply and demand of health services . regulation may be understood as the ordering and orienting regulatory action of care flow , also responsible for the mechanism of interface between management and the many health services , in addition to delivering alternative care that is more appropriate to the citizens needs , in an equanimous , ordered , timely and rational fashion . the benefits for the population may be seen in the reduced repressed demand number of repressed cases , as a consequence of timely and ordered access to healthcare services , as well as directly by users , making schedule of appointments easier . in management , the regulatory process favors case resolution in an efficient way , providing a deeper and more dynamic understanding of the health network , and favoring the identification of critical areas and of the health needs in a more comprehensive way . this type of process generates even better control over health expenditures , better use of resources , and quality in health services provision . therefore , in management , it can generate , calculate , and monitor hospital efficiency indicators , in order to make managerial decisions . the regulation may be characterized from the user s daily access standpoint ( microregulation ) , as well as by the definition of policies in the organizations ( macroregulation ) . considering the demand determined by the high volume of services and the organization s commitment to improving internal management of beds , the internal regulation committee ( nir , acronym in portuguese ) was implemented in the complexo assistencial da faculdade de medicina de marlia ( famema ) , wich was the topics of his study from 2010 to 2013 . the nir comprises complementary resources , such as advisory board , nir team , statistics and information system , with well - defined competences . their missions include to be the observatory of the admission system for the complexo assistencial da famema , to input data in the hospital information system , and to provide quantitative and qualitative reports of hospital indicators . the team is composed of a regulating physician , two nurses , and one secretary . considering the statement that care and management are truly inseparable , it should be emphasized the need for indicators that represent of what happens in the working process , which can point to possible changes in the services and in development of individuals . an indicator is defined as a measurement unit of an activity , which is correlated to a quantitative measurement that , in turn , is a guide to monitor and assess care quality and the activities of a service . therefore , the guiding question of the research was : were there changes in the indicators after implementing the regulatory process done by the nir ? within this context , this study is justified since it evaluates the implementation of this process related to management in the context of the hospital . by analyses of these results , it is possible to identify positive data or not , and keep improving continuously . to compare hospital indicators before and after the implementation of the internal bed regulation committee in a reference hospital . it is an evaluation , exploratory , descriptive and longitudinal study , conducted in hospital inpatients units of the complexo assistencial da famema , in the city of marlia ( sp ) , which has approximately 216 thousand inhabitants . it is a teaching hospital , and a reference hospital for one region of the state , which implemented bed regulation in the second semester of 2010 . the data presented were extracted from administrative reports of the hospital , and provided by the information technology center of the complexo famema , from 2008 to 2013 . the following indicators were gathered and analyzed : percentage of surgeries cancelled from 2008 to 2013 ( due to bed shortage and as compared to scheduled surgeries ) ; ratio of scheduled and not scheduled surgeries from 2010 to 2013 ( since there were no data available before 2010 ) ; number of patients who were admitted directly to the operating room , staying there during the postoperative period ( 2008 to 2013 ) ; number of patients who were admitted directly to the operating room and sent to the emergency department in postoperatively ( 2008 to 2013 ) ; and number of patients who came back to the emergency department in the postoperative period ( 2008 to 2013 ) . the indicators were evaluated considering their decrease in absolute numbers or percentages , considering that a drop in inappropriate situations related to the above - mentioned indicators was expected after implementing the committee . in regard to ethical aspects , there was no need to ask for informed consent since these are administrative data that do not concern patients directly , nor the employees of the organization . the study was submitted and approved by famema s research ethics committee ( number 563/11 ) . according to some initial results presented , three years after implementing the internal bed regulation in the complexo famema , some hospital indicators changed , pointing to a likely correlation with bed regulation . some of those indicators were most closely related to sectors more directly connected to the regulatory action , such as the operating room and the emergency department . the operating room , integrated to the many surgical specialties that use it , represented one of the units with the highest percentage of use of the bed regulation service , for both elective demands and emergencies . this is due to many factors , such as bed shortage in the postoperative period . during the period studied , the regulation action led to a decrease in cancelled surgical procedures in relation to scheduled surgeries , and there were less cancellations due to shortage of hospital beds , as depicted in table 1 . table 1percentage of surgical procedures cancelled in relation to the total scheduled surgeries and due to shortage of bed in the unit and/or intensive care unit . marlia , 2008 to 2013reason2008 ( % ) 2009 ( % ) 2010 ( % ) 2011 ( % ) 2012 ( % ) 2013 ( % ) surgeries cancelled as compared to total scheduled surgeries22.5323.7823.8725.2616.0119.75surgeries cancelled due to bed shortage in the units8.24.86.60.42.06.7surgeries cancelled due to bed shortage at the intensive care unit1.01.92.21.92.44.4source : report from the information technology center . it is important to emphasize that some indicators increased in some of the periods analyzed due to strikes in the organization . from december 2011 to january 2012 , and august to october 2013 , there were a few strikes in the organization , what reflected directly in the hospital indicators , mainly those related to the operating room . these periods of strike , when there was reduced manpower , implied in less workers and beds available , resulting in cancellation of some surgeries . regardless of this fact , the indicator worsened in relation to the previous year ( 2012 ) , but not in relation to the years prior to the implementation of nir . another important factor was that some medical specialties began to use the service of bed regulation only as from 2012 , what explains the rise in surgeries cancellation due to a shortage in beds between 2011 and 2012 , and even in 2013 , in spite of the strike . with the increased demand of beds to the nir , there was greater imbalance in demand in relation to supply of bed . nevertheless , in this context , nir and the operating room could work more closely , in a homogeneous movement with continuous dialogue , identifying possible elective surgeries that would take place with no guarantee of beds in the postoperative period , thanks to the work with the medical specialties , in order to guarantee previous scheduling and organization of surgical demands . aware of the admission demands , the nir was able to establish priorities , as well as look for alternatives for admissions , according to the degree of complexity of the cases and the approval from the medical specialties , therefore reducing the number of surgeries cancelled . considering it was a new proposal at the organization , the physicians progressively complied with the regulations since their implementation , but , in some cases , they resist to the innovation . to this day some specialties are still in the process of complying to the regulation . in relation to surgeries flow , another change in the indicators was the reduction of the number of surgeries fit in between , surgeries not scheduled in relation to the surgeries scheduled in the specialties that used the bed regulation , as depicted in table 2 . table 2percentage of scheduled and not scheduled surgeries , according to the medical specialtiesmedical specialties2010 2011 2012 2013 snssnssnssnsspecialty 135.764.368.631.468.731.360.539.5specialty 235.065.073.226.868.831.265.634.4specialty 322.277.837.362.742.457.662.137.9specialty 443.256.868.731.363.236.841.958.1specialty 523.376.743.057.052.947.136.064.0specialty 630.469.685.214.879.220.869.530.5specialty 726.373.761.139.960.939.162.637.4specialty 849.550.587.412.680.719.378.821.2specialty 9 * 18.581.540.559.535.464.627.272.8specialty 10 * 14.086.037.262.833.166.938.062.0*medical specialties that were not complying with the internal bed regulation when data was collected s = scheduled ; ns = non - scheduled . * medical specialties that were not complying with the internal bed regulation when data was collected s = scheduled ; ns = non - scheduled . an inversion in the ratio of scheduled and not scheduled surgeries was observed . this was a trend in most specialties analyzed that used the service of bed regulation , since they started to make anticipated , programed orders for beds for surgical demands . as a consequence , this changed the profile of scheduled surgeries and led to less non - scheduled surgeries . it is possible to observe different profiles among the specialties that used bed regulation as compared to those that did not use it . it became evident that the specialties that ordered beds before surgeries had an increased number of scheduled surgeries . the operating theater is one of the priority sectors of nir and , from this stance , some changes in the dynamics of data of that sector were observed . first , there were cases admitted directly to the operating room due to diverse factors , such as urgencies , bed shortage upon admission , no scheduling and no previous bed ordering , difficulty in the communication process between different departments , etc . these facts led to a differentiation in indicators after bed regulation , as depicted in table 3 . table 3number of patients who were admitted directly the operating room and who remained there after the surgeryadmission sectorsecond or single movesurgical team map200820092010201120122013operating roomoperating roomspecialty 12041992416915 specialty 2711691281193521 specialty 3216429161416 specialty 42833562014 specialty 51331 - - specialty 62762531911556540 specialty 763724111013 specialty 8432651145832 specialty 9 * 3124677 specialty 10 * 19101115138 total 607787512509231166*medical specialties that , up to the moment of data collection did not comply with the internal bed regulation . * medical specialties that , up to the moment of data collection did not comply with the internal bed regulation . the data also demonstrated the reduction in the number of patients who remained in the operating room after the surgery . this trend towards profile change could be more intensely observed in the specialties that used the nir service up to the moment of data collection . another piece of data with positive alteration was the number of patients referred to the emergency department after surgery . this had always been common practice in the organization but it decreased significantly when giving priority to bed regulation at the operating room in , as shown in table 4 . table 4number of patients directly admitted to the operating room or to the emergency department and who were referred to the emergency department after surgeryentry departmentsecond or single movesurgical team map200820092010201120122013operating room/ emergency departmentemergency departmentspecialty 1544499119932514specialty 2131611444specialty 32053181071142313specialty 4 * ------specialty 56310202-specialty 612376151263specialty 7123628836specialty 8 - 12121specialty 9**159151026specialty 10**7164971048432 total 9891.02240436615179*specialty 4 : no information ; * * medical specialties that did not comply with the internal bed regulation up to data collection . * specialty 4 : no information ; * * medical specialties that did not comply with the internal bed regulation up to data collection . this situation also decreased , that is , there was a significant drop in the number of patients who were admitted directly to the operating room and who were referred to the emergency department after the surgery . furthermore , there was a reduction in patients returning to the emergency department after surgery . therefore , we noted that the regulatory action led to decreased postoperative referral to an inappropriate department . considering the working process of the nir , the operating room , the intensive care units and the emergency room are priority areas in bed regulation , since these sectors are responsible for the large turnover of patients at the hospital . the operating room is considered a priority unit at hospitals due to flow of most surgical cases , and it can be more dynamic , expediting or not the turnover of new cases , or hindering the organizational flow . taking into account that the nir deems the operating room as priority area in bed regulation , a close relation between the drop in cancelled surgeries due to bed shortage and bed regulation can be observed . nevertheless , as we may observe especially in 2013 , this trend toward reduction intensified , what may be associated to the direct influence that the strike had over the results analyzed . another important factor is that some medical specialties began to use the bed regulation service from 2012 on , what explains the increase in surgery cancellation due to bed shortage , between 2011 and 2012 , and even in 2013 , in spite of the strike . the increasing demands for bed at the nir led to a larger imbalance of demand in relation to bed supply . however , in such context , it was possible to establish a closer relation between the nir and the operating room , in a homogeneous movement with continuous dialogue , identifying elective surgeries that would occur with no guarantee of a postoperative bed , working together with the surgical specialties to schedule previously and organize the surgical demands . the nir , aware of the admission demands , could establish priorities , according to surgical criteria , in addition to looking for possible alternatives for admissions , according to degree of complexity of the cases and in agreement with the surgical specialties , thus reducing the number of surgeries cancelled . this profile still goes through fluctuations , especially due to the residents turnover in the medical specialties , generating a movement of continuous construction in the working process . in this context of surgery cancellation , we can verify the repercussions in the organization and also consider what directly affects patients and families , who prepare themselves psychologically , physically , and financially to face the stressful situation generated by the fear of an unknown event to handle . for the organization , cancelling surgeries interferes in the working processes of the teams , as well as in unnecessary use of material and waste of time . another important aspect was that surgery cancellations impacted directly on the assessment of hospital efficiency , since it is considered that an efficient surgical department should have a low rate of surgeries cancellation , otherwise it might become an underused sector , with the consequent increases in surgical demand and costs . studies related to this same topic pointed to varied surgical cancellation rates : perroca et al . found a total of 5.1% cancelled surgeries , 29.1% of those due to bed shortage ; zafar et al . another study presented surgery cancellation rates of 11.4% where 6.0% were due to bed shortage in the intensive care unit pittelkow and carvalho found 19.9% cancellations , 2.1% due to lack of beds in beds in the intensive care unit . as pointed by the data analyzed , it was possible to observe an inversion in the number of surgeries scheduled in relation to those not scheduled , this trend being observed in most specialties analyzed and that used the bed regulation service , since they started to order the beds for surgical demand in advance , in a programed way . therefore , it is possible to observe the different profile among the specialties that complied with bed regulation as compared to those who were non compliant , at the time of this study . it became evident that for the specialties that ordered beds before surgeries , there was an increase in the number of scheduled surgeries . this may be an indicative that regulation favors surgery planning and programing , avoiding improvisation that has negative repercussion on the working process and , inevitably , on users . it is important to emphasize that these data were initially observed after the implementation of the nir hence , the years previous to the regulation were not addressed . one caveat was that two medical specialties presented a significant increase in the number of surgeries not scheduled in 2013 due to an increase in urgency and emergency cases . this resulted in increased number of not scheduled surgeries when compared to scheduled surgeries that year . another change observed was related to the significant drop in the number of patients who entered directly to the operating theater and were referred to the emergency department after the surgery . moreover , there was a reduction in the number of patients who came back to the emergency department postoperatively . in some hospitals , as is the case of the hospital de urgncias de sergipe and the hospital regional do mato grosso do sul , the historical situation is very similar to the complexo famema , with stretchers in the corridor of the emergency department , patients staying in the recovery room of the operating room longer than expected , and patients coming back to the emergency department after surgery . such realities improved after the implementation of bed regulation , despite the fact that this is still a partial experience . we found other realities that support the perception of the workers at complexo famema in relation to the nir regarding the strategies to solve the problem of emergency department overcrowding , since it is a core device to expedite patients discharge from some units , such as the operating room . regulation also expressed the managers intention to establish a communication and conciliation channel between the care units , in order to promote access to health services . the profile changes observed after the installment of the internal bed regulation committee altered the historic organization context , and indicated the need for further follow - up studies . the aim is to continue and better clarify data analysis in regard to the possible contributions of bed regulation to the organization , with statistical refinement that express significance . as limitation of the study , we can mention the fact that , concurrent to the proposal of implementing bed regulation , 40 new beds were made available at a new unit of the hospital complex and , later , 12 more beds were transferred from the hospital de clnicas to this intermediate - complexity unit . this fact may have been one of the indications of change in the high - complexity - unit indicators , once the intermediate- and low - complexity cases that would necessarily be allocated to that unit , be them surgical or clinical , and were gradually transferred to the new unit . in spite of this limitation , the improvement in the indicators was undeniable , and this fact , in honor of zeal and strictness in the analysis , does not alter the value of the proposal implemented , which points to palpable results demonstrated by means of some indicators . moreover they were perceived and reported by the workers in the daily hospital activities . these data are in consonance to the improvement observed by the subjects involved in the process . the results indicate the need of continuity of the regulatory actions , especially in a comprehensive and complex healthcare system such as the sistema nico de sade ( sus ) [ unified health system ] , in the brazilian reality . comparar indicadores hospitalares antes e aps a implantao de um ncleo interno de regulao de leitos em um hospital de referncia . os dados apresentados foram extrados de relatrios administrativos do hospital , fornecidos pelo ncleo tcnico de informtica do complexo famema , abrangendo o perodo de 2008 a 2013 . os indicadores apresentaram - se melhores aps a implantao do ncleo interno de regulao . h necessidade de continuidade das aes regulatrias , em especial em um sistema de sade abrangente e complexo , como o sistema nico de sade na realidade brasileira . ao longo dos anos , o ministrio da sade vem direcionando algumas estratgias para atender as necessidades de sade da populao . o direcionamento tem sido publicado em portarias , que recomendam normas e estratgias visando ao acesso a aes e servios necessrios para otimizao dos leitos e reorganizao da assistncia . entre essas propostas , encontra - se a descentralizao das funes de execuo , controle , avaliao e regulao do sistema de sade , o que implica em mudanas estruturais e de postura gerencial , com elaborao e desenvolvimento de novos mtodos e instrumentos . uma estratgia utilizada pelo sistema nico de sade ( sus ) para a garantia de tais diretrizes e para uma ateno sade com qualidade a organizao das centrais de regulao assistencial , com o objetivo de adequar o fluxo das aes de sade de acordo com a oferta e a demanda dos servios de sade . a regulao pode ser entendida como a ao regulatria ordenadora e orientadora dos fluxos assistenciais , tambm sendo responsvel pelo mecanismo de relao entre gesto e os vrios servios de sade , e pela disponibilizao da alternativa assistencial mais adequada s necessidades do cidado , de forma equnime , ordenada , oportuna e racional . os benefcios , para a populao , podem ser percebidos desde a diminuio da demanda reprimida de casos , em consequncia do acesso oportuno e ordenado aos servios de sade , como tambm diretamente pelo usurio , pela maior comodidade nos agendamentos . para a gesto , o processo regulatrio favorece a resoluo dos casos de forma eficiente , permitindo um conhecimento mais aprofundado e dinmico de sua rede de sade , e favorecendo a identificao de reas crticas e das necessidades de sade de maneira ampliada . esse tipo de processo gera ainda melhor controle sobre os gastos em sade , melhor utilizao dos recursos e qualidade da prestao de servios de sade . desse modo , em seu eixo gesto , tem capacidade de gerar , calcular e monitorar indicadores hospitalares de eficincia , de forma a tomar decises gerenciais . a regulao pode ser caracterizada do ponto de vista do acesso cotidiano do usurio ( microrregulao ) , assim como por meio da definio das polticas nas instituies ( macrorregulao ) . essa necessidade de regulao dos servios tambm foi reforada no decreto 7.508 que regulamenta a lei orgnica da sade . dada a necessidade determinada pela alta demanda do servio e o compromisso institucional com a melhoria da gesto interna dos leitos , foi implantado o ncleo interno de regulao ( nir ) no complexo assistencial da faculdade de medicina de marlia ( famema ) , o qual foi alvo deste estudo nos anos de 2010 a 2013 . o nir composto por recursos complementares , como conselho consultivo , equipe do nir , estatstica e informao , com competncias definidas . entre suas misses esto : ser observatrio do sistema de internao do complexo assistencial da famema , alimentar o sistema de informaes hospitalar , e a disponibilizar relatrios quantitativos e qualitativos dos indicadores hospitalares . a equipe foi composta inicialmente por um mdico regulador , dois enfermeiros e um secretrio . considerando a afirmativa de que real a indissociabilidade entre o cuidado e a gesto , por conseguinte reafirma - se a frequente necessidade de se buscarem indicadores representativos do que acontece no processo de trabalho , os quais devem sinalizar mudanas possveis nos servios e no desenvolvimento dos sujeitos . um indicador definido como uma unidade de medida de uma atividade , com a qual se relaciona uma medida quantitativa que , por sua vez , constitui um guia para monitorar e avaliar a qualidade assistencial e as atividades de um servio . assim , a pergunta norteadora da pesquisa foi a seguinte : houve mudanas nos indicadores aps a implantao do processo regulatrio realizado pelo nir ? nesse contexto , este estudo se justifica por avaliar a implantao desse processo relacionado gesto no contexto do hospital , uma vez que , por meio da anlise desses resultados , possvel sinalizar dados positivos ou no , com a finalidade de contnuo aprimoramento do mesmo . comparar indicadores hospitalares antes e aps a implantao do ncleo interno de regulao de leitos em um hospital de referncia . trata - se de um estudo de avaliao , exploratrio , descritivo e longitudinal , realizado em unidades de internao hospitalares no complexo assistencial da famema , no municpio de marlia ( sp ) , com aproximadamente 216 mil habitantes . trata - se de um hospital de ensino e de referncia em uma regio de sade do estado , o qual implantou a regulao de leitos no segundo semestre de 2010 . os dados apresentados foram extrados de relatrios administrativos do hospital fornecidos pelo setor ncleo tcnico de informtica do complexo famema , abrangendo o perodo de 2008 a 2013 . os indicadores coletados e analisados foram : percentual de cancelamentos de cirurgias de 2008 a 2013 ( em relao s programadas e ainda em funo da falta de leitos ) ; proporo de cirurgias programadas e no programadas de 2010 a 2013 ( pois no havia dado disponvel anteriormente a 2010 ) ; nmero de pacientes que entraram diretamente no centro cirrgico , permanecendo a em ps - operatrio ( 2008 a 2013 ) ; nmero de pacientes que entraram diretamente no centro cirrgico e que foram encaminhados ao setor de urgncia e emergncia para o ps - operatrio ( 2008 a 2013 ) ; e nmero de pacientes que retornaram ao setor de urgncia no ps - operatrio ( 2008 a 2013 ) . os indicadores foram avaliados em funo de seu decrscimo em nmeros absolutos ou percentuais , uma vez que , com a implantao do ncleo , era esperado o decrscimo das situaes inadequadas relacionadas aos indicadores acima descritos . quanto aos aspectos ticos , por se tratar de dados administrativos , que no se referem diretamente aos pacientes e nem aos colaboradores da instituio , a aplicao do termo de consentimento esclarecido foi dispensada . o estudo foi submetido e aprovado pelo comit de tica em pesquisa da famema ( nmero 563/11 ) . de acordo com alguns dados iniciais apresentados , aps um perodo de 3 anos de implantao da regulao interna de leitos no complexo famema , observaram - se mudanas no perfil de alguns indicadores hospitalares , que sinalizam uma provvel correlao com a regulao de leitos . alguns desses indicadores estiveram relacionados mais intimamente a setores ligados diretamente ao regulatria , como o caso do centro cirrgico e do pronto - socorro . o centro cirrgico , integrado s diversas especialidades cirrgicas que o utilizam , representou um dos setores com maior percentual de utilizao do servio de regulao de leitos , quer seja nas solicitaes de demandas eletivas , como tambm nas emergenciais . uma situao ainda observada foi o cancelamento de cirurgias , que , na verdade , no deveria ocorrer . no entanto , aconteceu por diversos fatores , como pela falta de leito de internao para o ps - operatrio . observou - se que , durante o perodo estudado , houve impacto da ao de regulao na diminuio de procedimentos cirrgicos suspensos em relao s cirurgias programadas , assim como por falta de leitos hospitalares , conforme observado na tabela 1 . tabela 1percentual de procedimentos cirrgicos cancelados em relao ao total de cirurgias programadas e por falta de leito de enfermaria e / ou unidade de terapia intensiva . marlia , 2008 a 2013motivo2008 ( % ) 2009 ( % ) 2010 ( % ) 2011 ( % ) 2012 ( % ) 2013 ( % ) cirurgias suspensas em relao ao total de programadas22,5323,7823,8725,2616,0119,75cirurgias suspensas por falta de leitos de enfermaria8,24,86,60,42,06,7cirurgias suspensas por falta de leitos na unidade de terapia intensiva1,01,92,21,92,44,4fonte : relatrio do ncleo tcnico de informtica . importante ressaltar que alguns indicadores sofreram um aumento perceptvel em alguns perodos analisados , devido a processos de greve na instituio . nos perodos de dezembro de 2011 a janeiro de 2012 , e de agosto a outubro de 2013 , ocorreram alguns movimentos de paralisao na instituio , o que refletiu diretamente nos indicadores hospitalares e , aqui , em especial , no centro cirrgico . esses perodos de paralisao , em que se operava com porcentagem reduzida da fora de trabalho na instituio , implicaram em menor nmero de profissionais e menos leitos disponveis , tendo como consequncia o cancelamento de algumas cirurgias . apesar desse fato , o indicador piorou em relao ao ano anterior ( 2012 ) , mas no em relao aos anos anteriores implantao do nir . outro fator importante foi o de que algumas especialidades mdicas passaram a utilizar o servio de regulao de leitos somente a partir de 2012 , o que explica o aumento no cancelamento cirrgico por falta de leitos entre 2011 e 2012 , e at mesmo em 2013 , apesar do movimento de paralisao , pois , com o aumento de demandas por solicitao de leitos ao nir , houve um maior desequilbrio da procura em relao oferta de leitos . no entanto , diante deste contexto , foi possvel estabelecer uma maior aproximao do nir com o centro cirrgico , num movimento homogneo e de dilogo contnuo , identificando - se possveis cirurgias eletivas que aconteceriam sem a garantia de leito para o ps - operatrio , por meio do trabalho junto s especialidades mdicas , a fim de garantir programao prvia e organizao das demandas cirrgicas . o nir de posse das demandas de internao conseguiu estabelecer priorizaes , bem como buscar alternativas para as internaes , de acordo com o grau de complexidade dos casos e com a liberao das especialidades mdicas , reduzindo , assim , o nmero de suspenses cirrgicas . o processo de adeso da regulao , por ser uma nova proposta institucional , encontrou , desde o incio de sua implementao , uma adeso progressiva das disciplinas mdicas e , em alguns casos , at algumas resistncias . ainda em relao ao fluxo de cirurgias , outra alterao nos indicadores foi a reduo no nmero de encaixes ou cirurgias no programadas em relao s cirurgias programadas nas especialidades que utilizavam a regulao de leitos , conforme aponta a tabela 2 . tabela 2percentual de cirurgias programadas e no programadas , segundo as especialidades mdicasespecialidades mdicas2010201120122013pnppnppnppnpespecialidade 135,764,368,631,468,731,360,539,5especialidade 235,065,073,226,868,831,265,634,4especialidade 322,277,837,362,742,457,662,137,9especialidade 443,256,868,731,363,236,841,958,1especialidade 523,376,743,057,052,947,136,064,0especialidade 630,469,685,214,879,220,869,530,5especialidade 726,373,761,139,960,939,162,637,4especialidade 849,550,587,412,680,719,378,821,2especialidade 9 * 18,581,540,559,535,464,627,272,8especialidade 10 * 14,086,037,262,833,166,938,062,0*especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . p = programada ; no = no programada . * especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . observou - se a inverso no nmero de cirurgias programadas em relao s no programadas . essa foi uma tendncia na maioria das especialidades analisadas e que se utilizaram do servio de regulao de leitos , uma vez que passaram a fazer solicitaes prvias e programadas de leitos para as demandas cirrgicas , o que , consequentemente , alterou o perfil de cirurgias programadas em detrimento das de encaixe . possvel observar o perfil distinto entre as especialidades que utilizaram a regulao de leitos em relao s que ainda no a utilizavam at a realizao deste estudo , pois ficou evidente que as especialidades que realizaram as solicitaes de leitos previamente s cirurgias apresentaram um aumento do nmero de cirurgias programadas . o centro cirrgico um dos setores de prioridade do nir e , a partir desse posicionamento , foram observadas algumas alteraes na dinmica dos dados daquele setor . primeiramente , existiram casos admitidos diretamente no centro cirrgico , o que aconteceu por diferentes fatores , como : urgncias , ausncia de leito no momento da internao , ausncia de programao e solicitao prvia do leito , dificuldade no processo de comunicao entre os diferentes setores , etc . essas caractersticas de acontecimentos apresentaram uma diferenciao de indicadores aps a regulao de leitos , conforme apresentado na tabela 3 . tabela 3nmero de pacientes que deram entrada diretamente no centro cirrgico e que permaneceram neste no ps - operatriosetor entradasegunda ou nica movimentaoequipe mapa - cirrgico200820092010201120122013centro cirrgicocentro cirrgicoespecialidade 12041992416915especialidade 2711691281193521especialidade 3216429161416especialidade 42833562014especialidade 51331 - -especialidade 62762531911556540especialidade 763724111013especialidade 8432651145832especialidade 9 * 3124677especialidade 10 * 19101115138 total 607787512509231166*especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . * especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . os dados demonstram ainda a reduo do nmero de pacientes que permaneceram no centro cirrgico em ps - operatrio . de forma geral , essa tendncia de mudana de perfil pde ser observada com maior nfase nas especialidades que utilizavam o servio do nir at o momento da coleta de dados . outro dado passvel de observao de alterao positiva referiu - se a pacientes que encaminhados ao setor de urgncia / emergncia em ps - operatrio . esta sempre foi uma prtica comum na instituio , mais que apresentou um declnio significativo com a priorizao do centro cirrgico na regulao dos leitos , o que est demonstrado na tabela 4 . tabela 4nmero de pacientes que deram entrada diretamente no centro cirrgico ou no setor de urgncia e emergncia , e que foram encaminhados para o setor de urgncia e emergncia no ps - operatriosetor entradasegunda ou nica movimentaoequipe mapa - cirrgico200820092010201120122013centro cirrgico / urgncia e emergnciasetor de urgncia e emergnciaespecialidade 1544499119932514especialidade 2131611444especialidade 32053181071142313especialidade 4 * ------especialidade 56310202-especialidade 612376151263especialidade 7123628836especialidade 8 - 12121especialidade 9**159151026especialidade 10**7164971048432 total 9891.02240436615179*especialidade 4 : sem informao ; * * especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . * especialidade 4 : sem informao ; * * especialidades mdicas que , at o momento da coleta de dados , no utilizavam a regulao do ncleo interno de regulao . essa realidade tambm apresentou reduo , ou seja , houve queda significativa do nmero de pacientes que entraram diretamente no centro cirrgico e que foram encaminhados ao setor de urgncia e emergncia no ps - operatrio , bem como houve reduo na ocorrncia de retornos de pacientes em ps - operatrio ao setor de urgncia e emergncia . desse modo , percebeu - se que a ao regulatria propiciou a diminuio do encaminhamento do usurio em ps - cirrgico para local inadequado . enquanto processo de trabalho do nir , tem - se que o centro cirrgico , assim como as unidades de terapia intensiva e a sala de emergncia do pronto - socorro , so reas prioritrias regulao de leitos , por serem esses setores os responsveis pelo grande giro do fluxo de pacientes no hospital . o centro cirrgico considerado um setor prioritrio no ambiente hospitalar , por determinar o fluxo da maioria dos casos cirrgicos , podendo ser mais dinmico , agilizando ou no o giro de casos novos , e estagnar o fluxo na instituio . diante dessa postura assumida pelo nir em considerar o centro cirrgico como uma rea prioritria na regulao dos leitos , pode - se inferir uma ntima relao entre a reduo do nmero de cancelamentos de procedimentos cirrgicos por falta de leitos com a regulao de leitos . no entanto , conforme podemos observar principalmente no ano de 2013 , essa tendncia de reduo apresentou acrscimo , o que pode se associar influncia direta que o movimento de paralisao apresentou nos resultados analisados . outro fator importante o de que algumas especialidades mdicas passaram a utilizar o servio de regulao de leitos a partir de 2012 , o que explica o aumento no cancelamento cirrgico por falta de leitos entre 2011 e 2012 , e at mesmo em 2013 , apesar do movimento de paralisao , pois , com o aumento de demandas por solicitao de leitos ao nir , houve um maior desequilbrio da procura em relao oferta de leitos . no entanto , diante desse contexto , foi possvel estabelecer uma maior aproximao do nir com o centro cirrgico , num movimento homogneo e de dilogo contnuo , identificando - se possveis cirurgias eletivas que aconteceriam sem a garantia de leito para o ps - operatrio , com o trabalho junto s especialidades mdicas , no sentido da programao prvia e da organizao das demandas cirrgicas . o nir , de posse das demandas de internao , conseguiu estabelecer prioridades , de acordo com critrios mdicos , bem como buscar alternativas possveis para as internaes , de acordo com o grau de complexidade dos casos e com a liberao das especialidades mdicas , reduzindo , assim o nmero de suspenses cirrgicas . esse perfil ainda sofre flutuaes , principalmente pelo movimento do giro dos residentes nas especialidades mdicas , constituindo um movimento de construo contnua no processo de trabalho . nesse contexto de cancelamento de cirurgia , alm do olhar para as repercusses na instituio , tambm se devem considerar aquelas que afetam diretamente o paciente e seus familiares , uma vez que esses se preparam psicologicamente , fisicamente e financeiramente para o enfrentamento dessa situao de estresse gerada pelo medo do desconhecido . para a instituio , o cancelamento de cirurgia interfere no processo de trabalho das equipes , e no consumo desnecessrio de materiais e de tempo . outro aspecto relevante foi o de que o cancelamento cirrgico incidiu diretamente na avaliao de eficincia hospitalar , pois se considerou que um servio cirrgico eficiente devia ter uma baixa taxa de cancelamento cirrgico , caso contrrio podia se tornar um setor subutilizado , com os consequentes aumentos da demanda cirrgica e de custos . estudos relacionados a essa mesma temtica apontaram taxa de suspenso de cirurgias bastante variadas : perroca et al . encontraram um total de 5,1% de cirurgias suspensas , sendo destas 29,1% por falta de leitos ; enquanto zafar et al . outro estudo apresentou suspenso cirrgica de 11,4% sendo 6,0% dela por falta de leito de unidade de terapia intensiva pittelkow e carvalho encontraram 19,9% de suspenso , com 2,1% por falta de leito de unidade de terapia intensiva . conforme apontado pelos dados analisados , foi possvel observar a inverso no nmero de cirurgias programadas em relao s no programadas , sendo esta uma tendncia observada na maioria das especialidades analisadas e que se utilizaram do servio de regulao de leitos , uma vez que passaram a fazer solicitaes prvias programadas de leitos para as demandas cirrgicas , o que , consequentemente , alterou o perfil de cirurgias programadas em detrimento as de encaixe . possvel , assim , observar o perfil distinto entre as especialidades que se utilizaram da regulao de leitos em relao s que ainda no utilizavam at a realizao deste estudo , pois ficou evidente que , para as especialidades que realizaram as solicitaes de leitos previamente s cirurgias , houve aumento do nmero de cirurgias programadas . esse fato pode ser um indicativo de que a regulao favorece o planejamento e a programao de cirurgias , evitando o improviso que acarreta repercusses negativas ao processo de trabalho dos profissionais e , inevitavelmente , aos usurios . ressaltar que esses dados foram inicialmente observados aps a implantao do nir , e que , portanto , no foram considerados os anos anteriores regulao . uma ressalva a ser feita que duas especialidades mdicas apresentaram um acrscimo significativo no nmero de encaixes de cirurgias em 2013 por aumento de casos de urgncia e emergncia , o que , consequentemente , aumentou o nmero de encaixes em relao s cirurgias programadas naquele ano . outra mudana observada esteve relacionada queda significativa do nmero de pacientes que entraram diretamente no centro cirrgico e que foram encaminhados ao setor de urgncia e emergncia no ps - operatrio , bem como reduo na ocorrncia de retornos de pacientes em ps - operatrio ao setor de urgncia e emergncia . em alguns hospitais , como no caso do hospital de urgncias de sergipe e do hospital regional do mato grosso do sul , a situao histrica bastante semelhante do complexo famema , com macas nos corredores do pronto - socorro , sala de recuperao do centro cirrgico com uma permanncia acima do esperado e pacientes que retornavam ao pronto - socorro no ps - operatrio . essas realidades sinalizaram melhorias aps a implantao da regulao de leitos , apesar de esta ainda ser uma experincia parcial . corroborando a percepo dos trabalhadores do complexo famema , pudemos encontrar outras realidades em conformidade com o mesmo , no que concerne coincidente afirmativa de que o nir , entre outros , pode ser visualizado como uma das estratgias para se resolver o problema de superlotao do pronto - socorro , por ser um dispositivo central para agilizar a sada de pacientes dos setores , como , por exemplo , o centro cirrgico . a regulao expressou tambm a inteno dos gestores de estabelecer um canal de comunicao e de conciliao entre as unidades assistenciais , para promover o acesso dos usurios aos servios de sade . diante de tais mudanas de perfis observados aps a instalao do ncleo de regulao de leitos , alterando o contexto histrico institucional , sinalizou a necessidade de futuros estudos de acompanhamento , no sentido de dar continuidade e melhor elucidao anlise de dados quanto s possveis contribuies da regulao de leitos para a instituio , com refinamento estatstico que exprimam significncia . como fator limitador do estudo , podemos citar o fato de que , concomitante a proposta de implantao de regulao de leitos , foram disponibilizados 40 novos leitos em uma nova unidade hospitalar do complexo e , posteriormente , outros 12 leitos foram transferidos do hospital de clnicas para essa unidade de mdia complexidade , fato que pode ter sido um dos indicativos de alterao dos indicadores da unidade de alta complexidade , uma vez que os casos de mdia e baixa complexidade que necessariamente ficavam alocados nessa unidade , fossem clnicos ou cirrgicos , foram gradativamente alocados na nova unidade . apesar dessa limitao , a melhoria nos indicadores foi inegvel , e o fato acima citado , por zelo e rigor na anlise , no retira o mrito da proposta implantada e que aponta resultados palpveis , aqui demonstrados por meio de alguns indicadores , alm de serem percebidos e relatados pelos profissionais no cotidiano do hospital . os resultados indicam a necessidade de continuidade das aes regulatrias , em especial em um sistema de sade abrangente e complexo , como o sistema nico de sade ( sus ) na realidade brasileira .

objective to compare hospital indicators before and after implementing an internal bed regulation committee at a reference hospital.methods it is an quantitative , evaluation , exploratory , descriptive and cross - sectional research . the data was gathered from the hospital administrative reports for the period 2008 - 2013 , provided by the information technology center of the complexo famema.results the indicators improved after implementation of the internal bed regulation committee.conclusion the individuals involved in the process acknowledged the improvement . it is necessary to carry on the regulatory actions , especially in a comprehensive and complex healthcare system , such as the brazilian sistema nico de sade .

Gregory Rodriguez was charged Tuesday with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony Gregory Rodriguez was charged with grand larceny. (Photo: Submitted Photo) Story Highlights Ossining man stole $1,200 in meat, cops say Stolen from his employer, A&P, cops say Man stuffed meat into his pants, police say Suspect held without bail You're about to steal $1,200 worth of meat from your supermarket employer, but where are you going to hide it? If you're Gregory Rodriguez of Ossining and what state police say is true, you're going to stuff that meat down your pants. Troopers on Tuesday charged Rodriguez, 46, an employee of the A&P supermarket in Cortlandt Town Center, with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, one day after responding to a report of theft by an employee. Rodriguez was sent without bail to the Westchester County jail, where he remained Wednesday. He's due back in Cortlandt Town Court on Friday. There was no word on whether police recovered the meat. Twitter: @CorcoranTerence Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1vyaXZK ||||| CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — A New York supermarket employee has been accused of leaving the store with $1,200 worth of meat hidden in his pants. (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) ADVERTISEMENT (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) In this Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014 photo provided by the New York State Police in Salt Point, N.Y., Gregory Rodriguez, of Ossining, N.Y. is shown. Rodriguez, an employee at the A&P; supermarket in Croton-On-Hudson,... (Associated Press) State police say Gregory Rodriguez, of Ossining, is charged with fourth-degree grand larceny. Rodriguez works at the A&P in Croton-on-Hudson. Police were called Monday about the theft. Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday. A state police spokeswoman, Trooper Melissa McMorris, says the theft occurred in one day. She did not know if it involved more than one trip to the store. Rodriguez was arraigned Tuesday night in Cortlandt and sent to the Westchester County Jail. The court clerk says no lawyer was present and no plea was entered. Rodriguez is due back in court with an attorney on Friday.

– Sometimes, a simple plan works best if you're a criminal. And sometimes, that plan to shove $1,200 worth of meat down your pants and walk out of a supermarket undetected doesn't end so well. Police in Cortlandt, NY, have charged Gregory Rodriguez with grand larceny after accusing him of doing just that at the A&P where he works, reports the local Daily Voice. Rodriguez was actually arrested a day after the theft, and two burning questions sadly remain unanswered, according to the AP and the Journal News: How many trips did it take, and where's the meat now? (Click to read about another alleged criminal who got tripped up by his cologne.)

galaxy scaling relations provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution of stellar populations through intermediate redshifts ( @xcite , 1997 ) . since their discovery ( @xcite ) , such scaling laws have been used primarily to measure distances , with a reliability seemingly limited only by measurement errors and the homogeneity of the galaxies in question . the hubble space telescope ( hst ) and wfpc2 have enabled high @xmath17 imaging of intermediate redshift galaxies with a resolution similar to ground - based imaging of galaxies in the coma cluster . using the high spatial resolution and @xmath17 of wfpc2 , and efficient spectrographs at large aperture telescopes like the keck 10 m , we can directly measure galaxy scaling relations up to redshifts of unity in an effort to understand their origins , and how galaxies evolve ( _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) . of the known scaling relations , the fundamental plane ( @xcite ) has the lowest observed intrinsic scatter , only 15% in distance for a given galaxy ( @xcite ) . the fundamental plane ( fp ) is an empirical correlation between effective radius , @xmath2 , central velocity dispersion , @xmath18 , and surface brightness , @xmath19 , for early - type galaxies . in a study of 11 nearby clusters jrgensen ( 1996 ) found , in gunn @xmath20 , @xmath21 with a low ( _ rms _ ) scatter of @xmath22 dex in @xmath2 . in coma , the scatter is even lower , @xmath23 in distance ( @xcite ) . the fundamental plane of virgo ellipticals also has a very low internal scatter of @xmath24 in distance ( @xcite ) . using the virial theorem and assuming that early - type galaxies are an homologous family , the low scatter in the fundamental plane implies a scatter of only @xmath22 in @xmath25 ratio for a given a galaxy mass . the utility of the fundamental plane for probing the luminosity evolution of early - type galaxies has been clearly demonstrated by van dokkum & franx ( 1996 ) , kelson ( 1997 ) , and van dokkum ( 1998b ) , who measured the evolution of the fundamental plane zero - point out to @xmath26 . the implied evolution of the @xmath27 ratios is consistent with a high redshift of formation for stars in early - type galaxies in rich clusters . projections of the fundamental plane , such as the @xmath28 relation ( @xcite ) and the 1-parameter @xmath29 faber - jackson relation ( @xcite ) , have also been used by other authors to study early - type galaxy evolution to high redshifts ( @xcite ) . other studies of high redshift cluster galaxies have confirmed the notion that early - type galaxies are homogeneous , and likely to be old ( @xcite ) . furthermore , dressler ( 1997 ) showed that there has been substantial evolution in the numbers of s0 galaxies between redshifts @xmath30 and the present . however , many such results derive from limited imaging of cluster cores . recently , van dokkum ( 1998a ) used the color - magnitude relation of early - type galaxies to show that the uniformity of age extends to large radii for the ellipticals of cl1358 + 62 , and that the most recent star - formation in massive clusters has occurred in the outer parts , in galaxies with disks . van dokkum showed that the stellar populations of galaxies with disks are less homogeneous than pure bulge systems , but only at cluster radii which are outside the standard wfpc2 footprint ( at the distances of intermediate redshift clusters ) . evolution in cluster galaxies may be best detected in large , wide - field surveys of clusters : cluster membership , wide spatial extent , and large samples inclusive of all morphological types are all crucial for finding , and measuring the evolution in cluster populations . surveys which are specifically biased towards ellipticals may miss much of the recent ( @xmath31 ) evolution in cluster galaxies because the samples are biased against those morphologies which have undergone the most recent epochs of star - formation . the first detailed study of membership in cl1358 + 62 was performed by fabricant ( 1991 ) , who measured a blue and active galaxy fraction of 15% . complete membership to @xmath32 mag is discussed by fisher ( 1998 ) and a small subsample was used by kelson ( 1997 ) to find the fundamental plane zero - point for the cluster . van dokkum ( 1998a ) has made a complete analysis of the color - magnitude relation of 194 confirmed cluster members within the @xmath33 hst mosaic . the imaging consists of two colors ( f606w and f814w ) in 12 cvz pointings . this wfpc2 imaging of cl1358 + 62 is a superb foundation for building a detailed history of cluster galaxies , from the current epoch , through intermediate redshifts . future work will concentrate on mosaics of wfpc2 imaging in the clusters ms205304 ( @xmath34 ) and ms105403 ( @xmath26 ) . since the publication of kelson ( 1997 ) , we have completed the surface photometry for a high - resolution spectroscopic sample of galaxies within the hst mosaic s field . this subset of the large membership database will be used for analysis of the fundamental plane and absorption line strength properties . the data are discussed in [ data ] . the photometric calibration , the transformation to redshifted johnson colors , and sources of systematic calibration errors , are discussed [ calib ] . the techniques used to fit @xmath1-law profiles to the data are discussed at length in [ deriv ] . in [ psferr ] we discuss such instrumental issues as the under - sampling and point - spread function errors . deviations from the de vaucouleurs profile are explored at some length in sections [ genprof ] and [ scomp ] using @xmath5-laws ( @xcite ) and bulge - disk decomposition of the circularized profiles . tables of the structural parameters are given in [ adopt ] and our results are summarized in [ conclusions ] . the hst imaging consists of 12 contiguous pointings , making up a large mosaic of the cluster environment , about @xmath35 mpc on a side ( where @xmath36 -1 ) . each pointing consists of three 1200 s exposures in each of f606w and f814w . the data were preprocessed by the standard pipeline procedures which are discussed elsewhere ( @xcite ) . the analysis presented in this paper was performed on the images processed by van dokkum ( 1998a ) , who cleaned the images of cosmic rays , modeled and removed the complicated background , and combined the individual exposures . the most demanding task was the removal of the scattered earth light that resulted from the observations being performed in the continuous viewing zone ( cvz ) ( see @xcite ) . in some of these observations , the background was higher by factors of two to three . this scattered light increases the counts in the sky background , and the secondary mirror supports cast shadows in the pattern of an `` x , '' in which the background counts are typically not elevated . the excess in the background , and contrast between the shadowed and illuminated regions of the ccds can vary greatly , and its magnitude depends on the position of the telescope in its orbit when a cvz exposure is taken . fortunately , in each set of three exposures , in a given pointing and filter , at least one frame had minimal or no scattered light , thereby allowing accurate modeling of the scattered earth light . large - order ( @xmath37 ) bivariate polynomials were fit to the background and subtracted . more details of this modeling are given by van dokkum ( 1998a ) . the selection of our fundamental plane sample is discussed in kelson ( 1999a ) . briefly , we randomly selected cluster members within the field of view of the hst mosaic , to @xmath38 mag . the selection was performed to efficiently construct multi - slit plates for the low - resolution imaging spectrograph ( @xcite ) . we used three masks , with different position angles on the sky . the region of maximum overlap is in the center of the cluster , and thus the fp sample is concentrated towards the core of the cluster . morphology was not a factor in the selection of our sample . in the random selection process , three e+a galaxies were included ; these will be compared with those cluster members that have normal , early - type spectra . the sample is about @xmath39 complete for @xmath40 mag ( see @xcite for details on the statistical completeness of the original redshift catalog ) . three galaxies fainter than @xmath32 mag were added to test the quality of velocity dispersion measurements for faint galaxies . these spectroscopic observations and their reductions are detailed in kelson ( 1999a ) . in total , we have central velocity dispersions for 55 galaxies in the cluster . unfortunately , two of the galaxies were imaged too close to the wfpc2 ccd edges to obtain reliable structural parameters . thus , there are a total of 53 cluster members in our determination of the fundamental plane in cl1358 + 62 . images of these 53 galaxies are shown in figure [ images ] . the images clearly show a wide range of morphologies , from ellipticals to early - type spirals . optical morphologies have been taken from fabricant ( 1999 ) . these authors classified several hundred galaxies in the hst mosaic according to morphological type , @xmath41 . the galaxies in our high - resolution spectroscopic sample have @xmath42 ( e , e / s0 , s0 , s0/a , sa , sab , sb , respectively ) . the galaxy morphologies are listed in table [ params ] , in which there are 11 e , 6 e / s0 , 14 s0 , 13 s0/a , 6 sa , 2 sab galaxies and 1 sb galaxy . this distribution is quite similar to nearby massive clusters ( _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) . the aim of this work is to produce surface photometry for use in the analysis of the fundamental plane in the cluster . to enable comparison of the cl1358 + 62 fundamental plane with equivalent observations of nearby galaxies , the calibrated hst photometry must be transformed to a standard system . such transformations to a photometric system of redshifted johnson @xmath43 and @xmath44 bandpasses will allow us to compare our observations directly to observations of nearby galaxies . precisely these transformations and calibration steps have been used previously by kelson ( 1997 ) and van dokkum ( 1998a ) . each step has its own uncertainties , which will be summarized at the end of the section . in this section , we describe the multiple components in the zero - point calibration of the hst photometry in f606w and f814w . the starting points of the calibration are the zero - points for f606w and f814w derived by holtzman ( 1995 ) using photometry of stars ( point sources ) with an aperture of @xmath45 . our measured surface brightnesses have an effective aperture defined by the extent of our adopted point - spread functions , in this case @xmath46 . thus , we must correct our magnitudes from the @xmath46 aperture to an effective aperture of @xmath45 . using the encircled energy curves in the _ hst data handbook _ , we estimate the correction to be @xmath47 mag . the holtzman ( 1995 ) calibration is also valid for data taken using a gain of @xmath48/adu . therefore we also incorporate the gain ratios for the individual ccds as given by the handbook . furthermore , the hst distance scale key project has measured a difference of @xmath49 mag between long and short exposures of identical fields ( see , _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) such that long integrations have more counts than would be expected by simply scaling the shorter exposures . thus , the wfpc2 zero - points , which were derived from short integrations of star fields , are not appropriate for long integrations , and need to be corrected by @xmath50 mag . in summary , the f606w and f814w magnitudes are defined by @xmath51 where @xmath52 represents the ratios of the high- to low - gain modes for the four wfpc2 ccds , respectively : @xmath53 . the total exposure time for each point was 3600 s per filter . in order to compare the surface brightnesses and @xmath25 ratios of distant galaxies to equivalent observations made nearby , we must transform the photometry to a consistent system . towards this end , we define @xmath55 and @xmath56 as the johnson @xmath43 and @xmath44 filter bandpasses redshifted to @xmath0 , the observed frame of the galaxies . as one can see in figure [ filter ] , the @xmath55 and @xmath56 bands fall at roughly 5500 and 7000 , overlapping substantially with the observed f606w and f814w bandpasses . without the color information , one would be required to extrapolate to , _ e.g. _ , @xmath44 magnitude using @xmath57 corrections . however , we can derive an accurate transformation from the wfpc2 system to the redshifted johnson system by interpolation using the color information . as in van dokkum & franx ( 1996 ) , the flux in the redshifted filter can be written as a function of the fluxes in the observed bandpasses : @xmath58 where @xmath59 is a color term in this transformation ( see below ) . in order to relate the flux in a given bandpass to a standard magnitude , one must use filter constants ( see below ) . solving for @xmath56 as a function of the observed magnitudes and the filter constants , @xmath60 , finds : @xmath61 + 2.5\log(1+z)&\end{aligned}\ ] ] the additional factor of @xmath62 compensates for the stretching in wavelength of the redshifted bandpass . the @xmath55 and @xmath56 magnitudes are redshifted measures of the fluxes , not restframe quantities . removal of the @xmath63 surface brightness dimming is required to convert these data to magnitudes in the restframe of the galaxies . the filter constants , @xmath60 , are used to convert the @xmath56 , f814w , and f555w magnitudes to a system of flux units in a given filter . this system can be thought of as similar to an ab system . these constants are defined by @xmath64 , where @xmath65 is the magnitude , through filter @xmath65 , in the standard system . one can calculate the @xmath66 magnitudes of vega in the different filters , and , using the reported magnitudes in the literature for vega ( @xcite ) , define the transformation from the standard ( johnson ) system to an @xmath66 system , based on absolute flux units . we used the vega spectrum from bohlin ( 1996 , @xcite ) , the filter transmission curves for the wfpc2 filters , and the johnson filter curves ( @xcite ) , as well as the wfpc2 ccd response curve to determine the @xmath66 magnitudes of vega in the various filters . these @xmath66 magnitudes are zero - pointed to vega , not the spectra of f dwarfs ( _ i.e. _ ab79 , @xcite ; see @xcite , or @xcite ) . using the seds of e / s0 galaxies ( @xcite ) , one integrates over the observed and redshifted filter curves to solve for @xmath59 , for a given sed : @xmath67 to find @xmath68 for galaxies with e / s0 spectra at @xmath0 . using seds typical of spirals yield transformations which differ by only @xmath69 mag . as noted above , these transformations are identical to those used by kelson ( 1997 ) and van dokkum ( 1998a ) . colors in the wfpc2 filters are taken directly from van dokkum ( 1998a ) . they measured @xmath70 colors within @xmath2 for each of the cluster members within the hst mosaic ; their color errors ( random ) are on the order of @xmath69 mag . for the purposes of the photometric calibration , the absolute color uncertainties should approximately equal the quadrature sum of the two holtzman ( 1995 ) zero - point errors . other effects , such as the exposure time correction , the charge - transfer effect , gain variations and aperture corrections , cancel since they are equal contributors to the calibration of each bandpass . we comment more on color uncertainties below . galactic extinction has been taken from burstein & heiles ( 1982 ) and used in conjunction with cardelli , clayton , & mathis ( 1989 ) to derive the extinctions in the hst filters . the burstein & heiles @xmath71 color excess is @xmath72 mag . using cardelli , we find @xmath73 and @xmath74 . thus , @xmath75 and @xmath76 . thus , we correct both the measured colors and the redshifted @xmath44 surface brightnesses by @xmath77 mag . because the galactic reddening is low in the direction of cl1358 + 62 , reddening uncertainties will contribute little to the following error budget . errors in the final calibration of the redshifted @xmath56-band surface brightnesses can arise from three sources : ( 1 ) errors in the hst zero - point calibration , ( 2 ) errors in the measured colors , and ( 3 ) errors in the transformation from the observed to redshifted bandpasses . we now attempt to summarize these uncertainties , and estimate the total error in our calibrated @xmath56 magnitudes . each step in the calibration of hst photometry introduces uncertainties . in the previous section , we showed that the @xmath56-bandpass is very closely tied to f814w , with a moderate color term . thus , errors in the holtzman ( 1995 ) zero - point for f814w propagates directly to systematic errors in the @xmath56 magnitudes . the f814w zero - point uncertainty is listed by holtzman ( 1995 ) as @xmath78 mag . their calibration , however , is explicitly valid for the spectral energy distributions of stars , so the calibration has larger uncertainties when applied to the seds of galaxies , probably on the order of 1 - 2% . furthermore , the holtzman ( 1995 ) zero - point is valid for @xmath79 radius aperture magnitudes . our surface brightnesses will have been measured using data deconvolved with a point - spread function with a finite radius ( @xmath80 ) . therefore , we must correct our data from an effective aperture of @xmath46 to an effective aperture of @xmath45 . a reasonable estimate for the uncertainty in this correction is @xmath69 mag . another source of error arises from uncertainties in the extragalactic distance scale key project s correction to the zero - point ( see , _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) ; we estimate that it introduces an uncertainty on the order of @xmath81 mag ( half the effect ) . the color term in the transformation to redshifted @xmath56 is small , with the result that errors in @xmath56 due to uncertainties in the @xmath82 colors are diminished by nearly a factor of five . these color errors include the uncertainty in the f606w zero - point , which we assume to be on the order of @xmath83 mag , compared to the estimate by holtzman ( 1995 ) of @xmath84 mag ( the f606w zero - point was determined theoretically , and no additional calibration since holtzman ( 1995 ) has been attempted ) . with regard to the colors , any systematic variations in the ccd gain and charge transfer , for example , cancel . as stated earlier , the error in the adopted galactic reddening is likely to be small , no greater than @xmath69 mag . thus , the primary component of systematic error is the f606w zero - point . if the @xmath85 color error can be thought of as the quadrature sum of the holtzman ( 1995 ) zero - point errors , then the resulting error in @xmath56 from galaxy colors is still @xmath86 mag . color gradients within the galaxies themselves could be a larger factor , but van dokkum ( 1998a ) showed that , in the mean , the colors change very little as one adopts different standard radii for measurement of the colors . errors in the coefficients in the transformation come from several sources . uncertainties in the filter constants are estimated to be @xmath87 mag in the final transformation . variations in the intrinsic galaxy seds lead to ( slightly ) different values for the color and constant terms in the transformations themselves , introducing an uncertainty of @xmath69 mag . lastly , adoption of the hayes ( 1985 ) spectrum of vega may also lead to errors if the wfpc2 photometric calibration sources were not strictly on the same spectrophotometric system as the hayes spectrum . unfortunately , the magnitude of this uncertainty is not well known , though we estimate it to be no larger than @xmath88 mag based on the agreement of several sources of filter constants with with holtzman ( 1995 ) . by adding these contributions in quadrature , we estimate a total error of @xmath89 mag in @xmath56 and @xmath88 mag in @xmath90 color . for the analysis of the fundamental plane , these uncertainties can be treated as systematic errors . the photometric parameters , @xmath2 and @xmath19 , were obtained by fitting @xmath1-law profiles to the galaxies and two distinct approaches were used to fit @xmath1-laws to the data . the first approach involved restoration of the data ( deconvolution ) using the clean procedure ( @xcite ) , isophote fitting using galphot ( @xcite ) , the derivation of a circularized , integrated surface brightness profile ( _ i.e _ , a `` growth '' curve ) , and its fit with an integrated @xmath1-law . the second approach involved fitting two - dimensional galaxy models to the images directly ( cf . the algorithm involves convolving two - dimensional @xmath1-laws with a psf , iteratively adjusting the parameters until the model provides a good fit to the wfpc2 images . nearby , contaminating objects can be handled elegantly , since multiple objects can be fit simultaneously ( see also simard 1998 ) . for both of these procedures we used artificial psfs for each galaxy . these psfs were created using tiny tim 4.0b ( @xcite ) . we estimate the effects of psf errors in [ psferr ] . in this section , we discuss the procedures used for fitting the integrated profiles derived from the wfpc2 images . before deriving the surface photometry , the images must be deconvolved because the structural parameters @xmath2 and @xmath91 can be seriously affected by the wfpc2 psf and its broad wings . we chose to use the clean method of deconvolution because it is fast , efficient , and simple ( @xcite ) . the output images were convolved with a gaussian smoothing function to reduce the noise in the output image . the residual maps typically contained @xmath92 of the counts in the original image but were nevertheless added to the output frames in order to preserve flux . we fitted elliptical isophotes using the program galphot ( @xcite ) . the radii were spaced logarithmically , with an inner isophote radius of @xmath93 pixels , extending out to radii typically five times larger than @xmath2 . in deriving structural parameters for our galaxies , we duplicated the procedures used on nearby galaxies , fitting the integrated profiles rather than the profiles themselves . the flux in the cleaning process has been restored with an effective psf , chosen to be a gaussian with @xmath94 pixel . at any given radius , one needs to correct the analytical @xmath1-law growth curve for the convolution by the restoration psf . the enclosed flux within a given radius for an @xmath1-law profile is analytically simple : @xmath95 the least - squares fit can be linearized straightforwardly , since the derivatives of equation [ anal4 ] , with respect to @xmath2 and @xmath91 ( or @xmath19 ) , are also analytically simple . for a given set of structural parameters @xmath96 , one can readily compute how much interior flux should be redistributed outside of a given radius in the growth curve . in this fashion , one adjusts the growth curve due to the smearing by the restoration psf ( see , _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) . at each radius , one computes a set of aperture corrections to correct the model to a `` seeing''-convolved model ( assuming circular symmetry ) . these corrections are determined numerically for each set of structural parameters tested in the search for @xmath97 minimum . the expression for the convolved model growth curves is @xmath98 where the restoration psf is described by its transform , @xmath99 , and @xmath100 and @xmath101 are zeroth and first order bessel functions . for @xmath102 , we use the fitted profile . we use the levenberg - marquardt method to perform the @xmath97 minimization , fitting @xmath103 to the integrated surface brightness profiles . , where @xmath104 and @xmath105 are the convolved and unconvolved values of the cumulative flux . ] once the set of structural parameters has been found which minimizes @xmath97 , we have @xmath2 , @xmath91 , and @xmath19 for the fitted model . once the model has been fit , the galaxy profile may not be perfectly fit by the model within @xmath2 , the radius within which @xmath19 is defined . therefore , we use the observed @xmath19 , _ i.e. _ , the enclosed flux within @xmath2 for the observed profile instead of the enclosed flux for the model , and have corrected this surface brightness for the smearing effects of the restoration psf ( see equation [ seeing ] ) . using either the observed or model @xmath19 has an effect on @xmath106 of less than @xmath107 in the mean . in figure [ profile ] , we show the calibrated f814w surface brightness profiles and integrated surface brightness profiles . the fit by the integrated de vaucouleurs profiles are shown by thick solid lines in the right - hand panels . the implied @xmath1-law profiles are shown in the left - hand panels . the residuals are shown in the lower panels , using thick solid lines as well . in general , the quality of the fit to the integrated profiles is good . in the fitting process , one must select a range of radii over which to fit the integrated surface brightness profiles . at small radii , the profile shapes are affected by psf errors which may have been exacerbated by the ( de)convolution procedures . secondly , at large radii the profiles themselves become noisy , and thus the growth curve shapes can become suspect . three effects limit the choice of inner radius in the fit : ( 1 ) the clean procedure may not be perfect and noiseless ; ( 2 ) the tiny tim construction of the wfpc2 psf may not be perfect ; and ( 3 ) the correction for the smearing by the restoration psf may not be perfect . these effects are exacerbated by the under - sampling of the data . the outer radius was chosen in order to minimize the effects of sky - subtraction errors . the shape of a galaxy s outer profile can be greatly affected by errors in the sky background , even though fitting of a parameterized growth curve is intended to be robust against such uncertainties . we find that the results are quite stable to the choice of inner and outer fitting radii . we varied the outer fitting radius between @xmath108 , @xmath109 and @xmath110 , and the inner fitting radius between 0 , 0.5 , 1 pixel , and 2 pixels . ( for @xmath3 -1 and @xmath4 , one wfpc2 pixel corresponds to @xmath111 kpc , equivalent to @xmath112 at the distance of coma . ) for all combinations of the fitting range , mean and median differences in @xmath2 are less than @xmath113 . we found that @xmath114 was a suitable compromise for the outer radius in fitting the growth curve . after investigating the uncertainties due to psf errors and the under - sampling ( [ psferr ] ) , we adopted an inner fitting radius of @xmath115 pixel . in the extreme case , changing the inner and outer fitting radii to @xmath116 and @xmath117 , the mean systematic offset in @xmath2 is about 1% , with an scatter in the @xmath2 values of @xmath118 . the systematic offset in @xmath119 , the combination of the structural parameters which appears in the fundamental plane , is negligible , with an scatter of 0.1% . the stability of the effective radii to the inner fitting boundary gives us confidence that the procedure outlined above properly corrects for the convolution by the restoration psf . one important source of error not addressed by varying the inner and outer fitting radii was uncertainties in the determination of the sky background . when the imaging data were processed in van dokkum ( 1998a ) , the background was modeled and subtracted using order @xmath37 polynomials . however , for any given galaxy there may still be residual background fluctuations that were not accurately removed by the modeling . thus , we followed the procedure in jrgensen ( 1992 ) , where low - order power laws ( @xmath120 ) are fit to the outer parts of the profiles using an unweighted least - squares routine . the sky value is estimated from the asymptotic convergence of @xmath121 . the scatter in extrapolated sky values was 5@xmath122 ( 24 mag/@xmath123 ) . by ignoring this fit for the local background , the effect on @xmath2 is about 1% , in the mean , with a standard deviation of 3% . no effect on the fundamental plane parameters was found . in summary , the fundamental plane parameters derived from the fitting of the integrated profiles , for all combinations of the inner and outer fitting radii , are extremely robust against the choice of fitting range . the insensitivity to the fitting range and to uncertainties in the sky subtraction suggest to us that the growth - curve parameters are well - determined . in this section , we derive structural parameters by fitting two - dimensional model galaxies directly to the wfpc2 images ( see @xcite for a discussion of the technique used here , and other authors for variants of the method _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) . images of model galaxies , for a given set of structural parameters , are convolved with the tiny tim psfs and compared directly to the data frames . the structural parameters are adjusted until @xmath97 , or some other measure of the goodness of fit , is minimized . the local topology of @xmath97 is generally used to estimate the uncertainties in the fit . procedures for fitting the images directly have the advantage that one performs a convolution rather than deconvolution . the advantages of such a process include the preservation of the image s noise characteristics , and the fitting of multiple objects simultaneously . the current disadvantage is that the 2d models are built using a single , global ellipticity and position angle for each galaxy . nonetheless , as the apparent information content continues to shrink with the decreasing angular sizes of high redshift galaxies , useful structural parameters are still extractable via such modeling , so long as the psf is reasonably well known . such fitting methods assume a functional form to the galaxy profile , such as an @xmath1-law , but can be expanded to include multiple components ( _ e.g. _ , @xmath1-law bulge plus exponential disk ) . the parameters of the least - squares fit to an @xmath1-law are : ( 1 ) @xmath124 position of the center ; ( 2 ) @xmath125 , the apparent ellipticity ; ( 3 ) position angle ; ( 4 ) effective radius ; ( 5 ) surface brightness at the effective radius ; and ( 6 ) the sky background . multiple - component ( _ e.g. _ , bulge - plus - disk ) fits require additional parameters and complicated minimization algorithms , but even such expanded profile shapes do not yet take into account deviations from purely elliptical isophote shapes , or twisting of the isophotes with radius . using the fitting procedure of van dokkum & franx ( 1996 ) , we derived the @xmath1-law structural parameters for the galaxies . given the potential uncertainties in the processing of the sky background in the ccd images , we performed the fitting first with the sky background fixed at zero , and a second time while fitting for the local sky background . when the sky background is fit , the @xmath2 changes by a mean ( median ) of @xmath126 @xmath127 , with a scatter of nearly @xmath128 . the additional fitting of local sky has a negligible effect on the fundamental plane parameter in the mean ( @xmath129 ) , with a scatter of @xmath130 . for some galaxies , @xmath2 could change by as much as 30 - 40% , but even for these extreme cases the fundamental plane parameter only changes by @xmath131 . in figure [ residuals ] , we show the galaxy images , after subtraction with the best - fit 2d @xmath1-law models . many disk - like structures are clearly visible in these residuals and bulge - plus - disk fits to the 1d profiles are discussed in [ scomp ] . ideally the two fitting procedures should yield similar , or even identical structural parameters . in practice this will not be the case for several reasons . for example , the two procedures have intrinsically different weighting schemes in the fitting process . furthermore , galaxies do not have surface brightness profiles which obey perfectly an @xmath1-law , or any other simply parameterized function . while the internal tests listed above , such as varying the fitting range of the integrated surface brightness profiles , or allowing the image modeling to fit the sky background , help estimate some of the uncertainties in the measurements , the methods themselves suffer from their own systematics . therefore , we now compare the structural parameters derived from the two methods in order to help estimate remaining systematic uncertainties . the comparison of effective radii derived by the two algorithms is surprisingly good , considering the range of apparent morphologies covered by the sample . the median difference in effective radii between the two algorithms is only @xmath132 . the standard deviation is @xmath133 in @xmath2 , precisely the quadrature sum of the scatter derived in the individual internal tests . the median offset in effective surface brightness is @xmath134 . thus , there is a systematic offset in the effective fundamental plane parameter of @xmath135 , with a standard deviation of @xmath136 . nominally , one would expect that the error in the fundamental plane parameter should be smaller than the error in the individual structural parameters , because of the correlation between @xmath2 and surface brightness . however , the two fitting methods weight the data differently and are therefore affected differently by the under - sampling and psf errors , which are addressed in the next section . nevertheless , these results indicate that the errors in the fundamental plane parameters are small . while the above tests show that the fundamental plane parameters appear well constrained , there are potential sources of error in common to both methods . the two most important effects are ( 1 ) the under - sampling ; and ( 2 ) the use of model point - spread functions . even those these effects are common to both methods , the data are weighted differently in the @xmath97 calculation . as a result , the two fitting methods are not affected identically . in order to test the effects of under - sampling , and the dependence of the psf on sub - pixel positioning , we generated a @xmath137 subsampled tiny tim psf . we created a set of noiseless subsampled @xmath1-law galaxy images using the subsampled psfs . we then created two sets of wf ccd sampled versions of these model galaxies . the first set were simply block - averaged to the nominal wf ccd sampling and convolved with a charge - smearing kernel ( @xcite ) . thus , the galaxy centroids were located at the precise corner of a wf ccd pixel . the second set were created by shifting the subsampled model galaxy images by @xmath138 ( half a wf ccd pixel ) , then block - averaged , and convolved with the charge - smearing kernel . in each case , the block - averaged subsampled psfs are equivalent to the ( under-)sampled , real ones . thus , we had two sets of model galaxy images which differed in position by half a wf ccd pixel . we then used the nominally sampled tiny tim psf , centered at the integer pixel location , to derive structural parameters for these galaxies . the model images were analyzed in the same manner as the cl1358 + 62 galaxies , as described in [ growthfit ] and [ r4fit ] . the systematic errors in @xmath2 varied with galaxy size , as did the errors in @xmath119 . for @xmath139 pixels , the error in the fundamental plane parameter was only @xmath140 . for @xmath141 pixels , the error is @xmath142 . for these tests , we restricted the growth curve fitting to radii @xmath143 pixel . by fitting to the very center , the systematic error in @xmath119 was nearly @xmath144 for galaxies as small as @xmath141 pixels . even by directly fitting the images with the two - dimensional models , the derived structural parameters are susceptible to errors due to the under - sampling . for galaxies with @xmath145 pixel , the systematic errors due to under - sampling can be as large as @xmath39 in @xmath2 , and @xmath146 in @xmath147 . fortunately , the smallest galaxy in our sample has @xmath148 pixels ; the median effective radius is @xmath149 pixels . therefore , we anticipate that the net systematic effect of the under - sampling on the fundamental plane is small , being 1 - 2% on average . we caution against fitting profiles or growth curves too close to the centers of galaxies , even when deconvolution of the wfpc2 images has taken place , because the under - sampling makes fitting small galaxies quite problematic . techniques which improve the sampling , such as `` drizzling '' ( @xcite ) should improve the usefulness of the data for such objects . in both procedures , we have relied on the assumption that the tiny tim point - spread function ( @xcite ) is an accurate match to the psf of the observations . even when this assumption is be correct for a single exposure , the process of combining multiple exposures in each pointing introduces extra `` jitter '' in the psf of the resulting image . the situation is actually worse because one has only a finite number of images , _ e.g. _ , @xmath150 , and not the limit of @xmath151 images . therefore the individual jitter vectors are not going to be isotropically distributed , for each galaxy ( or star ) in a given pointing . therefore , we tested to what extent our results are effected by errors in the model psf . we built model galaxy images using a bright star as the _ observed _ psf , and then analyzed these images using a tiny tim model psf . the star was located at approximately @xmath152 in ccd @xmath153 of pointing @xmath154 . we performed this test using observed stellar and tiny tim psfs with @xmath80 diameter . we generated a @xmath137 subsampled model psf at the integral pixel location of the star , shifted and resampled it to the pixel size of the wf ccds , and then convolved with the charge - smearing kernel . we measured the flux - weighted centroid of this nominally sampled psf and adjusted the sub - pixel shift until its centroid coincided with that of the star . the effects due to under - sampling in the star and tiny tim point - spread functions should cancel out , because they are positioned at identical sub - pixel locations ( to within 5% of a pixel ) . we created a set of 2d model galaxy images which had been convolved with the stellar image . the models had pure @xmath1-law profiles with effective radii @xmath155 pixels . using the sub - pixel shifted tiny tim psf , we then measured the structural parameters of the model using the direct image fitting . the measured effective radii underestimated the correct values by 17% , 12% , 8% , 6% , and 4% , respectively . this suggests that the model psf was broader than the star , but because of the under - sampling , this difference in width was not initially obvious . the fundamental plane parameters were systematically larger by 6.8% , 3.6% , 1.8% , 0.8% , and 0.2% , respectively . these offsets are independent of model ellipticity . the smallest galaxy in our sample has an effective radius of @xmath156 pixels ( @xmath157 ) . the median half - light radius of the sample is 06 , with 25 and 75 percentiles of 035 and @xmath112 . thus , for the upper half of the sample , the uncertainties on the fundamental plane parameters , due to improper matching of the point - spread functions , are @xmath92 . for the 25% of the sample with @xmath158 , the effects are @xmath159 . for the remainder , the uncertainty is @xmath160 . for galaxies at higher redshift , or for galaxies farther down the luminosity function , one must take extreme care to match the point - spread function to the data , given the potentially large systematic uncertainties at @xmath161 pixels . using two distinct fitting methods , we have reliably derived effective radii and surface brightnesses . the uncertainties in the effective radii of the de vaucouleurs profile fits are small , at the level of 13% , with a mean offset of only 1% . the measurements are robust against fitting range , uncertainties in the sky background , and fitting method . the uncertainties in the fundamental plane parameters themselves is even smaller , 2.5% , with potential systematic uncertainties at the level of @xmath159 , due to errors in the psf , under - sampling , and differences between the fitting methods . however , other sources of uncertainty in half - light radii may persist , due to deviations in galaxy profiles from the @xmath1-law form . therefore , we continue with a discussion of systematic deviations from the @xmath1-law . the actual surface brightness profiles of galaxies often deviate from pure @xmath1-laws . in the sample presented here , both bulge and disk components are readily visible in many of the images ( see figures [ images ] and [ residuals ] ) . we now investigate the fitting of more generalized surface brightness profiles to our data to test ( 1 ) if a more complex profile is better suited to the profiles of the cl1358 + 62 galaxies ; ( 2 ) if such departures from an @xmath1-law are important for the determination of their structural parameters ; and ( 3 ) if they allow for accurate and objective morphological classification . in this section , we generalize the parameterization of the surface brightness profiles to the @xmath5-law ( @xcite ) , where @xmath6 , in the case of this paper , is restricted to the set of integers @xmath162 . note that the case of @xmath7 corresponds to an exponential disk , and @xmath163 is equal to the de vaucouleurs profile . the inclusion of @xmath6 serves two purposes . first , the best - fit @xmath6 is a a quantitative descriptor of galaxy morphology . graham ( 1997 ) found that the giant cluster ellipticals and bcgs follow @xmath164 profiles . furthermore , saglia ( 1997 ) showed that @xmath5 is equivalent to a subset of bulge - plus - disk models , though the relationship between @xmath6 and @xmath165 is not a straightforward one . integrated @xmath5-laws , with @xmath166 have been fit to the growth curves of [ growthfit ] . the enclosed flux within a given radius for an @xmath5-law profile can be simply expressed : @xmath167 where @xmath168 refers to the half - light radius of the corresponding @xmath5-law fit . fundamental plane parameters will be expressed as @xmath169 and @xmath170 . as in the case of the de vaucouleurs fitting ( @xmath163 ) , we adopt structural parameters derived from an inner fitting radius of 1 pixel , and an outer radius of @xmath171 . we tested the structural parameters from these fitting functions with direct image model fitting using the @xmath5-laws for a restricted set of @xmath6 ( @xmath172 ) . comparisons of the structural parameters derived from the image and growth - curve fitting for @xmath173 were similar to the comparisons for @xmath163 discussed in [ growthvsdirect ] ( in which differences in @xmath174 were 1.5% in the mean , with 2.5% scatter ) . by expanding our growth curve fitting to a range of profile shapes , one expects to gain additional knowledge about the galaxy sizes and morphologies . in this section , we investigate whether or not the new measures of half - light radii are necessarily more accurate than those obtained with the de vaucouleurs profile . figure [ rrat](a ) shows the distribution of the ratio @xmath175 ( where @xmath176 ) using the best - fit @xmath6 for a given galaxy . this distribution is quite broad , suggesting that the fit of a pure de vaucouleurs profile can lead to large errors in half - light radius , similar to what has been found for nearby samples ( @xcite ) . for a given @xmath6 , the ratio of @xmath177 appears to be a well defined function . as shown in figure [ sfn](a ) , @xmath178 , almost irrespective of the true shape of the galaxies , with a scatter of less 5% . thus , the fit of an @xmath179 profile to an intrinsically @xmath180 galaxy will find too large a half - light radius by nearly a factor of three . as a result , a large bulk of an @xmath179 profile is fit to parts of the growth curve which are more susceptible to errors in the sky subtraction . in crowded regions , where a large source of systematic error is the background determination , residual background light can easily appear as a shallow envelope in the integrated surface brightness profiles , masquerading as the profile of an @xmath181-law , or worse yet , even larger values of n. of course , the other extreme is also possible . by over - estimating the sky , one can effectively decrease the @xmath6 derived for a given galaxy . therefore , when expanding the profile fitting to include the overall shape ( @xmath6 ) , one must treat the background subtraction with care . while for fixed values of @xmath6 , the individual parameters of @xmath168 and @xmath182 are not particularly sensitive to errors in background subtraction ( see the earlier case of @xmath163 ) , the chief uncertainty is _ which _ value of @xmath6 to assign to a given galaxy . by varying the range of radii over which one compares the different @xmath5 fits , one begins to test the sensitivity of @xmath6 to the uncertainties in sky subtraction . a 3% error in sky subtraction ( [ deriv ] ) can lead to changes in @xmath6 , @xmath183 , and errors in half - light radius of 20 - 30% . the typical scatter introduced in @xmath6 due to the sky extrapolation alone is of order @xmath184 . nearly a third of the sample , however , have @xmath185 values larger than this , and many of these are the @xmath186 galaxies for which uncertainties in @xmath6 on the order of unity are not uncommon . we adopt @xmath185 as the uncertainty in the measurement of @xmath6 , and the faintest galaxies , as expected , tend to have the largest uncertainties . we conclude that the @xmath5-law does not yield more accurate estimates of half - light radii , especially for galaxies fit by @xmath187 . several authors have commented upon a trend of galaxy shape parameter , `` @xmath6 , '' with galaxy size ( @xcite ) . however , in figure [ sfn](a ) we saw that the ratio of @xmath177 scales in a well - defined manner . by fitting a low-@xmath6 profile to a galaxy , one will automatically find a smaller half - light radius than when fitting a larger @xmath6 profile . the half - light radii from low-@xmath6 fits are simply smaller than the half - light radii one derives when fitting larger-@xmath6 profiles , independent of the true shape of the galaxy profile . this bias may complicate the nature of the trend of @xmath6 with galaxy size . ideally , the fundamental plane should be insensitive to the detailed profiles of ( early - type ) galaxies . however , the fundamental plane parameter constructed with the surface brightness at an effective radius is not robust . as can be seen from figure [ sfn](b ) , the ratio of @xmath188 to @xmath189 is a factor of @xmath109 . the ratios of the @xmath190 to each other are _ independent of the real shapes of the galaxy profiles _ , to better than a few percent . in figure [ sfn](c ) , however , we see that the fundamental plane parameter constructed with the _ mean surface brightness _ ( within @xmath168 ) is much more robust with respect to @xmath6 , showing only @xmath191 peak - to - peak difference in @xmath192 . the typical scatter about this relation is only a few percent . the ratio of @xmath170 to @xmath193 is virtually independent of galaxy profile as well . this indicates that every @xmath180 galaxy fit by a de vaucouleurs profile is actually measured incorrectly in precisely the same way as every other @xmath180 galaxy , independent of galaxy size . in summary , the fitting of the sersic @xmath5-law profiles does not lead to more accurate photometric parameters for the purposes of fundamental plane analysis . the derived half - light radii are correlated with the best - fit @xmath6 , which is sensitive to errors in the sky background . fortunately , the fundamental plane is insensitive to these uncertainties in the photometric parameters , because the fundamental plane parameters , when constructed using mean effective surface brightnesses , remain constant at the level of 3% . classifying galaxies by morphology becomes increasingly difficult at high redshifts . distant galaxies are typed using images taken with ( linear ) ccd detectors , while nearby samples have been primarily typed using ( non - linear ) photographic plates . furthermore , the distant galaxies typically span fewer resolution elements , and the images have poorer @xmath17 than images of the nearby prototype elliptical and lenticular galaxies with which we wish to make comparisons . in order to maximize the use of our data in determining galaxy morphologies , we classify the galaxies in our sample by both visual and quantitative morphology . the visual classifications have been taken from fabricant ( 1999 ) . in the previous section , we derived the @xmath6 parameters for the galaxies in our sample . as stated earlier , the sersic ( 1968 ) @xmath6 profiles are a `` restricted '' subset of bulge - plus - disk models ( @xcite ) . in fitting the growth curves , the use of @xmath6 as a descriptor of morphology is formally more robust than bulge - disk decompositions . one needs only three quantities to describe a profile , @xmath194 , rather than four , @xmath195 . in this section , we test whether @xmath6 reasonably reflects @xmath165 ratios for our sample of galaxies . to this end , two - component , bulge - plus - disk growth curves were fit to the integrated surface brightness profiles of our galaxies , using the same fitting radii as above . the growth curves were fit between 1 pixel ( @xmath196 ) and @xmath197 , defined by the `` best '' fit @xmath5-law ( above ) . as in the fitting of the @xmath1-law growth curves , we used the levenberg - marquardt method to search for the parameters which minimized @xmath97 , taking extra care to avoid local minima . in figure [ profile ] , we show the fitted bulge - plus - disk superpositions and the residuals from this fit using thin solid lines . as is shown in the figures , the galaxies in our sample appear to be well described by the superpositions of de vaucouleurs bulge ( @xmath163 ) and exponential disk ( @xmath7 ) profiles . the individual bulge and disk components are plotted as dashed and dotted lines , respectively . note that the bulge - plus - disk models tend to provide better fits than a pure @xmath1-law . the addition of an exponential disk improves the fit for many of the galaxies . the e+a galaxies , i d # 209 , 328 , and 343 , are bulge - dominated , but clearly have disks at the level of 10 - 35% . over the entire sample , the median bulge fraction is 84% . upon visual inspection of figure [ residuals ] , one finds disk - like structures in about half of the sample , consistent with the visual classifications . spiral arms are also plainly visible in many , including two of the e+a galaxies . in many of the galaxies , there appears to be evidence for central exponential ( disk ) structures . most of the galaxies with larger bulge fractions show evidence for central exponential components in their surface brightness profiles . this does not appear to be an artifact of the fitting procedures or errors in the psf , as many of these central `` disk '' components persist at radii @xmath198 pixel . evidence of such structures might appear in the kinematic profiles but seeing would complicate the interpretation of such data ( @xcite ) . a full study of the entire membership catalog using two - dimensional model fitting of the images ( @xcite ) , would help confirm whether this abundance of central exponentials is the norm , or an artifact of the deconvolution process . table [ params ] lists the optical morphologies ( @xcite ) with the best - fit @xmath6 parameters . we list ( 1 ) galaxy i d , ( 2 ) visual morphology , @xmath41 , from fabricant ( 1999 ) , ( 3 ) @xmath54 color , also from van dokkum ( 1998a ) , ( 4 ) @xmath2 , ( 5 ) @xmath199 , ( 6 ) @xmath106 , ( 7 ) @xmath6 , ( 8) @xmath200 , ( 9 ) @xmath201 , and ( 10 ) @xmath202 . the fundamental plane parameters have been expressed using units of kpc and @xmath203pc@xmath204 ( @xmath3 -1 , @xmath4 ) . table [ bdstruct ] gives the best - fit bulge fractions for the galaxies in this sample , and lists the individual values of ( 3 ) @xmath205 , ( 4 ) @xmath206 , ( 5 ) @xmath207 , ( 6 ) @xmath205 for the bulge component , ( 7 ) @xmath208 for the bulge component , ( 8) @xmath205 for the disk component , ( 9 ) @xmath208 for the disk component , bulge fraction within ( 10 ) @xmath209 , ( 11 ) @xmath210 , and ( 12 ) @xmath211 , ( 13 ) total bulge fraction , and ( 14 ) luminosity - weighted ellipticity , are given for each galaxy . scale lengths are listed in arcsec , and surface brightnesses in @xmath212 . the tables include only formal errors and do not include other sources of errors , such as uncertainties in the calibration or errors due to psf mismatch . there were two explicit reasons for expanding the form of the fitted surface brightness profiles to the @xmath5-laws and bulge - plus - disk superpositions ; they are to ( 1 ) determine accurate measures of half - light radii ; and ( 2 ) objective morphological classifications . earlier we compared the half - light radii from the sersic profiles to those derived using the de vaucouleurs profile . in figure [ rrat](b ) , we show the distribution of bulge - plus - disk half - light radius , @xmath213 , divided by @xmath2 , the half - light radius of the de vaucouleurs profile fit . the distribution is broad , and with figure [ rrat](a ) , should further caution the reader about the reliability of half - light radii in general . the other reason behind expanding the model surface brightness profiles to sersic profiles , and bulge - plus - disk superpositions was to test whether these forms could be used to objectively classify the galaxies , given the recent interest in quantitative morphologies . in figure [ compare ] , we compare visual and quantitative estimates of morphology to help test their reliability . figures [ compare](a - c ) compare @xmath214 , the bulge fraction of total light , @xmath6 , the best - fit @xmath5-law , and @xmath125 , the flux - weighted apparent ellipticities from the image modeling to the visual classifications , @xmath41 , of fabricant ( 1999 ) . in general , the visually classified e / s0s ( @xmath215 ) have high bulge fractions . those galaxies with @xmath216 are all of type s0/a and earlier . while @xmath41 and @xmath6 are clearly correlated , the relationship between profile shape , @xmath6 , and visual morphology has large scatter . figure [ compare](d , e ) shows @xmath214 and @xmath6 as functions of @xmath125 . in figure [ compare](f ) one sees that galaxies with @xmath186 typically have high bulge fractions . clearly the relationship between bulge fraction , @xmath6 , and optical morphology is not straightforward . that there appears to be no tight relation between @xmath6 and @xmath214 , however , should not be surprising . saglia ( 1997 ) showed that @xmath6 is a complicated combination of the bulge fraction and the ratio of disk to bulge half - light radii . we conclude that there is only a level of correspondence between the different estimates of morphology which allows one to discriminate between bulge - dominated and disk - dominated galaxies . it is clear from the figures that these quantitative measures are not successful at distinguishing subtle differences between adjacent morphological classes ( _ e.g. _ , es from s0s ) . the primary goal of this paper is to provide the photometric parameters required to compare the fundamental plane in cl1358 + 62 to that measured locally . we have shown that the growth - curve structural parameters are consistent with those derived from directly fitting 2d models to the images . however , the direct image fitting implemented by van dokkum & franx ( 1996 ) is currently restricted to rather simple galaxy models : a single component with constant ellipticity and position angle . other , more sophisticated algorithms , such as those described by simard ( 1997 ) , could be used as well . given the magnitudes of the uncertainties in half - light radii ( cf . figure [ rrat ] ) , the more sophisticated methods will not likely result in more accurate half - light radii , but simply in greater accuracy in the estimation of their errors . more distant galaxies , with smaller angular sizes , will require more sophisticated modeling to avoid serious systematic errors in structural parameters due to the under - sampling . despite these issues , we have shown that the measurements of @xmath217 are quite robust . the current errors in the structural parameters , as deduced by the differences in the results of our two methods , give us confidence that more complicated procedures would not greatly improve on the analysis . what we do find , however , is that one can use @xmath6 to _ grossly _ distinguish between bulge- and disk - dominated systems . these @xmath5-laws , however , do not give much insight into any particular physical properties of the galaxies , such as ratios of bulge to disk radii , or bulge fraction . given the uncertainties in the actual profile shapes of the cl1358 + 62 galaxies , the fundamental plane parameter must be constructed with care . use of the surface brightness at the half - light radius appears to be a strong function of the profile chosen for the fitting ( see figure [ sfn ] ) . adopting the mean surface brightness within the half - light radius produces a fundamental plane parameter which is robust against the adopted profile shape . although we have outlined potentially large uncertainties in half - light radii , the correlation between @xmath218 and @xmath219 ensures that the fundamental plane parameter , @xmath10 is conserved , with a scatter of 3% . in figure [ errcor ] , we show the correlation between @xmath219 and @xmath218 explicitly for the entire sample . for every trial fitting range and @xmath5-law , we plot the mean surface brightness within the fitted half - light radius , normalized by the adopted mean effective surface brightness from the de vaucouleurs profile fit , versus galaxy radius , normalized by the effective radius from the de vaucouleurs profile fit . the data do not deviate significantly from the correlation expected from pure @xmath1-law growth curves , shown by the dashed line . the slope running parallel to the fundamental plane , @xmath220 , is shown by the solid line . given the large uncertainties in half - light radii , the strong error correlation may not only be coincidentally parallel to the fundamental plane , but also likely seriously biases the measured slope of the scaling relation ( @xcite ) . because the analysis most closely parallels earlier , ground - based work , we will use the results from the growth curve fitting in the derivation of the fundamental plane ( see @xcite ) . using deep hst imaging , we have extracted growth curves for a sample of 53 galaxies in the cluster cl1358 + 62 at @xmath0 . these growth curves have been fit using integrated @xmath1-laws , integrated sersic @xmath5-law profiles , and bulge - plus - disk superpositions . comparisons of the fits between the different parameterizations of the profiles show an scatter of 30 - 40% in half - light radii , although the formal uncertainties in the half - light radii from a given fit are typically smaller by factors of three . the half - light radii derived from the sersic profiles agree in the median with those found using the @xmath1-laws at the level of 1% . the half - light radii derived using the bulge - plus - disk superpositions are systematically larger by 10% . despite the potentially large uncertainties in the half - light radii , the quantity that enters the fundamental plane , @xmath221 has been shown to be quite stable . this combination is shown to be nearly parallel to the correlation between radius and mean surface brightness for an @xmath1-law growth curve . the median half - light radius of this sample is 061 ( 2.9 kpc , @xmath3 - 1 , @xmath4 ) , with a range of 1.26 dex in @xmath2 . ( using @xmath165 decompositions , or @xmath5-laws , only changes the median by @xmath222 . ) the range is smaller than the 1.6 dex spanned by the jrgensen ( 1993 ) coma sample , probably due to differences in selection criteria . the median bulge fraction is about 84% . many of the galaxies with larger bulge fractions show evidence for central exponential components in their surface brightness profiles . the few e+a galaxies in this sample invariably have disks ( see also @xcite . their bulge fractions are 65 - 90% ( see also , _ e.g. _ , @xcite ) . half of the sample shows evidence for disky structures after subtracting two - dimensional @xmath1-law models from the galaxy images . this result is consistent with the visual classifications in which nearly half of the sample are of type s0/a trough sb . two of the three e+a galaxies have evidence of spiral arms in their residual maps . in the future , we plan to derive accurate structural parameters for the entire sample of confirmed cluster members and investigate the global correlations of these parameters with the signatures of stellar populations ( color ) , and environment ( clustercentric radius and local densities ) ( @xcite ) . the importance of these issues for the fundamental plane is discussed by kelson ( 1999b ) . studies of galactic structural parameters and scaling relations in distant clusters , like this program , clearly require wide - field imaging of the distant cluster fields . two more wfpc2 mosaics have now been taken , of ms2053 - 04 ( @xmath34 ) and ms105403 ( @xmath26 ) . with these clusters , the evolution of the properties of cluster galaxies can be accurately mapped to redshifts approaching unity and the advanced camera for surveys is expected to extend such studies to redshifts beyond @xmath223 . we gratefully acknowledge d. koo and s. faber , who provided valuable comments on an early version of the paper . furthermore , we appreciate the effort of all those in the hst program that made this unique observatory work as well as it does . the assistance of those at stsci who helped with the acquisition of the hst data is also gratefully acknowledged . support from stsci grants go05989.01 - 94a , go05991.01 - 94a , and ar05798.01 - 94a and nsf grant ast-9529098 is gratefully acknowledged . r l c r r c r r r r c 095&s0 & 0.894 & 0.356 & 19.84 & 2.59 & & 5.2 & 0.565 & 20.59 & 2.56@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath225&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath227&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224110&s0/a & 0.850 & 0.648 & 20.32 & 2.70 & & 2.3 & 0.375 & 19.53 & 2.71@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath228&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath84&@xmath231&@xmath224129&s0/a & 0.830 & 0.324 & 19.27 & 2.72 & & 4.2 & 0.326 & 19.28 & 2.72@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath225&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath225&@xmath231&@xmath224135&s0 & 0.827 & 0.351 & 20.19 & 2.48 & & 5.2 & 0.493 & 20.71 & 2.47@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath234&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath235&@xmath229&@xmath224142&s0/a & 0.856 & 1.414 & 22.15 & 2.49 & & 3.9 & 1.398 & 22.13 & 2.49@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath236&@xmath237&@xmath224&&@xmath238&@xmath236&@xmath237&@xmath224164&s0/a & 0.870 & 1.165 & 21.56 & 2.58 & & 5.7 & 1.955 & 22.37 & 2.56@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath239&@xmath240&@xmath224&&@xmath241&@xmath242&@xmath243&@xmath224182&s0 & 0.839 & 0.418 & 20.70 & 2.40 & & 3.2 & 0.310 & 20.25 & 2.40@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath84&@xmath229&@xmath224209&sa & 0.601 & 0.980 & 21.34 & 2.57 & & 2.3 & 0.557 & 20.49 & 2.59@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath245&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224211&s0 & 0.870 & 0.612 & 20.58 & 2.60 & & 3.3 & 0.470 & 20.18 & 2.61@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath246&@xmath234&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath233&@xmath229&@xmath224212&e & 0.868 & 0.547 & 20.44 & 2.59 & & 5.2 & 0.781 & 21.01 & 2.58@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath244&@xmath226&@xmath224215&s0 & 0.843 & 0.338 & 20.17 & 2.47 & & 5.0 & 0.460 & 20.67 & 2.45@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath247&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath248&@xmath249&@xmath231&@xmath224233&e / s0 & 0.847 & 0.590 & 19.95 & 2.78 & & 5.3 & 0.873 & 20.58 & 2.75@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath228&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath235&@xmath231&@xmath224234&sb & 0.689 & 3.636 & 23.68 & 2.43 & & 3.0 & 2.264 & 22.97 & 2.44@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath250&@xmath251&@xmath224&&@xmath248&@xmath252&@xmath253&@xmath224236&s0 & 0.895 & 0.539 & 20.51 & 2.57 & & 5.5 & 0.892 & 21.33 & 2.53@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath254&@xmath235&@xmath231&@xmath224242&e & 0.882 & 1.201 & 21.54 & 2.60 & & 4.2 & 1.210 & 21.55 & 2.60@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath255&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath255&@xmath229&@xmath224256&e & 0.875 & 0.956 & 20.30 & 2.88 & & 5.4 & 1.542 & 21.06 & 2.86@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath235&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath235&@xmath226&@xmath224269&e / s0 & 0.913 & 0.776 & 20.05 & 2.86 & & 5.0 & 1.056 & 20.55 & 2.85@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath248&@xmath244&@xmath256&@xmath224292&s0/a & 0.776 & 0.911 & 21.21 & 2.58 & & 2.4 & 0.562 & 20.50 & 2.59@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath257&@xmath237&@xmath224&&@xmath258&@xmath233&@xmath229&@xmath224298&s0 & 0.914 & 0.642 & 19.93 & 2.82 & & 2.5 & 0.406 & 19.23 & 2.83@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath249&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath258&@xmath259&@xmath256&@xmath224300&s0 & 0.879 & 0.386 & 19.59 & 2.70 & & 3.4 & 0.310 & 19.25 & 2.71@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath225&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath259&@xmath226&@xmath224303&e & 0.858 & 0.494 & 20.18 & 2.63 & & 5.3 & 0.729 & 20.81 & 2.61@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath249&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath249&@xmath226&@xmath224309&e / s0 & 0.900 & 0.433 & 19.80 & 2.69 & & 4.9 & 0.572 & 20.23 & 2.68@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath260&@xmath256&@xmath224&&@xmath248&@xmath260&@xmath256&@xmath224328&sa & 0.629 & 0.878 & 21.15 & 2.58 & & 2.5 & 0.550 & 20.45 & 2.59@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath261&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath262&@xmath244&@xmath226&@xmath224335&s0/a & 0.859 & 0.512 & 20.79 & 2.46 & & 4.4 & 0.551 & 20.89 & 2.46@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath233&@xmath229&@xmath224343&s0 & 0.670 & 0.438 & 20.66 & 2.43 & & 3.3 & 0.353 & 20.33 & 2.44@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath235&@xmath234&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath249&@xmath234&@xmath224353&e / s0 & 0.889 & 0.958 & 20.79 & 2.73 & & 5.4 & 1.495 & 21.52 & 2.70@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath249&@xmath256&@xmath224&&@xmath258&@xmath244&@xmath256&@xmath224356&sa & 0.889 & 0.815 & 20.62 & 2.71 & & 3.9 & 0.741 & 20.48 & 2.71@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath263&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath264&@xmath263&@xmath226&@xmath224359&s0 & 0.851 & 0.475 & 19.95 & 2.68 & & 4.4 & 0.527 & 20.12 & 2.68@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224360&e & 0.861 & 0.241 & 19.65 & 2.48 & & 5.5 & 0.373 & 20.37 & 2.45@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath225&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath262&@xmath233&@xmath229&@xmath224366&s0/a & 0.863 & 0.587 & 20.68 & 2.55 & & 3.3 & 0.448 & 20.28 & 2.56@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath84&@xmath231&@xmath224368&sab & 0.862 & 1.055 & 22.09 & 2.38 & & 2.4 & 0.649 & 21.34 & 2.39@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath265&@xmath240&@xmath224&&@xmath266&@xmath235&@xmath229&@xmath224369&s0/a & 0.879 & 0.935 & 21.70 & 2.44 & & 4.3 & 0.985 & 21.78 & 2.44@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath267&@xmath234&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath267&@xmath234&@xmath224371&sa & 0.871 & 1.699 & 21.84 & 2.66 & & 3.5 & 1.456 & 21.61 & 2.66@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath268&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath254&@xmath245&@xmath231&@xmath224372&sa & 0.867 & 1.595 & 22.09 & 2.56 & & 3.2 & 1.191 & 21.64 & 2.57@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath269&@xmath243&@xmath224&&@xmath227&@xmath270&@xmath240&@xmath224375&e & 0.894 & 3.813 & 22.44 & 2.83 & & 6.0 & 7.498 & 23.53 & 2.79@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath271&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath264&@xmath272&@xmath240&@xmath224381&e / s0 & 0.866 & 0.392 & 19.92 & 2.61 & & 6.0 & 0.756 & 20.97 & 2.57@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath264&@xmath273&@xmath234&@xmath224397&s0/a & 0.851 & 0.727 & 21.29 & 2.46 & & 3.3 & 0.472 & 20.71 & 2.45@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath273&@xmath240&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath263&@xmath229&@xmath224408&s0 & 0.861 & 0.353 & 19.70 & 2.63 & & 3.4 & 0.291 & 19.41 & 2.63@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath260&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath258&@xmath259&@xmath226&@xmath224409&e & 0.895 & 0.536 & 21.38 & 2.30 & & 4.1 & 0.525 & 21.35 & 2.30@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath274&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224410&s0 & 0.870 & 0.497 & 20.70 & 2.47 & & 3.2 & 0.370 & 20.26 & 2.48@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath84&@xmath231&@xmath224412&e & 0.843 & 0.368 & 20.22 & 2.49 & & 6.0 & 0.795 & 21.44 & 2.45@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath249&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath264&@xmath267&@xmath240&@xmath224433&s0/a & 0.851 & 0.371 & 19.95 & 2.57 & & 6.0 & 0.907 & 21.42 & 2.51@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath263&@xmath240&@xmath224&&@xmath264&@xmath275&@xmath276&@xmath224440&s0/a & 0.843 & 0.663 & 21.67 & 2.30 & & 4.9 & 0.843 & 22.02 & 2.30@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath261&@xmath234&@xmath224&&@xmath238&@xmath273&@xmath229&@xmath224454&s0/a & 0.807 & 0.983 & 21.16 & 2.63 & & 2.3 & 0.613 & 20.46 & 2.64@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath277&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath84&@xmath226&@xmath224463&s0 & 0.883 & 0.667 & 20.50 & 2.66 & & 3.2 & 0.492 & 20.03 & 2.67@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath249&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath225&@xmath226&@xmath224465&sa & 0.873 & 0.581 & 20.93 & 2.47 & & 4.2 & 0.599 & 20.98 & 2.47@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath231&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath233&@xmath231&@xmath224481&s0 & 0.810 & 0.478 & 21.06 & 2.35 & & 2.3 & 0.334 & 20.54 & 2.35@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath246&@xmath240&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath84&@xmath231&@xmath224493&e / s0 & 0.809 & 0.207 & 20.09 & 2.28 & & 4.1 & 0.214 & 20.15 & 2.27@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath235&@xmath278&@xmath224&&@xmath274&@xmath235&@xmath278&@xmath224523&s0/a & 0.905 & 0.910 & 21.42 & 2.52 & & 4.0 & 0.863 & 21.34 & 2.52@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath261&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath248&@xmath261&@xmath231&@xmath224531&e & 0.887 & 1.048 & 20.63 & 2.82 & & 5.4 & 1.682 & 21.39 & 2.79@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath235&@xmath256&@xmath224534&e & 0.888 & 0.464 & 20.77 & 2.42 & & 4.4 & 0.486 & 20.84 & 2.42@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath244&@xmath229&@xmath224&&@xmath230&@xmath244&@xmath229&@xmath224536&e & 0.874 & 0.890 & 20.63 & 2.75 & & 5.2 & 1.355 & 21.29 & 2.73@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath233&@xmath226&@xmath224&&@xmath232&@xmath235&@xmath226&@xmath224549&sab & 0.760 & 1.592 & 22.77 & 2.35 & & 3.5 & 1.380 & 22.54 & 2.36@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath224&@xmath279&@xmath237&@xmath224&&@xmath258&@xmath268&@xmath240&@xmath224 r l r r c r r r r r r r c c c c c 095&s0 & 0.704 & 20.94 & 2.55 & & 0.986 & 21.84 & & 0.064 & 17.75 & & 0.46 & 0.64 & 0.77 & 0.85 & 0.15@xmath224&&@xmath280&@xmath281&@xmath224&&@xmath282&@xmath283&&@xmath84&@xmath284&&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224110&s0/a & 0.350 & 19.45 & 2.70 & & 0.102 & 18.36 & & 0.419 & 20.12 & & 0.51 & 0.31 & 0.26 & 0.23 & 0.69@xmath224&&@xmath287&@xmath288&@xmath224&&@xmath289&@xmath290&&@xmath277&@xmath253&&@xmath286&@xmath87&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath224129&s0/a & 0.489 & 19.93 & 2.70 & & 0.726 & 20.95 & & 0.047 & 16.68 & & 0.48 & 0.65 & 0.73 & 0.82 & 0.27@xmath224&&@xmath239&@xmath291&@xmath224&&@xmath287&@xmath292&&@xmath293&@xmath231&&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224135&s0 & 0.418 & 20.45 & 2.47 & & 0.490 & 20.87 & & 0.039 & 18.01 & & 0.76 & 0.85 & 0.88 & 0.92 & 0.43@xmath224&&@xmath236&@xmath294&@xmath224&&@xmath295&@xmath296&&@xmath233&@xmath297&&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224142&s0/a & 0.834 & 21.40 & 2.48 & & 0.318 & 20.47 & & 1.094 & 22.44 & & 0.84 & 0.64 & 0.39 & 0.34 & 0.36@xmath224&&@xmath298&@xmath299&@xmath224&&@xmath300&@xmath301&&@xmath302&@xmath303&&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224164&s0/a & 2.251 & 22.62 & 2.54 & & 2.541 & 22.92 & & 0.061 & 17.77 & & 0.46 & 0.68 & 0.91 & 0.94 & 0.12@xmath224&&@xmath304&@xmath305&@xmath224&&@xmath306&@xmath307&&@xmath249&@xmath308&&@xmath89&@xmath87&@xmath309&@xmath69&@xmath224182&s0 & 0.355 & 20.46 & 2.40 & & 0.392 & 20.77 & & 0.220 & 21.91 & & 0.87 & 0.85 & 0.86 & 0.90 & 0.43@xmath224&&@xmath310&@xmath311&@xmath224&&@xmath267&@xmath278&&@xmath270&@xmath312&&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224209&sa & 0.625 & 20.65 & 2.59 & & 0.960 & 22.06 & & 0.427 & 20.93 & & 0.59 & 0.50 & 0.52 & 0.64 & 0.69@xmath224&&@xmath313&@xmath314&@xmath224&&@xmath252&@xmath315&&@xmath316&@xmath317&&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224211&s0 & 0.448 & 20.12 & 2.61 & & 0.458 & 20.41 & & 0.432 & 21.68 & & 0.85 & 0.77 & 0.74 & 0.78 & 0.61@xmath224&&@xmath318&@xmath319&@xmath224&&@xmath318&@xmath283&&@xmath320&@xmath251&&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath224212&e & 0.683 & 20.78 & 2.59 & & 0.781 & 21.17 & & 0.052 & 18.03 & & 0.70 & 0.83 & 0.89 & 0.93 & 0.09@xmath224&&@xmath321&@xmath322&@xmath224&&@xmath270&@xmath276&&@xmath233&@xmath323&&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224215&s0 & 0.457 & 20.66 & 2.45 & & 0.700 & 21.77 & & 0.037 & 16.95 & & 0.47 & 0.64 & 0.71 & 0.81 & 0.29@xmath224&&@xmath321&@xmath319&@xmath224&&@xmath280&@xmath283&&@xmath260&@xmath307&&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224233&e / s0 & 0.784 & 20.40 & 2.76 & & 0.952 & 20.94 & & 0.113 & 18.74 & & 0.64 & 0.76 & 0.86 & 0.90 & 0.35@xmath224&&@xmath324&@xmath325&@xmath224&&@xmath326&@xmath327&&@xmath277&@xmath328&&@xmath329&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath224234&sb & 0.996 & 21.86 & 2.42 & & 0.035 & 17.80 & & 1.049 & 22.03 & & 0.55 & 0.22 & 0.06 & 0.05 & 0.40@xmath224&&@xmath330&@xmath331&@xmath224&&@xmath332&@xmath333&&@xmath279&@xmath278&&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath224236&s0 & 0.776 & 21.10 & 2.55 & & 0.944 & 21.63 & & 0.055 & 17.87 & & 0.59 & 0.75 & 0.86 & 0.90 & 0.29@xmath224&&@xmath334&@xmath297&@xmath224&&@xmath335&@xmath317&&@xmath225&@xmath284&&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224242&e & 1.529 & 21.92 & 2.59 & & 1.825 & 22.42 & & 0.263 & 20.72 & & 0.69 & 0.70 & 0.87 & 0.91 & 0.10@xmath224&&@xmath336&@xmath325&@xmath224&&@xmath337&@xmath338&&@xmath246&@xmath315&&@xmath339&@xmath89&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224256&e & 1.380 & 20.88 & 2.86 & & 1.551 & 21.20 & & 0.090 & 18.00 & & 0.63 & 0.78 & 0.91 & 0.94 & 0.14@xmath224&&@xmath340&@xmath341&@xmath224&&@xmath342&@xmath276&&@xmath277&@xmath303&&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224269&e / s0 & 0.962 & 20.39 & 2.85 & & 1.045 & 20.62 & & 0.093 & 18.71 & & 0.78 & 0.87 & 0.94 & 0.96 & 0.35@xmath224&&@xmath279&@xmath343&@xmath224&&@xmath280&@xmath317&&@xmath344&@xmath345&&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224292&s0/a & 0.486 & 20.32 & 2.58 & & 0.297 & 20.39 & & 0.561 & 21.10 & & 0.64 & 0.44 & 0.36 & 0.35 & 0.26@xmath224&&@xmath346&@xmath347&@xmath224&&@xmath348&@xmath349&&@xmath350&@xmath351&&@xmath286&@xmath87&@xmath285&@xmath69&@xmath224298&s0 & 0.554 & 19.69 & 2.83 & & 0.835 & 20.84 & & 0.240 & 19.53 & & 0.61 & 0.60 & 0.68 & 0.78 & 0.67@xmath224&&@xmath320&@xmath352&@xmath224&&@xmath353&@xmath308&&@xmath354&@xmath292&&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224300&s0 & 0.453 & 19.84 & 2.69 & & 0.584 & 20.53 & & 0.092 & 18.66 & & 0.66 & 0.77 & 0.82 & 0.88 & 0.41@xmath224&&@xmath355&@xmath356&@xmath224&&@xmath275&@xmath307&&@xmath259&@xmath278&&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224303&e & 0.638 & 20.59 & 2.61 & & 0.774 & 21.11 & & 0.091 & 18.89 & & 0.67 & 0.78 & 0.86 & 0.90 & 0.15@xmath224&&@xmath279&@xmath357&@xmath224&&@xmath358&@xmath308&&@xmath228&@xmath253&&@xmath89&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath224309&e / s0 & 0.502 & 20.02 & 2.68 & & 0.540 & 20.21 & & 0.060 & 18.91 & & 0.87 & 0.92 & 0.94 & 0.96 & 0.14@xmath224&&@xmath267&@xmath359&@xmath224&&@xmath273&@xmath243&&@xmath261&@xmath360&&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224328&sa & 0.666 & 20.72 & 2.59 & & 0.862 & 21.53 & & 0.392 & 21.30 & & 0.76 & 0.69 & 0.71 & 0.80 & 0.47@xmath224&&@xmath361&@xmath362&@xmath224&&@xmath363&@xmath308&&@xmath236&@xmath296&&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224335&s0/a & 0.539 & 20.86 & 2.46 & & 0.541 & 20.90 & & 0.059 & 20.61 & & 0.94 & 0.97 & 0.98 & 0.99 & 0.37@xmath224&&@xmath364&@xmath331&@xmath224&&@xmath268&@xmath292&&@xmath365&@xmath366&&@xmath89&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224343&s0 & 0.404 & 20.54 & 2.43 & & 0.492 & 21.10 & & 0.165 & 20.93 & & 0.77 & 0.80 & 0.83 & 0.88 & 0.44@xmath224&&@xmath367&@xmath368&@xmath224&&@xmath369&@xmath253&&@xmath273&@xmath312&&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224353&e / s0 & 1.120 & 21.05 & 2.72 & & 1.205 & 21.24 & & 0.134 & 19.97 & & 0.81 & 0.88 & 0.94 & 0.96 & 0.02@xmath224&&@xmath318&@xmath322&@xmath224&&@xmath370&@xmath276&&@xmath371&@xmath338&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224356&sa & 0.604 & 20.20 & 2.71 & & 0.392 & 19.78 & & 0.899 & 22.07 & & 0.90 & 0.79 & 0.65 & 0.61 & 0.46@xmath224&&@xmath372&@xmath359&@xmath224&&@xmath239&@xmath317&&@xmath275&@xmath328&&@xmath309&@xmath309&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath224359&s0 & 0.574 & 20.26 & 2.67 & & 0.769 & 21.05 & & 0.122 & 19.05 & & 0.61 & 0.71 & 0.79 & 0.86 & 0.20@xmath224&&@xmath280&@xmath373&@xmath224&&@xmath361&@xmath338&&@xmath84&@xmath307&&@xmath89&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath224360&e & 0.341 & 20.22 & 2.45 & & 0.594 & 21.66 & & 0.050 & 17.62 & & 0.45 & 0.61 & 0.65 & 0.77 & 0.31@xmath224&&@xmath280&@xmath374&@xmath224&&@xmath375&@xmath311&&@xmath249&@xmath376&&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224366&s0/a & 0.630 & 20.79 & 2.55 & & 0.718 & 21.16 & & 0.140 & 20.46 & & 0.80 & 0.85 & 0.90 & 0.93 & 0.28@xmath224&&@xmath367&@xmath377&@xmath224&&@xmath372&@xmath284&&@xmath244&@xmath303&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224368&sab & 0.542 & 21.10 & 2.39 & & 0.627 & 22.39 & & 0.514 & 21.56 & & 0.53 & 0.39 & 0.34 & 0.41 & 0.63@xmath224&&@xmath378&@xmath379&@xmath224&&@xmath380&@xmath381&&@xmath382&@xmath278&&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224369&s0/a & 1.036 & 21.86 & 2.44 & & 1.085 & 21.98 & & 0.079 & 20.28 & & 0.85 & 0.92 & 0.96 & 0.98 & 0.30@xmath224&&@xmath383&@xmath281&@xmath224&&@xmath271&@xmath307&&@xmath310&@xmath384&&@xmath89&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224371&sa & 0.956 & 21.04 & 2.66 & & 0.468 & 20.64 & & 1.169 & 21.92 & & 0.81 & 0.63 & 0.37 & 0.34 & 0.54@xmath224&&@xmath385&@xmath386&@xmath224&&@xmath387&@xmath291&&@xmath388&@xmath292&&@xmath309&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath224372&sa & 1.435 & 21.92 & 2.56 & & 1.905 & 22.72 & & 0.593 & 21.99 & & 0.78 & 0.71 & 0.77 & 0.84 & 0.77@xmath224&&@xmath389&@xmath390&@xmath224&&@xmath391&@xmath315&&@xmath353&@xmath322&&@xmath87&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath224375&e & 4.979 & 22.86 & 2.82 & & 5.267 & 23.01 & & 0.162 & 19.22 & & 0.54 & 0.69 & 0.96 & 0.97 & 0.05@xmath224&&@xmath392&@xmath297&@xmath224&&@xmath393&@xmath278&&@xmath236&@xmath394&&@xmath395&@xmath339&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224381&e / s0 & 0.512 & 20.34 & 2.60 & & 0.550 & 20.50 & & 0.088 & 20.02 & & 0.88 & 0.92 & 0.94 & 0.96 & 0.37@xmath224&&@xmath289&@xmath396&@xmath224&&@xmath397&@xmath303&&@xmath332&@xmath398&&@xmath399&@xmath339&@xmath88&@xmath286&@xmath224397&s0/a & 0.409 & 20.50 & 2.45 & & 0.111 & 18.96 & & 0.540 & 21.45 & & 0.68 & 0.44 & 0.35 & 0.29 & 0.57@xmath224&&@xmath239&@xmath305&@xmath224&&@xmath255&@xmath400&&@xmath277&@xmath278&&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224408&s0 & 0.382 & 19.82 & 2.63 & & 0.523 & 20.66 & & 0.096 & 18.86 & & 0.63 & 0.74 & 0.77 & 0.85 & 0.54@xmath224&&@xmath273&@xmath297&@xmath224&&@xmath316&@xmath284&&@xmath259&@xmath243&&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224409&e & 0.498 & 21.27 & 2.30 & & 0.542 & 21.49 & & 0.223 & 22.60 & & 0.90 & 0.90 & 0.92 & 0.94 & 0.10@xmath224&&@xmath355&@xmath384&@xmath224&&@xmath255&@xmath317&&@xmath332&@xmath381&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224410&s0 & 0.488 & 20.67 & 2.47 & & 0.575 & 21.13 & & 0.157 & 20.84 & & 0.80 & 0.83 & 0.87 & 0.91 & 0.43@xmath224&&@xmath265&@xmath319&@xmath224&&@xmath401&@xmath307&&@xmath354&@xmath402&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224412&e & 0.767 & 21.39 & 2.45 & & 1.091 & 22.32 & & 0.056 & 17.66 & & 0.42 & 0.61 & 0.76 & 0.84 & 0.32@xmath224&&@xmath302&@xmath352&@xmath224&&@xmath403&@xmath328&&@xmath249&@xmath338&&@xmath89&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224433&s0/a & 1.021 & 21.61 & 2.51 & & 1.397 & 22.46 & & 0.072 & 17.95 & & 0.40 & 0.59 & 0.78 & 0.85 & 0.11@xmath224&&@xmath404&@xmath405&@xmath224&&@xmath406&@xmath311&&@xmath261&@xmath400&&@xmath407&@xmath89&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath224440&s0/a & 1.108 & 22.45 & 2.29 & & 1.328 & 22.98 & & 0.061 & 18.80 & & 0.54 & 0.72 & 0.87 & 0.91 & 0.34@xmath224&&@xmath408&@xmath362&@xmath224&&@xmath409&@xmath328&&@xmath249&@xmath328&&@xmath89&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224454&s0/a & 0.595 & 20.42 & 2.64 & & 0.990 & 22.27 & & 0.461 & 20.61 & & 0.47 & 0.37 & 0.37 & 0.50 & 0.58@xmath224&&@xmath358&@xmath410&@xmath224&&@xmath411&@xmath351&&@xmath273&@xmath237&&@xmath309&@xmath309&@xmath309&@xmath69&@xmath224463&s0 & 0.639 & 20.43 & 2.66 & & 0.714 & 20.74 & & 0.229 & 21.18 & & 0.87 & 0.87 & 0.91 & 0.94 & 0.48@xmath224&&@xmath372&@xmath319&@xmath224&&@xmath236&@xmath307&&@xmath268&@xmath319&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224465&sa & 0.609 & 21.01 & 2.47 & & 0.660 & 21.22 & & 0.133 & 21.10 & & 0.87 & 0.90 & 0.94 & 0.96 & 0.48@xmath224&&@xmath370&@xmath398&@xmath224&&@xmath365&@xmath251&&@xmath344&@xmath412&&@xmath339&@xmath88&@xmath87&@xmath286&@xmath224481&s0 & 0.260 & 20.25 & 2.33 & & 0.157 & 20.76 & & 0.280 & 20.65 & & 0.32 & 0.22 & 0.22 & 0.22 & 0.74@xmath224&&@xmath321&@xmath413&@xmath224&&@xmath414&@xmath415&&@xmath225&@xmath284&&@xmath87&@xmath285&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath224493&e / s0 & 0.193 & 19.98 & 2.28 & & 0.374 & 21.66 & & 0.059 & 18.74 & & 0.48 & 0.61 & 0.58 & 0.73 & 0.44@xmath224&&@xmath416&@xmath417&@xmath224&&@xmath418&@xmath419&&@xmath84&@xmath328&&@xmath329&@xmath88&@xmath88&@xmath69&@xmath224523&s0/a & 1.044 & 21.64 & 2.51 & & 1.171 & 21.96 & & 0.197 & 21.08 & & 0.80 & 0.83 & 0.91 & 0.94 & 0.25@xmath224&&@xmath420&@xmath421&@xmath224&&@xmath422&@xmath283&&@xmath354&@xmath312&&@xmath88&@xmath285&@xmath286&@xmath286&@xmath224531&e & 1.549 & 21.26 & 2.80 & & 1.830 & 21.71 & & 0.182 & 19.30 & & 0.61 & 0.69 & 0.88 & 0.92 & 0.25@xmath224&&@xmath353&@xmath343&@xmath224&&@xmath423&@xmath317&&@xmath354&@xmath278&&@xmath285&@xmath285&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224534&e & 0.620 & 21.21 & 2.41 & & 0.878 & 22.17 & & 0.032 & 16.68 & & 0.44 & 0.63 & 0.74 & 0.83 & 0.24@xmath224&&@xmath382&@xmath424&@xmath224&&@xmath397&@xmath284&&@xmath260&@xmath283&&@xmath286&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224536&e & 1.266 & 21.18 & 2.73 & & 1.433 & 21.52 & & 0.096 & 18.57 & & 0.64 & 0.78 & 0.91 & 0.94 & 0.27@xmath224&&@xmath289&@xmath359&@xmath224&&@xmath269&@xmath276&&@xmath228&@xmath308&&@xmath285&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath69&@xmath224549&sab & 0.866 & 21.92 & 2.34 & & 0.142 & 19.90 & & 1.028 & 22.50 & & 0.74 & 0.47 & 0.21 & 0.17 & 0.16@xmath224&&@xmath425&@xmath415&@xmath224&&@xmath426&@xmath427&&@xmath416&@xmath283&&@xmath69&@xmath286&@xmath87&@xmath69&@xmath224

using wide - field , two - color hst imaging of the cluster cl1358 + 62 ( @xmath0 ) , we derive structural parameters for a large , magnitude - limited sample of cluster members . these structural parameters are combined with accurate velocity dispersions in another paper to investigate the fundamental plane in the cluster . we fit integrated @xmath1-laws to the integrated surface brightness profiles , and fit two - dimensional @xmath1-law model galaxies to the images directly . a comparison of the results from the two methods shows that the derived half - light radii , @xmath2 , agree very well , with an scatter of only 13% . the half - light radii range from approximately 1 to 20 kpc , with a median of about 3 kpc ( @xmath3 - 1 , @xmath4 ) . we investigated the stability of @xmath2 by comparing the @xmath1-law fits to the half - light radii derived using other commonly used surface brightness profiles . in particular , we fit sersic @xmath5-laws ( finding the best - fit @xmath6 ranging between @xmath7-@xmath8 ) and superpositions of @xmath1-law bulges with exponential disks . the half - light radii derived from the best - fit sersic profiles varied with respect to @xmath2 from the @xmath1-law fits by only 1% in the median , but with a standard deviation of more than 40% in @xmath2 . for the bulge - plus - disk fits , the derived half - light radii were offset from @xmath2 of the @xmath1-law fits by 10% in the mean , also showing a large standard deviation of more than 40% . by comparing the fitted half - light radii from the sersic laws with those derived from the bulge - plus - disk fitting , one also finds a large scatter of 30% . based on these tests , we conclude that , in general , half - light radii are only measured with a typical accuracy of 30 - 40% . while there are large uncertainties in half - light radii , these do not impact the subsequent fundamental plane analysis because the combination @xmath9 , which enters the fundamental plane , is extremely stable . the scatter in @xmath10 is less than 3% , regardless of the form of the profile fit to the galaxies . by fitting bulge - plus - disk profiles , we find that the median bulge fraction of the sample is 84% and that the few e+a galaxies in this sample have disks which make up about 10 - 35% of their total light . these results are consistent with the residuals from fitting two - dimensional @xmath1-law models directly to the galaxies , in which disk - like structures are revealed in about half of the sample . two of the three e+a galaxies show spiral arm structure . # 1#2 -1kpc@xmath11 -1mpc@xmath11 -1sec@xmath11 2deg@xmath12 0h@xmath13 0@xmath14 # 1@xmath15 # 1 km s@xmath11 mpc@xmath11 # 1 @xmath16#1 # 1#2

[Updated at 6:17 p.m. ET] The U.S. Navy's new class of carriers will be the first to go without urinals, a decision made in part to give the service flexibility in accommodating female sailors, the Navy says. The change heralded by the Gerald R. Ford class of carriers - starting with the namesake carrier due in late 2015 - is one of a number of new features meant to improve sailors' quality of life and reduce maintenance costs, Capt. Chris Meyer said Wednesday. Omitting urinals lets the Navy easily switch the designation of any restroom - or head, in naval parlance - from male to female, or vice versa, helping the ship adapt to changing crew compositions over time, Meyer said. The Navy could designate a urinal-fitted area to women, of course, but the urinals would be a waste of space. Making the areas more gender-neutral is a relatively new consideration for the service, with most of its current carriers commissioned before it began deploying women on combat ships in 1994. But it wasn't the only reason for the move. Urinal drain pipes clog more than toilets and therefore can be smellier and costlier to maintain, Meyer said. "There's a lot more at play in the design objectives than (making the toilet areas) gender-neutral. We're saving money in maintenance costs, and we’re improving quality of life," said Meyer, manager of the Future Aircraft Carriers Program for the Naval Sea Systems Command. Other quality-of-life updates, according to Meyer: - Sleeping areas, or berthings, generally will be smaller, designed for fewer people per room. On current carriers, some berthings have more than 100 sailors each. On the Ford carriers, the number will be closer to 30 to 50 each. - Heads will be attached to berthing compartments. Currently, many sailors have to traverse a passageway between a berthing and a head, meaning sailors who’ve just woken up have to dress up more for a trip to the head than they would if it were adjacent. The new Ford-class features were first reported by the Navy Times. Some sailors said that they're happy to lose the urinals because they're hard to clean and maintain, the Navy Times reported this week. The Ford class is the future replacement for the Nimitz class. The Ford carriers are designed to allow more aircraft sorties, but with about 660 fewer crew members, according to the Navy. The first three Ford carriers are scheduled to debut between 2015 and 2027, at a total projected cost of $37 billion. That cost includes non-recurring engineering expenses and research and development costs for the first carrier, the Navy says. U.S. Navy: 'Hollow' force or 'the best in the world'? Navy’s legendary carrier USS Enterprise on final voyage ||||| President Donald Trump gestures during a speech aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford for it's commissioning at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va., Saturday, July 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve... (Associated Press) NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — With praise and a blessing for the military, President Donald Trump helped hand over the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Navy on Saturday and said the state-of-the-art aircraft carrier will send a "100,000-ton message to the world" about America's military might when it is ultimately deployed. U.S. allies will rest easy, Trump said, but America's enemies will "shake with fear" when they see the Ford cutting across the horizon. The president and commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces likened the $12.9 billion warship to "an incredible work of art" and boasted about the American labor that went into building a vessel that eventually will house thousands of sailors and crew members. Trump's participation in the ceremony also capped "Made in America" week at the White House, during which the president and administration officials sought to draw attention to U.S. manufacturing. "American steel and American hands have constructed this 100,000-ton message to the world," Trump said of the Ford during a speech that praised the bravery and spirit of U.S. service members and referenced his desire for a buildup after years of spending restrictions. "American might is second to none and we're getting bigger and better and stronger every day of my administration. That I can tell you," Trump told thousands of service members and guests, including former defense secretaries Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, all packed into the steamy hangar bay on the main deck. "Wherever this vessel cuts through the horizon, our allies will rest easy and our enemies will shake with fear because everyone will know that America is coming, and America is coming strong," Trump said. After the speech, he put the Ford into commission and asked God to "bless and guide this warship and all who shall sail in her." He was followed by Susan Ford Bales, the ship's sponsor and daughter of the 38th president, whom the ship honors. "There is no one, absolutely no one, who would be prouder of the commissioning of this mighty ship than the president of the United States, Gerald R. Ford," she said. "I am honored to give the command: 'Officers and crew of the United States Gerald R. Ford, man our ship and bring her to life.'" "Anchors Aweigh" played as row after row of sailors in crisp, white uniforms who had been standing in formation began filing off to man their stations. Sirens and bells sounded, horns blared and the U.S. flag was hoisted high above the deck. Soon after, the captain was informed that the "ship is manned and ready and reports for duty to the fleet." Trump, who visited the carrier in March, told Time magazine this year that the Navy should revert to using steam catapults to launch fighter jets because some of the USS Ford's state-of-the-art systems and technology "costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it's no good." Construction started in 2009 and was to be completed by September 2015 at a cost of $10.5 billion. The Navy has blamed the delays and budget overruns on the ship's advanced systems and technology, including electromagnetic launch systems for jets and drones that will replace steam catapults. The warship also has a smaller island that sits farther back on the ship to make it quicker to refuel, re-arm and relaunch planes, and a nuclear power plant designed to allow cruising speeds of more than 30 knots and operation for 20 years without refueling. The vessel completed sea trials in April but still will go through a battery of tests and workups at sea before becoming ready for deployment, work that is expected to cost nearly $780 million and take more than four years to complete, congressional auditors said this month. Docked at Naval Station Norfolk, the USS Ford eventually will house about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the previous generation of aircraft carriers. The Navy says that will save more than $4 billion over the ship's 50-year lifespan. The air wing to support the Ford could add more personnel to the ship, which is designed to house more than 4,600 crew members. The Ford was built at Newport News Shipbuilding, a giant Navy contractor in Virginia. Trump used the appearance to prod Congress to approve his request for an additional $54 billion for the military next year. House lawmakers, at least, are working to up his request. Trump called for an end to mandatory spending reductions that he said has led to deferred maintenance, insufficient spending on new equipment and technology, and a drop in military readiness. He said changes in the defense acquisition process are needed to make sure the U.S. gets the best equipment at the best prices. "We want the best equipment, but we want it built ahead of schedule and we want it build under budget," Trump said. ___ Associated Press writer Steve McMillan in Richmond, Virginia, and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

– A $12.9 billion aircraft carrier probably doesn't lack much, but the brand new Gerald R. Ford comes without one thing: urinals. The Navy Times reports on the surprising first, which came about following the decision to make every "head" gender-neutral. That will reportedly make it easier for the Navy to pivot and change the corresponding berthing area to housing female sailors versus male and vice versa as the makeup of deployments change. The decision to eliminate them from carriers was made in 2012, per a CNN piece published at the time, which noted urinal drain pipes are more likely to clog, increasing both maintenance costs and unpleasant odors. Those are the pros. The cons, according to design experts, are that toilets eat up more space than urinals do and are much less sanitary. As one such expert explains, men are more likely to miss their mark in a toilet, meaning urine more likely to accumulate on the floor. But it's a done deal, regardless: President Trump commissioned the warship on Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia, but the AP reports deployment isn't nigh: Sea trials finished up in April, but a battery of at-sea tests and workups are next required and could take more than four years to finish. (In other bathroom news...)

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Fusion Center Enhancement Act of 2015''. SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUSION CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE. (a) In General.--Section 210A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h) is amended-- (1) by amending the section heading to read as follows: ``SEC. 210A. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUSION CENTER PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE.''; (2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``Beginning on the date of the enactment of the Fusion Center Enhancement Act of 2015, such Initiative shall be known as the `Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center Partnership Initiative'.''; (3) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows: ``(b) Interagency Support and Coordination.--Through the Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center Partnership Initiative, in coordination with principal officials of fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers and the officers designated as the Homeland Security Advisors of the States, the Secretary shall-- ``(1) coordinate with the heads of other Federal departments and agencies to provide operational and intelligence advice and assistance to the National Network of Fusion Centers; ``(2) support the integration of fusion centers into the information sharing environment; ``(3) support the maturation and sustainment of the National Network of Fusion Centers; ``(4) reduce inefficiencies and maximize the effectiveness of Federal resource support to the National Network of Fusion Centers; ``(5) provide analytic and reporting advice and assistance to the National Network of Fusion Centers; ``(6) review information within the scope of the information sharing environment, including homeland security information, terrorism information, and weapons of mass destruction information, that is gathered by the National Network of Fusion Centers and incorporate such information, as appropriate, into the Department's own such information; ``(7) provide for the effective dissemination of information within the scope of the information sharing environment to the National Network of Fusion Centers; ``(8) facilitate close communication and coordination between the National Network of Fusion Centers and the Department and other Federal departments and agencies; ``(9) provide the National Network of Fusion Centers with expertise on Department resources and operations; ``(10) coordinate the provision of training and technical assistance to the National Network of Fusion Centers and encourage such fusion centers to participate in terrorism threat-related exercises conducted by the Department; ``(11) ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that support for the National Network of Fusion Centers is included as a national priority in applicable homeland security grant guidance; ``(12) ensure that each fusion center in the National Network of Fusion Centers has a privacy policy approved by the Chief Privacy Officer of the Department and a civil rights and civil liberties policy approved by the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department; ``(13) coordinate the nationwide suspicious activity report initiative to ensure information gathered by the National Network of Fusion Centers is incorporated as appropriate; ``(14) lead Department efforts to ensure fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers are the primary focal points for the sharing of homeland security information, terrorism information, and weapons of mass destruction information with State and local entities to the greatest extent practicable; ``(15) develop and disseminate best practices on the appropriate levels for staffing at fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers of qualified representatives from State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and emergency management services, and public health disciplines, as well as the private sector; and ``(16) carry out such other duties as the Secretary determines appropriate.''; (4) in subsection (c)-- (A) by striking so much as precedes paragraph (3)(B) and inserting the following: ``(c) Resource Allocation.-- ``(1) Information sharing and personnel assignment.-- ``(A) Information sharing.--The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall ensure that, as appropriate-- ``(i) fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers have access to homeland security information sharing systems; and ``(ii) Department personnel are deployed to support fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers in a manner consistent with the Department's mission and existing statutory limits. ``(B) Personnel assignment.--Department personnel referred to in subparagraph (A)(ii) may include the following: ``(i) Intelligence officers. ``(ii) Intelligence analysts. ``(iii) Other liaisons from components and offices of the Department, as appropriate. ``(C) Memoranda of understanding.--The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall negotiate memoranda of understanding between the Department and a State or local government, in coordination with the appropriate representatives from fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers, regarding the exchange of information between the Department and such fusion centers. Such memoranda shall include the following: ``(i) The categories of information to be provided by each entity to the other entity that are parties to any such memoranda. ``(ii) The contemplated uses of the exchanged information that is the subject of any such memoranda. ``(iii) The procedures for developing joint products. ``(iv) The information sharing dispute resolution processes. ``(v) Any protections necessary to ensure the exchange of information accords with applicable law and policies. ``(2) Sources of support.-- ``(A) In general.--Information shared and personnel assigned pursuant to paragraph (1) may be shared or provided, as the case may be, by the following Department components and offices, in coordination with the respective component or office head and in consultation with the principal officials of fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers: ``(i) The Office of Intelligence and Analysis. ``(ii) The Office of Infrastructure Protection. ``(iii) The Transportation Security Administration. ``(iv) U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ``(v) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ``(vi) The Coast Guard. ``(vii) Other components or offices of the Department, as determined by the Secretary. ``(B) Coordination with other federal agencies.-- The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis shall coordinate with appropriate officials throughout the Federal Government to ensure the deployment to fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers of representatives with relevant expertise of other Federal departments and agencies. ``(3) Resource allocation criteria.-- ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall make available criteria for sharing information and deploying personnel to support a fusion center in the National Network of Fusion Centers in a manner consistent with the Department's mission and existing statutory limits.''; and (B) in paragraph (4)(B), in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting ``in which such fusion center is located'' after ``region''; (5) in subsection (d)-- (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end; (B) in paragraph (4)-- (i) by striking ``government'' and inserting ``governments''; and (ii) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(5) utilize Department information, including information held by components and offices, to develop analysis focused on the mission of the Department under section 101(b).''; (6) in subsection (e)-- (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: ``(1) In general.--To the greatest extent practicable, the Secretary shall make it a priority to allocate resources, including deployed personnel, under this section from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Coast Guard to support fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers located in jurisdictions along land or maritime borders of the United States in order to enhance the integrity of and security at such borders by helping Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement authorities to identify, investigate, and otherwise interdict persons, weapons, and related contraband that pose a threat to homeland security.''; and (B) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking ``participating State, local, and regional''; (7) in subsection (j)-- (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and'' at the end; (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (6); and (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph: ``(5) the term `National Network of Fusion Centers' means a decentralized arrangement of fusion centers intended to enhance individual State and urban area fusion centers' ability to leverage the capabilities and expertise of all fusion centers for the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland security information sharing nationally; and''; and (8) by striking subsection (k). (b) Accountability Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter through 2022, the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security shall report to the Committee on Homeland Security and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate on the efforts of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department and other relevant components and offices of the Department to enhance support provided to fusion centers in the National Network of Fusion Centers, including meeting the requirements specified in section 210A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h), as amended by subsection (a) of this section. (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by striking the item relating to section 210A and inserting the following new item: ``Sec. 210A. Department of Homeland Security Fusion Centers Initiative.''. (d) Reference.--Any reference in any law, rule, or regulation to the ``Department of Homeland Security State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative'' shall be deemed to be a reference to the ``Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center Initiative''. Passed the House of Representatives November 2, 2015. Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, Clerk.

Fusion Center Enhancement Act of 2015 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to revise provisions concerning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative. The bill renames it as the Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center Partnership Initiative and changes references to &quot;participating state, local, or regional fusion centers&quot; to references to the &quot;National Network of Fusion Centers,&quot; which is defined as a decentralized arrangement of fusion centers intended to enhance individual state and urban area fusion centers' ability to leverage the capabilities and expertise of all fusion centers for the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland security information sharing nationally. (A fusion center serves as a focal point within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gathering, and sharing of threat-related information between the federal government and state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners.) The duties of the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Initiative are revised to include: supporting the maturation and sustainment of the Network, reducing inefficiencies and maximizing the effectiveness of federal resource support to the Network, ensuring that support for the Network is included as a national priority in applicable homeland security grant guidance, ensuring that each fusion center in the Network has a privacy policy and a civil rights and civil liberties policy approved by DHS, coordinating the nationwide suspicious activity report initiative to ensure that information gathered by the Network is incorporated, ensuring that fusion centers in the Network are the primary focal points for the sharing of homeland security information, terrorism information, and weapons of mass destruction information with state and local entities, and disseminating best practices on the appropriate levels for staffing at Network fusion centers of qualified representatives from state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and emergency services, public health disciplines, and the private sector. The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis must ensure that fusion centers in the Network have access to homeland security information sharing systems and that DHS personnel are deployed to support fusion centers in the Network in a manner consistent with DHS's mission and existing statutory limits. The Under Secretary shall negotiate memoranda of understanding between DHS and a state or local government regarding the exchange of information between DHS and Network fusion centers. Such memoranda shall include: the categories of information to be provided by the parties to such memoranda, the contemplated uses of the exchanged information, the procedures for developing joint products, the information sharing dispute resolution processes, and any protections necessary to ensure the exchange of information accords with applicable law and policies. The Under Secretary shall: (1) coordinate with appropriate federal officials to ensure the deployment to Network fusion centers of representatives of other federal agencies with relevant expertise; and (2) report to specified congressional committees annually through 2022 on the efforts of DHS components to enhance support provided to Network fusion centers.

Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old suspect in the shooting of U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords and others at a Tucson grocery, railed against the government on websites weeks ago and had confrontations with community-college police officers. On MySpace and YouTube web pages, a man who identifies himself as Jared Loughner posted anti-government messages that talk about mind control and suggested he will soon be adopting a new consciousness. "Goodbye," Loughner posted on his MySpace account at approximately 5 a.m. Saturday. "Dear friends ... Please don't be mad at me." Photos on MySpace show a close-up picture of an automatic handgun sitting atop a book or paper titled "United States History." The picture is accompanied by several videos posted to Loughner's Youtube account, including one of a masked man burning a U.S. flag and another with the words, "Don't trust the current government, listener!" It is unclear if Loughner is the person burning the flag in the video. Additional pictures show a coded message, Loughner on the street and a close-up of his face. In a video containing slides and written comments on YouTube, Loughner raved against Pima Community College where he was a student from the summer 2005 through September 2010, when he was suspended for violating the school's code of conduct. Roy Flores, chancellor at Pima Community College for eight years, said Loughner had five contacts with Pima Community College police for classroom and library disruptions at two campuses. Flores did not have details about the conduct. In a written statement released to The Arizona Republic, Flores reported that on Sept.29, Pima College police discovered the YouTube video, which Loughner made at the Northwest Campus. In the video, he says the college is "illegal according to the U.S. Constitution and other claims." On the evening Pima Community College suspended Loughner, two Pima officers delivered the letter of suspension to Loughner at his and his parent's home, where they spoke with him and family, the statement reported. Loughner and his parents met with Northwest Campus administrators Oct. 4 last year. During the meeting, Loughner indicated he would withdraw from the college. A follow-up letter was sent to him Oct. 7, telling him that he must obtain a mental health clearance from a professional saying that his presence at Pima college would not present a danger to himself or others. Loughner had no further contact with the college. On both the MySpace and YouTube web pages, Loughner mentions his concern over literacy rates and the fact that few people speak English. He also talks about his distrust of the government and suggests that anyone can call anyone a terrorist. "I can't trust the current government because of fabrications," Loughner wrote in a YouTube slide presentation. "The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." According to property records, Loughner lives with his mother, Amy Loughner, in a north Tucson subdivision. She could not be reached for comment. The scene around Loughner's modest ranch house was chaotic Saturday afternoon, with sheriff's deputies and FBI blocking access to the street and standing guard outside. Officers wrapped caution tape to prevent anyone from getting near the house. Neighbors said they were shocked by the shooting. They described Loughner as a loner and outcast with a tendency to dress in all-black "goth-type clothes." Grant Wiens, 22, attended Mountain View High School in Tucson with him and then Pima Community College. He brought out his 2006 yearbook with suspect's photo. Wiens described him as "kind of an interesting character" who kept to himself. Wiens said he hadn't conversed with Loughner much, but that he seemed opinionated. He said he was surprised and saddened that Loughner may be implicated in the shooting. Although Loughner rails against the government, he claims on YouTube that at one time he was a recruit with the United States Army. Loughner wrote that while he was at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Phoenix, where military applicants are screened for eligibility, he was given a "mini Bible" before being tested. "I didn't write a belief on my Army application and the recruiter wrote on the application: None," Loughner wrote. Although Loughner makes much about the inability of residents to speak English, there is no direct discussion about immigration. "The majority of people who reside in District 8 are illiterate -- hilarious," Loughner wrote in another YouTube slide. "I don't control your English grammar structure." The web pages show that Loughner also was concerned about creating a new national currency. There are bizarre references to creating a new currency. He talks about gold, but there is no clear reference to why a new currency was needed or what he thought its impact might be. On his web pages, Loughner says he attended Thornydale Elementary School, Tortolita Middle School, Mountain View High School, Northwest Aztec Middle College and Pima Community College. All are in Tucson, although Mountain View is part of the Marana Unified School District. There is no indication what he studied in college. Although Loughner said he attended Arizona State University at its main Tempe campus in 2010, an extensive records check by ASU officials Saturday showed that no one named Jared Loughner had ever gone to school there. "He is not now and never has been a student," ASU spokesman Virgil Renzulli said. Loughner said his "favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar," according to his YouTube page. He listed his favorite books as "Animal Farm," "Brave New World," "The Wizard of OZ," "Aesop's Fables," "The Odyssey," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "Fahrenheit 451," "Peter Pan," "To Kill A Mockingbird," "We The Living," "Phantom Toll Booth," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Pulp," "Through The Looking Glass," "The Communist Manifesto," "Siddhartha," "The Old Man and the Sea," "Gulliver's Travels," "Mein Kampf," "The Republic" and "Meno." Reporters Ken Alltucker and Dennis Wagner contributed to this story. ||||| Jared Lee Loughner has been identified as the man suspected of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Loughner was described by eyewitnesses at the Arizona shooting as a young white man who looked like a "fringe character," in his mid-to-late 20s, clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing. Loughner was quickly arrested after he allegedly shot Giffords and some 12 others at a public event at a Safeway grocery store in Tucscon. He reportedly shot the congresswoman "point blank" in the head and may have come from inside the store. He attempted to flee after running out of ammunition and was tackled by one of Giffords' staffers. A MySpace page belonging to a "Jared Lee Loughner," age 22, of Tucson, was taken down. A YouTube account also exists in his name. Here's what was listed on his MySpace page before it was removed: Schools:I attended school: Thornydale elementary,Tortolita Middle School, Mountain View Highschool, Northwest Aztec Middle College, and Pima Community College. Interests:My favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college! Movies:(*My idiom: I could coin the moment!*) Music:Pass me the strings! Books:I had favorite books: Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver's Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno. Three videos were recently posted to the apparent Loughner YouTube account, text-only, the first to introduce himself and a final one posted Dec. 15 titled "My Final Thoughts." See those videos in their entirety below: <0--3763--hh> <0--3764--hh> <0--3768--hh> A "Jared Loughner" once volunteered at the Festival of Books in Tucson and was photographed at that event here by the Arizona Daily Star. From the 2006 Mountain View High School yearbook: Photos from March 2010:

– Details are trickling in about the 22-year-old Tucson man accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and scores of others, but suspect Jared Lee Loughner remains largely a mystery. He left several videos that reference his displeasure with the government, mind control, attaining a new consciousness, and even creating a new currency, reports the Arizona Republic. "Goodbye," he posted on MySpace this morning. "Dear friends ... Please don't be mad at me." A sampling from one of his YouTube slide shows: "I can't trust the current government because of fabrications. The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." He rails at length about illiteracy and people being unable to speak English, but it's unclear whether he's referring to the state's volatile debate on immigration, notes the Republic. Click for more details on him.

delirium is a common and severe complication among elderly patients and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality , prolonged hospital stay , increased risk of post - discharge institutionalization and dementia . identifying accurate biomarkers for delirium may shed light on the pathophysiology and may help to improve delirium recognition and care . oxidative stress and disturbances in serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission might all be involved in the pathophysiology of delirium and probably act together . within the central nervous system , tetrahydrobiopterin ( bh4 ) functions as an essential cofactor in enzymatic reactions responsible for the production of serotonin and dopamine . in addition , bh4 is a cofactor for nitric oxide synthase ( nos ) that catalyzes the production of nitric oxide ( no ) and citrulline from arginine . , when bh4 is partially deficient , some cellular sources of nos may generate superoxide ( o2 ) instead of no and citrulline . in patients with delirium , bh4 status has only been investigated after elective cardiac surgery . in order to assess bh4 status , we measured amino acid levels and subsequently calculated the phenylalanine / tyrosine ( phe / tyr ) ratio . this ratio is an indicator for the bh4 status as it reflects the activity of the enzyme phe hydroxylase , an enzyme that uses bh4 as a cofactor . furthermore , we determined the ratios of tryptophan ( trp ) , phe and tyr to the other large neutral amino acids ( lnaas ) . trp is the precursor of serotonin , while phe and tyr are the precursors of dopamine . the lnaas ( trp , phe , tyr , valine , isoleucine and leucine ) compete with each other for transport across the blood - brain barrier . therefore , a decreased trp / lnaas ratio is suggestive for a decline in the amount of trp that enters the brain and consequently for reduced synthesis of serotonin . moreover , we measured plasma levels of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid ( hva ) , approximately 30% of which is estimated to originate from dopamine neurons in the central nervous system and which is therefore thought to be a reliable indicator for central dopamine activity . finally , we measured plasma levels of arginine and citrulline to investigate the production of no by nos . the aim of the study was to investigate bh4 status , potential disturbances in serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission and the production of no in patients with and without delirium . the present study was performed within the delirium in the old ( dito ) study in which mean levels of neopterin , interleukin-6 and insulin - like growth factor-1 were compared between patients with and without delirium . in the dito study , a cross - sectional study , we included patients who were admitted to the wards of internal medicine and geriatrics of the erasmus university medical center and the ward of geriatrics of the havenziekenhuis , rotterdam , the netherlands . exclusion criteria were a diagnosis of lewy body dementia , parkinson 's disease , neuroleptic malignant syndrome , tardive dyskinesia , ongoing treatment with antipsychotics or other psychiatric medications except haloperidol and benzodiazepines , aphasia , insufficient understanding of the dutch language and a mini - mental state examination ( mmse ) score < 10 points out of 30 . we excluded patients with a mmse < 10 because it can be quite difficult to distinguish between features of severe dementia and delirium at admission as well as to measure improvement of cognitive function in this group . written informed consent was obtained from all participants . in case of delirium or cognitive impairment at the time of admission , informed consent was obtained from a representative of the patient . all participants were observed daily by the nursing and medical staff and by members of the research team until discharge . to screen for a change in behavior , the 13-item delirium observation screening scale was used during the first 5 days of admission . the diagnosis of delirium was made by a geriatrician , according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , 4th edition ( dsm - iv ) , and was based on the psychiatric examination of the patient , the medical and nursing records , including the delirium observation screening scale scores , and information given by the patient 's closest relative . when the diagnosis of delirium was doubtful , the case was discussed with the geriatric consultation team to gain consensus . cognitive functioning was assessed in absence of delirium using the mmse . when it was impossible to score the mmse during admission because the patient was too ill , cognitive function was discussed with a clinician or assessed with information from the available medical records . when the clinical opinion was that the patient would have a mmse score 10 , the patient was not excluded from the study . this index encompasses 19 medical conditions , including dementia , and each condition is weighted with a score of 1 - 6 by severity . physical functionality was assessed using the 6-item katz activities of daily living scale and the barthel index . instrumental functionality was assessed using the 7-item older americans resource scale for instrumental activities of daily living . blood samples of all patients were collected within 48 h after admission . when a patient developed delirium during the hospital stay , new blood samples were collected within 24 h after the onset of the delirium and non - fasting blood was collected preferably between 8 and 10 a.m. in an 8-ml tube containing ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid . after blood sampling , the tubes were stored at room temperature to prevent changes in the transfer of amino acids between plasma and blood cells . within 3 h , plasma amino acid levels were determined by high - performance liquid chromatography with automated pre - column derivatization with ortho - phthalaldehyde as previously described . plasma hva levels were determined by reversed - phase high - performance liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection , as previously described for the determination of serotonin . medians and interquartile ranges were determined for continuous participant characteristics and proportions for categorical characteristics . biochemical parameters with a skewed distribution were logarithmically transformed ( all amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva ) . univariate one - way analysis of variance was used to investigate the association between mean levels of amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva ( dependent variables ) and the presence of delirium additional analyses were performed for all amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva after also adding mmse score to the models . a two - tailed p < 0.05 was defined as statistically significant . statistical package for the social sciences , version 21.0 ( spss inc . , the present study was performed within the delirium in the old ( dito ) study in which mean levels of neopterin , interleukin-6 and insulin - like growth factor-1 were compared between patients with and without delirium . in the dito study , a cross - sectional study , we included patients who were admitted to the wards of internal medicine and geriatrics of the erasmus university medical center and the ward of geriatrics of the havenziekenhuis , rotterdam , the netherlands . exclusion criteria were a diagnosis of lewy body dementia , parkinson 's disease , neuroleptic malignant syndrome , tardive dyskinesia , ongoing treatment with antipsychotics or other psychiatric medications except haloperidol and benzodiazepines , aphasia , insufficient understanding of the dutch language and a mini - mental state examination ( mmse ) score < 10 points out of 30 . we excluded patients with a mmse < 10 because it can be quite difficult to distinguish between features of severe dementia and delirium at admission as well as to measure improvement of cognitive function in this group . written informed consent was obtained from all participants . in case of delirium or cognitive impairment at the time of admission , informed consent was obtained from a representative of the patient . all participants were observed daily by the nursing and medical staff and by members of the research team until discharge . to screen for a change in behavior , the 13-item delirium observation screening scale was used during the first 5 days of admission . the diagnosis of delirium was made by a geriatrician , according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , 4th edition ( dsm - iv ) , and was based on the psychiatric examination of the patient , the medical and nursing records , including the delirium observation screening scale scores , and information given by the patient 's closest relative . when the diagnosis of delirium was doubtful , the case was discussed with the geriatric consultation team to gain consensus . when it was impossible to score the mmse during admission because the patient was too ill , cognitive function was discussed with a clinician or assessed with information from the available medical records . when the clinical opinion was that the patient would have a mmse score 10 , the patient was not excluded from the study . this index encompasses 19 medical conditions , including dementia , and each condition is weighted with a score of 1 - 6 by severity . physical functionality was assessed using the 6-item katz activities of daily living scale and the barthel index . instrumental functionality was assessed using the 7-item older americans resource scale for instrumental activities of daily living . blood samples of all patients were collected within 48 h after admission . when a patient developed delirium during the hospital stay , new blood samples were collected within 24 h after the onset of the delirium and non - fasting blood was collected preferably between 8 and 10 a.m. in an 8-ml tube containing ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid . after blood sampling , the tubes were stored at room temperature to prevent changes in the transfer of amino acids between plasma and blood cells . within 3 h , plasma amino acid levels were determined by high - performance liquid chromatography with automated pre - column derivatization with ortho - phthalaldehyde as previously described . plasma hva levels were determined by reversed - phase high - performance liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection , as previously described for the determination of serotonin . medians and interquartile ranges were determined for continuous participant characteristics and proportions for categorical characteristics . biochemical parameters with a skewed distribution were logarithmically transformed ( all amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva ) . univariate one - way analysis of variance was used to investigate the association between mean levels of amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva ( dependent variables ) and the presence of delirium additional analyses were performed for all amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva after also adding mmse score to the models . table 1 presents the baseline characteristics of the 86 participants who were included in the study . of the 23 patients diagnosed with delirium , 21 the mean levels and corresponding 95% confidence intervals ( cis ) of the investigated biochemical parameters in patients with and without delirium are presented in tables 2 and 3 . in adjusted models , mean levels of arginine were significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 34.8 mol / l , 95% ci 28.8 - 42.0 ) than in those without ( 45.2 mol / l , 95% ci 40.6 - 50.5 ) ( p = 0.022 ) ( fig . mean phe / tyr ratios were significantly higher in patients with delirium ( 1.34 , 95% ci 1.19 - 1.51 ) than in patients without delirium ( 1.14 , 95% ci 1.06 - 1.22 ) ( p = 0.028 ) ( fig . 1 ) . in addition , mean trp / lnaas ratios were significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 4.90 , 95% ci 4.19 - 5.74 ) than in those without ( 6.12 , 95% ci 5.58 - 6.71 ) ( p = 0.021 ) ( fig . no associations between the other amino acids and ratios and delirium were found , although citrulline ( fig . 1 ) and trp levels were at the border of significance lower in patients with delirium than in those without ( p = 0.052 and p = 0.067 , respectively ) . n = 1 [ not enough plasma ] ; no delirium , n = 1 [ measurement failed ] ) . mean hva levels were not statistically significantly different between patients with delirium ( 123.0 nmol / l , 95% ci 93.3 - 162.6 ) and patients without delirium ( 93.3 nmol / l , 95% ci 79.4 - 109.4 ) ( p = 0.098 ) . in the models additionally adjusted for mmse score , the association between arginine and delirium did not reach statistical significance ( delirium : mean 36.0 mol / l , 95% ci 28.7 - 45.1 vs. no delirium : mean 44.8 mol / l , 95% ci 39.8 - 50.5 , p = 0.107 ) . mean phe / tyr ratios remained borderline significantly higher in patients with delirium ( 1.34 , 95% ci 1.16 - 1.55 ) than in those without ( 1.15 , 95% ci 1.07 - 1.24 ) ( p = 0.089 ) and mean trp / lnaas ratios remained borderline significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 5.00 , 95% ci 4.15 - 6.01 ) compared to those without ( 6.15 , 95% ci 5.58 - 6.78 ) ( p = 0.062 ) . table 1 presents the baseline characteristics of the 86 participants who were included in the study . of the 23 patients diagnosed with delirium , 21 the mean levels and corresponding 95% confidence intervals ( cis ) of the investigated biochemical parameters in patients with and without delirium are presented in tables 2 and 3 . in adjusted models , mean levels of arginine were significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 34.8 mol / l , 95% ci 28.8 - 42.0 ) than in those without ( 45.2 mol / l , 95% ci 40.6 - 50.5 ) ( p = 0.022 ) ( fig . mean phe / tyr ratios were significantly higher in patients with delirium ( 1.34 , 95% ci 1.19 - 1.51 ) than in patients without delirium ( 1.14 , 95% ci 1.06 - 1.22 ) ( p = 0.028 ) ( fig . 1 ) . in addition , mean trp / lnaas ratios were significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 4.90 , 95% ci 4.19 - 5.74 ) than in those without ( 6.12 , 95% ci 5.58 - 6.71 ) ( p = 0.021 ) ( fig . no associations between the other amino acids and ratios and delirium were found , although citrulline ( fig . 1 ) and trp levels were at the border of significance lower in patients with delirium than in those without ( p = 0.052 and p = 0.067 , respectively ) . hva data were missing for 2 patients ( delirium , n = 1 [ not enough plasma ] ; no delirium , mean hva levels were not statistically significantly different between patients with delirium ( 123.0 nmol / l , 95% ci 93.3 - 162.6 ) and patients without delirium ( 93.3 nmol / l , 95% ci 79.4 - 109.4 ) ( p = 0.098 ) . in the models additionally adjusted for mmse score , the association between arginine and delirium did not reach statistical significance ( delirium : mean 36.0 mol / l , 95% ci 28.7 - 45.1 vs. no delirium : mean 44.8 mol / l , 95% ci 39.8 - 50.5 , p = 0.107 ) . mean phe / tyr ratios remained borderline significantly higher in patients with delirium ( 1.34 , 95% ci 1.16 - 1.55 ) than in those without ( 1.15 , 95% ci 1.07 - 1.24 ) ( p = 0.089 ) and mean trp / lnaas ratios remained borderline significantly lower in patients with delirium ( 5.00 , 95% ci 4.15 - 6.01 ) compared to those without ( 6.15 , 95% ci 5.58 - 6.78 ) ( p = 0.062 ) . in the present study we found disturbed serotonergic neurotransmission and an increased status of oxidative stress in patients with delirium when compared to patients without delirium . as far as we are aware , this is the first delirium study investigating bh4 status and levels of arginine and citrulline in acutely ill elderly hospitalized patients . in order to assess the bh4 status , we measured the phe / tyr ratio . in patients with delirium we found an increased ratio , suggesting a deficiency in the essential cofactor bh4 for the production of serotonin , dopamine and no . decreased bh4 availability has already been found in other neuropsychiatric disorders such as alzheimer 's disease , parkinson 's disease and schizophrenia . our finding is not in agreement with the results of a previous delirium study which showed that levels of bh4 and phe / tyr ratios did not differ between patients with and without delirium . however , that study included a relatively younger group of patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery . in the present study , serotonergic neurotransmission was investigated with the trp / lnaas ratio and the phe / tyr ratio . we found that patients with delirium had a decreased trp / lnaas ratio , which might suggest reduced serotonin production in the central nervous system . this hypothesis is strengthened by the finding that patients with delirium had an elevated phe / tyr ratio , which might suggest deficiency in the essential cofactor bh4 in the production of serotonin . in previous studies , controversial results have been reported . several studies found a reduced trp / lnaas ratio during delirium , whereas two studies reported no difference in this ratio between patients with and without delirium . the study performed by flacker and lipsitz included only patients with mild illnesses not requiring hospitalization . therefore , the findings may not be generalizable to acutely ill patients who needed medical care in hospital . the study performed by van der cammen et al . included delirium patients with alzheimer 's disease . it might be possible that in those patients a disturbance in cholinergic neurotransmission played a more important role in the development of delirium than disturbances in other pathophysiological pathways . furthermore , we found no differences in phe / lnaas ratios , tyr / lnaas ratios and hva levels between patients with and without delirium , suggesting that dopaminergic neurotransmission is not impaired during delirium . the finding that plasma hva levels are not significantly increased in patients with delirium compared to patients without delirium is not in agreement with earlier results . however , those studies were performed in patients with alzheimer 's disease and patients undergoing cardiac surgery , and therefore the results may not be generalizable . ramirez - bermudez et al . found that cerebrospinal fluid hva levels correlated with psychotic symptoms of delirium ( hallucinations and delusions ) in neurological patients . it might also be possible that we did not find an association between the dopaminergic markers and the presence of delirium because we included patients both with and without psychotic features . in our study , we also found reduced plasma arginine levels and borderline statistically significantly reduced citrulline levels in patients with delirium . considering the cross - sectional study design first , it is possible that patients with delirium had a pre - existing arginine deficiency which might have resulted in a reduced production of citrulline by nos ( fig . second , when bh4 is partially deficient , as our results do suggest , some cellular sources of nos may generate o2 instead of citrulline and no from arginine ( fig . if this latter scenario is true for delirium , this would also suggest an increased status of oxidative stress , since it favors peroxynitrite formation ( fig . if peroxynitrite is not scavenged by antioxidants , it may cause oxidative damage to cellular macromolecules , which has already been hypothesized to occur in alzheimer 's disease . however , both amino acids have been investigated previously by osse et al . in patients with delirium after cardiac surgery , but they found no differences in arginine and citrulline levels between patients with and without delirium . since they also reported no difference in bh4 status between patients with and without delirium , first , our findings were obtained in a relatively small group of patients ; therefore , confirmation in a larger population is recommended . second , it might be speculated that the degree of the patients ' cognitive functioning influenced the mean levels of the biochemical parameters . in this study , we adjusted for the charlson comorbidity index , which includes dementia , and our estimates remained statistically significant . however , for our additional analysis mmse scores were not available for all patients ; therefore , we can neither confirm nor deny that the presence of a comorbid cognitive disturbance , not diagnosed as dementia ( yet ) , was a confounding factor . it is possible that the levels of biochemical markers are dependent on delirium duration and severity or even fluctuate during the day in patients with delirium , just like delirium symptoms . in the present study , blood sampling and delirium occurred on the same day , but there is a possibility that the patients had no delirium symptoms at the moment of blood sampling . finally , some potential participants were not included in the study and this may have resulted in some selection bias ; however , since this was random and occurred in both patients with and without delirium , we think that our results are only minimally influenced by this . first , the intensive monitoring of clinical symptoms of patients with delirium until discharge and the dsm - iv diagnosis by a geriatrician makes it less likely that we missed delirium or misdiagnosed symptoms . second , we did not focus on one but on several possible pathways that might lead to delirium as it has been suggested that the pathophysiology is multifactorial . first , our findings were obtained in a relatively small group of patients ; therefore , confirmation in a larger population is recommended . second , it might be speculated that the degree of the patients ' cognitive functioning influenced the mean levels of the biochemical parameters . in this study , we adjusted for the charlson comorbidity index , which includes dementia , and our estimates remained statistically significant . however , for our additional analysis mmse scores were not available for all patients ; therefore , we can neither confirm nor deny that the presence of a comorbid cognitive disturbance , not diagnosed as dementia ( yet ) , was a confounding factor . it is possible that the levels of biochemical markers are dependent on delirium duration and severity or even fluctuate during the day in patients with delirium , just like delirium symptoms . in the present study , blood sampling and delirium occurred on the same day , but there is a possibility that the patients had no delirium symptoms at the moment of blood sampling . finally , some potential participants were not included in the study and this may have resulted in some selection bias ; however , since this was random and occurred in both patients with and without delirium , we think that our results are only minimally influenced by this . first , the intensive monitoring of clinical symptoms of patients with delirium until discharge and the dsm - iv diagnosis by a geriatrician makes it less likely that we missed delirium or misdiagnosed symptoms . second , we did not focus on one but on several possible pathways that might lead to delirium as it has been suggested that the pathophysiology is multifactorial . in this study in older , acutely ill hospitalized patients , we found that patients with delirium had higher phe / tyr ratios , lower trp / lnaas ratios and lower levels of arginine and citrulline than patients without delirium . these findings might suggest that decreased bh4 availability , disturbed serotonergic neurotransmission and an increased status of oxidative stress may have played a role in the pathogenesis of delirium in our patient group . since as far as we know this is the first delirium study investigating bh4 status and levels of arginine and citrulline in acutely ill elderly hospitalized patients , confirmation of our results in a larger , comparable population is recommended . moreover , more research is needed to explore the potential differences in the pathophysiology of delirium in patients with and without cognitive disorders .

backgroundoxidative stress and disturbances in serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission may play a role in the pathophysiology of delirium.aimsin this study , we investigated levels of amino acids , amino acid ratios and levels of homovanillic acid ( hva ) as indicators for oxidative stress and disturbances in neurotransmission.methodsplasma levels of amino acids , amino acid ratios and hva were determined in acutely ill patients aged 65 years admitted to the wards of internal medicine and geriatrics of the erasmus university medical center and the ward of geriatrics of the havenziekenhuis , rotterdam , the netherlands . differences in the biochemical parameters between patients with and without delirium were investigated by analysis of variance in models adjusted for age , gender and comorbidities.resultsof the 86 patients included , 23 had delirium . in adjusted models , higher mean phenylalanine / tyrosine ratios ( 1.34 vs. 1.14 , p = 0.028 ) , lower mean tryptophan / large neutral amino acids ratios ( 4.90 vs. 6.12 , p = 0.021 ) and lower mean arginine levels ( 34.8 vs. 45.2 mol / l , p = 0.022 ) were found in patients with delirium when compared to those without . no differences were found in hva levels between patients with and without delirium.conclusionthe findings of this study suggest disturbed serotonergic neurotransmission and an increased status of oxidative stress in patients with delirium .

in a closed box model of chemical evolution @xcite , the peak of the stellar metallicity distribution lies at the nucleosynthetic yield . for most supernovae ( sne ) , the nucleosynthetic yield is about solar metallicity or higher @xcite . however , the peaks of the stellar metallicity distributions of all known dwarf spheroidal galaxies ( dsphs ) are less than solar ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? the dsphs likely lost metals during star formation , which reduced their effective nucleosynthetic yields @xcite . almost no dsph with 250 kpc of the milky way ( mw ) contains any detectable gas at present ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? therefore , the missing metals are not hiding in the galaxies interstellar medium . the metals have been lost . supernova winds drive gas out of galaxies , particularly small ones @xcite . it is possible to detect this gas flowing out of galaxies , but it is very difficult to measure the metallicity or even the mass of galactic winds . absorption line studies of distant galaxies , including galaxies at cosmological redshift , can measure column densities and outflow velocities @xcite but not mass or composition . smaller galaxies may be even more prone to gas outflows due to their shallow gravitational potential wells . @xcite showed that the observed hot gas around gas - rich dwarf irregular galaxies ( dirrs ) in the nearby universe must be escaping from those galaxies in the form of outflows . just a few such galaxies are suitable for x - ray spectroscopy to measure the composition of the escaping gas ( e.g. , ngc 1569 * ? ? ? * ) , dwarf galaxies , which are numerous and have shallow gravitational potential wells , may be important contributors to the metal content of the the intergalactic medium @xcite or to their host galaxies . however , most nearby dwarf galaxies , especially dsphs , have not experienced appreciable star formation for several gyr . as a result , it is even more difficult to observe gas expelled from local group dwarfs because it must have happened so long ago . @xcite recently measured the stellar metal content of dsphs . the amount of metals produced over cosmic time for an individual dsph may be estimated from its stellar mass , an assumed stellar initial mass function ( imf ) , and theoretical sn yields and explosion rates . the difference between the inferred metal production by sne and the current stellar metal content gives the amount of metals the galaxy has lost . this letter presents that calculation and discusses the role of dsphs in enriching the intergalactic medium ( igm ) and their host galaxies . * hereafter k11a ) constructed a basic chemical evolution model in order to explain the metallicity and [ @xmath1/fe ] distributions of eight mw dsphs : fornax , leo i , leo ii , sculptor , sextans , draco , canes venatici i , and ursa minor . the model assumes that each galaxy begins its life with a certain amount of gas ( @xmath2 ) but no stars . primordial , metal - free gas flows into the galaxy at a prescribed inflow rate ( @xmath3 ) . stars form according to a star formation rate law ( @xmath4 ) . type ii sne explode from massive ( 10100 @xmath5 ) stars , and type ia sne explode according to an empirical delay time distribution @xcite . most importantly for this letter , the galaxy loses a fixed amount of gas ( @xmath6 ) during each sn explosion . @xcite varied the parameters @xmath2 , @xmath7 , @xmath8 , @xmath6 , @xmath9 , and @xmath1 until the modeled metallicity and [ @xmath1/fe ] distributions matched the observed distributions . this model provides good matches to the abundance distributions of the less luminous dsphs . the inferred star formation histories also were qualitatively consistent with histories measured from color - magnitude diagrams . essentially , nearly all stars in the less luminous dsphs are ancient , and they formed in 2 gyr or less . however , the models for the most luminous dsphs ( fornax , leo i , and to some extent , leo ii ) have chemically measured star formation durations of only @xmath10 gyr . the color - magnitude diagrams for these galaxies rule out such short star formation lifetimes , and they also rule out single bursts of star formation . these dsphs experienced several epochs of an increase in star formation rate ( sfr ) followed by a decrease . the @xcite models permit only one episode of star formation ( a single rise and fall of sfr ) . therefore , the models are imperfect descriptions of fornax , leo i , and possibly leo ii . on the other hand , for an old enough population , such as the mw dsphs , most of the sne that will ever explode have already exploded . therefore , the star formation history ( sfr as a function of time ) has a small effect on the total metal production integrated over cosmic time . because sn yields are metallicity - dependent , the star formation history does matter to a small degree . lcccccc fornax & @xmath11 & @xmath12 & @xmath13 & @xmath14 & @xmath15 & @xmath16 + leo i & @xmath17 & @xmath18 & @xmath19 & @xmath20 & @xmath21 & @xmath22 + sculptor & @xmath23 & @xmath24 & @xmath25 & @xmath26 & @xmath27 & @xmath28 + leo ii & @xmath29 & @xmath30 & @xmath31 & @xmath32 & @xmath33 & @xmath34 + sextans & @xmath35 & @xmath36 & @xmath37 & @xmath38 & @xmath39 & @xmath40 + draco & @xmath41 & @xmath42 & @xmath43 & @xmath44 & @xmath45 & @xmath46 + can . i & @xmath47 & @xmath48 & @xmath21 & @xmath49 & @xmath50 & @xmath51 + ursa minor & @xmath52 & @xmath53 & @xmath54 & @xmath55 & @xmath56 & @xmath57 + as a supplement to the work of @xcite , we compute the mass in a number of metals , @xmath58 , that the dsphs lost to sn winds . the @xcite chemical evolution model tracks the amount and composition of expelled gas with each 1 myr time step . the model was terminated when the dsphs were exhausted of gas . although dsphs lose a small fraction of stars to tidal interactions with the mw @xcite , we neglect this deduction from the final stellar mass . the existence of the luminosity - metallicity relation @xcite limits the severity of tidal stripping of luminous matter ( also see * ? ? ? * ) because tidally stripped versions of massive satellites would be just as metal - rich as other massive satellites , but small , metal - rich satellites do not exist . in order to mitigate the uncertainties imposed on @xmath58 from uncertain star formation histories , we advance the chemical evolution model for each dsph to an age of 10 gyr . we compute the amount of ejecta mostly in fe from type ia sne over 10 gyr , even though star formation ends in the models long before then . like @xcite , we use @xcite s ( @xcite ) nucleosynthetic yields for type ii sne , @xcite s ( @xcite ) yields for type ia sne , and @xcite s ( @xcite ) delay time distribution for type ia sne . the first type ia sn explodes 100 myr after the birth of its progenitor , and the type ia sn rate declines as @xmath59 . based on the theoretical yields and imf @xcite we have adopted , type ia sne produce 94% of the iron over 10 gyr . asymptotic giant branch stars are included in the chemical evolution model , but at these low metallicities , they are responsible for only a few percent of the total production of mg , si , ca , and fe @xcite . table [ tab : outflows_10gyr ] gives @xmath58 for mg , si , ca , and fe for the eight mw dsphs in our sample . we do not attempt to estimate errors on @xmath58 because the dominant source of uncertainty is the sn yields . differences between different yield models ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) can be a factor of several for some elements . if type ia sne have a prompt component @xcite , then the type ia sne at early times could feed the same wind as the type ii sne . however , the delayed type ia sne at late times explode at a low rate . without continuous explosions , it may not be possible to drive a wind . nonetheless , nearly all dsphs are free of gas . therefore , the `` missing metals''the difference between the current metal content of the dsph and the amount of metals estimated to have been produced by all of the dsph s sne have left the dsphs , whether in coherent winds or otherwise . @xcite assumed that the composition of the gas lost to sn winds was the same as the gas within the galaxy at the time of loss . however , outflows could be metal - enhanced , especially because the sne that expel gas from the galaxy are the same events that enrich the galaxy with metals @xcite . the mass of the outflow is related inversely to its unknown metallicity , and @xcite showed that increasing the outflowing metallicity decreased the total amount of galactic mass loss required by as much as a factor of 40 . given this uncertainty , we estimate only the mass in ejected metals and not the total mass of ejected material . the uncertainty in the metallicity of the outflows does not extend to the independent estimate of the ejected metal mass . figure [ fig : ejecta ] shows the mass in each of several metals lost to sn winds summed over 10 gyr . not surprisingly , the dsphs with larger stellar masses eject more metals than the dsphs with smaller stellar masses . the @xmath60 relation is linear , which is the result expected if the dsphs lost all of their metals . the intercepts of the best - fit lines indicate that dsphs lost a constant 0.5% of their final stellar masses in the form of fe , 0.2% as si , 0.1% as mg , and 0.01% as ca . of course , the dsphs could not have truly lost all of their metals because the stars are not metal - free . however , the amount of metals retained ( @xmath61 , the filled points in figure [ fig : ejecta ] ) in stars is tiny compared to the amount of metals produced . @xcite measured the average metallicity of fornax to be @xmath62}\rangle = -1.0 $ ] . we adopt 7.58 , 7.55 , and 6.36 for mg , si , and ca , respectively @xcite . ] given its stellar mass of @xmath63 , fornax s stars contain @xmath64 of fe . even though fornax retained the highest fraction of fe of all eight dsphs considered here , the galaxy presently has only 4% of the fe that it produced . in ursa minor , that fraction is only 0.2% . the bottom panel of figure [ fig : ejecta ] expresses metal retention in another way . the black circles show the stellar mass - iron metallicity relation for mw dsphs @xcite . the other points show the mass - metallicity relations for other elements . the smaller dsphs retain a larger fraction of @xmath1 elements relative to iron than the larger dsphs . the dependence on stellar mass indicates that the larger dsphs formed stars for longer and therefore experienced a higher ratio of type ia to type ii sne . the mass - metallicity relation indicates that the more massive dsphs retained more of their metals in stars rather than losing them to galactic winds . therefore , the less massive dsphs contribute a larger fraction of their metal mass to the igm or to their host galaxies . to further explore the importance of small dsphs , we convolve the ejected mass function with the stellar mass function for mw dsphs . @xcite calculated the luminosity function of mw dsphs by correcting the observed sloan digital sky survey luminosity function for sky coverage and bias against low surface brightness dsphs . the result was @xmath65 . assuming the stellar mass - to - light ratio for an old population , @xmath66 , the relation becomes @xmath67 where @xmath68 is measured in @xmath5 . figure [ fig : massfunction ] shows the product of this dsph mass function and the ejected mass function from figure [ fig : ejecta ] . even though the small dsphs are more numerous , they are not significant contributors to igm metals . even if the relation for the smaller dsphs is extrapolated to zero mass , then all dsphs the size of leo i or smaller contributed just @xmath69 of fe to the igm over 10 gyr . fornax alone provided more fe , and even more massive galaxies likely make fornax s contribution negligible . the same argument applies to the other metals as well . averaged over a long enough time , the ratio of the numbers of type ii to type ia sne asymptotes to the same value in all dsphs as long as the imf is the same . as a result , the [ @xmath1/fe ] ratios of ejecta from dsphs integrated over 10 gyr are not functions of stellar mass . expressed relative to the solar ratios , the 10 gyr ratios for our adopted sn yields and our adopted imf are @xmath70 } = -0.45 $ ] , @xmath71 } = -0.15 $ ] , and @xmath72 } = -0.30 $ ] . , which is the expected relation if dsphs lost all of the metals they produced . the large star shows the mg mass in the current outflow from ngc 1569 versus the stellar mass of the most recent starburst @xcite . bottom : the stellar mass - metallicity relation for the stars in dsphs @xcite . metallicity is given separately as [ fe / h ] , [ mg / h ] , [ si / h ] , and [ ca / h].[fig : ejecta ] ] , * ? ? ? the dashed line shows @xmath73 . the axes are logarithmic , and the metal output from small dsphs is negligible compared to large dsphs.[fig : massfunction ] ] @xcite theorized that gas - rich dirrs can be converted into gas - free dsphs by interaction with their host galaxies . tidal stirring can turn disks into spheroids , and ram pressure stripping in addition to supernova - driven outflow can remove all of the gas . with this relationship between dirrs and dsphs in mind , we compare our inferences for the metals ejected from dsphs to the observed metal content of the wind presently flowing out the post - starburst dirr ngc 1569 ( @xmath74 , * ? ? ? @xcite estimated that the most recent starburst in that galaxy ejected @xmath75 of oxygen . they based this estimate on an x - ray spectral fit to several @xmath1 elements , including o and mg . in order to compare to our own ejected metal estimates , we note that @xmath76 is related to @xmath77 by a multiplicative factor ( about 15 , which is also the solar ratio ) because both elements are formed in similar nucleosynthetic processes in massive stars . therefore , the starburst must have ejected @xmath78 of magnesium . the mass of stars formed in the burst was @xmath79 over 1020 myr . ngc 1569 is more massive than any of the dsphs we consider , and the sfr in the burst was much higher than the average rates in the dsphs . nonetheless , the outflowing magnesium mass from the recent burst in ngc 1569 agrees remarkably well with the relation between @xmath77 and @xmath68 defined by mw dsphs . figure [ fig : ejecta ] shows that the ngc 1569 outflow falls exactly in line between leo i and leo ii . of course , we must keep in mind that we are considering only the very recent starburst and not the entire galaxy , which is 50 times more massive . however , only the ejecta of the current starburst is directly measurable , and the measurement is uncertain by a factor of at least 2 . @xcite also measured the [ @xmath1/fe ] ratio to be 0.30.6 ( 24 times solar ) . this value is larger than what we infer for the mw dsphs . however , the winds flowing out of ngc 1569 came from a very short burst likely short enough that type ia sn ejecta is not present in the winds . therefore , the [ @xmath1/fe ] ratios merely reflect the fact that the star formation was intense in the recent burst in ngc 1569 but not in the dsphs . @xcite s completely independent method for measuring the metal content of galactic winds has placed a different , though possibly related , type of dwarf galaxy on the same @xmath80@xmath68 relation as the one defined by mw dsphs . this result has several implications . first , ngc 1569 retained almost none of the metals produced in its recent starburst , a result that @xcite found from their own chemical evolution model . second , the theoretical sn yields are accurate enough to place the observed magnesium mass ejected from ngc 1569 on the same relation as the the masses ejected from dsphs , which were calculated from the theoretical yields . finally , even a galaxy as massive as ngc 1569 ( @xmath81 km s@xmath82 , * ? ? ? * compared to 10 km s@xmath82 for a typical dsph ) loses nearly all of the metals it produces . the possibility that the majority of metals that currently reside in the igm were originally ejected by low - mass systems @xcite emphasizes the need for constraints on models for galactic outflows . galaxy evolution models ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) generally assume that star - forming galaxies drive outflows whose metallicity tracks the interstellar medium , and whose outflowing mass is proportional to @xmath83 . here , @xmath84 is the velocity dispersion that scales with the halo mass ( @xmath85 ) , and @xmath1 is a scaling parameter . setting @xmath86 yields a momentum - driven scaling , and @xmath87 yields a energy - driven scaling . some models ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ) invoke a stronger scaling ( @xmath88 ) in order to match the faint end of the luminosity function . let us assume that the metallicity of outflowing gas @xmath89 tracks the stellar metallicity @xmath90 , which in turn scales with stellar mass as @xmath91 @xcite . let us further assume the stellar mass halo mass scaling that is observed at low masses ( @xmath92 , * ? ? ? the mass in ejected metals is the outflow mass multiplied by the wind metallicity . therefore , the model assumptions correspond to the assumption that @xmath93 , or @xmath94 and @xmath95 for momentum - driven and energy - driven scalings , respectively . taken at face value , our observation of the ejected mass relation , @xmath96 , favors an energy - driven scaling . we emphasize that these inferences depend strongly on the assumed stellar mass halo mass relation as well as the metallicities within the outflows . they also neglect many physical processes , such as tidal stripping , that could preferentially affect low - mass systems . furthermore , much of the metals from type ia sne are lost well after the cessation of star formation and well after the galaxies are devoid of interstellar gas . that makes the distinction between energy- and momentum - driven winds poorly defined . these uncertainties emphasize the need for improved observational constraints on the kinematics of low - mass systems as well as the mass - loading and metal mass fractions of outflows from low - mass galaxies . the biggest limitation of our approach at measuring @xmath58 is that we have measured the mass only in metals . we provide no constraints on the total outflowing mass , including hydrogen . therefore , we also provide no constraints on the metal fraction of the outflows . one way to constrain the metallicity is to fix the total mass participating in gas flows and star formation . for instance , we could assume that the baryonic mass associated with a dsph obeys the cosmic baryon - to - dark matter ratio . unfortunately , the disconnect between stellar and dark matter mass @xcite and the tidal interactions @xcite of mw dsphs make it impossible to estimate their total , original dark matter masses . semi - analytic models ( e.g. , * ? ? ? * ) may provide a path forward . by treating a variety of processes that likely affected dsph growth , such as tidal stripping , pre - enriched inflows , and returning outflows , they provide a flexible but complete account of how outflows impact metallicities . a model galaxy whose chemical abundances match observed abundance distributions @xcite and our inferred ejected metal masses might inform us about these processes . we encourage interested modelers to interrogate their existing semi - analytic models for unique constraints that our observations place on the way in which low - mass galaxies process their gas into outflows , stars , and evolving gas reservoirs . we thank j. cohen and the anonymous referee for careful , constructive criticism that improved this letter . support for this work was provided by nasa through hubble fellowship grants 51256.01 awarded to enk and 51254.01 awarded to kf by the space telescope science institute , which is operated by the association of universities for research in astronomy , inc . , for nasa , under contract nas 5 - 26555 . support to clm was provided through nsf grant ast-080816 .

the stars in the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies ( dsphs ) of the milky way are significantly more metal - poor than would be expected from a closed box model of chemical evolution . gas outflows likely carried away most of the metals produced by the dsphs . based on previous keck / deimos observations and models , we calculate the mass in mg , si , ca , and fe expelled from each of eight dsphs . essentially , these masses are the differences between the observed amount of metals present in the dsphs stars today and the inferred amount of metals produced by supernovae . we conclude that the dsphs lost 96% to @xmath0 of the metals their stars manufactured . we apply the observed mass function of milky way dsphs to the ejected mass function to determine that a single large dsph , like fornax , lost more metals over 10 gyr than all smaller dsphs combined . therefore , small galaxies like dsphs are not significant contributors to the metal content of the intergalactic medium . finally , we compare our ejected mass function to previous x - ray measurements of the metal content of the winds from the post - starburst dwarf irregular galaxy ngc 1569 . remarkably , the most recent starburst in that galaxy falls exactly on the ejected mass - stellar mass relation defined by the milky way dsphs .

breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women and is also the second leading cause of cancer - related death in women . in its most common form , the most frequently used tumor grading system for breast cancer is the modified scarrf - bloom - richardson method where pathologists analyze the rate of cell division , percentage of tumor forming ducts , and the uniformity of cell nuclei to determine the cancer grade in h&e stained biopsies . while precancerous ( or lower - grade ) tumors tend to grow slowly and are less likely to spread , invasive ( or higher - grade ) tumors typically gain the ability to proliferate and spread rapidly . subjectivity and variability of the results affect the accuracy of prognosis and subsequent patient treatment . a recent study indicates that the rate of misdiagnosis of breast cancer varies widely between clinicians and is nearly 40% in some cases . thus , there is an unmet need for robust methods that reduce the variability and subjectivity in the grading of breast tumors and lesions . development of quantitative tools for image analysis and classification is rapidly expanding fields that constitute a great potential for improving diagnostic accuracy [ 4 , 5 ] . in this paper , a method for automated grading of breast cancer in three - dimensional ( 3d ) epithelial cell cultures is presented . in vitro epithelial breast cells cultured in laminin rich extracellular matrix form acinar - like structures that both morphologically and structurally resemble in vivo acini of breast glands and lobules . therefore , these culture systems constitute suitable and controllable environments for breast cancer research [ 79 ] . figure 1 shows a 3d view of a typical nonmalignant breast culture that comprises several acini that are surrounded by extracellular matrix ( ecm ) proteins . figure 2 shows an enlarged view of a cross section from a typical nonmalignant acinus . ( a polarized cell has specialized proteins localized to specific cell membranes such as the basal , lateral , or apical side ) and a hollow lumen . the lateral membranes of neighboring cells are in close proximity due to cellular junctions and adhesion proteins . the basal side of cells contacts the surrounding ecm proteins , while the apical sides of cells face the hollow lumen . malignant cancers result in loss of cell polarity that induces changes in the morphology of acinar structures . in this paper , we investigate morphological characteristics of mammary acinar structures in nonmalignant , noninvasive carcinoma , and invasive carcinoma cancer grades in six mcf10 series of cell lines grown in 3d cultures . we propose novel features to characterize these changes along the metastatic cascade and exploit them in a supervised machine learning setting for the automated grading of breast cancer . proposed features capture not only similar factors as the scarff - bloom - richardson grading system but also additional subvisual changes observed in breast cancer progression in a quantitative manner to reduce variability . as shown by the grading accuracies , the proposed features efficiently capture the differences caused by the metastatic progression of the cancer . previous work on this problem includes examining the change in the morphological characteristics of nontumorigenic mcf10a epithelial acini over time and exploiting them to model the growth of culture over time . chang et al . examined the elongation of the mcf10a acini at 6 , 12 , and 96 hours after a particular treatment . in a more predictive setting , rejniak et al . used the number of cells per acini , proliferation , and apoptosis rates to computationally model the mcf10a epithelial acini growth using fluid - dynamics - based elasticity models . in addition to these features , tang et al . utilized features like acinus volume , density , sphericity , and epithelial thickness to investigate the relationship between acinus morphology and apoptosis , proliferation , and polarization . specifically , they built a computational model that can predict the growth of acini over a 12-day period . in addition , graph theoretical tools [ 1315 ] were exploited to highlight the structural organization of the cells within the malignant tissues . our method is different than these characterization efforts in that the grading of cancer is achieved over a richer and more discriminative set of small - scale ( local ) morphological features that are statistically significant . in addition , the features proposed here closely mimic the features that current pathological grading systems utilize . the presented work builds upon and extends our prior work in this area that introduced the underlying framework . in this work , we provide extended details of our methodology and also present analysis that tests the performance of different supervised machine learning methods and investigates the discriminative influence of the proposed features . furthermore , the overall grading accuracy is significantly improved by eliminating the acini that are in the preliminary stages of their formations from our analysis . finally , we perform a preliminary study on the grading of in vivo tissue section using our framework and demonstrate that the proposed features can also be used on in vivo tissue slides albeit with additional constraints on the preparation of the tissue for our analysis . cells were grown on tissue culture - treated plastic t75 flasks and incubated at 37c in a humidified atmosphere containing 95% air and 5% carbon dioxide in the manufacturer suggested media . once 80% confluent , cells were split using 0.25% trypsin with 0.2 g / l edta and seeded into a new flask or under experimental conditions . six mcf10 series cell lines that represent three grades of breast cancer along the metastatic cascade were grown . the cell lines used in this experimentation were mcf10a ( 10a ) , mcf10at1 ( at ) , mcf10at1k.cl2 ( kcl ) , mcf10dcis.com ( dcis ) , mcf10ca1h.cl2 ( ca1h ) , and mcf10ca1a.cl1 ( ca1a ) . the dcis , ca1h , and ca1a cell lines were grown in dmem / f12 with 5% horse serum and 1% fungizon / penicillin / streptomycin . 10a , at , and kcl cells were grown in the same base media with additional factors including 20 ng / ml epidermal growth factor , 0.5 mg / ml hydrocortisone , 100 ng / ml cholera toxin , and 10 g / ml of insulin . the 10a cell line was obtained from the american type culture collection ( atcc ) , at , kcl , ca1a , and ca1h cell lines were obtained from the barbara ann karmanos cancer institute at wayne state university , and the dcis cell line was purchased from asterand inc . the advantages of the mcf10 series of cell lines include their derivation from a single biopsy and subsequent mutations forming cell lines of ranging metastatic ability . these cell lines were acquired from a tissue sample diagnosed as noncancerous fibrocystic disease [ 17 , 18 ] . the biopsy cells , mcf-10 m , were cultured and spontaneously gave origin to two immortal sublines . 10a cells were nontumorigenic in mice xenografts ; however , the first derivative cell line was transfected with oncogene t-24 h - ras to promote expression of a constitutively active form of ras resulting in precancerous lesion formations . these cells were then serially passaged for six months and the derived cell line was named mcf10aneot . at cells were derived from a 100-day - old mcf10aneot lesion that formed a squamous carcinoma but failed to produce carcinomas when injected back into mice . kcl cell line was obtained from a 367 day tumor xenograft of the at cell line . kcl cells were injected into a mouse , where a tumor was formed and isolated after 292 days . isolated cells derived from this tumor were cultured and yielded the dcis cell line , which formed ductal carcinoma in situ tumors when injected into mice . additional cells from the tumors which were derived from the kcl cell line were implanted within a mouse and yielded the mcf10ca cell lines ; two of these were included in this study : the ca1h and ca1a . ca1h cells were found to develop invasive carcinoma in mice while the ca1a cells were of higher - grade malignancy and able to metastasize to the lungs . after evaluating the metastatic potentials of these six cell lines , we considered the 10a and at cell lines as nonmalignant , kcl and dcis cell lines as noninvasive carcinoma , and ca1h and ca1a cell lines as invasive carcinoma that constituted the three grades of breast cancer we considered in this study . cells were suspended at a concentration of one million cells per milliliter in matrigel ( laminin rich extra cellular matrix ) on ice . the gel - cell solution was seeded at 30 ul per glass bottom 96 well for 14 days in their respective media . the matrigel - cell solution was allowed to solidify for 30 minutes at 37c before the media was added and was changed every 2 - 3 days thereafter . following 14 days in culture , samples were washed once with phosphate buffer solution ( pbs ) and then fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde at room temperature for 30 minutes . next , samples were rinsed with pbs and treated with cell blocking solution ( pbs with 1% bovine serum albumin ( bsa ) and 0.25% tween20 ) for one hour at 4c . , samples were washed with pbs and then treated with the primary antibodies at their determined working dilution in pbs at 4c overnight . next , the samples were washed with pbs three times for 30 minutes at room temperature . the secondary antibodies were added to the samples in pbs at 4c overnight . finally , samples were treated with dapi for thirty minutes followed by three 30-minute pbs washes and stored at 4c in pbs prior to imaging . integrin 3 antibody ( mouse monoclonal ) ( abcam : ab11767 ) was used at a dilution of 1 : 40 for 3d confocal fluorescent imaging . secondary antibody , alexa fluor 568 goat anti - mouse igg highly cross absorbed ( invitrogen a-11031 ) at a dilution of 1 : 200 , was used to visualize the localization of integrin 3 . integrin 6 fitc - conjugated antibody ( rat monoclonal ) ( abcam : ab21259 ) was used at a dilution of 1 : 25 for 3d confocal fluorescent imaging during the secondary antibody step previously described . nuclei were stained with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole ( dapi ; molecular probes ) for 30 minutes at room temperature . 3d volumes were obtained using a zeiss lsm510 meta confocal microscope with a 40x water immersion objective as z - stacks . proper color filters were used to capture the red , green , and blue fluorescent signals . images were captured using a multitrack setting where fluorescent channels were acquired sequentially to avoid fluorescence crosstalk . thickness of the z - stacks ranged from 10 to 40 m ( 1 m slices ) with an initial depth of at least 10 m . slices had 512 512 pixels ( 320 m 320 m ) cross - section area . in order to include larger volumes of the cultures in our analysis , we captured four tiles ( in 2 2 formation ) with approximately 20% overlap and stitched these tiles using the 3d image registration technique proposed by preibisch et al . a total of five stitched images were captured for each of the six cell lines . watershed segmentation exploits the morphological characteristics of the regions of interest and is particularly useful for the segmentation of adjoined objects . the process starts with the identification of the acinar structures . in this study , cell nuclei were marked with blue fluorescent marker dapi , cell - to - cell borders were identified by the red fluorescent marker that shows the localization of integrin 3 , and basal sides of the cell membranes were identified by the green fluorescent marker that shows the localization of integrin 6 . as these components are observed in the individual color channels of the captured images and , we used the combination of the three color channels to identify the acinar structures . image values were separated into foreground and background classes , where the foreground class represented the stained components and the background class included the combination of the gel medium and extracellular proteins . we employed a local adaptation to otsu 's well - known global thresholding algorithm to binarize the color channels . in each slice along the depth direction , we divided the image into rectangular blocks along the horizontal and vertical directions and binarized them separately . this approach handles the spatial variations in the foreground - background contrast better than global thresholding . the noise produced due to the binarization of local regions that contain hardly any information was eliminated by using the edge - based noise elimination that cleaned the regions that did not contain any edge from the resulting binary image . next , the resulting binary color channels were superposed to obtain a single monochrome binary image by logical or operation . enclosing acinar structures were identified by applying morphological close operation followed by a morphological fill - hole operation to the resulting binary image . finally , 3d watershed segmentation was applied to label the individual acinar structures . for this purpose , we first obtained a topographic interpretation of the resulting binary image by taking its euclidean distance transform where the shortest distance to the nearest background pixel for each pixel was measured . the resulting transformed image was then inverted , while forcing the values for the background class pixels to , to construct the catchment basins and the watershed segmentation method was finally applied to construct to watershed lines to divide these basins and identify the unique acinar structures . acinar structures with less than four nuclei were considered to exhibit reduced ability to form polarized acinar structures and excluded from our analysis . note that this elimination was not carried out in our preliminary work on this problem that resulted in a poorer overall grading accuracy ( 79.0% ) than what we achieve with the elimination ( 89.0% ) as we will present in section 3 . from the 30 images we analyzed , 99 10a , 49 10at , 81 kcl , 80 dcis , 29 ca1h , and 62 ca1a acinar structures were identified using this segmentation method yielding a total 400 acinar structures . visual investigation of the acinar structures shown in figure 1 reveals differences in acini morphology and localization of integrin subunits that are highlighted in figure 2 . acinar structures in nonmalignant cell lines are comprised of polarized cells that are layered around the hollow lumen that closely approximate the acini formations in mammary glands and lobules . on the other hand , the acinar structures in the tumorigenic cell lines consist of nonpolarized cells that form clusters of cells rather than explicit acini . as shown in figures 3(a ) and 3(b ) , nontumorigenic cell line 10a and precancerous cell line at , respectively , exhibit polarized acinar structures that are characterized by the integrin 6 localization at the basal membrane of the cells , integrin 3 localization along the lateral cell membranes , and clear hollow lumen formations . acinar structures in kcl and dcis cell lines shown in figures 3(c ) and 3(d ) , respectively , exhibit significant changes in the integrin subunit densities and their colocalizations . while the basal and lateral membrane protein densities decrease , relative colocalizations of these proteins increase within the acinus . the acinar structures from the noninvasive carcinoma cell lines and acinar - like structures from the invasive carcinoma cell lines ca1h and ca1a shown in figures 3(e ) and 3(f ) , respectively , are more elongated and exhibit smaller hollow lumens than the acinar structures from the nonmalignant cell lines . the observed variations in the morphology of acinar structures motivated the development of the features that characterize the level of cell polarity within the acinar structures . the features of interest primarily capture ( i ) the morphology of the acinar structure and hollow lumen , ( ii ) the basal , and ( iii ) the lateral protein densities within the acinar structure . these features were computed in each acinar structure for the slice that the acinar structure had the largest cross - section area along the depth direction ( z - stack ) . the first subset of features we propose captured the shape of the acinar structures , number of nuclei that constitute the acinus , and the relative size of the hollow lumen . the segmentation of the cell nuclei was also accomplished by the watershed segmentation technique described previously using the blue ( nuclei ) channel image only . figure 4(a ) shows the number of nuclei per acinar structure across the six cell lines . as expected the invasive carcinoma cell lines exhibit the largest number of nuclei per cell cluster compared to the other cell lines acini due to the unregulated division of cells . malignant cancer grades result in deformations in the acinar structures that cause the shapes to be more elongated . we measured the roundness of the acinar structures by taking the ratio between the minor and major axes of the ellipse fitted as illustrated in figure 4(d ) . this fitting was achieved by finding the ellipse that has the same normalized second central moments as the region . roundness values close to 1 comes from rounder / more symmetrical acinar structures whereas values close to 0 indicate an elongated shape . as expected , noninvasive and invasive cell lines exhibit statistically significant decrease in acinar structure roundness compared to the nonmalignant cell lines as shown in figure 4(b ) . the final feature in this subset captured the differences in the relative size of hollow lumen by computing the ratio between the areas of the hollow lumen and the acinar structure . values closer to 1 indicate larger hollow lumens , and those to 0 indicate smaller hollow lumens . in order to compute the hollow lumen area , we assumed that the hollow lumen was circular and computed its radius as the euclidean distance between the centroid of the acinar structure and the nearest nucleus to the centroid as illustrated in figure 4(e ) . the hollow lumen for the precancerous cell line at is the largest among the six cell lines . noninvasive and invasive cell line acinar structures exhibit statistically significant shrinkage in hollow lumen compared against the nonmalignant cell line acinar structures as shown in figure 4(c ) . the next subset of features analyzed and quantified the localization and structural relationships of the basal membrane - localized protein integrin 6 . the first feature measured the ratio of integrin 6 expression within the acinar structure ( excluding the expression along the basal membrane ) to the acinar structure area as illustrated in figure 5(e ) . as nonmalignant cancerous cells exhibit high cellular polarity , integrin 6 is localized to the basal membrane of these cells . reduced cellular polarity in the malignant grades of cancer enables greater internal expressions of integrin 6 within the acinar structure . dcis , ca1h , and ca1a cell lines exhibited statistically significant increase in the internal expression of integrin 6 compared with the less malignant cell lines as shown in figure 5(a ) . it was computed as the ratio between the amount of the green fluorophores located in concentric circles that were centered at the centroid of the acinar structure and the total amount of green fluorophores in the acinar structure . the radii of the concentric circles were increased by one - tenth of the radius of the circle that circumscribes the acinar structure at each step as illustrated in figure 5(g ) . cell lines that have expressions of integrin 6 near the centroid of the acinar structure show relatively early rise in the cumulative densities than the others . it is observed that integrin 6 is localized near the basal membrane in the three lower - grade cell lines , and near the centroids of the acini in the three advanced grade cell lines as shown in figure 5(b ) . since the cumulative densities near the acinus center and the basal membrane are similar for all the cell lines , we decide to include the cumulative densities corresponding to 30 to 70% of the radius of the circle that circumscribes the acinus in our analysis . another feature captured the amount of integrin 6 expressed along the basal cell membrane as illustrated in figure 5(f ) . first , we took the difference between the acinar structure and its morphologically eroded version to obtain a binary contour mask . this mask was then overlaid with the corresponding slice of the binary green channel image to obtain the integrin 6 localized along the basal membrane of the acinar structure . next , we superposed the resulting image with rays that initiate at the centroid of the acinus oriented at angles that varied from 1 to 360 with 1 steps scanning a complete circle . finally , the total number of times that these rays intersected with the green markers was counted and normalized between 0 and 1 to obtain the continuity of integrin 6 along the acinar basal side . values close to 1 correspond to intact basal sides and , thus , indicate high cellular polarity . as shown in figure 5(c ) , 10a and at cell lines have the significantly more continuous expression of integrin 6 along the basal side of the cells than the four malignant cell lines . we note that kcl cell line exhibits a statistically significant higher localization of integrin 6 at the basal side than the three more tumorigenic cell lines . the final feature in this category measured the ratio of the amount of integrin 6 colocalized with integrin 3 to the total expression of integrin 6 to determine the amount basal membrane protein overlapped with the lateral membrane protein . this feature gets higher values when there is higher internal expression of integrin 6 or higher basal membrane localization of integrin 3 . as plotted in figure 5(d ) , 10a and dcis exhibit statistically significant less colocalization of integrin 6 with 3 than the other four cell lines . the final subset of features captured the density of lateral membrane protein integrin 3 within the acinar structure . the following features measured the expression and localization of lateral membrane protein and adhesion molecule integrin 3 . the first feature determined the amount integrin 3 expressed along the basal cell membrane using the same method described previously . we anticipate observing less amount of integrin 3 expressed along the basal cell membrane in the malignant grades of cancer than the nonmalignant grade . next , we captured the overall expression of integrin 3 within the acinar structure as illustrated in figure 6(e ) where the total amount of integrin 3 expressed in the acinar structure was divided by the area of the acinar structure . it is seen in figure 6(b ) that this feature monotonically decreases from the nontumorigenic 10a to noninvasive dcis acinar structures . we then measured the ratio between the amount of integrin 3 colocalized with the integrin 6 and the total amount of integrin 3 within the acinar structure . as expected nonmalignant cell lines exhibit significantly less colocalization of integrin 3 with integrin 6 than the malignant cell lines as shown in figure 6(c ) . final feature in this subset measured the ratio between the amount of integrin 3 localized between the hollow center and basal membrane side of the acinar structure to the total integrin 3 expression . this feature , thus , quantified the density of 3 integrin along the lateral membrane of the cells . since integrin 3 localization is not confined to cell - to - cell lateral membranes in malignant tumors , expressions of this protein are expected within the hollow lumen as well as the cell - to - extracellular matrix border . we used supervised machine learning to grade the acinar structures into nonmalignant , noninvasive carcinoma , and invasive carcinoma forms of breast cancer using the features defined previously . in supervised learning , the data are first divided into training and test sets . the classifier is trained with the labeled training data and the classes of the test data are then predicted using the resulting classifier . linear discriminant analysis fits a multivariate normal density to each of the training class assuming equal covariance matrices for each class . it then separates the classes with a hyperplane that is established by seeking the projection that maximizes the sum of intraclass distances and minimize the sum of interclass distances . quadratic discriminant analysis is similar to the linear discriminant analysis with the distinction that covariance matrix for each class is estimated separately . nave bayes classifier assumes that the classes are arising from independent distributions ; hence , a diagonal covariance matrix is assumed . k - nearest neighbor classifier finds the k closest training data to the test data based on the euclidean distance and classifies the sample using the majority voting of the nearest points . support vector machines classifier maps the training data into a higher dimensional space with a kernel function where the data become linearly separable . a separating maximum - margin hyperplane is established to separate the different class data with minimal misclassification via quadratic optimization . the test data are classified by determining the side of the hyperplane they lie on in the kernel - mapped space . in order to extend svm for three - class classification , we employed the one - against - one approach where three two - class svm classifiers were established for each pair of classes in the training data set . each sample in the test data was assigned to a class by these classifiers and the class with the majority vote was chosen as the final result . if there is equal voting for the three classes , we chose the class that has the largest margin from the separating hyperplane . in order to obtain unbiased performance estimates , 10-fold cross - validation the feature set was first randomly divided into 10 disjoint partitions of equal size . for each partition , a classifier the results for each partition were then combined to find the overall grading accuracy . in order to reduce the scale differences within the features , the data were normalized so that the features had zero mean and unit variance across the samples . we performed a parametric search to determine the number of neighbors in the nearest neighbor identification . we tested between 8 and 15 nearest neighbors and determined that identifying 12 nearest neighbors to a test point achieved the highest grading accuracy . for the svm classifiers , we used radial basis function , also referred to as gaussian kernel , in the form of k(xi , xj ) = exp(||xixj||/2 ) that mapped the data into an infinite dimensional hilbert space . we performed a parameter to search to identify that achieves the highest grading accuracy . we sought in the set of candidate values that varied from 1.0 to 2.5 with 0.1 steps and determined that being equals to 2.0 achieved the best performance in the grading of the acinar structures . it is clear that svm - based classifier achieves the highest overall accuracy in the grading of the acinar structures . this is not unexpected as svm classifiers are known to be highly successful in biological applications . after identifying svm - based classifier as the most accurate grading method for our data set , we performed feature selection to determine the discriminative capabilities of the features to characterize the data . a good feature selection algorithm identifies the features that are consistent within the class and exhibit differences between the classes . fisher score ( f - score ) is documented to be a powerful feature selection tool . for a dataset xi with two classes , denote the instances in the first class with xi and instances in the other class with xi . the fisher score of the ith feature is then given by f(i)=((x(+)-x)2+(x(-)-x)2)/(x(+)2+x(-)2 ) , where x is the mean value of the ith features , x(+ ) and x(- ) are the mean values over the positive and negative instances , respectively , and x and x are the variances over the positive and negative instances , respectively , for the ith feature . in order to extend this method for a feature set with three classes , we computed the f - score for each feature in each pair of classes and then took the average of the three possible combinations . larger values of f - score indicate stronger discriminative influence ; therefore , after obtaining the f - scores for all the features , we ranked them in descending order . table 2 shows the average f - scores of the features and their corresponding discriminative rank . it is seen that continuity of integrin 6 along the basal membrane is the most discriminative feature to describe the data . discriminative influence of the ratio between the hollow lumen and acinar structure area is also high . these two features are important as they are strong indicators of the level of cell polarity within the acinar structure and can be considered as measures of duct forming tumors as used in the commonly used scarff - bloom - richardson system . some of the other most discriminative features quantify the differences that are difficult to assess by visual inspection such as the colocalization between the integrin 3 and integrin 3 and internal densities of the integrin subunits . we note that these features constitute a subset of the novel features introduced in this paper and , therefore , this analysis particularly highlights the importance of the proposed features and the methodology . we performed cancer grading using subsets of the resulting most discriminative features , where at each stage we increased the number of most discriminative features in the training feature set . figure 7 shows the overall grading accuracy with respect to the number of most discriminative features selected in the grading . it is seen that the highest grading accuracy 89.0% is achieved when all of the features are used to train the classifiers . considering that the most grading systems are typically based on the assessment of a limited number of features , when only the first five most discriminative features are used for grading , we achieve 82.0% overall grading accuracy . though relatively worse than the highest grading accuracy , this constitutes a highly promising setting considering the limited number of features . breast tissue from patients with invasive carcinoma , ductal carcinoma in situ , and from healthy individuals was obtained from proteogenix ( culver city , ca ) and stored at 80c . compound ( sakura finetek usa , torrance , ca ) and sections 20 m thick were cut using a microm hm505e cryostat . tissue sections were adhered to superfrost plus gold microscope slides ( fisher scientific , morris plains , nj ) and vapor fixed using 2 - 3 kimwipes ( kimberley - clark worldwide , roswell , ga ) soaked in 4% paraformaldehyde in a small chamber at 20c for 30 minutes prior to immunohistochemistry . tissue sections were encircled with an immedge pen ( vector labs , burlingame , ca ) and immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy were performed as described for in vitro samples in section 2.2 . an alexa488-conjugated goat antifluorescein secondary antibody ( invitrogen , carlsbad , ca ) was included at a 1 : 300 dilution in the overnight secondary incubation . a workflow diagram involved in the automated grading of breast cancer is shown in figure 8 . first , 3d fluorescent confocal images of acinar structures were collected after 14 days within an in vitro culture system as described in sections 2.1 and 2.2 . a total of 30 images were captured ( 5 images for each cell line ) and a total of 400 acinar structures were identified using the image segmentation method described in section 2.3 in these images . for each acinar structure , we extracted the morphological features described in section 2.4 . these features exhibit high - level of statistical significance across the nonmalignant , noninvasive carcinoma , and invasive carcinoma grades of breast cancer . using the resulting unique feature profiles , we then trained the svm - based classifiers as described in section 2.5 for the automated grading of acini and test on the data . overall grading accuracy of 89.0% is achieved when the whole feature set is used in the grading . as shown in the first half of table 3 , the nonmalignant 10a and at cell lines are graded with 97.0% and 73.5% accuracy , respectively . due to the strong resemblance between the at and kcl cell lines , some portions of the at acinar structures acinar structures in kcl cell line are correctly graded as noninvasive carcinoma 72.1% of the time , and as nonmalignant 11.1% of the time which should be considered as high success as kcl falls between the advanced - early stages of cancer and noninvasive carcinoma . noninvasive dcis acinar structures are graded with 95.0% accuracy , and the acinar structures in the invasive cell lines ca1h and ca1a are graded with 93.1% and 93.5% accuracy , respectively . we note that neither the dcis nor invasive cell line acinar structures are graded as nonmalignant . when only the five most discriminative features are used , we achieve 82.0% overall accuracy in the grading . as shown in the second half of table 3 , in this case at acinar structures . however , the grading accuracy of noninvasive kcl and invasive ca1h acinar structures significantly decreases . it is not unexpected that some of the features not included after the feature selection capture significant characteristics about the acini morphology . the following discussion on the proposed features helps us understand how they relate to the underlying biological implications . changes in the hollow lumen size and acini shape are visually observed and quantified across multiple cancer stages as described in section 2.4.1 . while the average number of cells per acini is a concrete measurement and could be determined manually , it is useful and more practical to utilize automated techniques when analyzing large volumes of image data . with this feature we clearly determine that the two invasive cell lines ca1h and ca1a have more nuclei in the acinar structures than the other less malignant cell lines . alternatively , this could arise from higher density of cells within the acinus due to the loss of the hollow lumen . both of these explanations likely contribute to the resulting feature making it challenging to determine the exact cause . our next feature , the ratio between the areas of the hollow lumen and acinar structure can also help us explain the general trend in the number of nuclei per acinus with the progression along the metastatic cascade . larger hollow lumens in the lower cancer grades possibly limit the space that the cells can proliferate ; thus smaller number of nuclei per acinus is observed at lower - grade cell lines . the hollow lumen to acinar structure area ratio captures a key change in acinar structure which is challenging to assess by visual inspection . while the presence or absence of a hollow lumen is observable by eye , evaluating the relative size of the lumen compared to the overall acinar structure is difficult and poses subjectivity . this feature enabled us to quantitatively characterize this relationship and helps identify the significant changes between cancer grades . the loss of hollow lumens is associated with increasing cell division and cell survival within the acinar structure . in native breast tissue however , despite generally observing a decrease in the hollow lumen to acinar structure area ratio with the progression of cancer , precancerous at cell line exhibits an increase compared to the 10a samples . while it is unclear why this is the case , it could potentially be due to the cells becoming flatter rather than columnar in shape creating a larger hollow lumen . in addition to the changes in the hollow lumen morphology , the acinar structure elongation quantifies the subtle changes in the roundness of acini that are also difficult assess by eye . as shown by our results , we capture statistically significant differences in the acini elongation caused by the increasing metastatic capability , reflecting the progressive loss of structural integrity in acini as breast cancer develops . replacing these qualitative observations on the acini and hollow lumen morphology with these robust quantitative measurements enabled us to characterize the data more objectively . the density of basal membrane protein integrin 6 is quantified through multiple features as described in section 2.4.2 and found to reflect the metastatic potential of acinar structures . the quantitative and statistically significant changes identified in the analysis of integrin 6 distribution strongly correlate with our expectations based on the visual inspection of the acinar structures . it is seen that the 10a and at acini exhibited the highest amount of integrin 6 localization along the basal membrane , reflecting the presence of an intact , extracellular matrix basement membrane on the basal surface of these cells . in addition , it is observed that the acinar structures of more malignant cell lines showed dramatic loss in the localization of integrin 6 along the basal membrane of the cells and an increase in the internal localization of this protein , reflecting loss of the basement membrane . features extracted from ca1a acinar structures are significantly different from some of the features extracted from the ca1h and dcis acinar structures that can be explained by the degree of malignancy of this cell line . ca1a cells exhibit the highest malignancy of all the other cell lines with the advanced ability to metastasize . when cells are able to metastasize , cells may form secondary tumors called macrometastases . at this stage , these cells are able to adapt to their new environment in order to improve their abilities of survival . it is possible that the ca1a cells are behaving as a secondary tumor when placed in a basement membrane protein rich environment causing them to acquire some epithelial like phenotypes , such as increasing the basal membrane localization of integrin 6 . thus , these features thoroughly capture the distribution of integrin 6 throughout the acinar structure as visualized and are functionally expected across the different grades of cancer . the features based on the density of integrin 3 as described in section 2.4.3 yield both expected and unexpected results . as reported in a previous study , we expect to observe different levels of total integrin 3 expression across the cell lines of varying metastatic potential . our expectations are confirmed by our results that the total integrin 3 expressions exhibit a decrease between the nonmalignant and noninvasive carcinomas and a higher expression is observed in the invasive carcinoma cell lines ( compared to the noninvasive kcl and dcis cell line features ) . these features support the idea that integrin 3 switches its function from acting in a cell - cell adhesion manner to cell - ecm adhesion manner with increasing metastatic ability . as shown in figure 6(a ) , the basal continuity of integrin 3 is the lowest for the dcis cell lines as expected due to the low density of integrin 3 in this cell line . the continuity at the basal membrane displayed increased localization in the invasive carcinoma cell lines suggesting a cell - ecm adhesion role . the measurement of integrin 3 density in the exterior of the hollow lumen as shown in figure 6(d ) determined that the progression of cancer yields increased localization of this protein within the hollow lumen . it was at similar levels for the 10a , at , and kcl cell lines however that the expression ratio increased in expression between the dcis through ca1a cells . this feature was developed to quantify the functional switch of integrin 3 from cell - cell adhesion to cell - ecm adhesion with progressing metastatic state . the increase in this feature suggests a switch from cell - cell adhesion to cell - ecm adhesions ; however , this change may be influenced by the reduction in the size of the hollow lumen and increased integrin 3 expression between cells throughout the acinar structure , thus hindering the robust characterization of the integrin 3 lateral localization . the amount of an integrin subunit that colocalizes with the other varies across the cell lines . basal membrane integrin 6 colocalizes with integrin 3 more in the tumorigenic cell lines ( except the dcis ) than the nontumorigenic cell line 10a . this could be due to the increasing internal expression of integrin 6 indicating a loss in cell polarity . another reason could be due to integrin 3 changing localization from the lateral membrane to the basal membrane as it switches functions from cell - cell adhesion to cell - ecm adhesions . it could also be a combination of the two since loss in cell polarity results in irregular localization of the proteins ; thus both integrin subunits are expressed throughout the cell membrane . this could be due to the low expression of integrin 3 in dcis cells as shown in figure 6(b ) that yield higher amounts of isolated integrin 6 subunits in the acinar structures . the alternative comparison is the amount of integrin 3 that colocalizes with integrin 6 . we observe that the noninvasive and the invasive cell lines exhibit higher colocalization than the nonmalignant cell lines . this confirms our suggestion that low expression of integrin 3 is the cause of the lowest colocalization of integrin 6 with integrin 3 in this cell line . in this case almost all of the integrin 3 is colocalized with integrin 6 due to its low expression levels and loss of cell polarity in the dcis acinar structures . the nonmalignant cell lines exhibit higher levels of colocalization than the noninvasive cell lines . by comparing the two colocalization features , we infer that this is likely due to integrin 3 localization at the basal and lateral membranes while integrin 6 localizes primarily at the basal membrane alone . this is reflected in 80% colocalization of integrin 6 with integrin 3 and 30% colocalization of integrin 3 with integrin 6 as shown in figure 6(c ) . on the other hand , the invasive carcinoma cell lines exhibit approximately 70% colocalization of the basal membrane integrin with the lateral membrane integrin and approximately 50% colocalization of the lateral membrane integrin with the basal membrane integrin . due to the approximately same values , this suggests that both integrin subunits have lost their specific localization and are expressed throughout . we also can further confirm this with the internal densities of both integrin 6 and integrin 3 having higher values . proposed features display statistical significance across the cell lines with varying metastatic abilities . these features have the potential for studying structure - function relationships in a controlled and quantitative system . this application is useful in identifying underlying mechanisms of cancer and the role of specific protein functions on acinar structures . in addition , this approach could be used to test the effects of potential chemotherapy targets and combinations of drugs on the structures of both nontumorigenic , precancerous , noninvasive carcinoma and invasive carcinoma cells in preliminary studies . also , with increasing medical imaging technology the future holds potential for many quantitative and computerized diagnostic tools and systems to aid doctors in diagnosis , treatment options , and prognosis . finally , these features could be applied to current histology samples when tagged with fluorescent antibodies to quantify complex structural features . in order to demonstrate the relevance of our approach to tissue samples obtained from human patients , we performed immunohistochemistry on frozen sections as described in section 2.6 following the same procedure for cell culture experiments as outlined from section 2.2 to section 2.5 . images of nontumorigenic , precancerous , noninvasive , and invasive mammary gland tissue were collected using confocal microscopy . the random orientation of glands in sectioned material presented a challenge as the acinar structures in in vitro cultures are typically spherical in shape . in order to eliminate the longitudinal or oblique planes of sections from the present analysis , single optical sections of glands oriented roughly in crosssection that resemble the acinar formations in the in vitro cultures were cropped manually . although nonspecific alexa568 secondary antibody labeling of luminal contents was observed in some cases , visual inspection of these images indicates that the pattern of both integrin 6 and integrin 3 exhibit similar staining patterns to in vitro acinar structures . in our preliminary study , we identified 12 glands in the 9 images analyzed in this study . for each gland , we extracted the proposed features and performed grading using the svm - based classifier trained with the in vitro feature set . the in vivo test set was graded accurately except one nontumorigenic gland that was graded as noninvasive carcinoma . nevertheless , we note that developing a computer - aided grading system for the grading of in vivo tissue samples is beyond the scope of this paper and left as future work . in this paper , we present a method that enables quantitative characterization of 3d breast culture acini with varying metastatic potentials . specifically , we propose statistically significant features based on acinar structure morphology that capture differences between different grades of cancer that are difficult to assess under microscopic inspection . the experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed features to differentiate between the nonmalignant , noninvasive carcinoma , and invasive carcinoma grades of breast cancer with 89.0% accuracy . in addition , our preliminary studies indicate that our methodology can also be used for the grading of cancer in in vivo tissues provided that the captured tissue samples include cross - sectional portions of the glands . hence , our method demonstrates great promise to model morphology - function relationships within controlled 3d systems and hold potential as an automatic breast cancer prognostic tool in current histology samples .

prognosis of breast cancer is primarily predicted by the histological grading of the tumor , where pathologists manually evaluate microscopic characteristics of the tissue . this labor intensive process suffers from intra- and inter - observer variations ; thus , computer - aided systems that accomplish this assessment automatically are in high demand . we address this by developing an image analysis framework for the automated grading of breast cancer in in vitro three - dimensional breast epithelial acini through the characterization of acinar structure morphology . a set of statistically significant features for the characterization of acini morphology are exploited for the automated grading of six ( mcf10 series ) cell line cultures mimicking three grades of breast cancer along the metastatic cascade . in addition to capturing both expected and visually differentiable changes , we quantify subtle differences that pose a challenge to assess through microscopic inspection . our method achieves 89.0% accuracy in grading the acinar structures as nonmalignant , noninvasive carcinoma , and invasive carcinoma grades . we further demonstrate that the proposed methodology can be successfully applied for the grading of in vivo tissue samples albeit with additional constraints . these results indicate that the proposed features can be used to describe the relationship between the acini morphology and cellular function along the metastatic cascade .

The retired New York City police officers and firefighters showed up for their psychiatric exams disheveled and disoriented, most following a nearly identical script. They had been coached on how to fail memory tests, feign panic attacks and, if they had worked during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to talk about their fear of airplanes and entering skyscrapers, prosecutors said. And they were told to make it clear they could not leave the house, much less find a job. But their Facebook pages told investigators a starkly different story, according to an indictment and other court papers. Former police officers who had told government doctors they were too mentally scarred to leave home had posted photographs of themselves fishing, riding motorcycles, driving water scooters, flying helicopters and playing basketball. “The brazenness is shocking,” Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said on Tuesday. The online photos, along with intercepted phone calls and the testimony of undercover officers, were evidence of what officials said was the largest fraud ever perpetrated against the Social Security disability system, a scheme stretching back to 1988 in which as many as 1,000 people — many of them officers and firefighters already collecting pensions from the city — were suspected to have bilked the federal government out of an estimated $400 million. An indictment unsealed on Monday by the Manhattan district attorney’s office charges 106 people, four of whom are accused of running the scheme. The group was headed by Raymond Lavallee, 83, a Long Island lawyer who started his career as an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and once served as a senior Nassau County prosecutor, court papers said. Mr. Lavallee worked most closely with two men: Thomas Hale, 89, a pension consultant who investigators say filled out applications, and Joseph Minerva, 61, a former police officer who works for the Detectives’ Endowment Association. The organizers received cash kickbacks of more than $28,000 from each applicant, money that was taken from the recipients’ first check from the Social Security Administration, prosecutors said. Lawyers for all four men denied the accusations. Scores of former police officers and firefighters were arrested on Tuesday and brought in handcuffs to State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where they were arraigned before Acting Justice Daniel Fitzgerald on charges of grand larceny. They are accused of collecting between $30,000 and $50,000 a year. Many of the 72 city police officers and eight firefighters named in the 205-count indictment had blamed the Sept. 11 attacks for what they described as mental problems: post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and severe depression. “It’s a particularly cynical part of the charged scheme that approximately half the defendants falsely claimed that their psychiatric disabilities were caused by the 9/11 attacks,” Mr. Vance said at a news conference. Yet investigators said the accused were living full lives and in many cases were holding jobs in private security, construction and landscaping. Several of the defendants documented their activities on Facebook. The bail letter includes photographs culled from the Internet that show one former officer riding a water scooter and others working at jobs including helicopter pilot and martial arts instructor. One is shown fishing off the coast of Costa Rica and another sitting astride a motorcycle, while another appeared in a television news story selling cannoli at the Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan. Prosecutors said Joseph Esposito, 64, who retired from the Police Department in 1990, coached the applicants to act symptomatic during exams conducted by psychiatrists for the Social Security Administration. In one secretly recorded telephone conversation, Mr. Esposito told an applicant to misspell words and miscalculate simple arithmetic, and to say that she kept the television on at home “just to hear a voice in the house,” but to emphasize that she kept changing channels because she could not focus. “When you’re talking to the guy, don’t look directly at him,” Mr. Esposito said, according to a transcript of the conversation in the bail letter. “You know, pause for a second. You’re just trying to show that, you know, you’re depressed. You, you can’t, you, you don’t have any desire for anything, and if you can, you pretend you have panic attacks.” Mr. Vance said one of the defendants, Louis Hurtado, had retired from the Police Department with a disability pension after sustaining a neck injury and then opened and taught at a martial arts studio. Yet he still applied for disability from the Social Security Administration, saying he had post-traumatic stress disorder. During the bail hearing, Christopher Santora, an assistant district attorney, outlined how the scheme worked. The defendants generally first contacted Mr. Esposito, who was known in law enforcement circles for helping people secure disability benefits. Mr. Esposito would take applicants to Mr. Hale and Mr. Minerva, who referred them to one of two psychiatrists. With Mr. Esposito’s coaching, the applicants would go to the psychiatrists for a year to build a false record of mental instability before applying for benefits. Mr. Hale then filled out the applications in cookie-cutter fashion, using the same phrases, like, “I don’t have interest in anything,” and “I am up and down all night long.” The bail letter traced the scheme’s origins to 1988 and estimated that the retirees collected fraudulent disability awards, over time ranging from approximately $50,000 to $500,000. All told, $21.4 million in disability benefits was paid to people charged in the indictment. Among the others charged were correction officers, Nassau and Suffolk County police officers and civilians. Lawyers for the men accused of organizing the scheme predicted they would prevail in court. Mr. Lavallee’s lawyer, Raymond Perini, said “a decorated Korean War vet, F.B.I. agent and prosecutor lost his 60-year reputation today and we are going to win that back in the courtroom.” Mr. Hale’s lawyer, Joseph Conway, said that his client’s consulting business would prove to be legitimate. Mr. Esposito’s lawyer, Brian Griffin, said his client denied the accusations. Mr. Griffin said most of the people named in the indictment did have a disability of some kind, noting prosecutors appear to be alleging that only the mental disabilities underlying the federal Social Security applications were exaggerated. Mr. Minerva’s lawyer, Glenn Hardy, said his client had a legitimate job helping officers obtain benefits and denied that Mr. Minerva had told applicants what to say. Mr. Lavallee and Mr. Hale were each released on $1 million bail, while Mr. Esposito posted $500,000 and Mr. Minerva put up $250,000. The inquiry started in 2008 when Social Security investigators noticed that two retired police officers who had gun permits were also receiving payments for a mental disability. That discovery led to a review of other applications handled by Mr. Lavallee and a multiagency investigation. Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr., the inspector general for the Social Security Administration, said more arrests were expected. ||||| More than 100 retired New York City cops, firefighters and correction officers were charged today with falsely claiming to be suffering from depression and anxiety as a result of the 9/11 terror attacks, New York prosecutors said today. The alleged scam won awards up to $500,000 for the uniformed personnel and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, according to the indictment. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the suspects "cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of Sept 11th... dishonoring the first responders." Police Commissioner William Bratton said, "The retired members of the NYP indicted in this case have disgraced all first responders who perished during the search and rescue efforts on Sept. 11, 2001." Manhattan District Attorney The prosecution backed up its case with recorded phone calls of the suspects being coached on how to behave in front of a medical board and photos of the suspects doing vigorous activity like jet skiing, doing mixed martial arts, and going on cruises after convincing doctors they were unable to leave their homes. Today's arrests cap a two year investigation, aided by federal investigators, the city's Department of Investigation and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau. The alleged fraud cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in improper Social Security benefits. The indictment charges four men with masterminding the alleged fraud, including attorney Raymond Lavellee, 81, Thomas Hale, 89, Joseph Esposito, 70, and John Minerva, 59. Hale is president of a firm that determines eligibility for Social Security disability. Esposito is a former NYPD employee and Minerva is an ex-cop who is currently a disability consultant for the Detectives Endowment Association. None of the accused actually suffered from debilitating stress, officials claim. Many were caught working after retirement, a violation of disability benefits. And some of the retired officers retained their gun permits. Retired officers cannot possess guns if they are being treated for stress. Court papers included what prosecutors said were recorded phone calls in which Esposito "coached" the officers how to dress and behave and now to muff questions to show that lacked concentration. "They're liable to say... spell the word 'world,' so you go 'W-R-L-D.' Then they're gonnna say 'Spell it backwards.' You think about it, and you can't spell it backwards," Esposito was recorded saying. He allegedly told officers claiming that their debilitating anxieties stemmed from the 9/11 attacks to tell examiners they were "afraid of planes and entering large buildings." The 9/11 attacks took a heavy toll on the city's cops, called "New York's Finest," and firefighters, dubbed "New York's Bravest." The casualty count from the terror attacks included 23 police officers and 343 firefighters. Most of the arrests in the fraud sweep took place in the city, with others being busted in Florida and elsewhere in New York State. It was the second 9/11 scam to be revealed this week. On Monday, two New Jersey men pleaded guilty to raising and keeping $50,000 for a Sept. 11 charity that was supposed to help families who lost loved one in the catastrophe. Thomas Scalgione and Mark Niemczyk never gave any of the more than $50,000 in proceeds to the victims' families or to charities as promised, they told the court.

– Dozens of retired New York City cops and firefighters are accused of faking mental health problems so they could retire and collect disability benefits, reports ABC News. The worst part is that many cited the 9/11 attacks as the root of their problems. Ringleaders reportedly coached them on how to appear as disheveled wrecks at their benefits interviews, but prosecutors pored over their Facebook pages to find photos very much to the contrary—like the guy supposedly so traumatized by the job that he could no longer go outside who was snapped zipping around on a jet ski. In all, 106 people were indicted by the Manhattan DA's office, including 72 former cops and eight firefighters. The New York Times calls it "one of the largest Social Security disability frauds ever." Many were caught working second jobs upon retirement, a no-no for those getting disability benefits. "It's a particularly cynical part of the charged scheme that approximately half the defendants falsely claimed that their psychiatric disabilities were caused by the 9/11 attacks,” says Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.

New Evidence Suggests Humans Arrived In The Americas Far Earlier Than Thought Enlarge this image toggle caption Tom Démeré/San Diego Natural History Museum Tom Démeré/San Diego Natural History Museum Researchers in Southern California say they've uncovered evidence that humans lived there 130,000 years ago. If it's true, it would be the oldest sign of humans in the Americas ever — predating the best evidence up to now by about 115,000 years. And the claim has scientists wondering whether to believe it. In 1992, archaeologists working a highway construction site in San Diego County found the partial skeleton of a mastodon, an elephant-like animal now extinct. Mastodon skeletons aren't so unusual, but there was other strange stuff with it. "The remains were in association with a number of sharply broken rocks and broken bones," says Tom Deméré, a paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum. He says the rocks showed clear marks of having been used as hammers and an anvil. And some of the mastodon bones as well as a tooth showed fractures characteristic of being whacked, apparently with those stones. It looked like the work of humans. Yet there were no cut marks on the bones showing that the animal was butchered for meat. Deméré thinks these people were after something else. "The suggestion is that this site is strictly for breaking bone," Deméré says, "to produce blank material, raw material to make bone tools or to extract marrow." Marrow is a rich source of fatty calories. Enlarge this image toggle caption San Diego Natural History Museum/Nature San Diego Natural History Museum/Nature The scientists knew they'd uncovered something rare. But they didn't realize just how rare for years, until they got a reliable date on how old the bones were by using a uranium-thorium dating technology that didn't exist in the 1990s. The bones were 130,000 years old. That's a jaw-dropping date, as other evidence shows that the earliest humans got to the Americas about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. "That is an order of magnitude difference. Wow," says John Shea, an archaeologist at New York's Stony Brook University who specializes in studying ancient toolmaking. "If it's correct, then there's an extraordinarily ancient dispersal to the New World that has a very different archaeological signature from anything left behind by recent humans." Shea says it's different because Stone Age toolmakers usually leave behind stone flakes — sharp pieces broken or "knapped" from certain kinds of rock that serve as cutting implements. There were none at the California site. Another odd thing: no signs that the mastodon was butchered for the meat. "This is weird," Shea says. "It's an outlier in terms of what archaeological sites from that time range look like everywhere else on the planet." He suggests these bones might have been broken up by natural causes — by a mudflow, perhaps, or by the trampling of animals sometime after the mastodon died. Another skeptic is John McNabb, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton in England. His question: How did those people get to California? Twenty thousand years ago, archaeologists agree, people did cross over to Alaska from Siberia, perhaps more than once. Sea levels were lower then and there was a land bridge connecting the continents. In an interview with the journal Nature, which published the California research, McNabb says that land bridge wasn't there 130,000 years ago. "The sea lane in between the two continents [was] wider [then]," he says, "so that's one problem with this: How do we get humans across?" Nature YouTube McNabb says what's needed to really prove that this is truly an archaeological site are bones from the people who got there. The California team counters that it has spent over 20 years examining the evidence. "I know people will be skeptical with this because it is so surprising," says team member and archaeologist Steve Holen, "and I was skeptical when I first looked at the material myself. But it's definitely an archaeological site." Holen, with the Center for American Paleolithic Research, says these early people could have come across in boats. As for the broken bones, he says the type of fracture isn't accidental. And the way the hammerstones and bones were distributed in the ground doesn't look natural. One question the team can't answer is who these people were. A genetic technique that uses mutations in a population's genome as a sort of "clock" says the first common ancestor of Native Americans lived about 20,000 years ago. So if there were indeed earlier settlers, it could be they made an arduous migration from Siberia, only to die out without leaving any descendants. ||||| Prehistoric humans — perhaps Neanderthals or another lost species — occupied what is now California some 130,000 years ago, a team of scientists reported on Wednesday. The bold and fiercely disputed claim, published in the journal Nature, is based on a study of mastodon bones discovered near San Diego. If the scientists are right, they would significantly alter our understanding of how humans spread around the planet. The earliest widely accepted evidence of people in the Americas is less than 15,000 years old. Genetic studies strongly support the idea that those people were the ancestors of living Native Americans, arriving in North America from Asia. If humans actually were in North America over 100,000 years earlier, they may not be related to any living group of people. Modern humans probably did not expand out of Africa until 50,000 to 80,000 years ago, recent genetic studies have shown.

– Exactly how long have humans been in the Americas? A wealth of evidence suggests they arrived as early as 20,000 years ago, while the earliest record of modern humans in the world dates back 200,000 years to Africa (and they probably didn't leave until around 50,000 to 80,000 years ago). But researchers at the San Diego Natural History Museum say they've unearthed evidence that humans, or at least "an unidentified species of Homo," were here 130,000 years ago—a "bold and fiercely disputed claim," per the New York Times, based on mastodon bones and rock scratches found in Southern California in 1992. The claim, published in the journal Nature, is that the markings suggest the use of tools to extract marrow or process bone material to create more tools. Critics aren't holding back. "Extraordinary claims require unequivocal evidence," one skeptic says, while an archaeologist adds: "I was astonished, not because it is so good but because it is so bad." Others think such an early arrival is conceivable. For instance, the Denisovans broke from Neanderthals around 400,000 years ago and lived in Siberia, while bison came to North America by way of the Bering Land Bridge—which has disappeared and reappeared—135,000 years ago. What everyone agrees on is that the mastodon bones, which NPR reports were measured using sophisticated uranium-thorium dating tech, are 130,000 years old. If a human-like species cut them, it's "an order of magnitude difference," one researcher says. "Wow." (Our family tree is still very much a puzzle.)

physicians have shown great concern on the relationship between lymphoma and inflammatory bowel disease ( ibd ) over the years . in 1928 , bargen described initial report of lymphosarcoma in a patient with ulcerative colitis . since then , numerous case reports and meta - analyses have been presented , but composite lymphoma in ibd patients had not previously been reported . composite lymphoma is a rare malignancy and defined as the presence of two or more distinct cytological and histological variant of lymphoma in the same tissue . this combination consists of hodgkin lymphoma ( hl ) with non - hodgkin lymphoma ( nhl ) or b - cell nhl with t -cell nhl , or two distinct subtype of b - cell or t - cell nhl . in this study , we present a case of a composite diffuse large b - cell lymphoma and nodular sclerosing hl in para - aortic lymph node and spleen in a 45-year- old female patient diagnosed with ulcerative colitis . the patient was a 45-year - old female with a 2-year history of left - sided ulcerative colitis . only mesalamine was responsible for keeping the disease under control and no other immunosuppressive agents such as azathioprine and anti tnf were administered . the patient was referred to hematologic ward with a one - month history of malaise , weakness and fatigue . upon physical examination , hematologic findings consisted of pancytopenia , elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( esr ) and lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh ) . results of renal and liver function tests , electrolytes , urine analysis and hiv test were within the normal range . contrast - enhanced computed tomography scan of the chest and abdominopelvic regions showed lymphadenopathy of middle and posterior mediastinum , para - aortic lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly with heterogeneous density ( fig.1 ) . to achieve a definite diagnosis , splenectomy , excisional biopsy of para - aortic lymph node , aspiration and biopsy of marrow histomorphological evaluation of the spleen and para aortic lymph node ( fig : 2 ) show focal involvement by classical hodgkin s lymphoma and nodular sclerosis variant , wherein typical nodules are seen in which the lacunar cells and classic red - sternberg ( r - s ) cells are surrounded by small mature lymphocytes with a few eosinophils and plasma cells . however , in other areas , diffuse sheets of centroblastic and ( less ) immunoblastic cells are also evident , which is in keeping with diffuse large b - cell lymphoma ( dlbcl ) . 3 ) , the lacunar cells and r - s cells in the hl component show negative leukocyte common antigen ( lca ) , cd20 and positive ki - a10 ( one of the hl associated markers ) although cd30 and cd15 are negative . accordingly , there is strong positivity of lca and cd20 in the dlbcl component . treatment of composite lymphoma depends on histological grading of components and is towards the high grade histology . the patient was treated with r - chop- based chemotherapy ( rituximab , cyclophosphamide , adriamycin , vincristine and prednisolone ) . after eight courses of chemotherapy with r - chop and one course of high - dose methotrexate , complete remission was achieved . the patient was a 45-year - old female with a 2-year history of left - sided ulcerative colitis . only mesalamine was responsible for keeping the disease under control and no other immunosuppressive agents such as azathioprine and anti tnf were administered . the patient was referred to hematologic ward with a one - month history of malaise , weakness and fatigue . upon physical examination , hematologic findings consisted of pancytopenia , elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( esr ) and lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh ) . results of renal and liver function tests , electrolytes , urine analysis and hiv test were within the normal range . contrast - enhanced computed tomography scan of the chest and abdominopelvic regions showed lymphadenopathy of middle and posterior mediastinum , para - aortic lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly with heterogeneous density ( fig.1 ) . to achieve a definite diagnosis , splenectomy , excisional biopsy of para - aortic lymph node , aspiration and biopsy of marrow histomorphological evaluation of the spleen and para aortic lymph node ( fig : 2 ) show focal involvement by classical hodgkin s lymphoma and nodular sclerosis variant , wherein typical nodules are seen in which the lacunar cells and classic red - sternberg ( r - s ) cells are surrounded by small mature lymphocytes with a few eosinophils and plasma cells . however , in other areas , diffuse sheets of centroblastic and ( less ) immunoblastic cells are also evident , which is in keeping with diffuse large b - cell lymphoma ( dlbcl ) . 3 ) , the lacunar cells and r - s cells in the hl component show negative leukocyte common antigen ( lca ) , cd20 and positive ki - a10 ( one of the hl associated markers ) although cd30 and cd15 are negative . accordingly , there is strong positivity of lca and cd20 in the dlbcl component . treatment of composite lymphoma depends on histological grading of components and is towards the high grade histology . the patient was treated with r - chop- based chemotherapy ( rituximab , cyclophosphamide , adriamycin , vincristine and prednisolone ) . after eight courses of chemotherapy with r - chop and one course of high - dose methotrexate , complete remission was achieved . inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic disorder of gastrointestinal tract including two main diseases : ulcerative colitis and crohn s disease . the etiology of these diseases is unknown , but evidence suggests that genetically susceptible patients immune dysfunction triggered by environmental factors is responsible for disease . the risk of lymphoma in ibd patients has been a great concern in the medicine for many years . environmental , genetic , infectious and iatrogenic factors in the patients with inflammatory bowel disease can predispose them to increase the risk of lymphoma . overall risk of lymphoma in ibd patients is not higher than general population , but the basic question is whether treatment with immunomedulatory agents can lead to an increased risk of lymphoma . the use of azathioprine /6-mercaptopurine increases the incidence of lymphoma in patients with inflammatory bowel disease although usefulness of azathioprine therapy outweigh the risk of lymphoma has been suggested in decision analysis model . ebv in the patients with ibd who received azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine associated with increased risk of lymphoma . methotrexate is another immunomedulatory drug which is used as alternative treatment in moderate to severe crohn s disease . unlike azathioprine , there is no repeated and reliable data for the risk of lymphoma in ibd patients treated with methotrexate . in the cesame study conducted by beaugerie et al . , ( 2009 ) some studies like those conducted on rheumatoid arthritis provide some information on the effect of methotrexate . in these studies , there was no increase in the risk of lymphoma among patients treated with methotrexate . at that time , anti - tnf agents such as infliximab were approved for the treatment of crohn s disease . there is a great concern over safety of drugs ; moreover , the assessment of specific risk of these agents on lymphoma development is difficult because most patients had a previous exposure to methotrexate and azathioprine . a comprehensive meta - analysis that was conducted by siegel et al . , ( 2009 ) showed that the rate of nhl in patients with crohn s disease who treated with anti - tnf agents in combination with immunomedulators was not increased . non - hodgkin s lymphoma , particularly diffuse large b - cell lymphoma , appears to be more common than other types of lymphoma in the patients with inflammatory bowel disease . she had no exposure to azathioprine , methotrexate or anti tnf agents . despite the large number of ibd patients with lymphoma , the incidence rate of composite lymphoma , known as rare malignancy , is estimated to be 1 to 4.7% of all other types of lymphoma . in contrast , the combination of non - hodgkin s lymphoma and hodgkin s disease rarely occurs . nodular lymphocyte - predominant hodgkin s lymphoma and diffuse b - cell lymphoma are more frequently found among these combinations .

a 45-year - old female patient with a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis complicated with composite lymphoma in the spleen and para - aortic lymph node presented with a one - month history of malaise , weakness and fatigue . only mesalamine kept ulcerative colitis under control . in physical examination , splenomegaly was revealed and pancytopenia was obtained from laboratory data . computed tomography scan revealed para - aortic mediastinal lymphadenopathy with splenomegaly . splenectomy and excisional biopsy of abdominal lymph node were performed and disease was diagnosed as composite lymphoma , consisting of diffuse large b - cell lymphoma and nodular sclerosing hodgkin lymphoma .

the actin - myosin cytoskeleton acts as the internal scaffold that determines cell shape . through the co - ordinated elongation and contraction of actin - myosin filaments and meshes , force may be generated to power activities such as changes in cell morphology , division and motility . there are numerous ways that actin - myosin dynamics are regulated , but one of the key events in non - muscle cells is the phosphorylation of the myosin ii regulatory light chain ( mlc ) . mlc phosphorylation on ser19 , either alone or in combination with thr18 phosphorylation , regulates contractility by influencing the atpase activity of the myosin heavy chain ( mhc ) head groups , which require energy from atp - hydrolysis to walk along actin filaments to produce contractile force . the phosphorylation status of mlc at any given moment is the product of kinase and phosphatase activities . although numerous kinases influence mlc phosphorylation status , in some cases this may be mediated through the inactivation of mlc phosphatase activity rather than via direct mlc phosphorylation . western blotting is often used to measure changes in bulk mlc phosphorylation ; however , small changes in spatially restricted mlc phosphorylation are very important for the regulation of actin - myosin cytoskeleton dynamics that affect processes such as cell adhesion , morphology and motility . there are two major signalling pathways that lead to mlc phosphorylation , either ca mobilization to activate calcium - calmodulin dependent myosin light chain kinases or rho gtpase activation leading to stimulation of several downstream effector kinases . for example , activation of rhoa and rhoc lead to increased rock1 and rock2 kinase activity , as well as stimulation of the citron rho - interacting kinase ( crik ) that has specialized functions during cytokinesis . the contributions of rock1 and rock2 to mlc phosphorylation and consequent biological responses have been extensively studied in numerous contexts , aided in no small part by the development of potent and reasonably selective small molecule inhibitors such as y27632 [ 5 , 6 ] . in addition to rock and crik , the myotonic dystrophy - related cdc42-binding kinases ( mrck ) , mrck and mrck contribute to mlc phosphorylation downstream of cdc42 . however , much less is known about the relative importance of mrck in actin - myosin regulation , or their roles in cell biology . by summarizing the knowledge about mrck , we hope to encourage consideration of how these kinases may be important contributors to the regulation of actin - myosin cytoskeletal dynamics and how they may be involved in human diseases such as cancer . the three mrck proteins are serine / threonine kinases that are part of the agc ( pka , pkg and pkc ) kinase family . the human mrck kinase domain was first discovered in a yeast two - hybrid screen for proteins binding to the intracytoplasmic portion of the granulocyte - macrophage colony - stimulating factor alpha subunit , and was initially given the name pk428 . the mrck drosophila homologue genghis khan ( gek ) was subsequently isolated in yeast two - hybrid screens for proteins binding specifically to active gtp - bound cdc42 but not to inactive gdp - bound cdc42 . full - length rat mrck and mrck were independently identified by an expression cloning screen for proteins that associated with cdc42 bound to p - labelled gtp followed by probing of a brain cdna library with the isolated open reading frame fragment . human mrck and mrck were subsequently discovered by a combination of rt - pcr using degenerate oligonucleotide primers and dna database searches . mrck ( 172 kda ) was first identified in searches for novel cdc42/rac interactive binding ( crib ) domain ( fig . 1a ) containing genes , and the human open reading frame was subsequently cloned and characterized . to date , no knockout mice for any of the mrck genes have been reported . although initially identified on the basis of their binding to gtp - loaded cdc42 [ 7 , 11 ] , the ability of rac1 to associate with mrck suggests that these kinases may also act as effectors in rac signalling pathways . further analysis to rigorously measure the affinities of mrck crib domains for gtp - bound cdc42 and rac1 , as well as unbiased proteomics - based identification of associated proteins would help determine how significantly mrck proteins act as cdc42 and/or rac effectors.fig . a protein domains and their indicated positions were taken from the national center for biotechnology information ( ncbi ; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein ) for human mrck ( np_003598.2 ) , mrck ( np_006026.3 ) and mrck ( np_059995.2 ) . percentage amino acid identities were determined with the basic local alignment search tool ( blast ; http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast.cgi ) . c1 protein kinase c conserved region 1 , ph pleckstrin homology - like , ch citron homology , crib cdc42/rac interactive binding . b multiple sequence alignment with hierarchical clustering ( http://multalin.toulouse.inra.fr/multalin ) was used to create a phylogenetic tree showing the evolutionary relatedness of the kinase domains from mrck and close homologues . distance between proteins is depicted by the scale bar , where pam units are a function of random mutations during evolution that generate diversity homology between mrck proteins and related kinases . a protein domains and their indicated positions were taken from the national center for biotechnology information ( ncbi ; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein ) for human mrck ( np_003598.2 ) , mrck ( np_006026.3 ) and mrck ( np_059995.2 ) . percentage amino acid identities were determined with the basic local alignment search tool ( blast ; http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast.cgi ) . c1 protein kinase c conserved region 1 , ph pleckstrin homology - like , ch citron homology , crib cdc42/rac interactive binding . b multiple sequence alignment with hierarchical clustering ( http://multalin.toulouse.inra.fr/multalin ) was used to create a phylogenetic tree showing the evolutionary relatedness of the kinase domains from mrck and close homologues . distance between proteins is depicted by the scale bar , where pam units are a function of random mutations during evolution that generate diversity multiple sequence alignment with hierarchical clustering to analyse the homology between kinase domains and phylogenetic relationships ( fig . 1b ) revealed that mrck and mrck are very closely related with 85 % amino acid identity ( fig . 1a ) , while mrck is the nearest additional homologue with 72 % identity relative to mrck. the dystrophia myotonica protein kinase ( dmpk ) is on a separate branch from the 3 mrck proteins , while the rock1 and rock2 kinases are more distantly related ( fig . the crystal structure of the mrck kinase domain indicated that it forms dimers and revealed the close conservation of three - dimensional spatial organization of this region when compared with the structures of the rock1 , rock2 and dmpk kinase domains . although it was initially reported that there were important regulatory roles for autophosphorylation of mrck on ser234 , thr240 and thr403 in the kinase domain , the structures of mrck , dmpk , rock1 and rock2 kinase domains were all found in active conformations in the absence of phosphorylation , indicating that this post - translational modification is apparently not essential for attainment of the active conformation . the high homology of the mrck kinase domains compared with the dmpk kinase domain resulted in some monoclonal antibodies raised against dmpk to also bind a conserved epitope on mrck and mrck . crik has a degree of homology that indicates it is a relative and part of a greater family , but has diverged sufficiently to be separate from mrck , dmpk and rock kinases ( fig . interestingly , although the kinase domains are conserved , as are their roles in rho gtpase signalling pathways , the mrck kinases act downstream of cdc42/rac1 via their crib domains while rock / crik proteins have rho - binding domains to participate in rho - regulated pathways . mrck and mrck are highly homologous , with 61 % amino acid identity across their entire primary amino acid sequence , while the less closely related mrck has 44 % identity with mrck ( fig . in addition to their well - conserved kinase domains , all three proteins have protein kinase c conserved region 1 ( c1 ) domains ( fig . 1a ) , which in the case of mrck and mrck have been shown to bind phorbol esters with nanomolar affinities [ 18 , 23 ] . phorbol ester binding to the c1 domains may promote kinase activation , and/or may contribute to membrane translocation . the relatively lower affinities of mrck c1 domains for phorbol esters compared to pkc c1 domains and inefficient plasma membrane recruitment of an isolated c1 domain led to the suggestion that additional regions might make important contributions to membrane translocation . the pleckstrin homology ( ph)-like domains found in all three mrck proteins ( fig . 1a ) are marked by a structural fold similar to that found in archetypal ph domains but without significant primary amino acid identity . the ph - like domains are generally believed to aid in targeting proteins to appropriate subcellular localizations through binding to lipid and/or protein partners . therefore , it is possible that this domain provides an additional membrane - targeting input or contributes to substrate protein docking . all three mrck proteins have a citron homology ( ch ) domain , which derives its name from being found also in crik where it is similarly adjacent to a ph - like domain . the conservation of this spatial arrangement of ph - ch domains suggests that they act in tandem and have similar roles in mrck and crik proteins , possibly in mediating protein - protein interactions that specify protein localization or substrate docking . finally , binding of cdc42-gtp to crib domains ( fig . 1b ) was the basis for the initial identification of mrck proteins , although rac1 binding may also be an important factor . the ability of mrck to phosphorylate recombinant mlc in vitro was not increased by the addition of cdc42-gtp , suggesting that the primary purpose of the mrck - cdc42 interaction might be membrane recruitment rather than regulation of kinase specific activity . the array and arrangement of c1-ph - ch - crib domains in mrck carboxyl - termini suggests that this region may act in concert to integrate numerous membrane localization signals , and possibly to specify regions in the membrane with particular lipid / protein composition , to mediate membrane translocation in response to activation of signalling pathways . consistent with this possibility , treatment of cells from the kidney collecting duct with vasopressin was shown to result in enhanced accumulation of mrck at the apical plasma membranes . the differences between mrck and rock in their non - catalytic regions may be important for directing each protein to different subcellular localizations to provide spatially distinct mechanisms for actin - myosin regulation . the three mrck genes have been reported to give rise to transcripts of varying sizes [ 8 , 13 , 18 ] , suggesting that there may be extensive alternative splicing events . however , there has not been a systematic characterization of mrck alternative splicing to determine how it might affect the proteins produced . mrck and mrck were initially reported to be ubiquitously expressed and display their highest expression levels in the brain . 2b ) expressed sequence tag ( est ) distribution using the tissue - specific gene expression and regulation ( tiger ) database revealed that their distribution patterns were similar and that no specific organ / tissues had expression levels that were notably higher than another . mrck expression was initially reported to be restricted to the heart and skeletal muscle , similar to dmpk expression . 2c ) is indeed relatively restricted to fewer tissues , with blood , larynx and peripheral nervous system ( pns ) having the highest expression levels . post - transcriptionally , an iron responsive element has been identified on the 3utr of mrck that influences mrna stability in response to iron levels . as is the case for transferin receptor 1 mrna transcripts , mrck mrna is stabilized by low iron levels and destabilized by high iron levels , suggesting that there may be a potential role for mrck in iron uptake , or in contributing to the regulation of iron - dependent processes.fig . a mrck , b mrck and c mrck relative expression levels were derived from the tissue - specific gene expression and regulation ( tiger ) database ( http://bioinfo.wilmer.jhu.edu/tiger ) . each value for a gene in a tissue is a ratio of observed ests to the expected one in this tissue . the expected number of ests is the product of total ests of the gene and the fraction of total ests in the tissue among all ests in 30 tissues . to depict tissue expression profiles , the normalized expression levels were graphed as percentages from only those tissues having values > 0 tissue distribution of mrck determined from expressed sequence tags ( est ) . a mrck , b mrck and c mrck relative expression levels were derived from the tissue - specific gene expression and regulation ( tiger ) database ( http://bioinfo.wilmer.jhu.edu/tiger ) . each value for a gene in a tissue is a ratio of observed ests to the expected one in this tissue . the expected number of ests is the product of total ests of the gene and the fraction of total ests in the tissue among all ests in 30 tissues . to depict tissue expression profiles , the normalized expression levels were graphed as percentages from only those tissues having values > 0 a major contributing factor to the depth of knowledge about rock biological functions is the ready availability of small molecule inhibitors with reasonable potency and selectivity profiles , such as y27632 . this absence of chemical biology tools is responsible for the lack of information on the role of mrck in cellular activities that are known to be influenced by rock , such as motility , proliferation and survival . 3a ) was initially identified as a protein kinase c inhibitor with in vitro ic50 of 660 nm , and was subsequently reported to inhibit mrck kinase activity with an in vitro ic50 of 1.77 m . the inhibition of mrck by chelerythrine was not affected by raising the atp concentration as much as 20-fold higher , indicating that the mode of inhibition was unlikely to be via atp - competition . a lack of selectivity makes chelerythrine difficult to use for cell - based or in vivo experiments to evaluate mrck function , additional reported off - target effects include reactive oxygen species generation , dna intercalation and inhibition of acetylcholinesterases . by coupling the akt inhibitor gsk690693 to solid substrates to facilitate purification of interacting proteins , mrck was identified as a major interacting protein . 3b ) was identified as a potential mrck inhibitor on the basis of its ability to compete an immobilized ligand for binding to the atp - binding site . further characterization is required to determine whether it effectively inhibits mrck activity in vitro or in cells . by screening a kinase inhibitor chemical library for hits that reduced in vitro catalytic activity , the non - selective kinase inhibitor staurosporine ( fig . 3d ) , and ib kinase 2 inhibitor tcpa-1 were shown to inhibit mrck kinase domain activity in vitro when assays were carried out at the atp ki of 0.7 m . crystals of the mrck kinase domain in complex with fasudil and tcpa-1 were obtained , which revealed how they interact with amino acids lining the atp - binding pocket . these studies revealed that there are structural features of the mrck atp - binding pocket that differ sufficiently from rock that it should be possible to develop mrck - selective inhibitors . however , at this time there do not appear to be potent mrck inhibitors that could be used as tools to study mrck activity and functions.fig . 3mrck signalling pathway . the mrck kinases phosphorylate substrates that may either be activating ( green arrow ) or inactivating ( red arrow ) . phosphorylation of mypt1 reduces mlc dephosphorylation ( red arrow ) , while lim kinase ( limk ) phosphorylation of cofilin blocks its filamentous actin severing activity ( red arrow ) . two consecutive red arrows results in inhibition of a negative activity . the net effect of these events the mrck kinases phosphorylate substrates that may either be activating ( green arrow ) or inactivating ( red arrow ) . phosphorylation of mypt1 reduces mlc dephosphorylation ( red arrow ) , while lim kinase ( limk ) phosphorylation of cofilin blocks its filamentous actin severing activity ( red arrow ) . two consecutive red arrows results in inhibition of a negative activity . the net effect of these events is increased actin - myosin contraction the rock and mrck kinase domains have high primary amino acid and structural homology ; as a result , it is not surprising that they are able to phosphorylate many common substrates . mlc can be phosphorylated by mrck in vitro ; however , it remains to be determined whether mrck induced elevation of mlc phosphorylation in cells is due to direct phosphorylation or the result of phosphorylation of mypt1 [ 3638 ] and consequent inhibition of mlc phosphatase activity ( fig . screening experiments in caenorhabditis elegans revealed that mrck and rock contributed to phosphorylation of mlc and mypt1 homologues , but that a constitutively - active form of mlc could complement loss of mrck but not rock . these results suggested that regulation of mlc phosphorylation , possibly via mypt1 phosphorylation , is the primary function of mrck in c. elegans , while rock must have additional important targets . it was reported that mrck forms a tripartite complex with leucine repeat adaptor protein 35a ( lrap35a ) and myosin 18a , which both activates kinase activity and targets mrck to the actin - myosin cytoskeleton to promote direct mlc phosphorylation . mrck was also found to phosphorylate lim kinases 1 and 2 ( limk1 and limk2 ) , resulting in increased phosphorylation and inactivation of the filamentous actin severing protein cofilin , which would contribute to actin - myosin contractility . in addition , mrck induced in vitro phosphorylation of moesin , which links integral membrane proteins to filamentous actin , suggesting that actin - myosin contractility may be further promoted by mrck through enhanced coupling of the cytoskeleton to the membrane . on a cell - wide basis however , the important function of mrck in regulating actin - myosin dynamics is more likely to be confined to specific regions of a cell to contribute to distinct morphological responses.fig . the natural compounds a chelerythrine , b cycloartane-3,24,25-triol and c staurosporine have all been described as mrck inhibitors . however , the lack of selectivity for chelerythine and staurosporine limit their value as chemical biology tools . d rock inhibitor y-27632 has some effect on mrck activity in vitro and in vivo at low micromolar concentrations , which suggests that some studies using it at concentrations in excess of 10 m may be affecting both rock and mrck function inhibitors of mrck described in the literature . the natural compounds a chelerythrine , b cycloartane-3,24,25-triol and c staurosporine have all been described as mrck inhibitors . however , the lack of selectivity for chelerythine and staurosporine limit their value as chemical biology tools . d rock inhibitor y-27632 has some effect on mrck activity in vitro and in vivo at low micromolar concentrations , which suggests that some studies using it at concentrations in excess of 10 m may be affecting both rock and mrck function the rock and mrck kinase domains have high primary amino acid and structural homology ; as a result , it is not surprising that they are able to phosphorylate many common substrates . mlc can be phosphorylated by mrck in vitro ; however , it remains to be determined whether mrck induced elevation of mlc phosphorylation in cells is due to direct phosphorylation or the result of phosphorylation of mypt1 [ 3638 ] and consequent inhibition of mlc phosphatase activity ( fig . screening experiments in caenorhabditis elegans revealed that mrck and rock contributed to phosphorylation of mlc and mypt1 homologues , but that a constitutively - active form of mlc could complement loss of mrck but not rock . these results suggested that regulation of mlc phosphorylation , possibly via mypt1 phosphorylation , is the primary function of mrck in c. elegans , while rock must have additional important targets . it was reported that mrck forms a tripartite complex with leucine repeat adaptor protein 35a ( lrap35a ) and myosin 18a , which both activates kinase activity and targets mrck to the actin - myosin cytoskeleton to promote direct mlc phosphorylation . mrck was also found to phosphorylate lim kinases 1 and 2 ( limk1 and limk2 ) , resulting in increased phosphorylation and inactivation of the filamentous actin severing protein cofilin , which would contribute to actin - myosin contractility . in addition , mrck induced in vitro phosphorylation of moesin , which links integral membrane proteins to filamentous actin , suggesting that actin - myosin contractility may be further promoted by mrck through enhanced coupling of the cytoskeleton to the membrane . on a cell - wide basis however , the important function of mrck in regulating actin - myosin dynamics is more likely to be confined to specific regions of a cell to contribute to distinct morphological responses.fig . the natural compounds a chelerythrine , b cycloartane-3,24,25-triol and c staurosporine have all been described as mrck inhibitors . however , the lack of selectivity for chelerythine and staurosporine limit their value as chemical biology tools . d rock inhibitor y-27632 has some effect on mrck activity in vitro and in vivo at low micromolar concentrations , which suggests that some studies using it at concentrations in excess of 10 m may be affecting both rock and mrck function inhibitors of mrck described in the literature . the natural compounds a chelerythrine , b cycloartane-3,24,25-triol and c staurosporine have all been described as mrck inhibitors . however , the lack of selectivity for chelerythine and staurosporine limit their value as chemical biology tools . d rock inhibitor y-27632 has some effect on mrck activity in vitro and in vivo at low micromolar concentrations , which suggests that some studies using it at concentrations in excess of 10 m may be affecting both rock and mrck function there are numerous kinases that contribute to mlc phosphorylation , including mrck and rock kinases . however , their contributions to mlc phosphorylation and biological functions often appear to be distinct and non - overlapping , which may be due to different sites of activation and/or recruitment . several studies have found that blocking both mrck and rock kinases is necessary for full inhibition of specific responses . the ability of ephrinb to induce endothelial cell retraction required the combined blockade of rock and mrck . similarly , inhibition of rock and mrck produced the largest reduction in mda mb 231 breast cancer cell invasion into three - dimensional protein matrices [ 17 , 37 ] . genetic analysis in c. elegans revealed differing timing and localization of mlc phosphorylation mediated by rock and mrck homologues during asymmetric division . similarly , endothelial cells were found to require mrck for mlc phosphorylation that contributed to the formation of circumferential actin bundles proximal to the plasma membrane that promote the formation of linear adherens junctions and tight endothelial barriers in response to elevated cyclic amp . in contrast , mlc phosphorylation by rock led to the formation of radial stress fibres that promote adherens junction clustering and reduced endothelial barrier function . these studies support the concept that mrck and rock may share similar substrates , but differences in their activation by signalling pathways combined with dissimilarities in their subcellular localization , in basal and/or stimulated states , results in distinct responses . the recruitment of mrck to the leading edge of migrating kidney cells through association with the tight junction protein zo-1 and active cdc42 was found to be required for polarized cell migration . one way that mrck recruited to leading edge membranes and cytoskeletal structures may promote motility is by increasing actin - myosin retrograde flow , which helps cytoskeleton - tethered transmembrane proteins , such as integrin complexes , to generate tractive forces for cell movement . in addition , the actin - myosin retrograde flow induced by mrck aids re - orientation of cell nuclei relative to microtubule - organizing centres ( mtoc ) to establish polarity and directionality in migrating cells . the requirement for mrck to establish polarity might also account for the requirement for mrck to assemble matrix degrading complexes containing mt1-mmp for degradation of extracellular matrix to permit cell invasion . mrck was also found to contribute to the ability of invasive breast cancer cells to degrade matrix through cathepsin b expression . in an organotypic model of scc invasion , collective invasion of the scc12 cell line through physical tracks made by carcinoma associated fibroblasts in three - dimensional protein matrices was dependent on mrck signalling . this may be due to a role for mrck in cell polarity and motility as well as protease secretion described above , as well as contributing to cortical actin - myosin contractility that is required for maintenance of the cell collective as a unit . these results indicate that there is a significant role for mrck in promoting cell motility and invasiveness , which acts in concert with the contributions of rock through independent and non - compensatory mechanisms . actin - myosin contractility is a key component of cell motility and is required for cancer cell invasion and for the metastatic process to occur . therefore , elevated mrck expression could be expected to be elevated in invasive and metastatic cancer . northern blots with a mrck kinase domain cdna probe revealed relatively high levels of rna expression in u937 histiocytic lymphoma , mda mb 231 breast cancer , a549 lung cancer and plb 985 myelocytic leukemia cell lines . mrck ( designated pk428 ) was identified in breast cancer microarrays as being part of a gene expression signature linked to poor prognosis and increased incidence of metastasis under 5 years . mrck was also identified as being part of a seven - gene panel displaying significantly elevated expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma compared to normal pancreas tissue . up - regulation of mrck expression was reported to contribute to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma ( scc ) following the repression of the notch1 tumour suppressor . similar to this observation , analysis of publicly available gene expression microarray data using oncomine revealed that mrck expression is elevated in oral , hypopharyngeal , and head and neck scc , oral cavity and tongue carcinoma , and barrett s esophagus compared to normal tissues ( fig . these results indicate that there are associations between altered mrck expression and several cancers , particularly with cancers of squamous epithelia , which may reflect roles in promoting invasion and metastasis.fig . analysis of publicly available gene expression microarray data using oncomine revealed significantly increased mrck levels ( red ) in oral , hypopharyngeal , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , oral cavity and tongue carcinoma , barrett s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma relative to matched normal tissue ( green ) . box represents upper and lower quartiles with line at median , whiskers indicate maximum and minimum values mrck expression in carcinomas and barrett s esophagus . analysis of publicly available gene expression microarray data using oncomine revealed significantly increased mrck levels ( red ) in oral , hypopharyngeal , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , oral cavity and tongue carcinoma , barrett s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma relative to matched normal tissue ( green ) . box represents upper and lower quartiles with line at median , whiskers indicate maximum and minimum values mrck kinases are downstream effectors of cdc42 that play key roles in actin - myosin regulation and activities including cell adhesion , motility and invasion . despite sharing several common substrates , these differences are likely the product of large variations in subcellular localization ; the array of membrane - targeting domains in mrck , including the cdc42-binding crib domain , serve to concentrate the protein to actin - myosin cytoskeletal structures proximal to the plasma membrane while rhoa leads to rock activation throughout the cell . as a result , in several contexts , their combined inhibition is required to block specific processes , such as cancer cell invasion . expression profiles indicate that mrck expression may be elevated in some cancers , where they may have important roles in tumour progression . drug targeting of mrck , potentially in combination with rock , seems to be an attractive strategy to potentially inhibit cancer cell spread , although current inhibitors lack specificity that would allow this hypothesis to be rigorously tested . the development of mrck inhibitors that were selective or also inhibit rock activity could be an effective strategy for reducing the spread of invasive and metastatic cancers .

the contractile actin - myosin cytoskeleton provides much of the force required for numerous cellular activities such as motility , adhesion , cytokinesis and changes in morphology . key elements that respond to various signal pathways are the myosin ii regulatory light chains ( mlc ) , which participate in actin - myosin contraction by modulating the atpase activity and consequent contractile force generation mediated by myosin heavy chain heads . considerable effort has focussed on the role of mlc kinases , and yet the contributions of the myotonic dystrophy - related cdc42-binding kinases ( mrck ) proteins in mlc phosphorylation and cytoskeleton regulation have not been well characterized . in contrast to the closely related rock1 and rock2 kinases that are regulated by the rhoa and rhoc gtpases , there is relatively little information about the cdc42-regulated mrck , mrck and mrck members of the agc ( pka , pkg and pkc ) kinase family . as well as differences in upstream activation pathways , mrck and rock kinases apparently differ in the way that they spatially regulate mlc phosphorylation , which ultimately affects their influence on the organization and dynamics of the actin - myosin cytoskeleton . in this review , we will summarize the mrck protein structures , expression patterns , small molecule inhibitors , biological functions and associations with human diseases such as cancer .

onchocerciasis ( river blindness ) is a neglected tropical parasitic disease ( ntd ) caused by a filarial nematode worm called onchocerca volvulus encapsulated in nodules under the skin . female onchocerca volvulus worms produce thousands of microfilariae which exit the nodules , move into the dermis , and enter the eye causing cutaneous and eye disease [ 1 , 2 ] . microfilaria picked up by black flies , also called simulium flies , during a blood meal will develop into infectious stages ( l3 ) and are transmitted to another person during subsequent bites [ 3 , 4 ] . the disease is endemic in latin america , yemen , and africa [ 5 , 6 ] . it is estimated that approximately 37.2 million people are infected and 1 million blinded or are visually impaired in 38 endemic countries around the world . more than 28 million people who live in the surveyed endemic areas of ethiopia are affected by the disease or are at high risk of infection . large parts of eastern ethiopia remains unmapped although it is suspected for transmission ; therefore , the full distribution of the disease and the status of transmission were not ascertained [ 5 , 7 ] . the national onchocerciasis programme started in 2001 with the objective of controlling the disease to the level below public health importance . however , in 2012 , the national onchocerciasis programme objective changed from control to elimination by interruption of transmission until 2020 . the main strategy of elimination is by means of community based ivermectin ( mectizan ) distribution donated by merck & co. since 1987 to all who need it for as long as necessary [ 6 , 8 ] . the annual or semiannual treatment of community using the drug ivermectin rapidly kills the microfilariae and reduces the fertility of adult female worms but does not kill them [ 1 , 911 ] . hence , it is used to control morbidity and to interrupt and ultimately eliminate transmission by clearing the skin microfilariae below the level needed for transmission by the black fly although there are flies biting . the goal of onchocerciasis elimination by 2020 necessitates the delineation of transmission boundaries of endemic areas and suspected adjacent districts . the disease is found , historically and as confirmed by several studies , in the northern , northwestern , western , and southwestern part of the country which have many flowing rivers and vegetation covers that favor fly breeding and are suitable for river blindness transmission . although the onchosim prediction modeling showed that eastern ethiopia is not suitable for onchocerciasis transmission this study was conducted to confirm the transmission status with primary parasitological data collection . the national onchocerciasis elimination guideline also stated that the transmission status of onchocerciasis in the remaining part of the country needs to be checked if there is any low level transmission that potentially recurs later . the west arsi , bale , and borena zones are administrative zones , previously unmapped , high vegetation coverage favorable for fly breeding , and were selected to undertake this survey . the survey was carried out in 19 villages found in 10 districts within 3 administrative zones of oromia regional state ( bale , borena , and west arsi ) ( figure 1 ) from september to october 2014 . the villages were selected from each district based on close location along the river side as first - line community and representation of the districts . all permanent village residents above the age of 5 and with good health condition ( not critically ill ) were included in the study . the community sensitization and mobilization were done by the health extension workers and village leaders . the survey procedure was started first by holding meeting with the community and local authority members on the need and importance of the study , mobilizing them for full participation , and informing them about their right to decide to participate in the examination or not . verbal informed consent was obtained at the point of registration and/or examination from all individuals , parents , or legal guardians before the commencement of the examination . after obtaining their consent , the registration of all household members of the village residents was carried out through interviews conducted with household heads of the selected villages or any of adult family members . the demographic information , clinical examinations ( skin examination ) , and skin sample collection were carried out for each study participant . using sterilized biopsy punch two skin snips were taken from left and right iliac crest from each household member above the age of 5 . the skin sample was immediately transferred to the microtitration plate well containing normal saline solution and was kept at room temperature for 24 hours [ 2 , 4 , 12 , 13 ] . the well numbers corresponding to the study participants were recorded on the patient information form . when all the 96 plate wells were full , the plate was sealed with a transparent adhesive tape and kept at room temperature . after 24 hours incubation , the fluid from each well was transferred to a slide and examined under a microscope for the presence of microfilaria under high power ( 40x ) magnification [ 1 , 10 ] . the results of the left and right iliac crest skin samples were recorded on the result form . all the demographic and parasitological data were entered and analyzed in microsoft excel and epi info , version 3.1.1 cdc , usa . the ethical approval for this study was obtained from ethiopian public health institute ( ephi ) scientific and ethical review committee after the protocol being reviewed . out of the total 2560 study participants 1332 were female ( 52% ) and 1228 were male ( 48% ) . the age groups from 21 to 30 years were the highest age group study participants ( 34.4% ) and those of age > 51 years were lowest participants ( 3.1% ) ( table 1 ) . the results showed that no skin microfilariae of onchocerciasis were observed from any of 2560 study participants ( table 2 ) . the prevalence of microfilariae and community microfilarial load ( cmfl ) by district , zone , and out of the total study participants were 0% and 0 mf / s in all 19 villages ( table 2 ) . skin rash and itching observed in eighty one ( 3.2% ) study participants from nensebo and arena buluq districts possibly associated with personnel hygiene and scabies . several epidemiological studies of onchocerciasis were carried out by various investigators [ 14 , 15 ] and established the prevalence from hypo- to hyperendemicity level in different parts of the country based on which elimination program implementation is instituted and ongoing [ 5 , 13 ] . they have also reported the variation in prevalence with sex and age groups [ 16 , 17 ] . the ethiopian onchocerciasis elimination guideline stated that an onchocerciasis implementation unit ( districts ) should be treated if the microfilarial prevalence is above 2% . in order to establish strong elimination programme , a complete map of the disease transmission boundary and community based ivermectin treatment with 100% geographical and > 80% therapeutic coverage are basic steps to achieve elimination [ 2 , 5 , 14 , 18 ] . in ethiopia , large majority of the country 's onchocerciasis transmission status was unknown [ 5 , 7 ] . the national onchocerciasis elimination guideline indicated the need to assess the transmission status in those unknown areas and identify intervention eligible communities and or document the findings for the country elimination dossier preparation if no transmission is ascertained in the area . however , our study result revealed that none of the skin samples demonstrated any onchocerca microfilariae during microscopic examination with all age groups and sex of study subjects . therefore , our study finding is important to inform policy makers that there is no onchocerciasis in the study areas ; thus , intervention should be strengthened in known endemic adjacent transmission zones to enhance elimination and prevent expansion of transmission to nonendemic transmission free areas . based on the parasitological data , there is no human onchocerciasis in bale , borena , and west arsi zones of eastern ethiopia . further operational research on onchocerciasis vector ( simulium fly ) distribution assessment and xenomonitoring and cytotaxonomy study to monitor intraborder cross transmission

onchocerciasis is mainly found in western part of ethiopia and there is no evidence of transmission in the east ward . however , some zones ( bale , borena , and west arsi ) are suspected for transmission given the area has fast flowing rivers and is covered with vegetation . therefore , this study was conducted to map onchocerciasis transmission in those zones . about 19 villages were selected based on proximity to the rivers , representation of districts , zones , and vegetation covers , whereas the study participants , all village residents of age > 5 years with good health condition , were skin sniped and examined using microscopy . in this study a total of 2560 study participants were surveyed of which 1332 were female ( 52% ) and 122 were male ( 48% ) . the age group of 2130 years was highest ( 34.4% ) and that of age > 51 years was the lowest ( 3.1% ) study participants . the survey result revealed that none of the study participants regardless of age , sex , and location demonstrated skin snip onchocerca microfilariae . the prevalence of microfilariae and community microfilarial load ( cmfl ) were 0% and 0 mf / s , respectively . the finding implied that there is no onchocerciasis in the area and , therefore , there is no need for interventions . black fly distribution , cytotaxonomic study , and intraborder cross transmission monitoring are recommended .

the last decade has witnessed a surge of interest in wireless local area networks ( wlan ) , where mobile stations share a common wireless medium through contention - based medium access control ( mac ) . in wlans , collision of packets occurs when more than one station transmits at the same time , causing a waste of bandwidth . recent advances in multiuser detection ( mud ) techniques @xcite open up new opportunities for resolving collisions in the physical ( phy ) layer . for example , in cdma @xcite or multiple - antenna @xcite systems , multiple packets can be received simultaneously using mud techniques without collisions . it is expected that , with improved multipacket reception ( mpr ) capability from the phy layer , the mac layer will behave differently from what is commonly believed . in particular , to fully utilize the mpr capability for capacity enhancement in wlan , it is essential to understand the fundamental impact of mpr on the mac - layer design . as such , this paper is an attempt to study the mac - layer throughput performance and the collision resolution schemes for wlans with mpr . the key contributions of this paper are as follows : * to demonstrate mpr as a powerful capacity - enhancement technique at the system level , we analyze the mac - layer throughput of wlans with mpr capability under both finite - node and infinite - node assumptions . our model is sufficiently general to cover both carrier - sensing and non - carrier - sensing networks . we prove that in random - access wlans , network throughput increases super - linearly with the mpr capability of the channel . that is , throughput divided by _ m _ increases as _ m _ increases , where _ m _ is the number of packets that can be resolved simultaneously . the super - linear throughput scaling implies that the achievable throughput per unit cost increases with mpr capability of the channel . this provides a strong incentive to deploy mpr in next - generation wireless networks . * we study the effect of mpr on the mac - layer collision resolution scheme , namely exponential backoff ( eb ) . when packets collide in wlans , an eb scheme is used to schedule the retransmissions , in which the waiting time of the next retransmission will get multiplicatively longer for each collision incurred . in the commonly adopted binary exponential backoff ( beb ) scheme ( e.g. , used in ethernet @xcite , wifi @xcite , etc . ) , the multiplicative ( a backoff factor ) is equal to 2 . we show in this paper that the widely used beb does not necessarily yield the close - to - optimal network throughput with the improved mpr capability from the phy layer . as a matter of fact , beb is far from optimum for both non - carrier - sensing networks and carrier - sensing networks operated in basic access mode . the optimal backoff factor increases with the mpr capability . meanwhile , beb is close to optimum for carrier - sensing networks when rts / cts access mode is adopted . * built on the theoretical underpinnings established above , we propose a practical protocol to fully exploit the mpr capability in ieee 802.11-like wlans . in contrast to @xcite-@xcite , we consider not only the mac layer protocol design , but also the phy - layer signal processing to enable mpr in distributed random - access wlans . as a result , the proposed protocol can be implemented in a fully distributed manner with marginal modification of current ieee 802.11 mac . the first attempt to model a general mpr channel in random - access wireless networks was made by ghez , verdu , and schwartz in @xcite-@xcite in 1988 an 1989 , respectively , in which stability properties of conventional slotted aloha with mpr were studied under a simple infinite - user and single - buffer assumption . no collision resolution scheme ( such as eb ) was considered therein . this work was extended to csma systems by chan et al in @xcite and to finite user aloha systems by naware et al in @xcite . it has been shown in @xcite-@xcite that mpr improves the stable throughput of aloha only when the mpr capability is comparable to the number of users in the system . in practical networks where the mpr capability is much smaller than the number of users , the stable throughput of conventional aloha is equal to 0 , same as the case without mpr . to date , little work has been done to investigate the throughput enhancing capability of mpr in practical wlans with collision resolution schemes . our paper here is an attempt along this direction . protocols that exploit the mpr capability of networks have been studied by zhao and tong in @xcite-@xcite . in @xcite , a multi - queue service room ( mqsr ) mac protocol was proposed for networks with heterogeneous users . the drawback of the mqsr protocol is its high computational cost due to updates of the joint distribution of all users states . to reduce complexity , a suboptimal dynamic queue protocol was proposed in @xcite . in both protocols , access to the common wireless channel is controlled by a central controller , which grants access to the channel to an appropriate subset of users at the beginning of each slot . in @xcite , chan et al proposed to add a mud layer to facilitate mpr in ieee 802.11 wlan . to implement the mud techniques mentioned as examples in @xcite , the ap is assumed to have perfect knowledge of the number of concurrent transmissions , the identities of the transmitting stations , and the channel coefficients . these information , while easy to get in a network with centralized scheduling ( e.g. , cellular systems ) , is unkown to the ap a priori in random access networks . moreover , the preambles of concurrent packets overlap , and hence it is difficult for the ap to have a good estimation of the channel coefficients with the current protocol . by contrast , our paper provides a solution to this issue by incorporating blind signal processing in the proposed protocol . exponential backoff ( eb ) as a collision resolution technique has been extensively studied in different contexts @xcite-@xcite . stability upper bound of beb has been given by goodman under a finite - node model in @xcite and recently improved by al - ammal in @xcite . the throughput and delay characteristics of a slightly modified eb scheme have been studied in @xcite in the context of slotted aloha . the characteristics of eb in steady state is further investigated in @xcite in time slotted wireless networks with equal slot length . all the existing work on eb has assumed that the wireless channel can only accommodate one ongoing transmission at a time . this paper is a first attempt to look at eb for an mpr system . the remainder of this paper is organized as follows . in section ii , we describe the system model and introduce the background knowledge on mud and eb . in section iii , we prove that the maximum achievable throughput of mpr wlan scales super - linearly with the mpr capability of the channel . in section iv , the effect of mpr on eb is investigated . we show that the widely used beb scheme is no longer close - to - optimal in mpr networks . to realize mpr in ieee 802.11 wlans , a mac - phy protocol is presented in section v. in section vi , we discuss some practical issues related to mpr . finally , section vii concludes this paper . we consider a fully conected infrastructure wlan where _ n _ infinitely backlogged mobile stations communicate with an access point ( ap ) . we assume that the time axis is divided into slots and packet transmissions start only at the beginning of a slot . in addition , after each transmission , the transmitting stations have a means to discover the result of the transmission , i.e. , success or failure . if the transmission fails due to collision , the colliding stations will schedule retransmissions according to a collision resolution scheme ( e.g. , eb ) . we assume that the channel has the capability to accommodate up to _ m _ simultaneous transmissions . in other words , packets can be received correctly whenever the number of simultaneous transmissions is no larger than _ m_. when more than _ m _ stations contend for the channel at the same time , collision occurs and no packet can be decoded . we refer to _ m _ as mpr capability . in our model , the length of a time slot is not necessarily fixed and may vary under different contexts @xcite . we refer to this variable - length slot as backoff slot hereafter . in wlans , the length of a backoff slot depends on the contention outcome ( hereafter referred to as channel status ) . let @xmath0 denote the length of an idle time slot when nobody transmits ; @xmath1 denote the length of a collision time slot when more than _ m _ stations contend for the channel ; and @xmath2 denote the length of a time slot due to successful transmission when the number of transmitting stations is anywhere from 1 to _ m_. the durations of @xmath0 , @xmath1 , and @xmath2 depend on the underlying wlan configuration . for non - carrier - sensing networks such as slotted aloha , the stations are not aware of the channel status and the duration of all backoff slots are equal to the transmission time of a packet . that is , @xmath3 where _ l _ is the packet size and _ r _ is the data transmission rate of a station . on the other hand , for carrier - sensing networks , stations can distinguish between various types of channel status and the durations of different types of slots may not be the same . for example , in ieee 802.11 dcf basic access mode , @xmath4 where @xmath5 is the time needed for a station to detect the packet transmission from any other station and is typically much smaller than @xmath1 and @xmath2 ; @xmath6 is the transmission time of phy header and mac header ; ack is the transmission time of an ack packet ; @xmath7 is the propagation delay ; and sifs and difs are the inter - frame space durations @xcite . similarly , in ieee 802.11 dcf request - to - send / clear - to - send ( rts / cts ) access scheme , the slot durations are given by @xmath8 where @xmath9 and @xmath10 denote the transmission time of rts and cts packets , respectively . by allowing the durations of @xmath0 , @xmath1 , and @xmath2 to vary according to the underlying system , the analysis of this paper applies to a wide spectrum of various wlans , including both non - carrier - sensing and carrier - sensing networks . this subsection briefly introduces the phy layer mud techniques used to decode multiple packets at the receiver . let @xmath11 denote the data symbol transmitted by user _ k _ in symbol duration _ n_. if there are _ k _ stations transmitting together , then the received signal at a receiver is given by @xmath12 where @xmath13 denotes the additive noise , @xmath14 $ ] , and @xmath15^t$ ] . in multiple antenna systems , @xmath16 is the channel vector , with the @xmath17 element being the channel coefficient from user _ k _ to the @xmath17 receive antenna . in cdma systems , vector @xmath16 is multiplication of the spreading sequence of user _ k _ and the channel coefficient from user _ k _ to the ap . the receiver attempts to obtain an estimate of the transmitted symbols @xmath18 from the received vector @xmath19 . to this end , various mud techniques have been proposed in the literature . for example , the zero - forcing ( zf ) receiver is one of the most popular linear detectors . it multiplies the received vector by the pseudo - inverse of matrix @xmath20 , denoted by @xmath21 , and the decision statistics become @xmath22 the minimum - mean - square - error ( mmse ) receiver is the optimal linear detector in the sense of maximizing the signal - to - interference - and - noise ratio ( sinr ) . the decision statistics is calculated as @xmath23 where @xmath24 is the identity matrix , and @xmath25 is the variance of the additive noise . given the decision statistics , an estimate of @xmath11 can be obtained by feeding the @xmath26 element of @xmath27 or @xmath28 into a quantizer . other mud techniques include maximum - likelihood ( ml ) , parallel interference cancellation ( pic ) , successive interference cancellation ( sic ) , etc . interested readers are referred to @xcite for more details . eb adaptively tunes the transmission probability of a station according to the traffic intensity of the network . it works as follows . a backlogged station sets its backoff timer by randomly choosing an integer within the range @xmath29 $ ] , where _ w _ denote the size of the contention window . the backoff timer is decreased by one following each backoff slot . the station transmits a packet in its queue once the backoff timer reaches zero . at the first transmission attempt of a packet , @xmath30 , referred to as the minimum contention window . each time the transmission is unsuccessful , the _ w _ is multiplied by a backoff factor _ r_. that is , the contention window size @xmath31 after _ i _ successive transmission failures . this section investigates the impact of mpr on the throughput of random - access wlans . in particular , we prove that the maximum achievable throughput scales super - linearly with the mpr capability @xmath32 . in practical systems , @xmath32 is directly related to the cost ( e.g. , bandwidth in cdma systems or antenna in multi - antenna systems ) . super - linear scaling of throughput implies that the achievable throughput _ per unit cost _ increases with @xmath32 . this provides a strong incentive to consider mpr in next - generation wireless networks . as mentioned earlier , the transmission of stations is dictated by the underlying eb scheme . to capture the fundamentally achievable throughput of the system , the following analysis assumes that each station transmits with probability @xmath33 in an arbitrary slot , without caring how @xmath33 is achieved . the assumption will be made more rigorous in section iv , which relates @xmath33 to eb parameters such as @xmath34 and @xmath35 . define throughput to be the average number of information bits transmitted successfully per second . let @xmath36 denote the throughput of a wlan with @xmath37 stations when each station transmits at probability @xmath33 and the mpr capability is @xmath32 . then , @xmath36 can be calculated as the ratio between the average payload information bits transmitted per backoff slot to the average length of a backoff slot as follows . @xmath38 in the above , _ x _ is a random variable denoting the number of attempts in a slot . @xmath39 let @xmath40 be the probability that a backoff slot is idle ; @xmath41 be the probability that a backoff slot is busy due to successful packet transmissions ; and @xmath42 be the probability that a backoff slot is busy due to collision of packets . the throughput of non - carrier - sensing networks such as slotted aloha can be obtained by substituting ( [ eqn:1 ] ) into ( [ eqn:7 ] ) , which leads to following expression : @xmath43 similarly , the throughput of carrier - sensing networks , such as ieee 802.11 dcf basic - access mode and rts / cts access mode , can be obtained by substituting ( [ eqn:2 ] ) and ( [ eqn:3 ] ) into ( [ eqn:7 ] ) respectively . we now derive the asymptotic throughput when the population size _ n _ approaches infinity . in this case , we assume that ( i ) the system has a non - zero asymptotic throughput ; and ( ii ) the number of attempts in a backoff slot is approximated by a poisson distribution with an average attempt rate @xmath44 @xcite . both of these assumptions are valid under an appropriate eb scheme , which will be elaborated in section iv . let @xmath45 be the asymptotic throughput when mpr capability is _ m _ and average attempt rate is @xmath46 . then , we derive from ( [ eqn:7 ] ) that @xmath47 where the third equality is due to the poisson approximation . in particular , when @xmath48 , @xmath49 having derived the throughput expressions for both finite - population and infinite - population models , we now address the question : how does throughput scale as _ m _ increases . in particular , we are interested in the behavior of the maximum throughput when the channel has a mpr capability of _ m_. this directly relates to the channel - access efficiency that is achievable in mpr networks . given _ m _ , the maximum throughput can be achieved by optimizing the transmission probability @xmath33 ( or equivalently @xmath46 in the infinite - population model ) . the optimal transmission probability can in turn be obtained by adjusting the backoff factor _ r _ in practical wlans , as will be discussed in section iv . let @xmath50 and @xmath51 denote the maximum achievable throughputs , where @xmath52 and @xmath53 denote the optimal @xmath33 and @xmath46 when the mpr capability is _ m _ , respectively . in theorem 1 , we prove that the throughput scales super - linearly with _ m _ in non - carrier - sensing network with infinite population . in other words , @xmath54 is an increasing function of _ m_. in theorem 2 , we further prove that @xmath55 approaches 1 when @xmath56 . this implies that the throughput penalty due to distributed random access diminishes when _ m _ is very large . in theorem 3 in appendix i , we prove that the same super - linearity holds for wlans with finite population . [ theorem:1 ] _ ( super - linearity ) _ @xmath54 is an increasing function of _ it is obvious that at the optimal @xmath53 @xmath57 consequently , @xmath58 or @xmath59 to prove theorem 1 , we show that @xmath60 for all _ m _ in the following . @xmath61 where the last equality is due to ( [ eqn:14 ] ) and ( [ eqn:17 ] ) . therefore , we have @xmath62 @xmath63 it is obvious that in a wlan with mpr capability of @xmath32 , the maximum possible throughput is @xmath64 when there exists a perfect scheduling . in practical random - access wlans , the actual throughput is always smaller than @xmath64 , due to the throughput penalty resulting from packet collisions and idle slots . for example , the maximum throughput is well known to be @xmath65 when @xmath66 . theorem 2 proves that the throughput penalty diminishes as @xmath32 becomes large . that is , the maximum throughput approaches @xmath64 even though the channel access is based on random contentions . [ theorem:2 ] _ ( asymptotic channel - access efficiency ) _ @xmath67 . before proving theorem 2 , we present the following two lemmas . \(a ) @xmath68 for any attempt rate @xmath69 ; ( b ) @xmath70 for any attempt rate @xmath71 ; ( c ) @xmath72 for attempt rate @xmath73 . _ proof of lemma 1(a ) : _ @xmath74 let @xmath75 be the lower bound of @xmath76 . by solving @xmath77 it can be easily found that @xmath78 maximizes @xmath79 and @xmath80 since @xmath81 , @xmath69 . let @xmath82 where @xmath83 . ( [ eqn:21 ] ) can be written as @xmath84 it is obvious that @xmath85 therefore , @xmath86 on the other hand , the first equality of ( [ eqn:19 ] ) implies @xmath87 combining ( [ eqn:24 ] ) and ( [ eqn:25 ] ) , we have @xmath88 and lemma 1(a ) follows . @xmath89 _ proof of lemma 1(b ) _ : @xmath90 let @xmath91 be the upper bound of @xmath92 . by solving @xmath93 it can be easily found that @xmath94 minimizes @xmath95 and @xmath96 since @xmath97 , @xmath71 . let @xmath82 where @xmath98 . ( [ eqn : b3 ] ) can be written as @xmath99 due to eqn . ( [ eqn:23 ] ) @xmath100 on the other hand , it is obvious that @xmath101 combining ( [ eqn : b5 ] ) and ( [ eqn : b6 ] ) , we have @xmath102 and lemma 1(b ) follows . _ proof of lemma 1(c ) _ : to prove lemma 1(c ) , we note that the median of poisson distribution is bounded as follows @xcite-@xcite : @xmath103 when @xmath73 and @xmath56 , the median approaches @xmath32 . according to the first equality of ( [ eqn:14 ] ) , @xmath104 @xmath89 the optimal attempt rate @xmath105 and @xmath106 . _ proof of lemma 2 : _ the mode of poisson distribution is equal to @xmath107 , where @xmath108 denotes the largest integer that is smaller than or equal to the argument . when @xmath109 , @xmath110 which conflicts with eqn . ( [ eqn:17 ] ) . therefore , the optimal attempt rate @xmath111 combining ( [ eqn:14 ] ) , ( [ eqn:17 ] ) , ( [ eqn:28 ] ) and lemma 1 , we have @xmath112 let @xmath113 where @xmath83 . eqn . ( [ eqn:29 ] ) can be written as @xmath114 and @xmath115 where the last equality is due to the stirling s formula @xcite . solving eqn . ( [ eqn:31 ] ) , we have @xmath116 @xmath89 _ proof of theorem 2 _ : from lemma 1 and lemma 2 , it is obvious that @xmath67 . @xmath89 the above results are illustrated in fig . [ fig:1 ] , where @xmath117 is plotted as a function of @xmath32 in non - carrier - sensing slotted aloha systems . _ ( super - linearity with finite population ) _ @xmath118 for all @xmath119 . _ proof of theorem 3 _ : see appendix i. in theorem 1 - 3 , super - linearity is proved assuming the network is non - carrier - sensing . in fig . [ fig:2 ] and fig . [ fig:3 ] , the optimal throughput @xmath120 and @xmath121 are plotted for carrier - sensing networks , respectively , with system parameters listed in table i. the figures show that system throughput is greatly enhanced due to the mpr enhancement in the phy layer . moreover , the super - linear throughput scaling holds for carrier - sensing networks when _ m _ is relatively large . .system parameters used in carrier - sensing networks ( adopted from ieee 802.11 g ) [ cols="^,^",options="header " , ] in this section , we study the characteristic behavior of wlan mac and eb when the channel has mpr capability . we first establish the relationship between transmission probability @xmath33 ( or @xmath46 ) and eb parameters including backoff factor _ r _ and minimum contention window @xmath35 . based on the analysis , we will then study how the optimal backoff strategy changes with the mpr capability @xmath32 . we use an infinite - state markov chain , as shown in fig . [ fig:4 ] , to model of operation of eb with no retry limit . the reason for the lack of a retry limit is that it is theoretically more interesting to look at the limiting case when the retry limit is infinitely large . having said this , we note that the analysis in our paper can be easily extended to the case where there is a retry limit . the state in the markov chain in fig . [ fig:4 ] is the backoff stage , which is also equal to the number of retransmissions experienced by the station . as mentioned in section ii , the contention window size is @xmath31 when a station is in state @xmath122 . in the figure , @xmath123 denotes the conditional collision probability , which is the probability of a collision seen by a packet being transmitted on the channel . note that @xmath123 depends on the transmission probabilities of stations other than the transmitting one . in our model , @xmath123 is assumed to be independent of the backoff stage of the transmitting station . in our numerical results , we show that the analytical results obtained under this assumption are very accurate when @xmath37 is reasonably large . with eb , transmission probability @xmath33 is equal to the probability that the backoff timer of a station reaches zero in a slot . note that the markov process of mpr networks is similar to the ones in @xcite , @xcite , except that the conditional collision probability @xmath123 is different for @xmath124 . therefore , eqn . ( [ eqn:32 ] ) can be derived in a similar way as @xcite , @xcite : @xmath125 where @xmath126 is a necessary condition for the steady state to be reachable . the detailed derivation of ( [ eqn:32 ] ) is omitted due to page limit . interested readers are referred to @xcite , @xcite . likewise , the conditional collision probability @xmath123 is equal to the probability that there are @xmath32 or more stations out of the remaining @xmath127 stations contending for the channel . we thus have the following relationship : @xmath128 it can be easily shown that @xmath33 is a decreasing function of @xmath123 for any @xmath129 in ( [ eqn:32 ] ) . meanwhile , @xmath123 is an increasing function of @xmath33 in ( [ eqn:33 ] ) . therefore , the curves determined by ( [ eqn:32 ] ) and ( [ eqn:33 ] ) have a unique intersection corresponding to the root of the nonlinear system . by solving the nonlinear system ( [ eqn:32])-([eqn:33 ] ) numerically for different @xmath37 , we plot the analytical results of @xmath130 in fig . [ fig:5 ] . in the figures , beb is adopted . that is , @xmath131 . the minimum contention window size @xmath132 or 32 . to validate the analysis , the simulation results are plotted as markers in the figures . in the simulation , the data are collected by running 5,000,000 rounds after 1,000,000 rounds of warm up . versus @xmath37 when @xmath131 ; lines are analytical results calculated from ( [ eqn:2 ] ) and ( [ eqn:3 ] ) , markers are simulation results.,scaledwidth=50.0% ] from the figures , we can see that the analytical results match the simulations very well . moreover , it shows that @xmath130 converges to a constant quantity when @xmath37 becomes large . this is a basic assumption in the previous section when we calculated the asymptotic throughput . the constant quantity that @xmath130 converges to can be calculated as follows . for large @xmath37 , the number of attempts in a slot can be modeled as a poisson process @xcite . that is , @xmath133 where @xmath134 the conditional collision probability in this limiting case is given by @xmath135 when the system is steady , the total attempt rate @xmath136 should be finite . therefore , @xmath137 which implies @xmath138 combining ( [ eqn:36 ] ) and ( [ eqn:38 ] ) , we get the following equation @xmath139 @xmath46 can be calculated numerically from ( [ eqn:39 ] ) given @xmath32 and @xmath34 . [ fig:5 ] shows that @xmath130 calculated from ( [ eqn:32 ] ) and ( [ eqn:33 ] ) does converge to @xmath46 when @xmath37 is large . note that the relationship between @xmath33 , @xmath46 , and eb established above do not depend on the duration of the underlying backoff slots , and therefore can be applied in both non - carrier - sensing and carrier - sensing networks . before leaving this sub - section , we validate another assumption adopted in section iii . that is , eb guarantees a non - zero throughput when @xmath37 approaches infinity . to this end , the throughput of slotted aloha is plotted as a function of @xmath37 in fig . [ fig:6 ] when beb is adopted . it can be seen that the throughputs with the same @xmath32 converge to the same constant as @xmath37 increases , regardless of the minimum contention window @xmath35 . similar phenomenon can also be observed in carrier - sensing networks , as illustrated in fig . [ fig:7 ] , where the throughput of ieee 802.11 wlan with basic access mode is plotted with detailed system parameters listed in table i. the asymptotic throughput when @xmath37 is very large depends only on the mpr capability @xmath32 and the backoff factor @xmath34 . , scaledwidth=50.0% ] , scaledwidth=50.0% ] in section iii , we have investigated the maximum network throughput that is achieved by optimal transmission probability @xmath52 and @xmath53 . the previous sub - section shows that transmission probability is a function of backoff factor @xmath34 . mathematically , the optimal @xmath34 that maximizes throughput can be obtained by solving the equation @xmath140 . in this section , we investigate how the optimal backoff factor @xmath34 changes with the mpr capability @xmath32 . in fig . [ fig:8 ] and fig . [ fig:9 ] , we plot the throughput as a function of @xmath34 for both non - carrier sensing networks and carrier - sensing networks in basic - access mode . from the figure , we can see that the optimal @xmath34 that maximizes throughput increases with @xmath32 for moderate to large @xmath32 . this observation can be intuitively explained for non - carrier - sensing networks by ( [ eqn:14 ] ) , ( [ eqn:39 ] ) , and lemma 1 as follows ( [ eqn:14 ] ) and ( [ eqn:39 ] ) indicate that @xmath141 as lemma 1 indicates , when @xmath32 is large , @xmath142 increases with @xmath32 and eventually approaches 1 . consequently , @xmath34 increases with @xmath32 . for non - carrier - sensing slotted aloha networks , scaledwidth=50.0% ] for carrier - sensing networks with basic - access mode , scaledwidth=50.0% ] as the figures show , the throughput decreases sharply when @xmath34 moves from the optimal @xmath143 to 1 . on the other hand , it is much less sensitive to @xmath34 when @xmath34 is larger than the @xmath143 . therefore , in order to avoid dramatic throughput degradation , it is not wise to operate @xmath34 in the region between 1 and @xmath143 . note that when @xmath32 is large , @xmath143 is larger than 2 . this implies that the widely used beb might be far from optimal in mpr wlans . to further see how well beb works , we plot the ratio of the throughput obtained by beb to the maximum achievable throughput in fig . [ fig:10 ] . the optimal @xmath34 that achieves the maximum throughput is plotted versus @xmath32 in fig . [ fig:11 ] . in the figures , we can see that beb only achieves a small fraction of the maximum achievable throughput when @xmath32 is large in non - carrier - sensing and ieee 802.11 basic - access mode . for example , when @xmath144 beb only achieves about 80 percent of the maximum throughput in non - carrier - sensing networks . in rts / cts mode , in contrast , the performance of beb is close to optimal for a large range of @xmath32 . therefore , we argue from an engineering point of view that beb ( i.e. , @xmath131 ) is a good choice for rts / cts access scheme , while on the other hand tuning @xmath34 to the optimal is important for non - carrier - sensing and basic - access schemes . , scaledwidth=50.0% ] versus @xmath32,scaledwidth=50.0% ] having demonstrated the significant capacity improvement that mpr brings to wlans , we are highly motivated to present practical protocols to implement mpr in the widely used ieee 802.11 wifi . in particular , we will propose protocols that consist of both mac - layer mechanisms and phy - layer signal processing schemes in the next section . in this section , we present a mpr protocol for ieee 802.11 wlan with rts / cts mechanism . the proposed protocol requires minimum amendment at mobile stations , and hence will be easy to implement in practical systems . throughout this section , we assume that the mpr capability is brought by the multiple antennas mounted at the access point ( ap ) . this assumption complies with the hardware request of the latest mimo - based wlan standards . however , the proposed mac - phy protocol can be easily extended to cdma networks , as the received signal structures in multi - antenna and cdma systems are almost the same ( refer to section ii - c ) . the mac protocol closely follows the ieee 802.11 rts / cts access mechanism , as illustrated in fig . [ fig:12 ] . a station with a packet to transmit first sends an rts frame to the ap . in our mpr mac model , when multiple stations transmit rts frames at the same time , the ap can successfully detect all the rts frames if and only if the number of rtss is no larger than @xmath32 . when the number of transmitting stations exceeds @xmath32 , collisions occur and the ap can not decode any of the rtss . the stations will retransmit their rts frames after a backoff time period according to the original ieee 802.11 protocol . when the ap detects the rtss successfully , it responds , after a sifs period , with a cts frame that grants transmission permissions to all the requesting stations . then the transmitting stations will start transmitting data frames after a sifs , and the ap will acknowledge the reception of the data frames by an ack frame . the formats of the rts and data frames are the same as those defined in 802.11 , while the cts and ack frames have been modified to accommodate multiple transmitting stations for mpr . in particular , there are @xmath32 receiver address fields in the cts and ack frames to identify up to @xmath32 intended recipients . as described above , our mpr mac is very similar to the original ieee 802.11 mac . in fact , to maintain this similarity in the mac layer , the challenge is pushed down to the physical layer . for example , in the proposed mpr mac , the ap is responsible to decode all the rtss transmitted simultaneously . however , due to the random - access nature wlan , the ap has no priori knowledge of who the senders are and the channel state information ( csi ) on the corresponding links . this imposes a major challenge on the phy layer , as the mud techniques introduced in section ii , such as zf and mmse can not be directly applied . to tackle these problems , we introduce the physical layer techniques in next subsection . in this subsection , we propose a phy mechanism to implement mpr in ieee 802.11 . the basic idea is as follows . rts packets are typically transmitted at a lower data rate than the data packets in ieee 802.11 . this setting is particularly suitable for blind detection schemes which can separate the rts packets without knowing the prior knowledge of the senders identities and csi @xcite-@xcite . upon successfully decoding the rts packets , the ap can then identify the senders of the packets . training sequences , to be transmitted in the preamble of the data packets , are then allocated to these users to facilitate channel estimation during the data transmission phase . since the multiple stations transmit their data packets at the same time , their training sequences should be mutually orthogonal . in our system , no more than @xmath32 simultaneous transmissions are allowed . therefore , a total of @xmath32 orthogonal sequences are required to be predefined and made known to all stations . the sequence allocation decision is sent to the users via the cts packet . during the data transmission phase , csi is estimated from the orthogonal training sequences that are transmitted in the preamble of the data packets . with the estimated csi , various mud techniques can be applied to separate the multiple data packets at the ap . using coherent detection , data packets can be transmitted at a much higher rate than the rts packets without involving excessive computational complexity . as mud techniques have been introduced in section ii , we focus on the blind separation of rts packets in this subsection . assume that there are @xmath145 stations transmitting rts packets together . then , the received signal in symbol duration @xmath146 is given by ( [ eqn:4 ] ) , where the @xmath147 element of @xmath148 denotes the channel coefficient from user @xmath149 to the @xmath17 antenna at the ap . assuming that the channel is constant over an rts packet , which is composed of @xmath37 symbol periods , we obtain the following block formulation of the data @xmath150 where @xmath151 $ ] , @xmath152 $ ] , and @xmath153.$ ] the problem to be addressed here is the estimation of the number of sources @xmath145 , the channel matrix @xmath148 , and the symbol matrix @xmath154 , given the array output @xmath155 . for an easy start , we ignore the white noise for the moment and have @xmath156 . the rank of @xmath148 is equal to @xmath145 if @xmath157 . likewise , @xmath154 is full - row - rank when @xmath37 is much larger than @xmath145 . consequently , we have @xmath158 and @xmath145 is equal to the number of nonzero singular values of @xmath155 . with white noise added to the data , @xmath145 can be estimated from the number of singular values of @xmath155 that are significantly larger than zero . in this paper , we adopt the finite alphabet ( fa ) based blind detection algorithm to estimate @xmath154 and @xmath148 , assuming @xmath145 is known . the maximum - likelihood estimator yields the following separable least - squares minimization problem @xcite @xmath159 where @xmath160 is the finite alphabet to which the elements of @xmath154 belong , and @xmath161 is the frobenius norm . the minimization of ( [ eqn:42 ] ) can be carried out in two steps . first , we minimize ( [ eqn:42 ] ) with respect to @xmath148 and obtain @xmath162 where @xmath163 is the pseudo - inverse of a matrix . substituting @xmath164 back into ( [ eqn:42 ] ) , we obtain a new criterion , which is a function of @xmath154 only : @xmath165 where @xmath166 , and @xmath24 is the identity matrix . the global minimum of ( [ eqn:44 ] ) can be obtained by enumerating over all possible choices of @xmath154 . reduced - complexity iterative algorithms that solve ( [ eqn:44 ] ) iteratively such as ilsp and ilse were introduced in @xcite . not being one of the foci of this paper , the details of ilsp and ilse are not covered here . interested readers are referred to @xcite and the references therein . note that the scheme proposed in this section is only one way of implementing mpr in wlans . it ensures that the orthogonal training sequences are transmitted in the preambles of data packets . this leads to highly reliable channel estimation that facilitates the user of mud techniques . moreover , the modification to the original protocol is mainly restrained within the ap . minimum amendment is needed at mobile stations . in our analysis so far , we have assumed that packet error rate due to random fading effect is negligible when the number of simultaneous transmission is smaller than _ m _ and is close to 1 otherwise . this assumption is quite accurate when data packets are well protected by error correction codes ( e.g. , convolutional codes in ieee 802.11 protocol ) and linear mud is deployed at the receiver . the simplification allows us to focus on the effect of mpr on wlan without the need to consider signal processing details such as coding and detection schemes . in this section , we relax the assumption and investigate how random channel errors would affect our analysis . fortunately , we can prove that super - linear throughput scaling still holds even when random channel error is taken into account , as detailed in the following . denote by @xmath167 the packet error rate due to wireless channel fading when _ k _ packets are transmitted at the same time in a network with mpr capability @xmath32 . then , @xmath168 is the packet success rate , which is the probability that a packet _ survives _ random channel fading @xcite . typically , @xmath169 for @xmath170 and @xmath171 for @xmath172 . assuming linear detectors , we have @xmath173 if @xmath174 and @xmath175 for @xmath176 @xcite . for simplicity , assume @xmath177 . then , asymptotic throughput is given by @xmath178 at the optimal @xmath53 , @xmath179 . consequently , @xmath180 we are now ready to prove super - linear throughput scaling @xmath181 in the following . @xmath182 where the last inequality is due to ( [ eqn56 ] ) . one implicit assumption in our analysis is that each station transmits at the same data rate @xmath183 . in practice , stations experience different channel attenuation to the ap due to their random locations . if stations transmit at the same power level , then the data rate sustainable on each link would differ . in this case , the airtime occupied by a busy period is dominated the lowest data rate involved . hence , the effective throughput enjoyed by high - rate stations would degenerate to the level of the lowest rate . such problem , known as performance anomaly " , is not unique to mpr . it exists in all multi - rate ieee 802.11 networks . fortunately , performance anomaly only causes the data rate @xmath183 in our throughput expression to degrade to @xmath184 , where @xmath184 is the lowest possible data rate . therefore , it will not affect the scaling law of throughput in mpr networks . in this paper , we have demonstrated the drastic increase in spectrum efficiency brought by mpr . to implement mpr , modification is needed in both mac and phy layers , as discussed in section v. with the same hardware enhancement ( e.g. , having @xmath32 antennas at the ap ) , an alternative is to let each link transmit at a higher data rate , but keep the single - packet - reception restriction unchanged . this essentially becomes a traditional wlan with simo ( single - input - multiple - output ) links . the capacity of a simo link increases logarithmically with the number of antennas at the receiver @xcite . that is , @xmath185 where @xmath186 is the data rate of a siso ( single - input - single - output ) link . in contrast , the data rate @xmath183 of each link in mpr wlan is set to @xmath186 , for antenna diversity is used to separate multiple data streams instead of increasing the rate of one stream therein . with ( [ eqn59 ] ) , the throughput of wlan with simo links is @xmath187 where the expressions for @xmath188 , @xmath189 , and @xmath190 are the same as ( [ eqn:9 ] ) , ( [ eqn:10 ] ) , and ( [ eqn:11 ] ) with @xmath66 , respectively . likewise , @xmath191 , @xmath192 , and @xmath193 are the same as ( [ eqn:1 ] ) , ( [ eqn:2 ] ) , or ( [ eqn:3 ] ) except that @xmath183 is replaced by @xmath194 . specifically , throughput in the aloha case becomes @xmath195 and the optimal @xmath33 that maximizes the throughput is equal to @xmath196 . in particular , the maximum achievable throughput when @xmath37 is large is @xmath197 it is obvious that the normalized throughput @xmath198 decreases with @xmath32 in simo networks . this , in contrast to the super - linear throughput scaling in mpr networks , suggests that multiple antennas at the ap should be used to resolve simultaneous transmissions instead of increasing per - link data rate in random access wlans . with the recent advances in phy - layer mud techniques , it is no longer a physical constraint for the wlan channel to accommodate only one packet transmission at one time . to fully utilize the mpr capability of the phy channel , it is essential to understand the fundamental impact of mpr on the mac - layer . this paper has studied the characteristic behavior of random - access wlans with mpr . our analysis provides a theoretical foundation for the performance evaluation of wlans with mpr , and it is useful for system design in terms of setting operating parameters of mac protocols . our analytical framework is general and applies to various wlans including non - carrier - sensing and carrier - sensing networks . in theorems 1 and 3 , we have proved that the throughput increases super - linearly with @xmath32 for both finite and infinite population cases . this is the case in non - carrier - sensing networks for all @xmath32 , and in carrier - sensing networks for moderate to large @xmath32 . moreover , theorem 2 shows that the throughput penalty due to distributed random access diminishes when @xmath32 approaches infinity . such scalability provides strong incentives for further investigations on engineering and implementation details of mpr systems . based on the analysis , we found that the commonly deployed beb scheme is far from optimum in most systems except the carrier - sensing systems with rts / cts four - way handshake . in particular , the optimum backoff factor @xmath34 increases with @xmath32 for large @xmath32 . we further note that the throughput degrades sharply when @xmath34 is smaller than the optimum value , while it is much less sensitive to @xmath34 when @xmath34 exceeds the optimum . having understood the fundamental behavior of mpr , we propose practical protocols to exploit the advantage of mpr in ieee 802.11-like wlans . by incorporating advanced phy - layer blind detection and mud techniques , the protocol can implement mpr in a fully distributed manner with marginal modification of mac layer . ( super - linearity with finite population ) @xmath199 for all @xmath119 at the optimal @xmath52 , the derivative @xmath204 . thus , @xmath205 combining ( [ eqn : a4 ] ) and ( [ eqn : a5 ] ) , @xmath206 it is obvious that @xmath207 substituting ( [ eqn : a6 ] ) to ( [ eqn : a7 ] ) , we have @xmath208 hence , @xmath199 for all @xmath119 . s. talwar , m. viberg , and a. paulraj , blind separation of synchronous co - channel digital signals using an antenna array , part i : algorithms , " _ ieee trans . signal processing , _ vol . 5 , pp . 1184 - 1197 , may 1996 . c. b. papadias , a.j . paulraj , a constant modulus algorithm for multiuser signal separation in presence of delay spread using antenna arrays , " _ ieee signal processing letters , _ vol . 4 , no . 6 , pp . 178 - 181 , june 1997 . s. talwar , m. viberg , and a. paulraj , blind estimation of multiple co - channel digital signals using an antenna array , " _ ieee signal processing lett . 29 - 31 , feb . 1994 . d. s. chan , t. berger and l. tong , on the stability and optimal decentralized throughput of csma with multipacket reception capability , " _ prof . allerton conference on communication , control , and computing _ , sept - oct 2004 . d. s. chan , p. suksompong , j. chen and t. berger , improving ieee 802.11 performance with cross - layer design and multipacket reception via multiuser iterative decoding , " ieee 802.11 - 05/0946r0 , sept 2005 . ying jun ( angela ) zhang ( s00 , m05 ) received her beng degree with honors in electronic engineering from fudan university , shanghai , china , and the phd degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the hong kong university of science and technology , hong kong . since jan . 2005 , she has been with the department of information engineering in the chinese university of hong kong , where she is currently an assistant professor . zhang is on the editorial boards of ieee transactions of wireless communications and willey security and communications networks journal . she has served as a tpc co - chair of communication theory symposium of ieee icc 2009 , track chair of icccn 2007 , and publicity chair of ieee mass 2007 . she has been serving as a technical program committee member for leading conferences including ieee icc , ieee globecom , ieee wcnc , ieee icccas , iwcmc , ieee ccnc , ieee itw , ieee mass , msn , chinacom , etc . zhang is an ieee technical activity board gold representative , 2008 ieee gold technical conference program leader , ieee communication society gold coordinator , and a member of ieee communication society member relations council . her research interests include wireless communications and mobile networks , adaptive resource allocation , optimization in wireless networks , wireless lan / man , broadband ofdm and multicarrier techniques , mimo signal processing . as the only winner from engineering science , dr . zhang has won the hong kong young scientist award 2006 , conferred by the hong kong institution of science . soung chang liew ( s84-m87-sm92 ) received his s.b . , e.e . , and degrees from the massachusetts institute of technology . from 1984 to 1988 , he was at the mit laboratory for information and decision systems , where he investigated fiber - optic communications networks . from march 1988 to july 1993 , soung was at bellcore ( now telcordia ) , new jersey , where he engaged in broadband network research . soung is currently professor and chairman of the department of information engineering , the chinese university of hong kong . he is adjunct professor at southeast university , china . soung s current research interests include wireless networks , internet protocols , multimedia communications , and packet switch design . soung and his student won the best paper awards in the 1st ieee international conference on mobile ad - hoc and sensor systems ( ieee mass 2004 ) the 4th ieee international workshop on wireless local network ( ieee wln 2004 ) . separately , tcp veno , a version of tcp to improve its performance over wireless networks proposed by soung and his student , has been incorporated into a recent release of linux os . in addition , soung initiated and built the first inter - university atm network testbed in hong kong in 1993 . besides academic activities , soung is also active in the industry . he co - founded two technology start - ups in internet software and has been serving as consultant to many companies and industrial organizations . he is currently consultant for the hong kong applied science and technology research institute ( astri ) , providing technical advice as well as helping to formulate r&d directions and strategies in the areas of wireless internetworking , applications , and services . soung is the holder of four u.s . patents and fellow of iee and hkie . he is listed in marquis who s who in science and engineering . he is the recipient of the first vice - chancellor exemplary teaching award at the chinese university of hong kong . publications of soung can be found in www.ie.cuhk.edu.hk/soung . pengxuan zheng ( s06 ) received his b.eng . degree in computer science and engineering from zhejiang university , hangzhou , china , in 2004 , and m.phil . degree in information engineering from the chinese university of hong kong , hong kong , china , in 2007 . he is currently working towards the ph.d . degree at purdue university . his research interests include mobile ad hoc networks and wireless sensor networks .

thanks to its simplicity and cost efficiency , wireless local area network ( wlan ) enjoys unique advantages in providing high - speed and low - cost wireless services in hot spots and indoor environments . traditional wlan medium - access - control ( mac ) protocols assume that only one station can transmit at a time : simultaneous transmissions of more than one station cause the destruction of all packets involved . by exploiting recent advances in phy - layer multiuser detection ( mud ) techniques , it is possible for a receiver to receive multiple packets simultaneously . this paper argues that such multipacket reception ( mpr ) capability can greatly enhance the capacity of future wlans . in addition , the paper provides the mac - layer and phy - layer designs needed to achieve the improved capacity . first , to demonstrate mpr as a powerful capacity - enhancement technique , we prove a super - linearity " result , which states that the system throughput per unit cost increases as the mpr capability increases . second , we show that the commonly deployed binary exponential backoff ( beb ) algorithm in today s wlan mac may not be optimal in an mpr system , and that the optimal backoff factor increases with the mpr capability , the number of packets that can be received simultaneously . third , based on the above insights , we design a joint mac - phy layer protocol for an ieee 802.11-like wlan that incorporates advanced phy - layer signal processing techniques to implement mpr . wireless local area network , exponential backoff , multipacket reception .

electromagnetic probes are of crucial importance in relativistic heavy ion physics . they are real and virtual direct photons ( where _ direct _ means that they are not produced in the decay of some final state hadron ) , and they are penetrating probes produced in virtually all subprocesses of relativistic heavy ion collisions . equally important , once produced they escape unaltered even from a very dense medium because of their weak coupling ( @xmath0 ) . however , this very same property that makes them excellent `` historians '' of the entire collision makes both precise measurements and drawing of definitive conclusions challenging , since one has to disentangle contributions from different processes often with comparable rates in the same @xmath1 region . in fact , for the experimenter difficulties start already by finding the _ direct _ photons themselves in the large background of photons from ( final state ) hadron decays like @xmath2 , _ etc._. this can be especially hard in the low @xmath1 region ; at higher @xmath1 it is somewhat easier due to the large suppression of hadrons observed in heavy ion collisions ( sec . [ sec_pi0 ] ) . interpretation of the results is challenging because the net signal is a convolution of photon spectra from a large variety of possible physics processes as different as initial hard scattering , a pure pqcd process , jet fragmentation , bremsstrahlung , jet - photon conversion in the medium , and thermal radiation from the quark - gluon plasma ( qgp ) and/or a hot hadron gas . despite all these difficulties , photon physics made major inroads in the first few years of rhic , both experimentally and theoretically - although not always in the areas originally anticipated . on one hand nlo pqcd calculations of photoproduction at central rapidities have been confirmed both in p+p and d+au ( sec . [ sec_ppdau ] ) , and we also have a better understanding of the ratio of photons from initial hard scattering and fragmentation in p+p . on the other hand one of the major pre - rhic expectations was to relatively quickly establish the initial temperature @xmath3 after the collision from thermal radiation ; data currently available ( sec . [ sec_auau ] ) are well described ( within a factor of 2 ) by various models in which @xmath3 ranges from 300 to 660 mev - but this uncertainty is largely due to the unexpectedly fast thermalization ( sec [ sec_intconv ] ) . in au+au collisions the non - suppression of photons ( sec . [ sec_auau ] ) became an independent validation of pqcd and of the concept of @xmath4 scaling when establishing `` jet quenching '' in hadrons ( sec . [ sec_pi0 ] ) . also in au+au at medium @xmath1 there are hints of medium - induced photons , possibly jet - photon conversion on thermal quarks ( sec . [ sec_auau ] ) and in the region where thermal radiation is expected to dominate preliminary results from a new analysis technique ( applied for the first time in a heavy ion experiment ) finds a possible signal ( sec . [ sec_intconv ] ) . one way to disentangle contributions from different processes like fragmentation and jet - photon conversion is to study the azimuthal asymmetries of photons as a function of @xmath1 , which also can put constraints of the jet energy loss mechanisms . the first data on photon asymmetries are not conclusive yet ( sec . [ sec_photonv2 ] ) but new results with much higher statistics are expected to be published soon . finally , imminent and future upgrades of phenix will enhance the scope of our photon physics even further , among others with a competitive measurement of vector mesons at central rapidities and direct photons in the low-@xmath5 region ( sec . [ sec_outlook ] ) . in this paper we concentrate on real photons and dielectron pairs from internal conversion of photons ( other results with electromagnetic probes are described in @xcite in these proceedings ) . as for the detector , the primary tools to detect photons in phenix are the lead - scintillator ( pbsc ) and the lead - glass ( pbgl ) calorimeters , described in detail in @xcite ; experimental techniques are briefly described in @xcite . note that the two detectors are fundamentally different , as are their associated systematic errors , their data are analyzed separately , therefore , comparing their results is a strong , built - in consistency check in phenix . electron pairs from virtual photons are identified by the tracking system , the ring imaging cherenkov detector ( rich ) and the calorimeters @xcite . in central au+au collisions ( @xmath6gev ) for @xmath7 , @xmath8 and direct photons , compared to a glv calculation with @xmath9 gluon density . the mesons - independent of their mass - are suppressed by a factor of 5 with respect to their yield in p+p scaled with the nuclear thickness @xmath10 , whereas the direct photons are not suppressed . , width=302 ] before discussing _ direct _ photons we should review briefly what is known about neutral meson ( @xmath7 , @xmath8 ) production in different systems colliding at rhic energies . in @xmath11gev p+p collisions the measured @xmath7 cross section @xcite is well described by the kkp set of fragmentation functions @xcite up to @xmath12gev / c ( recent preliminary results from run-5 extend this measurement and confirm the agreement with pqcd up to @xmath13gev / c ) . in order to characterize what is different in heavy ion collisions we introduce the _ nuclear modification factor _ @xmath14 @xmath15 where @xmath4 is the nuclear overlap function integrated over the relevant impact parameter range . the behavior of @xmath14 at high @xmath1 ( in the pqcd regime ) , in specific , its deviation from unity is a very important , albeit somewhat ambigous indicator of the appearence of new , non - perturbative processes in nuclei . in d+au collisions and at least at central rapidities @xmath14 for @xmath7 is consistent with unity @xcite . the situation is dramatically different in au+au collisions @xcite : @xmath7 production at midrapidity is suppressed by a factor of 5 with respect to @xmath4-scaled pqcd expectations , and as seen of fig . [ fig : raa_auau200 ] the suppression is constant up to the highest @xmath1 where identified hadrons have been masured so far at rhic . not only does this `` jet quenching '' constitute one of the earliest and most important discoveries at rhic but it also makes the direct photon measurement somewhat easier at high @xmath1 since the s / b is significantly improved . furthermore , phenix has also shown that the suppression pattern is the same for @xmath8 mesons @xcite , the second most important background for direct photons ( fig . [ fig : raa_auau200 ] ) . finally , phenix also masured @xmath14 at @xmath16gev in cu+cu collisions , a system much smaller than au+au . when mid - peripheral au+au collisions were compared to central cu+cu collisions ( characterized by the same number of participants @xmath17 , _ i.e. _ by the same overlap volume albeit by very different geometry ) , the suppression pattern was the same . we should point out that this is true for the _ average _ , @xmath18-integrated @xmath14 only like the one shown on fig . [ fig : raa_auau200 ] . if one studies @xmath14 as a function of the angle @xmath19 with respect to the event - by - event reaction plane @xcite a significant angular anisotropy is observed ( and attributed to the difference in average pathlength in the medium for quarks in or out of the reaction plane ) . so we fully expect that a comparison of the differential @xmath20 in the symmetric central cu+cu and the ( @xmath17-equivalent ) eccentric au+au systems will reveal differences and shed some more light on the nature of jet energy loss . hadron suppression in au+au and lack thereof in d+au collisions together formed compelling evidence that a very high density matter has been formed at rhic that strongly modifies jets created in the initial hard collisions and that - at least at central rapidities - these modifications are not due to a change of the ( initial ) parton distribution functions in a relativistic nucleus . however , from a purist s point of view neither the hadron suppression nor conclusions drawn from it are on solid footing until the validity of the concept `` scaling p+p cross - sections by @xmath4 '' is proven with a penetrating probe . this happened by measuring @xmath14 for direct photons as also shown on fig . [ fig : raa_auau200 ] : at and above @xmath21gev / c the direct photon @xmath14 is consistent with unity . in p+p collisions to leading order in @xmath22 direct photon production is dominated by gluon compton - scattering ( @xmath23 ) , and since rhic is the world s only polarized p+p collider it is a unique place to study ( polarized ) gluon structure functions . however , as pointed out in @xcite photons emitted in parton fragmentation are also an important source of direct photons , particularly at low @xmath1 . in fact , calculations based upon cteq6 parton distribution functions and the grv fragmentation function set predict that at @xmath16gev and at transverse momenta below 3gev / c more than half of photons will come from fragmentation . note that this is the very same @xmath1 region where in heavy ion collisions the thermal photon signal from the qgp , even if not dominant , might be sufficiently strong to be visible ( fig . [ fig : phot - phenix - theo ] from @xcite ) . therefore , measurement and theoretical understanding of photon production in p+p is crucial both in its own right and as a baseline to interpret au+au data . p+p ( open triangles ) and d+au ( solid circles ) collisions and compared to nlo pqcd calculations . , width=302 ] the phenix results from run-3 on the inclusive direct photon yield ( prompt and fragmentation ) for @xmath16gev p+p and d+au collisions is shown on fig . [ fig : d_au - pp - comp ] along with nlo pqcd calculations performed with three different renormalization scales @xcite . at the bottom the data / theory ratios are plotted : for both systems the agreement is quite good , although not as spectacular as for pions in p+p @xcite . low multiplicities in p+p collisions allow phenix to tag isolated photons by requiring that the energy deposited in a cone around the photon is small compared to the photon energy itself @xcite . those isolated photons come mostly from primordial hard scattering ( as opposed to fragmentation ) . the ratio of isolated / inclusive direct photons has been measured as well as calculated and it is a sensitive test of the photon fragmentation functions @xcite although one has to be careful to reproduce the acceptance bias of the experiment in the theoretical calculation . at @xmath24gev / c and above , _ i.e. _ in the region where contribution from fragmentation is small , the measurement agrees with the calculation quite well ; at small @xmath1 improved experimental techniques are needed to make meaningful comparisons . based upon the @xmath16gev au+au data from run-2 phenix already published @xcite centrality dependent invariant photon yields and photon excess double ratios up to @xmath25gev / c and found - within sizeable systematic errors - that at high transverse momenta ( @xmath26gev / c the data agree well with nlo pqcd predictions scaled by @xmath4 . ( the widely used photon excess ratio is the ratio @xmath27 of the inclusive photons to photons from hadron decays , with values above 1 indicating the presence of direct photons . for technical reasons it is often plotted as the excess double ratio @xmath28 because it eliminates some of the systematic errors . ) gev au+au collisions , all centrality classes and minimum bias , compared to nlo pqcd calculations scaled by @xmath4 ( see also @xcite ) . , width=302 ] the much larger dataset in run-4 allowed phenix to extend the @xmath1 range up to 18 gev / c and to reduce the errors at medium @xmath1 where several new photon production mechanisms ( beyond pqcd ) have been suggested recently including photons from jet - plasma interactions . the preliminary results from run-4 on fig . [ fig : cdirphoton ] show combined results from the phenix pbsc and pbgl up to 14gev / c ( where the two analyses are completely consistent , see sec . [ sec_intro ] ) and the results are compared to @xmath4-scaled nlo pqcd calculations ; the overall agreement is very good . a more detailed look to the most central collisions is given on fig . [ fig : cdoubleratio_comp ] where results for the two calorimeters are plotted separately and up to 18gev / c along with @xmath4-scaled nlo pqcd alone , with contributions from the qgp and hadron gas and with in - medium jet modifications . note that in this particular model a very short thermalization time and high initial temperature are assumed ( @xmath29fm / c and @xmath30mev , respectively ) ; as shown later on fig . [ fig : phot - phenix - theo ] they are not the only possible choice to describe the phenix data . also , while strictly speaking the pbsc and pbgl results agree within errors even above @xmath25gev / c , there is an apparent `` deficit '' in the pbsc with respect to both the pbgl and pqcd ; the ongoing analysis of the full run-4 dataset should clarify this situation very soon . the errors at medium @xmath1 ( 5 - 10gev / c ) are already smaller than in the published run-2 data @xcite but the trend that almost all points are above @xmath4-scaled pqcd survives - a tantalizing hint of additional photon sources like jet - photon conversion , which can be further explored investigating azimuthal asymmetries in the photon distribution ( sec . [ sec_photonv2 ] ) . we discuss the low @xmath1 region ( 1 - 5gev / c ) in the context of the internal conversion measurement ( sec . [ sec_intconv ] ) . gev / c measured in the phenix pbsc ( solid circles ) and pbgl ( solid squares ) calorimeters and compared to three theoretical calculations @xcite , where for the plasma a formation time of @xmath29fm / c and an initial temperature of @xmath30mev is assumed ( see also @xcite ) . , width=302 ] a very promising approach to measure low-@xmath1 direct photons is to utilize low - mass electron pairs from `` internal conversions '' , a technique first applied in heavy - ion collisions recently by phenix @xcite . the basic idea is that any process producing a real photon can also produce a virtual one of very low mass @xcite , subsequently decaying into an @xmath31 pair . this direct photon signal competes , of course , with dielectrons from dalitz decays of @xmath7 , @xmath8 , _ etc_. the rate and mass distributions of dielectrons are described both for the low - mass direct photons and the dalitz decays by the kroll - wada formula @xcite , @xmath32 where the form factor , @xmath33 , is unity for real photons . note that the phase space for dalitz decays is limited by the mass of the parent meson ( @xmath34 ) , while for direct photons it is not ( @xmath35 ) . therefore , the measurement becomes relatively clean for @xmath36gev / c , which is still in the low-@xmath1 realm where the `` traditional '' calorimeter measurement has serious difficulties . the method is illustrated on fig . [ fig : akiba ] , described in detail in @xcite and the resulting photon excess ratios are shown as solid circles on fig . [ fig : photon_excess_auau ] . the systematic errors are much smaller for the internal conversion measurement ( solid circles ) than for the traditional calorimeter measurement ( open circles ) but the statistical errors become large for @xmath37gev / c . tantalizingly , the low @xmath1 region is consistent with a 10% photon excess over the hadronic background ( and with the traditional measurement ) , but before drawing conclusions about a thermalized source the same measurement has to be repeated in p+p to establish the baseline . also , since internal conversion is a very small probability process the method would greatly benefit from at least an order of magnitude increase of the available dataset ( sec . [ sec_outlook ] ) . in central au+au collisions ( @xmath6gev ) for @xmath7 , @xmath8 and direct photons , compared to a glv calculation with @xmath9 gluon density . the mesons - independent of their mass - are suppressed by a factor of 5 with respect to their yield in p+p scaled with the nuclear thickness @xmath10 , whereas the direct photons are not suppressed . , width=302 ] using the inclusive photon yields from the calorimeter measurement @xcite the excess ratio on fig . [ fig : photon_excess_auau ] can be translated into a direct photon yield and compared to theory as shown on fig . [ fig : phot - phenix - theo ] . partial contributions are calculated in @xcite and the solid curve is the sum of all subprocesses ; it describes the data very well . remarkably , this calculation uses an expanding fireball with @xmath38fm / c and @xmath39mev , double the formation time and only 2/3 of the temperature conjectured in @xcite and applied on fig . [ fig : cdoubleratio_comp ] . in fact , five different models with thermalization times in the range 0.15 - 0.5fm / c and initial temperatures between 300mev and 660mev describe the data within a factor of 2 . but even with these uncertainties a very important lesson has already been learned : while pre - rhic expectations put the thermalization time to @xmath40fm / c , in turned out to be much shorter and the need to find the mechanism of this unexpectedly rapid thermalization triggered a large amount of theoretical work recently . in central au+au collisions ( @xmath6gev ) for @xmath7 , @xmath8 and direct photons , compared to a glv calculation with @xmath9 gluon density . the mesons - independent of their mass - are suppressed by a factor of 5 with respect to their yield in p+p scaled with the nuclear thickness @xmath10 , whereas the direct photons are not suppressed . , width=302 ] we have seen in fig . [ fig : photon_excess_auau ] that the _ overall _ yields of high-@xmath1 photons ( integrated over azimuth ) scale with @xmath4 and are well described by pqcd ( within current experimental and theoretical uncertainties ) . however , this global agreement may mask more subtle effects and it is even possible that the agreement is only accidental , due to cancellations of processes that enhance and others that quench the photon yield . an important step toward clarification is to study azimuthal asymmetries of photon distributions , specifically their elliptic flow ( @xmath41 ) . if ( and since ) the photons from the initial scattering do not interact with the medium , their @xmath41 is expected to be zero . however , initial hard scattering is far from being the only source of photons in au+au collisions . photons may also originate from jet partons scattering off thermal partons ( jet - thermal interactions ) or from brehmsstrahlung off a quark . these photons are expected to exhibit a negative @xmath41 @xcite , since more material is traversed out - of - plane ( which is the major axis in coordinate space ) , with a strong @xmath1-dependence . on the other hand , photons from thermal radiation should reflect the dynamical evolution of the hot and dense matter thus carrying a positive @xmath41 . a first measurement of photon elliptic flow is shown in fig . [ fig : ppg046_fig2 ] taken from ref . the measurement is quite delicate due to the large background from @xmath7 decay - photons that inherit their parent s @xmath41 . the measured @xmath41 of inclusive photons is consistent with @xmath41 of photons from hadronic decays , i.e. , a zero net direct photon flow - but the error bars are appreciable and the direct - to - inclusive photon ratio is very small at low @xmath1 . the quality of the data currently available is not sufficient to prove or disprove theoretical predictions @xcite , not even the sign of the net flow . much higher statistics can help remedy the situation , at least at higher @xmath1 : although the net direct photon flow is predicted to decrease , the statistical errors will also become smaller and , equally important , the direct - to - inclusive photon ratio increases dramatically . but even at high @xmath1 the net flow will be a competition between processes with @xmath42 and @xmath43 . new analysis techniques may be able to disentangle ( at least statistically ) isolated and non - isolated direct photons in heavy - ion collisions . jet - photon conversions produce mostly isolated photons @xcite with @xmath43 and the magnitude of this flow depends strongly both on @xmath1 and the energy - loss mechanism of jets in heavy - ion collisions . therefore , a measurement of the @xmath41 for isolated photons may give an independent constraint on energy - loss models . combinatorial ( hijing ) , no rejection from the hbd . red circles : combinatorial background after rejection with hbd . blue stars : combinatorial background from charm alone ( pythia ) , not rejected by the hbd , measured separately by the silicon vertex detector ( svtx ) . solid red line : total combinatorial background after hbd rejection ( hijing+pythia ) . dashed blue line : pure signal from direct vector - meson and dalitz decays after freezeout ( coktail " ) , without contribution from charm ( exodus ) . solid black line : total signal from vector mesons , dalitz decays and charm ( exodus+pythia ) . , width=302 ] one of the fundamental questions in the pqcd phase transition is whether chiral symmetry is ( partially ? ) restored and in this context to measure the in - medium modification of the light vector meson ( @xmath44 ) spectral functions . in phenix this can be done in the @xmath31 channel , and `` proof of principle '' results have been shown earlier @xcite . however , suffering from an @xmath45 signal / background ratio - combinatorics from @xmath7 dalitz - decays and photon conversions - they are not precise enough to make a meaningful statement on broadening or dropping of vector meson masses . a hadron - blind detector ( hbd ) , already foreseen in the original phenix design and actually installed september 2006 for run-7 will remedy this situation , as illustrated by the simulations shown on fig . [ fig : hbd_phenix ] . this novel detector , described in @xcite is a windowless cherenkov detector operated with pure cf@xmath46 in a proximity focus configuration with a csi photocathode and a triple gem detector with pad readout , and improves the signal to background ratio to @xmath47 . the remaining background from open charm will be measured in phenix separately with a silicon vertex detector ( svtx ) , which will measure the heavy - flavor displaced vertex with a 40@xmath48 m resolution of the distance of closest approach , the specification driven by @xmath49 of 123 and 462@xmath48 m for @xmath50 and @xmath51 decays , respectively . the svtx will have a central barrel and two endcap detectors , thus covering both central and forward rapidities , providing inner tracking with full azimuthal coverage and up to @xmath52 . this , in particular , will enable the measurement of correlated @xmath53 invariant - mass spectra and thus provide for a stand - alone determination of the correlated open - charm ( and -bottom ) component in the dilepton spectra . photons , @xmath7 and @xmath8 mesons can be measured well at mid - rapidity in phenix , but the pseudorapidity coverage of the electromagnetic calorimeter ( along with the current `` central arm '' ) is limited to @xmath54 . this makes full jet reconstruction very difficult . also , several measurements made at large rapities in d+au collisions suggest that in the low bjorken-@xmath5 domain gluons might be saturated and the cgc - model properly describes the results , including hadron suppression at large rapidities in d+au ( as opposed to no suppression as observed at @xmath55 ) . if the suppression at large @xmath56 is indeed a consequence of gluon saturation ( initial state ) , photons should also be suppressed there - an important test feasible only with a calorimeter at large rapidities . the limited acceptance of the central arm also makes the crucial @xmath57-jet measurements very difficult . to remedy the situation phenix already added a high resolution muon piston calorimeter ( mpc ) to @xmath58 and proposed to add a calorimeter replacing the current copper nosecones of the magnet and covering @xmath59 . the longitudinally segmented nose - cone calorimeter ( ncc ) will allow for distinction between electromagnetic and hadronic showers . jet physics and energy - loss studies using both photon - tagged jets and leading @xmath7 s will be possible with the ncc , far away from central rapidity . it will also be very useful in studying heavy quarkonia enabling for instance the measurement of @xmath60 and possibly the @xmath61 states in conjunction with the existing muon spectrometer . it is also an important addition to the spin program in measuring the ( polarized ) gluon structure functions at low @xmath5 . in this paper we reported on recent measurements of direct photons by the phenix experiment at rhic at central rapidity . invariant yields in p+p collisions are well described by nlo pqcd calculations , as are the d+au results if the calculations are scaled with the nuclear thickness function . in au+au the high transverse momentum region is well reproduced by ( the @xmath4-scaled ) nlo pqcd ; 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electromagnetic probes are arguably the most universal tools to study the different physics processes in high energy hadron and heavy ion collisions . in this paper we summarize recent measurements of real and virtual direct photons at central rapidity by the phenix experiment at rhic in p+p , d+au and au+au collisions . we also discuss the impact of the results and the constraints they put on theoretical models . at the end we report on the immediate as well as on the mid - term future of photon measurements in phenix . direct photon , isolated photon , quark - gluon plasma , relativistic heavy ion collision 25.75.-q , 25.75.nq , 12.38.mh , 13.85.qk

/ Updated On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the World War II incarcerations of Japanese Americans. Over the next five years, more than 120,000 people, two-thirds of whom were native-born United States citizens, were forced to leave their homes and livelihoods for quickly-built camps in some of the country's most unforgiving climates. During the intervening years, Japanese Americans fought bravely in the United States military, with the Army's 442nd Infantry Regiment, made up of second-generation nisei soldiers, being the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. Japanese Americans have also fought for justice at home, winning redress and an apology from Congress in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. "[Congress] recognizes that a grave injustice was done to both citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry," the law reads. "On behalf of the Nation, the Congress apologizes." RELATED: Remembering Executive Order 9066, the ‘Single Act’ that Began Internment A rosary and a stone sit on a monument honoring the dead in the cemetery at Manzanar National Historic Site on December 9, 2015 near Independence, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Seventy-five years later, the lessons from this period in time continue to resonate with many. Below are some of the stories of survivors of incarceration and the advocates that are keeping their histories alive that NBC Asian America has reported. Behind Barbed Wire: Remembering America’s Largest Internment Camp Last year, NBC Asian America spoke with five Americans who recounted the years of their lives spent behind the barbed wire of the Tule Lake Segregation Center, a maximum-security prison camp for those labeled as "disloyal" to the government. From left to right: Satsuki Ina (photographed in her home in Sacramento, California); Hiroshi Kashiwagi (photographed in his home in San Francisco, California); Jim Tanimoto (photographed at his home in Gridley, California); George Nakano (photographed in his home in Torrance, California); and Jimi Yamaichi (photographed at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose in San Jose, California). All five, photographed in 2016, were interned at Tule Lake Segregation Center during World War II. Michael Chin / NBC News Through audio, photos, and text, Satsuki Ina, Hiroshi Kashiwagi, Jim Tanimoto, George Nakano, and Jimi Yamaichi described what it was like to wake up one day and have their entire lives changed. The five also share their first impressions of Tule Lake, the ways in which their community fought back, and how — years later — they continue to find healing through collective memory. Seventy Years After Manzanar, the Stories of Incarceration Live On Three survivors of Manzanar, the most widely-known of the 10 camps, spoke with NBC Asian America about their experiences during the war, and how they learned to tell their stories. "We never talked about it, or if we did it was just joking," Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of "Farewell to Manzanar," told NBC. "I was married 13 or 14 years before my husband knew [about Manzanar]. Somehow he asked me about it. I began to tell him and I became hysterical. It was shameful for three years to be living in this prison camp." The Parallel Between Trump’s Immigration Ban and Past U.S. Anti-Asian Policies "In particular, this climate of fear and racism and hatred that is going on parallels a lot with what we saw happen during World War II." A Lookback at the Decades-Long Embargoed Incarceration Camp Photos The federal government, reportedly from seeing these photographs as potentially damaging press, embargoed them for 30 years. 75 Years After Start of Internment, Archaeologists Excavate Hawaii’s Largest Camp "When I was in elementary school I never even heard that this had occurred. We never studied this in history or talked about it," William Belcher, an archaeology professor at the University of Hawaiʻi - West Oʻahu, told NBC Asian America. Four decades out of elementary school, that's changed. From Internment to Advocacy, One Family’s Journey "Here, my family lived behind barbed wire. Here, they fought to stay together. And here, their lives – like hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans at the time – were forever changed." Digital Project Aims to Preserve Stories of Incarcerated Japanese Americans "I do think sometimes it's an uphill battle because most Americans view Asians as model minority and that's used against other groups. I think we have to somehow break through and show it in a clear light. We have to show that we're all struggling. It's not just one versus the other. We all have to make things better." Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. ||||| / Updated By Mathew Ursua Chopping through the overgrowth with machetes to clear a way through terrain, William Belcher’s students know there’s American history beneath dirt that’s settled for seven decades. The land is stained. "When I was in elementary school I never even heard that this had occurred. We never studied this in history or talked about it,” Belcher, an archaeology professor at the University of Hawaiʻi - West Oʻahu, told NBC News. Four decades out of elementary school, that’s changed. Belcher, now in his 50s, does archaeological work on the site of the Honouliuli National Monument, the site of an incarceration camp where some of Hawaii’s Japanese-American residents were held during World War II. Seventy-five years after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and set in motion the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, Belcher’s archaeology students have been cutting through grass and bushes, getting dirt on their hands, and laboring atop soil that veils history where Hawaii’s largest incarceration camp stood. Their work at the site, which was designated a national monument by then-President Barack Obama in 2015, is part of an effort to preserve it and map its features. “It’s interesting to watch the students all of a sudden get a personal connection to this piece of land. It’s just part of the landscape of UH-West Oʻahu — just up the hill from the campus,” Belcher said. For now, the field school students are among the few who can set foot there. Rebecca Rinas, a planner for National Park Service, told NBC News it could be many years before Honouliuli is open to visitors. Funding isn’t guaranteed and the two-year-old national monument is still landlocked by private land. There are no public roads in or out of the site, Rinas said of the gulch in central Oahu that receives little airflow. Those conditions, Belcher noted, have made working on the site a challenge. “The gulch gets to about 90 degrees — in excess of 90 degrees most of the time when we were there,” Belcher said. “The basic technology is to walk in a systematic fashion across the entire landscape.” But the grass gets in the way. The grass at the Honouliuli site is "very thick and very heavy and you're trying to see what's on the ground. Your visibility is very low. It's very difficult to do," William Belcher said, adding that the group spends a lot of time clearing the area with machetes. Courtesy of University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu “It's very thick and very heavy and you’re trying to see what’s on the ground. Your visibility is very low. It’s very difficult to do,” he said, adding that the group spends a lot of time clearing the area with machetes. Belcher said students also mapped roads, fence lines, concrete structures, and rocks with handheld GPS units. “It’s interesting to watch the students all of a sudden get a personal connection to this piece of land. It’s just part of the landscape of UH-West Oʻahu — just up the hill from the campus." Buried in the dirt are concrete slabs, one of which stands a meter below the surface. Belcher, who’s led about a dozen students over the last two summers into the gulch, said the slabs were foundations for buildings. UH-West Oʻahu anthropology student Tracy Dixon was one of the 16 who worked the site over the past summer for credit. He said the group started excavating to look for a slab which was believed to be where a mess hall stood. “Everybody who worked and was in that field school had a great time, bonded doing the hard work, and had an amazing experience,” Dixon told NBC News. He said that the group did locate a corner of the slab they were looking for after digging deep. Of the more than dozen sites designated as incarceration camps and detention facilities in the U.S., Honouliuli was built for “prolonged detention.” It detained local Japanese leaders and businessmen, clergymen, and those with influence. (In addition to serving as an incarceration camp for Japanese Americans, several thousand prisoners of war, including Italians and Koreans, were also detained — even after the war ended.) RELATED: The Untold Story: Japanese-Americans' WWII Internment in Hawaii According to Belcher, unlike on the West Coast, territorial Hawaii’s Japanese weren’t kept in total exclusion. Forty percent of Hawaii was Japanese. Many were immigrants who crossed the Pacific Ocean on ships to work on plantations. “Hawaii had a plantation economy that would’ve collapsed. It was dependent on the Japanese culture,” Belcher said. “They only interred a small percentage of the people on the island.” In fact, before it became the site of Hawaii’s longest-operating incarceration camp, Honouliuli was plantation land. “With that came a lot of importation of labor which increased the ethnic diversity and changed the landscape into intense agriculture,” Belcher said. Reaching further back in time, archaeologists can examine ancient Hawaiian sustainability. Belcher said he’s interested in the gulch’s place in the ahupua‘a system. After the buildings were demolished in 1946, the site was used for ranching. Belcher explained that digs have uncovered horse bones from the 1950s through mid-2000s. Along with connecting the dots of the site’s past, Belcher also said that he sees parallels in the Honouliuli site to today’s post-9/11 policies. “Many saw that as an erosion of constitutional rights,” Belcher said. “Taking the other and picking that person as the enemy even if they’re productive American citizens.” For Dixon, the student who worked the site over the summer, the monument is about an important time in American history. He said he plans to enroll again next summer. “It was a very worthwhile project,” he said. Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. ||||| On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, introduced this resolution in the Second Continental Congress proposing independence for the American colonies. Acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention, Richard Henry Lee on June 7, 1776, introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress proposing independence for the colonies. The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and "a plan for confederation." The document that is included on page 22 is the complete resolution in Richard Henry Lee's handwriting. On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed three concurrent committees in response to the Lee Resolution: one to draft a declaration of independence, a second to draw up a plan "for forming foreign alliances," and a third to "prepare and digest the form of a confederation." Because many members of the Congress believed action such as Lee proposed to be premature or wanted instructions from their colonies before voting, approval was deferred until July 2. On that date, Congress adopted the first part (the declaration). The affirmative votes of 12 colonies are listed at the right. New York cast no vote until the newly elected New York Convention upheld the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776. The plan for making treaties was not approved until September of 1776; the plan of confederation was delayed until November of 1777. (Information excerpted from National Archives Education Staff. The Constitution: Evolution of a Government. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2001.) ||||| Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography.[1] Early life [ edit ] Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn was born on May 26, 1895, at 1041 Bloomfield Street, Hoboken, New Jersey[2][3] to second-generation German immigrants Heinrich Nutzhorn and Johanna Lange.[4] She had a younger brother, Martin.[4] She dropped her middle name and assumed her mother's maiden name after her father abandoned the family when she was 12 years old, one of two traumatic incidents early in her life.[5] The other was her contraction of polio at age seven, which left her with a weakened right leg and a permanent limp.[2][3] "It formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me and humiliated me," Lange once said of her altered gait. "I've never gotten over it, and I am aware of the force and power of it."[6] Career [ edit ] Lange graduated from the Wadleigh High School for Girls[7] and although she had never operated or owned a camera, she was adamant that she would become a photographer upon graduating high school.[8] Lange was educated in photography at Columbia University in New York City, in a class taught by Clarence H. White.[8] She was informally apprenticed to several New York photography studios, including that of the famed Arnold Genthe.[5] In 1918, she left New York with a female friend to travel the world, but was forced to end the trip in San Francisco due to a robbery and settled there, working as a photo finisher at a photographic supply shop.[9] While working at this shop, Lange became acquainted with other photographers and met an investor that aided in the establishment of a successful portrait studio.[3][5][10] This business supported Lange and her family for the next 15 years.[5] In 1920, she married the noted western painter Maynard Dixon, with whom she had two sons, Daniel, born in 1925, and John, born in 1930.[11] Lange's early studio work mostly involved shooting portrait photographs of the social elite in San Francisco.[12] However, with the onset of the Great Depression, Lange turned her camera lens from the studio to the street. Her photos during this period were reflected in much of John Steinbeck’s writing in The Grapes of Wrath.[13] Her studies of unemployed and homeless people, starting with White Angel Breadline (1933) which depicted a lone man facing away from the crowd in front of a soup kitchen run by a widow known as the White Angel,[14] captured the attention of local photographers and led to her employment with the federal Resettlement Administration (RA), later called the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Resettlement Administration [ edit ] Migrant Mother Lange's iconic 1936 photograph, "Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!" (1937) (1937) In December 1935, she and Dixon divorced and she married economist Paul Schuster Taylor, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.[11] For the next five years they documented rural poverty and the exploitation of sharecroppers and migrant laborers – Taylor interviewing and gathering economic data, Lange taking photos. She lived in Berkeley for the rest of her life. Working for the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration, they brought the plight of the poor and forgotten – particularly sharecroppers, displaced farm families, and migrant workers – to public attention. Distributed free to newspapers across the country, her poignant images became icons of the era. One of Lange's most recognized works is titled Migrant Mother.[15] The woman in the photo is Florence Owens Thompson. In 1960, Lange spoke about her experience taking the photograph: I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.[16] After Lange returned home, she told the editor of a San Francisco newspaper about conditions at the camp and provided him with two of her photos. The editor informed federal authorities and published an article that included the photos. As a result, the government rushed aid to the camp to prevent starvation.[17] According to Thompson's son, Lange got some details of this story wrong, but the impact of the picture was based on the image showing the strength and need of migrant workers.[18] Twenty-two of the photographs she took as part of the FSA were included in John Steinbeck's The Harvest Gypsies when it was originally published in The San Francisco News in 1936. Japanese American internment [ edit ] Children at the Weill public school in San Francisco pledge allegiance to the American flag in April 1942, prior to the internment of Japanese Americans Grandfather and grandson at Manzanar Relocation Center In 1941, Lange was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for achievement in photography.[19] After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she gave up the prestigious award to record the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, on assignment for the War Relocation Authority (WRA).[20] She covered the internment of Japanese Americans[21] and their subsequent incarceration, traveling throughout urban and rural California to photograph families preparing to leave, visiting several temporary assembly centers as they opened, and eventually highlighting Manzanar, the first of the permanent internment camps. Much of her work focused on the waiting and uncertainty involved in the removal: piles of luggage waiting to be sorted, families wearing identification tags and waiting for transport.[22] To many observers, her photograph[23] of Japanese American children pledging allegiance to the flag shortly before they were sent to camp is a haunting reminder of this policy of detaining people without charging them with any crime.[24] Her images were so obviously critical that the Army impounded most of them, and they were not seen publicly during the war.[25][26] Today her photographs of the internment are available in the National Archives on the website of the Still Photographs Division, and at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. California School of Fine Arts/San Francisco Art Institute [ edit ] In 1945, Lange was invited by Ansel Adams to accept a position as faculty at the first fine art photography department at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), now known as San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). Imogen Cunningham and Minor White joined as well.[27] In 1952, she co-founded the photographic magazine Aperture. Lange and Pirkle Jones were commissioned in the mid-1950s to shoot a photographic documentary for Life magazine of the death of Monticello, California and of the displacement of its residents by the damming of Putah Creek to form Lake Berryessa. The magazine did not run the piece, so Lange devoted one whole issue of Aperture to the work. The photo collection was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1960.[28] Another series for Life magazine which she began in 1954 featured Martin Pulich, a lawyer, due to her interest in how poor people were defended in the court system which by one account grew out of her experience with her brother’s arrest and trial.[29] Death and legacy [ edit ] In the last two decades of her life, Lange's health was poor.[4] She suffered from gastric problems as well as post-polio syndrome – although this renewal of the pain and weakness of polio was not yet recognized by most physicians.[5] Lange died of esophageal cancer on October 11, 1965, in San Francisco, California, at age 70.[11][30] She was survived by her second husband, Paul Taylor, two children, three stepchildren,[31] and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Three months later, the Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted a retrospective show of her work, which Lange herself had helped to curate.[32] In 2003 Lange was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[33] In 2006 an elementary school was named in her honor in Nipomo, California, near the site where she photographed Migrant Mother.[34] In 2008 she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. Her son Daniel Dixon accepted the honor in her place.[35] In October, 2018, Her hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey, honored her with a mural dipicting her and two other prominent women of history from Hoboken.[36] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] Dorothea Lange; Paul Schuster Taylor (1999) [1939]. An American Exodus: A record of Human Erosion . Jean Michel Place. ISBN 978-2-85893-513-0. Milton Meltzer (1978). Dorothea Lange: A Photographer's Life . Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0622-2. Linda Gordon (2009). Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits . W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-05730-0. Linda Gordon; Gary Y. Okihiro, eds. (2006). Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment . New York: W. W. Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-33090-7. Linda Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of the Great Depression . Gale. ISBN 9780028656861. Anne Whiston Spirn (2008). Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field . University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226769844. Sam Stourdze, ed. (2005). Dorothea Lange: The Human Face . Paris: NBC Editions. ISBN 9782913986015. Neil Scott-Petrie (2014). Dorothea Lange Color: Photography . CreateSpace. ISBN 9781495477157. Pardo, Alona (2018). Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing. Prestel. ISBN 9783791357768. ||||| / Updated By Stephany Bai Densho, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Japanese-American incarceration during WWII, recently highlighted the work of photographer Dorothea Lange, whose photographs were placed under government embargo for thirty years. Natasha Varner, Densho’s communications manager, emphasized the importance of Lange’s work in an organization blog post. “Lange’s exclusion-era photographs helped catalyze Japanese-American activism in the 1970s, and they continue to powerfully shape the collective memory of one of the darkest moments in American history,” she wrote. Lange, known primarily for her photographs of Dust Bowl America during the Great Depression, was hired by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) in 1942 to document the removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Original WRA caption: Turlock, California. These children have just arrived at Turlock Assembly center. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be transferred later to a War Relocation Authority center for the duration. Dorothea Lange / Densho, Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration Lange had personal misgivings about the work, according to Densho: She told a friend that she was “appalled” by a “federal government who could treat its citizens so unjustly.” The organization said she was also frustrated by the WRA’s censorship, which explicitly banned Lange from photographing barbed wire and bayonets. She quit after just a few months, but not before producing “a body of work that at once captured the inhumane actions of the US government and the humanity of the individuals being forced to leave their lives behind for the 'crime' of Japanese ancestry.” RELATED: Digital Project Aims to Preserve Stories of Incarcerated Japanese Americans The federal government, seeing these photographs as potentially damaging press, embargoed them for 30 years, according to Densho. They were released for public viewing in 1972, when they were featured in the landmark traveling exhibition, Executive Order 9066. April 25, 1942, Byron, California. Original caption: Toshi Mizoguchi waiting at the Wartime Civil Control Administration station to register for evacuation. Mr. Mizoguchi came to the United States from Japan in 1892 and has been a farm laborer on California ranches since that time. He is unmarried. He is seen wearing an American flag on a celluloid button. Dorothea Lange / Densho, Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration Brian Niiya, Densho’s content director, told NBC News in an e-mail that the exhibit, and the release of the Lange photographs, was timely. “The exhibition came in the context of increasing sympathetic media coverage of the Japanese American WWII story,” he said. “At the same time, there was also increasing interest within the Japanese American community, largely driven by Sansei coming of age and influenced by the 1960s-1970s social movements.” “There is [an] oft-told story about Sansei [third-generation Japanese-American] kids first learning about the incarceration in school and confronting their parents about why they never told their kids about this," he continued. "(The most famous such story is that of Karen Korematsu, who learned about her father's landmark Supreme Court case in school!)” Niiya wrote that exhibitions of photographs such as Lange’s, which had never been seen to the public before, helped catalyze political movements within the Japanese-American community. “Along with camp pilgrimages, political activism around the repeal of Title II, and a flood of new books, these exhibitions were part of the changing attitudes to the Japanese American wartime experience in the early 1970s that led to the Redress Movement of the 1980s,” he wrote. May 20, 1942. Woodland, California. Original caption: Evacuees of Japanese ancestry from this rich agricultural district are on their way to Merced Assembly center. This special train consists of ten cars. Dorothea Lange / Densho, Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. ||||| That was another time, and another Times. This newspaper has long since reversed itself on the subject. Not only was some of our reasoning explicitly racist, but in our desperate attempts to sound rational — by supposedly balancing the twin imperatives of security and liberty in the midst of World War II — we exaggerated the severity of the threat while failing to acknowledge the significance of revoking the most fundamental rights of American citizens based solely on their ancestry. In the 1980s, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians found there had been no military justification for the exclusion and noted that no Japanese Americans had been convicted of spying or sabotage. The incarceration was a "grave injustice," the congressional commission concluded. ||||| Farming Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese-Americans Remember WWII Incarceration Enlarge this image toggle caption Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project via The National Archives Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project via The National Archives At 98, Riichi Fuwa doesn't remember his Social Security number, but he remembers this: "19949. That was my number the government gave me," he said. "19949. You were more number than name." That was the number that Fuwa was assigned when he was 24 years old, soon after he was forced off his family's farm in Bellingham, Wash., and incarcerated at the Tule Lake camp, just south of the Oregon border in California's Modoc County. Seventy-five years ago today, on Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, which led all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to be forced from their homes and businesses during World War II. Fuwa was one of almost 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most American citizens and farmers, who were incarcerated in what were euphemistically called "relocation" or "internment" camps. I met Fuwa last summer, when I joined a four-day pilgrimage to Tule Lake undertaken by survivors of the camps and their children and grandchildren. "I wanted to see the place for the last time," Fuwa told me. Before the war, nearly two-thirds of West Coast Japanese-Americans worked in agriculture. People like 93-year-old Jim Tanimoto, from the Sacramento Valley town of Gridley. His father grew rice, then cultivated peaches. Tanimoto and Fuwa's immigrant parents faced laws barring them from owning or holding long-term leases on land. Despite that, by 1940 they and their American-born children grew almost 40 percent of the vegetables in California. toggle caption Courtesy of Gen Fujitani Then, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor. Resentment and hysteria grew about anyone of Japanese origin, even those born in the United States. Tanimoto remembered, "Then Executive Order 9066 was signed. Things changed." On Feb. 19, 1942, when President Roosevelt signed the executive order authorizing the removal of anyone from military areas, Japanese-Americans could read between the lines. They knew the order mainly targeted them. Soon, the commanding general for the West Coast determined that all people of Japanese origin – whether immigrant or U.S.-born citizen – in coastal areas had to move inland onto so-called "relocation camps." Many had to abandon their orchards and fields, with crops ready to harvest. "When I stepped out of the train, the terrain was not a big shock," Tanimoto said. "I knew what the terrain looked like." That's because, when he was younger, Tanimoto had hunted for deer up in the Tule Lake Basin, when all he could see was dusty land and scrub brush. When, in 1942, Tanimoto and the 15,000 other forcibly evacuated Japanese-Americans arrived at Tule Lake, they saw a landscape dominated by barracks covered in black tar paper. "Rows and rows and rows of these buildings," said Tanimoto. "We were inside the barbed-wire fence, the armed guard towers. We couldn't walk out of the enclosure. I might get shot." He remembered thinking, "Hey, I'm an American citizen! Now I'm the one being hunted." Government Farmworkers Jim Tanimoto and many other once-successful farm owners were about to become field workers for the U.S. government. The guard towers and rows of barracks have long since been torn down or moved. Our guide on the pilgrimage points out the few remaining buildings, and the huge swaths of farmland once worked by Tule Lake prisoners. Over 1,000 Japanese-Americans worked in the fields, most earning just $12 a month, a quarter of what farmworkers made at the time. Enlarge this image toggle caption Densho: The Japanese American Legacy via The National Archives Densho: The Japanese American Legacy via The National Archives Agriculture wasn't incidental at any of the incarceration camps. Many of the new War Relocation Authority administrators came right from the Department of Agriculture. Camp locations, though usually in deserts and other inhospitable places, were often chosen for their existing government irrigation projects or agricultural potential. The government's intention was to improve the land for after the war. Each of the 10 incarceration camps nationwide had working farms, but Tule Lake was different. The land was on a former lake bed, so despite a dusty, snowy and windy climate and a short growing season, it produced enough food for its own mess halls and those at other camps. That production was so essential that when the Tule Lake camp opened, eligible men who refused to work were threatened with $20 a month fines. Farmworkers at Tule Lake harvested almost 30 crops, including potatoes, rutabagas and daikon radishes. They also grew grain and hay for animal feed, and kept hogs and chickens. Before the war, Lucille Hitomi's father ran a commercial flower business in Mountain View, Calif. At Tule Lake, he worked the fields, under white supervisors. "I remember my dad saying, 'I don't know if they were good farmers,' " she said, but those bosses relied on the expertise of the Japanese-American laborers to develop a productive farm. To keep some semblance of normalcy, families like Hitomi's tried to create special meals. It helped that her brother worked at the camp slaughterhouse. Enlarge this image toggle caption National Archives National Archives "I don't know if this was legal," Hitomi remembered, "but sometimes he would bring bits of meat home. My mother brought to camp a hot plate and a frying pan, and she'd cook the meat in the barrack," instead of joining hundreds of others in the mess hall. "I guess it was more like home," Hitomi said. The stated purpose of these farms was to feed the incarcerated, but camp administrators took produce, grain and hay grown by these imprisoned Japanese American workers, and sold it on the open market – over 2 million pounds of it from Tule Lake alone. Loyalty questioned One year after ordering Japanese-Americans out of their homes, the government made every adult in every camp fill out a questionnaire. "This outrageous questionnaire was used to separate the so-called loyal people from the disloyal," said writer and historian Barbara Takei, who also attended the pilgrimage. Jim Tanimoto remembers that two questions caused the most confusion and anger: No. 27 asked a person's willingness to join the armed forces – this, after being incarcerated. "And No. 28 was sort of like a trick question, 'Would you cut your ties with Japan and the emperor?, " he recalled. "Well, I'm an American citizen and a Gridley farm boy. I have no ties with Japan or the emperor, so how was I supposed to answer this question?" If he had no ties to begin with, he couldn't answer "yes" and cut them. But if he answered "no," the U.S. government would assume he was disloyal. Tanimoto and all of the other young men in Block 42, his area of the Tule Lake camp, refused to answer. They were arrested and jailed in nearby towns, then at a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp nearby. "I stood on my constitutional rights," Tanimoto said. "You can't do this to American citizens." More people at Tule Lake refused to answer these questions, or answered no to one or both, than at any other camp. Additional fences and guard towers went up, and anyone in the whole camp system who didn't answer "yes" to both questions was labeled "disloyal" and was sent to the re-named Tule Lake Segregation Center. This was in the 1940s, two decades before the civil rights movement. "Now, post-civil rights movement, we realize that the right to protest is a precious American right," Takei said. "It was something that the people who were imprisoned in Tule Lake exercised, and because of that they were punished." Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Gen Fujitani Courtesy of Gen Fujitani A camp that was the largest 'city' in region By fall of 1943, Tule Lake Segregation Center became the largest "city" in California north of Sacramento, ballooning to nearly 19,000 people, most of them labeled troublemakers. Camp got tense. With a larger workforce, the administrators expanded the farm, and expected a huge harvest, but the laborers complained of poor food rations and major safety concerns. Then, a truck carrying Japanese-American laborers from the farm had an accident. Nearly 30 worker were injured. One died. Farmworkers refused to go back to work. "They recognized that they had leverage by having the strike right when the crops are ready to pick," Takei explained. The camp director turned around and brought in Japanese-Americans from other incarceration camps to break the strike. "These strikebreakers were also paid a dollar an hour, so in two days they could make more than a farm worker at Tule Lake would make in a month," Takei said. Camp administrators would simply not let the fields go unharvested. A few days later, Takei explained, the Tule Lake laborers became even angrier. "Workers saw a truck leaving the warehouse area filled with food," ostensibly to feed the strikebreakers. Some 200 people surrounded the truck. "And that's what caused the camp director to call in a battalion, with the tanks rolling in, and the camp was shut down," said Takei. Martial law Japanese-American leaders were thrown in a stockade, with no legal recourse. Within days, martial law was declared. This marked the end of large-scale farming, and the beginning of two tumultuous years at Tule Lake. The military raided barracks, and hundreds of people ended up in the stockade, then a jail, for months. There were more protests. A radical faction grew in camp, and eventually thousands of angry, scared, or confused Japanese-Americans imprisoned at Tule Lake renounced their U.S. citizenship, actions many felt were made under duress, and which took 20 years to reverse. Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Gen Fujitani Courtesy of Gen Fujitani The Tule Lake Segregation Center closed in the spring of 1946, six months after the war ended. What remained were empty barracks that once housed families, and thousands of acres of rich farmland. Riichi Fuwa, 98, remembered that the land he and other Japanese-Americans improved got parceled off to veterans returning from war. "When the soldiers came back and they wanted to farm, they could homestead that place," he said. I asked him, jokingly, if he was offered that land. Fuwa just laughed. Some former incarcerees returned home and eventually rebuilt successful farm businesses. Not Fuwa. His farm was overgrown, all the equipment stolen. "There's no way to express that feeling when you see the place like that," he said. He soon left farming forever. By 1960, the number of Japanese-American farmers dropped to a quarter of their prewar presence. With lost farms, homes and businesses, it's estimated that wartime incarceration cost Japanese-Americans up to $4 billion in today's values. Some of those losses were compensated in 1988, when President Ronald Reagan signed redress legislation offering a formal apology and giving $20,000 to each survivor. The non-economic losses – to Japanese-Americans, to California, to the whole country – are impossible to measure. Especially now, Takei said, we must remember "how easily people — because of fear and anger — lose sight of our important national values of justice and rule of law." She drew parallels with Muslim Americans, refugees and immigrants, "as though demonizing other people is going to solve our problems." All we have to do, she said, is look at the World War II incarceration of Japanese -Americans to see that's not true. Lisa Morehouse is an independent journalist. This story was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, a non-profit investigative news organization. Meradith Hoddinott helped with research.

– There's one date that will live in infamy, per President Roosevelt, but Feb. 19, 1942, might qualify, too. It was on this day 75 years ago that FDR signed Executive Order 9066, which laid the groundwork for the internment of Japanese Americans. NBC News reports that some 80,000 native-born citizens were incarcerated in one of 10 hastily constructed camps along with some 40,000 immigrants. An apology was made by President Ford in 1976, and reparations for the "grave injustice" were authorized by Congress in 1988, Smithsonian reports. As the anniversary is marked, some of the best reading on the subject: "When I was in elementary school I never even heard that this had occurred." That's changed for William Belcher, who is now leading an archaeological effort to excavate the Honouliuli Internment and POW Camp on O'ahu. Read it at NBC News. Last summer, NPR reporter Lisa Morehouse traveled with Riichi Fuwa to what's left of Tule Lake camp, which sits just south of the Oregon border. "I wanted to see the place for the last time," the 98-year-old says. She looks at it through the lens of the forced agriculture that occurred there. In an editorial, the Los Angeles Times looks back on what it calls its "shameful response" to internment, which read in part, "The time has come to realize that the rigors of war demand proper detention of Japanese and their immediate removal from the most acute danger spots. It is not a pleasant task. But it must be done and done now. There is no safe alternative." You likely know Dorothea Lange for her famed Dust Bowl photos (especially this one) from the 1930s, but the War Relocation Authority hired her in 1942 to photograph the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Her photos were embargoed by the government for three decades. NBC News reports on her "misgivings" about what was happening. Read Executive Order 9066, which doesn't actually refer to Japanese Americans, at the National Archives, which also offers a history of the internment. Smithsonian has the story of Fred Korematsu, who fought against internment all the way to the Supreme Court (and told police he had minor surgery in an attempt to change his appearance).

targeted measurements , using selected reaction monitoring ( srm ; aka multiple reaction monitoring ( mrm ) ) that is typically performed on triple quadruple ( qqq ) instruments , have emerged as a powerful , multiplexed quantification technology for biomarker development and systems biology studies . by the application of two stages of mass filters , specific to a target peptide and avoiding the constraints of an ion trapping step , srm using qqq instruments arguably provides the best overall combination of sensitivity and specificity presently achievable by mass spectrometry for proteomics . moreover , with prior knowledge of peptide liquid chromatography retention times , highly multiplexed analysis ( e.g. , hundreds of peptides in a single analysis ) can be performed using a scheduled srm strategy , and this method is now widely used in biomedical and systems biology research , such as biomarker verification in biofluids , protein post - translational modifications ( ptms ) , and studies of signaling pathways . despite the increasing popularity , an underappreciated cost of routine targeted proteomics experiments lies in the time and effort necessary to establish a sensitive srm assay . in general , for srm assay development the first step is the peptide transition selection , which can be carried out either by extracting information from an existing shotgun proteomics peptide library and data repository or actual analysis of synthetic peptides on the qqq instrument . most shotgun proteomics peptide libraries and data are typically constituted from ion trap collision induced dissociation ( it - cid ) data and thus are often used to facilitate srm method development . however , peptide fragmentation patterns from it - cid ( resonance excitation of a specified m / z window and involving many low - energy collisions ) are generally significantly different from the peptide spectra obtained from qqq ( beam - type ) cid , which uses ions that have significantly higher initial energies . while the higher energies are gradually dissipated by collisions , further fragmentation contributions are introduced due to additional fragmentation of fragments that are initially formed by the higher - energy collisions . recently , a fragmentation approach , termed higher - energy collision dissociation ( hcd ) , has been made available with orbitrap analyzers that provides higher mass resolution and mass accuracy fragmentation data . given the benefit of high mass accuracy and no low mass cutoff it has also been pointed out that hcd ms / ms data share a higher degree of similarity with qqq - based ms / ms data than with it - cid data , but it also has differences due to details of the collision conditions and different m / z biases of the mass analyzers employed . however , a detailed evaluation comparing the hcd - derived and qqq - optimized results has not been reported for better understanding the feasibility of using hcd data for accelerating and automating srm assay development . in addition to transition selection , it is also important to optimize the collision energy ( ce ) for each transition to improve srm sensitivity . ce can be selected using existing empirical formulas ( available within the widely used skyline software ) or obtained for individual case using synthetic peptides and experimental optimization . for large - scale accurate quantification of high- and moderate - abundance proteins , peptide transitions are often selected from either existing discovery data or by using ces predicted by an empirical formula . by contrast , for quantification of extremely low - abundance proteins or protein ptms in complex biological samples such as human blood plasma / serum , highly sensitive srm assays are required and typically achieved by optimization using synthetic peptides through direct infusion or lc srm analysis using the actual qqq instrumentation . however , such qqq - based peptide optimization is low - throughput and labor - intensive , and it greatly increases the cost and time required for the development of large - scale sensitive srm assays . herein , we utilized a relatively large set of 215 synthetic peptides to explore the use of hcd ms / ms data to rapidly establish optimal srm assays for large - scale srm quantification . we first manually optimized each of 215 synthetic peptides with qqq instruments by direct infusion ( i.e. , the conventional method ) , including selecting the most intense fragment ions and determining the optimal ce for each transition using qqq ms / ms measurements . using the qqq ms / ms spectra and optimal ces determined in this manner as the standards , we then systematically compared the hcd and cid ms / ms spectra for each peptide from lc ms / ms analyses to the direct infusion ms / ms results . on the basis of the ms / ms comparisons and a statistical analysis taken together , our results demonstrated that the availability of hcd spectra together with refined ce prediction can expedite the development of optimal srm assays and facilitate large - scale targeted proteomics applications . all peptides were selected using the following criteria ( unless indicated otherwise ) : fully tryptic , less than 25 amino acids in length , no miscleavage ( lysine and arginine before proline are acceptable ) , unique for target proteins , moderate hydrophobicity , and peptides with methionine are not preferred but were retained if there is no better choice . peptides detected in our own previous shotgun analyses were preferred , followed by those reported in public data repositories such as peptideatlas and global proteome machine ( gpm ) . for target proteins without the existing ms / ms data , the surrogate peptides were selected on the basis of in silico digestion and then evaluated by using prediction tools such as consequence software . details of all of the peptides used in this study and their corresponding proteins are available in supporting information table 1 . crude synthetic peptides labeled with either heavy lysine ( [ c6,n2]-lysine ) or arginine ( [ c6,n4]-arginine ) were purchased from thermo scientific ( san jose , ca ) . in total , 215 crude heavy peptides were used for method development . a small subset of peptides ( 78 ) was first used to validate the previously reported conclusion that hcd is more similar to beam - type cid than cid ( analyzed by both tsq ( srm ) and orbitrap ( both cid and hcd ) ) ; another larger subset of peptides ( 137 ) was further analyzed to extensively compare how similar it is between hcd and beam - type cid ( analyzed by tsq ( srm ) and orbitrap ( hcd only ) ) , and new ce prediction equations were built based on this combined result from 215 peptides . we then further validated the effectiveness of new ce equations using an independent set of peptides ( 92 ) ( analyzed by tsq ( srm ) ) ( see supporting information table 1 for details ) . for direct infusion analysis , synthetic peptides were analyzed individually , and the nominal concentration of crude peptides was 200 fmol/l in 0.1% formic acid and 30% acetonitrile . for lc ms / ms analysis , all crude peptides were diluted and pooled together for one sample with a final nominal concentration of 50 fmol/l in 0.1% formic acid . direct infusion was performed using a 250 l syringe ( hamilton , reno , nv ) directly connected to a tsq - quantum qqq mass spectrometer ( thermo scientific , san jose , ca ) with a homemade spray tip ( 20 m i.d . ) . the qqq was first operated in q3 ms mode with unit resolution ( peak width 0.7 ) for observation of potential precursors with the following parameters : spray voltage , 2400 v ; capillary temperature , 325 c ; capillary offset , 35 v ; tube lens offset , 185 v ; and collision gas pressure , 1.5 mtorr . for each peptide with different charge states , the precursor with highest intensity was selected for peptide optimization . if multiple precursors with different charge states existed with similar intensities for a given peptide , then all were retained . the qqq was then operated in ms / ms mode targeting the selected precursors for fragment information with a minimum of 10 ms / ms spectrum acquired using collision gas pressure of 1.5 mtorr . the top 6 to 7 fragment ions from ms / ms spectra were selected for further ce ramping , and the qqq srm optimization mode was used to determine the optimal ce values . for each peptide , 4 to 5 transitions were retained as the qqq - optimized transitions based on their intensities . the in - house lc system was custom - built using agilent 1200 nanoflow pumps ( agilent technologies , santa clara , ca ) , valco valves ( valco instruments co. , houston , tx ) , and a pal autosampler ( leap technologies , carrboro , nc ) . reversed - phase columns were prepared in - house by slurry packing 3 m jupiter c18 ( phenomenex , torrence , ca ) into 35 cm 360 m o.d . 75 m i.d fused silica ( polymicro technologies inc . , phoenix , az ) using a 1 cm sol gel frit for media retention . mobile phases consisted of 0.1% formic acid in water ( mobile phase a ) and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile ( mobile phase b ) with a 100 min gradient using the follow profile ( minute : % b ) : 0:0 , 2:8 , 20:12 , 75:35 , 97:60 , and 100:85 . after 100 min , mobile phase b was maintained at 100% for 10 min , and then mobile phase a was set at 100% and maintained for 10 min to recondition the column . the solvent gradient was started at 40 min after the sample was injected , and mass spectra acquisition began 10 min later to account for the column dead volume . ms / ms analysis of the peptide mixture was based on an inclusion list built by skyline for each peptide with both charge 2 + and 3 + precursors using an ltq - orbitrap velos pro mass spectrometer ( thermo scientific ) interfaced with a home - built electrospray ionization ( esi ) source . the heated capillary temperature and spray voltage were 350 c and 2.4 kv , respectively . orbitrap spectra were recorded from 300 to 1800 m / z at a resolution of 100 000 followed by hcd of the 10 most abundant ions in each scan that matched with the target list of ions provided . for hcd settings , isolation width of 2 m / z , normalized collision energy 32% , activation time 0.1 s , and automated gain control ( agc ) set at 3 10 were used . a dynamic exclusion time of 60 s was used to discriminate against previously analyzed ions . a mixture of 92 synthetic peptides was separated by reversed - phase lc column ( waters , 10 cm 75 m i.d ) using a nanoacquity uplc system ( waters , milford , ma ) with the following 50 min gradient ( minute:%b ) : 0:0 , 13.5:10,17:15 , 38:25 , 49:38.5 , and 50:95 . after 50 min , mobile phase b was maintained at 100% for 10 min , and then mobile phase a was set at 100% and maintained for 10 min to recondition the column . the eluent was analyzed using a tsq - vantage ( thermo scientific ) operated in srm mode with the following parameters : spray voltage , 2400 v ; capillary temperature , 325 c ; collision gas pressure , 1.5 mtorr ; using tuned s - lens value ; q1 and q3 unit resolution . the ce ramping method was constructed according to skyline instruction , while the ramping step was set to 2 v to cover a larger ce range . the method was then imported to the instrument , and the optimal ce was defined as that giving the highest intensity for the individual transition . although tsq - quantum and tsq - vantage instruments were used for direct infusion and lc srm analysis , respectively , our previous data have shown that at 1.5 mtorr collision gas pressure ( used in this study ) the difference of optimal ce values obtained from these two instruments is rather small . to ensure consistency , we recently randomly selected 10 from the list of 215 peptides and reoptimized their ce values on both the tsq - quantum and tsq - vantage instruments . a comparison of their optimal ce values showed their median difference between these two qqq instruments was less than 2 v ( supporting information table 2 ) . for direct infusion analysis , the best transition for each peptide and the optimal ce for each transition were recorded manually , and the peptide sequences , including the optimized transitions , were imported to skyline . for lc ms / ms data ( hcd or cid ) , ms / ms spectra of the peptide mixtures were searched against the human swiss - prot database ( released on september 18 , 2013 ) using the ms - gf+ algorithm with the following parameters : precursor tolerance , 25 ppm ; fixed modifications , cysteine carbamidomethylation ( c + 57.0215 da ) , heavy lysine ( k + 8.014 da ) , heavy arginine ( r + 10.009 da ) ; partially tryptic cleavage rule ; and decoy search . after database searching , identified peptides were filtered to a false discovery rate ( fdr ) of < 1% at the spectrum level by applying a msgf spectrum probability filtering criterion ( < 1.52 10 ) . a peptide library was then built by importing the hcd results into skyline in pepxml format , followed by manual inspection in skyline . the ranking of the fragment ions in hcd ms / ms spectra was then exported and analyzed for correlation to the direct infusion optimized result . in cases where one fragment ion was missing in the hcd spectra , the rank of this product ion was set as 50 . for the calculation of pearson correlations between hcd / cid and qqq data , we included both y and b fragment ions for the 78 crude peptides , with fragment peaks across 10 ms / ms scans of qqq direct infusion data being averaged . for orbitrap hcd and cid data , the ms / ms scan with the best spectrum probability score was retained for each peptide / charge state . for all of the commonly detected product ions between hcd / cid and qqq ms / ms spectra , the pearson correlation was calculated using product ion intensities with in - house software . for calculating the intensity ratio of the new prediction formula to the skyline prediction , the area of each transition with different ce was exported from skyline and analyzed . selecting the best transitions and optimizing their ces are crucial steps for the development of optimally sensitive srm assays . to explore the feasibility of accelerating this process of srm assay development using pre - existing shotgun proteomics data , we compared the ms / ms orbitrap hcd or cid fragmentation data with the optimized qqq data ( figure 1 ) . ms / ms on an ltq - orbitrap velos instrument to generate hcd / cid data . srm parameters for the 215 peptides were also optimized individually through direct infusion with the qqq instrument . for orbitrap data , two synthetic peptide mixtures were analyzed separately : a peptide mixture with 78 peptides was analyzed in both cid and hcd fragmentation mode for comparison of similarity between hcd / cid and qqq cid fragmentation , and another peptide mixture with 137 peptides was analyzed in hcd mode only for a more detailed comparison between hcd and qqq cid . peptides identified on orbitrap were first filtered to achieve < 1% fdr at the spectrum level with a median spectrum probability score of 3.60 10 , and only spectra with the best spectrum probability values were retained for comparison . for the qqq data , 215 peptides were optimized individually using direct infusion , including transition selection with highest response as well as optimal ce for each transition ( figure 1 , right ) . these manually optimized parameters ( i.e. , best transition and optimal ce ) were considered as the gold standard for srm assay development and used for comparison with the orbitrap hcd / cid results . for each peptide , 4 to 5 product ions were selected on the basis of their intensities , most of which were y ions ( 90.4% ) with some b ions ( 9.6% ) and 2 + product ions ( 11.4% ) ( b1 and y1 ions were excluded ) . at least one product ion with m / z higher than precursor was included for each peptide . a systematic comparison was made between orbitrap hcd / cid and beam - type qqq cid . ( left ) ms / ms spectrum ( hhgllasar , arginine + 10 ) was acquired in hcd / cid mode by ltq - orbitrap velos ; ( right ) ms / ms spectrum ( hhgllasar , arginine + 10 ) , as well as optimal ce , was acquired in the qqq using cid . in general , the qqq cid had greater similarity with orbitrap hcd than with the cid , as expected and as illustrated in figure 2a c . when comparing the cid spectrum to the hcd and qqq cid spectrum , there was a dominant b5 fragment ion present in cid spectrum , whose intensity was significantly lower in either the hcd or qqq cid spectra . the less intense b fragment ions were most likely due to multiple stages of fragmentation that were inherent with the higher - energy injection of ions into the collision gas to produce the qqq cid spectrum . more comparison of peptide spectra from orbitrap hcd / cid versus qqq cid can be found in supporting information figure 1 . comparison of spectrum and pearson correlation between ltq - orbitrap velos cid / qqq cid and hcd / qqq cid . ( ac ) comparison of ms / ms spectrum for doubly charged peptide gtlphplqr ( arginine + 10 ) , either hcd ( a ) , qqq cid ( b ) , or cid ( c ) . ( d , e ) pearson product - moment correlation coefficients for hcd / cid versus qqq cid for 78 crude heavy peptides . distribution of pearson correlation displayed in histogram for both hcd / qqq cid ( lower left ) and cid / qqq cid ( lower right ) , which showed a significantly higher correlation in hcd compared to that in cid with a p - value of 0.01972 ( welch s two sample t - test ) . the x axis is the correlation coefficient , and the y axis is the data density . we further calculated the pearson correlation between the measurements using the 78 synthetic peptide mixtures : orbitrap cid vs qqq cid and hcd vs qqq cid ( see experimental section ) . the distributions of pearson correlation coefficients for cid vs qqq cid ( lower right ) and hcd vs qqq cid ( lower left ) are shown in figure 2d and 2e , respectively . overall , hcd showed a statistically significant higher correlation with qqq cid spectra compared to cid data ( welch s two sample t test p - value = 0.01972 ) , which was consistent with a previous study . therefore , choosing orbitrap hcd data over cid data is more effective for selecting peptide transitions in srm assay optimization . for a more detailed comparison between hcd data and qqq - optimized results altogether , 182 out of 215 peptides were identified after database searching and filtering from the hcd data ( including 11 peptides identified with both 2 + and 3 + precursors ) . the median peptide length for those identified peptides is 12 amino acid residues . in order to facilitate the comparison between hcd data and qqq - optimized results , we assembled a peptide library for those crude heavy peptides in skyline using hcd data , which facilitated selecting product ions and exporting the rank information on each product ion . then , we mapped the rank of the product ions to the qqq - optimized result ( figure 3a and supporting information table 3 ) . different types of fragment ions from hcd spectrum were further mapped to qqq - optimized transitions , either for all fragment ions ( a ) or y fragment ions only ( b ) , and the distribution of peptides containing specific number of optimal transitions after selection of top y fragment ions is displayed ( c ) . ( a , b ) the ranks of fragment ions in hcd spectrum were summarized from skyline and are labeled on the x axis ; the rank of product ion is set as 50 if it was missing in the hcd spectrum or below noise level . the y axis is the cumulative proportion of matched qqq - optimized transitions among all qqq - optimized transitions . ( c ) the x axis is the number of optimal transitions for one peptide ; the y axis is the number of peptides containing specific number of optimal transitions . as shown in supporting information table 3 , 149 out of 193 ( 77% ) top - ranked hcd product ions were among the qqq - optimized 4 to 5 best transitions , compared to a decreased 65% of the second - ranked hcd product ions that were matched . by including higher - ranked product ions , the cumulative proportion ( i.e. , the sum of proportions for selected product ion ranked either equal or smaller ) of mapped optimal transitions increased . as shown in figure 3a and supporting information table 3 , the matched number as well as a cumulative proportion of optimized results continued to increase as the rank of the product ion increased . however , typical srm experiments need to limit the number of transitions for each peptide to avoid longer scan times or reduced signal intensities and degraded quantification . when the top 7 hcd product ions were selected , a cumulative 80% of qqq - optimized transitions were covered . we noted that while the elimination of b ions and doubly charged y product ions resulted in a slight decrease in the matched number of optimized results ( supporting information figure 2a ) , the mapping of the remaining results ( rank unchanged ) still covered a larger proportion of the optimized results ( figure 3a ) , which suggested a preference of y ions over b ions and doubly charged y product ions . as shown in figure 3a for mapping the top 7 ranked hcd product ions , the cumulative proportion was increased from 77 to 79% by eliminating b ions and was further increased to 84% by the elimination of doubly charged y product ions . because b ions were less favored due to the potentially less accurate quantitative information from the heavy - isotope labeled synthetic peptides , we examined the scenario where only y ions were considered , which shifted the ranking of product ions as well . as shown in figure 3b and supporting information table 4 , 82% of top - ranked y ions matched to the optimized product ions ; this proportion decreased to 74% for the second - ranked y ions . similarly , only 21% of optimized product ions were covered if only top - ranked y fragment ions were retained . in comparison , 81% of all optimized product ions the proportion of mapped optimized product ions was further increased from 81 to 86% ( figure 1b and supporting information table 4 ) when doubly charged y ions were not considered , although the absolute number decreased ( see supporting information figure 2b ) . in summary , by selection of the top 6 y product ions in the hcd data , up to 86% of all qqq - optimized results ( y fragment ion ) could be retained , thus allowing for rapid , automated selection of optimal transitions for most srm assays . to reduce the chance of having interference in the transition list , especially in complex sample matrices such as blood plasma / serum , we made sure that there is at least one transition with m / z higher than that of the precursor for each peptide . however , detailed tests are warranted for a given sample matrix in order to completely rule out potential interferences . after showing that the selection of the top 6 y product ions from hcd data coincided with 86% of qqq - optimized results , we next examined the distribution of peptides having specific numbers of optimized transitions ( it is generally desired for srm assays that each peptide have at least three transitions ) . figure 3c shows the distribution of peptides versus the number of optimal transitions after the selection of a different number of top - ranked hcd product ions ( y ion only ) ( figure 3c ) . the distribution of peptides for all product ions mapping is illustrated in supporting information figure 3 . as shown in figure 3c , when the top 4 product ions were selected , 100 out of 193 peptides ( 52% ) contained equal or greater than three optimal transitions , whereas 34 peptides ( 18% ) had equal or less than one transition ; in contrast , when the top 7 product ions were selected , more than 140 peptides ( 72% ) could have at least three transitions , whereas only 6 peptides ( 3% ) had equal or less than one transition . we also noticed that the result was quite comparable for top 6 and top 7 transition selection from y product ions , with a very similar distribution . in contrast , by selection of the top 7 ions from all product ions ( supporting information figure 3 ) , about 122 ( 63% ) peptides could have at least three transitions , which was much lower compared to that for selection of the top 6 y ions . therefore , combining the information from the transition coverage and peptide distribution , we concluded that selecting the top 6 hcd y product ions was sufficient for automated srm assay development . besides the transition selection , there are a number of approaches available for optimizing the ce , such as lc ms - based ce ramping optimization , which enables automated and high - throughput ce optimization using skyline , as well as theoretical prediction , which is an important complement to manual optimization . however , to obtain a gold standard set of ce values for the comparison , our optimal ce values for peptides were obtained by direct infusion of peptides into qqq , which was considered to be the most accurate irrespective of the lc elution profile . we calculated the difference between optimal ce and ce predicted using skyline for each transition ( figure 4 ) . for charge 2 + precursors ( figure 4a ) , the difference between predicted ce and optimal ce was quite small : most of the transitions ( 87% ) fell within a 5 ev window , with a median of 0.2 ev , which was consistent with a previous study ; however , for charge 3 + precursors ( figure 4b ) , the difference between predicted ce and empirical ce was much larger compared to that for the charge 2 + precursors , with a wide and flat distribution and a median of 6.3 ev . this indicated that the ce prediction formula for charge 3 + precursors needed further refinement in order to establish an optimal srm assay . distribution of the difference between the skyline - predicted ce and optimal ce obtained from a qqq instrument was demonstrated for all transitions either from charge 2 + precursors ( a ) or charge 3 + precursors ( b ) . the x axis is the difference between predicted ce and optimal ce , and the y axis is the number of transitions . we next constructed two new ce prediction equations based on qqq - optimized results for charge 2 + and 3 + precursors , respectively ( figure 5a , b ) , and the improvement was further validated in an independent lc ramping - based ce optimization experiment ( using 92 synthetic peptides ; see experimental section ) . as shown in figure 5c , the differences of ce between the predicted values ( both skyline prediction and the new equation ) and the lc ramping optimization results are depicted . for charge 2 + precursors ( red ) , the difference between the two prediction approaches and the gold standard was negligible , with a mean of 0.42 for skyline and 0.61 for new equation prediction . however , for charge 3 + precursors ( blue ) , the mean of the difference between skyline and the optimized result was 3.7 , demonstrating that the predicted ce was too high for charge 3 + precursors ; in contrast , the mean of the difference between the new equation and the optimized result was only 0.33 . these results demonstrated that significantly better ce prediction can be achieved from the new equation than when applying skyline . construction of new ce prediction equations and the comparison to skyline prediction in an independent data set . a new ce prediction equation was constructed for both charge 2 + and 3 + precursors and further compared to skyline predicted results in an independent data set consisting of 92 synthetic peptides . ( a , b ) construction of new ce prediction equation for charge 2 + ( a ) and charge 3 + ( b ) precursor related transitions . the x axis shows the m / z of the precursor , and the y axis represents the value of ce . ( c ) comparison of the difference between skyline prediction / new equation prediction and optimal ce for either charge 2 + ( red ) and charge 3 + ( blue ) precursor related transitions . the x axis plots either skyline or the new equation , and the y axis is the ce difference ( in volts ) between the predicted ce and the optimal ce . ( d ) the distribution of intensity ratio for new equation prediction / skyline prediction to optimal ce , either for charge 2 + precursor ( red ) or charge 3 + precursor ( blue ) . the x axis plots either skyline or new equation , and the y axis is the ratio to optimal intensity . we further calculated the gain in signal intensity for the new equation when compared to the skyline prediction for charge 2 + and charge 3 + precursors using the ce ramping result ( 92 synthetic peptides ) . as depicted in figure 5d , for charge 2 + precursor related transitions ( red ) , there was almost no difference between skyline and the new equation predictions : both had a mean of ratio 0.93 . for charge 3 + precursor ( blue ) , the mean of the new equation was significantly higher than that for skyline predictions ( 0.87 vs 0.78 ; t test , p - value 0.001724 ) , which confirmed the usefulness of the new equation for charge 3 + precursor related transitions . we also compared intensities from skyline to the new equation predictions directly , which ( supporting information figure 4 ) had similar results , showing almost no difference for charge 2 + precursor related transitions , whereas for charge 3 + precursor related transitions , the maximum increase in intensity from the new equation was 2.7-fold greater than with skyline , with an overall mean ratio of 1.2 . srm has been widely used for accurate protein quantification due to its high sensitivity and specificity . the development of optimal srm assays is of critical importance for sensitive detection and accurate quantification of target proteins in complex biological samples . in this work , we demonstrated the utility of readily obtainable hcd data for the selection of the best transition for a given peptide and the determination of optimal ce , both of which are important steps in streamlining the assay optimization process . we have systematically compared the ms / ms data resulting from shotgun proteomics ( cid and hcd ) with qqq manually optimized data through analysis of a relatively large set of 215 synthetic peptides . for transition selection , it was determined that selection of the top 6 y product ions from hcd spectra could cover as much as 86% of the best transitions . we further showed that the selection of the top 6 hcd y product ions was sufficient to cover the optimal transitions for most peptides , with at least 3 of the qqq optimal transitions for each peptide . for ce optimization , we found that the skyline - predicted ce was accurate for most charge 2 + precursor transitions ; however , it was too high for most charge 3 + precursor transitions . by using the newly constructed prediction equation established from our qqq experimental data , we obtained as much as a 2.7-fold increase ( 1.2-fold average ) in intensity for charge 3 + precursor transitions , which was higher than previous reports . finally , we validated the usefulness and accuracy of the new , refined formula using a completely independent set of synthetic peptides . we recognize that the ce optimization results may not be applicable to all qqq instruments from different vendors ; however , our work demonstrated the proof of principle for generating more accurate ce prediction equations that require large sets of peptides , and similar experiments can be pursued by applying the same principles for different types of qqq instruments . in summary , our results demonstrated the feasibility of automating the selection of the best transitions from the existing hcd results ( i.e. , discovery results ) without using synthetic peptides and obtaining optimal ce conditions for the most responsive transitions , which would accelerate and improve large - scale targeted proteomic experiments with sensitive measurements of hundreds of target proteins in complex biological matrices .

because of its high sensitivity and specificity , selected reaction monitoring ( srm)-based targeted proteomics has become increasingly popular for biological and translational applications . selection of optimal transitions and optimization of collision energy ( ce ) are important assay development steps for achieving sensitive detection and accurate quantification ; however , these steps can be labor - intensive , especially for large - scale applications . herein , we explored several options for accelerating srm assay development evaluated in the context of a relatively large set of 215 synthetic peptide targets . we first showed that hcd fragmentation is very similar to that of cid in triple quadrupole ( qqq ) instrumentation and that by selection of the top 6 y fragment ions from hcd spectra , > 86% of the top transitions optimized from direct infusion with qqq instrumentation are covered . we also demonstrated that the ce calculated by existing prediction tools was less accurate for 3 + precursors and that a significant increase in intensity for transitions could be obtained using a new ce prediction equation constructed from the present experimental data . overall , our study illustrated the feasibility of expediting the development of larger numbers of high - sensitivity srm assays through automation of transition selection and accurate prediction of optimal ce to improve both srm throughput and measurement quality .

infant growth can have important long - term health and developmental consequences . in the case of poor weight gain , cognitive development when infancy weight gain is rapid , risk for obesity and related conditions increases [ 38 ] . infants gain less weight in resource poor settings in underdeveloped countries [ 9 , 10 ] . in developed countries , lower socioeconomic status ( ses ) can relate to risk for poor infant growth through several possible mechanisms including higher rates of postpartum depression or family size [ 1114 ] . on the other hand , a recent study in a developed country showed higher infant weight gain in lower ses individuals , largely explained by lower breast feeding rates . lastly , in some settings ses has not been found to influence infant ponderal growth . thus , it is important to understand the relationship of ses to infancy weight gain in a variety of contexts and identify factors that might mediate this relationship . when the availability of breast milk or formula and weaning foods is adequate , the relationship between ses and infant weight gain might be explained by stressful circumstances and characteristics of the home environment and the parent - infant relationship . low - ses families are more likely to experience uncontrollable life events and may have less healthy home environments for children , including lower quality stimulation available in the home for children . previous research has shown that negative circumstances associated with poverty and distress among parents can compromise parents ' abilities to provide sensitive , involved , and consistent parenting [ 1921 ] . parenting style and infant growth have been most often explored in the context of failure to thrive , with harsh and neglectful parenting associated with poor infant growth . understanding linear growth as it relates to ses is also important , as height can be a marker of health risk . at the population level , adult height in addition , adult height shows an inverse association with cardiovascular [ 26 , 27 ] and cardiorespiratory disease , some cancers , and type 2 diabetes . socioeconomic gradients in height are also present in childhood and have been noted at the time of birth in representative samples . a recent study in the uk that found differences in birth length based on ses did not show further differences in growth during infancy . in contexts where infant nutrition is adequate , questions remain about whether or not social factors relate to linear growth during the first year . in order to answer the question of whether or not postnatal growth was related to ses and how family environment might mediate these relationships , we used data on birth weight and length and 12-month weight , length , ses and variables from the home observation for measurement of the environment ( home ) from a large , longitudinal cohort of chilean infants . this allowed us to establish direct and indirect associations between ses , family factors and infant growth . this study is a secondary data analysis to identify the relationship of socioeconomic status ( ses ) with ponderal ( weight ) and linear ( length ) growth and to identify family factors that mediate this relationship , in a cohort of chilean infants during the first year of life . the infants were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of iron to prevent iron deficiency anemia . the parent study is described first , followed by methods for the secondary data analysis . from 1991 through 1996 , we recruited healthy low- to middle - income , urban chilean infants with birth weights of 3 kg for a double - blind , randomized , controlled trial of iron supplementation between 6 and 12 months of age . at the time in chile , infant health was generally excellent . however , dietary iron deficiency was common , and iron supplementation during infancy was not routine . in the trial , infants were randomized to iron supplementation or usual nutrition at 6 months . all but 8 of the cohort were initially breast fed , but approximately one third were supplemented in the first 6 weeks with formula made from powdered full fat cow 's milk . the cohort continues to be followed with waves of data collection at 5 y , 10 y , and 16 y. the protocols for the original infant study and follow - up studies have been approved annually by the institutional review boards of the universities of michigan and chile , and the university of california , san diego . of the 1657 infants who completed the preventive trial , 999 had complete data on all variables for this analysis . those without complete data did not differ significantly from those included in this analysis by birth weight or length , sex , ses , or family factors . unclothed infant weight , using an electronic scale ( to the nearest 0.01 kg ) , and length , on a recumbent length board ( to the nearest 0.1 cm ) , were measured monthly in the first year by trained nurses . infant weight gain over the first year ( grams per month ) was calculated as : ( weight ( kg ) at 1 year birth weight ( kg))/(age ( days ) 30.44 days / month ) . infant length over the first year ( grams per month ) was calculated as ( length ( cm ) at 1 year birth length ( cm))/(age ( days ) 30.44 days / month ) . ses was measured using a modified graffar index , which included 10 items concerning family size and structure , father presence , educational level of head of household , home ownership , and ownership of appliances . for this analysis , the scale was dichotomized based on the median score of 27 ( range of 16 to 47 ) , with 0 referring to low ses and 1 referring to middle ses . life stress was assessed using the life experiences survey [ 35 , 36 ] which included 22 items such as unstable employment of the head of household , serious family conflict , and serious illness of a relative , for a possible score of 022 ( cronbach alpha = 0.67 ) . maternal depression risk was assessed using the center for epidemiological studies depression scale ( ces - d ) scale ; a score of 16 or greater indicates risk for depression . this ratio was computed as the number of income - earning adults / number of children under age 15 . this variable was trichotomized , with 0 referring to one adult to one child ( ratio of 1 ) , 1 referring to more adults than children ( ratio greater than 1 ) , and the home observation for measurement of the environment scale ( home ) , measured by direct observation , was used to evaluate the quality of the home environment for nurturing ( cronbach alpha = 0.80 ) . in the us , 6 home subscales are used . in this chilean sample , we identified 5 factors using exploratory factor analysis : maternal warmth and emotional support , sibling participation , physical environment , father - infant interaction , and cognitive stimulation . table 1 displays eigen values and items , with factor - item correlations of 0.35 or higher . father - infant interaction and cognitive stimulation were not significantly associated with infant weight gain and were excluded from the final analysis in favor of a more parsimonious model . we tested additional covariates that might partially explain the relationship between ses and growth in weight and length . as the cohort was part of an ida preventive trial , we tested whether ida at one - year or random assignment to iron influenced the relationship between ses and growth in the first year . we tested the effect of gestational age and number of children on weight and length gain . gestational age ( in weeks ) was assessed by the date of the last menstrual period ; number of children was self - reported by the mother . lastly , we tested whether 2 separate measures of breastfeeding were related to infancy weight and length gain : bottle supplementation at 6 weeks and still breastfeeding at 6 months . statistical analyses were conducted using sas ( 9.2 ; cary , nc ) and spss ( 17 ; chicago , il ) . we compared our sample ( sample with complete data ) to those excluded due to missing data , with t - test and chi - square analyses . we developed a path analysis model to assess the relationships between ses and correlated variables , adult - to - child ratio , and life stress , and infant weight gain and length gain , mediated by the family and home environment ( sibling participation in child care , the physical home environment related to nurturing , and maternal warmth ) . standardized regression coefficients and t - statistics were used to describe the final model ; t - values > 1.96 were statistically significant . model fit was tested using the chi - square statistic ( ; p > 0.05 ) . goodness - of - fit indices included the root mean square error of approximation ( rmsea < 0.06 ) , comparative fit index ( cfi > 0.95 ) , and standardized root mean square residual ( srmr < 0.03 ) . infants were 53% male , averaged 3.5 kg and 50.6 cm at birth , gained on average 539 grams / month in the first year , and were at the 49th percentile for weight - for - age at 1 year . infants ' mean linear growth in the first year was 6.5 cm / month , and mean length - for - age percentile at 1 year was 48th percentile . only 3 percent of the 1 year - olds had heights less than the 5th percentile . the life stress scores ranged from 0 to 14 and averaged 4.8 ( 2.7 ) . participants in the middle ses group , compared to those with low ses , had better optimal nurturing environment with higher maternal warmth and physical home environment , lower sibling participation in infant care , and fewer stressful events . figure 1 shows the standardized path coefficients and respective t - values for the tested model . fit indices indicated a good model fit ( rmsea = 0.03 , cfi = 0.97 , and srmr = 0.02 ) . adult - to - child ratio was negatively associated with sibling participation ( b = 0.45 , p < 0.05 ) , which negatively related to weight gain ( b = 0.14 , p < 0.05 ) . ses ( b = 0.28 , p < 0.05 ) and adult - to - child ratio ( b = 0.10 , p < 0.05 ) were related to a more positive physical environment for nurturing , and higher life stress was related to a less positive physical environment ( b = 0.10 , p < 0.05 ) . the physical environment indirectly related to weight gain through greater maternal warmth ( b = 0.07 , p < 0.05 ) . ses was indirectly related to infant weight gain through a more positive physical environment ( b = 0.28 , p < 0.05 ) and greater maternal warmth ( b = 0.08 , p < 0.05 ) . , the strongest relationships were those between adult - to - child ratio and lower sibling participation in childcare and between ses and the physical environment for nurturing . the relationships between life stress and physical environment and adult - to - child ratio and physical environment were less robust , but significant . no direct associations between ses , adult - to - child ratio , and life stress and infant growth were found . we also tested potential covariates , including iron deficiency anemia , iron assignment , depression , gestational age , number of children , and bottle supplementation of breast feeding at 6 weeks and continued breast feeding at 6 months . with the exception of number of children , which had a direct inverse relationship with weight gain ( b = 0.08 , p < 0.05 ) , these factors did not significantly contribute to the model and were omitted for parsimony . sibling participation , maternal warmth , and number of children accounted for 3% of the variance in infant weight gain . in examining infancy length gain ( figure 2 ) , we found pathways identical to those associated with weight gain , with the exception that there was no relationship between maternal warmth and length gain . additionally , ses was directly related to infancy length gain , rather than indirectly as was found for weight gain ( b = 0.06 , p = 0.05 ) . as in the weight gain model , iron deficiency anemia , iron assignment , depression , gestational age , and bottle supplementation of breast feeding at 6 weeks and continued breast feeding at 6 month did not significantly contribute to the model and were omitted for parsimony . number of children was directly and inversely related to infancy length gain ( b = 0.07 , p < 0.05 ) . sibling participation , number of children , and ses accounted for 1% of the variance in infant length gain . results showed that infant linear growth was directly related to ses , while ponderal growth was indirectly related to ses , mediated by the physical environment for nurturing and maternal warmth . in fact , the physical environment was a pivotal - mediating factor that linked the social variables to infant weight gain . this , in turn , related to higher infant weight gain indirectly through maternal warmth . prior research has shown direct relationships between ses and birth length as well as ses and adult height [ 23 , 24 , 30 ] . however , in previous work , the infant ses - length relationship has been largely explained by the association already existing at birth . this was not the case in our study , perhaps because infants weighing less than 3 kg at birth were excluded , resulting in less variation in birth length than would be found in a representative cohort . the relationship between ses and postnatal length gain was independent of birth length in our sample . this gradient was not mediated by the family or nutritional factors examined , suggesting that other unmeasured characteristics related to ses were responsible . it is highly unlikely that macronutrient factors were responsible for this finding , as none of the infants exhibited poor growth , almost all were initially breast fed , and supplemental milk was freely available from the chilean national health service . other potential explanations include micronutrient deficiencies or stressful circumstances affecting the hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal axis . in the context of this study of low- to middle - income , urban chilean families , it is important to note that substantial public health programs in chile led to a decline in infant mortality from 136.2/1000 live births in 1950 to 8.9/1000 live births in 2000 . during this period , infant malnutrition was virtually eradicated through a supplemental milk program and a national breast feeding campaign that was highly successful . in our study , the relationship between ses and infant growth was explained by family factors including family composition , the physical environment , and maternal warmth . all of the factors associated with more rapid weight gain are related to good nurturing . we also tested the role of breast feeding exclusivity and duration on these associations and found no effect . we suspect that the homogeneity of our sample in terms of high breast feeding rates minimized the effect of nutritional factors in our study . another nutritional factor that could play a role is the timing of introduction of complementary foods , but we do not have data on this feeding practice . a recent study of infant growth in a multi - ethnic cohort in amsterdam found higher growth rates in ethnic minority families that could not be entirely explained by different feeding practices . our study adds to the existing literature by supporting the role of psychosocial factors in infant growth . while there is a large literature - relating psychosocial factors to failure to thrive [ 22 , 42 ] , these characteristics are not always considered in infant growth research when failure to thrive is not the focus . our findings lead to a difficult question , how can optimal infancy growth be promoted in an era when failure to thrive is rare and risk for obesity is high . historically , malnutrition presented serious risk for infants in chile and had only recently been eradicated at the time our cohort participants were infants . currently in chile , less than 2.9% of children under 6 years old are malnourished , and only 0.3% have moderate to severe malnutrition . on the other hand , 1620 years ago when our cohort participants were infants , the obesity epidemic was beginning in chile but was not known or evident to families or even to health providers . in 2005 , preschool age chilean children had high obesity rates : 6% of 2-year olds , 11% of 3-year olds , and 14% of 4-year olds were obese . by young adulthood ( 1724 years ) , the overweight and obesity prevalence was 24% in men and 28% in women . in our study , the families with the most resources had infants with more rapid length and weight gain . we now know that rapid weight gain in infancy creates risk for later obesity [ 44 , 45 ] , which creates a conundrum for all involved . it appears that what would be considered optimal care is associated with increased risk for later obesity . while significant progress has been made in promoting breast feeding and encouraging families to delay supplemental bottles and complementary foods in chile and in many other settings [ 46 , 47 ] , it will be important to change perceptions of families about what a healthy baby looks like and what constitutes optimal growth . as these perceptions are highly linked with cultural norms , this will take a concerted effort on many fronts . this large cohort of infants was assessed at a university nutrition research center where the infants had detailed anthropometric measurement every month in the first year of life . in addition , data on ses , family factors and infant feeding were prospectively collected . furthermore , most studies of ses and infant growth have been carried out in developed countries and may not relate to infants in other settings . the cross - sectional path analysis model can not establish temporal precedence nor infer causality . furthermore , findings about the ses infant - growth relationship from one context may not apply in other settings . therefore , it may not be possible to generalize these findings to other cultures , rural settings , higher ses groups , or to other countries . regarding generalizing to chile in more recent years , however , it is important to note that infant growth rates in a more contemporary chilean census , born between 2002 and 2004 , are similar to those of our study for infants who weighted 3 kg or greater at birth . in this developing country setting of rapid economic and nutritional transition , better circumstances related to higher infant growth . prior to the onset of the global obesity epidemic , higher infant growth would have always been a sign of good parenting and prosperity and would have portended a survival advantage for the infant . in the current era , infants who are growing the fastest are at risk for developing obesity . these findings emphasize the need for better understanding of explanatory factors related to infant growth . future research should include longitudinal studies in a variety of settings that could identify possible causal elements including biological factors , such as genetics and the effects of the intrauterine environment , and environmental factors such as nutrition and the psychosocial environment .

objective . this study examined how family environmental characteristics served as mediators in the relationship between socioeconomic conditions and infant growth in a cohort of chilean infants . methods . we studied 999 infants , born between 1991 and 1996 , from a longitudinal cohort which began as an iron deficiency anemia preventive trial . ses ( graffar index ) , the life experiences survey , and the home observation for measurement of the environment ( home ) were assessed in infancy . using path analysis , we assessed the relationships between the social factors , home environment , and infant growth . results . during the first year , weight and length gain averaged 540 grams / month and 6.5 cm / month , respectively . in the path analysis model for weight gain , higher ses and a better physical environment were positively related to higher maternal warmth , which in turn was associated with higher average weight gain . higher ses was directly related to higher average length gain . conclusions . in our cohort , a direct relationship between ses and length gain developed during infancy . higher ses was indirectly related to infant weight gain through the home environment and maternal warmth . as the fastest growing infants are at risk for later obesity , new strategies are needed to encourage optimal rather than maximal growth .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Republic of Georgia Democracy Act of 2012''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress makes the following findings: (1) A democratic and stable Republic of Georgia is in the political, security, and economic interests of the United States. (2) Georgia plays a key role in the security of the Black Sea and South Caucasus region, which is important for Euro- Atlantic security, transportation, and energy diversification to and from the Caspian Sea. (3) Georgia has been a reliable partner and ally in enhancing global peace and stability with its significant contribution to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (4) The United States-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, signed in January 2009, outlines the importance of the bilateral relationship as well as the intent of both countries to expand democracy and economic programs, enhance defense and security cooperation, further trade and energy cooperation, and build people-to-people cultural exchanges. (5) Georgia's democratic nature is one of its core strengths and the basis for the deep friendship between Georgia and the United States. As such, continued democratic reform, the strength of Georgia's democratic institutions, and regular free, fair, and competitive elections are key priorities for a strong continuing relationship between the United States and Georgia. (6) Democracy in Georgia is facing serious challenges and political freedom and fair competition between political parties is under assault. For example, the government has increased detaining members of the political opposition and civil society nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), limited freedom of the press, undermined the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, and stopped opposition groups from holding demonstrations--often by violent means. (7) According to the Department of State's 2010 Human Rights Report on Georgia, when President Mikheil Saakashvili was re-elected to the Presidency in 2008, ``the OSCE identified significant problems, including widespread allegations of intimidation and pressure, flawed vote-counting and tabulation processes, and shortcomings in the complaints and appeals process. These and other problems continued into the parliamentary elections in May 2008, which international observers concluded were uneven and incomplete in their adherence to international standards.''. (8) On February 13, 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association Maina Kiai concluded at the end of his visit to Georgia that the previous positive trajectory of the country was being replaced with a ``widespread climate of fear, intimidation and arbitrary restrictions of fundamental freedoms.'' He identified multiple problems, including with the way in which the government undermined political parties and NGOs, such as prosecuting and detaining political activists with little to no evidence. Furthermore, he noted, ``there have been long standing concerns--by regional bodies and the UN--about the inability to distinguish between the ruling party and the state, which is especially relevant in light of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.''. (9) Georgia will hold parliamentary elections in October 2012. In the run-up to the election, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the Georgian Parliament enacted constitutional changes that reduce the power of the president and increase the power of the prime minister. (10) Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's presidential term ends in 2013 and it has been reported that he plans to assume the role of Prime Minister if his political party, United National Movement (UNM), wins the majority of the seats in the Parliament, which it currently has. (11) Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Georgian businessman who has never served in the Georgian Government, launched a new political party called Georgian Dream, on October 5, 2011, in an effort to unify the Georgian opposition parties and challenge Saakashvili's increasingly dictatorial control over Georgia's government. (12) In response to the creation of Georgian Dream, Mikheil Saakashvili's regime stripped Bidzina Ivanishvili of his citizenship despite the fact that Mikheil Saakashvili granted Ivanishvili's citizenship in the first place, Ivanishvili was born in Georgia, and there is no legal basis for his citizenship to be revoked. (13) Since the launch of Georgian Dream, the Saakashvili regime has launched a concerted, aggressive campaign to undermine Georgian Dream's ability to compete against Saakashvili's party in the Parliamentary elections. For example, the Georgian Government has fired those employees, especially teachers, who support Ivanishvili or other opposition parties. (14) The Georgian Government has increased harassment and detention of the supporters of Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream and other opposition parties, often through violent means, without due process. Hundreds of opposition supporters have been detained in March 2012 as part of a concerted effort to intimidate voters and opposition campaigners. (15) On February 27, 2011, Solomon Kimeridze, an Ivanishvili supporter, died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. (16) On May 26, 2011, Georgian security officials killed two protesters while using violent means to break-up a peaceful protest. An investigation into this incident has been requested by United States Ambassador Robert Bass, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. (17) On December 28, 2011, the Georgian Parliament passed new election laws that will limit opposition parties' access to funds. The OSCE and the U.S. State Department criticized this law for both its substance and the abnormal way in which it was enacted by the Saakashvili-controlled parliament. Furthermore, the Chamber of Control, the state audit agency that is controlled by Saakashvili, created a new division specifically focused on investigating Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili and blocking Ivanishvili's financial support for opposition candidates and party building. (18) United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association Maina Kiai concluded that these changes to the election law ``appear to affect the rights to association and to peaceful assembly . . . these amendments, which at times use ambiguous language, are fuelling an overall climate of distrust, and appear to largely violate international human rights law.''. (19) The Saakashvili regime has warped the Georgian banking sector, previously a model of post-Soviet success and transparency, in an effort to destroy Bank Cartu, a bank owned by Bidzina Ivanishvili. Based on a law passed at the end of October 2011 after Ivanishvili announced the creation of Georgian Dream, the Georgian Government seized over millions of dollars in bank assets. The American Chamber of Commerce criticized this new law, predicted that it would undermine a model banking system that has been built with the support of the United States Government, IMF, and World Bank. The Georgian Government has only applied this new law, which gives the Government the right to seize loan collateral before the banks that issued the loan, to Bank Cartu and no other banks. As a result, the Saakashvili regime continues to seize Bank Cartu assets in an effort to force the bank out of business and remove a source of Ivanishvili's financial support. (20) United States national security interests are best served by a democratic Georgia no matter what individuals and which parties are in control of the country. An undemocratic Georgia will breed instability in a volatile region and increase the likelihood of violent conflict. As such, it is incumbent on the United States Government to clearly communicate to President Saakashvili that if he continues down his current path and does not allow free, fair, and competitive elections, the special relationship between the United States and Georgia will be at risk and Georgia will face the loss of both United States political support and financial assistance. SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE TO THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA. (a) Limitation.--No funds available to any United States department or agency for fiscal year 2013 may be used to provide assistance to the Republic of Georgia until the Secretary of State certifies and reports to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that the parliamentary elections held in October 2012 or such other date if rescheduled were carried out in a free, fair, and competitive manner consistent with international standards. (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under subsection (a) shall include information on-- (1) the presence and findings of election observers; (2) the ability of opposition parties to campaign effectively; and (3) whether Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream Party participated in the election, and, if not, the reason for their absence.

Republic of Georgia Democracy Act of 2012 - Prohibits FY2013 funds for any U.S. department or agency from being used to provide assistance to the Republic of Georgia until the Secretary of State reports to Congress that the parliamentary elections (held in October 2012 or such other date if rescheduled) were carried out in a free and competitive manner consistent with international standards. Requires such report to include information on: (1) the presence and findings of election observers; (2) the ability of opposition parties to campaign effectively; and (3) whether Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream Party participated in the election, and, if not, the reason for their absence.

understanding the structure - property relationships of metallic glasses ( mg ) is a pressing matter in the field of material science@xcite . the culmination of past research reveals that the vast diversity of mg species , and their properties , are rooted in an equally - broad set of structural archetypes@xcite . perhaps even more cumbersome is a decades old outstanding problem in the study of glasses - namely explaining the extreme slowing of dynamics in a liquid as it is supercooled towards a glass transition @xcite . many theories , such as the theory of random first order transitions @xcite , spin glass approaches@xcite , and others@xcite predict the existence of rapidly growing length scales ( in particular , a static length scale ) to accompany the marked increase of the viscosity of supercooled liquids . in fact , there are rigorous results predicting the appearance of such lengths @xcite . while much progress@xcite has been made in studying the structures of various glass - forming systems , to date , no notable increase in standard static length scales has been observed in most studies . cu - zr is a popular representative of early transition metal - late transition metal mgs ; this is , in part , because it has a high glass forming ability ( gfa ) for a broad range of compositions @xcite . the binary composition of cu - zr reduces the complexity of the possible local atomic structures , making this system ideal for the study of the evolution of the spatial structure of liquids as they are supercooled to form a glass . recent research efforts demonstrate a structural hierarchy within cu - zr mgs that appears to be central to its structure - property relationships@xcite . strong evidence has been found to suggest that the presence of cu - centered full icosahedra is uniquely responsible for dynamical slowing during the formation of the cu - zr mgs@xcite . aside from their full and distorted icosahedral voronoi signatures , the voronoi polyhedron landscapes of cu - zr in the liquid and glass phases resemble one another considerably@xcite . the icosahedral clusters often interpenetrate one another , so that five atoms coincide on two icosahedral - shells . these interpenetrating connections of icosahedra ( icoi ) exhibit strong spatial correlations@xcite and produce stable stringlike networks of icosahedra @xcite . extensive icoi clusters are found to posses a high average elastic rigidity @xcite and to enhance more general mechanical properties of cu - zr@xcite mg . in light of the importance of icosahedral clusters and icoi in shaping cu - zr mg , it is pressing to consider the roles of non - interpenetrating connections in order to obtain a complete picture of icosahedral networking in this amorphous alloy . to date , the prominence of these connections has only been noted@xcite . in this paper , md simulations are used to study non - interpenetrating connections , and to characterize their effect on the connectivity and composition of icosahedral networks in cu - zr mgs , using cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 as models . our analysis reveals that , near the glass transition , a large number of non - interpenetrating connections develop amongst icoi - structures and significantly enhance the unification of icosahedral networks in these mgs , thus impacting their mechanical properties . considering the full icosahedral network affords us the rather unique opportunity to identify , in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 , _ a percolating icosahedral network that threads the entire glassy system , providing a large scale static structure which grows rapidly as the system approaches the glass transition_. we also suggest that the non - interpenetrating connections are particularly influential in mgs like cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 , which exhibits relatively few icoi and yet is a good glass former . moreover , with all of the connection types being included , we reveal that the icosahedral network and the otherwise liquidlike matrix@xcite have significantly different chemical compositions . for example , vertex and face - sharing connections preferentially incorporate zr atoms , increasing the density of the icosahedral network . for both alloys , the icosahedral network is zr - rich , relative to the overall sytem composition , and is immersed in a cu - rich liquidlike matrix . in section ii , we will proceed to discuss the methods for our models of cu - zr , md simulations , and structural analysis . section iii characterizes the basic icosahedral ordering in our systems as they are cooled from the liquid phase to the glass phase . in section iv we measure the population and distribution of connections in the icosahedral network . sections v , vi , and vii , respectively , presents weighted connectivities , introduces a static length scale , and details the chemical compositions of the icosahedral networks for cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 . the md simulations conducted in this study use a semi - empirical potential developed by mendelev et al , which describes many - body interactions using the finnis and sinclair ( fs ) generalization of the embedded atom method ( eam)@xcite . it was created , in part , by being fitted to x - ray diffraction data , liquid density , enthalpy of mixing data , and first - principles results . the potential was developed with an emphasis on describing both liquid and amorphous cu - zr alloys , and was shown to provide a very good description of the structures and some properties of the liquid and glass phases of cu@xmath3zr@xmath4 . an earlier version of this potential@xcite was also shown to produce reliable atomic structures for cu@xmath3zr@xmath4 mg when compared to atomic structures generated by the reverse monte carlo ( rmc ) method , which was constrained by independent x - ray diffraction data and ab initio md simulation results@xcite . the semi - empirical potential used in this paper accurately recreates the properties of pure zirconium and is expected to yield reasonable structures for cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 as well . accordingly , the structure factor data and voronoi polyhedra distribution obtained for this composition are in good agreement with the published x - ray and voronoi polyhedra data of m. li _ et al_.@xcite(not shown ) . canonical ( @xmath5 ) systems of cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 were simulated using lammps@xcite . each simulation consists of 2000 atoms contained in a box with periodic boundaries . the initial configuration of an alloy is generated randomly , and the alloy is allowed to melt and evolve for .25 ns at 1600k , using 5 fs time steps . the alloy is subsequently quenched to its target temperature at a rate of @xmath6 k / s , with the volume of the simulation box set to yield zero pressure for this temperature . finally , the quenched alloy evolves for 1 ns at the target temperature , during which 78 snapshots of the atomic configuration are recorded . the target temperatures used range from 300 k to 1600 k in steps of 100 k. the process is repeated so that , ultimately , three simulations with independent initial configurations were carried out for each of the fourteen target temperatures . to check for system size effects , canonical systems with 10,000 atoms and a target temperature of 300 k were also simulated for both alloy compositions . the approximate values of the glass transition temperatures ( @xmath7 ) for cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 were found to be @xmath8 k and @xmath9 k , respectively . an analogous @xmath10 simulation ( @xmath11 ) of cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 with a target temperature of 400 k was conducted for the sake of comparison . the resulting average partial pair correlation functions ( ppcs ) were found to be statistically identical to those from the corresponding @xmath5 simulations . the atomic structures in the md - generated alloys were characterized using voronoi polyhedron - analysis for each atom@xcite . using a procedure similar to that of hsu and rahman , cluster vertices that were separated by distances less than seven orders of magnitude of the simulation box edge length were consolidated into one vertex@xcite . 300 k , data points are included for a system size of @xmath12 atoms in addition to @xmath13 atoms . the error bars indicate the standard deviation of the value . the glass transition temperatures are marked for the respective compositions.,scaledwidth=46.0% ] to study the development of icosahedral ordering in cu - zr , we consider the results of our voronoi tessellation analysis : a cu - atom with a voronoi index @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 and its 12 voronoi neighbors form a full icosahedral cluster . the index @xmath14@xmath16@xmath15 specifies the number of faces , @xmath17 , with @xmath18 edges present on the voronoi polyhedron . zr - centered full icosahedra are seldom observed amongst the voronoi polyhedra in these alloys , which is consistent with previous md studies , thus @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 clusters will henceforth refer only to cu - centered full icosahedra . figure [ fig : icosorder ] displays for a range of temperatures the percent - abundance of atoms involved in @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 clusters . in their liquid phases above 1300 k , fewer than 10% of the atoms participate in @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 clusters for both compositions , but supercooling yields a great enhancement in the degree of icosahedral ordering . accordingly , roughly 28% and 53% of the atoms of glassy cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 , respectively , participate in the structure of full icosahedra ( including their center cu - atoms ) . this compositional trend of an increase in icosahedral ordering , and subsequently an increase in @xmath7 , that accompanies an increase in the fractional abundance of cu - atoms has been demonstrated and studied previously@xcite . below @xmath7 , we observe that approximately 8.6% of cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 s voronoi polyhedra in our simulation snapshots are @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 clusters . if these clusters were isolated from one another , it would require that 112% of the system s atoms participate in their structure . considering that only about 53% of this alloy s atoms are actually involved in these clusters , it is obvious that many clusters share atoms amongst one another and are thus joined together . therefore , two @xmath140,0,12,0@xmath15 clusters are defined to be ` connected ' if they share at least one atom . the inclusiveness of this definition will be justified as we further study the details of icosahedral structures . icosahedra in our simulated cu - zr alloys are observed sharing vertices , edges , and triangular faces in addition to exhibiting the interpenetrating connections described earlier . examples of these connections are depicted in figure [ fig : connabun ] . we will study the creation of these connections between icosahedra during the process of quenching to understand how they form the mechanically - stiff icosahedral networks . figure [ fig : connabun ] quantifies the development of connections between icosahedra as the cu - zr alloys are quenched from the liquid phase . figures [ fig : connabun]a and [ fig : connabun]b illustrate that as the number of icosahedra in a cu - zr alloy increases rapidly during supercooling ( refer to figure 1 ) , the proportion of those participating in these stable icoi grow comparably . above 1300k , less than a third of the icosahedra are involved in icoi for both alloys . the prevalence of icoi - based structures is heightened dramatically during supercooling , and once cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 and cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 are arrested in their glass phases , approximately 80% and 60% , respectively , of icosahedra have at least one interpenetrating connection . very few icosahedra are isolated in glassy cu - zr mgs , e.g , about 1.7% and 14% , respectively , in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 ( fig . 2a ) and cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 ( fig . [ fig : connabun]b ) . figures [ fig : connabun]c and [ fig : connabun]d display the relative abundance of each connection - type in the alloys . they show that vertex and face - sharing connections become increasingly prevalent as the alloys are quenched and enter their glass phases . for example , below @xmath7 in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 , these connections are as common are icoi ( fig . [ fig : connabun]c ) . this is in stark contrast to the aforementioned results of figures [ fig : connabun]a and [ fig : connabun]b , indicating that , as the density of icosahedral clusters and the number of icoi increase during supercooling , vertex and face - sharing become prevalent amidst icoi - based structures . we will further study how these non - interpenetrating connections are incorporated into the icosahedral structures of cu - zr mg alloys . above 1300 k , the connections between icosahedra are constantly forming and breaking ( as are the icosahedra themselves ) so that no single connection between two icosahedra is observed in consecutive snapshots ( separated by 13 ps ) of a simulation . viewing snapshots of the liquid alloys and assessing the average abundances of the different connection - types thus provides a measure of the relative prominences and stabilities of their resulting structures . figures [ fig : connabun]c and [ fig : connabun]d show , for temperatures above 1000 k , that icoi comprise more than 40% , a significant majority , of the connections present in both alloys . this provides strong evidence that the icoi is in fact more robust than the other types of connections and leads us to consider its role in the liquid alloys as they cool . it is incorrect , however , to think of the glassy icosahedral network as simple chains of interpenetrating icosahedra , as our considerations of figures [ fig : connabun]c and [ fig : connabun]d below @xmath7 demonstrate that these icoi structures also incorporate a significant number of non - interpenetrating connections , as we elaborate on next . to study the structures of the icosahedral networks found in cu - zr mgs , we begin by characterizing the formative icoi - structures . figures [ fig : conndistr]a and [ fig : conndistr]b show the average distribution of the number interpenetrating connections per icosahedron in the alloys at 300 k. as expected from our considerations of figure [ fig : connabun ] , cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 contains more extensively connected icoi - structures than does cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 mg with an average of 2.2 interpenetrations per connected - icosahedron versus 1.5 , respectively . both compositions primarily exhibit chain - like and triangular arrangements of interpenetrating icosahedra . these connectivity measurements are corroborated and elaborated on by earlier studies@xcite . figures [ fig : conndistr]c and [ fig : conndistr]d incorporate all connection types , and provide a uniquely detailed characterization of the icosahedral - structures found in these mgs . they display the average distribution of the total number of connections per icosahedron , while distinguishing icosahedra that participate in icoi from those that do not . from this perspective , the average numbers of connections per interpenetrating icosahedron increase to 6.8 and 3.0 , respectively , for cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 and cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 . these distributions thus describe more intricate , highly connected networks than do to those in figures [ fig : conndistr]a and [ fig : conndistr]b . furthermore , it becomes clear that interpenetrating icosahedra frequently participate in other connection types and that they serve as the nodes with the highest connectivity in the icosahedral networks of the mgs . for example , in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 a sizable fraction of icoi - icosahedra can be found participating in ten or more connections , while non - icoi - icosahedra are seldom found with more that six connections . it follows that significant number of non - interpenetrating connections must occur within and between icoi - structures . these highly connected nodes in the networks likely correspond to icosahedra with very low atomic mobilities , which are known to be responsible for dynamical slowing in these mgs@xcite . when inspecting such densely packed icosahedra , simulation snapshots reveal two common structures , which are illustrated in figure [ fig : pinbridge ] . in ` pinned ' structures ( figure [ fig : pinbridge]a ) , a single extended icoi - structure is folded on itself so that non - adjacent ( non - interpenetrating ) icosahedra can be found to share vertices , edges , and faces with one another , `` pinning '' the fold , and producing a densely packed , stable , extended structure . a ` bridged ' structure ( figure [ fig : pinbridge]b ) consists of proximate icoi - structures that are joined by non - interpenetrating connections . the roles of these bridging connections are of considerable interest since they serve to unify icosahedral networks and thus potentially affect the structure - property relationships of the mg . to demonstrate the significance of these bridging connections , we measured the weighted connectivities of the icosahedral networks . zr@xmath2 and ( b ) cu@xmath0zr@xmath0,scaledwidth=40.0% ] , containing two connected subgraphs of sizes 4 and 3 , respectively . the weighted connectivity of @xmath19 is thus : @xmath20 consider the icosahedra of a cu - zr mg to be the nodes of a graph , @xmath19 , and their connections as the edges . that is , if two icosahedra share a vertex , edge , or face , or if they interpenetrate , then there is an edge between these two nodes . a connected subgraph , @xmath21 , of @xmath19 is defined to be a collection of nodes and their edges such that any two nodes in @xmath21 are joined by a path of edges and nodes , and that no edge connects to a node outside of @xmath21 . the size of @xmath21 is defined to be the number of nodes in @xmath21 . in this paper , an isolated node ( one without edges ) will be considered a connected subgraph of size 1 . our graph , @xmath19 , is thus the union of all of its connected subgraphs . let \{@xmath22}@xmath23 be the set of @xmath19 s @xmath24 connected subgraphs and \{@xmath25}@xmath23 be the corresponding set of the sizes of the connected subgraphs . @xmath26 is the size of the largest subgraph(s ) ( @xmath27}@xmath23 ) ) . the weighted connectivity of @xmath19 is then defined to be @xmath28 thus a graph with @xmath29 corresponds to a completely connected graph . a heuristic example of a graph , its connected subgraphs , and its weighted connectivity is provided in figure [ fig : examplegraph ] . figures [ fig : connectivity]a and [ fig : connectivity]b show the weighted connectivities of both the icoi - networks and the icosahedral networks that incorporate all connection types . it should immediately be pointed out that the decrease in weighted connectivity for high temperatures does not imply that the networks are highly connected prior to supercooling . rather , the relatively low degree of icosahedral ordering at these temperatures is responsible for the reduced measured connectivities . in both compositions of cu - zr , the non - interpenetrating connections that develop during supercooling dramatically enhance the unification of the networks . the effect of these connections is most obvious in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 mg ( fig . [ fig : connectivity]a ) ; the weighted connectivity of the icosahedral network decreases rapidly as the alloy is cooled from 1100 k down to 800 k ( @xmath7 ) . in contrast to this , the weighted connectivity of the icoi - network is not so significantly affected by the supercooling process . this suggests that non - interpenetrating connections are integral in linking the disjoint pieces of the icoi - network as the alloy approaches its glass phase . in the case of cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 , these bridging connections lead to an almost completely unified icosahedral network . the same network - unification was observed when the system size was increased to @xmath12 atoms . the weighted connectivity of cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 s icosahedral network ( fig . [ fig : connectivity]b ) exhibits a similar enhancement in comparison to its icoi network , though network - unification is not observed in this alloy . these findings suggest that non - interpenetrating connections are an important facet of icosahedral networking in cu - zr mgs and perhaps in other mgs in which icosahedral ordering is prevalent . the heavy presence of these connections amidst the most highly - connected icosahedra suggests that they may assist in the dynamical slowing of these clusters . it is also reasonable to expect that their roles in enhancing the density and structural unification of the icosahedral network s mro - structures contribute significantly to the structural - mechanical properties that were previously attributed only to icoi - structures@xcite . pins and bridges may be particularly important for compositions of cu - zr mg for which the development of icoi is less extensive , and yet are good glass formers . as indicated earlier , only about 60% of the icosahedra in cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 mg participate in interpenetrating connections , but its icosahedral network is further developed via other connection types ( fig.[fig : conndistr ] ) . we are also interested in studying whether the icosahedral network s weighted connectivity is simply related to the population density of icosahedra , or if approaching a completely unified network reveals more complex features . quenching a supercooled liquid into a glass produces major changes in the system s dynamics , yet there is no obvious long range structural change that accompanies this transition . despite this , rigorous bounds have been proven to exist between length and time scales in a glassy system which mandate that a growing length scale must accompany the diverging relaxation times of glass transitions@xcite . recent research efforts provide evidence for various growing correlation lengths @xcite . however , there are findings that these scales ( and in particular static length scales- i.e. , those that can be ascertained from static snapshots of the system ) do not increase , when approaching the glass transition , rapidly enough , as suggested by various theories , in order to account for the dramatic increase in the relaxation times@xcite . static correlation lengths have been studied via ` point - to - set ' correlations@xcite , three - point correlations @xcite , pattern repetition size@xcite , and approaches employ graph theoretical tools @xcite and shear rigidity penetration depths . currently , most of the intuitive length scales , especially static ones , do not increase as drastically as does the relaxation time upon the glass transition . as glasses are rigid , a length characterizing the scale on which the supercooled liquid can support shear @xcite may be anticipated to naturally increase as the system `` freezes '' into a rigid amorphous solid . motivated by these quests and , most notably , by the icosahedral network - unification that we observe in cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 during its glass transition , we introduce a static length scale , which interestingly exhibits dramatic growth upon quenching . our length scale is the longest icosahedron - to - icosahedron distance within a connected subgraph of the full icosahedral network . it may be conceivable that the percolating icosahedral structure and the related increase in the interpenetrating icosahedral unit structure that we find might be related to an increased rigidity of the system as it rapidly cooled towards the low temperature glassy state . connected subgraphs that cross the periodic boundaries are appropriately ` unfolded ' across the boundaries before the distance is measured , and the maximum length is averaged across consecutive simulation snapshots . figure [ fig : clusterlength ] depicts the rapid growth in the length scale as cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 is cooled to @xmath7 . from 1600 k down to @xmath7 , the longest icoi - chain length grows by a factor of 13 . for the full icosahedral networks of the @xmath13 atom and @xmath12 atom systems , the longest connected subgraph lengths increase by factors of 19 and 31 , respectively . as expected from the percolating nature of the network , and as indicated by the horizontal dashed lines in fig . [ fig : clusterlength ] , the extent by which the length scale grows is apparently limited only by the simulation cell size . finally , we characterized the average chemical compositions of a single icosahedral cluster ( including its center atom ) , the icosahedral network , and the different connection types . the results are summarized in figure [ fig : composition ] . the icosahedral networks of both cu - zr alloys were found to be zr - rich relative to their overall system compositions . this leaves the remaining liquidlike matrix of the systems to be cu - rich , as shown in figures [ fig : composition]a and [ fig : composition]b . figure [ fig : composition]c displays the average percent abundance of zr in each type of connection . comparing these ratios to the average icosahedral - shell composition ( also displayed in figure [ fig : composition]c ) reveals that non - interpenetrating connections do not appear to occur randomly between icosahedra , rather , they preferentially incorporate zr - atoms . because zr has a larger atomic volume than cu , these connections increase the density of the icosahedral network , while preserving the local composition of a single icosahedral cluster . in summary , we used a semi - empirical potential to conduct md simulations of cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 across liquid and glass - phase temperatures . our initial assessment of icosahedral ordering and networking within these systems provides additional support for the popular idea that interpenetrating connections serve to create robust , formative icosahedral structures . non - interpenetrating connections are shown , however , to become increasingly prevalent as the alloys approach their glass phases . viewing icosahedra as members of a network , interpenetrating icosahedra frequently participate in non - interpenetrating connections as well , and distinctly serve as the nodes of the network with the most connections . in particular , non - interpenetrating ` pinning ' and ` bridging ' connections are prominent amongst icoi - structures , and may be of particular structural importance in cu - zr mgs in which icoi are less extensive . to further characterize the structure of the icosahedral networks , we introduced the measure of weighted connectivity and used it to show that the network of cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 is almost completely unified , in contrast to its icoi - structures . accordingly , the maximum connected - cluster length lends itself as a static length scale , whose rapid growth upon quenching is apparently limited only by the simulation cube size . lastly , the vertex , edge , and face - sharing connections are shown to preferentially incorporate zr atoms , amidst icosahedral networks that are zr - rich compared to the system compositions . we thank nick mauro , and james bendert for their useful discussions . r.s . and l.y . were partially supported by the national science fundation ( nsf ) grant no . was partially supported by nsf grant no . k.f.k was partially supported by nsf under grants dmr-08 - 56199 and dmr-12 - 06707 , and nasa under grants nnx07ak27 g and nnx10au19 g .

we report on and characterize , via molecular dynamics ( md ) studies , the evolution of the structure of cu@xmath0zr@xmath0 and cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 metallic glasses ( mgs ) as temperature is varied . interestingly , a _ percolating icosahedral network _ appears in the cu@xmath1zr@xmath2 system as it is supercooled . this leads us to introduce a static length scale , which grows dramatically as this three dimensional system approaches the glass transition . amidst interpenetrating connections , non - interpenetrating connections between icosahedra are shown to become prevalent upon supercooling and to greatly enhance the connectivity of the mg s icosahedral network . additionally , we characterize the chemical compositions of the icosahedral networks and their components . these findings demonstrate the importance of non - interpenetrating connections for facilitating extensive structural networks in cu - zr mgs , which in turn drive dynamical slowing in these materials .

[ [ the - wellposedness ] ] the wellposedness + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + let @xmath4 be a separable hilbert space ( possibly infinite dimensional ) with scalar product @xmath5 and @xmath6 the corresponding norm , @xmath7 be two ( possibly unbounded ) skew - symmetric operators on @xmath4 . we consider the formal bilinear control system @xmath8 where the scalar control @xmath3 is to be chosen in a set of real functions . * definition : propagator on a hilbert space * + let @xmath9 be a real interval . a family @xmath11 of linear contractions , that is lipschitz maps with lipschitz constant less than one , on a hilbert space @xmath4 , strongly continuous in @xmath12 and @xmath13 and such that recall that a family @xmath19 , @xmath20 a subset of a banach space @xmath21 , is in @xmath22 if there exists @xmath23 such that @xmath24 for any partition @xmath25 of the interval @xmath26 . the mapping @xmath27 is a semi - norm on @xmath22 that we denote with @xmath28 . the semi - norm in @xmath22 is also called total variation . 1 . @xmath30 is a maximal skew - symmetric operator on @xmath4 with domain @xmath29 , 2 . [ ass : bv ] @xmath31 has bounded variation from @xmath9 to @xmath32 , where @xmath29 is endowed with the graph topology associated to @xmath33 for @xmath34 ensures that any choice of @xmath35 will be equivalent . ] , 3 . [ ass : resolventbound ] @xmath36 we do not assume @xmath37 to be continuous . however as a consequence of assumption [ ass : bv ] ( see ( * ? ? ? * theorem 3 ) ) it admits right and left limit in @xmath32 , @xmath38 , @xmath39 , for all @xmath40 , and @xmath41 for all @xmath42 except a countable set . [ thm : kato ] if @xmath43 satisfies the above assumptions , then there exists a unique contraction propagator @xmath44 such that if @xmath45 then @xmath46 and for @xmath47 @xmath48 and in this case @xmath49 is strongly left differentiable in @xmath12 and right differentiable in @xmath13 with derivative ( when @xmath50 ) @xmath51 and @xmath52 respectively . this theorem addresses the problem of existence of solution for the kind of non - autonomous system we consider here under very mild assumptions on the control command @xmath3 . for instance we consider bounded variation controls . under some additional assumptions such as the boundedness of the control potential , we can also consider radon measures . let us insist on the quantitative aspect of the theorem as it provides an estimate on the growth of the solution in the norm associated with @xmath1 . this is quantitative aspect is the starting point of the subsequent comments . 1 . the regularity of the input - output mapping , the flow of the problem , is obtained by proving that the control potential if it is regular enough do not alter the regularity properties of the uncontrolled problem . the regularity can be added to the functional setting of the wellposedness problem ; namely we solve the problem imposing regularity to the constructed solution . 1 . @xmath1 is invertible with bounded inverse from @xmath57 to @xmath4[assumption : fepsona ] , 2 . for any real @xmath12 , @xmath58 , 3 . there exists @xmath59 and @xmath60 such that @xmath61 and @xmath62 generate contraction semigroups on @xmath63 for the norm @xmath64 . for any @xmath67,\mathbf{r})\cap b_{l^\infty([0,t])}(0,1/\|b\|_a)$ ] , there exists a family of contraction propagators in @xmath4 that extends uniquely as contraction propagators to @xmath63 : @xmath68}\to l(d(|a|^{k/2}))$ ] such that 1 . for any @xmath69 $ ] , for any @xmath70 @xmath71[contraction ] 2 . for any @xmath69 $ ] , for any @xmath72 for any @xmath73,\mathbf{r})\cap b_{l^\infty([0,t])}(0,1/\|b\|_a))$ ] , there exists @xmath74 ( depending only on @xmath1 , @xmath2 and @xmath75)}$ ] ) @xmath76,\mathbf{r})}}\times\\ \times&e^{c_k(a , b)\left|\int_0^t u\right| } \|\psi_0\|_{1+k/2}\end{aligned}\ ] ] there is several outcomes to our analysis . first each attainable target from an initial state has to be as regular as the initial state and the control potential allows it to be . for instance if we consider the harmonic potential for the shrdinger equation and we try to control it by a smooth bounded potential then from any initial eigenvector one can not attain non - smooth non exponentially decaying states . an auxiliary result of our analysis is an immediate generalisation of the famous negative result by ball , marsden and slemrod @xcite that the attainable set is included in a countable union of compact sets for the initial hilbert setting of the problem for integrable control laws . we can show that this still holds for much smaller spaces than the initial hilbert space , for instance the domains and iterated domains of the uncontrolled problem , for much less regular controls such as bounded variation function or even radon measures . [ cor : noexactcontrollability2 ] let @xmath55 be a non negative real . let @xmath56 be @xmath55-weakly coupled . let @xmath70.then @xmath79,\mathbf{r } ) } \leq l , t\in [ 0,t ] , |\alpha|\leq a\right\}\ ] ] is a meagre set ( in the sense of baire ) in @xmath80 as a union of relatively compact subsets . in a practical setting it is clear that this negative result is useless . nonetheless we consider that such a negative result has a philosophical consequence , natural systems for which regularity of the bounded potential is natural can not be exactly controllable . such an observation is even more dramatic if one considers systems with continuous spectrum . once such a comment is made , practical questions remains , one of them is the question of the approximate controllability ( see ( * ? ? ? * definition 1 ) ) , we choose here to give a corollary of our analysis that can be helpfull when one want to tackle this issue . * definition * + let @xmath56 be a couple of unbounded operators and @xmath85 be an hilbert basis of @xmath4 . let @xmath86 and denote @xmath87 . galerkin approximation _ of order @xmath82 of system , when it makes sense , is the system @xmath88 where @xmath89 and @xmath90 , defined by @xmath91 are the _ compressions _ of @xmath1 and @xmath2 ( respectively ) associated with @xmath92 . notice that if @xmath1 is skew - adjoint and @xmath93 an hilbert basis made of eigenvectors of @xmath1 then @xmath94 satisfies the same assumptions as @xmath56 . we can therefore define the contraction propagator @xmath95 of associated with bounded variation control @xmath3 . we can also write that @xmath94 is @xmath55-weakly coupled for any prositive real @xmath55 as the weak coupling is actually invariant or at least does not deteriorate by compression with respect to a basis of eigenvectors of @xmath1 . [ prop : ggaforbounded ] let @xmath55 be a positive real . let @xmath1 with domain @xmath57 be the generator of a contraction semigroup and let @xmath2 be bounded in @xmath4 and @xmath63 with @xmath96 compact . let @xmath13 be non - negative numbers with @xmath97 . then for every @xmath98 , @xmath99 , @xmath100 , and @xmath101 in @xmath102 there exists @xmath86 such that for any @xmath103)}$ ] , @xmath104 ) < l \rightarrow \| \upsilon^{u}_{t}(\psi_{j } ) - x^{u}_{(n)}(t,0)\pi_{n } \psi_{j}\|_{s/2 } < \varepsilon,\ ] ] for every @xmath105 and @xmath106 . this example motivated the present analysis because of its physical importance . we consider @xmath107 a compact riemannian manifold endowed with the associated laplace - beltrami operator @xmath108 and the associated measure @xmath109 , @xmath110 two smooth functions and the bilinear quantum system @xmath111 with the previous notations , @xmath112 endowed with the hilbert product @xmath113 , @xmath114 and @xmath115 . for every @xmath116 , @xmath117 . there exists a hilbert basis @xmath118 of @xmath119 made of eigenvectors of @xmath1 . each eigenvalue of @xmath1 has finite multiplicity . for every @xmath55 , there exists @xmath120 in @xmath121 such that @xmath122 . the sequence @xmath123 tends to @xmath124 and , up to a reordering , is non decreasing . n. boussaid , m. caponigro , and t. chambrion . total variation of the control and energy of bilinear quantum systems . in _ decision and control ( cdc ) , 2013 ieee 52nd annual conference on _ , pages 37143719 , dec 2013 .

in the present analysis , we consider the controllability problem of the abstract schrdinger equation : @xmath0 where @xmath1 is a skew - adjoint operator , @xmath2 a control potential and @xmath3 is the control command . we are interested by approximation of this equation by finite dimensional systems . assuming that @xmath1 has a pure discrete spectrum and @xmath2 is in some sense regular with respect to @xmath1 we show that such an approximation is possible . more precisely the solutions are approximated by their projections on finite dimensional subspaces spanned by the eigenvectors of @xmath1 . this approximation is uniform in time and in the control @xmath3 , if this control has bounded variation with a priori bounded total variation . hence if these finite dimensional systems are controllable with a fixed bound on the total variation of @xmath3 then the system is approximatively controllable . the main outcome of our analysis is that we can build solutions for low regular controls @xmath3 such as bounded variation ones and even radon measures .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Act of 2001''. SEC. 2. SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA RESOURCES. Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.) is amended-- (1) by redesignating part E as part F; and (2) by inserting after part D the following: ``PART E--ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOL LIBRARIES TO IMPROVE LITERACY ``Subpart 1--Library Media Resources ``SEC. 2350. PURPOSE. ``The purposes of this subpart are-- ``(1) to improve literacy skills and academic achievement of students by providing students with increased access to up- to-date school library materials, a well-equipped, technologically advanced school library media center, and well- trained, professionally certified school library media specialists; ``(2) to support the acquisition of up-to-date school library media resources for the use of students, school library media specialists, and teachers in elementary schools and secondary schools; ``(3) to provide school library media specialists with the tools and training opportunities necessary for the specialists to facilitate the development and enhancement of the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical thinking skills of students; and ``(4)(A) to ensure the effective coordination of resources for library, technology, and professional development activities for elementary schools and secondary schools; and ``(B) to ensure collaboration between school library media specialists, and elementary school and secondary school teachers and administrators, in developing curriculum-based instructional activities for students so that school library media specialists are partners in the learning process of students. ``SEC. 2351. STATE ALLOTMENTS. ``The Secretary shall allot to each eligible State educational agency for a fiscal year an amount that bears the same relation to the amount appropriated under section 2360 and not reserved under section 2359 for the fiscal year as the amount the State educational agency received under part A of title I for the preceding fiscal year bears to the amount all eligible State educational agencies received under part A of title I for the preceding fiscal year. ``SEC. 2352. STATE APPLICATIONS. ``To be eligible to receive an allotment under section 2351 for a State for a fiscal year, the State educational agency shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary shall require. The application shall contain a description of-- ``(1) the manner in which the State educational agency will use the needs assessment described in section 2355(1) and poverty data to allocate funds made available through the allotment to the local educational agencies in the State with the greatest need for school library media improvement; ``(2) the manner in which the State educational agency will effectively coordinate all Federal and State funds available for literacy, library, technology, and professional development activities to assist local educational agencies, elementary schools, and secondary schools in-- ``(A) acquiring up-to-date school library media resources in all formats, including books and advanced technology such as Internet connections; and ``(B) providing training for school library media specialists; ``(3) the manner in which the State educational agency will develop standards for the incorporation of new technologies into the curricula of elementary schools and secondary schools through school library media programs to develop and enhance the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical thinking skills of students; and ``(4) the manner in which the State educational agency will evaluate the quality and impact of activities carried out under this subpart by local educational agencies to make determinations regarding the need of the agencies for technical assistance and whether to continue funding the agencies under this subpart. ``SEC. 2353. STATE RESERVATION. ``A State educational agency that receives an allotment under section 2351 may reserve not more than 3 percent of the funds made available through the allotment to provide technical assistance, disseminate information about effective school library media programs, and pay administrative costs, relating to this subpart. ``SEC. 2354. LOCAL ALLOCATIONS. ``(a) In General.--A State educational agency that receives an allotment under section 2351 for a fiscal year shall use the funds made available through the allotment and not reserved under section 2353 to make allocations to local educational agencies. ``(b) Agencies.--The State educational agency shall allocate the funds to the local educational agencies in the State that have-- ``(1) the greatest need for school library media improvement according to the needs assessment described in section 2355(1); and ``(2) the highest percentages of poverty, as measured in accordance with section 1113(a)(5). ``SEC. 2355. LOCAL APPLICATION. ``To be eligible to receive an allocation under section 2354 for a fiscal year, a local educational agency shall submit to the State educational agency an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the State educational agency shall require. The application shall contain-- ``(1) a needs assessment relating to need for school library media improvement, based on the age and condition of school library media resources (including book collections), access of school library media centers to advanced technology, including Internet connections, and the availability of well- trained, professionally certified school library media specialists, in schools served by the local educational agency; ``(2) a description of the manner in which the local educational agency will use the needs assessment to assist schools with the greatest need for school library media improvement; ``(3) a description of the manner in which the local educational agency will use the funds provided through the allocation to carry out the activities described in section 2356; ``(4) a description of the manner in which the local educational agency will develop and carry out the activities described in section 2356 with the extensive participation of school library media specialists, elementary school and secondary school teachers and administrators, and parents; ``(5) a description of the manner in which the local educational agency will effectively coordinate-- ``(A) funds provided under this subpart with the Federal, State, and local funds received by the agency for literacy, library, technology, and professional development activities; and ``(B) activities carried out under this subpart with the Federal, State, and local library, technology, and professional development activities carried out by the local educational agency; and ``(6) a description of the manner in which the local educational agency will collect and analyze data on the quality and impact of activities carried out under this subpart by schools served by the local educational agency. ``SEC. 2356. LOCAL ACTIVITIES. ``A local educational agency that receives a local allocation under section 2354 may use the funds made available through the allocation-- ``(1) to acquire up-to-date school library media resources, including books; ``(2) to acquire and utilize advanced technology, incorporated into the curricula of the schools, to develop and enhance the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical thinking skills of students; ``(3) to acquire and utilize advanced technology, including Internet links, to facilitate resource-sharing among schools and school library media centers, and public and academic libraries, where possible; ``(4) to provide professional development opportunities for school library media specialists; and ``(5) to foster increased collaboration between school library media specialists and elementary school and secondary school teachers and administrators. ``SEC. 2357. ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONTINUATION OF FUNDS. ``Each local educational agency that receives funding under this subpart for a fiscal year shall be eligible to continue to receive the funding-- ``(1) for each of the 2 following fiscal years; and ``(2) for each fiscal year subsequent to the 2 following fiscal years, if the local educational agency demonstrates that the agency has increased-- ``(A) the availability of, and the access of students, school library media specialists, and elementary school and secondary school teachers to, up- to-date school library media resources, including books and advanced technology, in elementary schools and secondary schools served by the local educational agency; ``(B) the number of well-trained, professionally certified school library media specialists in those schools; and ``(C) collaboration between school library media specialists and elementary school and secondary school teachers and administrators for those schools. ``SEC. 2358. SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT. ``Funds made available under this subpart shall be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State, and local funds expended to carry out activities relating to library, technology, or professional development activities. ``SEC. 2359. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. ``The Secretary shall reserve not more than 3 percent of the amount appropriated under section 2360 for a fiscal year-- ``(1) for an annual, independent, national evaluation of the activities assisted under this subpart, to be conducted not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this subpart; and ``(2) to broadly disseminate information to help States, local educational agencies, school library media specialists, and elementary school and secondary school teachers and administrators learn about effective school library media programs. ``SEC. 2360. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subpart $475,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2006. ``Subpart 2--School Library Access Program ``SEC. 2361. PROGRAM. ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may make grants to local educational agencies to provide students with access to libraries in elementary schools and secondary schools during non-school hours, including the hours before and after school, weekends, and summer vacation periods. ``(b) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under subsection (a), a local educational agency shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. ``(c) Priority.--In making grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to local educational agencies that demonstrate, in applications submitted under subsection (b), that the agencies-- ``(1) seek to provide activities that will increase literacy skills and student achievement; ``(2) have effectively coordinated services and funding with entities involved in other Federal, State, and local efforts, to provide programs and activities for students during the non-school hours described in subsection (a); and ``(3) have a high level of community support. ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subpart $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2006.''.

Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Act of 2001 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a program of assistance to school libraries to improve literacy through: (1) mandatory allotments to States for library media resources; and (2) discretionary grants for school library access during non-school hours.

among many cosmological surveys , the submillimetre ( submm ) survey is very unique , in the sense that the expected flux density of sources is almost insensitive to redshift for @xmath11 1 8 , owing to the strong negative @xmath1-correction ( e.g. * ? ? ? although the current sensitivity allows us to detect only the brightest infrared galaxies in the universe , it is possible to detect massive starbursts and gas rich qsos at extreme redshifts @xmath12 if exist ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ) . however , most of the submm galaxies ( smgs ) currently identified lie at @xmath13 . this is not because of the detection limit as noted above , but because of the ` identification limit ' , owing to a large beam size of current ( sub)mm telescopes used for surveys . the radio emission provides a high - resolution substitute for the infrared emission observed in the submm ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) , and hence the detection limit in the radio has set the upper limits on redshifts of identified smgs @xcite . the best way to identify optical counterparts of smgs is to have high resolution submm images with interferometers @xcite . although time consuming , it allows us to perform direct optical / near - infrared ( nir ) identifications from the submm position . here we adopt another method of direct optical identification using optical / nir colours of galaxies around the submm source . the expected number of random optical / nir associations within the error circle of the submm position is not negligible ; e.g. there would be @xmath14 @xmath1-band sources ( @xmath15 on average within a @xmath16 radius ( see below ) . however , if smgs have rather confined optical - nir colours and the surface density of objects with similar colours is reasonably low , it will be possible to directly identify smgs without using costly high - resolution submm images . as in the radio identification method @xcite , we can calculate the formal significance of each optical / nir association , given the number counts of colour - selected galaxies . to do this we need a firm basis for the colours of smgs . since the discovery of smgs , extremely red objects ( eros ) usually defined with @xmath17 or @xmath18 and distant red galaxies with @xmath19 have been paid special attention as candidates of smg counterparts ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? it turns out that the fraction of eros or drgs in smgs is not very high and their surface densities are not low enough to reject random associations . among the nir - selected galaxy populations in the literature , bzk - selected star - forming galaxies ( bzks * * ) may be the most promising counterparts of smgs @xcite , which lie at @xmath20 and include heavily obscured galaxies , such as smgs , as an extreme subset . in this paper , we indeed find that almost all of the @xmath1-faint ( indicating higher redshifts ) radio - detected smgs are bzks . we then use bzks as a key galaxy population to identify radio - undetected smgs at @xmath20 . since the bzk - selection is based on observed wavelengths covering a spectral break at 4000 , we can naturally extend this selection technique to the higher redshift range , e.g. @xmath21 , in the future by using a combination of wavebands at longer wavelengths . we also emphasize that the understanding of the physical relation between smgs and bzks would be important to reveal the evolution of galaxies at @xmath0 , given that they have similar stellar masses of @xmath22m@xmath23 , and spatial correlation lengths of @xmath10@xmath24mpc @xcite . we discuss the hypothesis of smgs being merging bzks . we adopt the sample of smgs from the scuba half degree extragalactic survey ( shades * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) as described in section 2 . in section 3 , we investigate typical optical / nir colours of the radio - detected smgs . we apply our direct identification method for radio - undetected smgs in section 4 . we then discuss a possible evolutionary link between smgs and bzks in section 5 . finally we give our summary in section 6 . throughout this paper , we assume a cosmology with @xmath25 , @xmath26 and @xmath27@xmath28km@xmath28sec@xmath29@xmath28mpc@xmath29 . all magnitudes in this paper use the ab system unless otherwise noted . [ cols="<,<,<,^,^,^,^,^,^,^,^,^,^ " , ] note bold figures indicate the adopted @xmath30 . @xmath31 angular distance from shades centroid . @xmath32 @xmath6 values for bzk galaxies . no entry indicates that the galaxy does not satisfy bzk colour criteria . @xmath33 same as @xmath32 but for the bzk - ero overlapping population . @xmath34 same as @xmath32 but for the bzk - ero - drg overlapping population . @xmath35 two robust identifications for one smg . @xmath36 tentative identification , because of @xmath37 ( sxdf850.91 ) or the presence of another @xmath1-bright association ( sxdf850.93 ) . figure [ pval ] shows the histogram of @xmath30 values for bzks around the radio - undetected smgs in the sxdf and also for the radio identifications . the radio identifications have a systematically lower @xmath30 than bzks around the radio - undetected smgs , owing to the pre - selection by radio with @xmath38 . the dashed lines in figure [ pval ] indicate the expected number of chance associations as a function of @xmath6 . the normalization of these curves is given by the number of searched regions , i.e. 36 for the shades sources with radio counterparts and 24 for those without radio counterparts . in table 3 , we tabulate the derived @xmath6 for bzks around the radio - undetected shades sources with @xmath39 . the robust identifications are indicated by solid squares in the colour - colour diagrams ( figures [ bzk ] and [ rjk ] ) . from the @xmath6-statistics of nir galaxies , we find 6 robust ( including one double identification ) and 2 tentative identifications . thus , the success rate of identification is not very high , only @xmath40% . this might be reasonable if we consider the possible bias in radio - undetected smgs toward optically faint counterparts at high redshifts . all of the robust nir identifications but one are @xmath41/bzks or @xmath42/bzks , owing to lower surface densities than that of bare bzks . this indicates that the current positional uncertainty is too large to use bare bzks for a counterpart population . therefore , it is practical to use @xmath41/bzks and/or @xmath42/bzks , although the completeness of identification would decrease by a factor of 2 . this is still an encouraging performance for future exploitation . we can extend this technique to higher redshifts , using a combination of photometric bands at longer wavelengths , such as @xmath43 ( see * ? ? ? * ) , @xmath44 and so on . this technique will be useful to push the current ` identification limit ' of smgs to @xmath21 . bzk - selected radio - undetected smgs would have a lower dust temperature than radio detected ones . although the sample suffers from various selection effects , due to optical - nir colour cuts , we could put some constraints on the number of smgs with cool dust . we identified 5 radio - undetected smgs as bzks . on the other hand , we found that 13 radio - detected smgs ( singly associated ones ) are bzks . thus , we estimate that the fraction of radio - undetected smgs at @xmath45 would be @xmath46% . this is a lower limit , since we can identify only smgs with extremely red colours such as @xmath41/bzks and @xmath42/bzks . we also caution that our sample is limited to those with @xmath1-band magnitudes of @xmath47 , and missing extremely faint smgs . we summarise the fraction of smgs in each nir galaxy population by using the observed surface density . the effective area of shades in the sxdf is @xmath48arcmin@xmath49 @xcite . considering both the radio and nir identifications , we found 18(@xmath50 ) , 12(@xmath51 ) , and 12(@xmath52 ) singly associated smgs ( plus possible candidates from multiple identifications ) are bzks , eros , and drgs , respectively / bzk . ] . these numbers give surface densities of smgs with bzk , ero , drg colours of 0.07@xmath53 , @xmath54 , and @xmath54arcmin@xmath55 , respectively . using the surface density of each galaxy population in table 2 , we derive the fraction of smgs in bzks , eros , and drgs , to be about 1 per cent . these are the current best estimates of the fraction of smgs in these galaxy populations . nine ( 6 radio and 3 nir identified ) singly associated smgs are found to be @xmath42/bzks , giving a surface density of @xmath560.04arcmin@xmath55 . the surface density of @xmath42/bzks would be around 0.25 0.7arcmin@xmath55 , considering the results by takagi et al . ( 2007 ) and lane et al . thus , @xmath5610% of @xmath42/bzks are likely to be smgs , and therefore @xmath42/bzks contain a much higher fraction of smgs than other optical / nir - selected galaxy populations . this confirms the results by takagi et al . ( 2007 ) . given the assumed cosmology , a cosmic ( co - moving ) volume we consider is 9@xmath57mpc@xmath58 for the redshift range of @xmath59 and the survey area of @xmath48arcmin@xmath49 . we find 18 bzk - selected smgs in this volume , corresponding to a space density of @xmath60mpc@xmath61 . we discuss a possible evolutionary link between smgs and bzks and its implications for physical properties of smgs , by using the star formation rate ( sfr)-stellar mass ( @xmath62 ) relation of bzks . in the following , we discuss only smgs satisfying the bzk selection criterion and @xmath63 ( vega ) , in order to securely derive stellar masses . we find seven such smgs ( singly associated ones ) from our sample . in order to increase the sample , we also use the sample of radio - detected smgs in @xcite , which have spectroscopic redshifts and @xmath1-band photometry @xcite . we find seven smgs in their sample , which have a starburst - dominated optical spectrum , a redshift at @xmath64 ( i.e. the redshift range of bzks ) , and @xmath63 ( vega ) . we refer to this sample and the sample from the sxdf as the chapman sample and the sxdf sample , respectively . the starburst activity of smgs seems to be induced by galaxy interactions / mergers as indicated by their morphology and dynamical properties @xcite . immediate progenitors of smgs would be gaseous star - forming galaxies as massive as smgs . most plausible candidates for this parent population would be star - forming bzks , given a similar stellar mass and coevality with smgs . although the sfrs of bzks are sometimes as high as those of local ulirgs @xcite , the kinematical properties of bzks are more similar to quiescent disc galaxies @xcite . this quiescent nature of star formation in bzks is also supported by the measurement of the star formation efficiency from the co luminosity , which is an order of magnitude lower than that of smgs and similar to local spirals @xcite . in the following discussion , we assume that some dynamical perturbations occurring in bzks induce the vigorous star formation of smgs . we derive the stellar masses of smgs , using the empirical formulae by daddi et al . ( 2004 , their eq . 6 and 7 for the sed - fitting derived mass ) : @xmath65 \end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath66 ( vega ) is the @xmath1-band magnitude corresponding on average to a mass of @xmath67m@xmath23 . since these formulae are calibrated for @xmath63 ( vega ) , we restrict our sample of smgs to those in this magnitude range as noted above . the correction term with @xmath68 colour is applied only for the sxdf sample , since @xmath69-band photometry is not available for the chapman sample in the literature . the stellar masses derived from these formulae are based on the salpeter initial mass function extending between 0.1 and 100m@xmath23 . in deriving the stellar masses , we adopt petrosian magnitudes from the ukidss catalogue for estimation of total @xmath1-band magnitudes . for the chapman sample , we adopt the total @xmath1-band magnitudes in smail et al . ( 2004 ) , which are estimated with the aperture photometry of a large ( 4@xmath70 ) diameter . we find that the mean stellar mass of 14 smgs ( 7 from sxdf and the other 7 from the chapman sample ) is 1.2@xmath71m@xmath23 . if we included smgs with @xmath72 ( vega ) as well , the mean stellar mass would reduce about 20% . the uncertainty in the stellar mass on single objects is about 60% ( daddi et al . however , we caution that the uncertainty may be much larger than this , since smgs would have a large fraction of mass in substantially obscured stellar populations . for example , @xcite derive on average 5 times higher stellar masses from rest - frame @xmath1-band magnitudes than those reported from modeling the uv / optical seds of smgs in smail et al . ( 2004 ) . the sfrs are derived from radio 1.4ghz fluxes and redshifts . we estimate the fir luminosities from the radio - infrared luminosity relation , @xmath73 found for smgs @xcite , where @xmath74 and @xmath75thz . the radio luminosities at the rest - frame 1.4ghz are calculated with @xmath76 where @xmath77 and @xmath78 are the luminosity distance and the 1.4ghz flux density , and @xmath79 is the spectral index ( @xmath80 ) . we adopt @xmath81 . for the sxdf sample , we assume a redshift of @xmath82 , an average redshift of bzks @xcite . for the chapman sample , we use the spectroscopic redshifts from chapman et al . we convert the derived fir luminosity to the sfr using a relation sfr = @xmath83l@xmath23 @xcite . for the combined sample of smgs , we derive an average sfr of 680m@xmath23yr@xmath29 . this becomes 600m@xmath23yr@xmath29 if we include the smgs with @xmath72 ( vega ) . if we adopt the widely - used local radio - fir relation by , instead of that for smgs by @xcite , the derived sfrs increases by a factor of @xmath8 . local ulirgs are also considered for comparison . we adopt the average of the sample in @xcite . we use the dynamical mass , instead of the stellar mass , which gives a solid upper limit on the stellar mass . the averages of the dynamical masses and the sfrs are 1.3@xmath71m@xmath23 and 340m@xmath23yr@xmath29 , respectively . we now consider how much sfrs are enhanced in smgs , owing to dynamical perturbations . such an enhancement may be estimated from a comparison of the average sfr of smgs with that of bzks , a suspected progenitor population of smgs , with a similar stellar mass . we note that the increase in the stellar mass would be less than a factor of @xmath84 in merging of gas - righ galaxies to produce still gaseous smgs , in which we could neglect the increase in stellar mass after merging . the average sfr of progenitor galaxies may be estimated from the correlation between sfrs and stellar masses found for bzks or local star - forming galaxies , once we derive the stellar mass of smgs or local ulirgs . in figure [ mass ] , we plot the sfrs and stellar masses of smgs and local ulirgs . @xcite present the correlation between the sfr and the stellar mass of bzks , sfr = 200@xmath85 where @xmath86m@xmath23 , which is depicted as the solid line in the figure . also , the same correlation but for local blue galaxies found in the sloan digital sky survey sfr = 8.7@xmath87 is shown as the dashed line . comparing the average sfr and @xmath62 of smgs to the sfr-@xmath62 relation of bzks , we estimate that a typical enhancement of sfr experienced by smgs is around a factor of 3 indicated as the solid arrow in figure [ mass ] . this enhancement is rather moderate as if smgs follow the same sfr-@xmath62 relation . in the local universe , such a moderate enhancement is , for example , found for m82 ( figure 18 in elbaz et al . 2007 ) , whose starburst activity is likely to be induced by interactions with m81 . compared to local ulirgs , this enhancement is less significant by an order of magnitude . we estimate the sfr enhancement of local ulirgs to be a factor of @xmath88 ( the dotted arrow ) , comparing the mean sfr and @xmath62 of local ulirgs with the sfr-@xmath62 relation of local star - forming galaxies . this is a lower limit , since we use the dynamical mass for local ulirgs . if progenitors of smgs are bzks with a stellar mass comparable to smgs , then the sfr enhancement could _ not _ be as high as local ulirgs . as @xcite indicated , smgs are probably experiencing maximum starbursts @xcite , determined roughly by the dynamical time scale of galaxies and negative feedback due to super novae . the maximum sfr expected for smgs would be around 600m@xmath23yr@xmath29 @xcite , which is already comparable to the observed sfrs . what are implications of a moderate ( @xmath89 ) sfr enhancement of smgs ? in the local universe , such a moderate enhancement is found for typical interacting pairs of galaxies ( not necessarily in the most luminous merging phase ) with a projected distance of @xmath90 kpc @xcite . the numerical simulation by also indicates that a typical enhancement of sfr during the major merger phase is only a factor of @xmath91 . if this moderate enhancement is a typical case at @xmath0 as well , the fraction of smgs in star - forming bzks could be as high as the merger fraction . although the merger fraction at @xmath92 is quite uncertain , it would be at least similar to or higher than the value at @xmath9 of @xmath10% ( e.g. * ? ? ? * ; * ? ? ? * ) , because of the hierarchical clustering properties of the galaxy formation process . this argument leaves us an open question why the fraction of smgs in bzks is not @xmath93 per cent , but only @xmath94 per cent . a bias of the submm surveys , which tend to miss galaxies as luminous as smgs but with higher dust temperatures , should play a role here , but the effect would be only a factor of @xmath95 @xcite . also we are missing some fraction of radio - undetected , and hence cool - dust smgs , which are not extremely red ( see section 4.2 ) . even if we consider luminous dusty galaxies at @xmath0 with both higher and lower dust temperatures , a correction for the incompleteness would be less than an order of magnitude , and therefore not enough to reconcile the apparent inconsistency . we could explain this apparent inconsistency between the rareness of smgs and its moderate sfr enhancement as follows . at @xmath0 , galaxy interactions may be too common , which means that high specific sfrs ( mass - normalized sfrs ) of bzks are a result of galaxy interactions to some extent . in this case , there would be almost no net enhancement of sfr in typical interacting galaxies over the sfr-@xmath62 relation . the sfr enhancement of smgs looks moderate , but might be indeed significant as galaxies at @xmath0 , possibly caused only by rare merging events , such as those with some particular orbit parameters , very equal mass ratios , or multiple mergers . for example , according to the numerical simulation by , high gas concentrations and hence high sfr enhancement can be realized not in direct mergers , but in retrograde mergers . we should bare in mind that smgs are not the only galaxy population experiencing major mergers . smgs will merely be a tip of iceberg . @xcite suggest that uv morphologies of bzks and uv - selected ( bx / bm ) galaxies are not distinguishable from that of smgs . this indicates either that not only smgs but also bzks and bx / bm galaxies are experiencing merger - induced starbursts , or simply that the uv morphology is not a reliable indicator of a major merger . on the other hand , @xcite show that smgs are a dynamically distinctive galaxy population with large mass concentration , i.e. dynamically hotter than bzks and bx / bm galaxies . therefore , the uv morphology may not be very useful to identify dynamically hot galaxies at @xmath96 , as suggested by no obvious correlations between the uv morphology and other galactic properties , such as sfr , outflow and stellar mass @xcite . we need more direct measures on dynamical properties of galaxies at @xmath0 , in order to identify kin of smgs . for this purpose , atacama large millimeter array ( alma * ? ? ? * ) will play an important role , which is capable of measuring gas dynamics of @xmath7-mjy sources , such as bzks @xcite . we identify optical - nir counterparts of 28 radio - detected smgs , including multiple associations , in the shades / sxdf , and have compiled optical and near - infrared photometry of these sources . we then investigate optical / near - infrared colours ( @xmath2 , @xmath97 and @xmath98 ) of radio - detected smgs , along with the additional sample from the hdf , to find that almost all of @xmath1-faint ( @xmath99 ) smgs have @xmath100 , i.e. bzks . this forms a strong basis of identifying radio - undetected smgs using bzks around submm sources . we calculate the formal significance ( @xmath6 value ) for individual bzks around radio - undetected smgs , and found 6 robust ( @xmath101 ) identifications , including one double identification . all of these new identifications but one are extremely red , i.e. @xmath41/bzks or @xmath42/bzks . it turns out that the current positional uncertainty is too large to use bare bzks for the direct optical identification . however , this result is encouraging for future exploitation of smgs at @xmath21 using a combination of longer wavebands , such as @xmath43 and @xmath44 . from a comparison of observed surface densities , we find that only @xmath94 per cent of bzks , eros and drgs are smgs , while this fraction is as high as @xmath102% for the bzk - ero - drg overlapping population , @xmath103bzks . the average sfr of bzk - selected smgs is @xmath56680m@xmath23yr@xmath29 . if smgs are major mergers of typical disk - like star - forming galaxies at @xmath0 , i.e. bzks , the enhancement of sfr occurring in smgs would be only a factor of @xmath563 . this enhancement is an order of magnitude lower than that of local ulirgs . such a moderate enhancement of sfr is found in ordinary galaxy pairs with a separation of @xmath104kpc in the local universe , and not significant at all . thus , the rareness of smgs at @xmath0 is rather puzzling . this may be because the sfr of star - forming bzks is already enhanced by galaxy interactions to some extent , and hence the moderate sfr enhancement of smgs over bzks could indeed be significant as a galaxy at @xmath0 . a quantitative explanation on statistical properties of ulirgs near and far would be a challenging task for the theory of galaxy formation , requiring clear understanding of galaxy evolution and the physics of galaxy interactions . we thank all the members of the shades consortium for their persistent efforts to publish the source catalogue . we are grateful to k. motohara for providing us the number counts of nir - selected galaxies . also we are thankful to j. furusawa for providing us photometric redshifts from the sxds . we wish to thank an anonymous referee for very useful and constructive comments , including the suggestion to add more samples from the literature . this work is based in part on data obtained as part of the ukirt infrared deep sky survey and the subaru / xmm - newton deep survey . we thank d. elbaz for providing us compiled spectral energy distributions of arp220 and m82 . we also thank e. daddi for sending us his data points used in figure 7 . tt acknowledges the japan society for the promotion of science ( jsps pd fellow , no . 18@xmath1057747 ) . a. j. , murowinski r. , tarenghi m. , 2006 , in ground - based and airborne telescopes . edited by stepp , larry m .. proceedings of the spie , volume 6267 , pp . 626702 ( 2006 ) . 6267 of presented at the society of photo - optical instrumentation engineers ( spie ) conference , the atacama large millimeter / submillimeter array : overview and status t. , nagashima c. , nakajima y. , nagata t. , sato s. , nakaya h. , yamamuro t. , sugitani k. , tamura m. , 2003 , in instrument design and performance for optical / infrared ground - based telescopes . edited by iye , masanori ; moorwood , alan f. m. proceedings of the spie , volume 4841 , pp . 459 - 464 ( 2003 ) . sirus : a near infrared simultaneous three - band camera . pp 459464 s. j. , hambly n. c. , dye s. , almaini o. , cross n. j. g. , edge a. c. , foucaud s. , hewett p. c. , hodgkin s. t. , irwin m. j. , jameson r. f. , lawrence a. , lucas p. w. , adamson a. j. , et al . 2007 , , 375 , 213

we investigate the relationship between two massive star - forming galaxy populations at redshift @xmath0 ; i.e. submillimetre galaxies ( smgs ) and bzk - selected galaxies ( bzks ) . out of 60 smgs found in the subaru / xmm - newton deep field , we collect optical nir photometry of 28 radio counterparts for 24 smgs , based on refined sky positions with a radio map for 35 smgs ( ivison et al . 2007 ) . we find a correlation between their @xmath1-band magnitudes and @xmath2 [ @xmath3 colours : almost all of the @xmath1-faint ( @xmath4 ) radio - detected smgs have @xmath5 , and therefore bzks . this result gives strong support to perform direct optical identification of smgs by searching for bzks around smgs . we calculate the formal significance ( @xmath6 value ) for each of the bzk associations around radio - undetected smgs , and find 6 new robust identifications , including one double identification . from this analysis , we obtain the current best estimate on the surface density of bzk - selected smgs , which indicates that only @xmath7 per cent of bzks are smgs . if bzks are normal disk - like galaxies at @xmath0 as indicated by the correlation between their star formation rate ( sfr ) and stellar mass and also by dynamical properties , smgs are likely to be merging bzks . in this case , a typical enhancement of sfr due to merging is only a factor of @xmath8 , which is an order of magnitude lower than that of local ulirgs . this may indicate that most of the merging bzks could be observed as smgs . considering a possible high fraction of mergers at @xmath0 ( at least it would be higher than the fraction at @xmath9 of @xmath10 per cent ) , it is rather puzzling to find such a low fraction of smgs in the progenitor population , i.e. bzks . galaxies : starburst dust , extinction infrared : galaxies submillimetre galaxies : evolution .

atrial fibrillation ( afib ) is the most frequent continuous cardiac arrhythmia and it could be present under abnormal organic cardiac disease or not . when it occurs under any situation , it causes the reduction of cardiac output and intra - atrial thrombus formation which could be an origin of systemic embolism because there is no mechanical activity in both atrial chambers . as provided in american college of cardiology and american heart association , the treatment of afib is composed of several anti - arrhythymic or rate control agents , electric sinus conversion and anticoagulant agents . among these modalities , surgical cox - maze procedure has been known as the best tool for confident sinus conversion . since cox - maze procedure was first performed at 1987 , it has been modified twice to cox - maze iii procedure . after late 1990 's , by means of various energy sources such as cryoablation , unipolar or bipolar radiofrequncy ultrasound and microwave it has been modified to be cox - maze iv procedure which is less invasive and costs lesser procedure time . the lesion sets of cox - maze iv procedure can be matched with that of cox - maze iii procedure . however , the durability of cox - maze iv procedure is not guaranteed compared to original cut and sew technique in terms of transmurality formation in some papers . in addition , because it could cause considerable aortic cross clamp time , frequent bleeding episodes from incision line and operative complexity , original cut and sew technique was abandoned in these days . so , in this paper , we tried to provide appropriate treatment for afib associated with valvular heart disease by analyzing the results of cox - maze iv procedure using bipolar radiofrequency and cryoablation . a retrospective analysis was made of ninety four consecutive patients who underwent cox - maze iv procedure associated with valvular heart disease between november 2005 and june 2009 in our institution ( seoul national university hospital ) . the operation was performed by single surgeon ( k - h kim ) . since the year 2000 , we have performed cox - maze iii procedure using cryoablation ( frigitronics , cardiovascular cryosurgical system-200 , atricure inc , chester , oh ) , and after early 2005 , we adopted bipolar radiofrequency ( rfbp2 , bipolar irrigated radiofrequency , cardioblatebp2 , medtronic inc , minneapolis , mn ) in afib surgery . all patients had valvular heart disease which was candidate for open valvualr heart surgery and there was no patient who had lone afib . the causes of valvular heart disease were sixty - two rheumatic diseases ( 66.0% ) , twenty - two degenerative diseases ( 23.4% ) and ten cases ( 10.6% ) of the other etiologies such as mixed form or congenital cause . among them , six cases ( 6.4% ) were redo - sternotomy . all patients had chronic continuous afib preoperatively and we excluded the patients who had paroxysmal afib . there were eleven patients ( 11.7% ) who had an episode of cerevrovascular accident and ten ( 10.6% ) who had been prescribed anti - arrhythymic agent and no patient who had been performed direct current electric cadioversion preoperatively ( table 1 ) . mitral procedures requiring repair or replacement were most frequent combined procedure ( 87 cases , 92.6% ) . coronary artery bypass grafting with valvular surgery were 5 cases ( 5.3% ) and ascending aorta procedures requiring reduction plasty or replacement were 7 cases ( 7.4% ) . in tricuspid position , we performed annuloplasty using mc3 ring ( edwards lifescience , irvine , ca , usa ) whenever there was annular dilatation more two - finger breadth on intraoperative finding in spite of preoperative mild tricuspid regurgitation . operative procedure was in progress as usual open heart surgery ; under general anesthesia , swan - ganz catheter was inserted via internal jugular vein to pulmonary artery . after median sternotomy , we put the arterial cannula on ascending aorta usually and dual venous cannula on separate vena cava . according to combined surgery , we generally performed right atrial ablation on beating heart before aorta cross clamping to minimize the myocardial ischemic time . ablation procedure for left atrium was performed during aorta cross clamp time with main combined procedure . all ablation procedures obtained transmural lesion by instrumental guidelines ; we applied a cryothermy using n2o for more two minute under -60 and bipolar radiofrequency twice using 25~30 watt energy . after right atriotomy ( horizontal line ) , a lesion set extended to tricuspid annulus via internal right atrial wall toward two o'clock by cryoablation . then , small incision was made on right atrial auricle and bipolar radio frequency was applied to right atrial oblique line via free wall , and cryoablation was attempted to internal right atrial wall lesion to the annulus toward ten o'clock . with bipolar radio frequency in addition , septal line to foramen ovale was constructed by bipolar radio frequency , too . regarding left atrial lesion sets , separate both pulmonary artery box lesions were made by bipolar radio frequency with extended left atriotomy incision . then , the lines between both box lesions were constructed by cryoablation or radiofrequency superiorly and inferiorly . whenever there was marshall ligament around left pulmonary artery , we cut it down . there were seventeen cases ( 18.1% ) in which marshall ligament existed . before mitral prosthesis insertion , cryoablation was applied on mitral isthmus to mitral annulus . at last , we ablated the lesion between left pulmonary artery box line and left atrial auricle with cryothermy and obliterated the left atrial auricle externally with simple double tie ligation or excision . we reviewed the preoperative risk factors and several echocardiographic parameters such as left atrial size and left ventricular ejection fraction at preoperative , before discharge , postoperative 6months and 12~18 months . we also performed 12-lead electrocardiography ( ecg ) daily during perioperative period and checked it bi - monthly for two years after operation , and performed holter monitoring in occasion as needed . in this study , we defined " free from afib " as ecg showed normal sinus rhythm , junctional rhythm , atrial pacing rhythm or other regular ventricular beat . we also defined a failure of maze procedure as case of afib at postoperative 6months and regarded recurrence of afib after 6months as a recurrence of afib . ten preoperative and postoperative variables were evaluated in a univariate analysis to identify potential predictors of maze failure or afib recurrence . univariate analyses were performed for all parameters by means of analysis and student 's t test for continuous variables . a multivariable analysis ( logistic regression model ) one patient was expired because of sudden rupture of left ventricle after mitral valve replacement and the other was death from postoperative low cardiac output syndrome . postoperative morbidities were two cerebrovascular accidents ( 2.1% ) , two reoperations due to bleeding ( 2.1% ) , two superficial wound infections ( 2.1% ) , one case of permanent pacemaker insertion ( 1.1% ) and thromboembolism ( 1.1% ) . in addition , low cardiac output syndrome which needed use of inotropics for over five days was 5 cases ( 5.3% ) and bradycardia which sustained for over three days was 25 cases ( 26.6% ) . the mean period for cardiopulmonary bypass time was 22547.1 ( 136~343 ) minutes and that of aortic cross clamp time was 152.240.8 ( 43~249 ) minutes . five patients ( 5.3% ) needed total circulatory arrest period which is mean 13.22.3 ( 10~16 ) minutes . except two mortalities and two follow up loss , ninety patients have been followed up in outpatient department and mean follow up period was 22.712.3 ( 0.7~43.5 ) months . preoperative echocardiography revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction was mean 55.38.1 ( 32~75)% and left atrial size was mean 61.511.6 ( 26~93 ) mm . however , seventy five patients ( 79.8% ) including them were revealed to have dilated annulus of tricuspid position and underwent tricuspid annuloplasty using mc3 ring . at postoperative period , we compared preoperative tte with postoperative 6 month and latest examination ( postoperative mean 18.56.9 months ) . the left ventricular ejection fraction was slightly improved from preoperative 55.38.1% to postoperative 6 month 54.76.5% , latest 56.57.0% . and left atrial size showed significant reduction after operation ( preoperative 61.511.6 mm , postoperative 6 month 53.18.4 mm ) then increasing tendency on latest examination ( 54.79.8 mm ) . numbers of postoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation were significantly reduced to only four ( preoperative 34 patients ) after aggressive correction . just after operation , sixty seven patients ( out of 94 , 71.3% ) showed normal sinus rhythm and sixteen ( 17.0% ) showed consistent afib . the others ( eleven , 11.7% ) showed junctional rhythm or pacing rhythm or undetermined rhythm . however , before discharge , proportion of afib was increased to twenty seven ( out of 92 , 29.3% ) and normal sinus rhythm was 49 ( 53.3% ) , the others 16 ( 17.4% ) . at postoperative 1 month , number of afib was 27 ( out of 92 , 29.3% ) , normal sinus rhythm 57 ( 62.0% ) and the others 8 ( 8.7% ) as like as predischarge findings . however , at postoperative 6 months , afib was decreased to 17 ( out of 88 , 19.3% ) , normal sinus rhythm 58 ( 65.9% ) , and the others 13 ( 14.8% ) . then , this findings has been maintained to postoperative 12 months ; afib 18 ( out of 90 , 20.0% ) , normal sinus rhythm 58 ( 64.4% ) , the others 14 ( 15.6% ) . generally , in our definition of free from afib , success rate of our cox - maze iv procedure in valvular heart disease at postoperative 6 months was 80.7% ( 71 out of 88 ) . after 6month , we could find three recurred afib patients in our cohort which meant 3.3% ( 3 out of 90 ) of recurrence rate . during follow up period after discharge , there was no newly developed cerebrovascular accident and no other morbidity associated with open heart surgery except one patient who underwent permanent pacemaker insertion due to sick sinus syndrome . all patients but four ( two were early mortalities and two were follow up loss due to other hospital transfer ) were regularly followed up in outpatient department . among them , 53 patients ( 58.9% ) have taken anti - arrhythmic agent such as amiodarone at postoperative 6 month . we elucidated risk factors for failure of our cox - maze iv procedure about seventeen patients of failure and three of recurrence . in univariate analysis , old age ( p=.000 ) , preoperative longer duration of afib ( p=.010 ) , preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation ( p=.011 ) and preoperative larger left atrial size ( p=.017 ) were significant risk factors . however , in multivariate analysis , only old age ( p=.010 , odds ratio=1.093 ) and preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation ( p=.033 , odds ratio=3.597 ) were significant risk factors . preoperative echocardiography revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction was mean 55.38.1 ( 32~75)% and left atrial size was mean 61.511.6 ( 26~93 ) mm . however , seventy five patients ( 79.8% ) including them were revealed to have dilated annulus of tricuspid position and underwent tricuspid annuloplasty using mc3 ring . at postoperative period , we compared preoperative tte with postoperative 6 month and latest examination ( postoperative mean 18.56.9 months ) . the left ventricular ejection fraction was slightly improved from preoperative 55.38.1% to postoperative 6 month 54.76.5% , latest 56.57.0% . and left atrial size showed significant reduction after operation ( preoperative 61.511.6 mm , postoperative 6 month 53.18.4 mm ) then increasing tendency on latest examination ( 54.79.8 mm ) . numbers of postoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation were significantly reduced to only four ( preoperative 34 patients ) after aggressive correction . just after operation , sixty seven patients ( out of 94 , 71.3% ) showed normal sinus rhythm and sixteen ( 17.0% ) showed consistent afib . the others ( eleven , 11.7% ) showed junctional rhythm or pacing rhythm or undetermined rhythm . however , before discharge , proportion of afib was increased to twenty seven ( out of 92 , 29.3% ) and normal sinus rhythm was 49 ( 53.3% ) , the others 16 ( 17.4% ) . at postoperative 1 month , number of afib was 27 ( out of 92 , 29.3% ) , normal sinus rhythm 57 ( 62.0% ) and the others 8 ( 8.7% ) as like as predischarge findings . however , at postoperative 6 months , afib was decreased to 17 ( out of 88 , 19.3% ) , normal sinus rhythm 58 ( 65.9% ) , and the others 13 ( 14.8% ) . then , this findings has been maintained to postoperative 12 months ; afib 18 ( out of 90 , 20.0% ) , normal sinus rhythm 58 ( 64.4% ) , the others 14 ( 15.6% ) . generally , in our definition of free from afib , success rate of our cox - maze iv procedure in valvular heart disease at postoperative 6 months was 80.7% ( 71 out of 88 ) . after 6month , we could find three recurred afib patients in our cohort which meant 3.3% ( 3 out of 90 ) of recurrence rate . during follow up period after discharge , there was no newly developed cerebrovascular accident and no other morbidity associated with open heart surgery except one patient who underwent permanent pacemaker insertion due to sick sinus syndrome . all patients but four ( two were early mortalities and two were follow up loss due to other hospital transfer ) were regularly followed up in outpatient department . among them , 53 patients ( 58.9% ) have taken anti - arrhythmic agent such as amiodarone at postoperative 6 month . we elucidated risk factors for failure of our cox - maze iv procedure about seventeen patients of failure and three of recurrence . in univariate analysis , old age ( p=.000 ) , preoperative longer duration of afib ( p=.010 ) , preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation ( p=.011 ) and preoperative larger left atrial size ( p=.017 ) were significant risk factors . however , in multivariate analysis , only old age ( p=.010 , odds ratio=1.093 ) and preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation ( p=.033 , odds ratio=3.597 ) were significant risk factors . maze procedure was introduced by l. cox for the first time at 1980 and has been modified and developed to be a current procedure [ 6 - 8 ] . although lesion sets of cox - maze iv procedure are similar to those of cox - maze iii procedure , it is different that separate both pulmonary box lesion sets are made and connected each other , and other several energy sources such as cryoablation , radiofrequency or microwave are used . this modification has been started with use of cryoablation instead of cut and sew technique since late 1990 's , and haissaguerre et al suggested modification of separate pulmonary box lesion and connection . so , we have performed cox - maze iv procedure with established atriotomy lesion set , cryoablation and radio frequency as mentioned above column and made an addition of division of marshall ligament . concerning bipolar radio frequency , it is inferior to construct transmural lesion than cut and sew technique but superior to avoid catastrophic bleeding from incision line and inevitable time of considerable myocardial ischemic period . so , it is very effective to apply both cryoablation and bipolar radio frequency to make the lesion sets with less time and less complication . in this study population , although there were two early deaths , all mortalities were related to underlying cardiac disease and combined procedure not to maze procedure itself . in addition , there were five patients complicated with low cardiac output syndrome who were taken longer operation time because of complexity of combined valve procedure . it goes without saying that such complications can not be related to maze procedure completely , but minimal additional time to perform cox - maze iv procedure causes little adverse effect to outcomes of the patients . we reportthat results of cox - maze iv procedure for treatment of chronic afib associated with valvular heart disease is 80.7% of success rate at 6months and 3.3% recurrence rate afterwards . reported that freedom from afib rate ( 86% ) of cox - maze iv procedure using bipolar radio frequency was not inferior to that of original cox - maze iii with cut and sew technique even in small study population ( 8 pptients ) , and lee et al . also reported that there was no difference in conversion rate to sinus rhythm at 6months in comparison with cox - maze iv using bipolar radio frequency ( 40 patients ) and classic cut and in addition , khargi et al commented that there was no difference ( p=.260 ) between classic cut and sew technique and other energy source use in 3832 patients of 45 studies after systematic review in pubmed online research . decisive points for success of maze procedure are not only surgical technique such as exact lesion set formation and guarantee for transmurality but also factors of patient itself such as etiology of afib ( rheumatic or non - rheumatic ) , afib duration and atiral size . because this study is not a comparative design , we can not suggest that cox - maze iv procedure using cryoablation and bipolar radio frequency is superior to other type of maze procedure . however , considering relative high proportion of rheumatic valvular disease and lack of lone afib in this study population , the success rate of 80.7% is comparable to other papers . in addition , cox - maze iv using cryoablation and bipolar radio frequency is very efficacious and valuable as there has been no newly developed cerebrovascular accident during follow up period . with respect to prescription of anti - arrhythmic agent in this study , 58.9% at postoperative 6 months the reason is suggested that incidence of junctional rthythm and sinus tachycardia is relatively high . however , most patients could be discontinued to take anti - arrhythmic agent afterwards . and we think that direct comparison for anti - arrhythmic agent medication is not reasonable because each surgeon has different preference and indication for anti - arrhythmic agent . it is widely known from lots of literatures that risk factors for failure of maze procedure were longer duration of afib , larger left atrial size , and older age including rheumatic valvular heart disease and certain type of afib . this analysis also found that older age and preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation were statistically significant risk factors for failure of cox - maze iv procedure . old age means that the patient was supposed to have longer period of exposure to organic stress causing afib and old age itself can be a cause of failure or recurrence for maze procedure because aging process lead a change of fibrosis and less elasticity in atrial wall . longer duration of afib was analyzed into significant risk factor in univariate analysis although not in multivariate . like old age , it can be a cause of failure or recurrence for maze procedure in terms of organic change of atrial wall . however , because additional myocardial ischemic time is minimal in cox - maze iv procedure ; right side maze during pre - clamping period or cardioplegic infusion period and only about ten to fifteen minute to perform on left side maze , and maze procedure conduct rare complication , it is not reasonable that cox - maze iv procedure should be avoided in old patients or complex cases . generally , preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation is related to left sided cardiac problem leading to right ventricular dilatation . in our cases , most patients who showed more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation were due to functional regurgitation except six patients who showed organic change causing replacement of tricuspid valve . in addition , it is well known that longer duration of afib or pulmonary hypertension can lead considerable regurgitation in tricuspid valve . it is debatable that correction of tricuspid regurgitation should be performed in left sided valvular operation . especially in case of mild regurgitation , most surgeons recommended not to correct it , however , it would occur not infrequently during long term follow up period . and dreyfus et al commented that tricuspid annuloplasty should be considered according to presence of annular dilatation not degree of regurgitation in functional tricuspid regurgitation . therefore , we performed constantly tricuspid annuloplasty using mc3 ring if there was evidence of annular dilatation on right atriotomy finding which showed over three finger breadth or over the size of carpentier - edwards ring 34 mm sizer and reported good results which showed low residual tricuspid regurgitation and no morbidity related to annuloplasty procedure . limitations of this study are ; first , there is no comparative control group . period of classic cut and sew technique in our institution was too long ago to compare current technique because of so many other variables . besides , to strictly compare two techniques , it is well known that no mechanical activity of atrium can lead evolution of thromboembolism even in normal sinus rhythm . we could not survey that of each patient in tte data because this study was designed retrospectively . third , we should have surveyed more detail and in - depth manner such as holter monitoring on analysis of ecg . however , many researchers would set up 12-lead ecg as a standard evaluation tools for afib . last , because this study includes many type of combined surgery , it is unreasonable to accept as results of maze procedure . the cox - maze iv procedure using cryoablation and bipolar radio frequency is safe and comparable to other maze procedure with 80.7% of success rate at postoperative 6 months . and risk factors for failure or recurrence are old age and preoperative more than moderate tricuspid regurgitation .

backgroundwe evaluated the efficacy of cox - maze iv procedure using bipolar irrigated radiofrequency ablation and cryothermy in chronic atrial fibrillation associated with valvular heart disease.material and methodsfrom november 2005 to june 2009 , ninety four patients have undergone valvular heart surgery with cox - maze iv procedure . preoperative duration of atrial fibrillation was 7.66.5 years and follow - up duration was 22.712.3 months.resultsthere were two ( 2.1% ) postoperative deaths not related to maze procedure . two cerebrovascular accidents , five low cardiac output syndromes and two permanent pacemaker implantations have occurred after surgery . preoperative ejection fraction on echocardiography was 55.38.1% and ejection fraction of postoperative six month was 54.76.5% . left atrial size of preoperative and postoperative were 61.511.6 mm and 53.18.4 mm at each . freedom from atrial fibrillation rate at postoperative six - month was 80.7% and the cases of recurrence of atrial fibrillation after six months were three ( 3.3% ) . risk factors for failure or recurrence of maze procedure were old age ( p=.010 ) and preoperative moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation ( p=.033).conclusionthe cox - maze iv procedure using rfbp2 and cryothermy is quite safe and freedom from atrial fibrillation at postoperative 6 month was 82.5% . risk factors for failure or recurrence of atrial fibrillation after cox - maze iv were old age and preoperative over moderate tricuspid regurgitation .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Special Government Employee Act of 1997''. SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO DEFINITION OF ``SPECIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE''. (a) Amendment to Section 202(a).--Subsection (a) of section 202 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: ``(a) For the purpose of sections 203, 205, 207, 208, and 209 of this title the term `special Government employee' shall mean-- ``(1) an officer or employee as defined in subsection (c) who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed in the legislative or executive branch of the United States Government, in any independent agency of the United States, or in the government of the District of Columbia, and who, at the time of retention, designation, appointment or employment, is expected to perform temporary duties on a full-time or intermittent basis for not to exceed one hundred and thirty days during any period of three hundred and sixty five consecutive days; ``(2) a part-time United States commissioner; ``(3) a part-time United States magistrate; ``(4) an independent counsel appointed under chapter 40 of title 28 and any person appointed by that independent counsel under section 594(c) of title 28; ``(5) a person serving as a part-time local representative of a Member of Congress in the Member's home district or State; and ``(6) a Reserve officer of the Armed Forces, or an officer of the National Guard of the United States, who is not otherwise an officer or employee as defined in subsection (c) who is-- ``(A) on active duty solely for training (notwithstanding section 2105(d) of title 5); ``(B) serving voluntarily for not to exceed one hundred and thirty days during any period of three hundred and sixty five consecutive days; or ``(C) serving involuntarily.''. (b) Amendment to Section 202(c).--Subsection (c) of 202 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: ``(c) The terms `officer' and `employee' in sections 203, 205, 207 through 209, and 218 of this title shall include-- ``(1) an individual who is retained, designated, appointed or employed in the United States Government or in the government of the District of Columbia, to perform, with or without compensation and subject to the supervision of the President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress, a Federal judge or an officer or employee of the United States or of the government of the District of Columbia, a Federal or District of Columbia function under authority of law or an Executive act. As used in this section, a Federal or District of Columbia function shall include, but not be limited to-- ``(A) supervising, managing, directing or overseeing a Federal or District of Columbia officer or employee in the performance of such officer's or employee's official duties; ``(B) providing regular advice, counsel, or recommendations to the President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress, or any Federal or District of Columbia officer or employee, or conducting meetings involving any of those individuals, as part of the Federal or District of Columbia government's internal deliberative process; or ``(C) obligating funds of the United States or the District of Columbia; ``(2) a Reserve officer of the Armed Forces or an officer of the National Guard of the United States who is serving voluntarily in excess of one hundred and thirty days during any period of three hundred and sixty-five consecutive days; and ``(3) the President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress or a Federal judge only if specified in the section.''. (c) New Section 202(f).--Section 202 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(f) The terms `officer or employee' and `special Government employee' as used in sections 203, 205, 207 through 209, and 218, shall not include enlisted members of the Armed Forces, nor shall they include an individual who is retained, designated or appointed without compensation specifically to act as a representative of a non-Federal (or non-District of Columbia) interest on an advisory committee established pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act or any similarly established committee whose meetings are generally open to the public. The non-Federal interest to be represented must be specifically set forth in the statute, charter, or Executive act establishing the committee.''.

Special Government Employee Act of 1997 - Amends the Federal criminal code to include within the definition of "special Government employee" a reserve officer of the armed forces, or a National Guard officer, who is serving voluntarily for up to 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days. (Such officers are currently considered officers of the United States.) States that "officer and employee" and "special Government employee" shall not include enlisted military personnel or an individual retained, designated, or appointed without compensation specifically to act as a representative of a non-Federal interest on an advisory committee.

(EAST CHICAGO, Ind.) A Chicago woman was killed in a fiery crash Saturday morning after her husband drove off a barricaded bridge in northwest Indiana. The crash happened about 9:30 a.m. at Cline Avenue and Riley Road, according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office. Police said the driver, 64-year-old Iftikhar Hussain, drove a 2014 Nissan Sentra around barricades and left Cline Avenue. He then drove the vehicle off the bridge, causing it to fall 38-feet, police said. Hussain then exited the vehicle and ran, leaving his wife behind in the passenger seat, just moments before the car became engulfed in flames, police said. The bridge where Iftikhar drove off is marked with numerous barricades, including orange barrels, concrete barricades, cones and a large wooden sign that reads, “ROAD CLOSED.” The woman was identified as 51-year-old Zohra Hussain, police said. Hussain, of the 6100 block of North Kedvale, suffered burns and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Lake County coroner’s office said. The driver was taken to Methodist Hospital in Gary, where his condition stabilized, police said. The crash is under investigation and no citations were issued as of Saturday evening. Further details were not available. ||||| Business reporter Joseph S. Pete is a Lisagor Award-winning business reporter who covers steel, industry, unions, the ports, retail, banking and more. The Indiana University grad has been with The Times since 2013 and blogs about craft beer, culture and the military.

– A stark reminder to not let your GPS rule your common sense: In East Chicago, Indiana, a man drove off a ramp to a bridge that no longer exists, injuring himself and killing his wife, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. Husband Iftikhar Hussain, 64, was the one at the wheel, per the Chicago Sun-Times, and police believe he skirted numerous barricades and warnings as he listened too closely to the guidance of his GPS. The car fell almost 38 feet, and while Hussain survived the incident, his wife, Zohra, didn't. Iftikhar Hussain apparently escaped the car before it burst into flames; he was hospitalized and reported in stable condition, the Times notes. "The Cline Avenue bridge is marked with numerous barricades including orange barrels and cones, large wood signs stating 'Road Closed' with orange striped markings," a sheriff's rep says. "There are concrete barricades across the road to further indicate the road is closed." The couple, from Chicago, Ill., appears not to have known the area well; they were believed to have been visiting relatives.

the support of a multivariate polynomial is the set of exponent vectors of the monomials appearing in the polynomial . a polynomial system of @xmath3 polynomial equations in @xmath3 variables is supported on @xmath6 if @xmath7 is the common support of each polynomial in the system . a theorem due to kouchnirenro gives that the number of ( simple ) solutions in the complex torus @xmath8 to a generic polynomial system supported on @xmath7 is the volume @xmath9 of the convex hull of @xmath7 , normalized so that the unit cube @xmath10^n$ ] has volume @xmath11 . here , we consider generic polynomial systems with real coefficients , and are interested in their numbers of real solutions in the real torus @xmath12 . contrary to the complex case , the number of real solutions depends on the coefficients of the system , and one of the most important question is to find a sharp upper bound ( for related results , see @xcite for example ) . a trivial bound is given by @xmath9 , the number of complex solutions . another bound due to khovanskii depends only on the number @xmath3 of variables and the cardinality of the support @xmath7 . the above kuchnirenko result shows immediately that such a bound belongs to the `` real world '' , that is , can not exist as a bound on the number of complex solutions . the khovanskii bound is @xmath13 and gives an easy way to construct supports @xmath7 for which the kuchnirenko bound @xmath9 is not sharp . the khovanskii bound can be stated alternatively without the term @xmath14 as a bound on the number of _ positive solutions _ , which are solutions with positive coordinates . since we are interested only in the solutions in the real torus , we have the freedom to translate the support @xmath7 by an integral vector and also to choose a basis of the lattice @xmath2 . a translation by an integral vector corresponds to multiplying each polynomial of the system by a monomial , while a change of basis for the lattice @xmath2 corresponds to a monomial change of coordinates ( with coefficients @xmath15 ) for the torus . these operations do not change the number of positive , real and complex solutions . in particular , we will always assume that @xmath16 . the _ rank modulo 2 _ of @xmath7 is the rank of the reduction modulo @xmath4 of the matrix obtained by putting in columns the non zero elements of @xmath7 . we will denote it by @xmath17 . if @xmath6 and @xmath18 , then @xmath19 , so that supports with such numbers of elements are not interesting . the first case where @xmath9 is different from @xmath20 arises when @xmath21 , and the convex hull of @xmath7 is an @xmath3-dimensional simplex . this case is easy . the number of positive solutions to such systems is at most @xmath15 , so that the number of real solutions is at most @xmath14 . in fact , the maximal number of real solutions is @xmath22 ( @xcite , see also lemma [ l : simplex ] ) . the goal of this paper is to obtain similar results in the first non trivial case , when the support is _ a circuit_. a circuit is a set @xmath23 of @xmath1 points which affinely span @xmath24 . it contains an unique minimal affinely dependent subset , and we denote by @xmath25 the dimension of the affine span of this subset . if @xmath26 , that is , if any proper subset of @xmath0 is affinely independent , then @xmath0 is called a _ non degenerate circuit_. we have @xmath27 for example when three points of @xmath0 lie on a same line . in @xcite , the authors consider circuits @xmath0 ( and also more general supports called near circuits ) such that the index of @xmath28 in @xmath2 is odd . this corresponds to circuits @xmath23 with @xmath29 . they obtain the upper bound @xmath30 on the number of real solutions and also prove that this bound is sharp among systems supported on circuits @xmath23 with @xmath29 . in particular , this gives the sharp bound @xmath31 which can be attained only with non degenerate circuits . we generalize the results in @xcite to arbitrary values of the rank modulo @xmath4 . the first result gives sharp bounds on the number of positive solutions . obviously , multiplying by @xmath14 such a bound gives a bound on the number of real solutions , which is sharp among systems supported on circuits @xmath0 with @xmath32 . * theorem a. * _ the number of positive solutions to a generic real polynomial system supported on a circuit @xmath23 is at most @xmath33 therefore , the number of real solutions to a generic real polynomial system supported on a circuit @xmath23 is at most @xmath34 moreover , the first bound , and thus the second bound , is sharp . namely , for any integer @xmath35 such that @xmath36 , there exist a circuit @xmath23 with @xmath37 , and a system supported on @xmath0 which has @xmath38 positive solutions . _ as a consequence , the number of positive solutions to a generic system supported on a circuit in @xmath2 is at most @xmath39 while its number of real solutions is at most @xmath40 and these bounds are sharp and can be attained only with non degenerate circuits . in particular , as in the case of supports forming a simplex , the khovansky bound is far from being sharp among systems supported on circuits . theorem a follows from proposition [ p : boundpositive ] and theorem [ t : positivesharp ] . * theorem b. * _ the number , @xmath41 , of real solutions to a generic real polynomial system supported on a circuit @xmath23 satisfies _ 1 . if @xmath42 , then @xmath43 2 . if @xmath44 , then @xmath45 moreover , both these bounds are sharp . namely , let @xmath46 be integers such that @xmath36 and @xmath47 . if @xmath48 ( resp . @xmath49 ) , there exist a circuit @xmath23 with @xmath37 , @xmath50 , and a system supported on @xmath0 whose number of real solutions is the bound in ( 1 ) ( resp . the bound in ( 2 ) ) . the bounds in theorem b look like the bound @xmath22 when @xmath7 forms an @xmath3-dimensional simplex . however , there is an essential difference in that the sharp bounds in theorem b do not provide the maximal number of real solutions to systems supported on a _ given _ circuit . theorem b follows from theorem [ t : upper bound ] and theorem [ t : sharp ] . we consider the eliminant defined in @xcite of a system supported on a circuit @xmath23 . assuming that @xmath51 , this eliminant is a univariate polynomial of the form @xmath52 where each polynomial @xmath53 has the form @xmath54 with @xmath55 and @xmath56 non zero real numbers . here , the coefficients @xmath55 and @xmath56 come from the coefficients of the system while the other numbers are determined by @xmath0 . the number @xmath57 is equal to @xmath25 if @xmath20 and @xmath58 belong to the minimal affinely dependent subset of @xmath0 . if @xmath59 , then the integer @xmath60 can be assumed to be odd . we choose to distinguish the case @xmath59 from the case @xmath32 for which the number of real solutions is given by the number of positive ones . when @xmath29 , it is proved in @xcite that the real solutions to the system are in bijection with the real roots of @xmath61 via the projection onto the first coordinate axis . in general , the real solutions project onto the real roots of @xmath61 which satisfy sign conditions involving products of polynomials @xmath53 . moreover , such a real root is the image of @xmath62 solutions to the system , at least when @xmath60 is odd . the positive solutions project bijectively onto the positive roots of @xmath61 at which all @xmath53 are positive . we determine the above sign conditions , and prove the upper bounds in theorem a and b using essentially rolle s theorem . writing the eliminant as @xmath63 , we see that the number of real ( and positive ) solutions is closely related to the arrangement of the roots of @xmath64 , @xmath65 and @xmath61 , their multiplicities being determined by @xmath0 . we consider the rational function @xmath66 the roots of @xmath64 , @xmath65 and @xmath61 are the inverse images of @xmath67 , @xmath68 and @xmath20 , respectively . these roots lie on the graph @xmath69 and we see @xmath70 as an example of so - called _ dessin denfant_. we use then the observation made in @xcite ( see also @xcite ) that polynomials @xmath64 , @xmath65 and @xmath63 with prescribed arrangement and multiplicities of their real roots can be constructed drawing so - called _ real rational graphs _ on @xmath71 . the sharpness of the bounds in theorem a and b is then proved by means of such graphs . the paper is organized as follows . in section 1 , we define the eliminant @xmath61 of a system and explain the relation between its real roots and the real ( resp . positive ) solutions to the system . in section 2 , we prove the upper bounds in theorem a and b , while in section 3 we introduce real rational graphs and achieve constructions proving the sharpness of these upper bounds . * acknowledgements . * i m greatly indebted to ilia itenberg and frank sottile for their support during these last years . thanks to frank sottile and erwan brugall for useful comments on the first version of this paper . thanks also to benoit bertrand and j. maurice rojas for their interest in this work . a real polynomial system supported on a circuit @xmath72 is called _ generic _ if it has @xmath73 solutions in @xmath74 . this forces each solution to be a simple solution . we are interested in the real solutions to such a system , by which we mean solutions in the real torus @xmath75 . translating @xmath0 by an integral vector and choosing a basis for the lattice @xmath2 if necessary , we may assume without loss of generality that @xmath76 , and @xmath77 for some positive integer @xmath60 . perturbing slightly the system , and using gaussian elimination , it becomes equivalent to a system of the form @xmath78 where @xmath79 with @xmath80 non zero real numbers for @xmath81 and @xmath82 have distinct roots . reordering the vectors @xmath83 if necessary , the affine primitive relation on @xmath84 can be written as @xmath85 where @xmath86 , @xmath87 are coprime integers , @xmath88 and @xmath89 . note that here we could have @xmath90 or @xmath91 so that one of the two sums collapses to @xmath20 . the integer @xmath92 is ( up to sign ) the coefficient of @xmath76 in ( the term @xmath93 does not appear in since it is @xmath20 ) . multiplying by @xmath60 gives an affine relation on @xmath0 . set @xmath94 where @xmath95 is the boolean truth value of @xmath96 : @xmath97 if @xmath96 is true and @xmath98 otherwise . then @xmath99 is the number of non zero coefficients in the primitive affine relation on @xmath0 , so that @xmath25 is the dimension of the affine span of the minimal affinely dependent subset of @xmath0 . the case @xmath26 arises when @xmath0 is a non degenerate circuit , that is , when any proper subset of @xmath0 is affinely independent . define the _ eliminant _ of @xmath100 to be the following univariate polynomial @xmath101 from and , it follows immediately that if @xmath102 is a solution to @xmath100 then @xmath103 is a root of the eliminant @xmath61 . write each vector @xmath104 with @xmath105 . we get the relations @xmath106 and @xmath107 the fact that @xmath87 are coprime and gives immediately that @xmath108 are also coprime , so that the relation is in fact the primitive affine relation on @xmath109 . in particular , at least one integer among @xmath108 should be odd . [ p : systemreduced ] assume that @xmath110 is odd with @xmath111 . then @xmath102 is a real solution to the system @xmath100 if and only if @xmath103 is a real root of @xmath61 and @xmath112 is a real solution to the system @xmath113 for simplicity , we will often assume that @xmath114 is odd and thus apply proposition [ p : systemreduced ] with @xmath115 . define @xmath116 the @xmath117 by @xmath3 matrix whose columns are the vectors @xmath118 . let @xmath119 be the the reduction modulo @xmath4 of @xmath120 and @xmath121 be the rank of @xmath122 . [ p : real ] the number of real solutions to @xmath100 is equal to @xmath123 times the number of real roots @xmath124 of @xmath61 subjected to the sign conditions @xmath125 for any @xmath126 such that @xmath127 . it is worth noting that the number of sign conditions can be reduced to @xmath128 using a basis of @xmath129 . before giving the proof , we present the following well - known lemma ( see @xcite ) . [ l : simplex ] suppose that @xmath130 form an @xmath3-dimensional simplex , and let @xmath131 denote the matrix whose columns contains in this order the reductions modulo @xmath4 of @xmath132 . then the number of real solutions in the torus to the system @xmath133 where @xmath134 is a non zero real number , is 1 . @xmath20 or @xmath135 if the volume of the simplex is even , 2 . @xmath15 if this volume is odd . moreover , we have @xmath135 real solutions in the first case if and only if @xmath136 for any @xmath137 whose reduction modulo @xmath4 belong to the kernel of @xmath138 . note that the case @xmath139 is in fact redundant since if the volume of the simplex is odd then the kernel of @xmath138 is reduced to @xmath20 , hence @xmath140 , and the sign conditions are empty . * * there exist two matrices @xmath141 and integers @xmath142 such that @xmath143 is the diagonal matrix @xmath144 . let @xmath145 be the columns vectors , in this order , of the matrix @xmath146 . the matrix @xmath147 provides the multiplicative change of coordinates @xmath148 , @xmath81 , of the complex torus . this change of coordinates transforms our system to the system @xmath149 , which has the same number of real ( and complex ) solutions . multiplication on the right by @xmath150 transforms this system to the system @xmath151 this system is equivalent to the previous one since @xmath152 and @xmath153 . in particular , the initial system and the system have the same number of real solutions . this number of real solutions is @xmath20 if @xmath154 for some even @xmath55 , or @xmath155 if @xmath156 for all even @xmath55 . the conclusion is now obvious noting that @xmath157 and that the reductions modulo @xmath4 of the vector columns @xmath158 for which @xmath55 is even generate the kernel of @xmath138 . @xmath159 * proof of proposition [ p : real ] * assume that @xmath114 odd . according to proposition [ p : systemreduced ] , we have to count , for any root @xmath124 of @xmath61 , the number of real solutions to @xmath160 set @xmath161 , @xmath81 . note that @xmath162 form an @xmath163-dimensional simplex for otherwise there would be an additional affine relation on @xmath0 ( so that the convex hull of @xmath0 would have dimension @xmath164 ) . let @xmath165 denote the matrix whose columns contains in this order the reductions modulo @xmath4 of @xmath166 . according to lemma [ l : simplex ] , the number of solutions to is either @xmath20 , or @xmath167 . moreover , it is @xmath167 if and only if @xmath168 for any @xmath169 whose reduction modulo @xmath4 belongs to the kernel of @xmath170 . it follows from the relation that the reduction modulo @xmath4 of @xmath171 belongs to the kernel of @xmath122 . moreover , since @xmath114 is odd , the kernel of @xmath122 is the direct sum of @xmath172 and the kernel ( in @xmath173 ) of @xmath138 . this also implies that @xmath174 . to finish , it remains to see that @xmath175 . @xmath159 [ r : redundant ] as explained at the end of the proof , the sign condition @xmath176 given by the affine relation on @xmath177 is in fact redundant in proposition [ p : real ] . a _ positive _ solution is a solution with positive coordinates . [ p : positive ] the number of positive solutions to @xmath100 is equal to the number of roots @xmath124 of @xmath61 subjected to the sign conditions @xmath178 * proof . * assume that @xmath114 is odd . according to proposition [ p : systemreduced ] @xmath179 is a positive solution to @xmath100 if and only if @xmath103 is a positive root @xmath124 of @xmath61 and @xmath180 is a positive solution to @xmath181 as it is well - known , the previous system has a positive solution if and only if @xmath182 for @xmath183 , and in this case it has exactly one positive solution . to finish , it remains to note that @xmath184 , @xmath185 and @xmath186 for @xmath183 implies that @xmath187 . @xmath159 let @xmath100 be a system as in section [ s : elimination ] and write the eliminant as @xmath188 where @xmath189 and @xmath190 . consider the rational function @xmath191 recall that @xmath25 is the dimension of the affine span of the minimal affinely dependent subset of @xmath0 . [ p : boundpositive ] the number of positive solutions to @xmath100 is no more than @xmath192 . * proof . * let @xmath193 denote the set of positive roots @xmath124 of @xmath61 satisfying @xmath194 and let @xmath41 denote the number of elements of @xmath193 . the number of positive solutions to @xmath100 is equal to @xmath41 by proposition [ p : positive ] . consider an open interval @xmath195 formed by two consecutive elements of @xmath193 . this interval contains no root of @xmath64 and @xmath65 ( since each @xmath53 has simple real roots ) . as a consequence , the function @xmath196 is bounded on @xmath195 . moreover , @xmath196 takes the same value @xmath20 on the endpoints of @xmath195 . therefore , by rolle s theorem , the derivative @xmath197 has at least one real root in @xmath195 . this gives @xmath198 distinct positive roots of @xmath197 , which are different from the roots of @xmath64 and @xmath65 . the roots of @xmath197 are the roots of @xmath199 . as noticed in ( @xcite , proof of proposition 4.3 . ) , the quotient @xmath200 or , if @xmath201 , the same quotient but with @xmath202 in place of @xmath203 , is a polynomial @xmath204 which can be written as @xmath205 where @xmath206 is real polynomial of degree @xmath25 and with non zero constant term . thus the @xmath198 positive roots of @xmath197 different from the roots of @xmath64 and @xmath65 should be roots of @xmath204 . but @xmath204 has at most @xmath25 distinct positive roots , hence @xmath207 . @xmath159 j. maurice rojas informed us that proposition [ p : boundpositive ] can be obtained from @xcite ( lemma 2 , section 3 ) . define the matrix @xmath208 as the matrix obtained by putting ( in this order ) the vectors @xmath209 in columns @xmath210 we have by definition @xmath211 , where @xmath212 is the reduction modulo @xmath4 of @xmath208 . recall that @xmath213 and @xmath104 for @xmath81 , so that @xmath214 the lower - right matrix @xmath215 is the matrix @xmath120 that we already defined . [ t : upper bound ] let @xmath41 be the number of real solutions to @xmath100 . 1 . if @xmath42 , then @xmath43 2 . if @xmath44 , then @xmath45 * proof . * consider first the case @xmath216 this corresponds to the case @xmath217 . setting @xmath218 , a system supported on @xmath0 can be rewritten as a system supported on the circuit @xmath219 so that the number of real solutions ( in the real torus ) to the system supported on @xmath0 is equal to @xmath14 times the number of positive solutions to the system supported on @xmath220 . obviously , we have @xmath221 . the bound @xmath222 for the number of real solutions to @xmath100 follows then from proposition [ p : boundpositive ] . suppose now that @xmath223 , that is , @xmath0 is not contained in @xmath224 . then , it is easy to show the existence of points @xmath225 such that @xmath226 , and @xmath227 belongs to the minimal affinely dependent subset of @xmath0 . thus , reordering the points of @xmath0 so that @xmath227 becomes @xmath228 and @xmath229 becomes @xmath230 if necessary , we can assume that the number @xmath231 is an odd number , and the coefficient @xmath232 is non zero . the fact that @xmath60 is odd gives that @xmath212 and @xmath233 have isomorphic kernels , so that @xmath234 . define @xmath235 let @xmath236 be vectors in @xmath237 whose reductions modulo @xmath4 form a basis of @xmath129 . then proposition [ p : real ] gives that the number of real solutions to @xmath100 is @xmath62 times the number of real roots @xmath124 of @xmath61 subjected to the sign conditions @xmath238 consider the @xmath239 by @xmath3 matrix @xmath240 whose rows are given by the exponent vectors of the sign conditions . taking the hermite normal form of the reduction modulo @xmath4 of @xmath240 , we obtain another basis of @xmath129 producing equivalent sign conditions @xmath241 where @xmath242 , @xmath243 and the stars are exponents taking values @xmath20 or @xmath15 . it remains to show that the set @xmath244 of real roots @xmath124 of @xmath61 satisfying the sign conditions has at most @xmath245 elements if @xmath246 , and at most @xmath30 elements if @xmath247 . first note that the integer @xmath231 being odd , each @xmath53 has only one real root , that we denote by @xmath248 . moreover , the polynomial @xmath204 defined in has at most @xmath25 real roots since @xmath249 with @xmath206 polynomial of degree @xmath25 . let @xmath195 denote an open ( bounded ) interval formed by two consecutive elements of @xmath244 . we claim that @xmath195 should contain at least one element among @xmath20 , @xmath250 and the real roots of @xmath204 . indeed , if the function @xmath251 is bounded on @xmath195 , then @xmath195 should contain a real critical point ( with finite critical value ) of @xmath196 by rolle s theorem . the critical points of @xmath196 with finite critical values are contained in the set formed of @xmath20 , the roots @xmath252 of @xmath64 and the roots of @xmath204 ( see the proof of proposition [ p : boundpositive ] ) . if @xmath196 is not bounded on @xmath195 , then obviously @xmath195 should contain a root of @xmath65 , that is , a root @xmath248 for some @xmath253 . there is at most one interval @xmath195 containing @xmath20 and at most @xmath25 intervals @xmath195 containing a real root of @xmath204 . let us concentrate now on the intervals @xmath195 which do no contain @xmath20 but contain a root @xmath248 with @xmath254 . the number of such intervals is obviously no more than @xmath57 . we claim that this number of intervals is also no more than @xmath255 . indeed , such an interval @xmath195 should contain a @xmath248 with @xmath256 , for otherwise some sign condition in would be violated at the endpoints of @xmath195 . the claim follows then as the cardinality of @xmath257 is @xmath255 . therefore , the number of intervals @xmath195 formed by two consecutive elements of @xmath244 is no more than @xmath258 , and no more than @xmath259 . obviously , the number of elements of @xmath244 is equal to the number of these intervals @xmath195 added by one . the bound @xmath260 on the number of intervals @xmath195 gives thus @xmath261 consider now the bound @xmath259 on the number of intervals @xmath195 . we see that if this bound is attained , then the polynomial @xmath204 has @xmath25 real roots , and each interval @xmath195 contains exactly one element among the real roots of @xmath204 , the roots @xmath250 , and @xmath20 . this forces each of these points to be a critical point of @xmath196 with even multiplicity ( and unbounded critical values for the roots of @xmath65 ) . the @xmath25 real roots of @xmath204 are simple roots of @xmath204 , hence critical points with multiplicity @xmath4 of @xmath196 . the multiplicity of @xmath20 with respect to @xmath262 is @xmath263 , while the multiplicity of @xmath248 , @xmath254 , with respect to @xmath196 is @xmath264 . consequently , if the number of intervals @xmath195 is @xmath259 , then @xmath265 are even : a contradiction since these numbers are coprime . hence , the number of intervals @xmath195 is no more than @xmath266 . if @xmath263 and @xmath232 are both non zero , then @xmath267 so that the number of intervals @xmath195 is no more than @xmath268 . this gives the bound @xmath269 recall that we have assumed at the beginning that @xmath270 . hence , it remains to see what happens when @xmath201 . in this case , we have @xmath271 and @xmath20 can not be a critical point of @xmath196 . arguing as before , we obtain then that the number of intervals @xmath195 is no more than @xmath266 . moreover , if this number is equal to @xmath266 , then @xmath108 are even : a contradiction since @xmath108 are coprime . hence , the number of intervals @xmath195 is no more than @xmath272 , and we retrieve the bound . this subsection comes from @xcite ( see also @xcite ) . consider the function @xmath273 as a rational function @xmath274 . the degree of @xmath196 coincides with that of @xmath61 . define @xmath275 this is a real graph on @xmath71 ( invariant with respect to the complex conjugation ) and which contains @xmath276 . each vertex of @xmath70 has even valency , and the multiplicity of a critical point with real critical value of @xmath196 is half its valency . the graph @xmath70 contains the inverse images of @xmath67 , @xmath68 and @xmath20 which are the sets of roots of @xmath64 , @xmath65 and @xmath61 , respectively . denote by the same letter @xmath277 ( resp . @xmath278 and @xmath124 ) the points of @xmath70 which are mapped to @xmath67 ( resp . @xmath68 and @xmath20 ) . orient the real axis on the target space via the arrows @xmath279 ( orientation given by the decreasing order in @xmath280 ) and pull back this orientation by @xmath196 . the graph @xmath70 becomes an oriented graph , with the orientation given by arrows @xmath281 . clearly , the arrangement of the real roots of @xmath61 , @xmath64 and @xmath65 together with their multiplicities can be extracted from the graph @xmath70 . we encode this arrangement together with the multiplicities by what is called a root scheme . a root scheme is a @xmath282-uple @xmath283 . a root scheme is realizable by polynomials of degree @xmath284 if there exist real polynomials @xmath64 and @xmath65 such that @xmath63 has degree @xmath284 and if @xmath285 are the real roots of @xmath61 , @xmath64 and @xmath65 , then @xmath286 ( resp . @xmath278 , @xmath124 ) if @xmath248 is root of @xmath64 ( resp . @xmath65 , @xmath61 ) and @xmath287 is the multiplicity of @xmath248 . conversely , suppose we are given a real graph @xmath288 together with a real continuous map @xmath289 . denote the inverse images of @xmath67 , @xmath68 and @xmath20 by letters @xmath277 , @xmath278 and @xmath124 , respectively , and orient @xmath70 with the pull back by @xmath290 of the above orientation of @xmath276 . this graph is called _ a real rational graph _ @xcite if then , for any connected component @xmath292 of @xmath291 , the map @xmath293 is a covering of @xmath276 whose degree @xmath294 is the number of letters @xmath277 ( resp . @xmath278 , @xmath124 ) in @xmath295 . we define the _ degree _ of @xmath70 to be half the sum of the degrees @xmath294 over all connected components of @xmath291 . since @xmath290 is a real map , the degree of @xmath70 is also the sum of the degrees @xmath294 over all connected components @xmath292 of @xmath291 contained in one connected component of @xmath296 . let us explain how to prove the if part in proposition [ p : rootgraph ] ( see @xcite ) . for each connected component @xmath292 of @xmath291 , extend @xmath297 to a , branched if @xmath298 , covering of one connected component of @xmath296 , so that two adjacent connected components of @xmath291 project to differents connected components of @xmath296 . then , it is possible to glue continuously these maps in order to obtain a real branched covering @xmath299 of degree @xmath284 . the map @xmath290 becomes a real rational map of degree @xmath284 for the standard complex structure on the target space and its pull - back by @xmath290 on the source space . there exist then real polynomials @xmath64 and @xmath65 such that @xmath63 has degree @xmath284 and @xmath300 , so that the points @xmath277 ( resp . @xmath278 , @xmath124 ) correspond to the roots of @xmath64 ( resp . @xmath65 , @xmath61 ) and @xmath301 . we are going to prove the existence of root schemes by constructing real rational graphs @xmath70 on @xmath71 . since these graphs are real , only half of them will be drawn and the horizontal line will represent the real axis @xmath276 . * proof . * according to proposition [ p : rootgraph ] , it suffices to construct a real rational graph @xmath308 of degree @xmath5 on @xmath71 from which the desired root scheme can be extracted . this is done in figure 1 for @xmath309 and in figure 2 for @xmath310 . these figures provide the induction step @xmath311 for constructing suitable graphs @xmath308 for any positive integer @xmath3 . @xmath159 let @xmath3 and @xmath150 be integers such that @xmath314 . if @xmath315 is even , define @xmath195 and @xmath316 by @xmath317^{\frac{n - r}{2}},(q,3),(r,1),(p,2),(r,1)^{n - r+1}\\ & & \\ j & : = & \left\{\begin{array}{ll } ( r,1 ) , ( p,1 ) & \mbox{if $ r=1 $ } \\ & \\ ( r,1)^{r},(q,2),[(r,1),(p,4),(r,1),(q,4)]^{\frac{r}{2}-1},(r,1),(p,3 ) & \mbox{if $ r$ is even}\\ & \\ ( r,1)^{r},(p,2),[(r,1),(q,4),(r,1),(p,4)]^{\frac{r-3}{2}},(q,4),(r,1),(p,3 ) & \mbox{if $ r$ is odd } \end{array } \right . \end{array}\ ] ] if @xmath315 is odd , define @xmath317^{\frac{n - r-1}{2}},(p,2),(q,3),(r,1),(p,2),(r,1)^{n - r+1}\\ & & \\ j & : = & \left\{\begin{array}{ll } ( r,1 ) , ( q,1 ) & \mbox{if $ r=1 $ } \\ & \\ ( r,1)^{r},(p,2),[(r,1),(q,4),(r,1),(p,4)]^{\frac{r}{2}-1},(r,1),(q,3 ) & \mbox{if $ r$ is even}\\ & \\ ( r,1)^{r},(q,2),[(r,1),(p,4),(r,1),(q,4)]^{\frac{r-3}{2}},(p,4),(r,1),(q,3 ) & \mbox{if $ r$ is odd } \end{array } \right . \end{array}\ ] ] note that the definitions of @xmath316 with @xmath315 odd and with @xmath315 even are obtained from each other by permuting @xmath277 and @xmath278 . * proof . * first , we contruct graphs @xmath319 and @xmath322 , which are not real rational graphs , but from which the sequences @xmath195 and @xmath316 can be extracted , respectively . figure 3 shows @xmath319 for @xmath323 , and indicates how to construct @xmath319 for any integer value of @xmath315 with @xmath324 . similarly , figure 4 shows @xmath325 for @xmath326 and @xmath315 even , and indicates how to construct @xmath325 for any integers @xmath3 and @xmath150 such that @xmath314 and @xmath315 is even . the graph @xmath325 for @xmath315 odd is obtained from the graph @xmath325 with @xmath315 even and the same value of @xmath150 by permuting @xmath277 and @xmath278 and reversing all the arrows . for any integers @xmath3 and @xmath150 such that @xmath314 we can glue the corresponding @xmath319 and @xmath325 in order to obtain a real rational graph of degree @xmath321 whose root scheme is @xmath320 ( see figure 5 for @xmath327 and @xmath328 ) . the result follows then from proposition [ p : rootgraph ] . @xmath159 [ p : positiveexistence ] for any positive integer @xmath3 , there exist a non degenerate circuit @xmath23 and a generic real polynomial system supported on @xmath0 whose number of positive solutions is equal to @xmath5 . * we prove only the case @xmath3 even since the case @xmath3 odd is similar ( the case @xmath331 is trivial ) . so assume that @xmath305 is even . according to proposition [ p : rootschemer=0 ] , there exist polynomials @xmath64 and @xmath65 such that @xmath63 has degree @xmath5 and the corresponding root scheme is @xmath332^k , ( q,1 ) , ( r,1)^{2k+1 } , ( p,1)\right).\ ] ] composing on the right @xmath333 with a real automorphism of @xmath71 ( a real rational map of degree @xmath15 ) , we can choose three values for the points is in this root scheme . reading the above scheme from the left to the right , we choose @xmath334 for the last but one @xmath277 , a positive value for the last @xmath278 , and @xmath335 for the last @xmath277 . this gives the following arrangement of the roots of @xmath64 , @xmath65 and @xmath61 ( where we naturally omit the root at infinity ) @xmath336 so that @xmath63 with @xmath337 and @xmath63 has @xmath338 positive roots which are bigger than the roots of @xmath64 and @xmath65 . note that @xmath339 for otherwise the polynomial @xmath63 could not have roots bigger than the roots of @xmath64 and @xmath65 . dividing @xmath61 by @xmath340 and setting @xmath341 , @xmath342 and @xmath343 , we obtain a polynomial @xmath61 of the form with @xmath344 , the exponents are coprime , and such that @xmath193 has @xmath5 elements . let us now give explicitely a non degenerate circuit @xmath23 and then a system whose eliminant is @xmath61 . take the circuit @xmath0 with @xmath76 , @xmath345 , @xmath346 and @xmath347 . the primitive affine relation on @xmath348 is @xmath349 and has the desired coefficients . hence @xmath350 is the eliminant of the system @xmath351 , @xmath81 , given explicitely by @xmath352 according to proposition [ p : positive ] , this system has @xmath5 positive solutions . @xmath159 it may be interesting to note that the previous system has in fact only these @xmath5 positive solutions as solutions in the complex torus . to see this , one can compute that the volume of the circuit is @xmath5 , and use kouchnirenko theorem . [ p : existence ] for any integers @xmath3 and @xmath150 such that @xmath47 , there exist a non degenerate circuit @xmath23 with @xmath353 , and a generic real polynomial system supported on @xmath0 whose number of real solutions is equal to @xmath354 . * proof . * note that for @xmath355 this follows from proposition [ p : positive ] ( see the proof of theorem [ t : upper bound ] ) . we will give the proof only when @xmath3 and @xmath150 are even since the other cases are similar ( the case @xmath331 is trivial ) . so let @xmath3 and @xmath150 be even integers such that @xmath356 . according to proposition [ p : rootschemernot0 ] , there exist polynomials @xmath64 and @xmath65 such that @xmath63 has degree @xmath321 and the corresponding root scheme is @xmath357^{\frac{n - r}{2}},(q,3),(r,1),(p,2),(r,1)^{n+1 } , ( q,2),[(r,1),(p,4),(r,1),(q,4)]^{\frac{r}{2}-1},(r,1),(p,3 ) \right).\ ] ] we may choose three values for the roots in this root scheme . choose @xmath334 for the @xmath277 in the sequence @xmath358 , a negative value for the @xmath124 in the same sequence , and the infinity value for the last @xmath277 on the right in the root scheme . then , the polynomials @xmath64 and @xmath65 can be written as @xmath359 @xmath360 so that here the @xmath53 have all , but one , the form , @xmath361 with @xmath248 a finite non zero root @xmath277 if @xmath362 and a root @xmath278 otherwise . the last one is of the form @xmath363 where @xmath364 is a positive real number due to the fact @xmath61 has a real root bigger than the roots of @xmath64 and @xmath65 ( see the proof of proposition [ p : positiveexistence ] ) . the polynomials @xmath53 mentioned in ( @xmath365 ) correspond to the sequence @xmath366^{\frac{n - r}{2}},(q,3)$ ] on the left of the above root scheme . now , define @xmath367 , @xmath368 , and @xmath369 the primitive affine relation on @xmath177 is the desired one @xmath370 and it s easy to see that the rank of the matrix @xmath371 is @xmath372 . we want to find integers @xmath373 verifying the relation and such that the sign conditions in proposition [ p : real ] are verified at each root @xmath124 of @xmath61 . here , these sign conditions are given by the @xmath374 which belong to @xmath224 @xmath375 in view of property @xmath376 , we want to have @xmath377 even for @xmath378 and @xmath379 since one root of @xmath61 is negative . in fact we can find integers @xmath377 which are all even . indeed , in our situation , the relation is replacing the first @xmath4 on the left by @xmath15 , the existence of integers @xmath377 verifying the resulting relation is due to the fact that @xmath381 are coprime . multiplying then by @xmath4 the members of this modified relation gives then the existence of even integers @xmath377 verifying . consider the system @xmath382 where @xmath383 . this system is equivalent to a ( generic ) system supported on the circuit @xmath384 . the primitive affine relation on @xmath0 is @xmath385 so that @xmath61 is the eliminant of . the rank modulo @xmath4 of @xmath0 is @xmath386 . the eliminant @xmath61 has @xmath321 real roots and the sign conditions are satisfied at each real root of @xmath61 . therefore , according to proposition [ p : real ] , the system has @xmath354 real solutions . @xmath159 [ t : positivesharp ] for any integers @xmath388 such that @xmath36 , there exist a circuit @xmath23 with @xmath37 and a generic real polynomial system supported on @xmath0 whose number of positive solutions is @xmath38 * proof . * by proposition [ p : positiveexistence ] , there exists a circuit @xmath389 with @xmath390 and polynomials @xmath391 such that the system @xmath351 , @xmath392 , has @xmath393 positive solutions . by proposition [ p : positive ] , this means that the eliminant @xmath61 of this system has @xmath38 positive roots at which @xmath394 are positive . define @xmath395 and choose polynomials @xmath396 ( as in ) which are positive at the real roots of @xmath61 . then , the system @xmath351 , @xmath397 , is equivalent to a system supported on the circuit @xmath398 . the eliminant of this system is also @xmath61 and we have @xmath399 . proposition [ p : positive ] and our choice of @xmath400 implies that this system has also @xmath393 positive solutions . [ t : sharp ] for any integers @xmath401 such that @xmath47 and @xmath36 , there exist a circuit @xmath23 with @xmath37 , @xmath402 , and a generic real polynomial system supported on @xmath0 whose number of real solutions , @xmath41 , verifies : * proof . * the case @xmath355 is an immediate consequence of theorem [ t : positivesharp ] . suppose that @xmath406 . by proposition [ p : existence ] , there exist a circuit @xmath389 with @xmath390 , @xmath407 , and polynomials @xmath391 such that the system @xmath408 has @xmath409 real solutions . here and in the rest of the proof @xmath53 is a polynomial as in . since @xmath410 , we may assume that @xmath60 is odd . define @xmath411 and choose polynomials @xmath396 which are positive at the real roots of the eliminant @xmath61 of . then , the system @xmath412 is equivalent to a system supported on the circuit @xmath398 . we have @xmath413 , @xmath414 and @xmath61 is also the eliminant of . moreover the sign conditions in proposition [ p : real ] which correspond to are obtained from those corresponding to by adding @xmath186 for @xmath415 ( note that @xmath416 ) . but since has @xmath409 real solutions , and @xmath60 is odd , it follows from proposition [ p : real ] that the sign conditions corresponding to are satisfied at @xmath417 real roots of @xmath61 . by our choice of @xmath396 , the sign conditions corresponding to are satisfied at the same @xmath417 real roots of @xmath61 . hence , again by proposition [ p : real ] , the system has @xmath418 real solutions . finally , suppose that @xmath419 . the idea is exactly as before . by proposition [ p : existence ] , there exist a circuit @xmath389 with @xmath390 , @xmath420 and polynomials @xmath391 such that the system has @xmath421 real solutions . according to proposition [ p : real ] ( see also remark [ r : redundant ] ) , this means that the eliminant @xmath61 of this system has @xmath421 real roots . define @xmath422 and choose polynomials @xmath423 which are positive at the roots of the eliminant @xmath61 . then , the system is equivalent to a system supported on the circuit @xmath398 . we have @xmath424 , @xmath425 and has @xmath426 real solutions . @xmath159 e. brugall , _ courbes algbriques relles et courbes pseudoholomorphes relles dans les surfaces rgles _ , phd thesis , university of rennes 1 , france , ( 2004 ) , ( in english ) , http://tel.ccsd.cnrs.fr / documents / archives0/00/00/86/52/. tien - yien li , j. maurice rojas , and xiaoshen wang,_counting real connected components of trinomial curve intersections and @xmath35-nomial hypersurfaces _ , discrete comput . geom . * 30 * ( 2003 ) , no . 3 , 379414 . mr 2 002 964 f. sottile , _ enumerative real algebraic geometry _ , algorithmic and quantitative real algebraic geometry ( piscataway , nj , 2001 ) , 139179 , dimacs ser . discrete math . , 60 , amer . soc . , providence , ri , 2003 . b. sturmfels , _ on the number of real roots of a sparse polynomial system _ , hamiltonian and gradient flows , algorithms and control , 137143 , fields inst . commun . , 3 , amer . soc . , providence , ri , 1994 .

we study polynomial systems whose equations have as common support a set @xmath0 of @xmath1 points in @xmath2 called a circuit . we find a bound on the number of real solutions to such systems which depends on @xmath3 , the dimension of the affine span of the minimal affinely dependent subset of @xmath0 , and the rank modulo @xmath4 of @xmath0 . we prove that this bound is sharp by drawing so - called dessins denfant on the riemann sphere . we also obtain that the maximal number of solutions with positive coordinates to systems supported on circuits in @xmath2 is @xmath5 , which is very small comparatively to the bound given by the khovanskii fewnomial theorem .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2006''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following: (1) Justice is served when all parties to litigation are represented by experienced diligent counsel. (2) Protecting attorney-client privileged communications from compelled disclosure fosters voluntary compliance with the law. (3) To serve the purpose of the attorney-client privilege, attorneys and clients must have a degree of confidence that they will not be required to disclose privileged communications. (4) The ability of an organization to have effective compliance programs and to conduct comprehensive internal investigations is enhanced when there is clarity and consistency regarding the attorney-client privilege. (5) Prosecutors, investigators, enforcement officials, and other officers or employees of Government agencies have been able to, and can continue to, conduct their work while respecting attorney-client and work product protections and the rights of individuals, including seeking and discovering facts crucial to the investigation and prosecution of organizations. (6) Despite the existence of these legitimate tools, the Department of Justice and other agencies have increasingly employed tactics that undermine the adversarial system of justice, such as encouraging organizations to waive attorney- client privilege and work product protections to avoid indictment or other sanctions. (7) An indictment can have devastating consequences on an organization, potentially eliminating the ability of the organization to survive post-indictment or to dispute the charges against it at trial. (8) Waiver demands and other tactics of Government agencies are encroaching on the constitutional rights and other legal protections of employees. (9) The attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, and payment of counsel fees shall not be used as devices to conceal wrongdoing or to cloak advice on evading the law. (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to place on each agency clear and practical limits designed to preserve the attorney-client privilege and work product protections available to an organization and preserve the constitutional rights and other legal protections available to employees of such an organization. SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE OR ADVANCEMENT OF COUNSEL FEES AS ELEMENTS OF COOPERATION. (a) In General.--Chapter 201 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3013 the following: ``Sec. 3014. Preservation of fundamental legal protections and rights in the context of investigations and enforcement matters regarding organizations ``(a) Definitions.--In this section: ``(1) Attorney-client privilege.--The term `attorney-client privilege' means the attorney-client privilege as governed by the principles of the common law, as they may be interpreted by the courts of the United States in the light of reason and experience, and the principles of article V of the Federal Rules of Evidence. ``(2) Attorney work product.--The term `attorney work product' means materials prepared by or at the direction of an attorney in anticipation of litigation, particularly any such materials that contain a mental impression, conclusion, opinion, or legal theory of that attorney. ``(b) In General.--In any Federal investigation or criminal or civil enforcement matter, an agent or attorney of the United States shall not-- ``(1) demand, request, or condition treatment on the disclosure by an organization, or person affiliated with that organization, of any communication protected by the attorney- client privilege or any attorney work product; ``(2) condition a civil or criminal charging decision relating to a organization, or person affiliated with that organization, on, or use as a factor in determining whether an organization, or person affiliated with that organization, is cooperating with the Government-- ``(A) any valid assertion of the attorney-client privilege or privilege for attorney work product; ``(B) the provision of counsel to, or contribution to the legal defense fees or expenses of, an employee of that organization; ``(C) the entry into a joint defense, information sharing, or common interest agreement with an employee of that organization if the organization determines it has a common interest in defending against the investigation or enforcement matter; ``(D) the sharing of information relevant to the investigation or enforcement matter with an employee of that organization; or ``(E) a failure to terminate the employment of or otherwise sanction any employee of that organization because of the decision by that employee to exercise the constitutional rights or other legal protections of that employee in response to a Government request; or ``(3) demand or request that an organization, or person affiliated with that organization, not take any action described in paragraph (2). ``(c) Inapplicability.--Nothing in this Act shall prohibit an agent or attorney of the United States from requesting or seeking any communication or material that such agent or attorney reasonably believes is not entitled to protection under the attorney-client privilege or attorney work product doctrine. ``(d) Voluntary Disclosures.--Nothing in this Act is intended to prohibit an organization from making, or an agent or attorney of the United States from accepting, a voluntary and unsolicited offer to share the internal investigation materials of such organization.''. (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 201 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``3014. Preservation of fundamental legal protections and rights in the context of investigations and enforcement matters regarding organizations.''.

Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2006 - Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit any U.S. agent or attorney, in any federal investigation or criminal or civil enforcement matter, from demanding, requesting, or conditioning treatment on the disclosure by an organization (or affiliated person) of any communication protected by the attorney-client privilege or any attorney work product. Prohibits a U.S. agent or attorney from conditioning a civil or criminal charging decision relating to an organization (or affiliated person) on one or more specified actions, or from using one or more such actions as a factor in determining whether an organization or affiliated person is cooperating with the government. Numbers among the actions a U.S. agent or attorney may not use as a charging decision condition or a cooperation-determining factor: (1) any valid assertion of the attorney-client privilege or privilege for attorney work product; (2) the provision of counsel to, or contribution to the legal defense fees or expenses of, an employee of the organization; (3) entry into a joint-defense, information-sharing, or common-interest agreement with an employee of the organization if the organization determines it has a common interest in defending against the investigation or enforcement matter; (4) the sharing of relevant information with an employee; or (5) a failure to terminate an employee's employment, or otherwise sanction an employee, because of the employee's decision to exercise his or her constitutional rights or other legal protections in response to a government request. Prohibits a U.S. agent or attorney from demanding or requesting that an organization or an affiliated person not take any such action.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Automatic Reserve Component Enrollment Act of 2009''. SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT OF DEMOBILIZING MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE IN HEALTH CARE AND DENTAL CARE PROGRAMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly take appropriate actions to provide for the automatic enrollment of members of the National Guard and Reserve who are being discharged or released from active duty in the Armed Forces in the health care and dental care programs for veterans of the Department of Veterans Affairs during the participation of such members in the demobilization and discharge process used for members of the Reserve components of the Armed Forces. (b) Enrollment.-- (1) Protection of privacy.--Any enrollment activities required of members under subsection (a) shall provide appropriate protections for the privacy of such members and their personal information in accordance with applicable requirements of law. (2) Assistance.-- (A) In general.--In providing for the enrollment of members as described in subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall provide members assistance in the completion of any enrollment activities required under such subsection. Such assistance shall be provided during the demobilization and discharge process of such members utilizing such personnel of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including personnel of the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefits Administration, as the Secretary shall assign for such purposes. (B) Education and outreach.--When providing assistance under subparagraph (A) to members described in subsection (a), the personnel of the Department providing such assistance shall also provide information to such members about the programs, benefits, and services of the Department for which they may be eligible, including how such members can apply for and access such programs, benefits, and services. (3) Facilities and other resources.--The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the facilities and other resources (including space and computer facilities) for the demobilization and discharge process used for members of Reserve components of the Armed Forces include adequate facilities and resources for the performance by members of any enrollment activities required under subsection (a) and any assistance in the performance of such activities under paragraph (2). (c) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a member of a Reserve component of the Armed Forces to participate in any health care or dental care program or use any service of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (d) Reports.-- (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and each year thereafter for five years, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit a report on the implementation of the requirements of this section to-- (A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. (2) Contents.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall include the following: (A) A description of the activities undertaken by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out the requirements of this section. (B) An assessment of the effect of such activities on-- (i) the enrollment of members of the Reserve components of the Armed Forces in health care and dental care programs for veterans of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and (ii) the participation of such members in such programs. (C) An assessment of the potential budgetary impact and demand for services that actions taken under subsection (a) may have on the Department of Veterans Affairs and any need for additional staff or resources to meet that demand. (D) Such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs jointly consider appropriate in order to improve or enhance the requirements of this section so as to further facilitate the enrollment of members of the Reserve components of the Armed Forces in health care and dental care programs for veterans of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (E) Such other matters with respect to the requirements of this section as Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs jointly consider appropriate. (e) Enrollment Defined.--In this section, the term ``enrollment'' means, with respect to enrolling a member of a Reserve component of the Armed Forces in a health care or dental care program for veterans of the Department of Veterans Affairs, collecting and recording appropriate information about such member in the record keeping system of the Department of Veterans Affairs to facilitate participation of such member in such program if such member elects such participation and is eligible for such participation.

Automatic Reserve Component Enrollment Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to jointly provide for the enrollment of members of the National Guard and reserve being discharged or released from active duty in the health and dental care programs for veterans of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during their participation in the demobilization and discharge process. Requires for such members: (1) the protection of privacy and personal information; (2) appropriate assistance in the completion of enrollment activities; and (3) education and outreach about the VA programs, benefits, and services for which they may be eligible.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has confirmed that a body removed from the burned wreckage of a crashed car is that of journalist Michael Mahon Hastings. Hastings' reporting for Rolling Stone magazine on U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal ultimately led to the resignation of the U.S. commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral says Thursday that the findings on the cause of death are deferred pending the results of toxicology tests expected in eight to 10 weeks. Corral says an autopsy was performed Wednesday and the 33-year-old Hastings was identified by matching fingerprints to prints the FBI had on file. The car crashed early Tuesday in Los Angeles and burned furiously. Hastings' death was announced earlier by his employer without details. ||||| WASHINGTON – During the weeks before he was killed in a car crash in Los Angeles, reporter Michael Hastings was researching a story about a privacy lawsuit brought by Florida socialite Jill Kelley against the Department of Defense and the FBI. Hastings, 33, was scheduled to meet with a representative of Kelley next week in Los Angeles to discuss the case, according to a person close to Kelley. Hastings wrote for Rolling Stone and the website BuzzFeed. Kelley alleges that military officials and the FBI leaked her name to the media to discredit her after she reported receiving a stream of emails that were traced to Paula Broadwell, a biographer of former CIA director David H. Petraeus, according to a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., on June 3. Petraeus resigned from the CIA after publicly admitting that he and Broadwell had carried on an extramarital affair. PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments The story about Kelley, Broadwell and the Petraeus affair would have been consistent with topics that Hastings has focused on during his reporting career. His unvarnished 2010 Rolling Stone profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, led to McChrystal’s resignation. The story described the disdain McChrystal’s staff showed for President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Since Hasting’s death early Tuesday, wild conspiracy theories have bloomed on the Internet implying that he was murdered by powerful forces wanting to silence him. On Wednesday night, the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks inserted itself into the story, publishing a message on Twitter that Hasting had contacted a lawyer for the organization hours before his car smashed into a tree on North Highland Avenue in Los Angeles. The message read: “Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.” The crash is under investigation and there will be an official accident report after a toxicology test is completed in the coming weeks. Follow Politics Now on Twitter and Facebook [email protected] Twitter: @bybrianbennett

– Well this should provide some grist for the conspiracy theory mill: Michael Hastings was working on a piece about a privacy lawsuit from Jill Kelley before his fatal car crash. (You might remember Kelley from her role in David Petraeus' scandalous love quadrangle.) Hastings was scheduled to meet with one of the socialite's reps next week, the LA Times reports. Of course, given Hastings' usual beat, virtually any story he might have been working on could prompt conspiracy theorists, and some have already been at work. WikiLeaks helped matters along last night by revealing that Hastings had contacted a WikiLeaks lawyer "just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him." The Los Angeles County coroner, meanwhile, confirmed today that it was indeed Hastings who was killed, reports AP.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Investing in U.S. Territories, Not Corporations Act of 2011''. SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO RUM PRODUCERS. Subsection (e) of section 7652 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to shipments of rum to the United States) is amended by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: ``(3) Limitation on government assistance to rum producers.-- ``(A) In general.--If the amount of direct and indirect government assistance paid or incurred by any covered government during any calendar year to persons producing rum within the jurisdiction of such government exceeds the limitation under subparagraph (B), the amount which would (but for this paragraph) be covered into the treasury of such government under this subsection shall be reduced for each of the 2 succeeding calendar years by the amount of such excess. ``(B) Limitation.--The limitation under this subparagraph is the amount equal to 15 percent of the amount which would (but for this paragraph) be covered into the treasury of such government under this section for the calendar year. ``(C) Separate application to each producer.--The provisions of subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall also be applied separately to each rum producer, taking into account only the assistance paid or incurred by any covered government to such producer and only such producer's production to which subsection (a)(3) or (b)(3) applies, whichever is applicable. ``(D) Government assistance.--For purposes of this paragraph-- ``(i) Direct government assistance.--The term `direct government assistance' includes any transfer of funds, grant, subsidy (other than any generally available tax subsidy), loan, equity investment, loan guarantee, production or marketing incentive, income or price support, provision of goods or services (other than generally available infrastructure and public services), and such other assistance provided by a covered government as the Secretary identifies as consistent with the purposes of this paragraph. ``(ii) Indirect government assistance.--The term `indirect government assistance' includes any amounts expended by a covered government-- ``(I) to promote, market, or otherwise support the rum industry within the jurisdiction of such government, ``(II) to pay principal and interest on, and expenses related to, indebtedness incurred, the proceeds of which are used to provide rum subsidies, or ``(III) for any other purpose identified by the Secretary as consistent with the purposes of this paragraph. ``(iii) Certain debt-financed payments excluded.--The terms `direct government assistance' and `indirect government assistance' shall not include any payment made by a covered government to a rum producer out of funds raised through a loan (including the issuance of a debt instrument), but shall include any payment of principal and interest on the loan (or debt instrument). ``(E) Annual reports.--Each covered government shall, for each calendar year, submit a report to the Secretary detailing the amount and type of direct and indirect government assistance provided by such government to each rum producer during such calendar year and to rum producers in the aggregate during such year. Such report shall be submitted at such time, and in such form, as is prescribed by the Secretary. ``(F) Covered government.--For purposes of this paragraph, the term `covered government' means the government of Puerto Rico and the government of the Virgin Islands.''. SEC. 3. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM ALLOCATIONS OF RUM EXCISE TAXES BETWEEN PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS. Section 7652 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after subsection (h) the following new subsection: ``(i) Limitations on Allocation of Rum Excise Taxes Between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.-- ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), and (e), if, without regard to this subsection and subsection (e)(3), the Secretary determines that the respective shares of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the aggregate amount to be covered into their treasuries under this section for any calendar year are not within the parameters of paragraph (2), the Secretary shall increase or decrease such shares to the extent necessary to bring them within such parameters. ``(2) Parameters.--The parameters of this paragraph are that-- ``(A) Puerto Rico's share shall be at least 65 percent but not more than 70 percent of such aggregate amount, and ``(B) the Virgin Islands's share shall be at least 30 percent but not more than 35 percent of such aggregate amount. ``(3) Application with subsection (e)(3).--This subsection shall be applied before subsection (e)(3).''. SEC. 4. DENIAL OF COVER OVER FOR RUM REDISTILLED INTO CANE NEUTRAL SPIRITS. Section 7652 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after subsection (i) the following new subsection: ``(j) Denial of Cover Over for Rum Redistilled Into Cane Neutral Spirits.--No amount shall be covered over under subsection (a) or (b) with respect to rum which is redistilled into cane neutral spirits after being brought into the United States. The Secretary shall prescribe such information reporting as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out the preceding sentence.''. SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the amendments made by this section shall apply to calendar years after 2011. (b) Denial of Cover Over for Rum Redistilled Into Cane Neutral Spirits.--The amendment made by section 4 shall apply to rum brought into the United States after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Investing in U.S. Territories, Not Corporations Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to shipments of rum to the United States from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to: (1) limit during a two-year period the amount of direct and indirect government assistance by the governments of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to rum producers from rum excise taxes covered-over into the treasuries of such governments to 15% of the amounts covered-over, (2) impose limitations on the allocation of rum excise taxes between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and (3) deny any payment of rum excise taxes covered over into the treasuries of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for rum redistilled into cane neutral spirits after being brought into the United States.

long term therapy for barrier formation ; and , strengthening or reinforcing of the thin fragile blunderbuss canals is not achieved . instead , its long term therapy has shown to make the tooth brittle due to its hygroscopic and proteolytic properties . even after apexification procedure , the clinician has to go for conventional root canal obturation as the barrier formed is often porous and not continuous . mineral trioxide aggregate ( mta ) has also been used to provide an artificial barrier ; however , it also has the limitations of non - reinforcement of root canal dentin and a high cost . recently some case reports have shown that non vital , infected immature teeth can be alternatively treated by pulp regenerative process.[716 ] the authors have termed this regenerative process as revascularization,[711 ] revitalization or maturogenesis . the common aspect of all regenerative modalities is intra canal disinfection using copious irrigation , placement of antibiotic pastes and formation of a sterile blood clot inside the pulp cavity . the concept of pulp regeneration was first noted in traumatic avulsed and replanted immature teeth.[1618 ] rule documented root development and apical barrier formation in cases of pulpal necrosis . the authors emphasized on the importance of sterile blood clot and granulomatous tissue within the pulpal cavity . various possible explanations have been given to explain why apexogenesis / maturogenesis can occur in these infected immature permanent teeth . these include the presence of mesenchymal stem cells residing in the apical papilla , also known as stem cells of apical papilla ( scap ) , which are the multi - potent dental pulp stem cells , and resistant to necrosis / infection . the exact etiology , pathogenesis or histo - pathological events that occur in this regenerative process are still not known . till date very few cases have been reported using pulp regeneration as a therapeutic therapy for the treatment of immature non vital teeth . it is necessary to compare the outcomes of conventional calcium hydroxide therapy and pulp revascularization procedure in same individuals , so that the general practitioners can compare both therapies . it is difficult to clinically find bilateral non - vital , immature , infected teeth with approximately similar root development stage . a case report is presented with bilateral immature central incisors treated with conventional calcium hydroxide apexification and pulp revascularization induced maturation procedures . a 24-year - old female patient presented with occasional pain , swelling and pus discharge in relation to upper front region of the face since past several months . the patient gave a history of trauma around 15 years ago , and the patient 's medical history was noncontributory . after the general medical , dental and traumatic incident histories were reviewed , clinical and radiographic examinations were conducted . palpation revealed bony hard maxillary labial cortical expansion with no intra - oral sinus formation . intraoral radiographs revealed immature apices associated with both maxillary central incisors [ figure 1a ] . the canals were wide with thin dentinal walls , slight flaring at apical end and associated peri - apical radiolucency . the lateral incisors had an intact periodontal ligament space with complete root formation and no root fracture . response to electric pulp testing ( vitality scanner , analytic technology , glendora , ca , usa ) and thermal tests were indicative of irreversible pulp damage . ( a ) intra oral radiograph of upper central incisors showing wide root canals and immature apices . ( b ) 6 months follow - up radiograph showing healing of associated peri - apical radiolucency . a small remaining portion of the antibiotic placed during the operative procedure can be seen as slight radiographic opacity in the middle/1/3 of the canal it was planned to perform conventional calcium hydroxide therapy followed by guttaperchaobturation in right maxillary central incisor , and revascularization procedures in left maxillary central incisor . she was explained all risks and benefits of revascularization and calcium hydroxide apexification procedures , and an informed and written consent were obtained . after extensive clinical and radiographic examination , the maxillary central incisors were prepared for non - surgical endodontic therapy . a rubber dam was placed , and a conventional endodontic access opening was made with help of endo access burnumber a0164 ( dentsplymaillefer , ballaigues , switzerland ) . the conventional triangular access cavity was enlarged to correspond to the large pulp cavity with the help of slow speed diamond kgs3203 ( dentsplymaillefer , ballaigues , switzerland ) . after gaining access to the root canal system , the left central incisor showed frank purulent pus discharge from the root canal . the canal was gently irrigated and the patient was asked to wait for 30 minutes in the waiting area to let the purulent discharge to drain out from the pulp chamber . after the waiting period , the canals were irrigated and gently instrumented to confirm that there was no spontaneous discharge from any canal . the canals were then copiously irrigated with 5.25% sodium hypochlorite solution ( frmula e ao , so paulo , brazil ) alternatively with 2% chlorhexidine solution ( sigma chemicals , st.louis , mo , usa ) with intermediated rinse of distilled water . minimal instrumentation of the root canal space was performed with sterile # 60 k reamers , to prevent further weakening of thin fragile dentinal walls . a sterile cotton pellet was placed in the pulp chamber , and access cavity was sealed with a temporary restorative material ( cavit - g , 3 m espe , st . working length was estimated with the help of intra - oral peri - apical radiographs . slurry of calcium hydroxide was made with the help of sterile local anesthetic solution and was carried 1 mm short of radiographic apex with a lentulospiral ( mani inc . entire root canal space was packed with calcium hydroxide dressing . in the left central incisor , a triple antibiotic paste containing minocycline , ciprofloxacin and metronidazole was packed 1 mm short of radiographic apex . the access cavity was sealed with a temporary restorative material ( cavit - g , 3 m espe , st . after 2 weeks , the dressing was changed , and the calcium hydroxide and antibiotic paste were again placed in right and left maxillary central incisors , respectively . after 2 months , the right central incisor was conventionally obturated using laterally compacted , roll cone guttapercha technique with tubli - seal ( kerr uk , peterborough , u.k . ) . a radiograph was taken to establish the quality of the obturation . in the subsequent visit after 1 week local anesthesia of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine was administered and rubber dam was applied . peri - apical area was punctured thorough the root canal with 27 g 31 mm needle ( septoject , septodont , saint - maur - des - fosses cedex , france ) . four short sharp stokes were used to intentionally induce bleeding inside the canal from peri - apical issues . when fresh bleeding was evident in the canal system , blood clot was allowed to form by tightly pacing a cotton pellet in the coronal third of the canal . after 10 minutes , cotton pellet was removed and coronal third was sealed with white mta . the white mta ( proroot , dentsply / tulsa dental , tulsa , ok , usa ) was mixed according to the manufacturer 's instructions . it was initially carried to the coronal 1/3 using a mta carrier , and then compacted using wet cotton rolled on a sterile reamer . the mta was compacted to provide a radiographic extension of 5 mm into the canal . squeeze dry cotton pellet was kept in the chamber and access cavity was sealed with a temporary restorative material ( cavit - g , 3 m espe , st . after 48 hours , temporary restoration was removed and cavity was restored with a glass ionomer base ( ketac molar easymix 3 m espe ) and light cure composite resin ( z 350 , 3 m espe ) . patient was recalled every 6 months for clinical and radiological evaluation [ figures 1b , 2a , 2b ] . after 24 months follow- up , there was no perceptible mobility of the involved teeth [ figure 2c ] . follow - up radiographs showed appreciable thickening of dentinal walls of the left central incisor . the peri - apical radiolucency was also not present in subsequent follow - up radiographs . on comparison with the right maxillary central incisor which underwent the traditional calcium hydroxide apexification technique , the left maxillary central incisor which had undergone the revascularization procedure , showed a better healing with maturogenesis . ( a ) 12 months follow - up intra oral radiograph showing complete healing of peri- apical radiolucency . the increase in the length of mesial root wall of left central incisor ( b ) 18 months follow - up intra oral radiograph showing narrowing of apex and lateral dentinal wall thickening in left central incisor . note there is no appreciable change in root length or dentinal thickening in right central incisor . ( c ) 24 months follow up radiograph revealing maturation of root with thickening and lengthening of dentinal walls of left central incisor . recent advances in the field of regenerative medicine have led to a paradigm shift in the restoration of tissues affected by disease , trauma , cancer , or congenital deformity . these have inspired the dental researchers to look beyond just replacement of damaged tissues ; and , the researchers are now trying to develop methods to regenerate them , rather than just replacing . a major challenge faced by most the endodontists is the treatment of thin , fragile blunderbuss canals in non vital teeth . traditionally , the only regenerative therapy available in such cases was apexification using long term calcium hydroxide therapy . frank popularized calcium hydroxide apexification by using a mixture of camphorated monochlorophenol ( cmcp ) and calcium hydrovide [ ca(oh)2 ] . hiethersay discarded cmcp because of its toxic effects , and used only ca(oh)2 to treat 21 necrotic , immature teeth . histopathological sections revealed new tissue formation consisting of pulp , interglogular dentin , and cementum and periodontal ligament ( pdl ) fibers . this led to the belief that regeneration of dental tissues was possible . since then various clinical studies had demonstrated the efficacy of ca(oh)2 in apexification . there was no root elongation or maturation and all cases required subsequent root canal obturation . ca(oh)2 therapy was also shown to pose a threat of root fracture in 77% of immature teeth.[24 ] also because of its high ph , it could damage the cells with regenerative capacity . various other materials have been tried to induce apexification , such as tricalcium phosphate , collagen calcium phosphate , osteogenic protein-1 and mineral trioxide aggregate . however , none of the above mentioned methods lead to root elongation or maturation . apical plug of mineral trioxide aggregate ( mta ) and guttapercha filling is currently the clinician 's choice and it has several advantages over calcium hydroxide induced apexification . mta is a biocompatible material ; has osteo - inductive properties ; sets in the presence of moisture ; and , the treatment can be completed in a single sitting . however , it does not strengthen the remaining tooth structure . the revascularization of non vital teeth has been demonstrated earlier in replanted teeth with open apices.[1618 ] using the same concept , revitalization of a non vital immature tooth was attempted by creating a sterile blood clot in the pulp space . the blood clot acted as a matrix onto which the vital cells from peri - apex could get seeded and reestablish the pulp vascularity . various other mechanisms have been described in the literature , including : v0 ital mature ( adult ) pulp cells remain at the apical end of the root canal and cause pulp revitalization ; and , revascularization of pulp occurs because of multi - potent dental pulp stem cells , stem cells in the periodontal ligament , or stem cells from the bone marrow released by over - instrumentation . the most plausible mechanism of the root development is the isolation of stem cells from scap . it has been hypothesized that scap can be the source or primary odontoblasts forming the root dentin . majority of the authors have termed this regenerative phenomenon as the revascularization ; however , very few have actually tested the vascularity of the pulp canal space.[712 ] the results seen are the regeneration of dentin and root elongation . though this could happen only after vascularity of the pulpal space is established , there is a lack of actual histologic studies testing the pulp vitality . a major difficulty encountered by the clinician in determination of actual contents of the pulp space after revascularization procedures is that it is not possible to extract a functional tooth for histo - pathological analysis . secondly , it is very difficult to obtain pulp vitality tests as coronal third of the canal is filled with mta . thus , it would be safe to use the term maturogenesis to describe the series of events occurring after revascularization procedures . the present case simultaneously evaluated conventional calcium hydroxide therapy and obturation , with revascularization induced maturogenesis . response to pulp vitality tests , clinical examinations and purulent discharge on access opening indicated pulpal necrosis and infection . in spite of severe infection , some authors have demonstrated the presence of vital pulp cells in the apical third , evident by pain response on entering the deeper portion of canal in a non - vital tooth . open apex provides a channel for stem cells residing in the apical papilla and new blood vessels to proliferate inside the pulp space over the blood clot matrix . blood clot also plays an important role in regeneration by releasing various growth factors like platelet derived growth factor ( pdgf ) , vascular endothelial growth factor ( vegf ) , platelet derived epithelial growth factor ( pdegf ) , tissue growth factor ( tgf b ) . however , one can not rely on these factors as concentration of trapped cells in the fibrin clot is unpredictable . the cumulative effects of above mentioned factors and cells lead to proliferation and differentiation of cells into odontoblasts , under the organizing influence of cells of hertwig 's epithelial root sheath ( hers ) . the newly formed odontoblast lineages from stem cells in pulp tissue or apical papilla lay down atubular dentin at the apical end , as well as on lateral aspects of dentinal walls of the root canal , leading to maturogensis . a critical step in regenerative therapy is complete disinfection of the root canal space using copious irrigation , minimal instrumentation and placement of antibiotic pastes.[71521 ] calcium hydroxide was avoided as it could weaken the root dentin and also its high ph could destroy vital apical cells including scap . this regenerative therapy can provide advantage over traditional apexification as there is elongation as well as strengthening of the root due to reinforcement of lateral dentinal walls , with deposition of new dentin / hard tissue . there are certain limitations to this approach such as : b0 leeding into the canal space is necessary , and this treatment option is not indicated in cases where post and core is the final restorative treatment plan , as the vital tissue in apical 2/3 of the canal can not be violated for post placement . in conclusion , revascularization induced maturogenesis , where indicated , can provide several advantages over conventional apexification procedures . a detailed histo - pathological study is necessary to demonstrate the actual contents of pulp space after revascularization procedures .

various authors have demonstrated the regenerative process in immature , non vital teeth by revascularization induced maturogenesis . the aim of this case report is to compare calcium hydroxide apexification and pulp revascularization induced maturation procedures in the same patient , in two different teeth . the right maxillary central incisor in this individual was treated with conventional calcium hydroxide induced apexification procedure followed by guttaperchaobturation , and the left maxillary central incisor was treated by pulp revascularization induced maturation procedures . 24 months follow - up shows root elongation and apical closure in the tooth treated with revascularization induced maturation procedures . revascularization induced maturogenesis , where indicated , can provide several advantages over conventional apexification procedures .

one of the most widespread and interesting models for studying the emergence , dynamics and interactions of coherent structures is the nonlinear schrdinger equation ( nlse ) @xcite . the nlse is a paradigm for the evolution of coherent structures since it is a universal model describing the evolution of complex field envelopes in nonlinear dispersive media @xcite . this universality stems from the fact that the nlse is the prototypical , lowest - order , nonlinear partial differential equation ( pde ) that describes the dynamics of modulated envelope waves in a nonlinear medium @xcite . as such , it appears in a wide variety of physical contexts , ranging from optics @xcite to fluid dynamics and plasma physics @xcite to matter waves @xcite , while it has also attracted much interest mathematically @xcite . the general form of the nlse ( with the lowest order nonlinearity ) can be written , in non - dimensional units , as @xmath0 where @xmath1 is a parameter and @xmath2 represents the strength of the nonlinear interaction and determines whether the nlse is attractive ( @xmath3 ) or repulsive ( @xmath4 ) . the nlse is a model for the evolution of the mean - field wavefunction in bose - einstein condensates ( becs ) at low temperatures @xcite , namely a superfluid . in the bec setting , the nlse also contains an external trapping potential term that is often spatially parabolic or periodic in nature and stems from the magnetic or optical confinement of the atoms . the nlse allows for the prediction and description of a wide range of ( nonlinear ) excitations depending on the sign of the nonlinearity and the dimensionality of the system , the latter of which that can be tuned by the ratio of trapping strengths along the different spatial directions @xcite . in this manuscript we are interested in the fully three - dimensional regime ( 3d ) with repulsive nonlinearity ( @xmath4 ) whose basic nonlinear excitations correspond to vortex lines and vortex rings . a vortex line is the 3d extension of a two - dimensional ( 2d ) vortex by ( infinitely and homogeneously ) extending the solution into the axis perpendicular to the vortex plane . vortex lines might be rendered finite in length if the background where they live is bounded by the externally confining potential . in that case , vortex lines become vorticity `` tubes '' that are straight across the background or bent in u and s shapes , depending on the aspect ratio of the background @xcite . if a vortex line is bent enough to close on itself , or if two vortex lines are close enough to each other , they can produce a vortex ring @xcite . vortex rings are 3d structures whose core is a closed loop with vorticity around it @xcite ( i.e. , a vortex line that loops back into itself ) . vortex rings have been observed experimentally in superfluid helium @xcite as well as in the context of becs in the decay of dark solitons in two - component becs @xcite , direct density engineering @xcite ( see also the complementary theoretical proposals of refs . ) , and in the evolution of colliding symmetric defects @xcite . they have also been argued to be responsible for unusual experimental collisional outcomes of structures that may appear as dark solitons in cigar - shaped traps @xcite . numerical studies of experimentally feasible vortex ring generation in becs have also been explored in the context of flow past an obstacle @xcite , bloch oscillations in an optical trap @xcite , collapse of bubbles @xcite , instability of 2d rarefaction pulses @xcite , flow past a positive ion @xcite or an electron bubble @xcite , crow instability of two vortex pairs @xcite and collisions of multiple becs @xcite . vortex rings have an intrinsic velocity @xcite , which can be overcome by counteracting the velocity with a trapping potential @xcite , adding kelvin mode perturbations @xcite , or by placing the vortex ring in a co - traveling frame ( see sec . [ s:1vr ] ) . in the present manuscript , motivated by the above abundant interest in this theme both from a theoretical perspective and from that of ongoing experimental efforts in becs , we are interested in the dynamical evolution of vortex rings and in particular in their interactions . in an effort to exclusively capture the vortex ring dynamics and not the influence of the external potential ( the latter is a natural subject for future work ) , we assume the absence of any trapping potential and thus consider the background supporting the vortex rings as homogeneous . on this homogeneous background we revisit the intrinsic velocity of a single vortex ring that serves as the self - interacting term that will be supplemented by the interaction terms between different vortex rings . the main goal of our work is to describe vortex ring interactions and scattering collisions in a reduced ( i.e. , `` effective '' ) manner . the motivation for this approach stems from the fact that full numerical simulations in the 3d nlse can be very time consuming especially when examining scenarios involving multiple vortex rings in large domains . the first dynamical scenario that we study corresponds to the scattering of colliding vortex rings of opposite charge . using a large set of full 3d numerical simulations ( based on efficient gpu codes , see below ) , we are able to distill a very simple , phenomenological , rule describing the scattering angle of vortex rings as a function of the vortex ring radii and the initial collisional offset . then , based on the interaction of vortex filaments from classical fluids , we revisit a reduced , ordinary differential equation , model for the interaction of co - axial vortex rings based on the biot - savart law , adapting it to the superfluid ( bec ) case . the ensuing reduced dynamics for the leapfrogging of vortex ring pairs is then favorably compared to full 3d simulations . our manuscript is structured as follows . in sec . [ s:1vr ] we describe a procedure to generate numerically - exact traveling vortex ring solutions in a homogeneous background , and test the resulting ring s translational velocity against suitably revised known analytic approximations . section [ s : scattering ] is devoted to describing scattering scenarios from the collisions of vortex rings , where we derive a very simple phenomenological relationship for the scattering angle as a function of the initial offset distance and radii of the colliding rings . in sec . [ s : leapfrog ] we use effective equations of motion for the interaction of co - axial vortex rings to describe the leapfrogging behavior of two vortex rings and compare the results with direct simulations of the nlse . finally , sec . [ s : conclu ] summarizes our results and prompts a few avenues for future exploration . before we embark on the relevant analysis , we provide some details on our computational methods which pertain to all the numerical simulations given below . for all 3d nlse simulations , we use high - order explicit finite - difference schemes on a uniform grid with cell - spacing @xmath5 and constant time - step @xmath6 . time - stepping is accomplished with the standard 4th - order runge - kutta method ( rk4 ) , while spatial differencing is performed with the 4th - order 2-step high - order compact scheme described in ref . . the time - step @xmath7 is set based on the stability bounds of the overall scheme as discussed in ref . . since the stability forces the time - step to be proportional to @xmath8 , the overall error of the scheme is @xmath9 . due to the constant density background of the problem , we utilize a recently developed modulus - squared dirichlet boundary condition @xcite . the simulations are computed using the nlsemagic code package @xcitewww.nlsemagic.com ] which contains algorithms written in c and cuda , and are primarily run on nvidia geforce gtx 580 and geforce gt 650 m gpu cards . in order to achieve accurate results for simulating the interactions of multiple vortex rings in a homogeneous background , it is necessary to first be able to generate numerically `` exact '' solutions of the individual rings . since vortex rings have an intrinsic transverse velocity due to their topological structure , standard steady - state methods ( such as imaginary time integration @xcite and nonlinear equation solvers ) for obtaining solutions of coherent structures can not be directly applied , unless the rings are in a configuration where they are at steady - state ( such as in a magnetic trap @xcite ) . in order to be able to generate rings in a homogeneous background , we apply a co - moving background velocity to render the vortex ring stationary . in order to apply the back - flow , we need a very accurate value of the vortex ring s transverse velocity . the transverse velocity of a single vortex ring in the nlse has been studied analytically @xcite and the results were shown to be consistent with numerical simulations of the nlse @xcite . for the nlse in the form of eq . ( [ nlse ] ) , with @xmath4 and @xmath10 , an asymptotically approximate velocity for the ring is given by @xcite @xmath11 where @xmath12 is the ring s radius , @xmath13 is its the charge , and @xmath14 is the vortex ring s core radius defined as @xmath15 where @xmath16 is the healing length given by @xmath17 @xmath18 plays the role of the frequency and is tantamount to the system s chemical potential . the value @xmath19 is referred to as the vortex core parameter and is defined as the convergent part of the energy - per - unit - length of a vortex line in the nlse @xcite . while @xmath19 depends on the vortex ring charge @xmath13 , it is independent of the nlse parameters . in order to determine the velocity of the vortex ring as precisely as possible , @xmath19 must be computed accurately . since there are various values of @xmath19 reported in the literature ( cf . values given in refs . ) , we briefly show in the appendix how @xmath19 is numerically computed and give its values for @xmath20 $ ] . since we are only focusing on vortex rings of charge @xmath21 , ( indeed , stable higher - charge vortex rings are not known to exist @xcite ) , we use the value @xmath22 . the initial condition for a single vortex ring solution in cylindrical coordinates ( see fig . [ f : cylindrical ] ) with radius @xmath12 centered at @xmath23 can be described by @xmath24,\ ] ] where @xmath25 and the function @xmath26 is an axisymmetric 2d profile which may contain additional phase information of the solution . this 2d profile can be approximated by the modulus of the radial solution of a 2d nlse vortex in the @xmath27 plane and is described by @xmath28 where @xmath29 and @xmath30 is the numerical solution to the radial steady - state equation @xmath31 which is derived from inserting the form of a vortex solution @xmath32 $ ] into the 2d nlse in polar coordinates . in order to obtain a numerically - exact vortex ring initial condition , we would like to solve a steady - state equation for @xmath33 using the above approximation as an initial seed . this can be accomplished by noting that a steady - state solution to the nlse of eq . ( [ nlse ] ) in cylindrical coordinates in a co - moving frame in the @xmath34-direction with velocity @xmath35 is given by @xcite @xmath36 t \right)\right],\ ] ] where @xmath37 and @xmath38 solves the time - independent nlse @xmath39 therefore , by imposing a counter - flow with a velocity equal and opposite to that of the intrinsic velocity of the vortex ring by the following galilean boost : @xmath40 where @xmath35 is the analytical approximation of the vortex ring velocity given by eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) , we can then solve eq . ( [ comovessnlse ] ) for @xmath41 . we use the nonlinear newton - krylov solver nsoli @xcite to find the solution , using a central - difference discretization of the spatial derivatives , along with the modulus - squared dirichlet boundary conditions mentioned in sec . [ s : intro ] . the initial condition of the vortex ring solution is then found by removing the added counter - flow velocity : @xmath42 as a function of its radius . the dots are the velocities computed from direct 3d simulations averaged over a @xmath43 $ ] , while the line is the predicted velocity of eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . the nlse parameters used are @xmath44 , @xmath45 , and @xmath46 , while the numerical parameters are @xmath47 ( grid spacing ) and @xmath48 ( time step).[f : vrvel],width=264 ] the numerically exact vortex ring solutions can be used to compare the analytical approximations of the vortex ring s transverse velocity eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) to direct simulations of the nlse . in order to track the vortex rings during the simulations , a 2d @xmath49 cut of the computational grid is extracted , and a center - of - mass calculation of the modulus of the vorticity in the region of the ring s intersection points in the cut are tracked . in fig . [ f : vrvel ] we show the results of integrating vortex rings until @xmath50 for radii @xmath51 $ ] and comparing their tracked velocity to eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . it is seen that the direct velocity results match the analytical approximation very accurately ; the disagreement is never more than @xmath52 in our studies . this illustrates that values obtained from the asymptotic velocity equation , eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) , match direct integration even for rings with relatively small radii . we note that although the velocity @xmath35 is used to generate the vortex rings initially , the fact that the rings maintain the velocity over a long integration time with no noticeable noise or counter - flow in the solution confirms that the simulations demonstrate the validity of eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . we note here that the transverse velocity discussed in this section is that of an _ unperturbed _ vortex ring . it is possible to perturb a vortex ring ( or line ) to produce oscillations along the ring called kelvin modes ( or kelvons ) @xcite , one natural method being the merger and scattering of two vortex rings ( discussed in the next section ) . these kelvin modes not only have their own dynamics , interactions and decay properties @xcite , but they can also self - interact within a vortex ring , resulting in a reduction or even reversal of its transverse velocity @xcite . we now present a quantitative analysis of the scattering of two unit - charge ( @xmath21 ) vortex rings in the nlse . an initial qualitative study of the scattering of such rings was performed in ref . , where the authors focused on head - on collisions of the rings at different angled orientations . in contrast , we focus here exclusively on offset co - planar collisions , not studied in ref . . as shown in ref . , two colliding vortex rings with zero offset ( axisymmetric ) expand and annihilate each other s topological charge resulting in an axisymmetric decaying rarefaction pulse . an example of such a case is shown in fig . [ f : headoncol ] where two vortex rings of radius @xmath53 ( one with charge @xmath54 and one with @xmath55 ) are positioned a distance of @xmath56 apart from each other in the @xmath34-direction and allowed to collide . we study here the scattering that results when the colliding vortex rings are offset from each other in the planar direction . our numerical experiments show that , typically , the two rings merge and then separate into two new vortex rings moving away from each other at an angled trajectory , each exhibiting large quadrupole kelvin oscillations . offset by a distance @xmath57 ( impact parameter ) . the initial , pre - scattering , configuration is depicted with dashed lines while the post - scattering configuration is depicted with solid lines . the scattering angle is defined as the , signed , angle between incoming and outgoing axes as shown in the schematic . ( b ) schematic of the variables to describe the reduced dynamics for the leapfrogging between two co - axial vortex rings located at @xmath58 and @xmath59 with respective radii @xmath60 and @xmath61 . , width=283 ] for two colliding co - planar unitary - charge vortex rings . the different regions correspond to the three qualitatively scenarios depicted in fig . [ f : scatqual ] . the ( blue ) circles are the results for vortex rings of radius @xmath53 , the ( red ) squares for @xmath62 and the ( black ) diamonds for @xmath63 . the ( green ) dashed line is the approximation of eq . ( [ scatpulse ] ) and the ( cyan ) solid line is the approximation of eq . ( [ scatscat ] ) . the nlse and numerical parameters used in the simulations are the same as in fig . [ f : headoncol ] . [ f : scatangvsos],width=302 ] to quantify the relationship between offset distance and scattering angle , the vortex rings are positioned at a distance of @xmath56 apart in the @xmath34-direction , and in the @xmath64-direction they are placed with a planar offset distance ( impact parameter ) defined as @xmath57 ( see fig . [ f : vr_drawing](a ) ) . the scattering angle @xmath65 is defined as the angle away from vertical so that if the vortex rings travel in a straight trajectory , the angle is @xmath66 , while if they scatter at right - angles to each other , the angle is @xmath67 ( see fig . [ f : vr_drawing](a ) ) . multiple simulations of colliding rings were performed with planar offsets ranging from @xmath68 to @xmath69 in increments of @xmath70 for vortex rings of radius @xmath71 . we found three different qualitative scenarios as depicted and described in fig . [ f : scatqual ] . the center of the vortex rings in the @xmath49 plane are tracked and the scattering angle recorded . the results are shown in fig . [ f : scatangvsos ] . it is clear from the results that there are three distinct sections in the relationship between scattering angle and offset , which correspond to qualitatively distinct topological outcomes as follows : * for offsets with @xmath72 the two rings annihilate each other s topological charge , sending out a rarefaction pulse , see fig . [ f : scatqual](a ) , similar to the cases of head - on collision shown in fig . [ f : headoncol ] . however in this case , as the rings approach each other , they rotate causing the collisions to occur at the scattering angle . another distinction of these collisions is that the resulting rarefaction pulse is not axi - symmetric as in the head - on collision case , but more concentrated in the scattering direction . * when the offset has @xmath73 , the two rings undergo merging immediately followed by splitting into internally excited rings with quadrupole oscillations , ( see fig . [ f : scatqual](b ) ) . interestingly , when the offset is set to @xmath74 or larger , the scattering angle becomes negative , but the qualitative behavior remains the same . * for larger offset such that @xmath75 , the two rings no longer merge and separate into new rings , but are merely perturbed by each other in a fly - by scenario causing their trajectories to travel at a small negative angle from incidence ( i.e. , get weakly deflected `` inward '' ) , see fig . [ f : scatqual](c ) . as the offset increases , this interaction decreases until approximately @xmath69 where the rings essentially ignore each other s presence and travel unperturbed . noting that the scattering angle as a function of offset in fig . [ f : scatangvsos ] appears linear in the first two qualitatively distinct intervals , simple phenomenological approximations of the relationships can be formulated . for the annihilation section [ @xmath76 , the angle of the rarefaction pulse s trajectory can be approximated by @xmath77 while for the scattering rings [ @xmath73 ] , the angle of the resulting rings can be approximated as @xmath79 these approximations are shown along with the simulation data in fig . [ f : scatangvsos ] . it is interesting to note that , despite the complex dynamics involved in the scattering of vortex rings , we are able to formulate a very simple , phenomenological scattering rule for co - planar collisions . it is interesting to contrast the 3d scenario of co - planar vortex ring scattering to its 2d counterpart . if one focuses on the dynamics restricted on the plane defined by the vortex ring axes , each vortex ring induces a vortex pair in 2d . the case of scattering between 2d ( point- ) vortex pairs has been studied in some detail @xcite . the most notable differences between the ensuing dynamics for 2d vortex pairs and that of 3d vortex rings scattering is that the dynamics in 2d is apparently richer due to the fact that truly 2d vortices are more `` free '' to move ( respecting the vortex - vortex interactions ) while the vortex pairs produced by the cut of the vortex ring in the plane are more tightly linked to each other through the ring . this extra freedom for 2d vortices allows for a rich variety of dynamical evolution scenarios . for instance , depending of the initial configuration ( initial positions , orientations and vortex pair internal distances ) the collision dynamics of two vortex pairs can display : ( a ) transient bound vortex pairs where the two vortex pairs interact by orbiting around each other and exchange partners for a few periods until scattering away from each other as two distinct vortex pairs , ( b ) transient interactions between the four vortices that are chaotic and lead to the eventual expulsion of two distinct vortex pairs resulting in chaotic scattering , or ( c ) transient bound states where three of the four vortices lock into a translational and precessional motion , while the fourth one moves separately , before the two pairs again scatter away , separating indefinitely . and were initially separated in the @xmath34-direction by a distance @xmath80 . times correspond to @xmath81 ( left - to - right , top - to - bottom ) . the parameters are the same as in fig . [ f : headoncol ] with @xmath82 and @xmath83 . ] let us now consider the interaction between two same sign unit - charge vortex rings ( @xmath84 ) aligned along the @xmath34 axis . in classical fluids , the analogous setup exhibits leapfrogging behavior @xcite . in fig . [ f : vrlooploop ] , we show an example of two equal - charge vortex rings of radius @xmath63 and initially separated by a distance of @xmath85 in the @xmath34-direction undergoing leapfrogging dynamics . in the course of our numerical investigation we have found that when @xmath86 is small ( around two or three times the vortex ring s core radius ) , the resulting dynamics can be quite different . for example , instead of leapfrogging , the rings can form a bound pair and travel together maintaining their radii and common speed . while such dynamical features are intriguing in their own right , for the scope of the current work , we only use results from vortex rings separated with large enough values of @xmath86 to result in leapfrogging dynamics . in order to formulate a reduced model of the leapfrogging interaction of the rings , we start with reviewing the situation in the classical fluid case . there , a vorticity field @xmath87 will induce a velocity field according to the biot - savart law @xcite @xmath88 where the integral is computed over all of space . when considering a vorticity distribution of infinite strength but having a constant circulation @xmath89 along a closed curve @xmath90 parametrized by @xmath91 , eq . ( [ vfield1 ] ) becomes @xmath92 where @xmath93 is the unit tangent vector . equation ( [ biotsavart ] ) can , in principle , be evaluated to find the effect of a vortex ring on another vortex ring . however , when trying to find a ring s self - induced velocity , the integral diverges . to circumvent this singularity for the self - induced term the localized - induction approximation ( lia ) @xcite is employed by ignoring long - distance effects , yielding the expression for the self - interacting term : @xmath94 ultimately , using eq . ( [ biotsavart ] ) through a similar lia for pairwise interactions and ( [ localinduction ] ) for self - interactions , the following reduced ordinary differential equations ( odes ) for the effective motion of a collection of @xmath95 co - axial vortex rings in a classical fluid are obtained @xcite : @xmath96 where @xmath97 and @xmath98 @xmath99 and @xmath100 are the radius and @xmath34-coordinate of the @xmath101-th ring , @xmath102 is its circulation or `` vortex strength '' which , in our case , is a constant for each ring , @xmath103 is its core radius which is time - dependent and follows the relation @xmath104 , and @xmath105 is a constant , which for the case of a classical fluid is given as @xmath106 ( see fig . [ f : vr_drawing](b ) ) . we note that the terms involving @xmath41 relate to the interaction of the rings , while the first term of eq . ( [ vrvelz ] ) represents the innate translational velocity of each ring . if one compares this velocity with that of the quantum vortex ring velocity of eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) , we see that they are quite similar . we suggest that it is possible to use the results of eqs . ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) for the vortex rings in the nlse by simply substituting the quantum fluid values such that @xmath107 , @xmath108 , and @xmath14 from eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) into eqs . ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) . we point out , that in contrast to the classical fluid leapfrogging picture , in a quantum fluid , the healing length being constant forces @xmath14 to be , approximately , time - independent . the conservation of the core width during vortex ring evolution will be briefly addressed below . plane . the ( black ) solid curves depict the results from the effective , reduced , equations of motion ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) , while the ( red ) dashed curves depict the corresponding results from those obtained from full 3d integrations of eq . ( [ nlse ] ) . the rings are initialized with radii @xmath109 and initial separation distances of @xmath110 , @xmath111 , @xmath112 , @xmath113 , and @xmath114 ( from inner to outer curves ) . only one period of the leapfrogging motion is shown in a reference frame moving at the average velocity of the vortex ring pair ( see fig . [ f : leapfrog_v ] ) , i.e. , a center - of - mass frame . , width=283 ] in figure [ f : rzorbits ] , we show a series of @xmath115 orbits in the center - of - mass frame as predicted by eqs . ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) for different initial separation distances along with those obtained through tracking the vortex rings in the integration of the full 3d nlse system ( [ nlse ] ) . as it is clear from the figure , the @xmath116 orbits from the reduced ode system are in very good agreement with the ones obtained from the full pde . these results stress the usefulness of the reduced system towards capturing the interaction dynamics of co - axial vortex rings . we note that while the ode trajectories are periodic to numerical accuracy , the pde results are only approximately periodic ( only one `` period '' is shown here ) . the deviation from periodicity , in the co - moving reference frame , in the full pde numerics might be attributed to several factors including : internal mode ( kelvin ) excitations and stability of the actual leapfrogging orbits @xcite . figure [ f : rzorbits ] suggests the existence of a stable , co - moving , equilibrium at the center of the periodic orbits for @xmath117 and @xmath118 being constant . this point corresponds precisely to two overlapping ( @xmath119 ) vortex rings of the same radius , namely a vortex ring of charge two . in fact the linearization about this co - moving equilibrium would yield an approximation for the period of the vortex ring leapfrogging in the limit of small initial separations . however , as vortex rings of higher charge are unstable and break up into two unit charge vortex rings , we will not study them further here with the exception of using the theoretically predicted velocity of the doubly - charged vortex ring as an approximation for the average leapfrogging velocity . ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) , while the ( red ) dashed curves depict the corresponding results from those obtained from full 3d integrations of eq . ( [ nlse ] ) . the different panels correspond to vortex rings initially separated by ( a ) @xmath120 , ( b ) @xmath121 , and ( c ) @xmath122 units away starting with equal radii @xmath123 ( respective curves from top to bottom ) . [ f : r1r2 ] ] it is interesting to note that the vortex core size in the nlse ( [ nlse ] ) should be approximately constant provided the vortex core is not significantly perturbed . in fact , if the vortex core size is invariant during evolution then the total length of the vorticity tube should be conserved due to conservation of angular momentum . therefore , by measuring the total vortex tube length , it is possible to monitor the degree to which the vortex core width deviates from its unperturbed value . in the case of leapfrogging vortex rings , where one vortex is forced inside the other ring , there is a strong mutual perturbation that can affect the vortex core width . in fig . [ f : r1r2 ] we depict the sum of the vortex radii for different case examples of two vortex rings undergoing leapfrogging for both the effective ode system and the original pde . the sum @xmath124 is proportional to the total vortex tube length @xmath125 . as it is clear from the figure , the total vortex length is not conserved but it oscillates around a mean value with a relatively small amplitude . for the effective ode model , the total vortex tube length varies between 4% and 12% , while for the full 3d model it varies between 3% and 8% for the cases depicted in fig . [ f : r1r2 ] . this result is a clear indication that the vortex core is indeed perturbed by the strong mutual interaction between vortex rings during the leapfrogging dynamics . it is also worth mentioning that the results in figs . [ f : rzorbits ] and [ f : r1r2 ] suggest that although the reduced odes are able to capture very well the shape of the leapfrogging orbits in the @xmath116 plane , there appears to be a systematic offset ( between the odes of eqs . ( [ vrvelz])-([vrvelr ] ) and the full 3d nlse ) as regards the period for these orbits . figure [ f : r1r2 ] shows that for small initial vortex ring separations [ see panel ( a ) ] the offset in the period is larger than for large initial vortex ring separations [ see panel ( c ) ] . this can be qualitatively understood from the fact that an initial small separation between vortices induces stronger interactions between vortex rings bringing them closer to each other and thus strongly perturbing the vortex core which was assumed to have zero width in the biot - savart law yielding the ode approximation . ) for several separation distances ( @xmath86 ) . the lines correspond to the results obtained through numerical integration of the effective equations of motion ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) and the symbols correspond to the full numerical integration of the nlse model ( [ nlse ] ) . for comparison we also include ( thin black line ) the velocity of a vortex ring of charge @xmath126 using eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . the horizontal axis corresponds to the initial radius of the pair of identical vortex rings , while the different colors for the thick lines correspond ( top to bottom ) to initial separation distances of 7 ( red solid line and + symbols ) , 9 ( green dotted line and @xmath127 symbols ) , and 11 ( blue dashed line and * symbols).,title="fig:",width=264 ] ) for several separation distances ( @xmath86 ) . the lines correspond to the results obtained through numerical integration of the effective equations of motion ( [ vrvelz ] ) and ( [ vrvelr ] ) and the symbols correspond to the full numerical integration of the nlse model ( [ nlse ] ) . for comparison we also include ( thin black line ) the velocity of a vortex ring of charge @xmath126 using eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . the horizontal axis corresponds to the initial radius of the pair of identical vortex rings , while the different colors for the thick lines correspond ( top to bottom ) to initial separation distances of 7 ( red solid line and + symbols ) , 9 ( green dotted line and @xmath127 symbols ) , and 11 ( blue dashed line and * symbols).,title="fig:",width=264 ] two relevant quantities of the leapfrogging rings that we can use to further validate the reduced model are the average ring - pair @xmath34-velocity and the rings period of oscillation . we measure the average ring - pair @xmath34-velocity by tracking the @xmath34 value of the center position of a @xmath49 cut of the rings over time and then perform a least - squares linear fit . this is done for both the full nlse simulations , and for the ode integration of the reduced system . in fig . [ f : leapfrog_v ] , the results are presented as a function of @xmath12 for a few values of the initial @xmath34 separation distance , @xmath86 . we observe that the average velocity of the leapfrogging rings obtained in the pde model is always lower than that obtained in the effective ode model , the percent difference ranges between @xmath128 and @xmath129 . it is interesting to compare the average velocity of two leapfrogging rings with the velocity predicted for a vortex ring of charge @xmath126 from eq . ( [ vrvel ] ) . as depicted by the black thin line in the top panel of fig . [ f : leapfrog_v ] , the velocity of a vortex ring of charge @xmath126 ( evaluated at the initial radii for the leapfrogging vortex ring pair ) closely resembles the average velocity of a vortex ring pair under leapfrogging evolution . this stems from the fact that , in the far field , a vortex ring pair can be approximated by a vortex ring of charge @xmath126 . in fact , after closer inspection of the results in the top panels of fig . [ f : leapfrog_v ] , the velocity of the doubly - charged vortex ring is closer to the velocity for the vortex pairs when their separation is small , i.e. , when they are closer to each other and thus closer to a doubly - charged vortex ring . while , this relation could be further explored by taking the average radius along one leapfrogging period instead of the initial radii , the main phenomenology does not change significantly . in the bottom panel of fig . [ f : leapfrog_v ] we show the results of measuring the period of oscillation of the leapfrogging rings from both the full nlse simulations and the ode reduced model for the same ring separations and radii . we see that the period of oscillation for the pde model is always longer than that of the ode model , and the percent difference in period ranges from @xmath130 to @xmath131 percent , which , while clearly worse than the velocity comparison , is not unreasonable . it is interesting to note that while the period of the leapfrogging rings changes depending on the @xmath34-distance between the rings , it remains fairly constant for vortex ring pairs of _ different _ radii at the same separation distance . from the velocity and period results , we see that there are obviously some differences between the quantum and classical fluid regimes including the modified values that result in lower average pair velocities and longer periods of oscillation than those predicted by our current reduced equations of motion . these are worthy of further investigation , in order to improve the accuracy of the reduced equations of motion . nevertheless , the trends of the two sets of results are very similar , and their magnitudes are comparable , which suggests that our effective description provides a valuable means of examining the numerical ( and , presumably , also the experimental ) data and , as such , is useful in its own right as well as worthy of further investigation . finally , it is worth pointing out that there has been recent efforts in describing the leapfrogging dynamics of vortex ring bundles in classical fluids using the vortex filament method @xcite . in particular , it is found that the leapfrogging dynamics is weakly unstable for small number of vortex rings . in our numerics we have found similar instabilities , that depending on the separation and radii of the vortex rings , may not be visible until tens of leapfrogging periods . therefore , although weakly unstable , the time required for the instability to manifest itself might be long enough to be able to observe leapfrogging during the typical lifetime of current bec experiments . it is also important to mention that the 2d equivalent of leapfrogging has been studied in the case of point vortices @xcite . this 2d leapfrogging corresponds to two vortex dipoles ( vortex and anti - vortex pairs ) and it is found to display three distinct regions depending on the distance between pairs ( relative to the internal distance between vortices in each pair ) as follows . ( a ) the small separation region does not yield leapfrogging . ( b ) intermediate separations yield _ unstable _ leapfrogging . ( c ) large separation distances yield _ stable _ leapfrogging . the 2d vortex dipole leapfrogging is strongly connected to 3d vortex ring leapfrogging since any 2d cut passing through the axes of the vortex rings will produce a 2d pair of vortex dipoles . therefore , 2d vortex dipole dynamics is the basic ingredient responsible for vortex ring leapfrogging . therefore , it would be interesting to test if the vortex ring leapfrogging also displays the three regions described above and whether the weak instability that we have observed can in fact be eliminated by using larger vortex ring radii . this avenue of research is currently being examined and a systematic investigation will be reported in a future publication . we studied the dynamics and interactions of vortex rings in the nonlinear schrdinger equation as a model for a homogeneous bose - einstein condensate . upon corroborating the well - known single vortex ring evolution in our 3d nlse framework , we focused on two dynamical scenarios : scattering and leapfrogging . for the former , we considered the scattering collision of two co - planar , opposite charge , vortex rings . upon their collision , these scatter at an angle depending on the initial conditions . we found a surprisingly simple phenomenological rule for the scattering angle as a function of the vortex ring radii and the initial distance ( impact parameter ) between the vortex rings . for the second scenario , we followed the dynamics of a pair of co - axial vortex rings of the same charge . we proposed a modification of the effective equations of motion for the vortex ring interactions in a classical superfluid . the modification was based on correcting the self - induced velocity using previous results for nlse settings in a quantum superfluid . we compared the resulting effective equations of motion against full 3d simulations of the original nlse model for several cases of leapfrogging evolution and found good agreement between the two . finally , we found a monotonic decrease for the average velocity of the leapfrogging as the radii of the ring increase and/or as their initial separation increases . we also found that the leapfrogging period remains approximately constant for vortex ring pairs of different radii starting at the same separation distance , while the period increases with initial separation distance for fixed radii . future work will be directed towards refining the reduced equations of motion to better account for the differences between classical and quantum fluids ( especially in the context of the term encoding the interaction between the different rings ) , and expanding them to describe more general configurations of vortex rings , as opposed to only those which are co - axial . it would also be interesting to understand and quantify the instability ( and its range of relevance over initial conditions and system parameters ) observed in the leapfrogging dynamics , not only for a pair of vortex rings but also , for vortex ring bundles @xcite . another avenue for future exploration consists of using classical fluid - inspired effective equations of motion ( biot - savart law ) to obtain reduced odes describing the effects of slow - down created by internal excitation ( kelvin ) modes @xcite and , in more general terms , the effects of these modes on the interactions and scattering between vortex rings . we are currently exploring these directions and will report on them in future works . the `` vortex core parameter '' @xmath19 is defined as the convergent part of the energy per unit length of a vortex line . in this appendix , we simply state the equations used to compute @xmath19 . for full details of the derivation of the equations , we refer the reader to refs . . for the nlse in the form of eq . ( [ nlse ] ) , the vortex core parameter is found by numerically integrating @xmath132 where @xmath133 is found numerically by solving the ode @xmath134 and where we note that for a given @xmath13 , @xmath19 is invariant over the parameters @xmath1 , @xmath2 , and @xmath18 . to @xmath136 . the dots are the results of integrating eq . ( [ l0 ] ) . a ) the dashed line is the fitted curve of eq . ( [ l0ofm ] ) . b ) same as panel a ) but in log - log plot and using the best linear fit to the log - log of data giving the power law @xmath137 . [ f : l0 ] , width=283 ] we compute the integrals in eq . ( [ l0 ] ) using a simple trapezoid integration on a numerically - exact @xmath133 computed on a domain of @xmath138 $ ] , with a spatial step size of @xmath139 and nlse parameters @xmath44 , @xmath45 , and @xmath46 . the values of @xmath135 for charges @xmath140 are given in table . [ t : l0ofm ] . we note that the values of @xmath135 for @xmath141 have not been previously reported , and those for @xmath126 and @xmath142 are given with more accuracy than reported in ref . . it is intriguing to note that one can produce a very close power - law fit yielding an approximation of @xmath19 given by @xmath143 which may indicate the possibility that a closed - form expression for @xmath19 is achievable . in fig . [ f : l0 ] we show a comparison of the values of @xmath135 given in table [ t : l0ofm ] to those given by eq . ( [ l0ofm ] ) . p. roberts and n. berloff . in c. barenghi , r. donnelly and w. vinen , editors , _ quantized vortex dynamics and superfluid turbulence _ , volume 571 of _ lecture notes in physics _ , pages 235257 . springer berlin / heidelberg , 2001 .

the dynamics of vortex ring pairs in the homogeneous nonlinear schrdinger equation is studied . the generation of numerically - exact solutions of traveling vortex rings is described and their translational velocity compared to revised analytic approximations . the scattering behavior of co - axial vortex rings with opposite charge undergoing collision is numerically investigated for different scattering angles yielding a surprisingly simple result for its dependence as a function of the initial vortex ring parameters . we also study the leapfrogging behavior of co - axial rings with equal charge and compare it with the dynamics stemming from a modified version of the reduced equations of motion from a classical fluid model derived using the biot - savart law .

the 5 ' adenosine monophosphate ( amp)-activated protein kinase ( ampk ) is a heterotrimeric enzyme complex consisting of a catalytic subunit ( ) and two regulatory subunits ( and ) 1 . activation of ampk requires phosphorylation of threonine 172 ( t172 ) in the catalytic ( ) subunit by one of the three upstream kinases , liver kinase b1 ( lkb1 ) 2 - 4 , calmodulin - dependent protein kinase kinase ( camkk)- 5 - 7 , or transforming growth factor- ( tgf)-activated kinase-1 ( tak1 ) 8 . one of the mechanisms is suppression of sterol regulatory element - binding protein 1c ( srebp-1c ) 10 - 14 , a master regulator of hepatic lipogenic gene expression 15 . srebp-1c promoter contains at least four dna elements ( lxr responsive element or lxre , nfy , sre , and sp1 element ) , which bind to liver x receptors ( lxr ) , nuclear factor - y ( nf - y ) , srebp , and sp1 , respectively 16,17 . insulin activates srebp-1c promoter primarily by increasing the activity of lxr , whereas srebps and nfy play permissive roles 17 . in a recent study 19 , we demonstrate that ampk suppresses srebp-1c mrna expression by inhibiting lxr - dependent srebp-1c transcription via inhibition of endogenous lxr ligand production and by inhibiting srebp-1c processing in a model cell line - rat hepatoma mca - rh7777 ( atcc number crl-1601 ) that mimics the behavior of the intact liver by producing high levels of srebp-1c mrna and protein 20 . however , whether ampk directly inhibits ligand - induced lxr activity remained unresolved . in this study we used a series of mutant srebp-1c promoter linked to a luciferase reporter to test this hypothesis in rat hepatoma mca - rh7777 cells . materials . mca - rh7777 cell line ( atcc#crl-1601 ) was purchased from american type culture collection ( atcc , manassas , va ) . fao cell line ( cat # 89042701 ) ( fbs , cat.#16000 - 044 ) and first - strand cdna synthesis kit were obtained from invitrogen ( carlsbad , ca ) , delipidated fbs ( cat.#55 - 0116 ) from cocalico biologicals ( reamstown , pa ) , dual luciferase reporter assay system ( e1960 ) from promega ( madison , wi ) , 5'-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1--d - ribofuranoside ( aicar , cat.#a611700 ) from toronto research chemicals , metformin ( cat.#d5035 ) , compactin ( cat.#m4667 ) , and 1x pbs / tween 20 ( pbst ) from sigma ( st . louis , mo ) , the synthetic lxr ligand t0901317 ( cat.#71810 ) from cayman chemical ( ann arbor , mi ) , rna stat-60 from tel - test ( friendswood , tx ) , dna - free kit from ambion , 2x sybr green supermix ( cat.#1708880 ) from bio - rad , bca assay kit from fisher ( pittsburgh , pa ) , and fugene 6 transfection reagent from roche ( indianapolis , in ) . galacto - light plus chemiluminescent reporter gene assay system ( cat.#bl300 ) was from applied biosystems ( bedford , massachusetts ) . the plasmid pd containing the wild - type mouse srebp-1c promoter linked to firefly luciferase reporter gene and the mutant constructs pm24 ( -sre ) , pm31 ( -lxre1 , 2 ) , and pm34 ( -lxre1,2/sre ) were previously described 17,21 and kindly provided by dr . the plasmid pcmv--gal containing the beta - galactosidase reporter gene was from invitrogen ( carlsbad , ca ) . cell culture . mca - rh7777 cells were cultured and maintained in medium a ( dmem + 100 units / ml of penicillin and 100 g / ml streptomycin ) supplemented with 10% fbs at 37c in a 5% co2 incubator 19,20 . fao cells were cultured and maintained in medium b ( kaighn 's modified ham 's f-12k medium + 100 units / ml of penicillin and 100 g / ml streptomycin ) supplemented with 10% fbs at 37c in a 5% co2 incubator according to manufacturer 's instructions . , mca - rh7777 cells were plated at density of 5 x 10 cells per well in 24-well plates in medium a supplemented with 10% fbs and incubated at 37c in a 5% co2 incubator . on day 1 , cells were washed with 0.5 ml pbs and 0.5 ml fresh medium a was added to each well before transfection . cells were cotransfected with 0.25 g plasmids containing wild - type or mutant srebp-1c promoter linked to the firefly luciferase reporter gene and 10 ng control plasmid pcmv--gal containing the beta - galactosidase reporter gene by using fugene 6 transfection reagent . six hours after transfection cells were washed with 0.5 ml pbs , switched to medium a supplemented with 10% delipidated fbs and various compounds as indicated in the figure legends , and incubated for 16 hours at 37c and 5% co2 . on day 2 , cells were washed with 0.5 ml pbs and firefly luciferase activities were measured using the luciferase reporter assay system and turner designs td-20/20 luminometer . beta - galactosidae activity was measured by galacto - light plus chemiluminescent reporter gene assay system . firefly luciferase activities in the transfected lysates were normalized by beta - galactosidase activity or protein concentration from the same tube . , mca - rh7777 cells were plated at the density of 7 x 10 cells per 100-mm dish and cultured in medium a supplemented with 10% fbs at 37c in a 5% co2 incubator as previously described . on day 2 , cells were washed with 1x phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ) and cultured for 16 h in medium a supplemented with 10% delipidated fbs and various compounds as indicated in the figure legends . the medium was aspirated , the cells in duplicate dishes were harvested and combined , and total cellular rna was prepared with rna stat-60 according to manufacturer 's instructions . real - time pcr . briefly , total cellular rnas were prepared with rna stat-60 , and treated with dnase i before cdna synthesis . first strand cdna was synthesized from 5 g of dnase i - treated total rna with random hexamer primers by using the first - strand cdna synthesis system . real - time pcr of samples was prepared in a final volume of 25 l containing 50 ng of reverse transcribed total rna , 167 nm forward and reverse primers , 12.5 l of 2x sybr green supermix . real - time pcr was carried out in a 96-well plate on the icycler iq real - time detection system ( bio - rad ) . the relative amount of all mrnas was calculated using the comparative ct method ( applied biosystem 2001 . user bulletin no.2 , applied biosystems , forster city , ca ) . ribosomal phosphoprotein 36b4 mrna was used as the invariant control . experimental data were statistically analyzed using a two - tailed student 's t test between two means . results were expressed as mean sd . the difference between two groups with p<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant . figure 1 shows a dose curve of the synthetic lxr ligand t0901317 compound on the induction of wild - type srebp-1c promoter linked to a luciferase reporter in the absence or presence of ampk activators aicar and metformin . in the absence of ampk activators , the luciferase reporter activity was increased by 3.3-fold by 0.1 m t0901317 compound , and 3.6-fold by 1 m . further increase of t0901317 concentration did not enhance the promoter activity , suggesting that 1 m reached a saturating concentration . activation of ampk by 0.5 mm either aicar or metformin inhibited the srebp-1c promoter activity by 70% and 80% , respectively , consistent with our previous results 19 . in the presence of aicar , t0901317 compound induced srebp-1c promoter activity by 4-fold at 0.1 m and 5-fold at 1 m , whereas in the presence of metformin , t0901317 compound induced srebp-1c promoter activity by 3-fold at 0.1 m and 3-fold at 1 m . these data indicate that the lxr ligand t0901317 induces srebp-1c promoter activity to the same extent with or without activation of ampk under normal conditions . activation of ampk is known to inhibit endogenous lxr ligand production by inhibiting hmg coa reductase activity , thereby decreasing srebp-1c promoter activity and srebp-1c mrna expression 19,20 . there is minimal srebp-1c mrna expression ( < 10% compared with control ) in the mca - rh7777 cells treated with compactin , a potent inhibitor of hmg coa reductase 19 . there was negligible but detectable basal luciferase reporter activity in the presence of compactin ( fig . activation of ampk by aicar and metformin further reduced basal srebp-1c promoter activity by 50% and 40% , respectively . in the absence of ampk activators , t0901317 compound ( 1 m ) increased srebp-1c promoter activity by 10.2-fold . the fold induction by t0901317 compound was reduced to 6.6 in the presence of aicar , and to 7 in the presence of metformin . however , srebp-1c regulates its own transcription due to the presence of the sre in its promoter ; this leads to amplification of the lxr ligand - induced srebp-1c promoter activity 17,22 . to bypass the potential complication by this autoregulation , we assayed three mutant srebp-1c promoter constructs , pm24 with mutation in the sre , pm31 with double mutations in lxre1 and lxre2 , and pm34 with triple mutations in lxre1 , lxre2 , and sre ( fig . 2 shows that pm31 ( -lxre1 , 2 ) had about 30% wild - type srebp-1c promoter activity , pm24 ( -sre ) had less than 15% activity , and pm34 ( -lxre1 , 2/sre ) virtually had no activity , consistent with the published data 17 . for the mutant pm31 ( -lxre1 , 2 ) , addition of t0901317 compound ( 1 m ) did not induce the promoter activity and ampk activation did not further decrease the mutant promoter activity in the absence or presence of t0901317 compound ( 1 m ) . for the mutant pm24 ( -sre ) , the fold induction by t0901317 compound was 28.4 in the absence of ampk activators , but was significantly reduced to 13 and 5 in the presence of aicar and metformin , respectively . it is noted that activation of ampk consistently reduced the absolute amount of t0901317-induced srebp-1c promoter activity with sre ( pd ) or without sre ( pm24 ) ( fig . 3 shows that activation of ampk by either aicar or metformin attenuated the fold induction of srebp-1c mrna by t0901317 in mca - rh7777 cells treated with compactin , in agreement with the results from luciferase reporter assays . these data indicate that activation of ampk reduces lxr ligand - induced srebp-1c promoter activity when the endogenous lxr ligand is blocked , suggesting that ampk directly inhibits ligand - induced lxr activity . however , because lxr has to form heterodimers with retinoid x receptor ( rxr ) in order to be functional 23 , our data do not rule out the possibility that ampk activation inhibits rxr as well . in conclusion , the data from this study support the hypothesis that ampk inhibits ligand - induced lxr activity on srebp-1c promoter . further work should be conducted to determine whether ampk directly phosphorylates lxr or rxr and inhibits their transcriptional activities .

activation of amp - activated protein kinase ( ampk ) inhibits hepatic fatty acid synthesis by suppressing sterol regulatory element - binding protein ( srebp)-1c , a master regulator of hepatic lipogenic gene expression . using a model cell line rat hepatoma mca - rh7777 ( crl-1601 ) that mimics the behavior of the intact liver by producing high levels of srepb-1c mrna and protein , we previously showed that ampk suppresses hepatic srebp-1c transcription by inhibiting endogenous liver x receptor ( lxr ) ligand production and srebp-1c processing . however , whether ampk directly inhibits ligand - induced lxr activity remained undetermined . in this study we used a series of mutant srebp-1c promoter linked to a luciferase reporter to determine the inhibitory mechanism in rat hepatoma mca - rh7777 cells . ampk activation by either aicar or metformin decreases srebp-1c promoter activity by about 75% . normally , the synthetic lxr ligand t0901317 compound increases the wild - type srebp-1c promoter activity by about 3-fold , which is similar to that observed in the presence of aicar or metformin . when endogenous lxr ligand production was blocked by the potent hmg coa reductase inhibitor compactin , t0901317-induced srebp-1c promoter activity was decreased by aicar or metformin treatment . in the mutant srebp-1c promoter in which two lxr elements are intact but the sterol regulatory element ( sre ) is disrupted , the fold inductions of the promoter activity by t0901317 without ampk activators are significantly higher than those with ampk activators . furthermore , ampk activation attenuates induction of endogenous srebp-1c mrna by t0901317 . these results indicate that ampk directly inhibits ligand - induced lxr activity in addition to blocking production of endogenous lxr ligands .

a birth - and - death process on @xmath0 is a continuous time markov chain ( ctmc ) that evolves as follows . given a current state @xmath1 it jumps either to @xmath2 , or to @xmath3 ( if @xmath4 ) at certain state dependent rates . the long term behaviour of a birth - and - death process is well known . namely , given a set of transition rates one can , in principle , determine whether the corresponding birth - and - death process is recurrent / positive recurrent , or transient / explosive , and compute various characteristics of the process . these results can be found in many books ( e.g. , see @xcite , @xcite and @xcite ) . the long term behaviour of multivariate markov processes with similar dynamics is less known . in this paper we study the long term behaviour of ctmc @xmath5 evolving as follows . given @xmath6 the markov chain jumps to @xmath7 and to @xmath8 at rates @xmath9 and @xmath10 respectively , where @xmath11 and @xmath12 are positive functions on @xmath13 . also , the markov chain jumps from @xmath14 to @xmath15 at the constant rate of @xmath16 , provided @xmath17 , and it jumps to @xmath18 at the same constant rate of @xmath16 , provided that @xmath19 . the markov chain is a two - dimensional analogue of integer valued birth - and - death processes , and can be interpreted in terms of two interacting birth - and - death processes . the construction of the birth rates allows to model various types of both individual dynamics and interaction between the markov chain components . function @xmath11 determines , in terms of statistical physics , the free dynamics of a component . interaction between components is modelled by choosing an appropriate function @xmath12 . if , say , @xmath20 , then @xmath21 and @xmath22 are independent identically distributed birth - and - death processes . given @xmath11 , one can choose a decreasing @xmath12 in order to model a competitive interaction . if @xmath12 is increasing , then a component s growth is accelerated by its neighbour . recall that a birth - and - death process on @xmath23 is a classic probabilistic model for the size of a population . therefore ctmc @xmath24 can be regarded as a stochastic model for two interacting populations . the model is related to stochastic population models formulated in terms of two interacting birth - and - death processes ( e.g. , see @xcite , @xcite , @xcite , @xcite , @xcite and references therein ) . in these models , which are stochastic versions of the famous lotke - volterra model , a pair of birth - and - death processes typically evolves as follows . given a current state @xmath14 of the components , the individual transition rates are linear in @xmath25 and @xmath26 , while interaction terms , included usually in death rates ( i.e. competitive interaction ) , are proportional to @xmath27 . our model is in the spirit of the more general approach proposed by gauss g.f . ( @xcite ) and kolmogorov a.n . ( @xcite ) for modelling interactions in ecology . although they considered deterministic population models , the idea is rather general . according to this approach , the interaction between species should be modelled by transition rates specified by general functions with suitable ( suggested by a motivating application ) monotonicity properties . a brief , but informative presentation of these ideas is given in @xcite , where further references can be found . in our model the interaction is built into the birth rates , though the model can be generalised by allowing for non - constant death rates . we do not explore further the relationship of the markov chain with stochastic population models and focus on its long term behaviour which is of interest from a mathematical point of view . it should be also noted that our markov chain is a particular example of non - homogeneous random walks . the long term behaviour of non - homogeneous random walks is much less studied ( e.g. , see @xcite and references therein ) in contrast to homogeneous random walks in domains with boundaries ( e.g. , see @xcite and references therein ) . we systematically apply the lyapunov function approach in our proofs . this approach is well known and widely used for determining whether a markov process is recurrent or transient ( e.g. , see @xcite , @xcite and references therein ) . in theorem [ t1 ] we establish whether the markov chain is transient or recurrent under fairly general assumptions on functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 . though the asymptotic behaviour of the markov chain in this theorem can be guessed from approximate sketches of the vector field of its mean infinitesimal jumps ( see figures [ fig1 ] and [ fig2 ] ) , the lyapunov function approach helps to formalize these intuitive ideas . in theorems [ t2 ] and [ t3 ] we obtain a more detailed description of the long term behaviour of the markov chain in some transient cases . it should be noted that the lyapunov function method is also a powerful tool for detecting phenomena that might not be immediately visible and are more refined than just recurrence / transience . theorem 3 below provides an example of such a phenomenon . in particular we show that in a transient case specified by polynomial functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 the markov chain with probability one escapes to infinity in the following way . namely , the markov chain is eventually absorbed to either a horizontal strip @xmath28 , or a vertical strip @xmath28 , where @xmath1 is explicitly computable . moreover , being eventually adsorbed by the horizontal ( vertical ) strip , the markov chain visits every line @xmath29 ( @xmath30 ) infinitely often . let @xmath31 be a probability space on which the markov chain is defined . denote by @xmath32 the expectation with respect to probability measure @xmath33 . recall that the embedded markov chain , corresponding to a ctmc , is a discrete time markov chain ( dtmc ) with the same state space , and that makes the same jumps as the ctmc with probabilities proportional to the corresponding jump rates let @xmath34 be the dtmc corresponding to the ctmc @xmath24 . note that we use the same symbol @xmath35 for discrete time . given a real valued function @xmath36 on @xmath37 denote @xmath38 it is easy to see that @xmath39 where @xmath40 is the generator of ctmc @xmath24 , and @xmath41 is the total intensity of jumps of ctmc @xmath24 . in the last two equations and in what follows , @xmath42 denotes the indicator function of a set @xmath43 . note that @xmath44 . recall that a real valued function @xmath45 is called non - decreasing ( non - increasing ) on a set @xmath46 , if @xmath47 ( @xmath48 ) for all @xmath49 , such that @xmath50 . finally , throughout the text we denote by @xmath51 , or , just @xmath52 , various constants , whose exact values are immaterial . we are ready now to formulate the findings of our paper . we start with the classification of the long term behaviour of the markov chain under fairly general assumptions on functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 . [ t1 ] let functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 be positive . * let function @xmath11 be non - increasing and @xmath53 . + \a ) if one of the following two assumptions holds * * function @xmath12 is non - increasing and @xmath54 , * * function @xmath12 is non - decreasing , @xmath55 and @xmath56 , + then ctmc @xmath24 is positive recurrent . + \b ) if function @xmath12 is non - decreasing and @xmath57 , then ctmc @xmath24 is transient . * if function @xmath11 is non - decreasing , @xmath58 and one of the following two assumptions holds * * function @xmath12 is non - decreasing and @xmath55 , * * function @xmath12 is non - increasing , @xmath54 , and either @xmath59 , or @xmath57 , + then ctmc @xmath24 is transient . [ r1 ] it is easy to see that theorem [ t1 ] describes the long term evolution of the markov chain in six different cases . firstly , if both @xmath60 and @xmath61 are non - increasing and have limit @xmath62 at infinity ( and , hence , @xmath63 as @xmath64 ) , then the markov chain is positive recurrent . secondly , if both @xmath60 and @xmath61 increase to infinity ( and , hence , @xmath65 as @xmath64 ) , then the markov chain is transient . approximate sketches of a vector field of mean infinitesimal jumps of the markov chain in other four cases are shown in figure [ fig1 ] and figure [ fig2 ] . [ r2 ] it should be noted that assumptions of the theorem are mostly motivated by the case of polynomial functions , e.g. @xmath66 , @xmath67 , and @xmath68 , @xmath69 . some of these assumptions can be slightly weakened without changing the proof . for example , in part 2 ) the infinite limit of the product @xmath70 at infinity in the case of non - increasing @xmath12 can be replaced by a sufficiently large limit ( at least @xmath71 ) . such generalizations are not of much interest . also , some of these assumptions can be weakened provided that an additional information is available about functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 ( e.g. see remark [ r5 ] in appendix ) . [ r3 ] let us also discuss assumption ( * a1 * ) : @xmath56 in part 1)a ) of the theorem . ideally , we would like to replace it by the following assumption ( * a2 * ) : @xmath59 . assumption ( * a1 * ) is violated , for example , by functions @xmath72 and @xmath73 . note that assumptions ( * a1 * ) and ( * a2 * ) are equivalent in many cases . moreover , in many cases these assumptions are equivalent to the following stronger assumption ( * a3 * ) : @xmath74 , where @xmath75 . for example , this is the case if @xmath60 is a regularly varying function of index @xmath76 . equivalence can take place for a non - regular varying @xmath11 as well , for example , if @xmath77 and @xmath78 , where @xmath79 and @xmath80 . [ r4 ] it should be noted that there is a certain phase transition in the long term behaviour of the markov chain in the case of non - increasing and vanishing at infinity @xmath11 . indeed , if @xmath12 is also non - increasing with zero limit at infinity , then the markov chain is positive recurrent . if @xmath12 increases , but @xmath81 as @xmath64 , then the ctmc is still recurrent . if @xmath12 increases sufficiently fast so that @xmath65 as @xmath64 , then the markov chain becomes transient and can be even explosive . [ cols="^,^ " , ] before we formulate theorems [ t2 ] and [ t3 ] , we would like to consider an exponential case , i.e. @xmath82 and @xmath83 , where @xmath84 . note first that in this case theorem [ t1 ] yields the following . if @xmath76 and @xmath85 , then ctmc @xmath24 is positive recurrent . also , if either @xmath86 , or @xmath87 , then ctmc @xmath24 is transient . a direct computation gives that the ctmc is reversible with the following invariant measure @xmath88 , which is summable if and only if @xmath89 . thus , the sufficient condition of positive recurrence in theorem [ t1 ] is also a necessary one in the exponential case . note that ctmc @xmath24 in the exponential case is a particular case of a markov chain studied in @xcite . the markov chain in @xcite describes evolution of a system of locally interacting birth - and - death processes labelled by vertices of a finite connected graph . in terms of @xcite , ctmc @xmath24 corresponds to the simplest graph with just two vertices . the following proposition is an extract of results in @xcite complementing theorem [ t1 ] in the exponential case . [ p0 ] 1 . if @xmath76 and @xmath90 , then ctmc @xmath24 is transient and does not explode . if either @xmath87 , or @xmath91 , then ctmc @xmath24 is explosive . 3 . if @xmath92 and @xmath93 , then both ctmc @xmath24 and dtmc @xmath94 are null recurrent . 4 . if @xmath92 and @xmath95 , then dtmc @xmath94 is transient and ctmc @xmath24 is explosive . 5 . furthermore , ( i ) if @xmath76 and @xmath96 , or , if @xmath97 , then @xmath98 ( ii ) if @xmath99 , then with probability @xmath16 eventually a single component of dtmc @xmath94 grows while the other component stops changing at all . theorems [ t2 ] and [ t3 ] below are examples of statements that are similar to proposition [ p0 ] . namely , these theorems complement theorem [ t1 ] by providing more detailed description of the long term behaviour of the markov chain under additional assumptions about functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 . theorem [ t2 ] complements part 1)b ) of theorem [ t1 ] . theorem [ t3 ] describes a rather unusual phenomenon in a transient case specified by polynomial functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 . [ t2 ] let functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 be positive . suppose that function @xmath11 is non - increasing and @xmath53 , function @xmath12 is non - decreasing and @xmath55 . suppose also that @xmath57 . then , with probability @xmath16 , * @xmath100 for infinitely many @xmath35 ; * if , in addition , @xmath101 for any @xmath102 , then given any @xmath103 @xmath104 for all but finitely many @xmath35 . [ t3 ] let @xmath105 and @xmath106 , where @xmath107 . * if @xmath108 , then ctmc @xmath24 is transient and non - explosive . further , let @xmath109 be such that @xmath110 . then , with a positive probability @xmath111 ( depending on an initial state ) , ctmc @xmath24 is eventually absorbed by horizontal strip @xmath112 and each of the following sets @xmath113 , @xmath114 , is unbounded ; with probability @xmath115 , ctmc @xmath24 is eventually absorbed by vertical strip @xmath116 and each of the following sets @xmath117 , @xmath114 , is unbounded . * if @xmath118 , then ctmc @xmath24 is transient and explodes with probability @xmath16 . further , if @xmath119 is the time to explosion , then with probability @xmath16 there exists a random integer @xmath120 and a random time @xmath121 such that @xmath122 for all @xmath123 . in other words , with probability one there exists a random integer @xmath120 such that the markov chain explodes by moving eventually along either a horizontal ray @xmath124 , or along a vertical ray @xmath125 . [ [ proof - of - part-1a - of - theoremt1 . ] ] _ proof of part 1)a ) of theorem [ t1 ] . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + there are two cases to consider . if both functions @xmath11 and @xmath12 are non - increasing and tend to zero at infinity , then positive recurrence of ctmc @xmath24 is rather obvious and we omit the proof . in the second case , where @xmath53 , @xmath55 and @xmath56 , we are going to prove positive recurrence of dtmc @xmath94 . positive recurrence of the dtmc will yield positive recurrence of ctmc @xmath24 as the transition rates are uniformly bounded below . to prove positive recurrence of the dtmc @xmath94 we are going to apply theorem 2.2.4 from @xcite which is a generalisation of the classical foster criterion for positive recurrence of irreducible dtmc s ( e.g. , theorem 2.2.3 , @xcite ) . according to this theorem , dtmc @xmath94 is positive recurrent , if there exist positive functions @xmath126 ( the lyapunov function ) and @xmath127 , and @xmath128 , such that @xmath129 as @xmath130 in any reasonable sense ( e.g. @xmath131 ) , and @xmath132 where @xmath133 is defined by ( [ mf ] ) , for all @xmath134 outside a bounded neighbourhood of the origin . here we define functions @xmath36 and @xmath135 as follows @xmath136 where @xmath137 , and @xmath138 it is easy to see that @xmath139 on @xmath37 and @xmath129 as @xmath131 . let us verify that inequality ( [ lyap ] ) is satisfied with these functions . without loss of generality , suppose that @xmath140 . notice that , in this case , if @xmath141 is large , then @xmath25 is also necessarily large ( at least @xmath142 ) . it is easy to see that if @xmath143 , then inequality ( [ lyap ] ) becomes @xmath144 , or , equivalently , @xmath145 monotonicity of both @xmath11 and @xmath12 imply that the left side of the preceding display can be bounded by @xmath146 where the first term vanishes and negative second and third terms dominate for large @xmath25 . let us show that @xmath147 starting at @xmath148 the markov chain can reach in two steps the following states @xmath149 , where integers @xmath150 and @xmath151 are such @xmath152 . it is easy to see that under assumptions of the theorem @xmath153 , and @xmath154 . this means that in a finite vicinity of the diagonal located sufficiently far from the origin the dtmc jumps only either down or left with probabilities close to @xmath155 , and other jumps can be neglected . this yields that starting at @xmath148 , where @xmath25 is sufficiently large , @xmath156 takes values @xmath157 or @xmath158 with probabilities converging to @xmath159 and @xmath160 respectively , as @xmath64 , and probabilities of other potentially reachable in two steps states tend to zero in the same limit . also , the differences @xmath161 are uniformly bounded in @xmath25 . therefore , @xmath162 where @xmath163 as @xmath64 , which means that the left side of ( [ alpha ] ) is less than @xmath164 for some @xmath128 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 by the choice of @xmath165 . [ [ proof - of - part-1b - of - theoremt1 . ] ] _ proof of part 1)b ) of theorem [ t1 ] . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + we are going to show transience of dtmc @xmath94 . define @xmath166 and @xmath167 , where @xmath168 . let us show that if @xmath169 is sufficiently large , then there exists @xmath128 such that for all @xmath170 @xmath171 notice that if @xmath172 and @xmath140 , then necessarily @xmath173 . it is easy to see that if @xmath140 , then equation ( [ eq1 ] ) is equivalent to the following one @xmath174 and the left side of the preceding inequality can be bounded below as follows @xmath175 it is easy to see that given @xmath176 the right side of the last inequality is positive for sufficiently large @xmath169 . thus , inequality ( [ eq1 ] ) holds , which implies , by theorem [ 227 ] , that dtmc @xmath94 is transient . [ [ proof - of - part-2-of - theoremt1 . ] ] _ proof of part 2 ) of theorem [ t1 ] . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + recall that in this part @xmath11 is non - decreasing and tends to infinity as @xmath64 . if also @xmath55 , then transience of the markov chain is obvious . in the rest of the proof we assume that @xmath12 is non - increasing and @xmath54 . as in the proof of part 1)b ) , we show transience of dtmc @xmath94 . there are two cases to consider : @xmath57 and @xmath59 . suppose first that @xmath57 . we are going to show that there exists @xmath128 such that for all @xmath170 , where @xmath177 is sufficiently large , inequality ( [ eq1 ] ) holds with the same function @xmath166 as in the proof of part 1)b ) . without loss of generality , suppose that @xmath140 , in which case inequality ( [ eq1 ] ) is equivalent to the following one @xmath178 the left side of the preceding inequality can be bounded below as follows @xmath179 it is easy to see that given @xmath176 the right side of the last inequality is positive for sufficiently large @xmath169 . therefore , by theorem [ 227 ] dtmc @xmath94 is transient . suppose now that @xmath180 . fix @xmath181 and define the following function @xmath182 we are going to show that if @xmath183 , where @xmath184 and @xmath169 is sufficiently large , then @xmath185 for @xmath186 . due to symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 it suffices to show this bound for @xmath187 , in which case inequality @xmath188 is equivalent to the following one @xmath189 if @xmath190 , then @xmath191 and @xmath192 , therefore the left side of the preceding display can be bounded below as follows @xmath193 and the right side of the last inequality is positive for sufficiently large @xmath169 , as @xmath194 and @xmath195 . now we apply again theorem [ 227 ] with function ( [ f2 ] ) and set @xmath43 to finish the proof . [ [ proof - of - part-1-of - theoremt2 . ] ] _ proof of part 1 ) of theorem [ t2 ] . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + define the following function @xmath196 if @xmath140 , then @xmath197 as @xmath198 and @xmath199 . symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 implies that @xmath200 holds in the case @xmath201 as well . this yields that @xmath202 , where @xmath203 , is a non - negative supermartingale . therefore , @xmath204 converges almost surely to a finite limit as @xmath205 . this necessarily implies that @xmath203 is almost surely finite as @xmath206 for @xmath207 , and , hence , with probability @xmath16 dtmc @xmath94 hits the diagonal @xmath208 infinitely many times . [ [ proof - of - part-2-of - theoremt2 . ] ] _ proof of part 2 ) of theorem [ t2 ] . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + given @xmath103 define @xmath209 and @xmath210 . [ p11 ] there exists @xmath128 such that @xmath211 . _ proof of proposition [ p11 ] . _ given @xmath212 define the following functions @xmath213 and @xmath214 where @xmath215 is sufficiently large and to be chosen later . we are going to show that @xmath216 for some @xmath217 . indeed , if @xmath218 , then inequality ( [ lyap1 ] ) becomes @xmath219 , which is equivalent to @xmath220 it is easy to see that the left side of the preceding display can be bounded below as follows @xmath221 due to symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 inequality ( [ lyap1 ] ) holds for @xmath222 as well . if @xmath208 then we are going to show that , given @xmath223 , there exists @xmath215 such that @xmath224 , for some @xmath217 . indeed , assumption @xmath225 implies that given integers @xmath226 and @xmath151 such that @xmath227 the dtmc jumps from @xmath149 up and right with probabilities that tend to @xmath155 as @xmath64 . in turn , this yields that starting at @xmath148 , where @xmath25 is sufficiently large , @xmath228 takes values @xmath229 with probabilities that tend to the binomial probabilities @xmath230 , @xmath231 as @xmath64 , and probabilities of other states reachable in @xmath232 steps tend to zero in the same limit . therefore , @xmath233 where @xmath234 is a binomial random variable with parameters @xmath232 and @xmath235 , and @xmath163 as @xmath64 . notice also , that @xmath236 for any @xmath237 . without loss of generality , assume that @xmath238 . a direct computation ( we skip some details ) gives that @xmath239 for some @xmath217 , if @xmath232 is large enough . given @xmath240 define the following sequence of random times @xmath241 and @xmath242 , @xmath243 , and the following random process @xmath244 , @xmath245 . by construction , @xmath246 if and only if @xmath247 . define also @xmath248 . it is easy to see that event @xmath249 implies event @xmath250 . inequality ( [ lyap1 ] ) yields that @xmath251 and , therefore , by theorem [ 219 ] , we obtain that there exists @xmath128 such that @xmath252 . consequently , @xmath253 . proposition [ p11 ] is proved . part 1 ) of the theorem implies that with probability @xmath16 dtmc @xmath94 returns to set @xmath254 . define @xmath255 . by proposition [ p11 ] , we have that @xmath256 , where @xmath176 . consequently , this yields that @xmath257 , so that with probability @xmath16 dtmc @xmath24 leaves set @xmath254 finitely many times . the proof of part 2 ) of the theorem is finished . first we note that if @xmath107 then @xmath258 , @xmath259 and @xmath63 as @xmath64 . therefore transience of the ctmc @xmath24 in both parts of the theorem is implied by theorem [ t1 ] . the proof is divided on steps given by propositions [ p1 ] , [ p2 ] and [ p3 ] , corollary [ c1 ] , and lemmas [ l1 ] and [ l2 ] . the lemmas form the cornerstone of the proof and based on the so called lyapunov functions approach ( e.g. , see @xcite ) widely used for study the long term behaviour of markov processes . we start with showing non - explosiveness of the ctmc . [ p1 ] let @xmath105 and @xmath106 , where @xmath108 and @xmath260 . then ctmc @xmath24 is non - explosive with probability @xmath16 . _ proof of proposition [ p1 ] . _ let @xmath261 be a total intensity of jumps of the ctmc at state @xmath134 . it is easy to see that @xmath262 and , hence , @xmath263^{-1}$ ] . let @xmath264 , @xmath265 , be a trajectory of the markov chain , such that @xmath266 , and consider any of its subsequences @xmath267 , @xmath268 , such that @xmath269 . it is easy to see that @xmath270 thus @xmath271 , and , hence , by the well - known criterion of non - explosiveness , the markov chain is not explosive . proposition [ p1 ] is proved . [ p2 ] let @xmath105 and @xmath106 , where @xmath108 and @xmath272 . let @xmath273 . then there exists @xmath128 such that for any initial state @xmath14 @xmath274 _ proof of proposition [ p2 ] . _ note first that by proposition [ p1 ] ctmc @xmath24 is non - explosive . denote @xmath275 and define @xmath276 . if @xmath277 , where @xmath140 , then @xmath278 and @xmath279 on @xmath280 , for some @xmath128 , and where @xmath281 as @xmath282 . by the symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 we get that @xmath283 for all @xmath284 , on @xmath280 . proposition [ p2 ] is now implied by theorem [ 211 ] in appendix . proposition [ p1 ] and proposition [ p2 ] yield the following corollary . [ c1 ] under assumptions of proposition [ p2 ] set @xmath285 is unbounded with probability @xmath16 . the next lemma states that with a positive probability the markov chain stays forever in a strip along one of the coordinate axis . [ l1 ] let @xmath105 and @xmath106 , where @xmath108 and @xmath260 . let @xmath268 be such that @xmath286 . given @xmath287 define @xmath288 and @xmath289 . similar , define @xmath290 and @xmath291 . if @xmath292 is sufficiently large then there exists @xmath212 such that @xmath293 and @xmath294 lemma [ l1 ] is proved in section [ proofl1 ] . we are interested in the minimal @xmath1 satisfying the requirement of lemma [ l1 ] . namely , let @xmath295 be such that @xmath296 . as the markov chain is transient , we can assume for the rest of the proof that @xmath292 is so large that i ) sets @xmath297 and @xmath298 are disjoint ; ii ) bounds ( [ dx ] ) and ( [ dy ] ) hold . [ p3 ] with a positive probability @xmath111 , depending on @xmath299 , ctmc @xmath24 is eventually absorbed by horizontal strip @xmath297 , and with probability @xmath115 ctmc @xmath24 is eventually absorbed by vertical strip @xmath298 . _ proof of proposition [ p3 ] . _ note first that by corollary [ c1 ] ctmc @xmath24 returns to set @xmath300 with probability @xmath16 . further , by lemma [ l1 ] , if the markov chain is in either of these strips , then it remains there with a probability bounded away from zero . consequently , with probability @xmath16 ctmc @xmath24 is eventually absorbed by the union of these strips . this can be shown in the same way as the similar fact in the proof of part 2 ) of theorem [ t2 ] ( i.e. absorption by cone @xmath254 ) . finally , it is obvious that absorption by strip @xmath301 and absorption by strip @xmath302 are mutually exclusive events , as the strips are disjoint by assumption . proposition [ p3 ] is proved . [ l2 ] define @xmath303 and @xmath304 . if @xmath305 and integer @xmath306 are such that @xmath307 , then @xmath308 lemma [ l2 ] is proved in section [ proofl2 ] . now we use this lemma to finish the proof . lemma [ l2 ] and corollary [ c1 ] yield that if ctmc @xmath24 is absorbed by horizontal strip @xmath301 , then it visits each of the following sets @xmath309 , @xmath310 , infinitely many times . similar , if ctmc @xmath24 is absorbed by vertical strip @xmath302 , it visits each of the following sets @xmath311 , @xmath310 , infinitely many times . part 1 ) of theorem [ t3 ] is now proved . given @xmath312 and @xmath313 , define the following function @xmath314 it is easy to see that @xmath315 for some @xmath128 and for all @xmath316 , where @xmath317 is sufficiently large . bound ( [ eps ] ) implies that conditioned to stay in set @xmath318 ctmc @xmath24 explodes , with a positive probability depending on @xmath120 , by theorem 1.12 , @xcite . by symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 we immediately obtain the same for any vertical ray @xmath319 . let @xmath119 be the time to explosion , @xmath273 ( as in proposition [ p2 ] ) and @xmath320 . one can show , by repeating verbatim the proof of proposition [ p2 ] , that there exists @xmath128 such that @xmath321 . this bound and conditional explosion along a horizontal and a vertical ray yield that @xmath322 . next , it is easy to see that @xmath323 jumps with uniformly bounded rates , therefore it changes finitely many times before explosion . this yields that the markov chain eventually explodes being absorbed by either a horizontal ray @xmath324 or a vertical ray @xmath325 . due to symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 it suffices to prove bound ( [ dx ] ) only . it should be noted that the proof is reminiscent of the proof of the well known criteria for transience of a countable markov chain ( e.g. , theorem 2.2.2 , @xcite ) . in particular , it consists in constructing a _ bounded _ positive function @xmath36 such that random process @xmath326 is supermartingale . fix an integer @xmath306 such that @xmath327 . suppose there exists a positive function @xmath328 on @xmath37 such that 1 . @xmath329 as @xmath64 , 2 . @xmath330 for all @xmath331 , 3 . @xmath332 , where @xmath333 , and 4 . @xmath334 for all @xmath335 . define @xmath336 . the properties of @xmath328 imply that random process @xmath337 is a positive supermartingale and , hence , it almost surely converges to a finite limit @xmath338 that can take only values @xmath16 and @xmath62 . by fatou s lemma @xmath339 for all @xmath331 , and , hence , @xmath340 , for all @xmath341 . in the rest of the proof we provide functions @xmath328 . [ [ function - f_0 . ] ] _ function @xmath342 . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + fix @xmath343 and define the following function @xmath344 the following bound is obvious @xmath345 let us show that , if @xmath346 , where @xmath292 is sufficiently large , then @xmath347 . indeed , a direct computation gives that @xmath348 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 , as @xmath349 . [ [ functions - f_k - kgeq-1 . ] ] _ functions @xmath328 , @xmath306 . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + if @xmath350 , then we define @xmath351 where @xmath352 and @xmath353 are such that @xmath354 and @xmath355 ( it is easy to see that such numbers @xmath356 and @xmath357 exist ) . if @xmath358 , then we define @xmath359 where positive real numbers @xmath360 satisfy the following system of inequalities @xmath361 it is easy to see that system of inequalities ( [ cond20 ] ) has many solutions and for all @xmath306 the following bound holds @xmath362 a direct computation gives that @xmath363 and , hence , @xmath364 @xmath365 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 , as @xmath366 and @xmath355 . if @xmath358 , then a direct computation gives that @xmath367 for sufficiently large @xmath25 , as @xmath366 . further , given @xmath368 , we get in a similar way that @xmath369 notice that the second inequality of ( [ cond20 ] ) implies that @xmath370 and , hence , @xmath371 , provided that @xmath25 is sufficiently large . finally , the bottom inequality in ( [ cond20 ] ) implies that @xmath372 for sufficiently large @xmath25 . the lemma is proved . due to symmetry between @xmath25 and @xmath26 it suffices to prove only that @xmath373 . it should be noted that the proof is reminiscent of the proof of the well - known criteria for recurrence of a countable markov chain ( e.g. , theorem 2.2.1 , @xcite ) . in particular , it consists in constructing an _ unbounded _ positive function @xmath45 such that random process @xmath374 is a supermartingale . given an integer @xmath306 , we are going to construct function @xmath375 satisfying the following conditions 1 . @xmath376 as @xmath64 for all @xmath377 , 2 . @xmath378 on @xmath379 , 3 . @xmath380 for all @xmath381 , where @xmath382 . properties of such function @xmath375 imply that the random process @xmath383 is a positive supermartingale and , hence , converges almost surely . if @xmath381 , then the markov chain jumps to the right with a rate that is approximately equal to @xmath384 for sufficiently large @xmath64 , while rates of jumps down , up or left are uniformly bounded over states @xmath381 . it means that conditioned to stay in strip @xmath385 component @xmath21 tends to infinity as @xmath205 and , by construction , so does @xmath386 , which contradicts its convergence , unless @xmath387 . in the rest of the proof we construct the functions @xmath375 , @xmath306 . note that in what follows we write @xmath388 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 , if @xmath389 . [ [ function - g_1 . ] ] _ function @xmath390 . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + suppose that @xmath391 and define @xmath392 where @xmath393 . it is easy to see that @xmath394 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . if @xmath395 , then @xmath396 , hence , @xmath397 . if @xmath398 , then @xmath399 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 , as @xmath400 . [ [ function - g_2 . ] ] _ function @xmath401 . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + if @xmath402 , then we define @xmath403 where @xmath404 it is easy to see that @xmath405 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . if @xmath406 , then @xmath407 , because of the bottom line in condition ( [ k=2 ] ) . if @xmath408 , then the upper line in condition ( [ k=2 ] ) yields that @xmath409 , and , hence , @xmath410 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . further , it is easy to see that @xmath411 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . if @xmath406 , then both positive terms are smaller than @xmath412 , as @xmath396 and @xmath413 respectively . if @xmath408 , then the negative term dominates both positive terms because @xmath396 ( as @xmath395 ) , and @xmath414 ( as @xmath415 ) . hence , we have again that @xmath416 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . [ [ functions - g_k - kgeq-3 . ] ] _ functions @xmath417 . _ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + if @xmath307 , where @xmath418 , then we define function @xmath375 as follows @xmath419 where @xmath420 and @xmath421 a direct computation gives that @xmath422 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 , where if @xmath423 , then the right hand side is @xmath424 by condition ( [ cond2 ] ) , and if @xmath425 , then the right hand side is negative by condition ( [ cond1 ] ) . further , a direct computation gives that @xmath426 for @xmath427 , for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . as before , consider two cases . if @xmath423 , then @xmath428 as @xmath429 , so that the first positive term is asymptotically dominated by the negative one also , comparing the negative term with the second positive one we get that @xmath430 by ( [ cond2 ] ) . if @xmath425 , then condition ( [ cond1 ] ) implies that @xmath431 and @xmath432 , so that @xmath433 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . finally , we get that @xmath434 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . indeed , if @xmath435 , @xmath418 , then @xmath396 , so that term @xmath436 is larger ( for sufficiently large @xmath25 ) than @xmath437 . to deal with another positive term in the preceding display , we consider two cases . if @xmath425 , then @xmath414 , because of condition ( [ cond1 ] ) . if @xmath423 , then @xmath438 , but @xmath439 . thus , in both cases @xmath440 for all sufficiently large @xmath25 . the lemma is proved . [ r5 ] it should be noted that our results imply transience of ctmc @xmath24 in the case of polynomial functions @xmath105 and @xmath106 for _ any _ @xmath441 . indeed , if @xmath107 then , as it is mentioned at the beginning of the proof of theorem [ t3 ] , theorem [ t1 ] applies . if @xmath108 and @xmath260 , then lemma [ l1 ] implies transience . if @xmath118 , then ( whatever @xmath442 is ) transience is implied the criteria for transience of a countable markov chain ( e.g. theorem 2.2.2 , @xcite ) which applies in this case with lyapunov function ( [ f ] ) . further , condition @xmath107 in theorem [ t3 ] is not necessary to show _ just _ transience . we essentially use this condition in both parts of theorem [ t3 ] to describe how _ exactly _ the markov chain escapes to infinity . for the reader s convenience we provide some facts that were used in our paper . theorem [ 227 ] is a version of theorem 2.2.7 , @xcite , theorem [ 219 ] is a version of theorem 2.1.9 , @xcite , and theorem [ 211 ] is lemma 7.3.6 in @xcite . [ 227 ] ( theorem 2.2.7 , @xcite ) . let @xmath204 be an irreducible aperiodic discrete time markov chain on a countable space @xmath443 . for @xmath204 to be transient , it suffices that there exist a positive function @xmath444 , @xmath445 , a bounded positive integer valued function @xmath446 , @xmath445 , and numbers @xmath447 such that , setting @xmath448 , the following conditions hold : [ 219 ] ( theorem 2.1.9 , @xcite ) . let @xmath456 be @xmath457-valued process adapted to a filtration @xmath458 . define @xmath459 , where @xmath460 . suppose that its jumps @xmath461 , are uniformly bounded and there exists @xmath128 such that @xmath462 , on @xmath463 , and @xmath464 . then @xmath465 . [ 211 ] ( lemma 7.3.6 , @xcite ) . let @xmath466 be an @xmath457-valued process adapted to a filtration @xmath467 and let @xmath468 . suppose that there exists @xmath128 such that @xmath469 , on @xmath470 . then @xmath471 . 1 anderson w. ( 1991 ) . continuous time markov chains : an application oriented approach . springer verlag . barbour , a.d . , hamza , k. , kaspi , h. , and klebaner , f.c . escape from the boundary in markov population processes . _ advances in applied probability _ , * 47 * , 4 , pp . becker , n. g. ( 1970 ) . a stochastic model for two interacting populations . _ journal of applied probability _ , * 7 * , pp . 544 - 564 . chung , k. l. ( 1967 ) . _ markov chains with stationary transition probabilities_. 2nd ed . , in : die grundlehren der mathematischen wissenschaften band 104 , springer - verlag new york , inc . , new york . fayolle , g. , malyshev , v. , and menshikov , m. ( 1995 ) . _ constructive topics in the theory of countable markov chains_. cambridge university press . feller , w. ( 1968 ) . _ an introduction to probability theory and its applications_. volume 1 , 3rd edition . john wiley@xmath472sons , inc . gauss , g. f. , smagardova , n.p . , and witt , a.a . further studies of interaction between predator and prey . _ journal of animal ecology _ , * 5 * , pp . karlin , s. , and taylor , h.m . ( 1975 ) . _ a first course in stochastic processes_. 2nd edition , elsevier . kolmogorov , a. n. ( 1972 ) . the quantitative measurements of mathematical models in the dynamics of populations . _ problems in cybernetics _ , * 25 * , pp . ( in russian ) . liggett , t. ( 2010 ) . _ continuous time markov processes an introduction_. graduate studies in mathematics , american mathematical society . menshikov , m.v . , popov , s. and wade , a.r . non - homogeneous random walks : lyapunov function methods for near - critical stochastic systems . cambridge university press . menshikov , m. and petritis ( 2014 ) . explosion , implosion , and moments of passage times for continuous - time markov chains : semimartingale approach . _ stochastic processes and their applications , _ * 124 * , pp . 23882414 . reuter , g. e. h. ( 1961 ) . competition processes . in : neyman j. ( ed . ) proceedings of the fourth berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability , v.ii : contributions to probability theory . university of california press , berkeley . ridler - rowe , c.j . ( 1978 ) . on competition between two species . _ journal of applied probability _ , * 15 * , pp .

in this paper we study the long term evolution of a continuous time markov chain formed by two interacting birth - and - death processes . the interaction between the processes is modelled by transition rates which are functions with suitable monotonicity properties . this is in line with the approach proposed by gauss g.f . and kolmogorov a.n . for modelling interaction between species in ecology . we obtain conditions for transience / recurrence of the markov chain and describe in detail its asymptotic behaviour in special transient cases . in particular , we find that in some of these cases the markov chain escapes to infinity in an unusual way , and the corresponding trajectories can be rather precisely described .

alaska native and american indian persons living in alaska are eligible for health care in a prepaid managed healthcare system through the alaska native tribal health consortium and alaska native medical center ( anmc ) , a tertiary referral hospital in anchorage . since 1995 , the alaska native tribal health consortium liver disease and hepatitis program has enrolled 1,234 people into a longitudinal outcomes cohort study of chronic hcv infection . all participants had a positive anti - hcv test confirmed either by recombinant immunoblot assay or hcv rna by polymerase chain reaction . of 986 persons in this study population living on june 1 , 2010 , most resided in urban areas , including 60% in anchorage , 15% in fairbanks and 11% in juneau and sitka . details of this patient cohort have been previously described , including clinical outcomes through 2005 ( 6 ) . approval for this study was obtained from the institutional review boards of the alaska area indian health service , the university of washington medical center and the centers for disease control and prevention and appropriate alaska native health corporation boards . all patients provided written informed consent that included permission for chart review of previous records . medical records of all treatment nave hcv rna positive patients given appointments in the hepatology specialty clinic at anmc over 2 specific 1-year periods ( january 1december 31 , 2003 , and january 1december 31 , 2007 ) were evaluated by a hepatology provider ( physician or nurse practitioner ) to examine treatment eligibility based on clinical guidelines , patient preference and patient attendance at appointments . these 1-year periods were selected 4 years apart in order to investigate differences in treatment eligibility over time . in addition to pertinent history , physical examination and laboratory testing , hepatology clinic providers routinely discussed the nature of hcv infection , including long - term prognosis , routine follow - up recommendations , the role of liver biopsy , indications for treatment and detailed discussions of the treatment regimen and potential side effects . the hepatology clinic was staffed by 2 physicians and 1 nurse practitioner for 5 half - day clinics weekly in 2003 and by 2 physicians and 2 nurse practitioners for 7 half - day clinics weekly in 2007 . one of the 2 nurse practitioners was hired in 2006 and dedicated to hepatitis c management , including treatment . beginning in 2002 , all patients with chronic hcv infection living in the anchorage area were sent a letter biannually recommending that they make a follow - up clinic appointment and have their liver function tests performed . most follow - up appointments were made by clinic staff at the request of patients who contacted the clinic . some patients who did not make clinic appointments or have liver function tests performed after receiving a reminder letter were contacted by clinic staff and offered an appointment , which was made with patient agreement . likewise , patients referred by other providers for a new clinic appointment were contacted by clinic staff and offered an appointment , which was made with their agreement . most patients seen in the anmc hepatology clinic in anchorage resided in the anchorage area . those referred from other areas of the state generally had travel to anchorage provided free of charge to the patient . alanine aminotransferase ( alt ) testing was performed at the anmc laboratory ( anchorage , ak ) on an aeroset chemistry analyzer ( abbott laboratories , usa ) . testing for hcv rna and genotype was performed at the university of washington as previously described ( 7 ) . liver biopsy was performed only for clinical reasons , primarily to evaluate for possible treatment . liver biopsy slides were evaluated by at least 1 of the 2 physicians ( sl or bm ) , both practicing hepatologists , for clinical purposes . in addition , biopsy slides were evaluated by a study pathologist ( hd ) who was blinded to patient identity and demographic , clinical and biological data . patient data were analysed for characteristics that included gender , age , years since diagnosis , genotype , alt level , knodell fibrosis score , risk factors ( injection drug use , blood transfusion and other ) and alcohol consumption at the time of entry into the study ( consumption of any alcohol and consumption of > 50 g / day ) . statistical analysis was performed to compare characteristics of persons with consistent hepatology clinic appointment attendance to those with inconsistent attendance for given appointments . additionally , documented reasons for treatment eligibility were compared in 2003 and 2007 using the likelihood ratio chi - square statistic . we used the cochran - armitage test for trend to examine if the percentage of persons who attended their appointments varied with age , alt level and time since diagnosis . all analyses were conducted by the use of sas version 9.2 ( sas institute , cary , nc , usa ) . alaska native and american indian persons living in alaska are eligible for health care in a prepaid managed healthcare system through the alaska native tribal health consortium and alaska native medical center ( anmc ) , a tertiary referral hospital in anchorage . since 1995 , the alaska native tribal health consortium liver disease and hepatitis program has enrolled 1,234 people into a longitudinal outcomes cohort study of chronic hcv infection . all participants had a positive anti - hcv test confirmed either by recombinant immunoblot assay or hcv rna by polymerase chain reaction . of 986 persons in this study population living on june 1 , 2010 , most resided in urban areas , including 60% in anchorage , 15% in fairbanks and 11% in juneau and sitka . details of this patient cohort have been previously described , including clinical outcomes through 2005 ( 6 ) . approval for this study was obtained from the institutional review boards of the alaska area indian health service , the university of washington medical center and the centers for disease control and prevention and appropriate alaska native health corporation boards . all patients provided written informed consent that included permission for chart review of previous records . medical records of all treatment nave hcv rna positive patients given appointments in the hepatology specialty clinic at anmc over 2 specific 1-year periods ( january 1december 31 , 2003 , and january 1december 31 , 2007 ) were evaluated by a hepatology provider ( physician or nurse practitioner ) to examine treatment eligibility based on clinical guidelines , patient preference and patient attendance at appointments . these 1-year periods were selected 4 years apart in order to investigate differences in treatment eligibility over time . in addition to pertinent history , physical examination and laboratory testing , hepatology clinic providers routinely discussed the nature of hcv infection , including long - term prognosis , routine follow - up recommendations , the role of liver biopsy , indications for treatment and detailed discussions of the treatment regimen and potential side effects . the hepatology clinic was staffed by 2 physicians and 1 nurse practitioner for 5 half - day clinics weekly in 2003 and by 2 physicians and 2 nurse practitioners for 7 half - day clinics weekly in 2007 . one of the 2 nurse practitioners was hired in 2006 and dedicated to hepatitis c management , including treatment . beginning in 2002 , all patients with chronic hcv infection living in the anchorage area were sent a letter biannually recommending that they make a follow - up clinic appointment and have their liver function tests performed . most follow - up appointments were made by clinic staff at the request of patients who contacted the clinic . some patients who did not make clinic appointments or have liver function tests performed after receiving a reminder letter were contacted by clinic staff and offered an appointment , which was made with patient agreement . likewise , patients referred by other providers for a new clinic appointment were contacted by clinic staff and offered an appointment , which was made with their agreement . most patients seen in the anmc hepatology clinic in anchorage resided in the anchorage area . those referred from other areas of the state generally had travel to anchorage provided free of charge to the patient . alanine aminotransferase ( alt ) testing was performed at the anmc laboratory ( anchorage , ak ) on an aeroset chemistry analyzer ( abbott laboratories , usa ) . testing for hcv rna and genotype was performed at the university of washington as previously described ( 7 ) . liver biopsy was performed only for clinical reasons , primarily to evaluate for possible treatment . liver biopsy slides were evaluated by at least 1 of the 2 physicians ( sl or bm ) , both practicing hepatologists , for clinical purposes . in addition , biopsy slides were evaluated by a study pathologist ( hd ) who was blinded to patient identity and demographic , clinical and biological data . patient data were analysed for characteristics that included gender , age , years since diagnosis , genotype , alt level , knodell fibrosis score , risk factors ( injection drug use , blood transfusion and other ) and alcohol consumption at the time of entry into the study ( consumption of any alcohol and consumption of > 50 g / day ) . statistical analysis was performed to compare characteristics of persons with consistent hepatology clinic appointment attendance to those with inconsistent attendance for given appointments . additionally , documented reasons for treatment eligibility were compared in 2003 and 2007 using the likelihood ratio chi - square statistic . we used the cochran - armitage test for trend to examine if the percentage of persons who attended their appointments varied with age , alt level and time since diagnosis . all analyses were conducted by the use of sas version 9.2 ( sas institute , cary , nc , usa ) . treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin was initiated in 4 of 94 patients ( 4% ) in 2003 and 14 of 146 patients ( 10% ) in 2007 . of the 4 patients started on treatment in 2003 , 1 achieved a sustained virologic response ; 1 discontinued treatment due to side effects ; treatment failed in another , and the fourth relapsed after achieving an end of treatment response . of the 14 patients started on treatment in 2007 , 4 achieved a sustained virologic response ; 8 discontinued treatment due to side effects ; treatment failed in 1 and 1 relapsed . in 2003 , we identified 94 treatment nave patients who were scheduled for 175 appointments in the anmc hepatology clinic . of 19 patients who were scheduled for multiple appointments , 14 did not attend any of the appointments and 5 attended at least one of the scheduled appointments ; attendance at this appointment was used by the provider to evaluate for treatment eligibility . thirty - two of the 94 patients ( 34% ) did not attend any of the appointments and , thus , were considered not eligible for treatment during the study period by the provider . of the 90 patients not treated , reasons for providers deferring treatment were inability to attend scheduled appointments , 32 ( 36% ) ; documented alcohol or drug abuse within 6 months of evaluation , 16 ( 17% ) ; patient decision to defer treatment despite being considered an eligible candidate , 16 ( 17% ) ; liver biopsy without fibrosis or normal alt , 8 ( 8% ) ; documented uncontrolled psychiatric condition , 7 ( 7% ) ; concurrent medical condition precluding treatment , 6 ( 6% ) ; decompensated cirrhosis , 3 ( 3% ) , and age > 65 years , 2 ( 2% ) ( table i ) . reasons for non - treatment of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hepatitis c seen in a hepatology clinic in 2003 and 2007 includes bipolar disorder ( 2 ) , schizophrenia , depression and personality disorder ( 2 ) . includes rheumatoid arthritis , seizure disorder , severe diabetes mellitus , systemic lupus erythematosis , chronic renal failure and severe chronic back pain . includes cancer ( 2 ) , myopathy , malabsorption syndrome , pregnancy , severe diabetes mellitus , chronic obstructive lung disease , severe chronic back pain and autoimmune hepatitis . in 2007 , we identified 146 treatment nave patients who were scheduled for 278 appointments in the anmc hepatology clinic . of 45 patients who had multiple scheduled appointments , 2 attended none of them and 43 attended at least 1 . overall , 24 of the 146 patients ( 16% ) did not attend any scheduled appointments . of the 132 patients not treated , reasons for providers deferring treatment were patient decision to defer , 36 ( 27% ) ; alcohol or drug abuse within 6 months of evaluation , 29 ( 22% ) ; inability to attend scheduled appointments , 24 ( 18% ) ; concurrent medical condition precluding treatment , 12 ( 9% ) ; uncontrolled psychiatric condition , 9 ( 6% ) ; decompensated cirrhosis , 7 ( 5% ) ; patients considering or planning treatment but not yet started , 7 ( 5% ) ; liver biopsy without fibrosis or normal alt , 4 ( 3% ) ; age > 65 years , 2 ( 1% ) , and other , 2 ( 1% ) ( table i ) . the proportion of appointments attended increased significantly in 2007 versus 2003 ( 73% vs. 67% , respectively , p=0.04 ) . likewise , the percentage of patients who attended at least 1 scheduled appointment increased in 2007 versus 2003 ( 84% vs. 66% , p=0.002 ) ( table ii ) . in 2003 , persons with a history of intravenous drug use were significantly less likely to attend clinic appointments than those with other risk factors ( p=0.04 ) . in 2007 , there was a significant difference in time since diagnosis among those who attended clinic appointments . among persons diagnosed with hcv infection <3 years prior to the appointment , 93% attended at least 1 appointment compared to 86% and 73% for diagnosis 37 and 8 years prior , respectively ( p=0.009 ) . there was no significant difference in other characteristics in either year among those who attended scheduled appointments ( table iii ) . comparison of appointment attendance in a hepatology clinic by alaska native and american indian persons between 2003 and 2007 if persons who were seen in both years are removed , those attending 1 appointment were 64% ( 42/66 ) in 2003 vs. 86% ( 101/118 ) in 2007 , p=0.002 . the percentage of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) infection attending hepatology clinic scheduled appointments in 2003 and 2007 , according to demographic and hcv infection characteristics percent of patients attending 1 appointment . treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin was initiated in 4 of 94 patients ( 4% ) in 2003 and 14 of 146 patients ( 10% ) in 2007 . of the 4 patients started on treatment in 2003 , 1 achieved a sustained virologic response ; 1 discontinued treatment due to side effects ; treatment failed in another , and the fourth relapsed after achieving an end of treatment response . of the 14 patients started on treatment in 2007 , 4 achieved a sustained virologic response ; 8 discontinued treatment due to side effects ; treatment failed in 1 and 1 relapsed . in 2003 , we identified 94 treatment nave patients who were scheduled for 175 appointments in the anmc hepatology clinic . of 19 patients who were scheduled for multiple appointments , 14 did not attend any of the appointments and 5 attended at least one of the scheduled appointments ; attendance at this appointment was used by the provider to evaluate for treatment eligibility . thirty - two of the 94 patients ( 34% ) did not attend any of the appointments and , thus , were considered not eligible for treatment during the study period by the provider . of the 90 patients not treated , reasons for providers deferring treatment were inability to attend scheduled appointments , 32 ( 36% ) ; documented alcohol or drug abuse within 6 months of evaluation , 16 ( 17% ) ; patient decision to defer treatment despite being considered an eligible candidate , 16 ( 17% ) ; liver biopsy without fibrosis or normal alt , 8 ( 8% ) ; documented uncontrolled psychiatric condition , 7 ( 7% ) ; concurrent medical condition precluding treatment , 6 ( 6% ) ; decompensated cirrhosis , 3 ( 3% ) , and age > 65 years , 2 ( 2% ) ( table i ) . reasons for non - treatment of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hepatitis c seen in a hepatology clinic in 2003 and 2007 includes bipolar disorder ( 2 ) , depression , dementia and mental retardation . includes bipolar disorder ( 2 ) , schizophrenia , depression and personality disorder ( 2 ) . includes rheumatoid arthritis , seizure disorder , severe diabetes mellitus , systemic lupus erythematosis , chronic renal failure and severe chronic back pain . includes cancer ( 2 ) , myopathy , malabsorption syndrome , pregnancy , severe diabetes mellitus , chronic obstructive lung disease , severe chronic back pain and autoimmune hepatitis . in 2007 , we identified 146 treatment nave patients who were scheduled for 278 appointments in the anmc hepatology clinic . of 45 patients who had multiple scheduled appointments , 2 attended none of them and 43 attended at least 1 . overall , 24 of the 146 patients ( 16% ) did not attend any scheduled appointments . of the 132 patients not treated , reasons for providers deferring treatment were patient decision to defer , 36 ( 27% ) ; alcohol or drug abuse within 6 months of evaluation , 29 ( 22% ) ; inability to attend scheduled appointments , 24 ( 18% ) ; concurrent medical condition precluding treatment , 12 ( 9% ) ; uncontrolled psychiatric condition , 9 ( 6% ) ; decompensated cirrhosis , 7 ( 5% ) ; patients considering or planning treatment but not yet started , 7 ( 5% ) ; liver biopsy without fibrosis or normal alt , 4 ( 3% ) ; age > 65 years , 2 ( 1% ) , and other , 2 ( 1% ) ( table i ) . the proportion of appointments attended increased significantly in 2007 versus 2003 ( 73% vs. 67% , respectively , p=0.04 ) . likewise , the percentage of patients who attended at least 1 scheduled appointment increased in 2007 versus 2003 ( 84% vs. 66% , p=0.002 ) ( table ii ) . in 2003 , persons with a history of intravenous drug use were significantly less likely to attend clinic appointments than those with other risk factors ( p=0.04 ) . in 2007 , there was a significant difference in time since diagnosis among those who attended clinic appointments . among persons diagnosed with hcv infection <3 years prior to the appointment , 93% attended at least 1 appointment compared to 86% and 73% for diagnosis 37 and 8 years prior , respectively ( p=0.009 ) . there was no significant difference in other characteristics in either year among those who attended scheduled appointments ( table iii ) . comparison of appointment attendance in a hepatology clinic by alaska native and american indian persons between 2003 and 2007 if persons who were seen in both years are removed , those attending 1 appointment were 64% ( 42/66 ) in 2003 vs. 86% ( 101/118 ) in 2007 , p=0.002 . the percentage of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) infection attending hepatology clinic scheduled appointments in 2003 and 2007 , according to demographic and hcv infection characteristics percent of patients attending 1 appointment . between 2003 and 2007 , the number of chronic hcv - infected persons who made appointments in the anmc hepatology clinic increased by over 50% and the number of appointments attended nearly doubled . likewise , the number of patients started on hcv treatment more than tripled between 2003 and 2007 , increasing from 4 ( 4% ) to 14 ( 10% ) . of those who attended clinic appointments but were not treated , we found little difference in the reasons patients were not started on hcv treatment between 2003 and 2007 . substance abuse and individual patient decision to defer treatment remained the 2 most common reasons ( 1636% ) , whereas smaller percentages had concurrent medical or psychiatric conditions , liver biopsies without fibrosis or normal alt and decompensated cirrhosis . previous studies of hcv treatment eligibility have reported similar findings , including low rates of treatment . a large us veterans administration study examined a nationwide database of over 100,000 hcv - infected patients and found that treatment was initiated in only 11.9% and completed in only 22.5% of those , which was less than 2% of the whole cohort ( 9 ) . a smaller veterans administration study looked at the reasons for non - treatment in 354 patients referred to a hepatology clinic , 70% of whom were not treated . the most common reasons for non - treatment were non - adherence to follow - up visit ( 24% ) , normal liver enzymes ( 14% ) , concurrent medical problems ( 11% ) , alcohol and drug abuse ( 9% ) , psychiatric problems ( 7% ) and advanced liver disease ( 7% ) ( 10 ) . a study of 293 patients at a teaching county hospital in cleveland , ohio , found that 72% of patients were not treated . reasons included non - adherence ( 37% ) , medical or psychiatric contraindications ( 34% ) , ongoing substance abuse ( 13% ) , personal preference ( 11% ) and normal liver enzymes ( 5% ) ( 11 ) . as we have identified more patients with hcv hepatology clinic appointments for hcv at anmc are made by referral for initial evaluation , often by primary care providers , and directly by patients for follow - up . we did not attempt to differentiate between these reasons for making appointments in our study . several factors may explain why a significantly larger percentage of patients attended appointments in 2007 compared to 2003 . they include the hiring of an additional nurse practitioner in 2006 who was dedicated to hcv , resulting in a more aggressive approach on our part to hcv management and treatment . information was not available regarding whether the patient was initially seen by a physician or a nurse practitioner but all patients were seen by a physician before treatment was started . by 2007 , many patients had been receiving regular reminder letters to get laboratory and clinic follow - up for several years . native healers were available in the primary care clinic at anmc and their care was coordinated with primary care providers . however , records of visits with native healers were not available on patient charts , and we do not know if any of the patients seen in the hepatology clinic sought advice from them . despite the increase in clinic appointments , the percentage of those who made appointments and were subsequently started on treatment remained very small . a more comprehensive team approach utilising primary care providers , mental health providers , social workers and pharmacists , available in our primary care center , as well as hepatology providers might increase treatment numbers in a setting like anchorage . a model for increasing treatment numbers around the state could be based on the rural university of new mexico project echo program , which has provided care for hepatitis c patients via audio and visual conferencing ( 12 ) . with the food and drug administration approval of telaprevir ( 13 ) and boceprevir ( 14 ) , treatment for genotype 1 will be significantly more effective . patients attending appointments in 2007 were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with hcv infection <3 years prior to the appointment , compared to those with a longer time since diagnosis ( p=0.009 ) . the reason for this is uncertain , but it is possible that persons more recently diagnosed could be more motivated to obtain information about their disease than persons who have known about their diagnosis for a longer period and may have already been seen in the clinic . we do not have an obvious explanation why persons with the risk factor of intravenous drug use were significantly less likely to attend appointments in 2003 compared to those with other risk factors . we previously documented that a history of intravenous drug use is the major risk factor for hcv infection in this cohort ; 60% gave this history ( 3 ) . however , we do not think this was a major factor since , by 2007 , 80% of persons with an intravenous drug use history attended clinic appointments . we determined that persons not attending clinic appointments were not eligible for hepatitis c treatment during the study period , as other investigators have done . it is conceivable , however , that a significant number of these patients were actually eligible for treatment but were unable to attend appointments for temporary personal reasons , such as child care or other family issues , transportation difficulties or work responsibilities . investigation of reasons for not attending appointments was not part of this study , however . this study was unique because it was population based and evaluated a group whose health care needs have been underserved . we also did not attempt to determine if cultural factors influenced patient decisions to seek treatment . hepatitis c is primarily an urban disease in alaska due to a low rate of intravenous drug use in rural villages ; so , our results may not be applicable to rural areas where specialty care and treatment are not always available . in conclusion , we found multiple reasons why treatment was deferred in a cohort of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hcv infection . despite a significant improvement in hepatology clinic appointment attendance between 2003 and 2007 and an increase in the number of patients started on treatment , the overall percentage of those treated remained low . none of the authors have any conflict of interest to declare , including no financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could potentially influence the results or interpretation of this work .

objectivestreatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin may prevent progression of liver disease among patients with chronic hepatitis c virus infection ( hcv ) . treatment initiation is based on published clinical eligibility criteria , patients willingness to undergo treatment and likelihood of success . we examined treatment eligibility in a cohort of alaska native and american indian persons with chronic hcv infection.study designretrospective cohort study.methodsmedical records of all treatment nave hcv rna positive patients given an appointment by hepatology specialty clinic staff in 2003 and 2007 were evaluated by a hepatology provider to investigate documented reasons for treatment deferral.resultstreatment was initiated in 4 of 94 patients ( 4% ) in 2003 and 14 of 146 patients ( 10% ) in 2007 . major reasons for treatment deferral in 2003 versus 2007 included inconsistent appointment attendance ( 36% of deferrals vs. 18% ) , active substance abuse ( 17% vs. 22% ) , patient decision ( 17% vs. 27% ) , liver biopsy without fibrosis or normal alt ( 8% vs. 3% ) , uncontrolled psychiatric condition ( 7% vs. 7% ) and concurrent medical condition ( 6% vs. 9% ) . there was significant improvement in proportion of appointments attended in 2007 versus 2003 ( 76% vs. 67% , p = 0.04 ) and the percentage of patients attending at least 1 appointment ( 84% vs. 66% , p=0.002).conclusionsmultiple reasons for treatment deferral were documented . despite a significant improvement in hepatology clinic attendance and an increase in the number of patients started on treatment in 2007 compared to 2003 , the overall percentage of those treated remained low .

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should significantly cut spending on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Monday, questioning a policy that has underpinned U.S. foreign relations for nearly 70 years. Senator Jeff Sessions speaks next to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally at Madison City Schools Stadium in Madison, Alabama February 28, 2016. REUTERS/Marvin Gentry Trump, whose worldviews have been rebuked by a section of the Republican establishment, made the comments as he unveiled a partial list of foreign policy advisers, who are relatively little known. “We are paying disproportionately (for NATO). It’s too much and frankly it’s a different world than it was when we originally conceived of the idea,” Trump said in an interview on CNN. “We have to reconsider. Keep NATO, but maybe we have to pay a lot less toward NATO itself.” NATO, now consisting of 28 members, was formed after World War Two as a Western military alliance against the Soviet bloc. The comments reinforced Trump’s relatively isolationist stance on foreign policy. The New York billionaire businessman has alarmed establishment Republican foreign policy thinkers with comments denigrating Muslims and Mexican immigrants, and with his vows to tear up international trade deals. Announcing his foreign policy advisers in an interview with the Washington Post editorial board, he said the United States should not be “nation-building anymore,” adding that Washington could not afford to keep funding NATO at current levels. “We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore,” he said. Trump has said he is willing to work more closely with authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military intervention in Ukraine has increased tensions with NATO. Washington is the biggest contributor to NATO, and U.S. officials have long been critical of its European allies for not spending more. NATO is planning its biggest buildup in Eastern Europe since the Cold War to deter Russia, helped by an increase in planned U.S. spending. “The happiest person hearing this would be Vladimir Putin,” said retired Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s former Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “We are all frustrated with low European defense spending, but pulling away from NATO would be an extraordinary geopolitical mistake.” Trump’s advisory team includes terrorism expert Walid Phares, energy industry executive Carter Page, international energy lawyer George Papadopoulos, former Pentagon Inspector General Joe Schmitz and former Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg. ‘OBSCURE’ TEAM He said he would soon name more people helping him shape his foreign policies as part of the team, led by U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama who endorsed Trump last month. “Taken as a group, it’s a fairly obscure set of individuals,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a national security and defense policy specialist at the Brookings Institution, adding he did not recognize most of the names on Trump’s list. Trump, one of three remaining Republican presidential candidates for the Nov. 8 election, has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks to say who advises him on foreign and security matters. One hundred and twenty Republican national security experts who served in past presidential administrations have signed a letter saying they cannot support Trump and will work to ensure he is not elected. Phares told Reuters he began advising Trump on Friday. He previously served as a national security adviser to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has roundly criticized Trump. Phares said in an email he had not met Trump in person since last year. The others on the list could not be immediately reached to confirm their roles with Trump’s campaign. Schmitz was Pentagon inspector general under President George W. Bush and worked for Blackwater Worldwide, a now-defunct private U.S. security firm whose personnel were involved in a deadly shooting that killed Iraqi civilians in 2007. Kellogg has considerable military experience, having served as chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-run provisional government imposed on Iraq after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion under Bush. He has worked at CACI International, a Virginia-based intelligence and information technology consulting firm. Trump has vigorously criticized the invasion. Asked at a news conference about why he chose Kellogg despite his role in Iraq, Trump said: “I don’t have to agree with them but I have to hear different opinions.” According to the Post, Papadopoulos previously advised Trump’s former rival Ben Carson, who has now backed Trump. The London Center of International Law Practice’s Center website lists him as the head of its Center for International Energy and Natural Resources Law & Security. Page serves as a managing partner of Global Energy Capital, a private energy services company, the Post said. Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Salt Lake City, Utah March 18, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Sessions is not seen as an influential foreign policy or national security player in the U.S. Congress. He does not serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, although he is a member of the Armed Services Committee. Last week, Trump said in a television interview on MSNBC, which had been pressing him to name his foreign advisory team, that he relied on his own instinct. “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain,” he told MSNBC. “I know what I’m doing. ... My primary consultant is myself.” ||||| Republican insiders were scratching their heads at names Donald Trump offered on Monday as sources of regular advice on national security. | Getty Trump's foreign policy team baffles GOP experts Republicans can't figure out the mogul's quirky mix of advisers. Donald Trump’s new lineup of little-known foreign policy advisers isn’t exactly assuaging concerns about the Manhattan real estate mogul’s readiness to be commander in chief. Republican insiders were scratching their heads Monday at names Trump offered as sources of regular advice on national security. Several of those Trump cited during a visit to The Washington Post’s editorial board are complete unknowns; others have mixed reputations among GOP national security pros. One prominently cites his attendance at a model United Nations conference as a credential on his LinkedIn page; another has compared President Barack Obama’s official national security strategy to a document about slavery written in 1850. Story Continued Below “I don’t know any of them,” said Kori Schake, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a former official in the George W. Bush State Department. “National security is hard to do well even with first-rate people. It’s almost impossible to do well with third-rate people.” Befitting a candidate who has threatened to cut off Muslim immigration into the U.S. “until we figure out what the hell is going on,” Trump’s roster includes two Middle East analysts who view Islamic Sharia law within the U.S. as a dire threat — even though many conservatives consider the issue a fringe obsession. One of them is terrorism analyst Walid Phares, a former senior fellow at the conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who advised Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign on Middle East issues. Phares has warned that Islamists inside the U.S. "are here to spread Sharia." In 2012, Phares claimed that "there are advisers and experts for this administration ... engaging with and partnering with the Muslim Brotherhood" in order to influence American foreign policy. A résumé on Phares' personal website says he "taught Global Strategies at the National Defense University in Washington DC since 2006," although an NDU spokesman told POLITICO on Tuesday that Phares was employed there as an "expert/consultant" for one year, from April 2011 to April 2012. Phares did not respond to requests for comment. Another Trump adviser concerned with domestic Islam is Joseph Schmitz, a former Pentagon inspector general with ties to the Center for Security Policy. The center's president is Frank Gaffney, whose controversial statements about Muslims — including a charge that President Barack Obama might be a Muslim — came under new scrutiny when Ted Cruz named him as a foreign policy adviser last week. Schmitz, a Naval Reservist and former partner at the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs, co-authored a 2010 report for the center titled "Shariah: The Threat to America." Two of the five people Trump cited Monday have private-sector backgrounds. One of them, George Papadopoulos, is a 2009 college graduate and an international energy lawyer. Papadopoulos had previously advised Ben Carson's presidential campaign. According to his LinkedIn page, he was a researcher at the conservative Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., before joining the London Center of International Law Practice, which describes itself as dedicated to "peace and development through international law and dispute resolution." Papadopoulos' LinkedIn page also boasts about his role at the 2012 meeting in Geneva of Model U.N., the student role-playing exercise on international diplomacy. It adds that he has "had experience lobbying foreign policy resolutions on Capitol Hill by means of coherent and concise arguments." Another private-sector Trump adviser is Carter Page, a former investment banker and global energy consultant who graduated from the Naval Academy, according to his online biography. In discursive online blog postings about foreign policy that invoke the likes of Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey and Rhonda Byrne's self-help bestseller "The Secret," Page has blamed the U.S. for "misguided and provocative actions" toward Russia — notable in light of Trump's friendly words for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Page, who has worked for Merrill Lynch in Moscow, has accused the State Department's top official for Ukraine and Russia, Victoria Nuland, of "fomenting" the 2014 revolution that overthrew Ukraine's government. That charge is often lodged by pro-Kremlin media outlets but is strongly disputed by the Obama administration. Page has also compared the Obama administration's official 2015 national security strategy document to an 1850 document on how to manage slaves. Rounding out Trump's list is retired Army Lt. Gen. Joseph "Keith" Kellogg, who served as chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq, from November 2003 through March 2004. The authority was the de facto government installed by the U.S. after its March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and its performance is often judged as a failure. Although the names finally deliver on an often-delayed Trump promise to unveil a list of foreign policy advisers, Republican foreign policy hands struggled to make sense of the lineup, which he told the Post would expand in the coming days. "I have quite a few more... but that’s a representative group," Trump said. "So far it is a pudding without a theme," said Peter Feaver, a Duke University professor who was a national security aide in the George W. Bush White House. "Perhaps the other names Trump alludes to but doesn't list will complete the picture. But these don't cohere in some obvious way. Sometimes very divergent lists convey the theme of 'broad-based' or 'touching the various factions of the party.' And sometimes divergent lists just seem divergent." Trump has said that his national security advisory committee would be chaired by Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee — though Sessions is not generally regarded as one of his party's leading national security voices. The Lebanese-born Phares has also been the subject of controversy over his past membership in a Christian militia with a record of massacres during Lebanon's civil war. Phares has said he was a political official in the group and not a military one and has not been directly linked to any acts of violence. Phares told Reuters he began advising Trump last week, and that he has not met with him in person since last year. Schake said she was also concerned by Trump's comments to the Post, including his now-familiar argument that U.S. allies — including the NATO alliance — should shoulder a much greater global security burden. Such comments likely make it difficult for Trump to attract top talent, even from unconventional places, she said. "He’s probably working pretty hard to draw people — maybe not people comforting to the establishment and the typical way of doing things, but there are a lot of people who have anti-establishment views — and Trump is not able to draw them to him. And I think that’s interesting and illustrative," Schake said. CORRECTION: This story incorrectly reported that Walid Phares was formerly affiliated with Hudson Institute. This story has been updated. ||||| Washington (CNN) On the eve the next 2016 contests, each of the remaining presidential candidates appeared Monday night on CNN to take on issues ranging from foreign policy to their own political futures. Hillary Clinton launched her presidential bid on April 12 through a video message on social media. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state is considered the front-runner among possible Democratic candidates."Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead. And stay ahead," she said in her announcement video. "Because when families are strong, America is strong. So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time. And I hope you'll join me on this journey." Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican field July 21 as he formally announced his White House bid. "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University. Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined the Republican field July 21 as he formally announced his White House bid. "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support ... because I have decided to run for president of the United States," Kasich told his kickoff rally at the Ohio State University. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has made a name for himself in the Senate, solidifying his brand as a conservative firebrand willing to take on the GOP's establishment. He announced he was seeking the Republican presidential nomination in a speech on March 23."These are all of our stories," Cruz told the audience at Liberty University in Virginia. "These are who we are as Americans. And yet for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant." Businessman Donald Trump announced June 16 at his Trump Tower in New York City that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. This ends more than two decades of flirting with the idea of running for the White House."So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again," Trump told the crowd at his announcement. The CNN interviews also came on the same day that President Barack Obama held a historic news conference with Cuban leader Raul Castro , infusing the discussions with a lot of foreign policy talk. Here's a look at the highlights from the interviews: Donald Trump Donald Trump said the U.S. should rethink its involvement in NATO because the defense alliance costs too much money. In remarks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump said the U.S. pays a disproportionate amount to NATO to ensure the security of allies. "Frankly, they have to put up more money," he said. "We are paying disproportionately. It's too much, and frankly it's a different world than it was when we originally conceived of the idea." For instance, Trump said Washington was "taking care" of Ukraine and that other European nations were not doing enough to support the Kiev government that has been locked in a long showdown with Moscow. But Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and Washington is not providing arms to the government as it is fighting pro-Moscow rebels, though has provided nonlethal aid and has helped support international bailouts of the Ukrainian economy. Later in the interview, Trump qualified his remarks saying that the U.S. should not "decrease its role" in NATO but should decrease its spending. Still, the Republican presidential front-runner's NATO comments could spur anxiety among the Western foreign policy establishment. "We need steady hands. Not a president who says he is neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday because everything is negotiable," Clinton said in a clear shot at the Republican front-runner. But in the CNN interview, Trump said Clinton lacks the strength to be president and dismissed her claim that he was too volatile to be commander in chief. JUST WATCHED Trump: Clinton doesn't have the stamina to be President Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: Clinton doesn't have the stamina to be President 00:52 "Hillary Clinton does not have the stamina ... does not have the strength to be president," Trump told Blitzer. Trump also dismissed Clinton's critique about his potential qualifications to serve as president. "I have the steadiest hands. Look at those hands," Trump said. "Far steadier than hers," he said, accusing Clinton of simply reading speeches scripted by her aides off a teleprompter. Trump also said that if elected president, he would require the removal of the U.S. embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a reversal of long-standing American policy. "It's a process but fairly quickly," Trump said, when asked how quickly he could make such a move happen. He broke with many others in the GOP foreign policy establishment by saying he would continue the President's policy of normalizing relations with the former U.S. communist foe. "Probably so," Trump said. "But I want much better deals than we are making," Trump said, and said at the "right time" he would be willing to open one of his signature luxury hotels in Havana. He said that Castro had also delivered "a very, very big slight" to Obama by not meeting him at the airport when Air Force One touched down in Havana on Sunday. The Republican front-runner also warned the party against depriving him of the GOP nomination if he falls marginally short of the 1,237 delegates needed to formally clinch the party's presidential election nod. "If it was at 1190, so I am a little bit off .... I think it is going to be very hard for them to do," Trump said, pointing out he had several million more votes than any other candidate in the Republican primary process. He added that it was "a little unfair" that he had been forced to compete against so many Republican candidates in a manner that made it tougher for anyone to reach that magic number. "I had many, many people that I am competing with, so you know when you talk about the majority plus one it is a very unfair situation." Hillary Clinton "He has been engaging in bigotry and bluster and bullying, and I think when it comes to understanding what he would do as president, there are serious questions that have been raised, and this campaign should he be the nominee will have to address them," Clinton told CNN's Anderson Cooper. The former secretary of state accused Trump of inciting violence and urging supporters to go after protesters in a way that she said "raises very serious questions." Asked whether Trump would behave differently as president, Clinton answered "Who knows?" Turning to her primary battle against Sanders, Clinton said that she did not "buy" polls that show the Vermont senator is a stronger Democratic general election candidate. "Any horse race poll this far out is meaningless," Clinton said. JUST WATCHED Clinton on Sanders: We've run a campaign on issues Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Clinton on Sanders: We've run a campaign on issues 00:45 She also argued that she was better at performing in governing jobs than running for office, in a fresh admission that her campaign skills are sometimes lacking. "I think that the kind of results that I get when I am actually holding a position speak to that," she said. She called on the Senate to quit "partisan posturing" and to hold hearings on Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland . But she would not say whether she would ask Obama to withdraw the pick if she becomes the Democratic nominee and had the chance as president of selecting a more progressive potential justice than Garland, who is seen by many liberals as a moderate. "We have one president at a time; he has made his nomination," Clinton said. Unlike the Republicans questioned by CNN, Clinton defended Obama's Iran nuclear deal , saying it was "on balance" the right step to take but recalled a speech last year in which she said the "slightest infraction" by Iran must have consequences. But she also hinted that she would seek a less contentious relationship with Israel than has been the case in the Obama administration. "I think my firm commitment to Israel's security puts me on a very strong foundation to deal with whatever the questions might be in the relationship," she said. Clinton joked that she and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "engage in vigorous discussion" when asked about reports she and the Israeli leader had yelled at each other in the past. But she also said that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem would be an inflammatory act unless it took place as part of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and would "light a fire" in an already unstable region. Ted Cruz Ted Cruz took swipes at Trump and Obama over their foreign policy. He blasted the Obama administration for not living up to an agreement with Ukraine to secure its territorial integrity made at the end of the Cold War when Kiev gave up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons. Cruz also slammed Obama's trip to Cuba, saying the President was in the company of celebrities who have glamorized the Castro brothers. "As Barack Obama is sitting there sipping mojitos with brutal Communist dictators , he can't be bothered to meet the dissidents, he can't be bothered to visit with the Ladies in White, he can't be bothered to hear the screams of oppression," Cruz said. Cruz, who is of Cuban descent, said what Obama was doing in Cuba was similar to what he was doing in Iran -- giving "billions of dollars" to enemies of America. He then attacked Trump, accusing him of possessing a dangerous lack of knowledge about the world, after Trump said the U.S. should rethink its involvement in NATO. "Everything I just said, I bet you dollars to doughnuts Donald Trump has no idea about any of that." "It has been Russia's objective, it has been Putin's objective, for decades to break NATO. What Donald Trump is saying that he would unilaterally surrender to Russia and Putin, give Putin a massive foreign policy victory by breaking NATO and abandoning Europe." The interview became contentious when the conversation turned to the controversial foreign policy views of Cruz adviser Frank Gaffney. CNN's Wolf Blitzer presented Cruz with a series of quotes from Gaffney, in which his adviser described Obama as a Muslim, said the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the U.S. government and linked former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. JUST WATCHED Ted Cruz asked about his controversial adviser Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ted Cruz asked about his controversial adviser 01:40 Cruz said Gaffney, a former defense official in the Reagan administration, was attacked by the media because he speaks about against Islamic extremism. "I am not going to play the gotcha game of every quote every adviser may have given 20 years ago. I am actually interested in talking about the problems in this country, this is silliness." Cruz also mocked Trump's knowledge of the Middle East following the billionaire's speech to AIPAC earlier Monday. "His speech was actually an improvement. He clearly hired someone to write that speech for him," Cruz told Blitzer. "One of the challenges with foreign policy that Donald's knowledge of the world is very, very limited," Cruz said. Cruz did not find the idea of serving as the vice presidential nominee on a Trump presidential ticket attractive. "I have no interest whatsoever in this," Cruz said. "If Donald Trump is the nominee it is a disaster. Donald may be the only candidate on the face of the Earth that Hillary Clinton can beat in a general election." Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders opened his appearance by satellite from Salt Lake City, Utah, by explaining that he didn't snub AIPAC by being the only current White House hopeful not to address the group Monday, saying it was merely a question of scheduling. He called for the United States to work with both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said Israel should have the right to defend itself but warned conditions in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip need to be mitigated, and that people are contending with high unemployment and "horrific" poverty there. Still, Sanders said he was "not happy ... with some of the behavior" of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the Israeli leader's decision to accept an invitation to address the U.S. Congress about the Iran nuclear deal without notifying the White House. Sanders backed Obama's Cuba diplomacy and hinted that it would be proper for Cuban leader Raul Castro to visit the White House. "Last I heard, we have invited the leaders of Saudi Arabia, we have invited the leaders of China, we have invited the leaders of a whole lot of authoritarian countries to come to the United States," Sanders said. "I think Cuba should be treated similarly." He also argued that he has better foreign policy judgment than Hillary Clinton, despite her having served as secretary of state. JUST WATCHED Sen. Bernie Sanders: We could learn a lot from Cuba Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sen. Bernie Sanders: We could learn a lot from Cuba 02:27 Regarding his battle with Clinton, Sanders rejected suggestions he should get out of the race because he trails the former secretary of state in the delegate count and argued that he was a stronger general election candidate than she is. "I am not a quitter. We are going to fight this to the last vote," he said. We are going to give every American the chance to decide which candidate they want to be the Democratic nominee in November." Sanders also hit out at Trump, saying the Republican front-runner "just says things off the top of his head." "Time after time, he says things that are just not true." John Kasich Ohio Gov. John Kasich struck a more conventional foreign policy stance in his interview than Trump, especially on NATO. "We clearly have to make sure we strengthen NATO, we have to make sure that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin understands we will arm the Ukrainians so they fight for freedom," Kasich told Anderson Cooper. "We need NATO. NATO is important; we all wish they would do more." And he would not go as far as Trump on moving the U.S. embassy in Israel, though he took pains to describe his own speech to AIPAC on Monday as strongly pro-Israel. JUST WATCHED Gov. John Kasich: I'd keep ISIS out of Libya Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gov. John Kasich: I'd keep ISIS out of Libya 01:47 "It's easy to make a lot of statements, but when you have a lot of experience in this matter which I have ... you learn to choose your words carefully," Kasich said, adding that Trump was "dead wrong" on NATO -- though he declined to make a judgment -- on the GOP front-runner's personal qualities. The Ohio governor also turned his fire on Clinton and her tenure as secretary of state, saying she had made a "terrible" mistake in intervening in Libya against longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. "We should have let Gadhafi stay there," he said, saying that the Libyan leader's ouster had led to a "Wild West" situation in Libya exploited by terrorists. Kasich ruled out any deal with Ted Cruz or Trump that would involve him taking a spot on their presidential tickets. "First of all, there is zero chance that I would be vice president with either of them," Kasich said. "Below zero actually." ||||| Listen to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump discuss some of his foreign policy positions with The Washington Post editorial board. "NATO is costing us a fortune," Trump said. "We're not reimbursed fairly for what we do." (The Washington Post) Listen to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump discuss some of his foreign policy positions with The Washington Post editorial board. "NATO is costing us a fortune," Trump said. "We're not reimbursed fairly for what we do." (The Washington Post) Donald Trump endorsed an unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs Monday during a day-long tour of Washington, casting doubt on the need for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and expressing skepticism about a muscular U.S. military presence in Asia. The foreign policy positions — outlined in a meeting with the editorial board of The Washington Post — came on a day when Trump set aside the guerrilla tactics and showman bravado that have powered his campaign to appear as a would-be presidential nominee, explaining his policies, accepting counsel and building bridges to Republican elites. On Monday night, Trump delivered a scripted address in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, prompting ovations with pledges to stand by Israel and take a hard line on peace talks with the Palestinians. Trump’s whirlwind day of appearances around the nation’s capital was intended in part to head off an establishment push to deny him the Republican Party’s nomination. But in the Post meeting, the billionaire mogul also made clear that he would not be beholden to the GOP’s long-held orthodoxies. During the hour-long discussion, during which he revealed five of his foreign policy advisers, Trump advocated a light footprint in the world. In spite of unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere, he said, the United States must look inward and steer its resources toward rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. 1 of 11 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Donald Trump tours official Washington View Photos On a whirlwind day of appearances across the nation’s capital that culminated with a high-profile address on U.S.-Israel relations, the Republican presidential front-runner was noticeably measured. Caption On a whirlwind day of appearances across the nation’s capital that culminated with a high-profile address on U.S.-Israel relations, the Republican presidential front-runner was noticeably measured. March 21, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at the former Old Post Office Pavilion, soon to be a Trump International Hotel. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. “At what point do you say, ‘Hey, we have to take care of ourselves?’ ” Trump said in the editorial board meeting. “I know the outer world exists, and I’ll be very cognizant of that. But at the same time, our country is disintegrating, large sections of it, especially the inner cities.” Trump said U.S. involvement in NATO may need to be significantly diminished in the coming years, breaking with nearly seven decades of consensus in Washington. “We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore,” he said, adding later, “NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with NATO, but we’re spending a lot of money.” [A transcript of Donald Trump’s meeting with The Washington Post editorial board] ‘Be more presidential’ Throughout his unlikely campaign, Trump’s unpredictable, incendiary persona has been his rocket fuel. But with the nomination now within his reach, he is trying at times to round out his sharp edges to convince his party’s leaders — not to mention general-election voters — that he has the temperament and knowledge to be president. This was one of Trump’s goals as he addressed AIPAC’s annual conference in Washington. For perhaps the first time in his campaign, Trump read from a prepared text on teleprompters — a device he has colorfully mocked other politicians for using. On Israel, Trump mostly hewed to the party line, giving a full-throated defense of the nation and its interests and arguing that no candidate is a more forceful champion of the Jewish state. His eyes pinging back and forth between the teleprompter screens, Trump embellished his prepared text only to deliver a few criticisms of President Obama and his first-term secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner. “When I become president, the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen will end on Day One,” Trump vowed. He received enthusiastic applause from the crowd of thousands, and the much-rumored walkouts during his speech were either called off or went unnoticed in the cavernous Verizon Center arena. GOP presidential hopefuls John Kasich, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz spoke on March 21 at the AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C. (Peter Stevenson/Reuters) Earlier Monday, Trump sought to cultivate ties with his party’s establishment at a private luncheon he hosted on Capitol Hill. It was attended by about two dozen Republicans, including influential conservatives in Congress and prominent figures from GOP policy and lobbying circles. Those with whom he met directly urged Trump to “be more presidential,” according to one attendee. This person, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate details of the closed session, described it as “a very serious conversation,” adding: “This was the Donald Trump who talks with bankers, not the Donald Trump who is on the stage.” Trump also sought to showcase his business acumen and dealmaking prowess. He staged an afternoon news conference at the historic Old Post Office Pavilion, which his real estate company is turning into a Trump International Hotel, a few blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. The candidate, flanked by employees wearing hard hats, led journalists on a tour of the construction zone. Trump’s visit to Washington comes amid an intensified effort by some in the Republican establishment, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, to deny him the nomination by forcing a contested convention at which the party could rally around an alternative. At his luncheon meeting, Trump warned party leaders against using parliamentary maneuvers to block his nomination. He later told reporters that he had a productive conversation recently with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and that he has “many millions of people behind me.” “Now, they can play games, and they can play cute,” Trump said of Ryan and other GOP leaders. “I can only take [Ryan] at face value. I understand duplicity. I understand a lot of things. But he called me last week, he could not have been nicer. I spoke with Mitch McConnell, he could not have been nicer. If people want to be smart, they should embrace this movement.” Neither Ryan nor McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate majority leader, attended Monday’s meeting with Trump. It was held at Jones Day, the law firm of Donald F. McGahn, a Trump campaign attorney, and was convened in part by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a key Trump ally. Attendees included Heritage Foundation President Jim De­Mint, a former senator from South Carolina and a conservative movement leader, as well as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former House Appropriations Committee chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.). A group of House members who have endorsed Trump also attended. “We met with Senator Sessions and some of the great people in Washington,” Trump said. “We had a really good meeting. . . . They can’t believe how far we’ve come because, you know, I think a lot of people maybe wouldn’t have predicted that.” ‘We are a poor country now’ Trump began the day at The Post, where his on-the-record meeting with the editorial board covered media libel laws, violence at his rallies and climate change, as well as foreign policy. For the first time, Trump listed members of a team chaired by Sessions that is counseling him on foreign affairs and helping to shape his policies: Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and Joseph E. Schmitz. All are relatively little known in foreign policy circles, and several have ties to the George W. Bush administration. [Meet the men shaping Donald Trump’s foreign policy views] Trump praised George P. Shultz, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, as a model diplomat and, on the subject of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, said America’s allies are “not doing anything.” “Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we’re doing all of the lifting,” Trump said. “They’re not doing anything. And I say: ‘Why is it that Germany’s not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? . . . Why are we always the one that’s leading, potentially, the third world war with Russia?’ ” While the Obama administration has faced pressure from congressional critics who have advocated for a more active U.S. role in supporting Ukraine, the U.S. military has limited its assistance to nonlethal equipment such as vehicles and night-vision gear. European nations have taken the lead in crafting a fragile cease-fire designed to decrease hostility between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. Trump sounded a similar note in discussing the U.S. presence in the Pacific. He questioned the value of massive military investments in Asia and wondered aloud whether the United States still is capable of being an effective peacekeeping force there. “South Korea is very rich, great industrial country, and yet we’re not reimbursed fairly for what we do,” Trump said. “We’re constantly sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games — we’re reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing.” Such talk is likely to trigger anxiety in South Korea, where a U.S. force of 28,000 has provided a strong deterrent to North Korean threats for decades. Asked whether the United States benefits from its involvement in Asia, Trump replied, “Personally, I don’t think so.” He added: “I think we were a very powerful, very wealthy country. And we’re a poor country now. We’re a debtor nation.” Jenna Johnson, Paul Kane, Missy Ryan and David Weigel contributed to this report.

– The US needs to stop "nation building" around the world and focus on "taking care of ourselves," Donald Trump said in interviews with the Washington Post and CNN on Monday in which he questioned America's involvement in NATO. Some highlights: NATO allies "have to put up more money," he said. "We are paying disproportionately. It's too much, and frankly it's a different world than it was when we originally conceived of the idea." The Post notes that his call to diminish US involvement in NATO breaks with almost 70 years of consensus in Washington. Trump named a foreign policy team of largely little-known advisers: former Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, energy exec Carter Page, energy consultant George Papadopoulos, terrorism expert Walid Phares, and former Pentagon Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz. "Taken as a group, it's a fairly obscure set of individuals," Brookings Institution national security expert Michael O'Hanlon tells Reuters. Politico reports GOP experts are "baffled" and frames several advisers as "unknowns." It continues: "One prominently cites his attendance at a model United Nations conference as a credential on his LinkedIn page; another has compared President Barack Obama's official national security strategy to ... an 1850 document on how to manage slaves." Trump also questioned massive US military spending in Asia. "South Korea is very rich, great industrial country, and yet we're not reimbursed fairly for what we do," he said. "We're constantly sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games—we're reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing." He accused US allies of "not doing anything" to deal with Russian involvement in Ukraine. "Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we're doing all of the lifting," he said. "Why are we always the one that's leading, potentially, the third world war with Russia?" Trump described the US as a "poor country" and "debtor nation" that shouldn't be spending so much overseas. "I know the outer world exists, and I'll be very cognizant of that," he said. "But at the same time, our country is disintegrating, large sections of it, especially the inner cities." Other countries "want our money, but they don't want us," he said, arguing that money spent on overseas commitments would be better spent in cities like Baltimore and Detroit. When the Post interview—a full transcript of which can be seen here—veered away from foreign policy, Trump spoke about violence at rallies, racial inequality, the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker case—and the size of his hands. (Trump called himself a "true friend of Israel" when he spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday.)

proprioceptors are sensors that relay information about joint angle , muscle tension and muscle length to the central nervous system . proprioception is responsible for collection of sensations regarding joint movement which is known as kinesthesia and collection of sensation regarding joint position . the proprioceptors also contribute in controlling posture and coordination through a complex reflex system5 , 6 . proprioceptive disorder is common in individuals with chronic joint instability6 and in patients with severe arthritis7 . proprioception acuity becomes disrupted subsequent to any capsulo - ligamentous injury , articular musculoskeletal injury or surgery8 . proprioceptive training is an essential component of rehabilitation program in order to restore functional stability9 . it is well stated in literature that proprioception training decreases the incidence of injuries , diminishes the postural sway and improves proprioception accuracy and strength in trained subjects more than non- trained subjects10,11,12,13 . proprioceptive training program is recommended for prevention and rehabilitation of recurrent and chronic joint instability . however ; joint immobilization , pain and inflammation might limit proprioception training . therefore ; training of the contralateral unaffected limb could be a solution . it is often claimed that unilateral strength training can induce positive effects in the untrained limb , which is called contralateral strength training effect or cross training14 . the central nervous system could take the pattern of motor control established through training the non - injured leg and apply it completely to the injured leg to expedite the process of return to normalcy once training is resumed6 . the neurophysiologic mechanisms include , but is not limited to , cross education , the increase of the neural drive from motor cortex and the spillover to the control system of the untrained leg10 , 11 . several studies investigated the effect of cross training on muscle strength , torque , and dynamic balance but to the best of our knowledge , the value of cross training on repositioning accuracy have not clearly established . the objectives of the current study was to investigate the possible cross effects of an eight weeks proprioceptive training program applied on healthy subjects on twofold : ( 1 ) knee joint proprioception accuracy measured using biodex isokinetic dynamometer and represented by active repositioning test , and ( 2 ) balance measured using biodex balance system and represented by three balance indices . sixty healthy subjects aged between 1830 years were recruited to participate . inclusion criteria : subjects were included if they were free from any significant history of musculoskeletal , neurological injuries , or had surgery and are willing to participate . exclusion criteria : subjects were excluded if they have balance or coordination disorders , taking medication on regular basis , using tobacco , or if they suffer from any significant complications of musculoskeletal , neurological , metabolic or vascular disorder of the lower limbs . this was a randomized controlled trial in which subjects were randomly assigned into training group and control group with thirty subjects in each . the researcher has 15 years of experience and was the only one responsible for training & measurements but was not blinded to the groups assignment . proprioception accuracy and balance were measured in both groups at baseline and after 8 weeks of training . the training group ( 18 male and 12 female ) received a proprioceptive training program for the dominant leg only . the control group ( 20 male and 10 female ) did not receive any type of training . the study protocol was explained to every participant and written informed consent was obtained . the biodex isokinetic system 3 pro ( biodex medical systems , shirley , ny , usa ) was used for all measurements15 it has shown good reliability and validity for measuring position sense and torque16 . proprioception accuracy was measured through the active repositioning test for the non - dominant joint of every subject in both groups1 . it was proved to be a valid and reliable test for proprioception1 , 2 subjects were instructed to firstly sit on the chair of the biodex system with the tested knee positioned in 90 flexion . the target angle was set at 45. the blindfolded subjects were instructed to actively reproduce the target joint position at 452 . three trials with the dominant leg were repeated with a rest period of 30 seconds between each . the angular differences between the target angle and the subject s reproduced angle ( the absolute error ) were recorded in degrees . the absolute error of the target angle was calculated in degrees for each subject before and immediately after training . balance during single leg stance on the non- dominant leg was assessed by the biodex balance system which was proved to be a valid and reliable method for measuring balance13 . the overall , anterior / posterior and medial / lateral stability indices were measured for each subject before and immediately after training . the ability of subjects to control the tilt angle of the system was calculated as a deviation from the neutral position with time , as well as degrees of deviation with time . three indices were electronically generated : overall stability index ( osi ) , antero / posterior stability index ( apsi ) and medio / lateral stability index ( mlsi ) . higher value of the stability index in numbers indicates greater challenge in stabilizing the platform . three trials were carried out with a rest period of one minute between trials . subjects in the training group received proprioceptive training for the dominant leg only , 3 times per week over a period of 8 weeks while subjects in the control group did not receive any type of training . rasool and george underpin the exercises that use progressive dynamic balance exercises on a single leg to improve dynamic balance stability12 . single leg standing on the dominant leg for 30 seconds with leaning forward , backward , and to the sides with eyes opened ; 2 . single leg standing on the dominant leg for 30 seconds with leaning forward , backward , and to the sides with eyes closed ; 3 . single leg training on the rocker board in the antero posterior direction ; 4 . single leg training on the rocker board in the mediolateral direction ; 5 . single leg training on the multidirectional wobble balance board ; and 6 . each participant was required to repeat every step once and complete all six steps . mixed manova was conducted to compare repositioning accuracy and stability indices of pre and post treatment conditions within each group and between both groups . table 1table 1.demographic characteristics of the participantsvariablestraining groupcontrol groupm sdm sdage ( years)20.2 3.219.6 1.9male , female ( n)18,1220,10weight ( kg)74.3 13.877.6 13.6height ( cm)171.3 7.3172.6 7.1 m : mean ; sd : standard deviation presents the demographic information for the training and for the control groups . there were no significant differences in age , gender distribution , body mass or height between the two groups ( p>0.05 ) . m : mean ; sd : standard deviation there was no significant difference between training and control groups in repositioning accuracy and stability indices pre - treatment ( p>0.05 ) . post intervention comparison between training group and control group revealed that there was a significant decrease in repositioning accuracy error , apsi , mlsp , and osi of training group compared with control group ( p<0.01 ) ( table 2table 2.comparison of the pre- and post- training mean values in degrees of both groupspre testpost testtraining groupcontrol grouptraining groupcontrol groupm sdm sdm sdm sdra4.8 1.34.0 2.22.8 0.9 * 4.1 1.9apsi5.5 2.15.1 1.72.6 0.8 * 5.3 2.0mlsi3.4 1.23.1 1.12.1 0.7 * 3.1 1.1osi6.4 2.25.9 1.83.9 1.5 * 6.1 2.2 m : mean ; sd : standard deviation ; p : probability level ; ra : repositioning accuracy ; apsi : antero - posterior stability index ; mlsi : medio - lateral stability index ; osi : overall stability index . * significant : p<0.05 . ) . m : mean ; sd : standard deviation ; p : probability level ; ra : repositioning accuracy ; apsi : antero - posterior stability index ; mlsi : medio - lateral stability index ; osi : overall stability index . * there was a significant decrease in the error of repositioning accuracy , apsi , mlsi , and osi of the training group post treatment compared with pre - treatment ( p<0.001 ) , while there was no significant difference in the control group ( p>0.05 ) ( table 2 ) . the current study was designed to investigate the possible cross effects of proprioceptive training on knee proprioception accuracy and on balance in healthy subjects . the findings of the present study showed the superiority of the training group compared with the control group in proprioception accuracy as well as in all stability indices . several authors have discussed the lack of adequate proprioceptive acuity secondary to capsulo - ligamentous injuries of different joints with subsequent alteration of joints kinematics and consequent pathomechanics that necessitate intensive rehabilitation in order to restore adequate joint mechanics before engaging in sports activities17 , 18 . muaidi et al.13 reported significant reduction in proprioceptive acuity in participants with unilateral anterior cruciate ligament rupture compared with healthy matched controls . ellis and rosenbaum encourraged incorporation of proprioceptive exercises into rehabilitation programme for prevention of recurrent injuries6 . the findings of the present study are in agreement with several studies aimed to improve repositioning accuracy and decrease repositioning absolute error . fong and ng19 measured the repositioning error of the active knee joint angle in 48 healthy subjects after tai chi training . muaidi et al.13 assured the role of long term training in developing proprioceptive acuity . the study was conducted in a group of anterior cruciate ligament rupture participants and matched controls . results showed significant improvement in a muscle reaction time of both the experimental as well as the control ankles which was attributed to the potential effect of cross training . the unpredicted movements during proprioceptive training teach the body to react without having to think about these movements . munn et al.14 measured the cross training effect but in terms of strength . researchers reported that the average of strength improvement in the untrained side was approximately 7.8% of its pre - training strength . in the current study , the percentage of change in proprioception accuracy and balance of the untrained leg following proprioceptive training was high ( 42% and 38% respectively ) as compared with the pre - training level . this change could be used efficiently in training of the unaffected limb in case of inability of the affected limb to be trained as in cases of immobilization , acute inflammation and after surgery or injury . moreover , in the current study subjects were randomized and proprioception gains were compared in the trained and untrained subjects . that randomization eliminated the potential of systematic differences between groups secondary to allocation bias . multiple studies discussed the neurophysiologic explanations behind the positive cross training effect on the untrained limb . carroll et al.10 mentioned that the cross training effect can be achieved in the contralateral homologous muscles . the effect is attributed to the increased motor neuron output with subsequent spillover to the control system of the contralateral limb . lee et al.11 attributed the cross training effect to the increase of neural drive from motor cortex and cortical voluntary activation . hortobagyi21 stated that there is possibility that cross education is mediated by cross - spinal path . also , the contralateral elements of the central nervous system play a functional role , through adaptation or cross education , in affecting the motor output of the contralateral homologous muscle . carroll et al.10 pointed out the involvement of cortical , subcortical and spinal levels in the facilitation of transfer of strength from one side to the contralateral side . researchers discussed the central mechanism through the adaptations in the control system of the trained limb and the spillover to the control system for the contralateral limb . kofotolis and kellis3 emphasized the role of cross training effect of proprioceptive training on the knee torque of the immobilized contralateral leg . regarding balance stability ; treleaven et al.22 reported that joint position error has high positive prediction value to determine balance disorders . rasool and george12 studied thirty healthy male athletes to investigate the effect of dynamic balance training on dynamic stability . results showed significant , even for a smaller extent , improvement in dynamic stability performance in the untrained leg . malliou et al.17 studied 100 young soccer players aiming to investigate the effect of balance training on proprioception ability and on lower limb injuries . irrgang et al.18 confirmed the role of balance and proprioceptive training to restore motor control of the lower extremities . limitations of this study are the lack of homogeneity of the subjects in terms of activity level and the assessor of the outcome variables was aware of group s assignment . shortcomings also include the potential influence of participants motivation on the quality of proprioceptive assessment . the assessor tried to control the influence of motivation through verbal encouragement during testing . future studies are warranted to explore the effect of proprioceptive cross training in patients and after surgeries . in conclusion , proprioceptive training for 8 weeks had significant cross effects in improving proprioceptive accuracy and balance in healthy subjects . the proprioceptive training program used in the current study is effective , feasible and could be considered by clinicians to incorporate into the rehabilitation program . the authors recommend benefiting from the new advances in robotic devices ; that have adequate sensitivity and reliability in detecting small differences in proprioceptive acuity23 . also , we recommend investigating proprioceptive acuity in different subgroups of patients .

[ purpose ] to investigate possible cross effects of proprioception training on proprioception repositioning accuracy of the knee joint and on balance in healthy subjects . [ subjects and methods ] sixty healthy college students and faculty members from faculty of physical therapy , cairo university were recruited to participate . participants were randomly assigned to training group ( n=30 ) and control group ( n=30 ) . the training group received proprioceptive training program only for the dominant leg while the control group did not receive any kind of training . outcome measures were twofold : ( 1 ) proprioception repositioning accuracy quantified through the active repositioning test for the non - dominant knee ; and ( 2 ) balance stability indices determined through using biodex balance system . measurements were recorded before and after 8 weeks of proprioception training . [ results ] there were significant decrease in the error of repositioning accuracy and the stability indices including anterposterior stability index , mediolateral stability index , and overall stability index of training group , measured post training , compared with control group . [ conclusion ] proprioception training has significant cross training effects on proprioception repositioning accuracy of the knee joint and on balance among healthy subjects .

nearly degenerate four - wave mixing ( ndfwm ) has been extensively studied during last three decades , because it has many applications , such as phase conjugating mirror and ndfwm spectroscopy fisher , liao , bloch , grynberg , oria , jliu , zhu1,lezama . in the latter case people are interested in the line shape of the spectrum . this spectrum can provide important information about the relaxation of states due to reservoir coupling . many experiments employed alkali vapor as the nonlinear medium . various theoretical models were presented @xcite . these models were based on a two - level system ( tls ) driven by a pump field . however in the real case a pure tls is hard to find , one must consider the influence of zeeman degeneracy and other effects . in this paper we report an experimental study of ndfwm when a repump field is applied . we show that this repump field not only increases the ndfwm signal dramatically but also affects the lineshape of the ndfwm spectrum in a profound way . we present a simple model to explain one single phenomenon . more efforts are still needed to fully understand the phenomena that we observed . we used the d1 transition of @xmath0 to produce the ndfwm signal and a repump laser was tuned to d2 line of @xmath0 . 1 shows the energy diagram of the atom and schematic setup of the experiment . the pump field was detuned from @xmath1 transition . @xmath2 is detuning of pump laser from this transition . the probe laser scanned across this transition . the relative detuning of probe field to pump field is @xmath3 the repump laser was tuned near @xmath4 manifold with detuning @xmath5 . @xmath5 is the detuning from @xmath6 transition . all these lasers are external cavity diode laser ( ecdl ) and have a linewidth below 1mhz . the powers of pump and probe fields are both 0.6mw . the power of repump field is 3mw . in order to minimize the influence of doppler broadening , the angle between probe and pump beam were kept small ( about 4mrad ) . diameters of the probe and pump beam are about 1 mm . after passing the vapor cell the forward pump beam was reflected back to form the backward pump beam and overlapped with the forward pump beam . the pump and probe laser were both linearly polarized . the generated ndfwm signal was pick up by a 50/50 beam splitter and directed to a photodiode detector . the temperature of the vapor cell was about @xmath7c , which resulted in an atomic density @xmath8 . 2 shows the recorded signal without repump beam . the signal has a triplet structure . this phenomenon has been reported in ref . @xcite , but was not properly explained . in ref . @xcite the three peaks were said to be located at @xmath9 and @xmath10where @xmath11 is the generalized rabi frequency and @xmath12 is rabi frequency of the forward pump field . and a picture based on dressed - state was given . however this is not correct . actually the two side peaks were located at ( @xmath13 ) respectively @xcite . 3 are positions of ndfwm peaks versus pump detuning @xmath14 . we can see the experimental data and the theoretical curve are in good agreement . note that the produced ndfwm signal is rather small . this is because of the optical pumping effect of the pump and probe fields . these fields pumped most of the atoms to @xmath15 manifold through optical pumping process . atoms in this internal state will not contribute to the ndfwm process , thus leads to a small signal . however when we added a repump laser to pump these atoms back to the @xmath16 manifold , the produced ndfwm signal was dramatically changed . first the signal increased significantly ( increased by a factor 20 when repump had an appropriate detuning ) . this is easy to understand because the atoms which can produce the ndfwm signal was increased due to hyperfine optical pumping of the repump laser . it is more interesting that the lineshape of the ndfwm signal changed dramatically too . we found this change depended sensitively on the detuning of the repump laser . 4 shows the observed ndfwm signal with a fixed pump detuning @xmath17mhz and various repump detuning . the most remarkable change was that the original triplet structure changed to a five - peak structure ( @xmath18mhz ) . and at certain repump detuning a dip appeared at the central peak . the relative amplitude of these peaks also depended sensitively on the detuning of the repump laser . the dip at the central peak appeared when the detuning of repump field is about -79mhz . the fwhm of the dip was sub - doppler and was dominated by the residual doppler width due to imperfect probe - pump aligning . as pointed out in an early work by berman @xcite , narrow structure was expected to appear whenever the system did not conserve population , orientation or alignment . the five - peak structure is hard to explain although interesting . here we only give a possible explanation of these phenomena . the change of amplitudes of these peaks maybe owing to the hole burning effect and the energy level degeneracy . because the linewidth of the repump laser is narrow , it will burn a hole on the maxwell velocity distribution of the atoms . that is atoms with a certain velocity will experience the hyperfine optical pumping effect . when the repump laser is scanned , atoms with different velocity will be pumped back to @xmath16 manifold . consequently this will cause different lineshape of ndfwm signal at different repump detuning @xmath5 . in the following we will try to explain one single phenomenon that we observed . that is the dip in fig . consider a two level system as showed in fig . @xmath19 , @xmath20 are total relaxation rates of level 1 and 2 respectively . @xmath21 are spontaneous decay from level 2 to level 1 . @xmath22 and @xmath23 are detunings of the pump field and the probe field respectively . we adopt the treatment in ref . the equation which governs the evolution of density matrix @xmath24 is given by , @xmath25+[v,\rho]-\frac{i\hbar}{2}[\gamma,\rho]+i\hbar\frac{d\rho}% { dt}|_{sp}+i\hbar\frac{d\rho}{dt}|_{ph}+i\hbar\lambda\;,\ ] ] where @xmath26 is free hamiltonian of the system , @xmath27 is the interaction term , @xmath28 accounts for the motion of the atoms . @xmath29 represents decay to the reservoir . @xmath30 and @xmath31 describe decay from 2 to 1 and decay of coherence between them respectively . @xmath32 is the term to account for incoherent pumping . the equations for the matrix elements are,@xmath33 where @xmath34 . the third order nonlinear polarization generated by @xmath35 @xmath36 and @xmath37 is @xmath38 . the phase matching conditions result in the signal field , @xmath39 , counterpropagating with the probe beam . if the pump fields are at frequency @xmath40 and the probe field at frequency @xmath41 then by energy conservation the frequency of the signal is @xmath42 . solving the density equations ( [ de1]-[de3 ] ) in a perturbation manner can yield,@xmath43}% \frac{1}{-(\delta-\delta)-\vec k_{p}\cdot\vec { v}+i\gamma_{ph}^{t}}\nonumber\\ & & \times[\frac{1-r}{\delta-\delta\vec{k}% \cdot\vec{v}+i\gamma_{1}}+\frac{1+r}{\delta-\delta\vec { k}\cdot\vec{v}+i\gamma_{2}}][\frac{1}{-\delta+\vec k_{f}\cdot\vec{v}+i\gamma_{12}}+\frac{1}{(\delta+\delta ) -\vec k_{p}\cdot\vec{v}+\gamma_{12}}]+c.c\;,\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath44 is the rabi frequency @xmath45 associated with optical field @xmath46 . @xmath47 is the equilibrium population difference,@xmath48 the spectrum lineshape is determined by the decay parameters mentioned above . two situations are of special interest in our case . fig . 6(a ) and ( b ) shows the two ndfwm spectrum without integration over velocity distribution . in fig . 6(a ) , where @xmath49 we can see the triplet structure . a narrow peak in center and two broader peaks at the wings . the linewidth of the center peak is determined by @xmath19 . when @xmath50 the spectrum ( fig . 6(b ) ) is quite different with the one shown in fig . while the essential difference is that a dip appeared in the center of the spectrum . fig 6(c ) and ( d ) are the spectrums after integration over velocity . we can see the dip still exists in fig . 6(d ) , but the two side peaks are washed out by the integration . compare the phenomena we observed with the theory we can see that when a repump laser with appropriate detuning is added the effective decay rate @xmath51 is dramatically reduced . consequently a dip will appear at the center of the spectrum . however quantitatively comparison between experimental data and theoretical values is impossible because the model we use is overly simplified . one must take the level degeneracy into account . and the hole burning effect and power broadening of the repump laser should also be taken into consideration . therefore careful and complex calculation is needed to achieve this goal . we also changed the polarizations of pump , probe and repump beam respectively . we found that the ndfwm signal was insensitive to these changes . only small variation of signal amplitude was observed . in order to study the influence of the repump power on the ndfwm signal , we did the experiment with different repump powers . we found when we increased the repump power the signal increased while showed some saturation . when the repump power was high enough , the dip in the center of the spectrum disappeared . this is because the power broadening caused by the repump laser washed out this tiny structure . finally we want to mention that we noticed there was a similar work reported by zhu _ et . but the phenomenon they observed was totally different . in their work the d2 transitions of @xmath0 were used to produce ndfwm signal and a repump laser was tuned to the d1 transitions . they found no significant changes except the signal was amplified several times . we conjecture that this is because their lasers were so strong that saturation and power broadening became the dominant effects . in conclusion , we have studied the influence of a repump laser on a ndfwm spectrum . we found the amplitude and line shape of the ndfwm depended strongly on the detuning of the repump field . a five - peak structure was observed . and at a certain repump detuning a dip appeared at the central peak . a rough analysis was proposed to explain this effect . more efforts are still needed to fully understand the phenomena that we observed . this work was funded by national fundamental research program ( 2001cb309300 ) , national natural science foundation of china ( grant no . 60121503 , 10304017 ) , the innovation funds from chinese academy of sciences . fig . 1 experimental setup . p , polarizer ; bs , 50/50 beam splitter ; d , photo diode detector . the angle between probe and pump beam were about 4mrad . diameters of the probe and the pump beam were about 1 mm . after passing the vapor cell the forward pump beam was reflected back to form the backward pump beam and overlapped with the forward pump beam . the pump and probe beams were 795 nm lasers tuned near the @xmath52 transition of @xmath0 with detuning @xmath14 and @xmath53 respectively . the repump beam was a 780 nm laser tuned near @xmath15 @xmath54 @xmath55 manifold with detuning @xmath5 . @xmath5 is the detuning from @xmath6 transition . 4 ndfwm spectrum with repump field turned on and various repump detuning @xmath5 . from ( a ) to ( j ) the repump detuning @xmath5 are -205mhz , -132mhz , -79mhz , -60mhz , -15mhz , 93mhz , 122mhz , 163mhz , 168mhz and 317 mhz respectively . 6 calculated ndfwm spectrum based on eq.(5 ) with different parameters . ( a ) @xmath61 . ( b ) @xmath62 . ( c ) the same as ( a ) but the spectrum was integrated over velocity distribution . ( d ) the same as ( b ) but the spectrum was integrated over velocity distribution .

the influence of a repump laser on a nearly degenerate four - wave - mixing ( ndfwm ) spectrum was investigated . we found the amplitude and line shape of the ndfwm depended strongly on the detuning of the repump field . a five - peak structure was observed . and at some certain repump detuning a dip appeared at the central peak . a rough analysis was proposed to explain this effect .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Military and Veterans Mental Health Provider Assessment Act of 2015''. SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDED BY HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. (a) Training on Recognition and Management of Risk of Suicide.--The Secretary concerned shall ensure that all health care providers under the jurisdiction of such Secretary receive empirically supported training on the recognition and assessment of individuals at risk for suicide and the management of such risk not less frequently than once every three years. (b) Evaluation of Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines and Best Practices by Mental Health Care Providers.-- (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once each year thereafter, the Secretary concerned shall conduct an evaluation of the implementation by mental health care providers under the jurisdiction of such Secretary of the clinical practice guidelines recommended for such providers by such Secretary and other evidence-based treatments and approaches. (2) Inclusion of results in employee performance evaluations.--The Secretary concerned shall incorporate evaluations conducted under paragraph (1) into the employee evaluation process conducted by such Secretary with respect to mental health care providers to the greatest extent possible. (c) Assessment of Mental Health Workforce.-- (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report assessing the mental health workforce of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs and the long-term mental health care needs of members of the Armed Forces and veterans for purposes of determining the long-term need of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs for mental health care providers. (2) Elements.--The report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include an assessment of the following: (A) The number of mental health care providers of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs as of the date of the submittal of the report, disaggregated by specialty, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists. (B) The number of mental health care providers that are anticipated to be needed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. (C) The types of mental health care providers that are anticipated to be needed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. (D) Locations in which mental health care providers are anticipated to be needed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. (d) Plan for Development of Procedures To Measure Mental Health Data.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a plan for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to jointly develop procedures to compile and assess data relating to the following: (1) Outcomes for mental health care provided by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. (2) Variations in such outcomes among different medical facilities of the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. (3) Barriers, if any, to the implementation by mental health care providers under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned of the clinical practice guidelines recommended for such providers by such Secretary and other evidence-based treatments and approaches. (e) Definitions.--In this section: (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means-- (A) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives. (2) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned'' means-- (A) the Secretary of Defense with respect to matters concerning the Department of Defense; and (B) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with respect to matters concerning the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Military and Veterans Mental Health Provider Assessment Act of 2015 Directs the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that all health care providers under their respective jurisdictions receive, at least once every three years, empirically supported training on the recognition and assessment of individuals at risk for suicide and the management of such risk. Requires such Departments to: (1) conduct annual evaluations of the implementation by mental health care providers under their jurisdictions of Department-recommended clinical practice guidelines and other evidence-based treatments and approaches, and (2) incorporate such evaluations into the employee evaluation process of such providers. Directs such Departments to jointly submit: (1) a report assessing their mental health work forces and the long-term mental health care needs of members of the Armed Forces and veterans for purposes of determining long-term needs of such Departments for mental health care providers; and (2) a plan to jointly develop procedures to compile and assess data relating to outcomes for mental health care provided by the Departments, variations in such outcomes among different Department medical facilities, and barriers to the implementation by Department mental health care providers of recommended clinical practice guidelines and other evidence-based treatments and approaches.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Appropriations Transparency Act of 2007''. SEC. 2. OUT OF SCOPE EARMARKS OR TAX EARMARKS IN CONFERENCE REPORTS. (a) In General.--In the House of Representatives or the Senate, a point of order may be made by any Member against consideration of a conference report that includes any earmark or tax earmark not committed to conference by either House. The point of order shall be made and voted on separately for each item in violation of this section. (b) Disposition.--If the point of order against a conference report under subsection (a) is sustained, then-- (1) the earmark or tax earmark in such conference report shall be deemed to have been struck; (2) when all other points of order under this section have been disposed of-- (A) the House or Senate, as applicable, shall proceed to consider the question of whether the House or Senate should recede from its amendment to the Senate bill or House bill, or its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate or the House, and concur with a further amendment, which further amendment shall consist of only that portion of the conference report not deemed to have been struck; (B) the question shall be debatable; and (C) no further amendment shall be in order; and (3) if the House or the Senate, as applicable, agrees to the amendment, then the bill and the House amendment thereto, or the bill and the Senate amendment thereto, shall be returned to the Senate or the House for its concurrence in the amendment of the House or the Senate. (c) Waiver and Appeal.--This section may be waived or suspended in the House of Representatives or the Senate only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. In the Senate, an affirmative vote of a majority of its Members, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under this section. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. (a) Definitions.--As used in this Act: (1) The term ``earmark'' means a provision in a bill or conference report-- (A) with respect to an appropriation bill or conference report thereon providing or recommending an amount of budget authority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, or other expenditure with or to a non-Federal entity, if-- (i) such entity is specifically identified in the bill; or (ii) if the discretionary budget authority is allocated outside of the statutory or administrative formula-driven or competitive bidding process and is targeted or directed to an identifiable entity, specific State, or Congressional district; or (B) with respect to a measure other than that specified in subparagraph (A) or conference report thereon providing authority, including budget authority, or recommending the exercise of authority, including budget authority, for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with or to a non-Federal entity, if-- (i) such entity is specifically identified in the bill; (ii) if the authorization for, or provision of, budget authority, contract authority loan authority or other expenditure is allocated outside of the statutory or administrative formula-driven or competitive bidding process and is targeted or directed to an identifiable entity, specific State, or Congressional district; or (iii) if such authorization for, or provision of, budget authority, contract authority, loan authority or other expenditure preempts statutory or administrative State allocation authority. (2)(A) The term ``tax earmark'' means any revenue-losing provision that provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to only one beneficiary (determined with respect to either present law or any provision of which the provision is a part) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in any year for which the provision is in effect; (B) for purposes of subparagraph (A)-- (i) all businesses and associations that are members of the same controlled group of corporations (as defined in section 1563(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (ii) all shareholders, partners, members, or beneficiaries of a corporation, partnership, association, or trust or estate, respectively, shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (iii) all employees of an employer shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (iv) all qualified plans of an employer shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (v) all beneficiaries of a qualified plan shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (vi) all contributors to a charitable organization shall be treated as a single beneficiary; (vii) all holders of the same bond issue shall be treated as a single beneficiary; and (viii) if a corporation, partnership, association, trust or estate is the beneficiary of a provision, the shareholders of the corporation, the partners of the partnership, the members of the association, or the beneficiaries of the trust or estate shall not also be treated as beneficiaries of such provision. (3) The term ``revenue-losing provision'' means any provision that is estimated to result in a reduction in Federal tax revenues (determined with respect to either present law or any provision of which the provision is a part) for any one of the two following periods-- (A) the first fiscal year for which the provision is effective; or (B) the period of the 5 fiscal years beginning with the first fiscal year for which the provision is effective; and (4) The terms used in paragraphs (2) and (3) shall have the same meaning as those terms have generally in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, unless otherwise expressly provided. (b) Clarification.--For purposes of this Act-- (1) government-sponsored enterprises, Federal facilities, and Federal lands shall be considered Federal entities; (2) to the extent that the non-Federal entity is a State, unit of local government, territory, an Indian tribe, a foreign government or an intergovernmental international organization, the provision shall not be considered an earmark unless the provision also specifies the specific purpose for which the designated budget authority is to be expended; (3) the term ``budget authority'' shall have the same meaning as such term is defined in section 3 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622); and (4) an obligation limitation shall be treated as budget authority.

Appropriations Transparency Act of 2007 - Allows a point of order to be made by any Member in the House of Representatives or the Senate against consideration of a conference report that includes any earmark or tax earmark not committed to conference by either chamber. Defines "tax earmark" as any revenue-losing provision that provides a federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to only one beneficiary (determined with respect to either present law or any provision of which the provision is a part) under the Internal Revenue Code in any year for which the provision is in effect.

consider the dynamical system of a complex polynomial @xmath0 of degree at least 2 ( see @xcite for example ) . a point is called _ persistent _ if it has bounded orbit under @xmath1 . otherwise we say the point _ escapes ( to infinity)_. we define @xmath2 , the _ filled julia set of @xmath1 _ , as the set of all points that are persistent under @xmath1 . julia set of @xmath1 _ , @xmath3 , is the boundary of the filled julia set . a key question in determining the structure of the julia set of @xmath1 is the dynamics of the critical points of @xmath1 . for example , the julia of @xmath1 set is connected if and only if every critical point of @xmath1 is persistent by a classical result of fatou and julia . a polynomial with a unique critical point is called _ uni - critical_. we call a polynomial _ uni - persistent _ if it has exactly one persistent critical point ( of any multiplicity ) . a uni - critical polynomial is uni - persistent if and only if its julia set is connected . some examples of a uni - persistent polynomial are a quadratic polynomial with a connected julia set , or a cubic polynomial with one critical point escaping and the other persistent . the dynamics of uni - critical polynomials have been widely studied in these cases . the combinatorics of a uni - persistent polynomial are similar to the combinatorics of uni - critical polynomial with a connected julia set . in this paper , we consider the dynamics of a persistent critical point of a polynomial . we are particularly interested in uni - persistent polynomials with disconnected julia sets . we code the dynamics of a polynomial using the combinatorial system of a tree with dynamics @xcite . we obtain results on various poincar return maps defined on certain neighborhoods of a persistent point . for a uni - persistent polynomial with exactly one escaping critical point , the _ yoccoz @xmath4-function _ @xcite is a concise system for coding the returns of the persistent critical point . we introduce a generalization of this function , the _ yoccoz return function _ ( definition [ defn : tau ] ) , which codes the returns of a persistent critical point of any complex polynomial with a disconnected julia set . we translate our results for return maps into necessary conditions on the yoccoz return function of a persistent critical point of a polynomial with a disconnected julia set . these conditions are recursively verifiable , so we can used them to define yoccoz return functions abstractly . the conditions are sufficient for a map on the integers to be realized as the yoccoz return function of a uni - persistent polynomial with a disconnected julia set . the following results are our main theorems . let @xmath5 denote the non - negative integers . [ main thm ] if @xmath6 is the yoccoz return function of a persistent critical point of a polynomial with a disconnected julia set , then there is an @xmath7 and an @xmath8 with @xmath9 such that the following condition hold for each @xmath10 : 1 . @xmath11 if @xmath12 , and @xmath13 if @xmath14 ; 2 . @xmath15 for some @xmath16 ; 3 . if @xmath15 for some @xmath17 , then either 1 . @xmath18 , 2 . @xmath19 . moreover if the polynomial is uni - persistent , then @xmath20 is finite . we prove the converse of the above theorem for uni - critical polynomials . for a map @xmath21 , it is straightforward to compute @xmath22 ( definition [ defn : esc(m ) ] ) . [ main thm converse ] suppose @xmath6 satisfies conditions 13 above for some @xmath7 and some finite set @xmath23 with @xmath24 . for any integers @xmath25 and @xmath26 , there is a uni - persistent polynomial @xmath1 of degree @xmath27 with a disconnected julia set such that 1 . the multiplicity the persistent critical point of @xmath1 is @xmath28 ; 2 . the yoccoz return function of the persistent critical point of @xmath1 is @xmath4 . yoccoz introduced @xmath4-functions to study the dynamics of quadratic polynomials with connected julia sets . some of his results were published using the combinatorial system of tableaux @xcite , which was developed by b. branner and j. hubbard ( * ? ? ? for a uni - persistent polynomial with no more than one escaping critical point , the systems are equivalent : a @xmath4-function defines a unique tableau and conversely a tableau defines a @xmath4-function ( * ? ? ? * rem.9.3 ) . branner and hubbard gave 3 axioms for tableaux , which they claimed were necessary and sufficient conditions for a tableau to be realizable as the tableau of a uni - persistent polynomial with exactly one escaping critical point ( * ? ? ? 12.8 ) . in the notation of theorem [ main thm ] , their result is the case when @xmath29 and @xmath30 . it was later found that an additional axiom was needed in cubic case , see [ subsect : bi - critical returns ] . we clarify which polynomials require the fourth tableau axiom and which do not ( proposition [ prop : tab axioms ] ) . l. demarco and a. schiff @xcite translated the 4 tableaux axioms for cubic polynomials into the language of @xmath4-functions and independently proved the equivalent of theorems [ main thm ] and [ main thm converse ] for cubic polynomials . our main tool in this paper is the combinatorial system of a tree with dynamics ( definition [ defn : tree axioms ] ) . a tree with dynamics was first used to study polynomials by r. prez - marco in an unpublished work @xcite . substantive results using it were first obtained by the author @xcite . a tree with dynamics shares properties of a tableau , but contains more information . the technical heart of this paper is lemma [ main lem ] , which is short and natural using trees with dynamics . it is not clear how to express this lemma in terms of tableaux . we prove our main theorems by considering the tree with dynamics associated to a polynomial with a disconnected julia set ( [ subsect : poly twd ] ) . a tree with dynamics encodes the key features of the dynamics of a polynomial . in particular , a persistent critical point is encoded as a critical end of the tree ( definition [ defn : end of t ] ) . we consider various poincar return maps defined on a tree with dynamics . associated to each of these return maps is a set of vertices of the tree , which we call _ portals _ ( definition [ defn : x - portal ] ) . portals have the property that generally a vertex must be iterated to a portal before it can return ( lemma [ main lem ] ) . this property leads to necessary conditions on the first return times of a critical end ( theorems [ thm : n1 cond ] and corollary [ cor : n1 cond for bi - critical ] ) . we translate these conditions into the language of yoccoz return functions , which give a more concise presentation of the combinatorics ( theorem [ thm : tau cond ] ) . thereby we prove theorem [ main thm ] . in order to show that the conditions in theorem [ main thm converse ] are sufficient , we construct a tree with dynamics that realizes a given @xmath4 ( proposition [ prop : tau twd ] ) . similar conditions hold for polynomials with connected julia sets and we note some results for connected julia sets in various places in this paper ( remarks [ rem : t1-t4 only = > connected ] , [ rem : ret maps of connected ] and [ rem : main lem for connected ] ) . the remainder of this paper is organized as follows . the necessary technical background for this paper is given in section [ sect : twd ] . we outline the construction of a tree with dynamics of a polynomial ( [ subsect : poly twd ] ) . we then give axioms for abstract trees with dynamics and derive some basic properties of them ( [ subsect : abstract twd ] ) . in [ subsect : 1st ret maps ] , we consider various first return maps in a tree with dynamics . section [ sect : portals ] is the heart of this paper . we define portals , prove our main lemma ( lemma [ main lem ] ) , and state a version of theorem [ main thm ] in terms of return maps ( theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] ) . in [ subsect : bi - critical returns ] , we study return maps and classify portals for uni - persistent polynomials with exactly one escaping critical point . we classify portals and give a corollary of theorem [ main thm ] for such polynomials ( corollary [ cor : n1 cond for bi - critical ] ) . in [ subsect : uni - persistent returns ] , we consider general uni - persistent polynomials . we classify portals and prove a version of theorem [ main thm ] for return maps ( theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] ) . we consider yoccoz return functions in [ sect : yoccoz ret ] . we prove some results about these functions , including theorem [ main thm ] , in [ subsect : properties of tau ] . the conditions in theorem [ main thm ] can be used to recursively define a yoccoz return function . we give some results about recursively defining such a function , as well as some examples of such a definition in [ subsect : recursive defs of tau ] . finally in section [ sect : realization ] , we show theorem [ main thm converse ] can be realized by a polynomial . we show this result by constructing a tree with dynamics that realizes a specified @xmath4-function . the main steps of the proof are presented in [ subsect : twd from tau ] , while the technical details are left until [ subsect : proof of ext lem ] . this section contains the necessary background material for this paper , and is divided into 3 parts . first we briefly outline the dynamic decomposition of the plane ( [ subsect : poly twd ] ) , which is used to define the tree with dynamics of a polynomial with a disconnected julia set . we then give axioms for an abstract tree with dynamics and recall some elementary properties ( [ subsect : abstract twd ] ) . finally we consider poincar return maps defined on a tree with dynamics ( [ subsect : 1st ret maps ] . we define an _ annulus _ as subset of the plane that is conformally equivalent to a set of the form @xmath31 . we say @xmath32 is _ nested _ inside an annulus @xmath33 , if @xmath34 is contained in the bounded components of @xmath35 . for an annulus @xmath36 , we define the _ filled - in annulus _ : @xmath37 observe that @xmath38 is an open topological disk . following branner and hubbard @xcite , we outline the dynamic decomposition of the plane . fix a polynomial @xmath1 of degree @xmath39 with disconnected julia set . let @xmath40 denote green s function of @xmath1 . the functional equation @xmath41 is satisfied by @xmath1 and @xmath40 . we use @xmath40 to define the dynamic decomposition of the basin of attraction of infinity for @xmath1 . an _ equipotential _ is a level set of @xmath40 : @xmath42 . by the functional equation , @xmath1 sends equipotentials to equipotentials . the critical points of @xmath40 are the critical points of @xmath1 and the iterated pre - images of critical points of @xmath1 . we distinguish all equipotentials whose grand orbit contains a critical point of @xmath1 . there are countably many such equipotentials , say @xmath43 . index them so that @xmath44 , @xmath45 is a jordan curve for @xmath46 , and @xmath47 is not a jordan curve ( so it contains a subset homeomorphic to a figure-8 ) . let @xmath48 be the number of orbits of @xmath43 under @xmath1 . if @xmath1 has @xmath49 distinct critical points that escape to infinity , then @xmath50 . it is possible that @xmath51 , if @xmath1 has two escaping critical points @xmath52 and @xmath53 such that @xmath54 for some @xmath55 . it follows that @xmath56 for any @xmath57 from the functional equation and the indexing of @xmath45 . define @xmath58 . for @xmath59 , @xmath60 is a single annulus . for all @xmath57 , @xmath60 is the disjoint union of finitely many annuli @xmath61 . we call each of the @xmath61 an _ annulus of @xmath1 _ at level @xmath57 . a filled - in annulus of @xmath1 , @xmath62 , is a _ puzzle piece _ of @xmath1 at level @xmath57 @xcite . for any @xmath61 , we have @xmath63 for some @xmath64 . a sequence @xmath65 of annuli of @xmath1 is called _ nested _ , if @xmath66 is at level @xmath57 and @xmath67 is nested inside @xmath66 for all @xmath57 . if @xmath68 is a nested sequence of annuli for a disconnected julia set , then @xmath69 is a component of @xmath2 . thus there is a one - to - one correspondence between nested sequence of annuli of @xmath1 and connected components of @xmath2 . we define the _ nest _ of @xmath70 as the nested sequence of annuli of @xmath1 , @xmath71 , such that @xmath72 is nested inside @xmath73 for all @xmath57 . the _ extended nest _ is the analogous sequence with @xmath74 . the annuli of @xmath1 have a natural tree structure that is preserved by @xmath1 . we use them to define the tree with dynamics of @xmath1 ( definition [ defn : tree axioms ] ) . we associate each annulus of @xmath1 to a vertex of the tree . let @xmath36 and @xmath75 be annuli of @xmath1 associated to vertices @xmath76 , @xmath77 . define an edge between @xmath76 and @xmath77 , if @xmath36 is nested inside @xmath75 and @xmath78 . in this case , we say @xmath77 is the _ parent _ of @xmath76 ( see definition [ defn : tree ] ) . it can be shown that @xmath79 is a proper map , so it has a well - defined degree . we define @xmath80 as the degree of @xmath79 . since the tree with dynamics of @xmath1 is defined using @xmath40 and the functional equation , it is invariant under quasiconformal homeomorphisms . we now give axioms for an abstract tree with dynamics . the tree with dynamics of any polynomial with a disconnected julia set satisfies these axioms @xcite . we define a _ tree _ as a countable connected graph with every circuit trivial . we say two vertices of a graph are _ adjacent _ if there is an edge between them . we only consider trees with a particular type of order on their vertices . [ defn : tree ] a _ genealogical tree _ is a tree @xmath81 such that each vertex @xmath82 is associated with a unique adjacent vertex @xmath83 , the _ parent _ of @xmath76 . every vertex adjacent to @xmath76 , except @xmath83 , is called a _ child _ of @xmath76 and denoted by @xmath84 . in this paper , by `` tree '' we mean genealogical tree . we use the symbol @xmath81 to represent both the tree and its vertex set ; the edge set is left implicit . we use symbols for trees and objects associated with trees . our convention in drawing trees is that a parent is above its children ( see fig . [ fig : twd ] ) . so @xmath83 is above @xmath76 and any @xmath85 is below @xmath76 . when it is necessary to distinguish between children of @xmath76 we use the notation @xmath86 . we say @xmath76 is an _ ancestor _ of @xmath77 if there are vertices @xmath87 such that @xmath88 , @xmath89 , and @xmath90 for @xmath91 . we say @xmath92 is a _ descendant _ of @xmath76 if @xmath76 is an ancestor of @xmath92 . [ defn : tree axioms ] we consider genealogical trees @xmath81 that satisfy the following axioms : 1 . each vertex has a unique parent . each vertex has at least one , but only finitely many children . 3 . there is a distinguished vertex @xmath93 , the _ root _ of @xmath81 , with more than one child . there is a set of vertices @xmath94 , such that @xmath95 for all @xmath96 . it follows that @xmath81 is locally finite , and has no leaves . the purpose of the set @xmath97 is purely technical ; it insures that all iterates of the dynamics ( definition [ defn : dyn - abstract ] ) are defined . the important part of the tree is the subtree @xmath98 . let @xmath81 be a genealogical tree . we partition @xmath81 into _ levels _ by defining @xmath99 , and recursively defining @xmath100 so that if @xmath101 , then @xmath102 for any @xmath103 . we consider all infinite paths in the tree that move from parent to child . [ defn : end of t ] let @xmath81 be a tree . an _ end _ of @xmath104 is a sequence @xmath105 , where @xmath106 and @xmath107 for all @xmath57 . an _ extended end _ is the analogous double sequence @xmath108 . an end of @xmath81 corresponds to a nested sequence of annuli of a polynomial , which in turn corresponds to a connected component of the filled julia set of the polynomial . a natural metric for the extended ends of @xmath81 is a gromov metric : @xmath109 for some @xmath110 . any two such metrics are equivalent . we can extend such a metric to vertices of @xmath81 by taking the minimum over all ends that contain the vertices . with respect to any of these metrics , the boundary of @xmath81 is the set of ends union one point ( corresponding to @xmath111 ) . the boundary always has the topology of a cantor set union one isolated point . the dynamics that we consider is a map on at tree that preserve the genealogical structure . [ defn : dyn - abstract ] let @xmath81 be a tree . a map @xmath112 _ preserves children _ if for all @xmath113 the image of a child of @xmath76 is a child of @xmath114 . symbolically @xmath115 . a children - preserving map induces a well - defined map on the set of ends of the tree . additionally such a map is continuous with respect to any gromov metric . it is easy to check that if @xmath112 is a children - preserving map , then there exists @xmath116 such that @xmath117 for all @xmath74 . [ rem : t1-t4 only = > connected ] everything in [ subsect : abstract twd ] up to this point is true for a tree with dynamics of a polynomial with a connected julia set @xcite . however in the tree with dynamics of a polynomial with a connected julia set , there are finitely many vertices where the degree is not defined . one can prove non - trivial results about polynomial dynamics by just considering a tree with a children - preserving map ( see @xcite ) . however we can prove more by keeping track of what we might call the `` polynomial - like '' structure of the dynamical decomposition of the plane . a polynomial restricted to one of its annuli is a proper map ( so it is polynomial - like @xcite on the filled annulus ) , therefore this restriction has a well - defined degree . we give axioms for an abstract version of this degree . [ defn : twd ] a _ tree with dynamics @xmath118 _ is a genealogical tree @xmath81 , a children - preserving map @xmath112 , and a degree function @xmath119 , which satisfy the following axioms : 1 . [ eq : monotone ] ( _ monotonicity . _ ) for any @xmath82 , we have @xmath120 2 . [ eq : lc ] ( _ local cover property . _ ) for any @xmath82 and for each child @xmath121 of @xmath122 , we have @xmath123 3 . [ eq : deg extends ] there exists @xmath124 such that for all @xmath125 if @xmath101 , then @xmath126 , where @xmath127 is the topological degree of @xmath128 at @xmath76 ( * ? ? ? 4.34.5 ) . [ eq : deg of root ] for any @xmath129 , @xmath130 . it can be shown that the last 2 axioms are follow from the first 2 . a more complete discussion of the axioms can be found in @xcite . the first axiom says that @xmath76 has no more critical points inside it than its children . the second axiom says that @xmath128 is locally a branched cover , and should be thought of as a combinatorial riemann - hurwitz formula ( for domains ) . although technically a tree with dynamics is a triple @xmath131 , for simplicity we usually denote it by the pair @xmath132 . if @xmath133 , then we say that @xmath132 is a tree with dynamics _ of degree _ we say that @xmath82 is _ critical _ if @xmath135 . throughout this paper , @xmath132 will denote tree with dynamics with @xmath136 and @xmath117 for all @xmath137 . [ fig : twd ] of degree 3 with @xmath29 . the critical vertices are marked with their degree , and the symbol @xmath138 indicates a non - critical vertices . for clarity most of the dynamics from level 3 are not shown . ] we note some elementary properties of a tree with dynamics . [ lem : twd ] if @xmath132 is a tree with dynamics , then the following hold . 1 . the degree function is _ monotone _ : if @xmath77 is a descendant of @xmath76 for some @xmath139 , then @xmath140.[sublem : deg monotone ] 2 . for any child @xmath141 of @xmath142 , @xmath143.[sublem : deg children of v_0 ] 3 . if @xmath82 and @xmath144 for some child of @xmath76 , then every other child of @xmath76 is non - critical . [ sublem : deg v = deg vc = > all other children n.c . ] [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] let @xmath82 and let @xmath145 for some @xmath146 . the map @xmath147 is a @xmath148-fold cover where @xmath149 . that is , if @xmath150 is a child of @xmath151 , then @xmath152 the @xmath153 case is the local cover property ( d2 ) . the general case follows by induction on @xmath154 . let @xmath82 . we say that there is a _ split _ at @xmath76 if @xmath76 has two critical children . we say that there is an _ escape _ at @xmath76 if @xmath155 . a simple manipulation of ( d[eq : monotone ] ) gives the following result . [ lem : esc or split iff deg drops ] there is an escape or a split at @xmath82 if and only if @xmath156 . [ cor : finitely many splits or escapes ] a tree with dynamics has only finitely many escapes or splits . let @xmath157 . then @xmath158 is a sequence of positive integers . it follows ( d[eq : monotone ] ) that it is non - increasing . thus it can only decrease a finite number of times . we define the degree of an ( extended ) end @xmath159 by @xmath160 . if @xmath161 , then @xmath159 is called a _ critical end_. immediately from ( d[eq : monotone ] ) we see that the sequence @xmath162 is non - increasing . the number of critical ends of a tree with dynamics categorizes it in a manner analogous to our categorization of polynomials . we call a tree with dynamics _ escaping _ if it has no critical ends , _ uni - persistent _ if it has exactly one critical end , and _ multi - persistent _ if it has at least two critical ends . the properties of a polynomial julia set depend mainly on the dynamics of the critical points of the polynomial . so the key question about a tree with dynamics is what are the dynamics of its critical ends ? we will study a tree with dynamics using poincar return maps . that is , a map which takes a point to its first iterate which lies in some specified set . there are several sets which are obvious candidates to use as a target for a return map . the set of all critical vertices for instance ( see ( * ? ? ? * def . 5.5 ) ) . to begin with we do not choose a specific return map , but work with the return map to an arbitrary subset of a tree with dynamics . our definitions and basic results , in particular our main lemma ( lemma [ main lem ] ) , apply to any subset of a tree that contains all its ancestors . from [ subsect : bi - critical returns ] on , we only consider the poincar return map of a critical end . we define the first return map to an arbitrary subset of a tree with dynamics . [ defs : 1st ret time and map ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics and let @xmath163 . we define the _ first return time of @xmath82 to @xmath164 _ by @xmath165 provided @xmath166 for some @xmath167 . we define the _ first return map to _ @xmath164 by @xmath168 for @xmath17 , we define the @xmath169 _ return time _ of @xmath76 to @xmath164 by iterating the first return map : @xmath170 if we iterate a vertex fewer times than its first return time , then the first return time is an additive function . [ lem : ret times add ] let @xmath82 with @xmath171 defined . if @xmath172 , then @xmath173 since @xmath174 , we have @xmath175 . it is possible that some vertex never returns to a given set @xmath164 . we give a condition on @xmath164 which insures that the there is a return of any vertex to @xmath164 . we say that @xmath163 is _ ancestral _ if for any @xmath176 , all ancestors of @xmath177 are elements of @xmath164 . it follows from the definition of an ancestor that a set @xmath164 is ancestral if and only if @xmath178 whenever @xmath176 . an ancestral set is a subtree of @xmath81 possibly having leaves . ancestral sets are closed in @xmath179 . we leave the proofs of these facts as an exercise . [ lem : ancestral = > ret well defn ] if @xmath163 is ancestral , then @xmath171 and @xmath180 are well defined for any @xmath82 . given @xmath82 , we have @xmath181 is an ancestor of @xmath76 for some @xmath59 . since @xmath164 is ancestral , @xmath182 . we can find @xmath183 and @xmath184 such that @xmath185 . thus @xmath76 returns to @xmath164 , and so it must have a first return . in any tree with dynamics @xmath132 , the following sets are ancestral : 1 . an extended end of @xmath81 . [ sublem : ends ancestral ] 2 . the critical set of @xmath81 . [ sublem : critical set ancestral ] 3 . any union of ancestral subsets of @xmath81 . [ sublem : union of ancestral ] an extended end is ancestral by definition [ defn : end of t ] . the critical set is ancestral by monotonicity of the degree ( lemma [ lem : twd].[sublem : deg monotone ] ) . the proof of [ sublem : union of ancestral ] is easy . henceforth we will only consider ancestral sets . first return maps of ancestral sets are straightforward near the top of the tree . [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] suppose that @xmath163 is ancestral and @xmath186 . if @xmath101 for some @xmath12 , then @xmath187 and @xmath188 . since @xmath164 is ancestral , @xmath189 for any @xmath59 . by assumption , @xmath190 . for @xmath12 , @xmath191 by ( t4 ) . thus @xmath192 and @xmath188 . a key property of ancestral sets is that when a vertex returns , it forces all of its ancestors to return . [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] suppose that @xmath163 is ancestral . let @xmath193 with @xmath76 an ancestor of @xmath77 . any of return time of @xmath77 is some return time of @xmath76 ; for any @xmath194 , there is @xmath195 such that @xmath196 let @xmath197 , so @xmath198 for some @xmath176 . since @xmath199 is ancestral , @xmath200 . it follows by induction , that any ancestor of @xmath201 is a vertex of @xmath164 . since @xmath128 is child preserving , we have that @xmath202 is also in @xmath164 . thus @xmath203 for some @xmath204 . this has an important consequence for the returns to an end . [ cor : n_1 non - dec ] suppose that @xmath163 is ancestral . for any extended end @xmath205 , the sequence @xmath206 is non - decreasing . [ rem : ret maps of connected ] all the results in this subsection hold for a tree with dynamics of a polynomial with a connected julia set . because they depend only on the order property of the tree with dynamics ( t1t4 ) , not the properties of the degree function ( d1d4 ) . in order to understand a return map on some ancestral subset of a tree with dynamics , the key question that we must answer is how do the return times of a vertex restrict the first return time of its child ? given @xmath82 and some ancestral @xmath207 , for any child of @xmath76 we have @xmath208 for some @xmath209 by lemma [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] . it is not hard to derive an upper bound @xmath210 for @xmath211 using lemma [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] ( see corollary [ cor : bounds on r(l ) ] ) . so we can say that @xmath212 . however not all of these values can occur . specifically lemma [ main lem ] ( our main lemma ) shows that the child can not return until some iterate of its parent lies in a set of vertices that we call `` portals '' . we say the parent `` passes through '' the portal . the main lemma is based on a new insight on the behavior of return maps . it is easy to prove , but has important consequences . in order to make the above results useful , we must classify portals in terms of the behavior of a return map . we can classify all portals in a tree with dynamics for a natural type of return map . we consider the return map to a critical end in this paper . we classify portals for two classes of trees with dynamics . our results completely describe return maps for uni - persistent trees with dynamics . in [ subsect : main thm for n1 ] we define portals . we prove our main lemma . we then start to classify various types of portals . we consider bi - critical polynomials ( that is , polynomials with exact two distinct critical points ) in [ subsect : bi - critical returns ] . we classify portals for bi - critical polynomials and obtain a corollary of theorem [ main thm ] for bi - critical polynomials ( corollary [ cor : n1 cond for bi - critical ] ) . this corollary is essentially equivalent to a result of branner and hubbard for tableaux ( * ? ? ? 12.8 ) , and proposition [ prop : tab axioms ] clarifies their result . finally we consider uni - persistent polynomials in [ subsect : uni - persistent returns ] . again we classify portals in this case , and derive necessary and sufficient conditions on return times ( theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] ) . we start with the fundamental definition of this section . throughout this section , let @xmath132 be some tree with dynamics . [ defn : x - portal ] let @xmath213 . we say that @xmath176 is an _ @xmath164-portal _ if @xmath177 has a child @xmath214 such that @xmath215 . a vertex must _ pass through _ an @xmath164-portal before it returns hence the name . [ main lem ] let @xmath113 such that @xmath216 for some child of @xmath76 . if @xmath217 for some @xmath17 , then @xmath218 is an @xmath164-portal . say that @xmath219 and @xmath220 . by definition of @xmath221 , @xmath222 . since @xmath223 , @xmath224 . it follows from lemma [ lem : ret times add ] that @xmath225 . if @xmath199 is ancestral , then @xmath217 for some @xmath226 by lemma [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] . our main lemma shows that considering the tree with dynamics can lead to insights that would be difficult to see using tableaux . consider the iterates of some end @xmath227 . the tableau of @xmath159 is the marked grid @xmath228 for @xmath229 ( with critical vertices marked ) @xcite . so a tableau is a sequence of ends . in particular , a tableau does not keep track of children of some @xmath230 that are not in @xmath231 . the definition of portal and the main lemma are based on consideration of such children . the main lemma shows that we can study the first return map by studying @xmath164-portals . we can extend it to higher return times by induction . [ main cor ] let @xmath82 and let @xmath232 be a child of @xmath76 . suppose that @xmath233 for some @xmath234 with @xmath235 . if @xmath236 , then @xmath237 is an @xmath164-portal . [ rem : main lem for connected ] the main lemma and corollary [ main cor ] hold for a tree with dynamics of a polynomial with a connected julia set . it is not clear if the remainder of the results in this section hold , since they are largely dependent on careful analysis of the degree function . for the remainder of this paper , we will only consider first return maps in the case when @xmath238 a critical extended end . we obtain the following version of theorem [ main thm ] for return times . we defer the proof until [ subsect : main thm for n1 ] . [ thm : n1 cond ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics . let @xmath239 be a critical extended end of @xmath81 . the following conditions hold for each @xmath82 : 1 . if @xmath101 , then @xmath240 if @xmath12 and @xmath241 if @xmath242 ; 2 . for any child of @xmath76 , @xmath243 for some @xmath244 ; 3 . if @xmath243 for some @xmath17 , then one of the following conditions holds : 1 . @xmath245 for some @xmath246 such that @xmath247 ; 2 . @xmath248 there is an escape or split at @xmath249 . the above conditions are also sufficient for uni - persistent polynomials , see [ sect : realization ] . part of what makes our main lemma useful is that we can classify where portals occur entirely in terms of the first return map . we classify the portals of various return maps . [ defn : types of portals ] suppose that @xmath163 is ancestral . let @xmath177 be an @xmath164-portal . we classify the _ type _ of @xmath177 as follows . 1 . if @xmath250 and @xmath251 for some child of @xmath177 . 2 . if @xmath250 and @xmath252 for some child of @xmath177 . 3 . if @xmath253 for every child of @xmath177 . we define @xmath254 as the set of all type @xmath255 @xmath164-portals for @xmath256 . first we give some results about general @xmath164-portals . we find conditions on where portals of various types can occur . a basic result is that we should look for type i portals where the return time increases . [ lem : catagorize uni - per i portals ] let @xmath132 be a uni - persistent tree with dynamics . let @xmath239 be the ( unique ) critical end of @xmath81 . suppose that @xmath164 is an ancestral set with @xmath257 . for each @xmath74 , @xmath258 if and only if @xmath259 and @xmath260 . suppose that @xmath258 . by definition [ defn : types of portals ] , @xmath261 and @xmath262 for some child of @xmath263 . since the critical set of @xmath81 is @xmath164 , we have @xmath264 . conversely suppose that @xmath259 and @xmath265 for some @xmath74 . say that @xmath266 . by assumption , @xmath267 . by lemma [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] , there is a child of @xmath268 such that @xmath269 . since @xmath270 , so @xmath271 . therefore @xmath272 . type ii portals are more complicated . [ lem : port ii cond ] let @xmath163 . if @xmath273 , then at least one of the following conditions holds : 1 . there is a number @xmath274 with @xmath275 such that @xmath276 is critical and @xmath276 has a child , @xmath277 such that @xmath278 2 . at least two distinct children of @xmath279 are members of @xmath164 . case 2 of the above lemma can not occur when @xmath177 is an end . [ cor : type ii portals of an end ] let @xmath280 be an extended end of @xmath81 . if @xmath281 , then case 1 of lemma [ lem : port ii cond ] holds . by definition , no vertex of an end can have two distinct children that are in the end so case 2 above never occurs . type iii portals are straightforward to categorize . we obtain the following two results immediately from lemma [ lem : esc or split iff deg drops ] and corollary [ cor : finitely many splits or escapes ] [ lem : port iii categorized ] let @xmath163 . if @xmath282 , then there is an escape or split at @xmath177 . [ cor : finite number of type 3 portals ] for any @xmath163 , @xmath283 is finite . [ lem : v_0 a type 3 portal ] if @xmath159 is an end of some tree with dynamics , then @xmath284 . by ( t3 ) , @xmath285 has at least two children . because @xmath286 is an end @xmath142 has a child @xmath287 . by lemma [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] , @xmath288 . therefore @xmath142 is a @xmath159-portal . by lemma [ lem : twd].[sublem : deg children of v_0 ] , @xmath289 . hence @xmath290 . it is important to note how many children an @xmath164-portals has that satisfy the conditions of definition [ defn : x - portal ] . let @xmath177 be an @xmath164-portal . we call @xmath177 a _ simple _ @xmath164-portal if @xmath177 has a unique child @xmath214 with @xmath215 . otherwise we call @xmath177 a _ compound _ @xmath164-portal . the following lemma allows us to determine whether type iii @xmath291-portal is simple or compound . [ lem : number of n.c.c of type 3 c - portal ] let @xmath292 be a critical extended end of @xmath132 . suppose that @xmath293 for some @xmath57 . if there is not a split at @xmath268 , then @xmath268 has at least @xmath294 non - critical children @xmath295 with @xmath296 . since @xmath297 , @xmath298 is critical . by assumption there is not a split at @xmath268 , so @xmath298 is the only critical child of @xmath268 . by lemma [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] , @xmath268 has at least @xmath299 children counted by degree with @xmath300 . therefore there are at least @xmath294 of these children which are non - critical ( which might be 0 of them ) . [ cor : c - l simple iff deg c-1 - deg c - l+1 = 1 ] let @xmath292 be a critical extended end of @xmath132 . suppose that @xmath293 for some @xmath57 . if there is an escape but not a split at @xmath268 , then @xmath268 is a simple @xmath291-portal if and only if @xmath301 . we call a polynomial _ bi - critical _ if it has exactly two critical points ( of any multiplicities ) . for instance , a generic cubic polynomial is bi - critical . in this subsection , we consider the tree with dynamics of a bi - critical polynomial with disconnected julia set . if both of the critical points escape to infinity , then the julia set is an area zero cantor set . so the interesting case is when one critical point escapes and the other is persistent . combinatorially we ignore the trivial case and call a tree with dynamics _ bi - critical _ if it is uni - persistent and there is exactly one vertex in the tree where there is an escape . bi - critical polynomials are the easiest class of polynomials to analyze using the tree with dynamics . there two other main reasons that they are important . first , it is only class for which conditions on the tableaux are known . branner and hubbard s three tableaux axioms @xcite are necessary for this class of polynomial . the three tableaux axioms combined with a fourth axiom @xcite are known to be necessary and sufficient in the cubic case . second a uni - persistent polynomial @xmath1 can be associated to a bi - critical tree with dynamics in the following manner : choose equipotentials @xmath302 and @xmath47 of @xmath1 such that all critical points of @xmath1 lie in the bounded component of @xmath303 , all escaping critical points of @xmath1 lie in the closure of the unbounded component of @xmath304 , and @xmath305 for some @xmath306 . extend to a collection of equipotentials @xmath307 using the relationship @xmath308 for each @xmath74 . form the annuli and then tree with dynamics of @xmath1 using these equipotential as in [ subsect : poly twd ] . equivalently we can extract a subtree with dynamics from @xmath309 with @xmath29 using ( * ? ? ? part of what makes the analysis of the bi - critical case easy is that the degree function only changes once on the critical end . [ lem : deg fnc of uni - per ] let @xmath132 be a bi - critical tree with dynamics of degree @xmath134 . if @xmath310 is the ( unique ) critical end of @xmath81 , then @xmath311 for some @xmath148 with @xmath312 . the unique escape in a bi - critical tree with dynamics must occur at @xmath313 by lemma [ lem : twd].2 . for the remainder of this section , let @xmath314 be the unique critical end of a uni - persistent tree with dynamics . we consider the first return map to @xmath291 . so for any @xmath315 , definition [ defs : 1st ret time and map ] gives @xmath316 note that @xmath317 for @xmath59 . thus for any @xmath82 , @xmath318 and @xmath319 are well defined for all @xmath226 . we are primarily interested in the restriction of @xmath320 to @xmath291 . we classify @xmath291-portals in the bi - critical case . the classification is straightforward . type i @xmath291-portals occur when the return time increases , type ii @xmath291-portals do not occur , and @xmath321 is the only type iii @xmath291-portal . first we classify type i @xmath291-portals using lemma [ lem : catagorize uni - per i portals ] . [ lem : bi - critical type i portals ] let @xmath132 be a bi - critical tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath239 . for each @xmath322 , @xmath323 if and only if @xmath324 . [ cor : classify type i c - portals ] let @xmath132 be a bi - critical tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath239 . if @xmath323 for some @xmath74 , then @xmath263 is a compound @xmath291-portal . by lemma [ lem : catagorize uni - per i portals ] , @xmath325 . it follows from lemma [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] that @xmath263 has exactly @xmath326 children ( counted by degree ) such that @xmath327 . none of these children are critical sine the tree with dynamics is bi - critical , so there are at least two of them . next we show that there are no type ii @xmath291-portals in the bi - critical case . [ lem : no bi - critical ii portals ] let @xmath132 be a uni - persistent tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath291 . if @xmath328 , then @xmath329 . suppose that @xmath330 . by lemma [ lem : port ii cond ] , either @xmath331 is critical for some @xmath332 or @xmath333 has two distinct children in @xmath291 . neither of these conditions can hold since @xmath334 and every vertex of @xmath291 has exactly one child that is in @xmath291 . finally we classify type iii @xmath291-portals . [ cor : catagorize bi - critical iii portals ] if @xmath132 is a bi - critical tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath239 , then @xmath335 . by lemma [ lem : port iii categorized ] , @xmath336 . the only vertex of @xmath291 where the degree drops is @xmath321 . we obtain the following corollary of theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] for bi - critical trees with dynamics . [ cor : n1 cond for bi - critical ] let @xmath132 be a bi - critical tree with dynamics . let @xmath239 be the ( unique ) critical extended end of @xmath81 . the following conditions hold for each @xmath82 : 1 . if @xmath101 , then @xmath240 if @xmath337 and @xmath338 if @xmath322 ; 2 . for any child of @xmath76 , @xmath243 for some @xmath244 ; 3 . if @xmath339 for some @xmath17 , then either 1 . @xmath245 for some @xmath246 such that @xmath247 ; 2 . @xmath340 . assume that theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] has been proved . note that @xmath29 in a bi - critical tree with dynamics . so condition 1 follows from condition 1 of theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] . condition 2 is the same as in theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] . for condition 3 , we have @xmath249 is a @xmath291-portal by the main lemma ( [ main lem ] . by lemma [ lem : no bi - critical ii portals ] , it can not be a type ii @xmath291-portal . if it is type i , condition 3a holds by lemma [ lem : bi - critical type i portals ] . otherwise it is type iii , so corollary [ cor : catagorize bi - critical iii portals ] tells us it can only be @xmath321 . corollary [ cor : bi - crit realization of tau ] shows that the above conditions are also sufficient for bi - critical polynomials . whether or not @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal has important consequences . branner and hubbard gave 3 axioms for tableaux , which they claimed were necessary and sufficient conditions for a tableau to be the tableau of a uni - persistent polynomial with exactly one escaping critical point ( * ? ? ? d. harris later found that these axioms were not in fact sufficient to realize a tableau as a cubic polynomial , and proposed a fourth tableau axiom @xcite . j. kiwi found a counter - example that shows harris axiom is not sufficient . kiwi gave another fourth tableau axiom , which he showed is sufficient for cubic polynomials @xcite . none of these previous works have addressed non - cubic polynomials . we ask precisely which polynomials require the fourth axiom ? we give a complete answer to this question in proposition [ prop : tab axioms ] . the key point of harris argument is equivalent to the fact that the tree with dynamics of a cubic polynomial has exactly two vertices at level 1 : one of which is critical and the other of which is non - critical . hence his argument generalizes to bi - critical polynomials with a simple escaping critical point . by the above lemma , this covers bi - critical trees with dynamics such that @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal . hence we consider the first return map when @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal , and derive some conditions . corollary [ cor : c - l simple iff deg c-1 - deg c - l+1 = 1 ] implies that there is a simple relationship between the degree of the escaping critical point of a bi - critical polynomial and whether @xmath321 is simple or compound . [ lem : bi - crit c0 simple iff simpe esc ] if @xmath132 is a bi - critical tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath239 , then @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal if and only if @xmath341 . [ lem : tab d ] let @xmath132 be a bi - critical tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath239 . suppose that @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal , and @xmath342 for some @xmath57 . if @xmath343 is a child of @xmath263 , then @xmath344 . since @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal , there are exactly two distinct children of @xmath321 , say @xmath345 by lemma [ lem : bi - crit c0 simple iff simpe esc ] . we apply lemma [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] and note that @xmath346 is a @xmath347-fold cover where @xmath348 . by assumption @xmath349 , so @xmath350 . since @xmath351 , @xmath298 accounts for all of the @xmath299 children of @xmath268 that are mapped to @xmath352 . hence for any other child of @xmath268 , @xmath353 . since @xmath354 , we have @xmath355 and @xmath356 . the following corollary is a translation of the fourth tableaux axiom of kiwi @xcite into the language of a tree with dynamics . [ cor : tab d ] under the hypotheses of lemma [ lem : tab d ] , if @xmath357 and @xmath358 for some @xmath82 and some @xmath194 , then @xmath359 . in the above corollary although @xmath360 is a @xmath291-portal , a vertex can not pass through @xmath360 after hitting @xmath268 . hence we say that @xmath268 _ obstructs _ @xmath360 . we obtain the following result for tableaux , which clarifies a result of branner and hubbard ( * ? ? ? 12.8 ) and generalizes a result of kiwi @xcite . all 4 tableaux axioms for marked grids ( ma md ) are given in @xcite . [ prop : tab axioms ] if @xmath1 is a bi - critical polynomial with a disconnected julia set , then any tableau of @xmath1 satisfies ma mc . moreover if the escaping critical point of @xmath1 has multiplicity 1 , then any tableau of @xmath1 also satisfies md . conversely a tableau that satisfies ma mc can be realized by a bi - critical polynomial whose escaping critical point has multiplicity at least 2 . if the tableau also satisfies md , then it can be realized by bi - critical polynomial whose escaping critical has multiplicity at least 1 . the hard work for this proposition was already done in ( * ? ? ? 12.8 ) and @xcite . the necessary part follows from and corollary [ cor : tab d ] . the conditions for sufficiency follow from corollary [ cor : bi - crit realization of tau ] . in fact we can weaken the assumption that @xmath1 is bi - critical . we only need to assume that the tree with dynamics of @xmath1 is bi - critical . it is straightforward to check from the definitions in [ subsect : poly twd ] that the tree with dynamics of @xmath1 is bi - critical if and only if all persistent critical points of @xmath1 lie in the same connected component of @xmath2 and the green s function of @xmath1 is constant on the set of escaping critical points of @xmath1 . in this subsection , we consider a general uni - persistent polynomial . that is , a polynomial that has exactly one persistent critical point and possibly multiple escaping critical points . the corresponding tree with dynamics has a unique critical end @xmath291 , but @xmath361 in general . thus @xmath362 and @xmath363 are generally different maps , so we must choose which one to use . as above we consider @xmath364 and @xmath362 . although the return map to the critical set is an equally natural choice and some results about it are known @xcite . we classify @xmath291-portals . lemmas [ lem : catagorize uni - per i portals ] and [ lem : port iii categorized ] apply to uni - persistent tree with dynamics , so we have already classified type i and type iii @xmath291-portals . [ lem : 1cb = > p2 finite ] let @xmath132 be a uni - persistent tree with dynamics . if @xmath291 is the unique critical end of @xmath365 , then @xmath366 is finite . by lemma [ lem : port ii cond ] and corollary [ cor : type ii portals of an end ] , @xmath367 is the set of all vertices @xmath368 that hit a critical vertex not in @xmath291 before returning to @xmath291 . it is straightforward to check that if @xmath291 is the unique critical end of @xmath132 , then @xmath81 has only finitely many critical vertices that are not in @xmath291 . we have classified all @xmath291-portals in the uni - persistent case . we are now ready to prove our main theorem for return times . there are two cases in condition 1 . if @xmath12 , apply lemma [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] . if @xmath242 , say @xmath369 for some @xmath370 and @xmath371 . then @xmath372 since @xmath373 by t4 . so @xmath374 . condition 2 is a consequence of lemma [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] . condition 3 follows from our main lemma ( [ main lem ] ) and the classification of @xmath291-portals . the key assumption in lemma [ lem : tab d ] is that @xmath321 is a simple @xmath291-portal . we show that the any simple @xmath291-portal can be obstructed . [ lem : returns to simple portals ] let @xmath132 be a uni - persistent tree with dynamics with critical end @xmath375 . let @xmath376 be a simple @xmath291-portal for some @xmath377 . suppose that for some @xmath57 , @xmath378 , @xmath379 , @xmath380 , and @xmath381 is non - critical for @xmath382 . if @xmath383 is a child of @xmath268 , then @xmath384 . since @xmath385 is a simple @xmath291-portal , it has unique child of @xmath386 such that @xmath387 and @xmath388 . let @xmath348 . since @xmath381 is non - critical for @xmath389 , @xmath390 is a @xmath347-fold cover by lemma [ lem : f^n a d - fold cover ] . since @xmath380 , @xmath298 accounts for all the children of @xmath268 that are mapped to @xmath391 . hence if @xmath383 , then @xmath392 . thus @xmath393 , and @xmath394 . in a manner similar to corollary [ cor : tab d ] , @xmath268 obstructs @xmath395 . under the hypotheses of lemma [ lem : returns to simple portals ] , if @xmath396 and @xmath397 for some @xmath82 and @xmath194 , then @xmath398 . thus @xmath399 . we have @xmath400 since @xmath397 . thus @xmath401 and @xmath402 by lemma [ lem : returns to simple portals ] since their return times are different . one method of describing the returns of an end to itself is what is generally called the `` yoccoz @xmath4-function . '' yoccoz defined @xmath4 for quadratic polynomials , and his definition easily extends to bi - critical polynomials with disconnected julia sets ( * ? ? ? there are several ways to generalize this function to more general polynomials . we wish to emphasize the particular generalization which we work with . so we use more descriptive terminology _ the yoccoz return function_. in this section , we define the yoccoz return function . we extend our results from [ sect : portals ] to these functions ( [ subsect : properties of tau ] ) . this allows us to prove theorem [ thm : tau cond ] , which implies theorem [ main thm ] . this theorem provides enough information to recursively construct a yoccoz return function ( [ subsect : recursive defs of tau ] ) . however such a construction is not a simple matter of choosing some initial values and using a recursive relation to define the function . we give some results on legal ways to extend a yoccoz return function . we show that constructing such a function requires a choice at infinitely many stages of the construction ( proposition [ prop : 2 choices to extend tau ] ) . we also give some examples illustrate the process . [ defn : tau ] let @xmath239 be a critical extended end of a tree with dynamics . we define the _ yoccoz return function of _ @xmath291 as the map @xmath6 such that @xmath403 equivalently , @xmath404 . the above definition generalizes the previous definition of @xmath4 ( * ? ? ? 9.3 ) in 3 ways . the first 2 differences are minor generalizations . we define @xmath405 instead of @xmath406 , and we allow @xmath407 . the last difference is substantive . previously @xmath4 was defined in terms of a tableau by @xmath408 where @xmath306 is least such that the tableau position @xmath409 is critical . in this definition , @xmath274 is first return time of @xmath263 to the critical set , but not necessarily the first return time to critical end @xmath291 . we use the above generalization because it induces a dynamically meaningful map on the integers . the two definitions agree for bi - critical polynomials . the differences come from how one generalizes @xmath4 for polynomials with more than one escaping critical point . the yoccoz return function a persistent critical point of a polynomial is the yoccoz return function of the critical end of the tree with dynamics of the polynomial associated with the nest of the persistent critical point . informally we refer to yoccoz return functions as `` @xmath4-functions . '' suppose @xmath4 is the yoccoz return function of the critical extend end of a uni - persistent polynomial . then @xmath410 function codes basic dynamical behavior of a persistent critical point . we say @xmath4 is _ recurrent _ if @xmath411 . we say @xmath4 is _ persistently recurrent _ if @xmath412 . it is well known that @xmath291 is recurrent if and only if @xmath4 is recurrent . persistent recurrence is a combinatorial condition . it is well known that if @xmath4 is recurrent , but not persistently recurrent , then the julia set of the polynomial is an area zero cantor set . we derive some properties of yoccoz return functions . our goal is to find a collection conditions that are necessary and sufficient for realization . [ lem : tau(l+1 ) = tau^r(l ) ] for any @xmath74 , @xmath413 for some @xmath244 . combine lemma [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] and definition [ defn : tau ] . let @xmath6 be a yoccoz return function . for each @xmath74 , we define @xmath414 so that @xmath415 it follows from lemma [ lem : tau(l+1 ) = tau^r(l ) ] that @xmath416 is well defined . note that @xmath417 if and only @xmath418 . we restate theorem [ thm : n1 cond ] in terms of the @xmath4-function , which expresses theorem [ main thm ] in terms of a tree with dynamics . [ thm : tau cond ] if @xmath4 is the yoccoz return function of a critical end @xmath291 of a tree with dynamics , then for some @xmath419 and some @xmath8 with @xmath9 the following conditions hold for each @xmath420 : 1 . @xmath11 if @xmath12 , and @xmath421 if @xmath14 ; 2 . @xmath15 for some @xmath16 ; 3 . if @xmath422 , then either 1 . @xmath18 , 2 . @xmath19 . moreover if @xmath291 is the only critical end of the tree with dynamics , then @xmath20 is finite . if @xmath20 is infinite , then condition 3 is fairly weak . thus to study a tree with dynamics with several critical ends ( equivalently a polynomial with several persistent critical points ) we need to modify our combinatorics . we start proving the results we use to prove the above theorem . [ lem : tau(l ) = l - h for l leq h ] if @xmath12 , then @xmath423 . apply lemma [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] . as a result of lemmas [ lem : tau(l+1 ) = tau^r(l ) ] and [ lem : tau(l ) = l - h for l leq h ] , we can recover @xmath4 from @xmath211 . hence @xmath4 and @xmath211 are equivalent combinatorial objects . we extend the concept of portals to @xmath4-functions . we call @xmath74 a @xmath4-_portal _ if @xmath424 . [ lem : tau - portal equivalences ] for any @xmath74 , the following are equivalent : 1 . @xmath425 is a @xmath4-portal , 2 . @xmath426 , 3 . @xmath427 . we show that @xmath428 . if @xmath424 , then @xmath429 . so @xmath426 and @xmath430 is shown . we know @xmath431 for some @xmath244 from lemma [ lem : ret of descen = > ret ] . since the return times of @xmath268 are distinct , @xmath432 if and only if @xmath433 . which is to say not @xmath434 . we consider the set where condition 3b holds . [ defn : e for tau ] let @xmath4 be the yoccoz return function of a critical end @xmath291 . we define the _ exceptional set of _ @xmath4 by @xmath435 . let @xmath118 be a uni - persistent tree with dynamics . if @xmath4 is the yoccoz return function of the unique critical end of @xmath118 , then @xmath20 is finite . note that if @xmath323 , then @xmath57 is a @xmath4-portal . thus @xmath436 apply lemma [ lem : 1cb = > p2 finite ] and corollary [ cor : finite number of type 3 portals ] . [ lem : 0 in e ] for the yoccoz return function of any critical end of a tree with dynamics , @xmath9 . by lemma [ lem : v_0 a type 3 portal ] , @xmath437 is a type iii @xmath291-portal . since @xmath438 by lemma [ lem : n_1 t_l = 1 for l < h ] , @xmath439 is not a @xmath4-portal . therefore @xmath9 . we now prove theorem [ thm : tau cond ] which implies theorem [ main thm ] . we have @xmath440 from lemma [ lem : 0 in e ] . the first part of condition 1 is lemma [ lem : tau(l ) = l - h for l leq h ] . it follows by a routine induction argument from lemmas [ lem : tau(l ) = l - h for l leq h ] and [ lem : tau(l+1 ) = tau^r(l ) ] that @xmath441 for any @xmath74 . condition 2 is lemma [ lem : tau(l+1 ) = tau^r(l ) ] . condition 3 is a consequence of our main lemma . say @xmath442 . then @xmath443 is a @xmath291-portal . if @xmath444 , then @xmath246 is a @xmath4-portal by lemma [ lem : tau - portal equivalences ] . otherwise @xmath445 by definition [ defn : e for tau ] . moreover in uni - persistent tree with dynamics , @xmath366 and @xmath446 are finite by lemma [ lem : 1cb = > p2 finite ] and corollary [ cor : finite number of type 3 portals ] respectively . thus @xmath447 is also finite . the conditions in theorem [ thm : tau cond ] are also sufficient . we ( temporarily ) call a function @xmath6 that satisfies conditions 13 above for some @xmath48 and some finite set @xmath8 with @xmath9 an _ abstract yoccoz return function_. theorem [ thm : realize tau ] shows that every abstract yoccoz return function is the yoccoz return function of the critical end of a uni - persistent tree with dynamics . finally we translate lemma [ lem : returns to simple portals ] into the language of @xmath4-functions . [ lem : tau simple portals ] let @xmath448 such that @xmath395 is a simple @xmath291-portal . suppose that @xmath449 and @xmath450 for some @xmath57 . if @xmath451 and @xmath452 for some @xmath246 and @xmath453 , then @xmath454 . thus @xmath455 . for @xmath456 in the above lemma , we say that @xmath57 obstructs @xmath377 . + theorem [ thm : tau cond ] provides recursively verifiable conditions that must be satisfied by @xmath4-functions . since these conditions are quite complicated , we give some examples of how they can be used to recursively define a @xmath4-function . for simplicity we will we assume @xmath29 and @xmath457 in our examples . so we are considering the case of the @xmath4-function of a bi - critical tree with dynamics . a _ yoccoz return function of length _ @xmath458 is a function @xmath459 which satisfies the 3 conditions of theorem [ thm : tau cond ] . in order to define an abstract yoccoz return function ( with @xmath29 ) , we must start by defining @xmath460 for @xmath337 by condition 1 . equivalently , @xmath461 for @xmath337 . the problem is to take a yoccoz return function of length @xmath462 and extend it to length @xmath463 . the key question is what are the valid choices for @xmath464 ? [ ex : tau of 2 ] we have a choice for @xmath465 . we can choose @xmath466 since it satisfies condition 2 and vacuously satisfies condition 3 . if @xmath467 , then @xmath468 . also @xmath469 , so we can choose @xmath470 by condition 3b . in this case , @xmath471 and 1 is a @xmath4-portal . we generalize the arguments in the above example , and give a few results on extending a yoccoz return function of length @xmath462 . the simplest choice is to take @xmath472 . [ lem : can choose r(l+1 ) = 1 ] given @xmath4 a yoccoz return function of length @xmath462 , the choice @xmath473 extends @xmath4 to length @xmath463 . the choice @xmath473 satisfies condition 1 since @xmath474 does . it clearly satisfies condition 2 and vacuously satisfies condition 3 . in example [ ex : tau of 2 ] there are 2 valid choices for @xmath475 . we isolated the property that allowed us to make the choice @xmath470 . [ defn : m(l ) ] let @xmath4 be the yoccoz return function ( possibly of length @xmath476 ) . we define @xmath477 by @xmath478 for @xmath479 . an easy inductive argument shows that @xmath477 is well defined since @xmath480 for any @xmath246 . we have @xmath481 if and only if @xmath482 . [ cor : bounds on r(l ) ] if @xmath4 is a yoccoz return function ( possibly of length @xmath483 ) , then @xmath484 for any @xmath485 . we have @xmath486 from the definition of @xmath477 and condition 1 . so if @xmath487 , then @xmath488 . so we would have @xmath489 contrary to condition 1 . the above corollary only depends on conditions 1 and 2 . we call @xmath490 the _ a priori choices _ for @xmath464 . [ lem : l equiv 0 mod h = > choose r(l+1 ) = m+1 ] let @xmath4 be a yoccoz return function of length @xmath476 . if @xmath491 , then the choice @xmath492 extends @xmath4 to length @xmath463 . it is straightforward to check that @xmath493 . thus the choice @xmath492 satisfies condition 3b . also @xmath494 satisfies condition 1 . it follows that we can make a choice when one extends a yoccoz return function of length @xmath462 whenever @xmath491 . [ prop : 2 choices to extend tau ] let @xmath4 be a yoccoz return function of length @xmath476 . if @xmath491 , there are at least two distinct ways to choose @xmath464 that extends @xmath4 to length @xmath463 . we can choose @xmath472 or @xmath495 by lemmas [ lem : can choose r(l+1 ) = 1 ] and [ lem : l equiv 0 mod h = > choose r(l+1 ) = m+1 ] respectively . since @xmath476 , we have @xmath496 . therefore these are distinct choices . for @xmath476 and @xmath497 , there are at least @xmath498 yoccoz return functions of length @xmath462 with @xmath499 . some of the a priori choices for @xmath464 may not be permitted . the valid choice for @xmath464 are only those @xmath211 that satisfy condition 3 , so they depend on the definition of @xmath500 . for instance the valid choices for @xmath501 depend on how we define @xmath465 . [ ex : tau of 3 ] first suppose that @xmath502 . we can choose @xmath503 and @xmath504 . since @xmath505 , we can choose @xmath506 and @xmath507 . these are the only valid choices by condition 1 . now suppose that @xmath508 . we can choose @xmath509 , so @xmath510 . since @xmath511 , we can choose @xmath512 and @xmath507 . it is not immediately clear if we can choose @xmath513 . we must check condition 3a , so we ask if @xmath514 is a @xmath4-portal ? that is , we check if @xmath515 is a @xmath4-portal . but @xmath466 , so 1 is not a @xmath4-portal by lemma [ lem : tau - portal equivalences ] . hence if @xmath508 , then @xmath516 . the last case illustrates a key consequence of condition 3 . the choices of @xmath517 are restricted . a priori if @xmath508 , then we have that @xmath518 . however we have just shown that @xmath513 is not a valid choice . in general we should not expect that all the a priori choices are valid . we continue example [ ex : tau of 3 ] . it would be too cumbersome to consider all possible @xmath4-functions of length @xmath462 with @xmath29 since there are at least @xmath519 of them . so we will we consider particular choices for @xmath465 and @xmath501 . suppose that @xmath502 and @xmath520 . we define @xmath521 . we can choose @xmath522 ( @xmath523 ) . since @xmath524 we can choose @xmath525 ( @xmath526 ) . we use condition 3a to check if we can choose @xmath527 : @xmath528 so @xmath527 is a possible choice . if we choose @xmath527 ( @xmath529 ) , then 3 is @xmath4-portal . in the above example all three of the a priori choices are possible . continuing the above example , the cases when @xmath530 or @xmath531 are similar , so suppose we define @xmath532 , so @xmath533 and @xmath534 . we have defined the following yoccoz return function of length 6 : @xmath535 now we consider @xmath536 and the possible choices for @xmath537 . consider the orbit of @xmath536 : we have @xmath538 . hence @xmath539 . of course @xmath540 ( @xmath541 ) is a valid choice . since @xmath542 , we can choose @xmath543 and @xmath544 . now @xmath545 and @xmath546 are @xmath4-portals , so @xmath547 or @xmath545 are also legal choices corresponding to @xmath548 or @xmath549 respectively . in the above example , notice how we found valid choices for @xmath464 by tracking the orbit of @xmath462 and looking for @xmath4-portals . we give an example of defining a @xmath4-function on all integers , rather than just an initial segment . branner and hubbard showed that there are uni - persistent polynomials where first return times of the persistent critical point are the fibonacci numbers ( * ? ? ? we give a new proof of their result using theorem [ thm : tau cond ] . for an abstract yoccoz return function , we define the _ first return time _ of @xmath74 by @xmath550 ( compare to definition [ defn : tau ] ) . let @xmath551 denote the fibonacci numbers : @xmath552 and @xmath553 for @xmath554 . define @xmath555 by @xmath556 and @xmath557 . we construct a @xmath4-function so that @xmath558 for @xmath559 . it follows that @xmath560 . we have @xmath561 , and @xmath562 by condition 1 . now @xmath563 , and we want @xmath564 . we define @xmath565 and @xmath520 ( see example [ ex : tau of 2 ] ) . note that @xmath566 and @xmath567 . inductively assume that we have defined @xmath568 for @xmath569 for some @xmath570 such that for any @xmath96 , if @xmath571 for some @xmath246 with @xmath572 , then @xmath573 . in particular , @xmath574 for @xmath575 . it follows that @xmath576 is a @xmath4-portal for any @xmath577 . by the inductive hypothesis , @xmath578 and @xmath579 is a @xmath4-portal . hence @xmath580 is a valid choice , which gives @xmath581 . with this choice , @xmath582 is a @xmath4-portal . using the fibonacci relation and the definition of @xmath576 , we find @xmath583 we define @xmath584 for @xmath585 . it is easy to check that @xmath586 for @xmath587 . we choose @xmath580 precisely because the fibonacci numbers are defined by an order 2 recursion . recall that for @xmath588 , the @xmath589-bonacci numbers are defined by the order @xmath589 recursion @xmath590 for @xmath591 ( we use the initial conditions @xmath592 and @xmath593 for @xmath594 ) . it is straightforward to generalize the above example to give a @xmath4-function whose first return times are the @xmath589-bonacci numbers . the main difference is that we choose @xmath595 for @xmath570 sufficiently large . in this section , we prove theorem [ main thm converse ] . that is , we show that any abstract yoccoz return function with a finite exceptional set @xmath20 can be realized by a uni - persistent polynomial ( theorem [ thm : realize tau ] ) . there are two main parts to the proof . in [ subsect : twd from tau ] , we construct an uni - persistent tree with dynamics that realizes @xmath4 as the yoccoz return function of its critical end ( proposition [ prop : tau twd ] ) . every tree with dynamics is realizable by a polynomial @xcite , so this construction gives the desired polynomial . we construct the tree with dynamics level by level . having constructed the tree with dynamics up to some level @xmath462 , and realizing @xmath4 to length @xmath462 , lemma [ lem : ext ] ( the _ extension lemma _ ) tells us we can extend the tree to level @xmath463 in such a way that we realize @xmath596 . the remainder of the section ( [ subsect : proof of ext lem ] ) is the technical details of the proof the extension lemma . the key point is to keep track of where in the tree there are portals . in our construction , points in @xmath20 will be realized as type iii portals using escaping critical points . we need information about the degree of the escape , which in turn tells us whether the portal is simple or compound ( see lemma [ lem : tau simple portals ] ) . [ thm : realize tau ] let @xmath4 be an abstract yoccoz return function for some finite set @xmath8 with @xmath9 . for any integers @xmath609 and @xmath26 , there is a uni - persistent polynomial @xmath1 of degree @xmath27 with a disconnected julia set such that [ cor : bi - crit realization of tau ] let @xmath4 be an abstract yoccoz return function with @xmath611 and @xmath29 . let @xmath612 with @xmath26 . then there is a bi - critical polynomial which realizes @xmath4 . 1 . if there are distinct @xmath602 such that @xmath613 , @xmath614 and @xmath615 , then any polynomial realizing @xmath4 must have degree at least @xmath616 . in particular , the minimal degree of a polynomial realizing @xmath4 is 4 . 2 . otherwise @xmath4 can be realized by a polynomial of degree @xmath617 . in particular , @xmath4 can be realized by a cubic polynomial . condition 1 above holds if and only if @xmath618 by definition [ defn : esc(m ) ] . the only statement that does not follow immediately from theorem [ thm : realize tau ] is the degree of the polynomial in case 1 must be at least @xmath616 . if the degree were @xmath617 , then in the tree with dynamics @xmath619 would be a simple @xmath291-portal . so corollary [ cor : tab d ] would apply , which would contradict the existence of @xmath246 and @xmath57 . in the above corollary , condition 1 is the negation of kiwi s fourth tableau axiom . hence tableaux which do not satisfy the fourth axiom are covered by condition 1 and those that do are covered by condition 2 . let @xmath4 be an abstract yoccoz return function for some finite set @xmath8 with @xmath9 . fix @xmath628 with @xmath626 . if @xmath620 is the sequence defined in definition [ defn : d_l ] , then the following conditions hold : the sequence @xmath620 from definition [ defn : d_l ] with @xmath633 is the minimal @xmath4-admissible sequence in the sense that if @xmath634 is any @xmath4-admissible sequence , then @xmath635 for each @xmath137 . in this sequence , @xmath636 + 2 . [ prop : tau twd ] let @xmath4 be an abstract yoccoz return function for some finite set @xmath8 with @xmath9 . if @xmath621 is @xmath4 admissible , then there is a tree with dynamics with a unique critical end @xmath375 such that the yoccoz return function of @xmath291 is @xmath4 and @xmath637 for each @xmath103 . [ defn : tree of finite length ] for @xmath458 , a tree of _ length _ @xmath462 with dynamics is a tree with levels @xmath638 , which satisfies all tree axioms ( definition [ defn : tree axioms ] and [ defn : twd ] ) , except that the vertices of @xmath639 have no children . we also refer to such a tree as a tree of _ finite length_. given two trees with dynamics : @xmath118 with degree function @xmath643 of length @xmath462 and @xmath644 with degree function @xmath645 of length @xmath646 , we say that @xmath647 is an _ extension _ of @xmath132 if @xmath648 for @xmath649 , @xmath650 and @xmath651 for all @xmath82 . we will always construct extensions where we add one level to a tree . given a tree with dynamics of length @xmath462 that realizes @xmath652 , the key point is to extend in such a way that we realize @xmath596 . the following lemma gives conditions when we can do so . [ lem : ext ] let @xmath4 be an abstract yoccoz return function for some finite set @xmath8 with @xmath9 . let @xmath621 be @xmath4 admissible . let @xmath118 be a tree with dynamics of length @xmath462 . suppose that there is a critical branch @xmath653 such that @xmath637 , and @xmath404 for @xmath654 . also suppose that @xmath655 for @xmath656 . then there exists @xmath644 , an extension of @xmath118 of length @xmath463 with @xmath657 such that we will construct the first few levels of the tree explicitly and then start an inductive procedure . the tree will satisfy the following conditions at each stage of the construction : there is a critical branch @xmath662 , @xmath637 for @xmath663 , @xmath664 , and @xmath665 for all @xmath666 . also assume that for each @xmath448 with @xmath667 , @xmath668 and if @xmath669 , then @xmath395 is a compound @xmath291-portal . we have @xmath674 . let @xmath675 and define @xmath676 where @xmath677 , @xmath678 ( @xmath679 ) , and @xmath680 for every @xmath681 . see figure [ fig : top of tree ] . now @xmath321 has at least one non - critical child , @xmath682 , such that @xmath683 . thus @xmath684 . by condition 1 , @xmath685 . so we have @xmath686 . also if @xmath687 , then @xmath321 has at least two distinct non - critical children with @xmath688 so it is a compound @xmath291-portal . we satisfy all hypotheses stated above , so we can start the inductive process . suppose that we have constructed @xmath689 satisfying the above hypotheses for some @xmath483 . we apply lemma [ lem : ext ] and extend to length @xmath463 . if @xmath462 is a @xmath4-portal , then @xmath690 and @xmath368 is a compound @xmath291-portal by lemma [ cor : classify type i c - portals ] . if @xmath691 , then @xmath692 so there is an escape at @xmath659 provided @xmath693 . thus @xmath694 by lemma [ lem : port iii categorized ] . if @xmath695 , then @xmath659 is a compound @xmath291-portal by lemma [ lem : number of n.c.c of type 3 c - portal ] . we now prove the extension lemma . suppose that @xmath4 is an abstract yoccoz return function with exceptional set @xmath20 and @xmath621 is a @xmath4-admissible sequence . we say a tree with dynamics @xmath132 of length @xmath462 that satisfies the hypotheses of the extension lemma _ realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath462_. we prove the extension lemma by showing that we can find an extension of @xmath132 of length @xmath463 that realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath463 . the only difficulty is to extend in such a way that @xmath697 ( equivalently @xmath698 ) . the proof consists of considering various cases for @xmath464 . the cases when @xmath472 or @xmath699 are straightforward . if @xmath700 , we need to carefully examine @xmath701 . in particular , whether or not it is a simple or compound @xmath291-portal . we prove the lemma when we have covered all possible cases . [ lem : ext choose fn(vc ) ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics of length @xmath462 . suppose that @xmath702 , @xmath703 with @xmath704 , and @xmath705 for some @xmath706 . if @xmath150 is a child of @xmath707 , then there exists @xmath644 , an extension of @xmath118 of length @xmath463 with @xmath708 such that the hard case is when @xmath153 , the general case follows by a straightforward induction argument . we define @xmath711 in three steps . first let @xmath708 have the above 3 properties . we need to give @xmath76 enough additional children to satisfy d2 , and be sure we do not give @xmath76 so many children that we violate d1 . since @xmath712 , we can give @xmath76 exactly @xmath713 non - critical children such that @xmath714 . for each other child of @xmath122 , @xmath715 , @xmath76 gets @xmath716 non - critical children such that @xmath717 . for any other @xmath718 we give @xmath719 exactly @xmath720 non - critical children which map to each child of @xmath721 . [ cor : ext with n_1 equal ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics of length @xmath462 . suppose that @xmath702 and @xmath703 with @xmath722 . if @xmath132 has a critical branch @xmath723 , then there exists @xmath644 , an extension of @xmath118 of length @xmath463 with @xmath708 such that @xmath232 is a child of @xmath76 , @xmath709 , and @xmath724 . say that @xmath725 for some @xmath726 . then by assumption , @xmath298 is a vertex of @xmath81 and a child of @xmath263 since @xmath727 . apply lemma [ lem : ext choose fn(vc ) ] with @xmath728 , @xmath729 , and @xmath730 . the first two conclusion follow immediately . also we have @xmath731 since @xmath732 . we always have @xmath733 by corollary [ cor : n_1 non - dec ] . thus the desired equality is true . say @xmath738 . by lemma [ main lem ] , @xmath739 is a @xmath291-portal . say @xmath740 is a non - critical child of @xmath376 such that @xmath741 . apply lemma [ lem : ext choose fn(vc ) ] with @xmath742 , @xmath736 , @xmath743 , @xmath744 , and @xmath745 . then @xmath746 . since @xmath747 and @xmath740 is non - critical , we have @xmath748 by lemma [ lem : ret times add ] . it is harder to show that there is an extension for the case @xmath700 . we do so not just keeping track of @xmath291-portals , but by considering simple versus compound @xmath291-portals . particularly we need conditions that insure that a vertex does not obstruct a portal . [ lem : 2c of fn(v ) hit by 2 ncc of v ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics possibly of finite length . suppose that @xmath749 , and @xmath750 for some @xmath706 . if @xmath751 and @xmath752 are two distinct children of @xmath707 , then @xmath76 has at least two non - critical children , @xmath753 and @xmath754 , such that @xmath755 we proceed by induction on @xmath154 . the hard case is when @xmath153 , the general case is straightforward . let @xmath756 for some @xmath246 . by d1 , @xmath757 it follows from this lower bound on @xmath246 and the second inequality above that at most @xmath758 of @xmath759 are critical . in the above lemma , the assumption that @xmath151 has two distinguished children can not be weakened . if @xmath151 has only one distinguished child , then it is quite easy to construct examples where @xmath76 has only one child mapped to the distinguished child . we apply the above lemma in the case when @xmath151 is a compound @xmath291-portal . [ cor : ret to compound c - port = > 2 ncc ] let @xmath132 be a tree with dynamics possibly of finite length . let @xmath291 be a critical end or branch . let @xmath82 and @xmath760 with @xmath761 for some @xmath194 . if @xmath762 is a compound @xmath291-portal , then @xmath76 has two distinct non - critical children @xmath753 and @xmath754 , such that @xmath763 for @xmath764 . we will use induction on @xmath765 . the induction step is easy , so we only give the proof when @xmath766 . since @xmath762 is a compound @xmath291-portal , it has two children @xmath767 with @xmath768 for @xmath769 . apply lemma [ lem : 2c of fn(v ) hit by 2 ncc of v ] with @xmath770 , @xmath771 , and @xmath772 . so @xmath76 has at least two non - critical children @xmath773 . fix @xmath774 or @xmath699 . by corollary [ cor : n_1 non - dec ] , but @xmath776 for some @xmath64 . so @xmath777 by definition of @xmath778 . therefore by lemma [ lem : ret times add ] , @xmath779 . [ sublem : r geq 3 and compound = > ext ] suppose that @xmath132 realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath462 . suppose @xmath700 and @xmath780 . if @xmath376 is a compound @xmath291-portal , then there is an extension of @xmath132 of length @xmath463 that realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath463 . . apply corollary [ cor : ret to compound c - port = > 2 ncc ] with @xmath782 and @xmath783 , to get a non - critical child @xmath753 with @xmath784 . by lemma [ lem : ext choose fn(vc ) ] , we can extend to a tree with dynamics of length @xmath463 with @xmath657 such that we prove the case of the extension lemma when @xmath700 and @xmath368 passes through a simple @xmath291-portal @xmath376 . in light of lemma [ lem : returns to simple portals ] we need to ensure that @xmath376 is not obstructed by some other vertex . [ sublem : r geq 3 and simple = > ext ] suppose that @xmath132 realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath462 . let @xmath787 and @xmath780 . if @xmath376 is a simple @xmath291-portal , then there is an extension of @xmath132 of length @xmath463 that realizes @xmath4 to level @xmath463 . we must have @xmath788 or else @xmath376 would be a compound @xmath291-portal by lemma [ lem : number of n.c.c of type 3 c - portal ] . let @xmath789 . we can not have @xmath790 or we have @xmath791 by definition [ defn : esc(m)].2 . so @xmath792 , which implies @xmath793 . thus @xmath794 has at least two non - critical children @xmath795 with @xmath796 . apply corollary [ cor : ret to compound c - port = > 2 ncc ] , to get an extension with @xmath797 for some @xmath255 . let @xmath781 . we want an extension of @xmath132 such that @xmath798 . if @xmath799 , then we can apply corollary [ cor : ext with n_1 equal ] . if @xmath800 , then we can apply sublemma [ sublem : r=2 = > ext ] . it remains to show the case when @xmath801 . say that @xmath802 , so @xmath803 . by condition 3 of theorem [ thm : tau cond ] , either @xmath804 is a @xmath4-portal or @xmath805 . first consider the case when @xmath806 is a @xmath4-portal . by lemma [ lem : tau - portal equivalences ] , @xmath807 . thus @xmath395 is a compound @xmath291-portal by corollary [ cor : classify type i c - portals ] . so sublemma [ sublem : r geq 3 and compound = > ext ] applies and we can extend . next assume that @xmath808 . since @xmath620 is @xmath4 admissible , we have @xmath809 . thus @xmath810 . if @xmath395 is a compound @xmath291-portal , then we can extend using sublemma [ sublem : r geq 3 and compound = > ext ] . if @xmath395 is a simple @xmath291-portal , then an application of sublemma [ sublem : r geq 3 and simple = > ext ] finishes the proof . we remark that the tree with dynamics that we construct using proposition [ prop : tau twd ] has no type ii @xmath291-portals . it follows from lemma [ lem : tau simple portals ] that @xmath610 is the minimal degree for a polynomial without type ii @xmath291-portals that realizes @xmath4 . we might reduce the number of escaping critical points and thereby reduce the degree of the polynomial in some cases if in our construction some points in @xmath20 corresponded to type ii @xmath291-portals instead of type iii @xmath291-portals . however using type ii @xmath291-portals would require analyzing the returns of two ends to each other , which is a question beyond the scope of this paper . bodil branner and john hubbard , iteration of cubic polynomials , part ii : patterns and parapatterns , _ acta math . _ * 169 * ( 1992 ) , 229 325 . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr1194004[mr1194004 ( 94d:30044 ) ] bodil branner , puzzles and para - puzzles of quadratic and cubic polynomials , _ complex dynamical systems _ ( robert l. devaney , ed . ) , proc . 49 , ams , 1994 , pp . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr1315533[mr1315533 ] adrien douady and john hamal hubbard , on the dynamics of polynomial - like mappings , _ ann . sci . cole norm . _ ( 4 ) * 18 * ( 1985 ) , no . 2 , 287343 . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr816367[mr816367 ( 87f:58083 ) ] nathaniel d. emerson , dynamics of polynomials with disconnected julia sets , _ discrete contin . syst . _ * 9 * ( 2003 ) , no . 4 , 801834 . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr1975358[mr1975358 ( 2004m:37083 ) ] j. h. hubbard , local connectivity of julia sets and bifurcation loci : three theorems of j .- c . yoccoz , _ topological methods in modern mathematics _ ( stony brook , ny , 1991 ) , publish or perish , houston , tx , 1993 , pp . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr1215974[mr1215974 ( 94c:58172 ) ] jan kiwi , puiseux series polynomial dynamics and iteration of complex cubic polynomials , _ ann . fourier ( grenoble ) _ * 56 * ( 2006 ) , no . 5 , 13371404 . http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=mr2273859[mr2273859 ( 2007h:37066 ) ]

we study the dynamics of complex polynomials . we obtain results on poincar return maps defined on certain neighborhoods of a point with bounded orbit under a polynomial . we introduce a generalization of the yoccoz tau - function , the _ yoccoz return function _ , which codes the returns of a critical point with bounded orbit of any complex polynomial with a disconnect julia set . we give necessary conditions on yoccoz return functions , which allow for the recursive definition of an abstract tau - function . these conditions are also sufficient for polynomials that have a disconnected julia set and exactly one critical point with bounded orbit . department of mathematics + university of southern california + los angeles , california 90089 e - mail : mailto:[email protected][`[email protected] ` ]

laparoscopic cholecystectomy ( lc ) is the most commonly performed laparoscopic procedure in the united states . since the acceptance of the technique in 1988 , it has become the preferred method for removal of the gallbladder . multiple studies have shown lc to be safe in terms of morbidity and mortality . when combined with shorter in - hospital stays for the majority of patients , however , lc is known to have a slightly higher complication rate than open cholecystectomy , with the most common complication being injury to the common bile duct ( 0.49% to 1.2% ) followed by vascular injury , bowel / hollow viscous injury , pneumoperitoneum - related complication , wound infection , and trocar site herniation . the major factors in most , if not all , cases of intraoperative complication are operator inexperience , significant inflammation , difficulty in identification of the operative plane and/or pertinent anatomy , and electrocautery - related injury . historically , in each of these situations , surgeons may attempt to avoid complications by using a different laparoscopic approach or forego any laparoscopic techniques and convert to an open cholecystectomy . the dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy ( ddlc ) , described by drs geiss and fullum , is a common secondary technique that may be safer in acutely inflamed patients , in the presence of aberrant anatomy , and in the hands of less - experienced surgeons . the technique uses a retrograde approach and also the ultrasonic scalpel in lieu of electrocautery . however , if surgical residents only practice this approach when faced with acute circumstances , is their training adequate for them to be competent in this technique after residency ? the purpose of this study was to determine the optimal methods to teach surgical residents in an academic teaching hospital dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a secondary technique while ensuring that their training in this technique was sufficient to use in future cases after residency . our secondary goals were to determine the average operative time for the procedure , and to assess complication rates and length of postoperative hospital stay . prior to using dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the operating room , the surgical residents at an academic teaching hospital were given didactic lessons on the procedure in a classroom setting . following these lessons , the residents practiced the procedure in a porcine animate simulation center . once the attending surgeon determined that the residents were able to perform the technique safely in the patient setting , the residents graduated to the operating room . they performed 98 consecutive dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomies in a 41-month period while under intensive supervision . the patients in these cases all had an indication for cholecystectomy but did not necessarily have significant inflammation or aberrant anatomy . rather , these cases were performed in an attempt to achieve resident competency in the dome - down technique under nonacute circumstances . this questionnaire was designed to poll residents concerning their individual experience with both lc and ddlc , their impression of the advantages and disadvantages of ddlc , and their satisfaction with the methods used to train them in the ddlc technique ( figure 1 ) . after ddlc was completed in all 98 patients , the medical records of these patients were retrospectively reviewed and evaluated for operation time , length of hospital stay , and complications during and following the procedure . all procedures were performed with the dome - down technique as described by drs geiss and fullum . a 10/12-mm instrument port was placed in the upper midline ( left of the falciform ligament ) and two 5-mm instrument ports were placed in the right upper quadrant . this procedure has since been updated to the use of a 5-mm port in the upper midline instead of the second 10/12-mm port . once the gallbladder was adequately exposed , it was grasped by the dome and dissected free of the liver bed by using electrocautery in the first few patients and then an ultrasonic scalpel thereafter . the ultrasonic scalpel was set on level 2 with curved blades used on variable settings for improved hemostasis . once the gallbladder was free of the liver bed , the anatomy of calot 's triangle was identified by careful , blunt dissection . the cystic artery was transected with the ultrasonic scalpel , then the cystic duct was ligated by using a ligature loop and transected with the ultrasonic scalpel . a specimen bag was used only if the gallbladder had been perforated or if the integrity of the gallbladder was questionable . the residents performed dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomies on 98 patients ( 14 male and 84 female ) with a mean age of 39 years ( range , 18 to 72 ) . the mean operative time was 78.40 minutes ( range , 40 to 155 ) with most cases performed by post graduate year ( pgy)-2 and pgy-3 residents . the mean hospital stay was 29.3 hours , with 83% of patients being discharged from the recovery room or within the first 23 hours . it was identified during one of the earliest cases performed before use of the ultrasonic scalpel . the complication resulted in readmission of the patient 14 days after discharge with bile peritonitis secondary to a biloma . this was found to have resulted from an unrecognized injury when electrocautery was used to coagulate bleeding from the liver bed . their average number of dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed at the time of completing the survey was 4.6 . the mean number of cases that the residents felt were needed to attain competency in the performance of ddlc was 14.7 . although this number is much less than the historical number of 40 cases needed to be competent in the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy , the residents answering this question were already trained in traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy . therefore , when comparing the complexity of the ddlc and traditional lc on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most complex , the residents answered that the ddlc was a complexity level of 5 on average and the traditional lc was a complexity level of 4 on average . when asked which part of the training methods used in this study enhanced their learning of the ddlc procedure , 50% of the residents believed their learning curve was dramatically affected by exposure to greater numbers of ddlc cases in the patient setting . thirty - six percent of residents believed the learning curve improved with animate lab experience . residents who had performed ddlc in at least 3 animal lab sessions and 5 operative cases were more likely to have a greater comfort level with the ddlc in the patient setting . of the residents who were planning on performing laparoscopic cholecystectomies in their future practices , 67% said they would use the ddlc technique under appropriate circumstances . the remainder of residents cited difficultly visualizing the anatomy due to bleeding and substantially greater comfort performing the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy as reasons why they would not use the dome - down approach in their future practices . junior residents ( pgy-1 through pgy-3 ) who had less experience with traditional lc and more lab opportunities were less likely to approach the ddlc negatively and were found to be able to incorporate the technique more rapidly and effectively . the residents performed dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomies on 98 patients ( 14 male and 84 female ) with a mean age of 39 years ( range , 18 to 72 ) . the mean operative time was 78.40 minutes ( range , 40 to 155 ) with most cases performed by post graduate year ( pgy)-2 and pgy-3 residents . the mean hospital stay was 29.3 hours , with 83% of patients being discharged from the recovery room or within the first 23 hours . it was identified during one of the earliest cases performed before use of the ultrasonic scalpel . the complication resulted in readmission of the patient 14 days after discharge with bile peritonitis secondary to a biloma . this was found to have resulted from an unrecognized injury when electrocautery was used to coagulate bleeding from the liver bed . their average number of dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed at the time of completing the survey was 4.6 . the mean number of cases that the residents felt were needed to attain competency in the performance of ddlc was 14.7 . although this number is much less than the historical number of 40 cases needed to be competent in the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy , the residents answering this question were already trained in traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy . therefore , when comparing the complexity of the ddlc and traditional lc on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most complex , the residents answered that the ddlc was a complexity level of 5 on average and the traditional lc was a complexity level of 4 on average . when asked which part of the training methods used in this study enhanced their learning of the ddlc procedure , 50% of the residents believed their learning curve was dramatically affected by exposure to greater numbers of ddlc cases in the patient setting thirty - six percent of residents believed the learning curve improved with animate lab experience . residents who had performed ddlc in at least 3 animal lab sessions and 5 operative cases were more likely to have a greater comfort level with the ddlc in the patient setting . of the residents who were planning on performing laparoscopic cholecystectomies in their future practices , 67% said they would use the ddlc technique under appropriate circumstances . the remainder of residents cited difficultly visualizing the anatomy due to bleeding and substantially greater comfort performing the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy as reasons why they would not use the dome - down approach in their future practices . junior residents ( pgy-1 through pgy-3 ) who had less experience with traditional lc and more lab opportunities were less likely to approach the ddlc negatively and were found to be able to incorporate the technique more rapidly and effectively . the purpose of teaching residents to perform dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy is to provide them with an alternative method for laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder in technically difficult cases , particularly when altered anatomy or acute inflammation exists . however , ddlc is not intended to replace good surgical judgment and converting to open cholecystectomy should be used when applicable . in this study , we developed a method that would enhance the learning curve of residents training in the ddlc procedure . not only did we use classroom didactics and animate laboratories , but also the residents performed the dome - down technique in consecutive lcs in an effort to expose the residents to a sufficient number of cases to develop competency in this procedure . based on the results from the resident 's questionnaire , the most important aspect to training residents in this procedure is exposure to an adequate number of cases in the operating room . performing 14 ddlcs during a surgical residency may be difficult with only a few attending surgeons teaching this method . this is why having the residents perform the ddlc in consecutive cases where the patients do not necessarily have acute inflammation or aberrant anatomy may provide the necessary number of cases for proper training . additionally , as seen by the results of our questionnaire , simulator training improves the laparoscopic skills and increases the confidence level of the residents prior to performing this procedure in the operating room . the early use of electrocautery led to our only complication of a biliary leak that resulted in readmission secondary to bile peritonitis . however , this type of injury may have been avoided by the use of the ultrasonic scalpel based on its safety profile and the lack of stray current that can be associated with traditional electrocautery . future studies may include follow - up with the residents participating in this study to determine whether they do indeed use the dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy in their own practices and their comfort level with the procedure at the time of use . another suggestion might be to incorporate this training method in multiple academic teaching facilities , then prospectively look at the number of cases needed to gain competency in performing the dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy compared with those facilities that have not incorporated this method .

background : although laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the most commonly performed laparoscopic procedure in the united states , complications may still arise , especially when acute inflammation or aberrant anatomy is present . in these situations , surgeons may choose to convert to a variation of the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy , the dome - down approach . we assessed the best approach to teaching this technique as a secondary method in an academic teaching hospital.methods:surgical residents were first given didactic instruction on the dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy , then trained in the animate laboratory , and finally graduated to the operating room . following training , the residents completed a 7-question questionnaire to assess their reaction to this method . the charts of 98 patients who underwent dome - down laparoscopic cholecystectomy were retrospectively reviewed to assess the complications associated with the procedure , the average operative time , and length of hospital stay.results:the resident questionnaire showed that the learning curve was dramatically affected when an adequate number of cases were performed . the mean number needed to gain competency was 14.7 . the use of animate simulators was also important . the mean operative time was 78.40 minutes , with most cases performed by postgraduate year-2 and -3 residents . only one complication , bile peritonitis , arose early in the study.conclusion:dome-down laparoscopic cholecystectomy must be taught to surgical residents as a secondary approach to use when faced with a difficult case . the most important factor in teaching this technique is exposure to an adequate number of cases . the use of animate simulators and didactic training is also helpful .

Norman MacArthur, left, and Bill Novak were married on Sunday after spending more than a decade as father and son. (Photo: Matt slocum/AP Photo) A couple who were legally father and son for the last fifteen years had their adoption vacated and were married this week after 52 years together. Norman MacArthur, 74, and Bill Novak, 76, were married in Pennsylvania on Sunday. The couple, who has been together since their 20s, registered as domestic partners in New York City in 1994, but in 2000 they moved to Erwinna, Penn., where domestic partnerships are not legally recognized. “When we moved to Pennsylvania, we had both retired and we were of the age where one begins to do estate planning,” MacArthur tells Yahoo Parenting. “We went to a lawyer who told us Pennsylvania was never going to allow same-sex marriage, so the only legal avenue we had in order to be afforded any rights was adoption.” STORY: Gay Dads Speak Out About New Ad Campaign MacArthur says he thought the suggestion was strange at first. “It struck me as fairly unusual, but we looked into it and discovered that other couples had done it. [Without the adoption] we would be legally strangers.” An adoption would grant the couple certain legal rights they felt compelled to secure. “Most importantly, it would allow us visitation rights in a hospital, and gaining of knowledge if one of us was in the hospital,” he says. “With new HIPAA privacy laws, hospitals are very constrained in what they can say to other people. If we were legally related, I would be allowed into the ER and entitled to know what Bill’s condition was if anything should happen.” Bill Novak, left, adopted Norman MacArthur in 2000 in order to secure legal rights. Today, the two are married. (Photo: Matt slocum/AP Photo) So in 2000, the two went through with a legal adoption. Since both men’s parents were dead, the adoption proceeding was fairly easy. “It wasn’t as though I was replacing one parent with another,” MacArthur says. “I was the son and Bill was the father. Bill is two years older than I am, so that was the only reason.” STORY: Mom’s Funeral Halted by Pastor Over Affectionate Photos of Two Wives Hayley Gorenberg, deputy legal director at Lambda Legal, says that while adoptions like these aren’t common, they aren’t unheard of, either. “It reflects people’s deep need to protect each other as family, and the attempt to use law that obviously isn’t a perfect fit to their situation to protect each other,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “While we’ve had a patchwork nation and people have been desperate to take care of each other in some basic way legally, people have sometimes gotten creative to do what they need to do to protect each other as a family. It’s entirely understandable.” But when Pennsylvania’s marriage laws, which prohibited same-sex marriage, were declared unconstitutional last year, MacArthur and Novak wanted to marry. “As marriage equality, which we’ve fought so hard for, is becoming more available, it makes sense that people would pursue the legal option that more closely explains who they are to each other,” Gorenberg says. “Marriage is the better fit, and if it was available without discrimination, it is what they would have chosen originally.” The couple’s original lawyer told them that no court would dissolve an adoption unless another person adopted MacArthur. “I said, ‘that makes no sense to me,’ so we began to look around for other options,” he says. Terry Clemons, a lawyer MacArthur knew through volunteer work on the township’s land preservation movement, suggested that the courts might look favorably on a petition to vacate an adoption if it was made clear that the only reason for the original adoption was to give a legal underpinning to the relationship. Read More ||||| This week, Bill Novak and Norman MacArthur will go from being father and son to a married couple. Before you jump to conclusions, consider this: Novak and MacArthur are not father and son biologically. Rather, their relationship through adoption was solely a technicality to enable the rights they desperately wanted but were not legally able to attain as a married couple. The same-sex couple, who have been together for more than 50 years, registered as domestic partners in New York City in 1994. After moving to Bucks County, they learned that Pennsylvania law does not recognize domestic partners and prohibits same sex marriages. “The time came about to do estate planning,” MacArthur said. “We were told at that time ‘hell would freeze over before Pennsylvania approves same sex marriage’.” They were advised by a lawyer that the only avenue to becoming legally related was through adoption. “It was the only legal method we could use in Pennsylvania to give underpinning to our relationship,” MacArthur said. So in 2000, Novak adopted MacArthur. Both sets of their parents were already deceased, preventing another legal hurdle. But still they dreamed of being married. That dream was on the cusp of becoming a reality 15 years later, when the United States District Court declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania’s Marriage Laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. But Novak and MacArthur, now in their 70s, faced another challenge: they were, in the eyes of Pennsylvania, father and son. The pair’s Petition to Vacate Adoption Decree was granted on May 14, allowing them to marry. This is the first case in Pennsylvania history seeking to vacate an adoption to allow a same sex couple to marry, their lawyer Terry Clemons said. Clemons said the approach of using adoption to gain rights was not uncommon around the turn of the century as same-sex couples were navigating estate planning and access to medical care. Clemons, a founding partner of Doylestown-based Clemons, Richter & Reiss, P.C., successfully petitioned the Orphans Court of Bucks County on behalf of the couple. He said when the order was signed from the bench, the couple’s friends and family erupted in applause. After years of having to hide behind a phony title in order to gain rights, Novak and MacArthur say they are overjoyed to be able to marry. “We are ecstatic beyond belief. I feel an enormous sense of not only relief but freedom that we can finally do something in Pennsylvania that I’ve been dreaming of for years.” And they’re wasting no time: the day after the Petition to Vacate Adoption Decree was approved, they applied for a marriage license, which MacArthur said was granted in 15 minutes. As of Wednesday, MacArthur said the exact date the couple will make it official hasn’t been set but it will be soon. He said they’ll be married at the courthouse but will celebrate with family and friends at a reception later this summer. The judge’s order will not only change MacArthur and Novak’s life, but will have an impact on many other same-sex couples in Pennsylvania, according to Clemons. “Not only does it pave the way for this couple to obtain a marriage license, it is an important precedent for others who may be in the same position,” Clemons, Richter & Reiss said in a statement. MORE ON PATCH ||||| When Bill Novak and Norman MacArthur moved to the Philadelphia suburbs nearly 20 years ago, they were dismayed to learn that Pennsylvania would not recognize their domestic partnership from New York. Bill Novak, left, and partner Norman MacArthur pose for a photograph near the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as father and son has gotten a... (Associated Press) Bill Novak, right, and partner Norman MacArthur pose for a photograph near the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as father and son has gotten... (Associated Press) Bill Novak, right, and partner Norman MacArthur pose for a photograph near the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as father and son has gotten... (Associated Press) Bill Novak, left, and partner Norman MacArthur walk down their driveway to pose for a photograph near the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as... (Associated Press) Bill Novak, right, and partner Norman MacArthur pose for a photograph at the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as father and son has gotten a... (Associated Press) Norman MacArthur, left, helps his partner Bill Novak down a set of steps after they posed for a photograph at the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized... (Associated Press) Bill Novak, left, and partner Norman MacArthur pose for a photograph near the couple's home, Friday, May 22, 2015, in Erwinna, Pa. The couple who were legally recognized as father and son has gotten a... (Associated Press) So, in 2000, Novak adopted MacArthur — two years his junior — as his son. The move reduced their inheritance tax liability and gave them hospital visitation and other legal rights then unavailable to same-sex couples. "We were told when we started to look into this that hell would freeze over before Pennsylvania allowed same-sex marriage," said MacArthur, now 76. "So doing the adoption was literally the only thing we could do to give legal underpinning to our relationship." After a federal judge lifted Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage ban last year, the couple, who have been together more than 50 years, wanted to tie the knot. But their legal status as father and son stood in the way. No longer. Judge Gary B. Gilman of Bucks County Orphans' Court vacated the adoption decree last week. It's the first time a same-sex couple in Pennsylvania petitioned to have their adoption dissolved so they could marry, according to the couple's attorney, Terry Clemons. "It removes the hurdle for other people who may be in the same position as Bill and Norm," Clemons said. There are no statistics on the number of gay couples who have used adoption as a means to obtain legal recognition of their relationships. But the practice had been controversial within the gay community, said Angela Giampolo, a Philadelphia attorney specializing in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender law. Giampolo said she was approached years ago by a gay couple who wanted her to help them navigate the adoption process, but she turned them down. "What a lot of advocates back then were saying was this was delegitimizing" of same-sex relationships, said Giampolo, who blogs as Philly Gay Lawyer. Also, unlike a marriage, the adoption could not be undone, she said she told the couple. MacArthur said his status as Novak's legal son did not change the dynamics of their relationship in any way. Friends and family greeted it with a shrug, he said. About 30 of the couple's friends were in the courtroom last week when the judge, noting rapid acceptance of same-sex marriage nationally, agreed to vacate the adoption. "The courtroom burst into applause. I burst into tears," MacArthur recalled. "They were certainly happy tears. After months of investigating ways that we could do this and finally having the decision coming down in our favor, I'm still walking 3 feet above the ground." He said he knows of several gay couples who went through the adoption process, and Clemons is representing one other couple who is petitioning to vacate the adoption so they can marry. Novak, 78, and MacArthur have already gotten a marriage license and plan to wed soon. The Doylestown Patch news site first reported on the couple.

– Norman MacArthur and Bill Novak spent the past 15 years as father and son in the eyes of the law; they'll spend the rest of their years as a married couple. The couple, together for more than 50 years, married in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Yahoo! Parenting reports. Prior to the ceremony, the men told Patch.com they were "ecstatic beyond belief." Novak adopted MacArthur in 2000 after the pair moved from New York to Pennsylvania and realized their legal partnership wouldn't be recognized. "The only legal avenue we had in order to be afforded any rights was adoption," MacArthur says. The "creative" strategy is "entirely understandable," a lawyer says. "It reflects people's deep need to protect each other as family." When a court agreed to dissolve their adoption this month so the men could marry, "The courtroom burst into applause. I burst into tears," MacArthur tells the AP. "They were certainly happy tears. After months of investigating ways that we could do this and finally having the decision coming down in our favor, I'm still walking 3 feet above the ground." This first case of an adoption-turned-marriage in the state "removes the hurdle for other people who may be in the same position as Bill and Norm," the couple's attorney says. He's already representing another couple hoping to vacate an adoption in order to tie the knot.

the redshifted 21 cm line emission from neutral hydrogens is a promising way to probe epoch of reionization ( eor ) , cosmic dawn and dark age @xcite because it reflects the physical state of intergalactic gas . actually , the brightness temperature depends on quantities crucial for the understanding of these epochs , such the neutral hydrogen fraction , spin temperature and baryon density . however , the observation of the redshifted 21 cm signal is very challenging due to the presence galactic and extragalactic foreground emissions , low - frequency radio telescopes such as murchison widefield array ( mwa ) @xcite , low frequency array ( lofar ) @xcite and paper @xcite have started their observations and set upper bounds on the brightness temperature . the upper bounds will improve further as our understanding of the foreground proceeds and the subtraction techniques become more sophisticated . ultimately , the square kilometre array ( ska ) @xcite and hydrogen epoch of reionization array ( hera ) @xcite will perform precise observations and will reveal the physical process of eor and cosmic dawn . one of the useful tools to extract information from observed data is to take the power spectrum of fluctuations in brightness temperature at a fixed redshift ( frequency ) . this is effective even for relatively low s / n data , which could be obtained by ongoing telescopes , while making a map of brightness temperature through imaging requires much higher sensitivity the ska is expected to have . actually , the power spectrum of brightness temperature has been studied by many authors . when fluctuations follow gaussian probability distribution , they can be well characterized by the power spectrum and higher - order statistics such as bispectrum and trispectrum have no further independent information . however , since reionization is a highly non - gaussian process which involves non - linear density fluctuations , star formation and expansion of hii bubbles , the brightness temperature fluctuations are also expected to be strongly non - gaussian @xcite . in this case , the power spectrum does not have sufficient information to describe the fluctuations and higher - order statistics have independent and complimentary information @xcite . in this paper , we develop a formalism to calculate the errors in bispectrum measurement contributed from thermal noise . noise estimation has been studied by many authors in case of power spectrum @xcite , and we extend the formalism given in @xcite . starting from the error in visibility obtained by a single baseline , we consider its summation over the baseline distribution in @xmath4 plane . a striking feature of thermal - noise bispectrum is that its ensemble average vanishes because thermal noise is gaussian . nevertheless , thermal noise contributes to the bispectrum error through its variance . considering the variance of thermal noise error is the main extention to the previous formalism . the structure of this paper is the following . in section 2 , we define the brightness temperature , it s power spectrum and bispectrum . in section 3 , we review the formalism of calculation of thermal - noise power spectrum given by @xcite . then , we develop a formalism for bispectrum and estimate thermal - noise bispectrum for several specific configuration of the wave number in section 4 . the summary and discussion will be given in section 5 . throughout this paper , we assume @xmath5cdm cosmology with @xmath6 @xcite . in this section , we define basic quantities concerning the 21 cm signal . the brightness temperature @xmath7 is defined by spin temperature offsetting from cmb temperature , @xmath8 , \label{eq : brightness}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath9 is the neutral fraction of hydrogen , @xmath10 is the matter over density , @xmath11 is the hubble parameter and @xmath12 is the velocity gradient along the line of sight . then we introduce fluctuation of @xmath13 , @xmath14 where @xmath15 is the average value of brightness temperature , @xmath16 is spatial position . the power spectrum of brightness temperature is defined from its fourier transform , @xmath17 , as , @xmath18 where @xmath19 represents the ensemble average , @xmath20 is position in fourier space . the bispectrum @xmath21 can be defined in a similar way : @xmath22 here the delta function forces the three wave vectors to make a triangle and @xmath21 is dependent on only two of the three vectors ( chosen @xmath23 and @xmath24 here ) due to this triangle condition . in this section , we summarize a formalism to estimate the thermal noise for power spectrum , following @xcite . first , we define visibility @xmath25 for a pair of antennae as , @xmath26 where @xmath27 is the thermal - noise temperature , @xmath28 is the direction of primely beam , @xmath29 is observed frequency and @xmath30 is a product of the window functions concering the field of view and bandwidth . the rms thermal - noise fluctuation per visibility is given by , @xmath31 , \label{visnoise}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath32 is the observed wavelength , @xmath33 is the total system temperature , @xmath34 is the effective area of antenna , @xmath35 is the width of the frequency channel and @xmath36 is total observing time . by fourier transforming the visibility in the frequency direction , we obtain , @xmath37,\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath38 is the bandwidth , @xmath39 is the @xmath40-th frequency channel and we define @xmath41 . the covariance matrix of detector noise for a single baseline is given by , @xmath42 where , we used the definition of power spectrum for noise temperature ( eq . [ eq : ps_def ] ) in third equality and assumed that the covariance vanishes when @xmath43 in the last equality . further , we assumed that the power spectrum is constant for a range where the window function have non - zero value and we pulled @xmath44 out of the integration . then the integration of window functions can be evaluated as follows : @xmath45 where @xmath46 is the field of view . thus we obtain , @xmath47 on the other hand , the covariance matrix for a single baseline can be evaluated from eq . ( [ visnoise ] ) , @xmath48 again , we assumed that there is no correlation between the thermal noise with different @xmath49 and @xmath29 . if multiple baselines contribute to the same pixel , the observing time is effectively increased . here we assume that the number density of the baselines in @xmath4-plane is constant under rotation with respect to @xmath50-axis , that is , depends only on @xmath51 where @xmath52 is the angle between @xmath53 and @xmath50-axis . therefore , the effective observing time @xmath54 can be written as , @xmath55 here @xmath56 represents area per pixel on @xmath4-plane which reflects the resolution on @xmath4-plane and @xmath57 is the number density of baselines on @xmath4-plane . thus , we obtain the covariance matrix for a pixel in @xmath58-space , replacing @xmath36 with @xmath59 , as , @xmath60 thus , comparing with eq . ( [ eq : cn ] ) and substituting eq . ( [ eq : tu ] ) , we obtain , @xmath61 now we convert the noise power spectrum of @xmath53 space to the one of cosmological fourier space @xmath62 . using the following relations @xmath63 where , @xmath64 is the hubble constant , @xmath65 is the frequency of 21 cm radiation and @xmath66 where @xmath67 is the density parameter of matter and we assumed the flat universe . thus , we obtain , @xmath68 because the power spectrum of 21 cm signal is dependent only on the length of the wave vector , we take a sum of the above noise power spectrum over a spherical shell which corresponds to the same @xmath69 . first , we consider an annulus with radial width @xmath70 and angular width @xmath71 . noting that the baseline distribution is assumed to be uniform in an annulus , the number of pixels in the annulus is , @xmath72 where @xmath73 is the observed volume in real space , @xmath74 is the resolution in fourier space and the other factor , @xmath75 , is the annulus volume in fourier space . then the noise power spectrum ruduces by a factor of @xmath76 . next , we consider a sum over @xmath52 . taking @xmath77 , where @xmath78 is a constant factor which we set equal to 0.5 , the spherically averaged sensitivity is given by , @xmath79^{-1/2 } \approx \left [ k^3 \int_{\arccos[\min(\frac{y k}{2 \pi},1)]}^{\arcsin[\min(\frac{k_*}{k } , 1 ) ] } ~ d \theta \,\sin{\theta } \frac{\epsilon ( n(k \sin{\theta}))^2 a_e^3 b^2 t_0 ^ 2}{(2 \pi)^2 x^2 y \lambda^6 t_{\rm sys}^4 } \right]^{-1/2 } , \label{eq : dpk}\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath80 is the longest transverse wave vector , which corresponds to the maximum baseline length . the lower limit of the integral corresponds to the pixel size . in this section , we estimate the bispectrum from the thermal noise in a similar way in the previous section . however , we should notice that , because the thermal noise is gaussian , its bispectrum is actually zero . nontheless , its statistical fluctuation , that is , its variance is non zero and contributes to the noise to the bispectrum signal . thus , the calculation in this case is more subtle than that of the power spectrum , although we can use similar techniques as we see below . in @xcite , an order estimation for the thermal noise bispectrum has been done without considering this fact and also the baseline distribution . remembering the definition of the bispectrum in eq . ( [ eq : bs_def ] ) , the covariance of the bispectrum can be defined by , @xmath81 where each bispectrum satisfies the triangular condition ( @xmath82 and @xmath83 ) and @xmath84 comes from the fact that there is no correlation unless the two triangles , ( @xmath85 ) and ( @xmath86 ) , coincide . next , we consider ensemble average of the product of six noise intensities , denoted as @xmath87 , @xmath88 to proceed further , we substitute eq . ( [ eq : covbb ] ) and consider the first term in eq . ( [ eq : d ] ) . @xmath89 this is non - zero only when @xmath90 and @xmath91 ( and then @xmath92 from the triangular conditions ) . if these conditions are satisfied , @xmath93 where we used eq . ( [ window ] ) and @xmath94 and assumed @xmath95 is approximately constant within the window function . thus , taking other terms in eq . ( [ eq : d ] ) into account , we have , @xmath96 on the other hand , the product of six noise intensities can also be calculated as follows . @xmath97 where we used wick theorem in the second equality and eq . ( [ eq : noise_pix ] ) in the last equality . thus , from eqs . ( [ eq : c_b1 ] ) and ( [ eq : c_b2 ] ) , we obtain , @xmath98 converting the argument from @xmath53 to @xmath62 , we finally obtain , @xmath99 this equation corresponds to eq . ( [ eq : noise_pix ] ) for the power spectrum , if we substitute eq . ( [ eq : tu ] ) . in this subsection , we take a sum of the noise bispectrum over spherical shell as we did for the power spectrum in the previous section . however , the situation is much more complicated in the case of bispectrum , because @xmath100 and @xmath101 can be all different with each other in general so that we must consider two spherical shells with the radius @xmath102 and @xmath103 , while @xmath101 is determined by the triangular condition , @xmath104 . in this paper , we calculate the noise bispectrum for equilateral type ( @xmath105 ) and isosceles type ( @xmath106 ) and define @xmath107 and @xmath108 . first , as in the case of the power spectrum , @xmath109 can run over a spherical shell with radius @xmath69 which can be parametrized by two of the spherical coordinate of @xmath109 , @xmath110 . further , for a fixed @xmath109 , there is a rotational degree of freedom for @xmath111 with respect to @xmath109 , which is denoted by an angle @xmath112 with @xmath113 . thus , we need to integrate the covariance matrix in eq . ( [ eq : covbb ] ) with respect to @xmath114 , @xmath115 and @xmath112 . noting that the covariance matrix does not depend on @xmath115 , the weight of the integration , which corresponds to eq . ( [ pixnum ] ) , is given by @xmath116 \times \left [ k^2 \sin{\theta_2 } \sin{\gamma } ~ \delta k \delta \theta_2 \delta \alpha \frac{v}{(2\pi)^3 } \right].\end{aligned}\ ] ] where the first factor comes from the sum for @xmath109 over the spherical shell and the second factor takes the rotational degree of freedom of @xmath111 for each @xmath109 into account . here @xmath117 is the polar angle of @xmath111 and @xmath118 is the angle @xmath119 and @xmath120 . @xmath121 is the width of the annulas of @xmath111 when @xmath109 is fixed , which we set equal to the resolution in fourier space , @xmath122 . it is convenient to express @xmath117 by @xmath114 , @xmath112 and the angle between @xmath109 and @xmath111 denoted as @xmath123 . noting @xmath111 can be express as @xmath124 we obtain , @xmath125 then , setting @xmath77 and @xmath126 , the bispectrum variance due to the thermal noise is written by an integrate with respect to @xmath114 and @xmath112 , @xmath127^{-1/2 } \nonumber \\ & = & \frac{(2\pi)^{\frac{5}{2}}}{\sqrt{\delta \theta_2 } k k^{3/2 } \epsilon } \bigg(\frac{x^2y \lambda^2}{a_e}\bigg ) \bigg(\frac{t^2_{\rm sys } \lambda^2}{a_e b t_0}\bigg)^{\frac{3}{2 } } \nonumber \\ & & \times \left[\int { d\theta_1 } \int { d\alpha } \sin{\theta_1 } \sin{\theta_2 } \sin{\gamma(\theta_1,\alpha ) } ~ n({{\boldsymbol{k}}}_1 ) n({{\boldsymbol{k}}}_2 ) n({{\boldsymbol{k}}}_3 ) \right]^{-\frac{1}{2}}.\end{aligned}\ ] ] this is a general expression for isosceles - type bispectrum . for equilateral type , we just set @xmath128 and @xmath129 . to calculate the bispectrum sensitivity , we need the number density of baselines on uv - plane . in this paper , we consider expanded mwa , lofar and ska . the expanded mwa will have 500 antennae within a radius of 750 m with @xmath130 distribution @xcite . lofar has 24 antennae within a radius of 2000 m with @xmath130 distribution . hera has 547 antennae within 200 m with constant distribution @xcite . ska will have 466 antennae within 600 m with @xmath130 distribution , 670 antennae within 1000 m , 866 antennae within 3000 m @xcite . for simplicity , we assume that the antennae density is constant between 600 m to 1000 m and 1000 m to 3000 m , respectively . we list parameters in table [ table : parameter ] . further , we assume @xmath131 for the total observing time and @xmath132 bandwidth . .parameters for telescopes : @xmath33 is system temperature , @xmath34 is effective area of a station and @xmath133 is the number of stations . [ cols="^,^,^,^,^,^",options="header " , ] in this paper , we esimated the bispectrum of thermal noise for redshifted 21 cm signal observation for epock of reionization by extending the formalism of the noise power spectrum estimation given by @xcite . because thermal noise was assumed to be gaussian , the ensamble average of the bispectrum vanishes and its variance contributes to the noise to the bispectrum signal . we developed a formalism to calculate the noise bispectrum for an arbitrary triangle , taking the array configuration into account . we applied it to the cases with equilateral and isosceles triangles and estimated the noise bispectrum for expanded mwa , lofar and the ska . consequently , it was found that the ska has enough sensitivity for @xmath2 for both types of triangles . on the other hand , lofar will have sensitivity for the peaks of the bispectrum as a function of redshift . the expanded mwa has even less sensitivity but it will be possible to put a meaningful constraints on model parameters which induce larger signals than those with the parameters used in this paper . not only the themal noise but signal of bispectrum depend on the configuration of the triangle of three wave numbers . it is possible that the signal bispectrum has a large amplitude for a specific configuration of the triangle and observation may become easier in that case . an investigation of the details of the bispectrum signal and comparison with noise bispectrum will be presented elsewhere @xcite . actually , thermal noise is just one of many obstacles for the observation of 21 cm signal . other serious sources of noise are galactic and extragalactic foreground and sample variance , and the foreground emission has not been well understood even for power spectrum . it may be helpful to consider the `` eor window '' for bispectrum as in the case of power spectrum @xcite . it would turn out that small - k modes should be discarded to avoid foreground and , if this is the case , the total signal - to - noise ratios in table [ table : signal_to_noise ] are overestimation . further , for a practical application of bispectrum analysis to survey data , we need to take survey geometry into account @xcite . nevertheless , the observation of the bispectrum is very important because 21 cm signal from epoch of reionization is highly non - gaussian so that the bispectrum will give us enormous information complementary to the power spectrum . this work is supported by grant - in - aid from the ministry of education , culture , sports , science and technology ( mext ) of japan , nos . 24340048 and 26610048(k.t ) , no . 25 - 3015(h.s . ) , no . 26800104(h.n . ) and no . 25610043(h.i . )

the 21 cm line brightness temperature brings rich information about epoch of reionizaton ( eor ) and high-@xmath0 universe ( cosmic dawn and dark age ) . while the power spectrum is a useful tool to investigate the eor signal statistically , higher - order statistics such as bispectrum are also valuable because the eor signal is expected to be highly non - gaussian . in this paper , we develop a formalism to calculate the bispectrum contributed from the thermal noise taking array configularion of telescopes into account , by extending a formalism for the power spectrum . we apply our formalism to the ongoing and future telescopes such as expanded murchison widefield array ( mwa ) , low frequency array ( lofar ) , hydrogen epoch of reionization array ( hera ) and square kilometre array ( ska ) . we find that expanded mwa does not have enough sensitivity to detect the bispectrum signal . on the other hand , lofar has better sensitivity and will be able to detect the peaks of the bispectrum as a function of redshift at large scales with comoving wavenumber @xmath1 . the ska has enough sensitivity to detect the bispectrum for much smaller scales @xmath2 and redshift @xmath3

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Wetlands Loan Act of 2007''. SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS FOR CONSERVATION OF MIGRATORY WATERFOWL AND HABITAT. The first section of Public Law 87-383 (16 U.S.C. 715k-3) is amended-- (1) by striking ``That in'' and inserting the following: ``SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS FOR CONSERVATION OF MIGRATORY WATERFOWL HABITAT. ``(a) In General.--In''; (2) by striking ``for the period'' and all that follows through the end of the sentence and inserting ``$40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2018.''; and (3) by adding at the end the following: ``(b) Advance to Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.--Funds appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be treated as an advance, without interest, to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. ``(c) Repayment to Treasury.-- ``(1) In general.--Effective beginning July 1, 2010, funds appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be repaid to the Treasury out of the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. ``(2) Amounts.--Repayment under this subsection shall be made in annual amounts that are equal to the funds accruing annually to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund that are attributable to the portion of the price of migratory bird hunting stamps sold that year that is in excess of $15 per stamp. ``(3) Use of amounts.--In any year for which funds are not appropriated pursuant to this Act, and no amount remains to be repaid to the Treasury out of the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund under paragraph (1), the total amount attributable to the portion of the price of migratory bird hunting stamps sold for that year that is in excess of $15 per stamp shall be deposited in the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.''. SEC. 3. PRICE OF STAMPS. Section 2 of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act (16 U.S.C. 718b) is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following: ``(b) Price of Stamps.-- ``(1) In general.--For each stamp sold by an authorized entity under subsection (a)(1), the authorized entity shall collect-- ``(A) $22 during each of hunting years 2009 through 2015; ``(B) $29 during each of hunting years 2016 through 2022; and ``(C) $35 during hunting year 2023 and each hunting year thereafter. ``(2) Reports.-- ``(A) Initial report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Wetlands Loan Act of 2007, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall submit to Congress a report that includes a comparison by the Secretary of the Interior of-- ``(i) the price of each stamp sold under subsection (a)(1) during the hunting year following the hunting year in which the Wetlands Loan Act of 2007 was enacted; and ``(ii) for each hunting year during the period beginning with hunting year 1991 and ending with the hunting year in which the Wetlands Loan Act of 2007 was enacted, the purchasing power of the amount of revenue generated by the total quantity of stamps sold during the hunting year under subsection (a)(1). ``(B) Final report.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the funds advanced under section 1 of Public Law 87-383 (16 U.S.C. 715k-3) are repaid, the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall submit to Congress a report that includes a comparison by the Secretary of the Interior of-- ``(i) the price of each stamp sold under subsection (a)(1) during the hunting year in which the funds advanced under section 1 of Public Law 87-383 (16 U.S.C. 715k-3) are repaid; and ``(ii) for each hunting year during the period beginning with hunting year 1991 and ending with the hunting year in which the funds advanced under section 1 of Public Law 87-383 (16 U.S.C. 715k-3) are repaid, the purchasing power of the amount of revenue generated by the total quantity of stamps sold during the hunting year under subsection (a)(1).''. SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE USE OF CERTAIN FUNDS. It is the sense of Congress that-- (1) the funds generated pursuant to the amendments made by this Act-- (A) should be used for preserving and increasing waterfowl populations in accordance with the goals and objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan; and (B) to that end, should be used to supplement and not replace current conservation funding, including funding for other Federal and State habitat conservation programs; (2) where practicable, fee title acquisitions under this Act should be managed for public access in accordance with the requirements of any waterfowl production area designated as a component of the National Wildlife Refuge System under section 4 of the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd(a)(1)); and (3) this Act and the amendments made by this Act should be implemented in a manner that helps private landowners achieve long-term land use objectives in a manner that enhances the conservation of wetland and wildlife habitat.

Wetlands Loan Act of 2007 - Amends the Wetlands Loan Act to increase and extend funding for conservation of migratory waterfowl and habitat essential to the preservation of such waterfowl for FY2009-FY2018. Requires such appropriated funds to be treated as advances to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, which shall be repaid to the Treasury in annual amounts that are equal to the funds accruing to such Fund attributable to the portion of the price of migratory bird hunting stamps sold that year in excess of $15 per stamp. Declares that in any year for which funds are not appropriated pursuant to this Act and no amount remains to be repaid to the Treasury, such excess amount shall be deposited into the Fund. Amends the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act to revise provisions concerning the price of stamps. Sets forth the price of each stamp for 2009 through 2015, 2016 through 2022, and 2023 and thereafter. Requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to report to Congress on stamp price comparisons and the purchasing power of the revenue generated by the stamps. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the funds generated pursuant to this Act should be used for preserving and increasing waterfowl populations in accordance with the goals and objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and should supplement current conservation funding; (2) fee title acquisitions under this Act should be managed for public access in accordance with the requirements of any waterfowl production area designated as a component of the National Wildlife Refuge System under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966; and (3) this Act should be implemented in a manner that helps private landowners achieve their long-term land use objectives in ways that enhance the conservation of wetlands and wildlife habitat.

recently there has been a renewed interest in the properties of nuclear matter hadronic matter at finite non - zero baryon number ( and isospin ) density @xcite . much of this interest comes from a reevaluation of the old idea that quark pairs might condense giving rise to a transition to a colour superconducting state at high baryon - number density @xcite . these newer studies indicate that the energies associated with this transition are much larger than the original estimates so that they could have a significant effect on the equation - of - state of nuclear matter . unfortunately , adding a finite chemical potential for quark / baryon number to the euclidean qcd action renders the fermion determinant complex which precludes the naive application of standard lattice simulation methods . ( some advances have been made allowing studies at small chemical potential and high temperatures , but their ranges of applicability are limited @xcite . ) for this reason people have turned to the study of models which have some of the properties of qcd at finite baryon number but have real , positive fermion determinants , allowing lattice simulations . one such model is 2-colour qcd with fundamental quarks . with @xmath6 , the quarks and anti - quarks are in the same representation , leading to a fermion determinant which remains real and positive in the presence of a quark - number chemical potential , @xmath0 . it is expected that , at @xmath2 , this model exhibits a phase transition to a state with a colourless diquark condensate which breaks quark number , and associated goldstone bosons . thus this condensed phase is a superfluid rather than a superconductor . chiral effective lagrangians have been used to predict the phase structure of this theory @xcite as have random - matrix models @xcite . this predicted phase structure including the mean - field nature of the transition has been observed in lattice simulations @xcite . however , the only simulations in which it was possible to study the masses of potential goldstone bosons were performed at a quark mass so large that it was difficult to measure those excitations which were significantly more massive than the pion @xcite . it was also unclear at such large quark masses if the masses of these pseudo - goldstone modes were well separated from the rest of the hadron spectrum . since these earlier simulations were performed at a quark mass of @xmath7 , we have performed new simulations at the same @xmath8(1.5 ) and quark mass @xmath9 which should halve the pion mass @xmath10 . these simulations were performed on a @xmath1 lattice again with the quark - number symmetry breaking parameter @xmath11 and @xmath12 to keep the explicit symmetry breaking , which depends on @xmath13 , small . we have also performed simulations on a smaller ( @xmath14 ) lattice to give us some indication of the magnitude of finite size effects . in these simulations which had a single staggered quark field corresponding to 4 continuum quark flavours , the lattice flavour symmetry at @xmath15 is @xmath16 . when this breaks spontaneously , @xmath17 giving rise to 3 goldstone bosons . we study the behaviour of these 3 states for @xmath18 , @xmath19 and @xmath20 , and compare with the leading - order predictions from chiral effective lagrangians . for @xmath4 , the agreement with these predictions is excellent . as @xmath0 is increased beyond @xmath5 , the mass of the excitation which would be a goldstone boson for @xmath21 and that of the pion , lie consistently below the predictions from tree - level effective lagrangians . part of this difference might be due to higher order corrections in the effective lagrangian calculations , which can not be characterized by a single parameter in addition to those of tree - level chiral perturbation theory . however , at least some of this ` discrepancy ' appears to be due to the fact that , at high densities , the fermionic constituents of these excitations are revealed , indicating that we are beyond the reach of chiral perturbation theory . however , the high density behaviour of the lattice theory is strongly affected by saturation , a lattice artifact , so it is unclear how much of this would survive to the continuum . in section 2 we review the expected pattern of symmetry breaking for lattice 2-colour qcd with 1 fundamental staggered quark field ( 4 flavours ) , and the ( pseudo)-goldstone spectrum associated with this breaking . throughout our analysis we compare the lattice results to analytical calculations derived from effective models . we use a non - linear - sigma model ( chiral perturbation theory ) at leading order similar to that described in @xcite , and a linear sigma model that models some of the higher order corrections to chiral perturbation theory . we present the linear sigma model effective lagrangian we use to fit our diquark condensates , and its predictions for the pseudo - goldstone spectrum in section 3 , while , for completeness , the non - linear sigma model is presented in appendix a. section 4 describes our simulations , presents our results for the condensates and the evidence for mean - field scaling . in section 5 we present our measurements of the spectrum of this theory , and its comparison with the predictions of effective lagrangian analyses . our conclusions are presented in section 6 . the staggered fermion action for 2-colour lattice qcd with 1-staggered fermion , i.e. 4 continuum flavours in the fundamental representation of the colour group is : @xmath22\chi + \frac{1}{2}\lambda[\chi^t\tau_2\chi + \bar{\chi}\tau_2\bar{\chi}^t]\right\ } \label{eqn : lagrangian}\ ] ] where @xmath23 is the normal staggered covariant finite difference operator with links in the @xmath24 direction multiplied by @xmath25 and those in the @xmath26 direction by @xmath27 . what follows summarizes the analysis of the symmetries of this theory presented in detail in @xcite at @xmath28 , this action has a @xmath16 flavour symmetry which breaks spontaneously to @xmath29 . if it breaks forming a chiral condensate , @xmath30 , there will be 3 broken @xmath16 generators and 3 goldstone bosons , namely ; @xmath31 if it breaks forming a diquark condensate , @xmath32 , there will again be 3 broken generators and 3 goldstone bosons , @xmath33 if @xmath19 and @xmath34 , the staggered fermion action [ eqn : lagrangian ] is invariant under @xmath35 , which is completely spontaneously broken by the diquark condensate . therefore , only the 2 diquark states in equation [ eqn : qsb ] remain goldstone bosons . when @xmath18 , the chiral condensate forms and the 3 goldstone bosons of equation [ eqn : chisb ] gain equal masses given by pcac . as @xmath0 is increased from zero , the mass of the pion created by @xmath36 remains constant , since it has zero quark number and does not feel the effect of the chemical potential . the energy and hence the mass of the diquark state created by @xmath37 is increased to @xmath38 for diquarks propagating in the @xmath24 direction . the mass of the forward propagating anti - diquark is decreased to @xmath39 . this latter mass vanishes at @xmath2 , and it becomes a true goldstone boson . this heralds the phase transition to a state in which quark - number is spontaneously broken by a diquark condensate , @xmath32 . the goldstone boson is created by the orthogonal linear combination , @xmath40 , which we note is just that goldstone mode which is common to equations [ eqn : chisb ] and [ eqn : qsb ] . for @xmath41 , it is useful to introduce the concept of a total condensate @xmath42 such that : @xmath43 and @xmath44 we then see that the heaviest of our 3 would - be goldstone bosons will be that created by the operator @xmath45 which has zero vacuum expectation value . for @xmath0 just above the transition , this is predominantly a diquark / anti - diquark state , while for @xmath0 large , it is predominantly the scalar @xmath46 meson , as expected since @xmath47 can be neglected . this state will be heavy since the scalar meson is not a goldstone boson when @xmath48 , even when @xmath34 . finally , the pseudo - scalar pseudo - goldstone boson is created by the operator @xmath49 where effective lagrangians suggest @xmath50 , with @xmath51 introduced in ( [ eqn : rot1 ] , [ eqn : rot2 ] ) . for @xmath0 small , this state is predominantly a pion , while for large @xmath0 it is predominantly a pseudoscalar diquark . since this pseudoscalar diquark would be a goldstone boson if @xmath34 , its mass should approach zero for large @xmath0 when @xmath47 can be neglected . when @xmath52 , the remaining goldstone boson becomes massive . for the details of this @xmath53 dependence and for the @xmath0 dependence of the heavier , would - be goldstone modes above the transition , we must turn to effective lagrangians and chiral perturbation theory . for small pion mass @xmath10 , @xmath0 and @xmath53 , we should be able to use chiral perturbation theory to parametrize the behaviour of the condensates , quark - number density and pseudo - goldstone spectrum of this theory , as was done in @xcite . a reworking of this analysis for the symmetries of the staggered quark action is presented in the appendix . however , we find that @xmath10 , even for the lowest quark mass @xmath47 we use , is too large for tree - level chiral perturbation theory to give a quantitative description of the physics of this system except a relatively low chemical potential . while next - to - leading order chiral perturbation theory calculations have been performed @xcite , these do not yet include spectrum calculations . even the calculation of the order parameters has not been extended beyond the neighbourhood of the critical point at next - to - leading order . we therefore introduce an alternative effective lagrangian which incorporates at tree level some of the properties expected from an all - orders chiral perturbation theory calculation . first , it should have the same phase structure and critical exponents ( mean field ) as tree - level chiral perturbation theory , and a critical point at @xmath2 . at @xmath21 , the spectrum of pseudo - goldstone bosons for @xmath4 should be that predicted in the previous section from fairly general arguments , and for @xmath41 , it should have one massless goldstone boson . the magnitude of the total condensate @xmath54 is independent of @xmath0 in tree - level chiral perturbation theory , but depends on @xmath0 at next - to - leading order . lattice results indeed indicate that the total condensate increases when @xmath0 increases . therefore the total condensate should be allowed to vary . such variation can be allowed if the magnitude of the condensate becomes a dynamical field . with the chiral perturbation theory lagrangian , this would be a non - perturbative effect , since it involves producing a bound state . modifying our lagrangian to explicitly incorporate such excitations requires replacing the chiral lagrangian which is of the non - linear sigma model class by the corresponding linear sigma model effective lagrangian . since we do not intend to use this lagrangian beyond tree level , we do not have to face the problems of trying to formulate a chiral perturbation theory based on this lagrangian @xcite . the simplest lagrangian of this form is @xmath55 we have used the same conventions as in @xcite : @xmath56 where @xmath57 . the field @xmath58 contains @xmath59 , the minimum of the free energy of the linear sigma model , as well as the radial and transverse fluctuations around that minimum . the field @xmath60 describes the radial fluctuations around that minimum . the three pseudo - goldstone modes are the transverse fluctuations around that minimum . they are the same as in chiral perturbation theory and are contained in the field @xmath61 given by : @xmath62 where @xmath63 and @xmath64 corresponds to the minimum of the free energy . @xmath65 is the pion mass in the presence of the majorana quark mass @xmath53 , @xmath66 where @xmath10 is the pion mass at @xmath67 . the lagrangian is written in such a way that the masses of the pseudo - goldstone modes are given by @xmath65 at zero chemical potential . under a local flavor transformation @xmath68 , the different fields transform in the following way @xmath69 at @xmath3 and @xmath21 , the minimum of the free energy corresponds to @xmath70 in general , the minimum of the free energy is given by minimizing @xmath71 comparing this to the phenomenological effective potential , @xmath72 used in our earlier work and in the next section , we see that these are identical under the substitutions @xmath73 , @xmath74 , and @xmath75 provided the critical value of @xmath0 , @xmath76 . the minimization conditions for the @xmath77 of equation [ eqn : fe ] are @xmath78 the computation of the spectrum of the linear sigma model is similar to that for chiral perturbation theory given in the appendix . for this case the @xmath60 field mixes with both the @xmath79-modes , but not with the @xmath80 mode . the secular equation for the @xmath60 and the two @xmath79-modes is given by the setting the determinant of the matrix @xmath81,\end{aligned}\ ] ] to zero . the dispersion relation for the @xmath80 modes is @xmath82 in order to get the masses of the different modes , the secular equation and the dispersion relation must be solved together with the minimization equations . the secular equation can be cast in a form more similar to that presented in @xcite , by making use of the relation @xmath83 which is a consequence of equations [ eqn : splin ] . with this form one can see explicitly that in the ordered phase for @xmath21 , where @xmath84 but @xmath85 , there is a true goldstone mode . we have simulated lattice 2-colour qcd with 1 staggered quark field ( 4 continuum flavours ) at finite quark - number chemical potential @xmath0 on @xmath14 and @xmath1 lattices at @xmath86 ( close to the @xmath87 for @xmath88 ) and quark mass @xmath9 in lattice units . simulations were performed with the explicit symmetry - breaking parameter , @xmath89 ( and zero , for small @xmath0 ) . we used the hybrid molecular - dynamics algorithm , performing simulations of @xmath90 molecular - dynamics time units at each @xmath0 and @xmath53 with @xmath91 as small as @xmath92 . the chiral and diquark condensates , the quark number density , and the spectrum of candidate pseudo - goldstone bosons were measured . the diquark condensate , @xmath32 , is plotted for the larger lattice in figure [ fig : pt2p]a . this condensate is seen to be small for @xmath93 , and rapidly increases close to @xmath5 . in addition , the decrease with decreasing @xmath53 suggests that the condensate would vanish as @xmath94 for @xmath95 , while for @xmath96 , the condensate appears destined to remain finite in this limit . these observations strongly suggest that there is a phase transition , somewhere in the range @xmath97 . to quantify this observation , we have fitted the behaviour of these condensates to scaling forms suggested from effective chiral lagrangians . the fits to the simplest form which comes from the tree level analysis of the chiral lagrangian of the non - linear sigma model variety described in the appendix are poor @xmath98 so we turn again to a form based on the tree level analysis of a lagrangian of the linear sigma model class , as described in section 3 , which allows the magnitude of the condensate to vary . we have had good experience with such a form in the past for quenched theories and for qcd at finite isospin chemical potential @xcite . the diquark condensate is fitted to the form @xmath99 which derives from equation [ eqn : ls1 ] where @xmath100 and @xmath51 are given from the minimization conditions of the previous section . for later reference we note that the prediction for the chiral condensate is @xmath101 while the quark - number density is @xmath102 the constant @xmath103 is defined in terms of the critical @xmath0 , @xmath104 , through @xmath105 which is equivalent to equation [ eqn : v_0 ] , provided @xmath76 . our best fit to the form of equation [ eqn : ls2 ] has @xmath106 , @xmath107 , @xmath108 , @xmath109 and @xmath110 , over the range @xmath111 . @xmath104 is in good agreement with the measured value of @xmath112 , while @xmath47 is close to the value @xmath113 used in our simulations , considering the quality of the fit . since the @xmath114 for this fit appears poor , we compare the fit with the measurements both on the @xmath1 lattice which we used for the fit , and for the @xmath14 lattice in tables [ tab : pt2p0.0025],[tab : pt2p0.005 ] . .the diquark condensate @xmath115 as a function of @xmath0 , for @xmath116 [ cols="^,^,^,^ " , ] while the difference between the @xmath14 and @xmath1 ` data ' suggest that the finite size effects in the measurements on the larger lattice are small , they are almost certainly comparable with and probably larger than the statistical errors and the discrepancies between the ` data ' and the fits given in these tables , over the range of the fits . for this reason we consider the fits to the linear sigma model form to be acceptable , indicating that the system undergoes a second order transition with mean - field critical exponents at @xmath2 . we have also shown the fit to the tree - level chiral perturbation theory mentioned above in our figure . while this clearly has a more limited range of validity , it does not appear that unreasonable over this range . however , in order to obtain this quality of fit , we were forced to use @xmath117 . this is far enough from the true mass @xmath9 that , as we shall see , the prediction for the chiral condensate is considerably poorer . since this fit gives not only the @xmath0 and @xmath53 dependence but also predicts the @xmath47 dependence , we have plotted the predictions of this fit for our old ` data ' at @xmath7 @xcite in figure [ fig : pt2p]b . considering the fact that @xmath7 is rather large to expect fits aimed at the chiral limit to work well , the prediction is remarkably good below @xmath118 where the effects of saturation start to be seen . on the smaller lattice we see that the diquark condensate has a broad peak near @xmath118 , beyond which it falls , remaining very small above @xmath119 . since , as we shall see later , the quark - number density approaches 2 , the maximum value allowed by fermi statistics , at these @xmath0 values , we interpret this fall as a saturation effect , a finite lattice spacing artifact . further evidence that this is indeed a lattice artifact is found by comparing simulations at different lattice spacings . comparing the results presented here at @xmath120 with those at @xmath121 @xcite where the lattice spacing is about @xmath122 that at @xmath120 , we notice that the value of @xmath0 in lattice units where saturation is reached is consistent with being the same in both cases . in addition , the @xmath0 of the peak in the diquark condensate for @xmath121 ( in lattice units ) is at least as large as at @xmath120 . if these were continuum effects the relevant lattice @xmath0 values for @xmath121 would be smaller by roughly a factor of @xmath122 , since @xmath123 . hence we conclude that the decrease in @xmath115 at large @xmath0 is purely a lattice artifact . tables [ tab : pt2p0.0025],[tab : pt2p0.005 ] indicate that finite size effects increase with @xmath0 , and that their effect is to depress the values of the condensate as @xmath0 increases . thus we should expect that the infinite lattice peak will be at a higher @xmath0 value . however , it is probable that this value will still lie below the saturation @xmath0 , so that the falloff will occur over a range of @xmath0 , even on an infinite lattice , rather than as an abrupt discontinuity at the saturation value of @xmath0 . we come to this conclusion based on our experience with the quenched theory , where we have been able to examine the finite size effects more thoroughly @xcite . in figure [ fig : pbp]a we show the chiral condensate , @xmath30 , as a function of @xmath0 . as expected it remains approximately constant for @xmath124 , above which it falls towards zero . the predictions of equation [ eqn : ls3 ] , using the parameters obtained from fits to the diquark condensates , are plotted on this graph . the agreement appears excellent over the scaling window . for comparison we include the predictions for @xmath7 on our old ` data ' at that mass . here the agreement is considerably poorer . presumably some of this is due to @xmath7 being too high for these chiral effective lagrangians . in addition , the chiral condensate is expected to be more sensitive to cutoff effects , such as saturation , at higher quark mass . note that the prediction from the chiral perturbation theory fit mentioned above does relatively poorly , because this predicts that the magnitude of the total condensate is independent of @xmath0 which is not true . thus by forcing this form to fit the diquark condensate , the prediction for the chiral condensate must fail . finally we present the quark number density @xmath125 as a function of lattice @xmath0 in figure [ fig : j0_12]a for our @xmath1 simulations . since this data does not extend to the saturation region , we also plot the @xmath14 ` data ' in figure [ fig : j0 ] , along with the @xmath121 results for comparison . our corresponding ` data ' from our old @xmath7 runs is plotted , along with the predictions from equation [ eqn : ls4 ] , in figure [ fig : j0_12]b . first we note that the @xmath1 measurements start to depart from the predictions from our scaling form ( equation [ eqn : ls4 ] ) somewhat earlier than do either of the condensates , namely for @xmath126 . for @xmath9 , this does admit a small scaling window . for @xmath127 , since @xmath128 , there is no scaling window . the fact that the relevant variable appears to be @xmath0 rather than @xmath129 , suggests that at least some of this departure is a lattice artifact related to saturation . as is observed in figure [ fig : j0]a , the quark - number density rises even more rapidly at larger @xmath0 , until it saturates at @xmath130 near @xmath131 . comparing these @xmath120 measurements with those at @xmath121 ( figure [ fig : j0]b ) indicates that saturation occurs at approximately the same @xmath0 in lattice units , confirming that saturation is a lattice artifact . however , @xmath125 would reach saturation at the same lattice @xmath0 independent of lattice spacing , if @xmath132 , at large @xmath0 . this is precisely the behaviour expected at large @xmath0 in the continuum . ( this was pointed out by son and stephanov for qcd at finite isospin density @xcite . ) the linear rise in the diquark condensate at large @xmath0 , which is a property of the linear - sigma - model fitting forms does predict a cubic rise in @xmath125 , but in every case we have considered the measured @xmath125 far exceeds our predictions . the hint that this might be real , i.e. not completely attributable to saturation , comes from the observation that the onset of this rapid rise in @xmath125 with @xmath0 appears to occur at a larger value of @xmath0 in lattice units at @xmath120 ( figures [ fig : j0_12]b,[fig : j0]a ) than at @xmath121 ( figure [ fig : j0]b ) . this is what would be expected if it is a real effect rather than a lattice artifact . this earlier departure from the predictions from our tree - level analysis of our effective lagrangian should not come as too much of a surprise . this analysis parametrizes the departure from tree - level chiral perturbation theory by a single new parameter . this parameter is set by our fit to the diquark condensate . our new lagrangian retains the same relationship between the diquark condensate and the density as the chiral perturbation theory lagrangian . what we are seeing is evidence that this relationship breaks down at a @xmath0 value considerably less than the saturation value . to retain agreement beyond this point would require more terms / parameters in our effective lagrangian . as discussed in section 2 and made quantitative in section 3 , spontaneous breaking of the lattice @xmath16 flavour symmetry at @xmath133 should give rise to 3 goldstone bosons . when these parameters are small , but non - zero , these excitations become pseudo - goldstone bosons , gaining masses dependent on the magnitude of these symmetry - breaking parameters . we have measured the connected and disconnected contributions to the propagators of all local scalar and pseudoscalar diquarks in our @xmath1 runs every 1 molecular - dynamics time step . the connected propagators are measured using noisy estimators of a point source on each odd respectively even site / colour of 1 time - slice of the lattice . the disconnected propagators are calculated using 5 sets of noisy sources defined over the whole odd respectively even sublattice , and the noise - diagonal terms are discarded . the first state considered is the scalar diquark created by applying the operator @xmath40 to the vacuum . for @xmath21 this will be a true goldstone boson in the diquark condensed phase . with the small @xmath53s we consider , it should have a small mass in the broken phase . tree - level analysis of the chiral perturbation theory lagrangian discussed in the appendix predicts that , at finite @xmath53 its mass should be given by equation [ eqn : disprel ] for the state labeled @xmath134 . note that at @xmath21 , this reproduces the predictions of simpler arguments @xmath135 for @xmath4 and zero for @xmath136 . for the linear sigma model approach of section 3 this is replaced by the lowest lying solution of the secular equation obtained from equation [ eqn : secular ] . at @xmath21 the 2 forms are identical . we fit our measured propagators @xmath137 to the form @xmath138 + \exp[-m_g ( n_t - t ) ] \}\ ] ] giving the results shown in figure [ fig : goldstone]a . the solid curves in this figure are the predictions from equation [ eqn : secular ] . the dashed curves are from equation [ eqn : disprel ] . what we see is that equation [ eqn : secular ] describes the decrease in mass of this would - be goldstone boson well for @xmath4 , and the dip near the transition value @xmath5 . as @xmath0 is increased much beyond @xmath5 , the ` data ' falls below these predictions . these linear sigma model predictions are a considerable improvement over those of tree level chiral perturbation theory . this gives us confidence , that even though these fits fail above the transition , this excitation will still have the expected behaviour in the limit @xmath94 , indicating that there is a phase transition to a state with a diquark condensate , and that this state is the massless goldstone boson associated with the spontaneous breaking of quark number . in figure [ fig : goldstone]b we compare our predictions with our earlier measurements at @xmath7 , and find the agreement to be somewhat worse than at @xmath9 . such departures from the predictions of the linear - sigma - model form could well indicate that this model of the higher order terms in chiral perturbation theory is too naive to correctly predict more than the qualitative nature of the pseudo - goldstone spectrum . the worse agreement for @xmath7 , where in terms of the scaling variable @xmath139 saturation occurs much sooner , suggests that the deviation could be largely due to saturation . next we turn to the consideration of the pseudoscalar pseudo - goldstone boson . as described in section 2 and in particular in equation [ eqn : pi ] , at @xmath21 this is expected to be the pion for @xmath4 . above this value it mixes with the pseudoscalar diquark . for large @xmath0 it should be predominately a pseudoscalar diquark . since the mixing angle @xmath140 in equation [ eqn : pi ] is not known , beyond the predictions of effective lagrangians which suggest that @xmath141 , we choose to fit the pion and pseudoscalar diquark propagators separately to a form analogous to that which we used for the goldstone propagator . the graphs of the measured masses are presented in figures [ fig : pi],[fig : q5q ] . we note that these masses have the expected behaviour in that they remain flat from @xmath3 to the vicinity of @xmath5 , and then commence to fall , becoming small for large @xmath0 where they should equal the masses of the would - be goldstone boson . as expected these 2 estimators for the mass of the pseudoscalar pseudo - goldstone boson , are in good agreement . the effective ( chiral ) lagrangian analysis presented in the appendix predicts that this pseudoscalar boson should have a mass given by the @xmath80 state of equation [ eqn : disprel ] , while our linear - sigma model form is given in equation [ eqn : p_s ] . we have plotted these curves on our ` data ' in figures [ fig : pi]a,[fig : q5q]a . although these predictions have qualitatively the same form as the ` data ' , clearly there is no quantitative agreement . ( note that the linear sigma model form of section 3 gives a slightly better fit than the chiral perturbation theory form in the appendix . ) the form of the mass of equation [ eqn : p_s ] suggests that we compare our data with that of our earlier paper where @xmath7 . this we do in figures [ fig : pi]b,[fig : q5q]b . again we find the falloff in mass above @xmath5 is much more rapid for @xmath7 than for @xmath9 . this comparison suggests that at least some of this is the effect of saturation , but if it is all a saturation effect , the range over which saturation has an effect is large . any discrepancy between the measurements and fits which remains after removal of the effects of saturation should again be taken as an indication that our linear sigma model effective lagrangian is inadequate to describe all departures from tree - level chiral perturbation theory . we note that the term in each of our effective lagrangians which relates @xmath125 to the diquark condensate is the term proportional to @xmath142 . as we see in equation [ leffj ] of the appendix and its equivalent for the linear sigma model , this term also contributes to the masses of the pseudo - goldstone bosons . thus deviations of @xmath125 from our predictions , should imply differences in the pseudo - goldstone boson masses from our predictions . the contribution to the state which is a true goldstone boson at @xmath21 , is proportional to @xmath143 , while that for the pseudoscalar is proportional to @xmath144 . since @xmath51 rises from zero above @xmath2 , we would expect any departure from our predictions to occur earlier for the pseudoscalar than for the would - be goldstone boson , which is precisely what we see . the third pseudo - goldstone boson is also a scalar state . it is the linear combination of the scalar diquark state and the flavour - singlet scalar meson given in equation [ eqn : scalar ] . here @xmath51 is unambiguously defined by the requirement that this state has zero vacuum - expectation value , so we have calculated the propagator for this state . for @xmath4 and @xmath21 this state is a pure diquark state whose propagator is identical to that of the goldstone state . thus we will find both the goldstone excitation and the state we want in this propagator . this will also remain true at finite @xmath53 . since for finite @xmath53 , there is no phase transition in going from @xmath4 to @xmath41 , it follows that these 2 states continue to mix above the transition , although the mixing becomes small for @xmath145 . for this reason we fit our propagator to the form @xmath146 + \exp[-m_g ( n_t - t ) ] \ } + b \ { \exp[-m_s t ] + \exp[-m_s ( n_t - t ) ] \}\ ] ] where @xmath147 is the mass of this scalar state , in addition to the form with @xmath148 , which is appropriate to the @xmath3 propagator where @xmath149 and to @xmath145 where the lower lying state decouples . for @xmath0 small but non - zero , we extract this mass by fitting the propagator of the diquark state obtained by applying the operator @xmath37 to the vacuum , to the form @xmath150 + \exp[-m_g ( n_t - t ) ] \}.\ ] ] this is obtained from the observation that for a pure diquark state ( as opposed to a mixture of a diquark and an antidiquark ) at @xmath21 , the effect of the chemical potential is to add @xmath151 to the effective mass for propagation forward in time and subtract @xmath151 from the effective mass for propagation backward in time , thus separating the 2 scalar excitations . the masses obtained from these fits are plotted in figure [ fig : scalar ] . the analysis of section 3 , predicts this mass to be the middle mass obtained from solving the secular equation [ eqn : secular ] , while the corresponding prediction from chiral perturbation theory is the mass of @xmath152 given in equation [ eqn : disprel ] of the appendix . we show these predictions on the ` data ' of figure [ fig : scalar ] . the agreement is quite good , in contrast to the other 2 masses . in the low @xmath0 regime , the mass increases as @xmath153 , as expected from general arguments . just above @xmath10 the mass shows a dip past which it resumes its increase , eventually becoming linear again with the same slope but zero intercept . remembering that for @xmath7 , these masses should be roughly twice those presented here for @xmath9 , it is easy to see why they were too difficult to measure with any precision at that higher quark mass . finally we should mention the radial excitation . even at @xmath21 , its mass is @xmath154 for all @xmath0 . since this is close to the momentum cutoff ( @xmath155 ) on the lattice , it is not even clear if this should be considered as a real state . in any case , this mass is too high to be of more than passing interest . we have simulated 2-colour lattice qcd with one staggered fermion field corresponding to 4 continuum flavours , in the fundamental representation ( doublet ) of the colour group ( @xmath156 ) , at a finite chemical potential @xmath0 , and quark mass @xmath9 . as in previous simulations , we have observed the transition from the normal state to one characterized by a diquark condensate which spontaneously breaks quark - number . we have found that the equation - of - state , which describes the dependence of the diquark and chiral condensates on @xmath0 and the explicit symmetry breaking parameter @xmath53 , is well approximated by the tree - level approximation to a chiral lagrangian in the linear sigma model class . the critical scaling implied by this analysis indicates that the transition is second order with mean - field critical exponents , as expected from chiral perturbation theory analyses through next - to - leading order . the measured critical value of @xmath0 is consistent with @xmath5 as expected . applying the predictions of these fits to our earlier simulations at @xmath7 we see evidence that our equation - of - state also gives a reasonable description of the mass dependence of these condensates . however , it is clear that saturation effects ( a lattice artifact ) limit the range of applicability of this equation for the higher mass , and we suspect that @xmath7 might well be close to the limit of applicability of this approximation to chiral perturbation theory , if not to the applicability of chiral perturbation theory itself . our equation - of - state also predicts the @xmath0 , @xmath53 and @xmath47 dependence of the quark - number density . here , it appears that the scaling window is somewhat narrower than that for the condensates . while the effect of saturation might explain why this density grows faster than the predictions for larger @xmath0 , we suspect that we are seeing the limitations of using tree - level results from an effective lagrangian with only one more parameter than the leading order chiral perturbation theory lagrangian , to model departures from tree - level chiral perturbation theory . use of next - to - leading order chiral perturbation theory to fit our measurements would require going beyond what has already been done @xcite , and going beyond next - to - leading order would be extremely difficult . in addition , going to higher order in chiral perturbation theory introduces more parameters and thus reduces its predictive power . at high enough @xmath0 chiral perturbation theory will break down . the scale at which chiral perturbation theory breaks down is given by the pion decay constant @xmath157 . from the numerous higher order calculations in chiral perturbation theory , this breakdown scale can be estimated to be of the order of a few times @xmath157 . in our case at @xmath3 , we know the chiral condensate , the quark mass and the pion mass . from the gell - mann oakes renner relation , we find that @xmath158 . we therefore expect that chiral perturbation theory will break down when @xmath159 . however , at @xmath160 , higher - order corrections should already amount to @xmath161 . we therefore conclude that it is very doubtful that chiral perturbation theory can describe our ` data ' for the largest chemical potentials used in our study . note that this @xmath157 is the @xmath157 for chiral perturbation theory with the lattice symmetries ( see appendix ) . the continuum @xmath157 is half this value . our large @xmath0 data suggests that @xmath125 is increasing consistent with the expected rise cubic in @xmath0 . since the arguments leading to this prediction suggest a counting of degrees of freedom identical to that for free quarks , this suggests that we are beyond the range of chiral perturbation theory , since accounting for all these degrees of freedom in terms of hadrons requires including hadrons other than the pseudo - goldstone bosons . unfortunately it is difficult to disentangle such behaviour from the effects of saturation . a @xmath162 increase in @xmath125 is just what is required to keep the saturation threshold at a constant @xmath0 in lattice units as the lattice spacing is varied , which is what we observe . in addition , the decrease of the condensate close to saturation , suggests that the quarks are acting like free quarks , which makes it even harder to distinguish real effects from saturation induced artifacts . the main goal of this project was to measure the spectrum of pseudo - goldstone bosons for this theory , to enhance our knowledge of the pattern of symmetry breaking . spontaneous breaking of the @xmath16 symmetry of the staggered lattice implementation of 2-colour qcd with 1 staggered quark field corresponding to 4 continuum flavours at @xmath15 , should give rise to 3 goldstone bosons . fixing @xmath9 , we have studied the variation of these now pseudo - goldstone bosons as functions of @xmath0 for 2 choices of @xmath53 . comparison with our earlier simulations at @xmath7 gave some indication of the @xmath47 dependence of these spectra . we have obtained the predictions from our linear sigma model effective lagrangian for these masses , using the parameters obtained from our fits to the diquark condensate . for @xmath3 our measurements confirm that all 3 pseudo - goldstone bosons are degenerate with mass consistent with the expected @xmath65 . @xmath10 is approximately proportional to @xmath163 as predicted by pcac . the observed small deviations from pcac suggest that @xmath7 is beyond the range of the leading order prediction . at @xmath21 , the lowest mass state is the diquark state orthogonal to the condensate . the mass of this state is expected to fall linearly to zero as @xmath0 is increased to @xmath5 . above this phase transition it should remain zero , becoming the goldstone boson of spontaneously broken quark number . at small non - zero @xmath53 , our effective lagrangian analysis predicts its behaviour . what we have observed is that these predictions are good up to and through the transition . as @xmath0 is increased much beyond this value , the measured mass lies consistently below these predictions . examining the corresponding predictions for the higher quark mass @xmath7 , where the deviation is more severe , suggests that at least some of this deviation is coming from saturation , a lattice artifact seen when @xmath0 is large enough that the fermi surface approaches the lattice cutoff . when @xmath21 , we expect that the pseudoscalar pseudo - goldstone mass will remain constant as @xmath0 is increased up to @xmath5 . above this it is expected to decrease rapidly , approaching zero for large @xmath0 . our measured values at @xmath9 and non - zero @xmath53 show evidence for such behaviour . however , the rate of decrease in this mass above the transition is significantly faster than that predicted by the linear sigma model effective lagrangian fits . at @xmath7 , this decrease is even more precipitous . here again , there is evidence to suggest that this more rapid decrease is due to the effects of saturation . the improvement in going to the smaller mass , where the onset of saturation occurs at larger @xmath164 , supports this interpretation , and suggests that if the mass were decreased , eventually the predictions would fit the ` data ' . we have noted that the term in the effective lagrangian which controls the behaviour of the quark - number density , also contributes to these pseudo - goldstone masses , and does so in a way which would be expected to make the discrepancies worse for the pseudoscalar state . hence it is reasonable to assume that the addition of one extra parameter in going from the chiral perturbation theory lagrangian to the linear sigma model lagrangian , is inadequate to parameterize all departures from tree - level chiral perturbation theory . the behaviour of @xmath125 at high @xmath0 can be obtained from analyses other than those of effective lagrangians . this suggests that one should abandon the use of effective chiral lagrangians designed for small @xmath0 and small @xmath10 and adopt a different approach for large @xmath0 . at @xmath21 , the final pseudo - goldstone mass should increase linearly with @xmath0 up to @xmath5 , above which it should briefly decrease before continuing its rise . we see evidence for this behaviour in our measurements for @xmath9 . the predictions from effective lagrangians are in good agreement with the ` data ' for this state . we note that some of the other hadrons which could be expected to contribute at high @xmath0 , are those that would have been pseudo - goldstone bosons were it not for the flavour symmetry breaking of the staggered lattice . on the lattice , the symmetry breaking is @xmath17 , giving 3 goldstone bosons . in the continuum the symmetry breaking is @xmath165 , which gives 27 goldstone bosons . to summarize , we have found @xmath9 to be small enough to see evidence for mean - field scaling and to study the spectrum of the 3 pseudo - goldstone excitations . at this quark mass , the pseudo - goldstone boson masses lie well below those expected for other ` hadrons ' . however , saturation , where all available fermion levels are filled , is still close enough to the phase transition to make it difficult to disentangle real physics from this lattice artifact , even though we do find an adequate scaling region for simple observables . for @xmath7 the scaling window is too small to obtain quantitative information . it would be useful to obtain the full next - to - leading order analysis of the pseudo - goldstone spectrum , and the expressions for the order parameters beyond leading order in @xmath51 . however , this is beyond the scope of this paper . dks is supported by the us department of energy under contract w-31 - 109-eng-38 . jbk and dt are supported in part by nsf grant nsf - phy-0102409 . dt is supported in part by `` holderbank''-stiftung . these simulations were performed on the ibm sps at nersc and npaci . in this appendix , we construct chiral perturbation theory for the symmetry breaking pattern of the staggered fermion action ( [ eqn : lagrangian ] ) at @xmath15 : @xmath166 , and we study the spectrum of the three goldstone excitations . these goldstone modes become massive upon the introduction of a nonzero quark mass or a nonzero diquark source . they dominate the physics at low energy . in this appendix we study the spectrum in chiral perturbation theory . this problem is similar to what can be found in the literature . in @xcite , chiral perturbation theory for @xmath167 quarks in the adjoint representation has been constructed . in this case the symmetry breaking pattern is given by @xmath168 . notice that for any number of flavors the symmetry breaking pattern of the staggered fermion action is @xmath169 . following @xcite , we construct the low - energy effective lagrangian for the goldstone modes induced by the spontaneous symmetry breaking @xmath17 . we find that the effective lagrangian is given by @xmath170 where @xmath171 is the pion decay constant , @xmath172 , and @xmath173 is the quark - antiquark condensate at @xmath15 . we have used the same conventions as in @xcite . these notations were already introduced in section 3 , we just need to replace @xmath174 by @xmath61 in the expressions that appear in section 3 , with @xmath175 where @xmath176 and @xmath64 corresponds to the minimum of the free energy with @xmath51 given by @xmath177 following @xcite , we find that the term quadratic in the goldstone fields in the effective lagrangian is given by @xmath179 \nonumber \\ & & + m_{\pi}^2 { \rm tr } \left [ q_iq_i^\dagger{\sin\phi\over\sin\alpha } + q_rq_r^\dagger\left(\frac{4\mu^2}{m_\pi^2 } \sin^2\alpha + { \sin\phi\over\sin\alpha}\right ) \right ] \nonumber\\ & & + { \rm tr}\left[\partial_\nu p_s \partial_\nu p_s+ p_s^2 m_\pi^2 \left(\frac{4\mu^2}{m_\pi^2 } \cos^2\alpha + { \sin\phi\over\sin\alpha}\right ) \right ] . \ ] ] r. rapp , t. schafer , e.v . shuryak and m. velkovsky , phys . 81 * , 53 ( 1998 ) . m. alford , k. rajagopal and f. wilczek , phys . b422 * , 247 ( 1998 ) . d. bailin and a. love , phys . rept . * 107 * , 325 ( 1984 ) . b. c. barrois , nucl . b219 , 390 ( 1977 ) z. fodor and s. d. katz , phys . b534 , 87 ( 2002 ) ; z. fodor and s. d. katz , jhep 03 , 014 ( 2002 ) ; s. choe , it et al . d65 , 054501 ( 2002 ) ; c. r. allton , it et al . d66 , 074507 ( 2002 ) ; p. de forcrand and o. philipsen , eprint hep - lat/0205016 ( 2002 ) ; p. r. crompton , nucl . b619 , 499 ( 2001 ) ; p. r. crompton , nucl . b626 , 228 ( 2002 ) . kogut , m.a . stephanov and d. toublan , phys . lett . * b464 * , 183 ( 1999 ) . j. b. kogut , m. a. stephanov , d. toublan , j. j. verbaarschot and a. zhitnitsky , nucl . b * 582 * , 477 ( 2000 ) . k. splittorff , d. toublan and j. j. verbaarschot , nucl . b * 620 * , 290 ( 2002 ) ; nucl . b * 639 * , 524 ( 2002 ) . k. splittorff , d. t. son and m. a. stephanov , phys . d * 64 * ( 2001 ) 016003 . b. vanderheyden and a. d. jackson , phys . d * 64 * , 074016 ( 2001 ) . s. hands , j. b. kogut , m. p. lombardo and s. e. morrison , nucl . phys . b * 558 * , 327 ( 1999 ) [ arxiv : hep - lat/9902034 ] . s. hands , j.b . kogut , s.e . morrison and d.k . sinclair , nucl . . suppl . * 94 * , 457 ( 2001 ) . kogut , d.k . sinclair , s. hands , and s.e . morrison , phys . d64 , 094505 ( 2001 ) . j. b. kogut , d. toublan and d. k. sinclair , phys . b * 514 * , 77 ( 2001 ) [ arxiv : hep - lat/0104010 ] . j. b. kogut , d. toublan and d. k. sinclair , nucl . b * 642 * , 181 ( 2002 ) [ arxiv : hep - lat/0205019 ] . j. b. kogut , d. toublan and d. k. sinclair , arxiv : hep - lat/0208076 . r. aloisio , v. azcoiti , g. di carlo , a. galante and a. f. grillo , phys . b493 , 189 ( 2000 ) ; r. aloisio , v. azcoiti , g. di carlo , a. galante and a. f. grillo , nucl . b606 , 322 ( 2001 ) . a. nakamura , phys . 149b , 391 ( 1984 ) ; s. muroya , a. nakamura and c. nonaka , eprint nucl - th/0111082 ( 2001 ) ; y. liu , _ et al . _ , hep - lat/0009009 ( 2000 ) ; see also m. p. lombardo , hep - lat/9907025 ( 1999 ) . g. ecker , `` chiral perturbation theory , '' cern - th-6660 - 92 ; _ in the proceedings of 4th hellenic school on elementary particle physics , corfu , greece , 2 - 20 sep 1992 and lectures given at cargese summer school on quantitative particle physics , cargese , 20 jul-1 aug 1992 _ j. b. kogut and d. k. sinclair , phys . rev . d * 66 * , 014508 ( 2002 ) [ arxiv : hep - 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we examine the spectrum of 2-colour lattice qcd with 4 continuum flavours at a finite chemical potential ( @xmath0 ) for quark - number , on a @xmath1 lattice . first we present evidence that the system undergoes a transition to a state with a diquark condensate , which spontaneously breaks quark number at @xmath2 , and that this transition is mean field in nature . we then examine the 3 states that would be goldstone bosons at @xmath3 for zero dirac and majorana quark masses . the predictions of chiral effective lagrangians give a good description of the behaviour of these masses for @xmath4 . except for the heaviest of these states , these predictions diverge from our measurements , once @xmath0 is significantly greater than @xmath5 . however , the qualitative behaviour of these masses , indicates that the physics is very similar to that predicted by these effective lagrangians , and there is some indication that at least part of these discrepancies is due to saturation , a lattice artifact .

On Sunday, September 7 — at 2:15 pm Eastern time, to be exact — a small asteroid whizzed by the Earth. Don't worry: it missed us by about 25,000 miles, though a tiny chunk may have broken off and landed in Nicaragua. But in the long-term, worrying a little about asteroids isn't an unreasonable idea. Now, the odds of a massively destructive asteroid impact at any given time are tiny — but the potential costs would be enormous. Yet we still haven't invested in all the infrastructure needed to spot small asteroids with much warning (we spotted this one less than a week ago). And we've done nothing to develop the ability to divert a larger one if it threatened us. On Sunday, the asteroid was small and far enough away that you wouldn't have be able to see it without a telescope. But it'd be great if we can use this sort of near-miss to rouse us from our species-wide slumber, and make asteroid detection more of a priority. The asteroid missed us on Sunday Astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey — a telescope near Tucson, Arizona, used exclusively to spot potentially hazardous near-Earth objects — detected the asteroid on August 31. After its existence was confirmed by observations from other telescopes, NASA has designated it 2014 RC. It's a chunk of rock that's around 60 feet in diameter — similar in size to the one that blew up over Chelyabinsk, Russia last year. It's calculated that, at its closest approach, the main body of the asteroid came within 25,000 miles of Earth. (It's still uncertain whether the small crater found in Nicaragua did indeed come from a piece broken off of it.) This is far enough away that it didn't pose a significant danger, but still pretty close — about as close to us as many of our weather and communications satellites, and about ten times closer to us than the moon. When it passed by, the asteroid was somewhere over New Zealand. But because it's so small, you would've needed a telescope to see it. Its magnitude was about 11 — which, as Phil Plait points out, means it'll be about 1 percent as bright as the faintest star you can normally see. But asteroids are an overlooked risk It's not that the risk of a catastrophic asteroid impact, in any given year, is particularly large. It's tiny: scientists estimate that the huge ones that would cause global damage come around once every million years. But it doesn't take a kilometer-sized one — like the asteroid that led to the extinction of many species, including most dinosaurs, 65 million years ago — to cause a lot of damage. In 1908, an asteroid that was somewhere between 60 and 190 meters in diameter landed in a remote corner of Siberia. When it hit the ground, this modest asteroid discharged an amount of energy one thousand times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, scientists estimate. It knocked down some 80 million trees over a roughly 830 square mile area. An asteroid of this size likely comes around once every few thousand years. That might not sound very frequent to you. But the problem is that, given enough time, it will occur. And conceivably, we hope to stick around for a long time, as a species. But we haven't bothered to invest enough in efforts to detect asteroids to ensure this will happen. Last week, I interviewed Alexander Rose, the direction of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that thinks our species has failed to engage in truly long-term thinking. He felt an epitome of this was the way we largely disregard the threat of asteroids. "We know that, at some point, a catastrophic meteor or asteroid will impact this planet," he said. "For the first time in human history, we have the capability to detect and potentially divert it. Yet we aren't really putting any money into that." How we fail to defend ourselves from asteroids The first step to protect ourselves from asteroids is seeing them. Currently, we have a few different telescopes here on Earth devoted to spotting near-Earth objects — most notably, the Catalina telescope, along with Pan-STARRS in Hawaii. Using these telescopes, NASA now estimates we've spotted more than 90 percent of the near-Earth asteroids capable of causing a global catastrophe. None of them, thankfully, are on track to hit us. But that leaves a problem: we've spotted much fewer of the mid-sized objects that wouldn't cause global-scale damage but would still cause a regional-level disaster, like the 1908 event. In total, we've spotted about 10 percent of the asteroids big enough to cause any sort of damage on Earth. In other words, one of these could emerge pretty much anytime. The way to identify a greater proportion of them is to use telescopes in space, because they don't have to deal with interference from the atmosphere and the sun's glare. NASA has proposed launching one of these, called NEOCam, and a private organization called the B612 Foundation is currently raising $450 million for a complementary mission, called Sentinel, that would survey a different area of the sky. If both these missions happen, they'd be able to spot the vast majority of mid-sized asteroids that could pose a threat. But the NASA mission is still just a proposal — one that is reportedly short on money — and the B612 mission is also short of its fundraising goal. Further, if we did spot an asteroid heading our way, we don't have any proven means of stopping it. The simplest way would probably be sending a craft crashing into the asteroid, nudging it off its path enough so that it'd miss Earth. The UN has proposed designing and testing a network of small probes that would be capable of doing so, but it's still waiting on the necessary funding from various national space agencies, with an estimated price tag of about $2.5 billion. Funding all three of these projects — the two telescopes and the impact avoidance system — would cost a lot. Let's be generous and say they'd cost $5 billion in total. Now compare that to the cost of, say, the cost of the Sochi Olympics ($51 billion), or the cost of the F-35 fighter plane program ($400 billion). Screw it, compare it to the cost of a new football stadium for the Dallas Cowboys ($1.2 billion, with about a quarter paid by taxpayers). When it comes to asteroids, we're talking about natural disasters that are probably preventable. Figuring out how to do so would be a relatively cheap insurance plan that would benefit the entire species. Further reading: What are your odds of being hit by an asteroid? ||||| A newly discovered asteroid the size of a house is zooming safely by Earth this weekend, and you can see live views of the space rock tonight (Sept. 6) during a series of stargazing webcasts. Tonight, the online Slooh Community Observatory will set its sights on the near-Earth asteroid 2014 RC — which Slooh nicknamed "Pitbull" — in a one-hour webcast featuring live views of the asteroid, as well as the famed Helix nebula. The 60-foot-wide (20 meters) asteroid poses no threat of hitting Earth when it makes its closest approach on Sunday (Sept. 7), NASA officials have said. Slooh's webcast will be streamed live at http://www.slooh.com at 10 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. PDT/0200 GMT), and include telescope views from the group's flagship observatory at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. The Helix nebula will be in the same field of view as the asteroid during the webcast, Slooh representatives said. You can also watch the asteroid 2014 RC webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. Asteroid 2014 RC should appear as a bright fast-moving point of light in the telescope webcast. As with all stargazing events, tonight's webcast is dependent on clear weather. By coincidence, tonight is also International Observe the Moon Night, with many events planned by amateur astronomers around the world. To celebrate the moon-observing night, the Virtual Telescope Project led by astrophysicist Gianluca in Italy will host a moon webcast tonight at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) and follow it up with an asteroid 2014 RC webcast at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). This NASA graphic shows the orbit of newly discovered asteroid 2014 RC, which makes a close approach to Earth on Sept. 7, 2014 when it passes by at a safe distance. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered on Aug. 31 by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona. It will come within 21,126 miles (34,000 kilometers) of the Earth's surface during the Sunday flyby. The asteroid will be about one-tenth the distance between the center of the Earth and the moon when it zips by, NASA officials said. "With a small number of observations made of 2014 RC, there is still uncertainty in its precise orbit," Slooh producer Paul Cox said in a statement. "Slooh members will be tracking the asteroid as it approaches Earth, and will submit their observations to the Minor Planet Center to enable them to better define its orbit." Slooh's asteroid 2014 RC webcast will feature commentary by astronomer Bob Berman and host Geoff Fox. The online observatory nicknamed the asteroid "Pitbull" because of its small size and "scary demeanor," Slooh representatives wrote in a statement. According to Slooh's Berman: "Pitbull will be too small to appear to the unaided eye. Although amateur telescopes could theoretically see it, its rapid motion will make locating this asteroid a major challenge for all but a small coterie of dedicated, serious astronomers with good star charts." The online Slooh Community Observatory will track the near-Earth asteroid 2014 RC on Saturday, Sept. 6, one day ahead of the asteroid's closest approach to Earth on Sept. 7, 2014. The Helix nebula will also be in the field of view during the webcast as seen in this Slooh graphic. Credit: Slooh Community Observatory While asteroid 2014 RC is giving Earth a close shave this weekend, it is by no means the closest asteroid flyby of Earth. On Feb. 15, 2013, the asteroid 2012 DA14 came within 17,200 miles (27,680 km) of Earth's surface before it safely went on its way. That same day, an asteroid exploded over the Russian city Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,500 people and causing widespread damage to buildings. The Russian meteor explosion, caused by an asteroid only slightly larger than asteroid 2014 RC, served as a wakeup call to the public to the threat of asteroid impacts on Earth. NASA scientists and astronomers around the world regularly monitor the sky for potentially dangerous asteroids. Editor's note: If you are a seasoned asteroid tracker and capture an image of video of asteroid 2014 RC and want to share images with Space.com for a gallery or story, send images and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at: [email protected]. For more information on International Observe the Moon Night, and to find an event near you, visit: http://observethemoonnight.org/. Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

– Sky-watchers, take note: An asteroid is going to whiz by our planet this weekend. Asteroid 2014 RC, aka "Pitbull," will make its closest pass 25,000 miles over New Zealand about 2:15pm Eastern tomorrow, reports USA Today. Nobody will be able to see the 60-foot-wide rock with the naked eye, but Space.com notes that a free webcast featuring telescope views will be streamed live at Slooh.com beginning at 10 Eastern tonight. This one will miss us, "but it'd be great if we can use this sort of near-miss to rouse us from our species-wide slumber, and make asteroid detection more of a priority," writes Joseph Stromberg at Vox.

WASHINGTON -- The national leaders of both major political parties condemned Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young on Friday for calling California farm workers "wetbacks," a slur that comes at a time that the Republican Party is desperately courting Latino voters. House Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio demanded that Young, a Republican, apologize immediately, saying there was no excuse for his remarks. "Congressman Young's remarks were offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds," Boehner said. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus expressed disgust at the comments by Young, the second longest-serving Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. He said Young's words "emphatically" didn't represent the party's beliefs. "Offensive language and ethnic slurs have no place in our public discourse," Priebus said. Young made his comments Wednesday at a news conference in Ketchikan, and they were posted online the next day by radio station KRBD. After undergoing a day of blistering criticism Friday from around the nation, his office issued an apology. "I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska," the statement said. "There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I'm sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform." Young, 79, has been Alaska's lone member of the House since 1973. He won re-election last year with 64 percent of the vote and already has announced plans to run for his 22nd term in the 2014 election. His use of the slur comes at an especially sensitive time for Republicans. Party leaders acknowledged in the wake of the presidential election that they have a serious problem with a lack of support among Latino voters, the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc. Nearly three-quarters of Latinos backed President Barack Obama over Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the election. Priebus this month called the election a wake-up call, and said the party had an urgent need to connect with Hispanics. Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the GOP must stop being the "stupid party" in which Republicans make offensive and bizarre comments. 'NO DISRESPECT' In the Ketchikan news conference, Young talked about how technology has led to the loss of certain jobs. "I used to own -- my father had a ranch," he said. "We used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. You know it takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It's all done by machine." After his remarks appeared online, Young initially tried to explain them with a statement from his office Thursday night, saying he meant "no disrespect." In his statement, Young said, "I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central California. I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no disrespect." But the Congressional Hispanic Caucus rejected Young's explanation and said his words were hateful and a racial slur. "Rep. Young says that he was just using the language he was accustomed to as he grew up, but there is no excuse for ignorance," Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, the caucus chairman, said in a statement. "He has served alongside Hispanics in Congress since 1973, so he should know terms like 'wetback' have never been acceptable." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who chairs the Democratic National Committee, tweeted Friday that it was disappointing to see a Republican member of Congress casually use a racial slur. She suggested that the Republican Party was going to have to work harder on its rebranding. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, joined those from both parties condemning Young. "Migrant workers come to America looking for opportunity and a way to provide a better life for their families," he said in a statement. "They do not come to this country to hear ethnic slurs and derogatory language from elected officials. The comments used by Rep. Young do nothing to elevate our party, political discourse or the millions who come here looking for economic opportunity." CRITICISM IN ALASKA Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in an update on Facebook Friday morning, said, "I want to tell Alaskans that I've heard the reports of Don Young's interview. Regardless of the time or the context, that term is inappropriate and offensive." On Thursday , Lupe Marroquin, president of the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska, called Young's remarks "really bad form." "It kind of opens your eyes to the way Don Young thinks," she said. "He didn't even pause. It's like that's just what he calls migrant farm workers." A spokeswoman for Gov. Sean Parnell said, "The governor called the remark totally inappropriate. He appreciates Congressman Young's sincere apology." Peter Goldberg, vice chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, acknowledged Young's remarks might make it thougher for the party's message to reach Hispanic voters in Alaska, at least in the short-term. "I mean, if you are a member of that ethnic group, if you're Hispanic, you probably find it offensive. But then again, if you've been in Alaska quite a while, you've known Don Young for up to 40 years, because that's how long he's been a congressman, and I think you'd get past it," he said. "He made a mistake. He recognizes it. He knows it probably better than anyone else in the nation that he blew it," Goldberg said. At least one national Latino group is demanding that Young resign. The group, Presente.org., is circulating a petition online that calls Young unfit for office. "Your use of the word 'wetback' was unacceptable in your father's time and it is unacceptable now," according to a statement from the group, which calls itself the nation's largest Latino online advocacy organization. "There is a long and harmful history behind that term and no member of Congress should be able to say it without consequence." In a statement about Young, Janet Murguia, the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, which says it's the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group, said it was "very sad and extremely disappointing" that the remark came so close to the birthday March 31 of the late United Farm Workers union leader, Cesar Chavez, "a man who spent his entire life exhorting his fellow Americans to treat migrant workers with dignity, respect and humanity....That word was inexcusable then, and it is inexcusable now." The National Hispanic Media Coalition, a Los Angeles-based media advocacy and civil rights group, called Young's words a toxic slur against Hispanics. Young's words have landed him in trouble before, including in 1995, when he apologized to Fairbanks high school students for using an obscenity to describe anal sex while denouncing federal funding for the arts. Corruption investigations also have dogged Young for years. The House Ethics Committee is investigating him over allegations of wrongly taking gifts, using campaign funds for personal purposes and lying to federal officials. The FBI investigated Young for corruption for at least four years before deciding in 2010 that "there was not evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to ultimately convict" the congressman. Daily News reporter Casey Grove contributed to this story. ||||| The congressman's remarks come as the Republican Party tries to improve its standing with Hispanics. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, speaks at a forum in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Oct. 16, 2012. Young apologized Friday for using a racial slur to describe migrant farmworkers, saying "it was a poor choice of words." (Photo: Sam Harrel, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, via AP) Story Highlights House speaker, GOP chairman say language is 'offensive' GOP trying to improve standing with Hispanics, who strongly supported President Obama Congressman said he used 'poor choice of words' WASHINGTON — GOP Rep. Don Young of Alaska apologized Friday for using a racial slur to describe migrant farmworkers after being denounced by top Republicans for "offensive" language as the party tries to boost its standing with Hispanics. "I apologize for the insensitive term," Young, a House member since 1973, said in a statement. "There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words." In an interview this week with an Alaska radio station, Young used the word "wetbacks" and said the term had been commonly used when he was growing up on a ranch in central California. He issued a statement late Thursday saying he had "meant no disrespect," but the reaction throughout the day had been heated from both parties — particularly from his own Republican leadership. House Speaker John Boehner, Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn and Sen. John McCain, a leader in the Senate's efforts to rewrite immigration laws, all chided Young for his language and said it had no place in the Republican Party. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Xavier Becerra of California were among the Democratic leaders to criticize Young. Boehner in particular was incensed, saying Young's remarks were "offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds." The House's top Republican said there was "no excuse," and the language warranted "an immediate apology." Young, 79, said Friday the word he used "and the negative attitudes that come with it should be left in the 20th century." His timing was bad. A bipartisan group of senators and House members plans to unveil bills in April that would dramatically revamp the nation's immigration laws and include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is spending $10 million starting this year on outreach efforts to minorities, women and gay voters as the party seeks to become more inclusive and welcoming. The new outreach is the result of the GOP's scathing post-election "autopsy" report, which noted that much work needs to be done to attract Hispanics. In the last election, President Obama won 71% of the Hispanic vote. STORY: Democrat removes tweet, apologizes Earlier in the day, Priebus said Young's original words "emphatically do not represent the beliefs of the Republican Party." "As I have continued to say, everyone in this country deserves to be treated with dignity and respect," he said. "Our party represents freedom and opportunity for every American and a beacon of hope to those seeking liberty throughout the world." Cornyn, R-Texas, noted that migrant workers come to America looking for ways to improve their lives and those of their families. "They do not come to this country to hear ethnic slurs and derogatory language from elected officials," Cornyn said. "The comments used by Rep. Young do nothing to elevate our party, political discourse or the millions who come here looking for economic opportunity." Members of Congress drafting immigration legislation are considering the number of work visas granted to immigrants in several areas of the economy, including high-tech workers, agricultural workers and lower-skilled fields. Many of those visas would end up going to people from Mexico, Central and South America. Young said he was "sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform." Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said an immigration overhaul will be possible only through bipartisanship. He noted that Young, who has served beside many Hispanics in his decades in Congress, "should know terms like 'wetback' have never been acceptable." "Now, more than ever, we must resolve the many issues of our broken immigration system," Hinojosa said. "But as we move forward, it's important that our Republican colleagues are mindful of how words have consequences. When elected officials use racial slurs, it sets back our nation and sets back legislators who are seriously working toward real, bipartisan solutions." Lisa Navarette, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group, said she is heartened that GOP leaders were quick to denounce Young. She said the use of such a slur coming from a Republican in this day and age highlights the challenge for the GOP. "It's an education issue," she said. "It's not a matter of being nicer. They've got some fundamental work to do to educate their party." Contributing: Alan Gomez Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/10k2G8B

– Don Young didn't offer any half-apologies this time. After a day of withering criticism from his own party leaders, the GOP congressman from Alaska said he was sorry for referring to Mexican farm workers as "wetbacks" in a radio interview, reports the Anchorage Daily News. His statement: "I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in Ketchikan, Alaska. There was no malice in my heart or intent to offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I'm sorry that this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform." His statement came after John Boehner called Young's remarks "beneath the dignity of the office he holds" and demanded an apology. RNC chair Reince Priebus offered a similar condemnation, and no wonder: His group is investing $10 million to improve its outreach to minorities, especially Hispanics, after President Obama won 71% of the Latino vote last fall, reports USA Today.

SECTION 1. COMPENSATION FOR WORK INJURIES. Section 8133 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(g)(1) This subsection applies in the case of any employee who has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty as a public safety officer (within the meaning of section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968), as determined under section 1201 of such Act. ``(2) In the computation of any monthly compensation under this section based on the death of an employee described in paragraph (1), the monthly pay used in any such computation (before the application of subsection (e)) shall be determined based on the pay grade or level which is 1 grade or level higher than the grade or level that, but for this subsection, would otherwise apply. ``(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be considered to affect any computation to the extent that the otherwise applicable pay grade or level was the highest grade or level in effect, at the time of the service for which the pay was payable, under the pay schedule or system involved.''. SEC. 2. CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM. Section 8341 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after subsection (i) the following: ``(j)(1) This subsection applies in the case of any employee who has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty as a public safety officer (within the meaning of section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968), as determined under section 1201 of such Act. ``(2) In the computation of any survivor annuity under this section based on the death of an employee described in paragraph (1), the average pay used in any such computation (to compute such survivor annuity as a percentage of an annuity imputed to the employee or a portion thereof) shall, for each rate of basic pay used in the computation of such average pay, be determined using the pay grade or level which is 1 grade or level higher than the grade or level that, but for this subsection, would otherwise apply. ``(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be considered to affect any computation to the extent that the otherwise applicable pay grade or level was the highest grade or level in effect, at the time of the service for which the pay was payable, under the pay schedule or system involved.''. SEC. 3. FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM. (a) In General.--Subchapter IV of chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Sec. 8446. Computations based on the death of a public safety officer who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty ``(a) This subsection applies in the case of any employee who has died as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty as a public safety officer (within the meaning of section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968), as determined under section 1201 of such Act. ``(b) In the computation of any survivor annuity under this subchapter based on the death of an employee described in subsection (a), the average pay used in any such computation (to compute such survivor annuity as a percentage of an annuity imputed to the employee or a portion thereof) shall, for each rate of basic pay used in the computation of such average pay, be determined using the pay grade or level which is 1 grade or level higher than the grade or level that, but for this section, would otherwise apply. ``(c) Nothing in this section shall be considered to affect any computation to the extent that the otherwise applicable pay grade or level was the highest grade or level in effect, at the time of the service for which the pay was payable, under the pay schedule or system involved.''. (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 8445 the following: ``8446. Computations based on the death of a public safety officer who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty.''. SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; EXCEPTION. (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to deaths occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. (b) Exception.-- (1) In general.--Any individual who, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is entitled (or would, on application, be entitled) to monthly compensation under chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, or an annuity under chapter 83 or 84 of such title 5, as the survivor of a Federal public safety officer who died on or after January 1, 1974, shall, upon application submitted within 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, be entitled to have such compensation or annuity recomputed as if the amendments made by this Act had been in effect at the time of such employee's death. (2) Commencement date.--Any recomputation of compensation or annuity under this subsection shall be effective as of the commencement date of such compensation or annuity. (3) Lump-sum payments.--Any amount becoming payable to an individual under this subsection with respect to any portion of the period beginning on January 1, 1974, and ending on the date as of which regular monthly compensation or survivor annuity payments for such individual are adjusted to reflect the recomputation required under paragraph (1) shall be payable in a lump-sum payment, subject to paragraph (4). (4) Funding.-- (A) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated, out of general funds in the Treasury, such sums as may be necessary to make the lump-sum payments described in paragraph (3). (B) Limitation.--To the extent that the total amount appropriated under subparagraph (A) is less than the total amounts which (but for this subparagraph) would otherwise be payable under this subsection, each amount under paragraph (1) shall be reduced by a proportionate share of the shortfall, determined separately for-- (i) benefits under chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code; and (ii) benefits under chapters 83 and 84 of such title, respectively. (5) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the term ``Federal public safety officer'' refers to an employee described in section 8133(g)(1), 8341(j)(1), or 8446(a) of title 5, United States Code, as amended by this Act. (c) Regulations.--Any regulations necessary to carry out this Act or the amendments made by this Act may-- (1) with respect to benefits under chapter 81 of title 5, United States Code, be prescribed by the Secretary of Labor; and (2) with respect to benefits under chapter 83 or 84 of such title, be prescribed by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.

Provides that the pay used to compute monthly compensation based on the death of a federal employee who died from personal injury sustained in the line of duty as a public safety officer, or any survivor annuity under such circumstances, shall be determined based on the pay grade or level which is one grade higher than would otherwise apply. Entitles anyone who is eligible for such monthly compensation or annuity as the survivor of a public safety officer who died on or after January 1, 1974, to: (1) have such compensation or annuity recomputed upon application submitted within 12 months after enactment of this Act; and (2) a lump-sum payment for the period between January 1, 1974, and the date as of which regular monthly compensation or survivor annuity payments are adjusted to reflect the recomputation .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Coastal Services and Performance Evaluation Act of 2003''. SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. Sec. 3. Amendment of Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. Sec. 4. Policy. Sec. 5. Coastal Zone Management Fund. Sec. 6. Coastal services. Sec. 7. Review of performance. Sec. 8. Amendments relating to Walter B. Jones Awards for Excellence in Coastal Zone Management. Sec. 9. Reports. Sec. 10. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 11. Technical corrections. Sec. 12. Coastal zone management outcome indicators and monitoring and performance evaluation system. SEC. 3. AMENDMENT OF COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1972. Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.). SEC. 4. POLICY. Section 303 (16 U.S.C. 1452) is amended in paragraph (2)(J) by striking ``State'' the second place it appears and inserting ``State and Federal fish''. SEC. 5. COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT FUND. Section 308 (16 U.S.C. 1456a) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following: ``(2) Loan repayments made pursuant to this subsection-- ``(A) shall be retained by the Secretary and deposited into the Coastal Zone Management Fund established under subsection (b); and ``(B) subject to amounts provided in appropriation Acts, shall be available to the Secretary for purposes of this title and transferred to the Operations, Research, and Facilities account to offset the costs of implementing this title.''; and (2) in subsection (b)-- (A) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3); and (B) by striking ``(b)(1)'' and inserting ``(b)''. SEC. 6. COASTAL SERVICES. Section 310 (16 U.S.C. 1456c) is amended-- (1) by striking so much as precedes subsection (b) and inserting the following: ``coastal services, training, education, and technical support ``Sec. 310. (a)(1) The Secretary shall conduct a program of training, education, technical assistance, technology transfer, management-oriented research, and other services to support-- ``(A) State coastal management programs and national estuarine reserves designated under this title; and ``(B) other Federal agencies, local governments, Indian tribes, other persons, and international cooperative efforts relating to the comprehensive planning, conservation, and management of ocean and coastal resources. ``(2) The Secretary may, in implementing this program, take into consideration the need to address regional or local concerns, including the unique needs of island States and territories, in order to provide effective and efficient support and develop expertise. ``(3) The Secretary shall coordinate the technical assistance, studies, management-oriented research, and other activities under this section with any other relevant activities conducted by or subject to the authority of the Secretary.''; (2) in subsection (b) by inserting ``Coordination and Consultation.--'' after ``(b)''; and (3) by adding at the end the following: ``(c) Assistance From Other Agencies and Persons.--(1) Each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government may assist the Secretary, on a reimbursable basis or otherwise, in carrying out the purposes of this section, including the furnishing of information to the extent permitted by law, the transfer of personnel with their consent and without prejudice to their position and rating, and the performance of any research, study, and technical assistance that does not interfere with the performance of the primary duties of such department, agency, or instrumentality. ``(2) The Secretary may enter into contracts or other arrangements with other Federal agencies and any other qualified person for the purposes of carrying out this section.''. SEC. 7. REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE. Section 312 (16 U.S.C. 1458) is amended by striking ``Sec. 312.'' and all that follows through subsection (a) and inserting the following: ``Sec. 312. (a) Review.--No less than every 5 years, the Secretary shall conduct a review of the performance of a coastal State's management program. Each review shall include a written evaluation with an assessment and detailed findings concerning the extent to which the State has implemented and enforced the program approved by the Secretary, addressed the coastal management needs identified in section 303(2)(A) through (K), met any outcome indicators established by the Secretary under section 12 of the Coastal Services and Performance Evaluation Act of 2003, and adhered to the terms of any grant, loan, or cooperative agreement funded under this title.''. SEC. 8. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO WALTER B. JONES AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT. Section 314 (16 U.S.C. 1460) is amended-- (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows: ``(a) Authorization of Program.--(1) The Secretary may implement a program to promote excellence in coastal zone management by identifying and making awards acknowledging outstanding accomplishments in the field of coastal zone management. An award under this section shall be known as a `Walter B. Jones Award'. ``(2) Awards under this section may include, subject to the availability of appropriations-- ``(A) cash awards of not more than $5,000 each; ``(B) research grants; and ``(C) public ceremonies to acknowledge accomplishments in the field of coastal zone management.''; (2) in subsection (b) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``shall elect annually'' and inserting ``may select annually for an award under this section''; and (3) by repealing subsection (e). SEC. 9. REPORTS. Section 316(a) (16 U.S.C. 1462(a)) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a)-- (A) by striking ``to the President for transmittal''; and (B) in clause (10) by striking ``and an evaluation of the effectiveness of financial assistance under section 308 in dealing with such consequences''; and (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows: ``(c) State of the Coast Report.--Not less than 24 months after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and not less than every 24 months thereafter, the Secretary shall provide a coastal status report to the Congress that includes the following: ``(1) An assessment of the ecological status and trends of United States marine resources. ``(2) An identification and analysis of the changes in those status and trends since the previous report. ``(3) An identification and assessment of Government performance measures that track the status and trends of United States marine resources. ``(4) An evaluation of the adequacy of marine resource monitoring and assessment programs.''. SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. Section 318(a) (16 U.S.C. 1464(a)) is amended-- (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ``and'' after the semicolon at the end; (2) in paragraph (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and (3) by adding at the end the following: ``(3) to carry out section 310 and for awards under section 314-- ``(A) $28,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; ``(B) $29,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and ``(C) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2008.''. SEC. 11. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 is amended-- (1) in section 304(5) (16 U.S.C. 1453(5)) by striking the semicolon and inserting a colon; (2) in section 306(a), as redesignated by this Act, in paragraph (10)(A) by inserting a comma after ``development''; (3) by striking ``coastal state'' each place it appears and inserting ``coastal State''; (4) by striking ``coastal states'' each place it appears and inserting ``coastal States''; (5) by striking ``coastal state's'' each place it appears and inserting ``coastal State's''; (6) by striking the term ``state'' each place it appears in reference to a State of the United States (other than in the term ``coastal state'') and inserting ``State''; (7) by striking the term ``states'' each place it appears in reference to States of the United States (other than in the term ``coastal states'') and inserting ``States''; and (8) by striking the term ``state's'' each place it appears in reference to a State of the United States (other than in the term ``coastal state's'') and inserting ``State's''. SEC. 12. COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT OUTCOME INDICATORS AND MONITORING AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SYSTEM. (a) In General.-- (1) Performance guidelines and evaluation.--The Secretary of Commerce shall, by not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, submit to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives a report identifying a common set of measurable outcome indicators to evaluate the performance of State coastal zone management programs in furthering the goals and objectives identified in the States' approved coastal management programs, and in the achievement of the national policy declared in section 303 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1452). (2) Assessment of coastal and marine monitoring, assessment, and other information.--The Secretary shall, by not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, submit to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives a report providing-- (A) an assessment of the adequacy of coastal and marine monitoring, assessment, and other information necessary to establish a coastal zone management outcome monitoring and performance evaluation system; and (B) recommendations for improving the availability of such information, including funding needs. (3) Outcome monitoring and performance evaluation system.-- The Secretary shall, by not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish a national coastal zone management outcome monitoring and performance evaluation system that uses the common set of indicators identified in the report under paragraph (1). (b) Consultation.-- (1) State consultation.--In preparing each of the reports under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with and provide a copy of the draft report to each coastal State, through the Governor of the State or the head of the State agency designated by such Governor pursuant to section 310(d)(6) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1455(d)(6)). (2) Public comment and participation.--The Secretary shall also implement a public process to solicit the views and comments of Federal agencies, local governments, regional organizations, port authorities, and other interested public and private persons regarding such reports, and shall make available to such persons copies of each draft of such reports for review and comment. (3) Response to comments.--The Secretary shall include in each final report under subsection (a)-- (A) any comments on each draft of the report received from a Governor or the head of such a designated State agency, and the Secretary's responses to such comments; and (B) a summary of other public comments regarding the report, and the Secretary's response to those comments. (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Coastal Services and Performance Evaluation Act of 2003 - Amends Federal law to make loan repayments deposited in the Coastal Zone Management Fund available to offset costs of implementing coastal zone management programs.Requires the Secretary of Commerce to provide training, education, and technical assistance for coastal zone management. Authorizes Federal agencies and instrumentalities to assist the Secretary on a reimbursable basis.Revises review requirements for coastal State management programs to change the frequency of review from continuing to every five years.Makes the Walter B. Jones Excellence in Coastal Zone Management Awards program discretionary instead of mandatory.Requires the Secretary to establish a national coastal zone management outcome indicators monitoring and performance evaluation system that provides for public comment and participation and uses a common set of measurable outcome indicators to evaluate the performance of State coastal zone management programs.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``National Missile Defense Act of 1997''. SEC. 2. NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE POLICY. (a) National Missile Defense.--It is the policy of the United States to deploy by the end of 2003 a National Missile Defense system that-- (1) is capable of defending the territory of the United States against limited ballistic missile attack (whether accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate); and (2) could be augmented over time to provide a layered defense against larger and more sophisticated ballistic missile threats if they emerge. (b) Cooperative Transition.--It is the policy of the United States to seek a cooperative transition to a regime that does not feature an offense-only form of deterrence as the basis for strategic stability. SEC. 3. NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE. (a) Requirement for Development of System.--To implement the policy established in section 3(a), the Secretary of Defense shall develop for deployment a National Missile Defense (NMD) system which shall achieve an initial operational capability (IOC) by the end of 2003. (b) Elements of the NMD System.--The system to be developed for deployment shall include the following elements: (1) Interceptors.--An interceptor system that optimizes defensive coverage of the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii against limited ballistic missile attack (whether accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate). (2) Ground-based radars.--Fixed ground-based radars. (3) Space-based sensors.--Space-based sensors, including the Space and Missile Tracking System. (4) BM/C&lt;SUP&gt;3.--Battle management, command, control, and communications (BM/C&lt;SUP&gt;3). SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM. The Secretary of Defense shall-- (1) upon the enactment of this Act, promptly initiate required preparatory and planning actions that are necessary so as to be capable of meeting the initial operational capability (IOC) date specified in section 3(a); (2) not later than the end of fiscal year 1999, conduct an integrated systems test which uses elements (including BM/ C&lt;SUP&gt;3 elements) that are representative of, and traceable to, the national missile defense system architecture specified in section 3(b); (3) prescribe and use streamlined acquisition policies and procedures to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of developing the system specified in section 3(a); and (4) develop a national missile defense follow-on program that-- (A) leverages off of the national missile defense system specified in section 3(a); and (B) could augment that system, if necessary, to provide for a layered defense. SEC. 5. REPORT ON PLAN FOR NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report on the Secretary's plan for development and deployment of a national missile defense system pursuant to this Act. The report shall include the following matters: (1) The Secretary's plan for carrying out this Act, including-- (A) a detailed description of the system architecture selected for development under section 3(b); and (B) a discussion of the justification for the selection of that particular architecture. (2) The Secretary's estimate of the amount of appropriations required for research, development, test, evaluation, and for procurement, for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2003 in order to achieve the initial operational capability date specified in section 3(a). (3) A determination of the point at which any activity that is required to be carried out under this Act would conflict with the terms of the ABM Treaty, together with a description of any such activity, the legal basis for the Secretary's determination, and an estimate of the time at which such point would be reached in order to meet the initial operational capability date specified in section 3(a). SEC. 6. POLICY REGARDING THE ABM TREATY. (a) ABM Treaty Negotiations.--In light of the findings in section 232 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 102-106; 110 Stat. 228, 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) and the policy established in section 2, Congress urges the President to pursue, if necessary, high-level discussions with the Russian Federation to achieve an agreement to amend the ABM Treaty to allow deployment of the national missile defense system being developed for deployment under section 3. (b) Requirement for Senate Advice and Consent.--If an agreement described in subsection (a) is achieved in discussions described in that subsection, the President shall present that agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent. No funds appropriated or otherwise available for any fiscal year may be obligated or expended to implement such an amendment to the ABM Treaty unless the amendment is made in the same manner as the manner by which a treaty is made. (c) Action Upon Failure To Achieve Negotiated Changes Within One Year.--If an agreement described in subsection (a) is not achieved in discussions described in that subsection within one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President and Congress, in consultation with each other, shall consider exercising the option of withdrawing the United States from the ABM Treaty in accordance with the provisions of Article XV of that treaty. SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) ABM treaty.--The term ``ABM Treaty'' means the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, and signed at Moscow on May 26, 1972, and includes the Protocols to that Treaty, signed at Moscow on July 3, 1974. (2) Limited ballistic missile attack.--The term ``limited ballistic missile attack'' refers to a limited ballistic missile attack as that term is used in the National Ballistic Defense Capstone Requirements Document, dated August 24, 1996, that was issued by the United States Space Command and validated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council of the Department of Defense.

National Missile Defense Act of 1997 - Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop for deployment a National Missile Defense (NMD) system which shall achieve operational capability by the end of 2003. Includes as system elements: (1) an interceptor system that optimizes defensive coverage of the United States; (2) fixed ground-based radar; (3) space-based sensors; and (4) battle management, command, control, and communications. Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct an integrated systems test by the end of FY 1999; (2) use streamlined acquisition procedures; (3) develop a follow-on program that leverages off of, and that could augment, the NMD system to provide for a layered defense; and (4) report to the Congress on the plan for carrying out this Act, the appropriations required for FY 1998 through 2003, and the point at which activity would conflict with terms of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Urges the President, if necessary, to pursue high-level discussions with the Russian Federation to achieve an agreement to amend the ABM Treaty to allow deployment of the NMD system. Requires the President to present any such agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent. Requires the President and the Congress, if such an agreement is not achieved within one year, to consider the option of withdrawing the United States from the ABM Treaty.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Foreclosure Prevention and Homeownership Protection Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings: (1) The United States is experiencing a wave of foreclosures and mortgage lending problems that has had widespread negative repercussions for world credit markets, the United States economy, and neighborhoods and families in the United States. (2) The large number of actors, the complexity of the transactions involved, and the lack of clear lines of accountability have revealed numerous opportunities to improve legislative and regulatory oversight of the industries involved. (3) This crisis has caused many Americans to lose their homes, their jobs, and their financial stability. (4) The magnitude of this crisis, the likelihood that foreclosure filings will continue to increase, and the widespread effects throughout the world economy make it critically important that a bipartisan commission undertake a comprehensive examination of the causes of this crisis, the solutions to the crisis, and the legislative and regulatory changes that will prevent such a crisis from occurring in the future. (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to establish a Commission to perform a detailed and comprehensive examination of the origins and causes of the current foreclosure crisis and to issue a report of its findings to the President and to the Congress, which shall also recommend legislative and regulatory changes that will assist homeowners who are currently in danger of losing their homes, stem the rising tide of foreclosures, and prevent the occurrence of similar crises in the future. SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. There is established a bipartisan commission to be known as the Commission to Preserve the American Dream (in this Act referred to as the ``Commission''). SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP. (a) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of the following individuals or their designees: (1) 1 member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in consultation with the majority leader of the Senate, who shall serve as chairperson of the Commission. (2) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (3) The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (4) The chief executive officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association. (5) The chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. (6) 8 additional members or their designees, appointed in the following manner: (A) 2 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. (B) 2 members appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. (C) 2 members appointed by the majority leader of the Senate. (D) 2 members appointed by the minority leader of the Senate. (b) Consultation Required.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, the majority leader of the Senate, and the minority leader of the Senate shall consult among themselves prior to the appointment of the members of the Commission designated in subsection (a)(6) in order to achieve, to the maximum extent possible, fair and equitable representation of various points of view with respect to the matters to be studied by the Commission. (c) Background.--The members of the Commission designated in subsection (a)(6) shall have expertise in a broad range of issues, including community housing, consumer lending, real estate finance, economics, mortgage banking, loan servicing, credit risk assessment, and the operation of housing finance agencies at the State government level. (d) Period of Appointment.-- (1) In general.--Each member of the Commission shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. (2) Vacancies.--A vacancy on the Commission shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made. (e) Quorum.-- (1) Majority.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold hearings. (2) Approval actions.--All recommendations and reports of the Commission required by this Act shall be approved only by a majority vote of a quorum of the Commission. (f) Meetings.-- (1) First meeting.--The Speaker of the House shall call the first meeting of the Commission not later than-- (A) 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act; or (B) 30 days after the date of the enactment of legislation making appropriations to carry out this Act. (2) Subsequent meetings.--Except as provided in paragraph (1), the Commission shall meet at the call of the Chairperson. SEC. 5. DUTIES AND PURPOSE. (a) Assessments.--The Commission shall study and assess-- (1) the adequacy of the existing legal and regulatory framework to address the current foreclosure and mortgage lending crisis and to prevent similar crises from happening in the future; (2) the role of the States versus the role of the Federal Government in ensuring homeowners are protected against unscrupulous lending practices; and (3) the effects of this crisis on the domestic and world economies. (b) Recommendations.--The Commission shall make recommendations of-- (1) ways to assist homeowners currently in danger of losing their homes; (2) ways to encourage lenders and borrowers to work together to prevent foreclosure; and (3) legislative and regulatory changes that will provide protection for homeowners against unscrupulous lending practices and strengthen accountability for those involved in the mortgage lending market. SEC. 6. POWERS. (a) Hearings.--The Commission or, at its direction, any subcommittee or member of the Commission, may, for the purpose of carrying out this Act-- (1) hold such public hearings in such cities and countries, sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, and administer such oaths as the Commission or such subcommittee or member considers advisable; and (2) require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the production of such books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, documents, tapes, and materials as the Commission or such subcommittee or member considers advisable. (b) Issuance and Enforcement of Subpoenas.-- (1) Issuance.--Subpoenas issued under subsection (a) shall bear the signature of the Chairperson of the Commission and shall be served by any person or class of persons designated by the Chairperson for that purpose. (2) Enforcement.--In the case of contumacy or failure to obey a subpoena issued under subsection (a), the United States district court for the judicial district in which the subpoenaed person resides, is served, or may be found may issue an order requiring such person to appear at any designated place to testify or to produce documentary or other evidence. Any failure to obey the order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt of that court. (c) Witness Allowances and Fees.--Section 1821 of title 28, United States Code, shall apply to witnesses requested or subpoenaed to appear at any hearing of the Commission. The per diem and mileage allowances for witnesses shall be paid from funds available to pay the expenses of the Commission. (d) Information From Federal Agencies.--The Commission may secure directly from any Federal department or agency such information as the Commission considers necessary to perform its duties. Upon request of the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such department or agency shall furnish such information to the Commission. (e) Postal Services.--The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as other departments and agencies of the Federal Government. SEC. 7. PERSONNEL. (a) Compensation of Members.--Each member of the Commission who is not an officer or employee of the Federal Government shall be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (including travel time) during which such member is engaged in the performance of the duties of the Commission. All members of the Commission who are officers or employees of the United States shall serve without compensation in addition to that received for their services as officers or employees of the United States. (b) Travel Expenses.--The members of the Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for the Commission. (c) Staff.-- (1) In general.--The Chairperson of the Commission may, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and terminate the employment of such personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to perform its duties. (2) Compensation.--The Chairperson of the Commission may fix the compensation of the personnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, relating to classification of positions and General Schedule pay rates, except that the rate of pay for the personnel may not exceed the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. (d) Detail of Government Employees.--Any Federal Government employee may be detailed to the Commission without reimbursement, and such detail shall be without interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege. (e) Procurement of Temporary and Intermittent Services.--The Chairperson of the Commission may procure temporary and intermittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. (f) Other Administrative Matters.--The Commission may-- (1) enter into agreements with the Administrator of General Services to procure necessary financial and administrative services; (2) enter into contracts to procure supplies, services, and property; and (3) enter into contracts with Federal, State, or local agencies, or private institutions or organizations, for the conduct of research or surveys, the preparation of reports, and other activities necessary to enable the Commission to perform its duties. SEC. 8. REPORT. (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the appointment of the Commission members under section 4, the Commission shall submit to the President and the Congress a final report containing a detailed statement of its findings, together with any recommendations for legislation or administrative action that the Commission considers appropriate, in accordance with the requirements of section 5. (b) Considerations.--In developing any recommendations under subsection (a), the Commission shall consider-- (1) the role of the Federal Government in preventing similar crises in the future and its role in assisting homeowners today; (2) ways in which to strengthen accountability of all actors involved, including homeowners, mortgage brokers, lenders, appraisers, State housing agencies, the Federal Housing Administration, Government-sponsored enterprises, credit rating agencies, investors in collateralized debt obligations, the Federal Reserve System, and other Federal agencies with jurisdiction over entities involved with the foreclosure crisis; (3) the extent to which predatory and abusive lending practices contributed to the crisis and whether new legislation is required to curb such practices; (4) the role of subprime lending practices in precipitating this crisis; and (5) ways to prevent blight and whether targeted solutions may be required for neighborhoods that have been particularly hard hit by the crisis. SEC. 9. TERMINATION. The Commission shall terminate upon the expiration of the 90-day period beginning upon the date on which the Commission submits its report to the Congress under section 8(a). SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 to carry out this Act. (b) Availability.--Any amounts appropriated pursuant to this section shall remain available, without fiscal year limitation, until expended.

Foreclosure Prevention and Homeownership Protection Act - Establishes the Commission to Preserve the American Dream (Commission) to study and report to Congress and the President on: (1) the adequacy of the existing legal and regulatory framework to address the current foreclosure and mortgage lending crisis and to prevent similar crises from happening in the future; (2) the role of the states versus the role of the federal government in ensuring homeowners are protected against unscrupulous lending practices; and (3) the effects of this crisis on the domestic and world economies. Requires the Commission to make recommendations regarding: (1) ways to assist homeowners currently in danger of losing their homes; (2) ways to encourage lenders and borrowers to work together to prevent foreclosure; and (3) legislative and regulatory changes to protect homeowners against unscrupulous lending practices and strengthen accountability for those involved in the mortgage lending market.

this study was a secondary analysis of data obtained from the medical expenditure panel survey ( meps)-household component ( hc ) files , sponsored and made available to the public by the agency for health care research and quality ( 22 ) . the meps - hc survey collects data from a subsample of the national health interview survey and uses a stratified and clustered random sample with weights that produce nationally representative estimates for insurance coverage and a wide range of health - related demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for the civilian , noninstitutionalized u.s . the meps - hc household respondents are interviewed five times over a 2-year period , and certain groups ( e.g. , low income , racial minorities ) are oversampled . we combined 4 years of data from the meps - hc ( 20022005 ) and weighted results according to agency for health care research and quality guidelines for pooling data years . these 4 years were chosen because 2005 was the most current year for which data were available at the time of our study , and the 4 years spanning 20022005 all have a common variance structure , making it easier to ensure compatibility and comparability of our specific variables of interest within the complex sample design of the meps . our analysis included all respondents aged 18 years who reported a diagnosis of diabetes , had positive full - year weights , reported their usc status , and had full - year insurance data ( total unweighted number = 6,562 ; weighted average yearly population of > 15 million ) . the meps 2-year overlapping panel design facilitates the combination of data from two panels to obtain data from each year ( e.g. , data for 2002 combine the overlapping panels of 20012002 and 20022003 ) . although many respondents would have been reported in 2 consecutive years , it is legitimate to pool data for individuals in consecutive years because each year of meps data constitutes a nationally representative sample ; pooling the data produces average annual estimates . we constructed several variables to assess self - reported receipt of seven recommended diabetes - specific preventative services within the past year , including a1c , lipid ( ldl ) screening , influenza vaccination , blood pressure check , diabetic foot examination , dilated diabetic eye examination , and a routine medical check - up . these particular items were selected because of their inclusion in the meps and recommendations by national organizations ( 2,3 ) . although the recommended frequency for each of these seven services varies , we selected a yearly assessment for all of them because it is recommended that diabetic patients receive each of these services at least annually . we also examined five dependent variables pertaining to compromised health care access and barriers to receiving care , including unmet medical need , unmet prescription need , unmet dental need , problems obtaining necessary specialty care , and delayed urgent care . the independent variables of primary interest were insurance coverage and usual source of care ( usc ) . to determine usc , respondents were asked : is there a particular doctor 's office , clinic , health center , or other place that you go to if you are sick or need advice about your health ? for health insurance coverage , respondents were asked specific questions about insurance status information month by month . because of the importance of having stable , continuous health insurance , we created a full - year insurance variable : those with coverage during all months were considered fully insured , and all others were not fully insured . for comparative analysis , responses about usc and full - year health insurance ( ins ) were divided into four categories : 1 ) yes usc / yes ins ; 2 ) yes usc / no ins ; 3 ) no usc / yes ins ; and 4 ) no usc / no ins . the conceptual model for predicting access to health care designed by aday and andersen ( 23 ) was adapted to identify covariables in the meps - hc dataset that might influence access to care . in two - tailed , bivariate analyses to test for significant association between potential covariates and the outcomes , we found the following covariates to be significantly associated with at least one of the outcomes ( p < 0.10 ) : age , race / ethnicity , employment , geographic region , residence location , education , household income , primary language , health insurance type , and health status . we found strong correlations between language at home and race / ethnicity , so we excluded language . thus , we included the combined usc / ins as the primary independent variable plus eight other covariates in the final models . race / ethnicity was self determined by respondents based on standard options provided by meps interviewers , and we used one combined race / ethnicity variable . the household income groups were based on the meps - hc constructed variable that divides families into five income groups based on earnings as a percentage of the federal poverty level ( fpl ) , which takes into account income as well as household size and composition . the five groups included poor ( < 100% fpl ) , near poor ( 100<125% fpl ) , low income ( 125<200% fpl ) , middle income ( 200<400% fpl ) , and high income ( 400% fpl ) . we condensed age and health status into three categories to better equalize numbers between the groups . we then conducted a series of multiple logistic regression analyses to assess the adjusted associations between all independent variables and receipt of health care services among meps - hc respondents with diabetes . we first examined the overall prevalence of the four usc and ins categories and the distribution among different sociodemographic subgroups ( table 1 ) . we then conducted further bivariate analyses to determine the different rates of receipt of diabetes care and unmet health care needs among the four usc and ins groups ( table not shown , available from the corresponding author upon request ) . finally , we constructed a series of logistic regression models to assess associations between usc and insurance status and the utilization of preventative services ( table 2 ) and reports of unmet health care need ( table 3 ) , while simultaneously controlling for potential confounders . we used sudaan ( version 9.0.1 ; research triangle institute , research triangle park , nc ) for all statistical analyses to account for the complex sampling design of the meps ; the level was set at 0.05 for all multivariable analyses . in all tables provided , results have been weighted to produce estimates for the entire civilian , noninstitutionalized u.s . this study protocol was reviewed by the oregon health and science university institutional review board and deemed exempt . demographic characteristics of subjects with diabetes , by health insurance status and/or a usc * total in u.s . adult population from 4-year pooled sample ( 20022005 ) with known usc and insurance status information = 132,534 ( weighted average annual population n = 286.44 million ) . diabetic population from 4-year pooled sample ( 20022005 ) with known usc and insurance status information = 6,562 ( weighted average annual populationn = 15.20 million ) . to derive population estimates , each record from the meps was weighted according to person - level weights provided by the data collection agency . p < 0.05 in the analyses for overall differences between subcategories of each demographic characteristic . msa , metropolitan statistical area . adjusted ors with 95% ci for predictors of diabetes preventive care among u.s . respondent reported having his or her feet checked for sores by a health care provider within the past year . * respondent reported being unable to get medical care when needed within the past year . respondent reported a problem in getting a specialty referral when needed within the past year ( only among those who were referred to a specialist in the past year , n = 3,353 ) . respondent reported not always getting timely urgent care when needed within the past year ( only among those who reported having an urgent need for care in the past year , n = 2,766 ) . ors are adjusted for all other variables in the table . # as a percentage of the fpl . we constructed several variables to assess self - reported receipt of seven recommended diabetes - specific preventative services within the past year , including a1c , lipid ( ldl ) screening , influenza vaccination , blood pressure check , diabetic foot examination , dilated diabetic eye examination , and a routine medical check - up . these particular items were selected because of their inclusion in the meps and recommendations by national organizations ( 2,3 ) . although the recommended frequency for each of these seven services varies , we selected a yearly assessment for all of them because it is recommended that diabetic patients receive each of these services at least annually . we also examined five dependent variables pertaining to compromised health care access and barriers to receiving care , including unmet medical need , unmet prescription need , unmet dental need , problems obtaining necessary specialty care , and delayed urgent care . the independent variables of primary interest were insurance coverage and usual source of care ( usc ) . to determine usc , respondents were asked : is there a particular doctor 's office , clinic , health center , or other place that you go to if you are sick or need advice about your health ? for health insurance coverage , respondents were asked specific questions about insurance status information month by month . because of the importance of having stable , continuous health insurance , we created a full - year insurance variable : those with coverage during all months were considered fully insured , and all others were not fully insured . for comparative analysis , responses about usc and full - year health insurance ( ins ) were divided into four categories : 1 ) yes usc / yes ins ; 2 ) yes usc / no ins ; 3 ) no usc / yes ins ; and 4 ) no usc / no ins . the conceptual model for predicting access to health care designed by aday and andersen ( 23 ) was adapted to identify covariables in the meps - hc dataset that might influence access to care . in two - tailed , bivariate analyses to test for significant association between potential covariates and the outcomes , we found the following covariates to be significantly associated with at least one of the outcomes ( p < 0.10 ) : age , race / ethnicity , employment , geographic region , residence location , education , household income , primary language , health insurance type , and health status . we found strong correlations between language at home and race / ethnicity , so we excluded language . thus , we included the combined usc / ins as the primary independent variable plus eight other covariates in the final models . race / ethnicity was self determined by respondents based on standard options provided by meps interviewers , and we used one combined race / ethnicity variable . the household income groups were based on the meps - hc constructed variable that divides families into five income groups based on earnings as a percentage of the federal poverty level ( fpl ) , which takes into account income as well as household size and composition . the five groups included poor ( < 100% fpl ) , near poor ( 100<125% fpl ) , low income ( 125<200% fpl ) , middle income ( 200<400% fpl ) , and high income ( 400% fpl ) . we condensed age and health status into three categories to better equalize numbers between the groups . we then conducted a series of multiple logistic regression analyses to assess the adjusted associations between all independent variables and receipt of health care services among meps - hc respondents with diabetes . we first examined the overall prevalence of the four usc and ins categories and the distribution among different sociodemographic subgroups ( table 1 ) . we then conducted further bivariate analyses to determine the different rates of receipt of diabetes care and unmet health care needs among the four usc and ins groups ( table not shown , available from the corresponding author upon request ) . finally , we constructed a series of logistic regression models to assess associations between usc and insurance status and the utilization of preventative services ( table 2 ) and reports of unmet health care need ( table 3 ) , while simultaneously controlling for potential confounders . we used sudaan ( version 9.0.1 ; research triangle institute , research triangle park , nc ) for all statistical analyses to account for the complex sampling design of the meps ; the level was set at 0.05 for all multivariable analyses . in all tables provided , results have been weighted to produce estimates for the entire civilian , noninstitutionalized u.s . this study protocol was reviewed by the oregon health and science university institutional review board and deemed exempt . demographic characteristics of subjects with diabetes , by health insurance status and/or a usc * total in u.s . adult population from 4-year pooled sample ( 20022005 ) with known usc and insurance status information = 132,534 ( weighted average annual population n = 286.44 million ) . diabetic population from 4-year pooled sample ( 20022005 ) with known usc and insurance status information = 6,562 ( weighted average annual populationn = 15.20 million ) . to derive population estimates , each record from the meps was weighted according to person - level weights provided by the data collection agency . p < 0.05 in the analyses for overall differences between subcategories of each demographic characteristic . msa , metropolitan statistical area . adjusted ors with 95% ci for predictors of diabetes preventive care among u.s . respondent reported having his or her feet checked for sores by a health care provider within the past year . # respondent reported having a routine check - up within the past year . * * statistically significant ( p < 0.05 ) or . * respondent reported being unable to get medical care when needed within the past year . respondent reported a problem in getting a specialty referral when needed within the past year ( only among those who were referred to a specialist in the past year , n = 3,353 ) . respondent reported not always getting timely urgent care when needed within the past year ( only among those who reported having an urgent need for care in the past year , n = 2,766 ) . ors are adjusted for all other variables in the table . # as a percentage of the fpl . nearly 87% of adult diabetic individuals in the u.s . reported full - year health insurance , compared with a lower percentage ( 77.6% ) of the entire u.s . adult population . of u.s . diabetic individuals , 95% reported having a usc compared with only 80.8% of the u.s . adult population ( table not shown , available from author upon request ) . among diabetic individuals , > 84% reported having both a usc and insurance , whereas only 2.3% reported having neither one . in comparison , diabetic individuals fell into one of the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc ; > 22% of the overall u.s . for example , almost 8% of the hispanic population reported no insurance and no usc ( no ins / no usc ) , compared with 1.3% of white non - hispanics ( p < 0.05 ) . current employment was associated with being more likely to be uninsured and without a usc ( 3.2% of the employed vs. 1.8% of the unemployed ; p < 0.05 ) . those at the high end of the income spectrum were more likely to have insurance and a usc ( 90.5% ) compared with the poorest diabetic individuals ( 75.2% ) ( p < 0.05 ) . those falling into one of the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc were disproportionately younger , hispanic , employed , living in a non - metropolitan statistical area , without a high school education , and/or earnings below or near the fpl . among u.s . adults with diabetes , having both health insurance and a usc was associated with the highest likelihood of receiving all seven recommended diabetic preventive services ( table 2 ) . those with no insurance and no usc had received the fewest services in all seven categories . after we controlled for the effects of all other sociodemographic covariates , the group of diabetic individuals with both health insurance and a usc ( yes ins / yes usc as the reference group ; odds ratio [ or ] 1.00 ) had significantly better access to most of the diabetes - specific care services , compared with those in the three other groups without insurance and/or a usc . the uninsured group without a usc ( no ins / no usc ) had the lowest odds of having received services in all cases . for example , those without insurance and a usc were only one - fifth as likely to have received a1c screening ( adjusted or 0.23 [ 95% ci 0.140.38 ] ) , one - tenth as likely to have had their blood pressure checked ( 0.08 [ 0.050.15 ] ) , and one - fourth as likely to have had their feet checked by a health care provider ( 0.25 [ 0.170.37 ] ) , compared with diabetic individuals who had both insurance and a usc . none of the sociodemographic covariates showed this consistency of significant differences across all seven measures . when we examined the two half - way groups with either insurance or a usc , those with only insurance or only a usc were less likely to have received services compared with the reference group with both insurance and a usc . in comparisons between just the two half - way groups , diabetic individuals with only a usc had higher rates of five of the six recommended services . although not significant , diabetic individuals with only insurance appeared to fare slightly better than those with only a usc in receipt of dilated eye examinations ( table 2 ) . having both health insurance and a usc was also optimal for gaining access to necessary health care services ( table 3 ) . in almost all comparisons , diabetic individuals with both health insurance and a usc ( yes ins / yes usc as the reference group ; or 1.00 ) had significantly fewer reports of unmet health care need in the most recent 12 months compared with those in the three other groups without insurance and/or without a usc . the group of uninsured diabetic individuals without a usc ( no ins / no usc ) had the worst access in all cases . for example , being uninsured without a usc was associated with 5.5 times the odds of have an unmet medical need ( or 5.51 [ 3.498.70 ] ) , > 3 times the odds of have delayed urgent care ( 3.13 [ 1.536.38 ] ) , and > 3 times the odds of unmet prescription needs ( 3.67 [ 2.395.64 ] ) . when the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc were compared with the reference group ( yes ins / yes usc ) , those with only insurance but no usc did not have significantly different odds of experiencing an unmet medical need , unmet dental care need , unmet prescription needs , or problems with specialty referral and delayed urgent care . diabetic individuals with only a usc ( no insurance ) were significantly more likely to experience unmet need compared with the reference group in all five cases ( table 3 ) . in reviewing the association between unmet needs and other covariates , those aged < 65 years were more likely to report unmet needs , compared with those aged 65 years . racial / ethnic disparities were also noted in all five models , but the patterns were inconsistent . nearly 87% of adult diabetic individuals in the u.s . reported full - year health insurance , compared with a lower percentage ( 77.6% ) of the entire u.s . adult population . of u.s . diabetic individuals , 95% reported having a usc compared with only 80.8% of the u.s . adult population ( table not shown , available from author upon request ) . among diabetic individuals , > 84% reported having both a usc and insurance , whereas only 2.3% reported having neither one . in comparison , diabetic individuals fell into one of the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc ; > 22% of the overall u.s . for example , almost 8% of the hispanic population reported no insurance and no usc ( no ins / no usc ) , compared with 1.3% of white non - hispanics ( p < 0.05 ) . current employment was associated with being more likely to be uninsured and without a usc ( 3.2% of the employed vs. 1.8% of the unemployed ; p < 0.05 ) . those at the high end of the income spectrum were more likely to have insurance and a usc ( 90.5% ) compared with the poorest diabetic individuals ( 75.2% ) ( p < 0.05 ) . those falling into one of the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc were disproportionately younger , hispanic , employed , living in a non - metropolitan statistical area , without a high school education , and/or earnings below or near the fpl . was associated with the highest likelihood of receiving all seven recommended diabetic preventive services ( table 2 ) . those with no insurance and no usc had received the fewest services in all seven categories . after we controlled for the effects of all other sociodemographic covariates , the group of diabetic individuals with both health insurance and a usc ( yes ins / yes usc as the reference group ; odds ratio [ or ] 1.00 ) had significantly better access to most of the diabetes - specific care services , compared with those in the three other groups without insurance and/or a usc . the uninsured group without a usc ( no ins / no usc ) had the lowest odds of having received services in all cases . for example , those without insurance and a usc were only one - fifth as likely to have received a1c screening ( adjusted or 0.23 [ 95% ci 0.140.38 ] ) , one - tenth as likely to have had their blood pressure checked ( 0.08 [ 0.050.15 ] ) , and one - fourth as likely to have had their feet checked by a health care provider ( 0.25 [ 0.170.37 ] ) , compared with diabetic individuals who had both insurance and a usc . none of the sociodemographic covariates showed this consistency of significant differences across all seven measures . when we examined the two half - way groups with either insurance or a usc , those with only insurance or only a usc were less likely to have received services compared with the reference group with both insurance and a usc . in comparisons between just the two half - way groups , diabetic individuals with only a usc had higher rates of five of the six recommended services . although not significant , diabetic individuals with only insurance appeared to fare slightly better than those with only a usc in receipt of dilated eye examinations ( table 2 ) . having both health insurance and a usc was also optimal for gaining access to necessary health care services ( table 3 ) . in almost all comparisons , diabetic individuals with both health insurance and a usc ( yes ins / yes usc as the reference group ; or 1.00 ) had significantly fewer reports of unmet health care need in the most recent 12 months compared with those in the three other groups without insurance and/or without a usc . the group of uninsured diabetic individuals without a usc ( no ins / no usc ) had the worst access in all cases . for example , being uninsured without a usc was associated with 5.5 times the odds of have an unmet medical need ( or 5.51 [ 3.498.70 ] ) , > 3 times the odds of have delayed urgent care ( 3.13 [ 1.536.38 ] ) , and > 3 times the odds of unmet prescription needs ( 3.67 [ 2.395.64 ] ) . when the half - way groups with either insurance or a usc were compared with the reference group ( yes ins / yes usc ) , those with only insurance but no usc did not have significantly different odds of experiencing an unmet medical need , unmet dental care need , unmet prescription needs , or problems with specialty referral and delayed urgent care . diabetic individuals with only a usc ( no insurance ) were significantly more likely to experience unmet need compared with the reference group in all five cases ( table 3 ) . in reviewing the association between unmet needs and other covariates , those aged < 65 years were more likely to report unmet needs , compared with those aged 65 years . racial / ethnic disparities were also noted in all five models , but the patterns were inconsistent . this study contributes to the large body of literature about the importance of health insurance coverage . it also confirms more recent reports about how a usc is independently associated with better receipt of diabetes - specific services . beyond the approaches taken in past research , this study not only addresses these two individual factors , but it also uses a novel approach to examine the combined effects of having a usc and/or health insurance . among u.s . adults with diabetes , having both insurance and a usc was a far superior option compared with having only a usc , only health insurance , or neither one . in every case , uninsured diabetic individuals without a usc had the highest risk for not receiving services . interestingly , the results were more mixed when the two half - way groups with either insurance or a usc were compared . those with only a usc fared better in receipt of recommended diabetes - specific care , appearing more similar to the reference group ; however , those with only insurance ( and no usc ) were closer to the reference group in reporting fewer unmet needs . the mixed patterns of association when health insurance was compared with a usc illustrate the importance of measuring access to all health care services and not just disease - specific care when one is assembling report cards on the progress of diabetic care . if we had only examined diabetes - specific services , as in table 2 , we might have mistakenly concluded that having a usc provides diabetic individuals with better access to health care services than health insurance , thus suggesting that having a usc or further improving the delivery system with new medical homes might be a good substitute for health insurance . however , table 3 demonstrates the importance of also having stable health insurance coverage for this population . it is clear that diabetic individuals need both continuous health insurance coverage and a stable usc . however , in the current political environment , incremental solutions are being proposed that may trade one for the other . the aim of some policies , such as expanding the number of community health centers or building medical homes for all patients , is to improve access to a usc while leaving thousands of americans without insurance . other proposals expand insurance coverage without a mechanism to ensure adequate provider capacity ( 24,25 ) . findings from this study call into question some proposals to build community health centers while leaving millions uninsured or others that mandate health insurance coverage without enacting major workforce reforms . the ideal long - term approach to improving access to healthcare for diabetic individuals includes expanding health insurance coverage while , at the same time , ensuring access to comprehensive and continuous primary care services . access to health insurance and/or a usc is not randomly distributed and can sometimes appear counterintuitive ( table 1 ) . for example , those employed were less likely to have insurance and a usc , illustrating an eroding employer - sponsored insurance system and the likelihood that people working may have less time to establish a usc . ideally , this type of sociodemographic information can assist efforts aimed to increase the number of insured diabetic individuals while , at the same time , ensuring that all persons with diabetes have a usc . first , secondary analyses rely on the methods used to gather information about households . for example , we could not revise meps - hc questions that pertained to the objectives of our particular study . second , as with all observational studies that rely on self - report , response bias remains a possibility . third , although the meps - hc is representative of the civilian , noninstitutionalized u.s . finally , a usc is not synonymous with a medical home , which could not be comprehensively evaluated with the meps - hc dataset . in the current political climate , it seems more feasible to take a two - pronged approach : provide a usual source of care for some populations while extending health insurance coverage to others . in fact , current efforts to expand medical homes have focused on patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes , whereas private insurers prefer to expand their coverage to person without chronic disease and to exclude preexisting conditions . for diabetic individuals , a usc and health insurance , together , are associated with the highest likelihood that they will have optimal access to all necessary healthcare services . thus , it is crucial that we simultaneously strengthen both the financing and delivery of healthcare services while , at the same time , generate forces to maximize the synergy between these two important aspects to achieve access to needed care .

objectivethe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of health insurance and/or a usual source of care ( usc ) on receipt of diabetic - specific services and health care barriers for u.s . adults with diabetes.research design and methodssecondary analyses of data from 6,562 diabetic individuals aged 18 years from the nationally representative medical expenditure panel survey from 2002 to 2005 were performed . outcome measures included receipt of seven diabetic services plus five barriers to care.resultsmore than 84% of diabetic individuals in the u.s . had full - year coverage and a usc ; 2.3% had neither one . in multivariate analyses , the uninsured with no usc had one - fifth the odds of receiving a1c screening ( odds ratio 0.23 [ 95% ci 0.140.38 ] ) and one - tenth the odds of a blood pressure check ( 0.08 [ 0.050.15 ] ) , compared with insured diabetic individuals with a usc . similarly , being uninsured without a usc was associated with 5.5 times the likelihood of unmet medical needs ( 5.51 [ 3.498.70 ] ) and three times more delayed urgent care ( 3.13 [ 1.536.38 ] ) compared with being insured with a usc . among the two groups with either insurance or a usc , diabetic individuals with only a usc had rates of diabetes - specific care more similar to those of insured individuals with a usc . in contrast , those with only insurance were closer to the reference group with fewer barriers to care.conclusionsinsured diabetic individuals with a usc were better off than those with only a usc , only insurance , or neither one . policy reforms must target both the financing and the delivery systems to achieve increased receipt of diabetes services and decreased barriers to care .

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Data Center Optimization Act''. (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purpose. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. Sec. 5. Performance requirements related to data center consolidation. Sec. 6. Disposition of savings from data consolidation. Sec. 7. Reporting requirements to Congress and the Federal Chief Information Officer. Sec. 8. Agencies included in the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. SEC. 2. PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to optimize Federal data center usage and efficiency. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Federal data center optimization initiative.--The term ``Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative'' means the initiative developed and implemented pursuant to section 4. (2) Covered agency.--The term ``covered agency'' means any agency included in the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative pursuant to section 8. (3) Federal chief information officer.--The term ``Federal Chief Information Officer'' means the chief information officer of the Office of Management and Budget. (4) Data center.--The term ``data center'' means any room that is devoted to data processing servers, including server closets (typically less than 200 square feet) and server rooms (typically less than 500 square feet), within a conventional building, and larger spaces in any building dedicated to housing servers, storage devices, and network equipment, but the term does not include facilities that are exclusively devoted to communications and network equipment (such as telephone exchanges) and telecommunications rooms and closets. (5) Desktop virtualization.--The term ``desktop virtualization'' means any technology that creates a virtual version of an information technology device or resource and is used to separate a computer desktop environment from the physical computer. (6) Virtualization.--The term ``virtualization'' means the simulation of the software or hardware, or both, upon which other software runs which allows servers to be consolidated in ratios of 5:1 up to 25:1. The use of virtualization technology is both an instrumental and necessary component to achieve increases in server utilization rates. This simulated environment is called a virtual machine (VM). (7) Federal data center.--The term ``Federal data center'' means any data center of a covered agency used or operated by a covered agency, by a contractor of a covered agency, or by another organization on behalf of a covered agency. (8) Power utilization effectiveness.--The term ``power utilization effectiveness'' means the ratio obtained by dividing the total amount of electricity and other power consumed in running a data center by the power consumed by the information and communications technology in the data center. (9) Server utilization.--The term ``server utilization'' refers to the activity level of a server relative to its maximum activity level during peek hours of operation, expressed as a percentage. (10) Cloud computing.--The term ``cloud computing'', as defined by National Institute of Standards and Technology, means a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. The model is composed of the following: (A) Five essential characteristics, which are on- demand service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. (B) Three service models, which are software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. (C) Four deployment models, which are private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud. SEC. 4. FEDERAL DATA CENTER OPTIMIZATION INITIATIVE. (a) Requirement for Initiative.--The Federal Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the chief information officers of covered agencies, shall develop and implement an initiative to optimize the usage and efficiency of Federal data centers by meeting the requirements of this Act and taking additional measures, as appropriate. (b) Requirement for Plan.--Within 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the chief information officers of covered agencies, shall develop and submit to Congress a consolidated plan for implementation of the initiative by each agency. The agency consolidation plans must include descriptions of how agencies will use reductions in floor space, energy use, infrastructure, equipment, applications, personnel, increases in multiorganizational use, and other appropriate methods to meet the requirements of the initiative. The agency consolidation plans must also be included in, and consistent with, the President's annual budget submission materials, including the detailed budget justifications and appropriations estimates. SEC. 5. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION. (a) Server Utilization.-- (1) 75 percent.--Each covered agency shall meet or exceed 75 percent average server utilization in agency data centers by 2015. (2) Methods to achieve requirement.--Each covered agency shall use the following methods to meet the requirement in paragraph (1): (A) The closing of existing data centers that have an average server utilization of under 65 percent. If the agency fails to close data centers with a utilization of under 65 percent, the agency must provide a detailed explanation as to why this data center should remain in use as part of the submitted plan. The Federal Chief Information Officer will include an assessment of the agency explanation in the annual report to Congress. (B) The use of virtualization technology to achieve the consolidation of services within existing data centers to increase server utilization rates. (C) Shifting to a ``cloud first'' policy, under which agencies shall use one or more of the following: (i) Use commercial cloud technologies where feasible and cost effective by migrating agency data and government-provided services from agency owned and operated data centers to cloud computing services generally available with the private sector. (ii) Launch private government cloud services within an agency, or share resources across several agencies where more feasible and cost-effective in comparison to use of public cloud services. (iii) Use regional clouds with State and local governments where appropriate. (D) The consolidation of data centers across agencies. (E) Other methods identified by chief information offices of the agencies and the Federal Chief Information Officer. (b) Power Utilization Effectiveness.--Each covered agency shall achieve an average power utilization effectiveness for its data centers of 1.2 or less by 2015. (c) Power Metering.-- (1) This Act authorizes a pilot program be established at the Department of Defense aimed at researching innovative ways to achieve full metering. (2) The covered agency must establish other methods to obtain accurate data to measure power utilization effectiveness subject to the approval of the Federal Chief Information Officer. (d) Desktop Virtualization.--Each covered agency shall use desktop virtualization with existing workstations to the extent that is practicable, to save equipment replacement costs and improve the security posture of enpoint devices by migrating end user data from the device into the private cloud of the agency. (e) Efficient Information Technology.--Each covered agency shall give high priority to replacement of data center servers and other information technology equipment with more efficient equipment, using a baseline including the physical to virtual consolidation ratio and other criteria developed by the Federal Chief Information Officer in consultation with agency chief information officers. SEC. 6. DISPOSITION OF SAVINGS FROM DATA CONSOLIDATION. (a) Requirement To Track Costs.-- (1) In general.--Each covered agency shall track costs resulting from implementation of the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative within the agency and submit a report on those costs annually to the Federal Chief Information Officer. Covered agencies shall determine the net costs from data consolidation on an annual basis. (2) Factors.--In calculating net costs each year under paragraph (1), a covered agency shall use the following factors: (A) Energy costs. (B) Personnel costs. (C) Real Estate costs. (D) Capital expense costs. (E) Operating system, database, and other software license expense costs. (F) Other appropriate costs, as determined by the agency in consultation with the Federal Chief Information Officer. (b) Requirement To Track Savings.-- (1) In general.--Each covered agency shall track savings resulting from implementation of the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative within the agency and submit a report on those savings annually to the Federal Chief Information Officer. Covered agencies shall determine the net savings from data consolidation on an annual basis. (2) Factors.--In calculating net savings each year under paragraph (1), a covered agency shall use the following factors: (A) Energy savings. (B) Personnel savings. (C) Real Estate savings. (D) Capital expense savings. (E) Operating system, database and other software license expense savings. (F) Other appropriate savings, as determined by the agency in consultation with the Federal Chief Information Officer. (c) Cost Effective Measures.--Covered agencies shall use the most cost effective measures to implement the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. (d) Use of Savings.--Any savings resulting from implementation of the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative within a covered agency shall be used for the following purposes: (1) To offset the costs of implementing the Initiative within the agency. (2) To further enhance information technology capabilities and services within the agency. (e) Comptroller General Report.--Not later than three months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall examine methods for calculating savings from the Initiative and using them for the purposes identified in subsection (c), including establishment and use of a special revolving fund that supports data centers and server optimization, and shall submit to the Federal Chief Information Officer and Congress a report on the Comptroller General's findings and recommendations. The Federal Chief Information Officer shall take those findings and recommendations into account in developing the plan under section 4(b). SEC. 7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO CONGRESS AND THE FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER. (a) Agency Requirement To Report to CIO.--Each year, each covered agency shall submit to the Federal Chief Information Officer a report on the implementation of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative. The report shall include an update of the agency's plan for implementing the Initiative. (b) Federal Chief Information Officer Requirement To Report to Congress.--Each year, the Federal Chief Information Officer shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a consolidated report that assesses agency progress in carrying out the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative and updates the plan under section 4(b). The report may be included as part of the annual report required under section 3606 of title 44, United States Code. This report may also be included in the agency budget submissions to the Office of Management and Budget. SEC. 8. AGENCIES INCLUDED IN THE FEDERAL DATA CENTER OPTIMIZATION INITIATIVE. The following agencies shall be covered by the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative: (1) Current agencies.--Each agency described in section 901(b) of title 31, United States Code. (2) Additional agencies.--Such other additional agencies as the Federal Chief Information Officer determines appropriate, after examining whether additional agencies should be covered by the Initiative and including the results of such examination in the plan under section 4(b) and updates under section 7.

Data Center Optimization Act - Directs the chief information officer of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (Federal CIO) to: (1) develop and implement an initiative to optimize the usage and efficiency of federal data centers, (2) submit to Congress a consolidated plan for implementation of the initiative by each agency, and (3) submit a consolidated report each year that assesses agency progress in carrying out the initiative and that updates such plan. Requires agency implementation plans to: (1) include descriptions of how agencies will use reductions in floor space, energy use, infrastructure, equipment, applications, personnel, increases in multi-organizational use, and other appropriate methods to meet initiative requirements; and (2) be included in, and consistent with, the President's annual budget submission materials. Requires each agency included in the initiative to: (1) meet or exceed 75% average server utilization in agency data centers by 2015; (2) achieve an average power utilization effectiveness for its data centers of 1.2 or less by 2015; (3) establish methods to obtain accurate data to measure power utilization effectiveness; (4) use desktop virtualization with existing workstations to the extent practicable; and (5) give high priority to replacement of data center servers and other information technology equipment with more efficient equipment, using a baseline including the physical to virtual consolidation ratio and other criteria developed by the Federal CIO. Authorizes the establishment at the Department of Defense (DOD) of a pilot program aimed at researching innovation ways to achieve full metering. Requires such agencies to: (1) track costs and savings resulting from implementation of the initiative and report on those costs and savings annually to the Federal CIO, (2) determine net costs and net savings from data consolidation on an annual basis, (3) use the most cost effective measures to implement the initiative, (4) use resulting savings to offset implementation costs and to further enhance information technology capabilities and services, and (5) report to the Federal CIO annually on the initiative's implementation.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017''. SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE THROUGH EDUCATION. (a) In General.--Based on existing funding, the Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice shall, in consultation with property owners and representatives of the disability rights community, develop a program to educate State and local governments and property owners on effective and efficient strategies for promoting access to public accommodations for persons with a disability (as defined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12102)). Such program may include training for professionals such as Certified Access Specialists to provide a guidance of remediation for potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. (b) Materials Provided in Other Languages.--The Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice shall take appropriate actions, to the extent practicable, to make technical assistance publications relating to compliance with this Act and the amendments made by this Act available in all the languages commonly used by owners and operators of United States businesses. SEC. 3. NOTICE AND CURE PERIOD. Paragraph (1) of section 308(a) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows: ``(1) Availability of remedies and procedures.-- ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the remedies and procedures set forth in section 204(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a-3(a)) are the remedies and procedures this title provides to any person who is being subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of this title or who has reasonable grounds for believing that such person is about to be subjected to discrimination in violation of section 303. Nothing in this section shall require a person with a disability to engage in a futile gesture if such person has actual notice that a person or organization covered by this title does not intend to comply with its provisions. ``(B) Barriers to access to existing public accommodations.--A civil action under section 302 or 303 based on the failure to remove an architectural barrier to access into an existing public accommodation may not be commenced by a person aggrieved by such failure unless-- ``(i) that person has provided to the owner or operator of the accommodation a written notice specific enough to allow such owner or operator to identify the barrier; and ``(ii)(I) during the period beginning on the date the notice is received and ending 60 days after that date, the owner or operator fails to provide to that person a written description outlining improvements that will be made to remove the barrier; or ``(II) if the owner or operator provides the written description under subclause (I), the owner or operator fails to remove the barrier or, in the case of a barrier, the removal of which requires additional time as a result of circumstances beyond the control of the owner or operator, fails to make substantial progress in removing the barrier during the period beginning on the date the description is provided and ending 60 days after that date. ``(C) Specification of details of alleged violation.--The written notice required under subparagraph (B) must also specify in detail the circumstances under which an individual was actually denied access to a public accommodation, including the address of property, whether a request for assistance in removing an architectural barrier to access was made, and whether the barrier to access was a permanent or temporary barrier.''. SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. SEC. 5. MEDIATION FOR ADA ACTIONS RELATED TO ARCHITECTURAL BARRIERS. The Judicial Conference of the United States shall, under rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or any other applicable law, in consultation with property owners and representatives of the disability rights community, develop a model program to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, including a stay of discovery during mediation, to resolve claims of architectural barriers to access for public accommodations. To the extent practical, the Federal Judicial Center should provide a public comment period on any such proposal. The goal of the model program shall be to promote access quickly and efficiently without the need for costly litigation. The model program should include an expedited method for determining the relevant facts related to such barriers to access and steps taken before the commencement of litigation to resolve any issues related to access. Passed the House of Representatives February 15, 2018. Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, Clerk.

ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (Sec. 2) This bill requires the Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice to develop a program to educate state and local governments and property owners on strategies for promoting access to public accommodations for persons with a disability. The program may include training for professionals to provide a guidance of remediation for potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. (Sec. 3) The bill prohibits civil actions based on the failure to remove an architectural barrier to access into an existing public accommodation unless: (1) the aggrieved person has provided to the owners or operators a written notice specific enough to identify the barrier, and (2) the owners or operators fail to provide the person with a written description outlining improvements that will be made to improve the barrier or they fail to remove the barrier or make substantial progress after providing such a description. The aggrieved person's notice must specify the circumstances under which public accommodation access was denied. (Sec. 5) The Judicial Conference of the United States must develop a model program to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve such claims. The model program should include an expedited method for determining relevant facts related to such barriers and steps to resolve accessibility issues before litigation.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Environmental Design of Electrical Equipment Act (EDEE) Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The Congress finds and declares that-- (1) assisting in meeting the essential needs of the United States for adequate supplies of electrical products and equipment is in the national interest; (2) ensuring a uniform Federal scheme of regulation of restrictions in the use of certain substances in electrical products and equipment in interstate and foreign commerce is crucial to the economic, environmental, and social well-being of the people of the United States in the global marketplace; (3) potential disparities among State laws and implementing regulations that may be enacted by the several States regarding the restriction of the use of substances in electrical products and equipment could create barriers to interstate commerce, domestic and foreign trade, and distort competition, and may thereby have a direct impact on the establishment and functioning of global markets; and (4) technological and industrial innovation for electrical products and equipment can offer an improved standard of living, increased public and private sector productivity, and creation of new industries and employment opportunities, while providing for environmentally compatible production, use, and end of life disposition of such equipment. SEC. 3. PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this Act to enhance the economic, environmental, and social well-being of the people of the United States in the global marketplace by-- (1) ensuring efficient technological development and innovation in the manufacture of electrical products and equipment through the prevention of potential disparities among State laws and implementing regulations that may be enacted by the several States regarding the restriction of the use of toxic substances in electrical products and equipment that could create barriers to interstate commerce, domestic and foreign trade, and distort global competition; and (2) applying the regulatory and law enforcement process and penalties of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to establish uniform Federal regulation and enforcement of toxic substances in electrical products and equipment. SEC. 4. UNIFORM FEDERAL SCHEME OF REGULATION. (a) Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (15 U.S.C. 2605) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(f) Certain Applications.-- ``(1) Electroindustry products.--As used in subsection (e), the term `electroindustry product' means any product or equipment that is directly used to facilitate the transmission, distribution, or control of electricity, or that uses electrical power for arc welding, lighting, signaling protection and communication, or medical imaging, or electrical motors and generators. ``(2) National standards.--Except for those electroindustry products and product categories set forth in paragraph (3), no electroindustry product shall be manufactured after July 1, 2010, that contains a concentration value greater than 0.1 percent by weight of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) as measured in any homogeneous material contained in the electroindustry product, or a concentration value greater than 0.01 percent of cadmium as measured in any homogeneous material contained in the electroindustry product. For purposes of this section, `homogeneous material' means a material of uniform composition throughout that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials. ``(3) Electroindustry products and product categories.--The processing and/or use of the specified chemical substances in any of the following electroindustry products and equipment shall not be subject to any restriction or requirement that is designed to protect against a risk of injury to health or the environment, and shall in no manner be restricted, by the States or any political subdivision of a State in accordance with section 2617(c)(1)(B): ``(A) Lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers contained in-- ``(i) products or equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of 300 volts or above; ``(ii) products or equipment used in fixed installations; [For purposes of this subsection, `fixed installation' means a combination of equipment, systems, finished products and/or components, not including lighting equipment that encompasses lighting fixtures and lamps, assembled and/or erected by an assembler/installer at a given place to operate together in an expected environment to perform a specific task, but not intended to be placed in commerce as a single functional or commercial unit]; ``(iii) signaling protection and communication systems and products, including healthcare communications and emergency call systems; ``(iv) surface transportation information management and control systems, subsystems, equipment, components, and services, including equipment used to design, install, operate, and maintain such systems; ``(v) medical diagnostic imaging and therapy equipment and devices, communications and emergency call systems and products, modular walls, consoles, systems, products, panels, meters, and monitors used in healthcare facilities; ``(vi) shunt capacitors and series capacitors; ``(vii) electro-mechanical and solid-state equipment and systems for measurement, display recording, processing, and telemetry for electricity metering and associated information; ``(viii) distribution and power transformers and special purpose transformers; ``(ix) equipment used for mounting or testing watt-hour or demand meters such as sockets, boxes, enclosures, test blocks, test tables, and test kits; ``(x) high voltage fuses, high current connectors, power circuit breakers, switchgear assemblies, surge arrestors, and insulating equipment, products, and hardware; ``(xi) steam turbine generators and units; ``(xii) electrical wire and cable products and accessories, not including fixture wires, appliance wires, and flexible cords as so classified by the National Electrical Code, by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., or by the Canadian Standards Association; ``(xiii) electrical conduit; ``(xiv) high intensity discharge lamps; ``(xv) arc welding and plasma cutting equipment designed for industrial or professional use; or ``(xvi) arc welding and cutting equipment driven by mechanical means, e.g., a gasoline or diesel engine. ``(B) Lead when used or contained in-- ``(i) steel alloys containing up to 0.35 percent lead by weight, aluminum alloys containing up to 0.4 percent lead by weight and copper alloys containing up to 4 percent lead by weight; ``(ii) solders with high melting temperatures, including lead-based alloys containing 85 percent or more lead by weight, and solders for-- ``(I) die mounting in Light Emitting Diode applications; ``(II) the electrical connection within integrated-circuit flip-chip packages; ``(III) machined through-hole discoidal and planar array ceramic multilayer capacitors; and ``(IV) printed circuit board assemblies and point-to-point soldered assemblies, up to 40 percent lead by weight, and when used in transmission, distribution, power supply, or control devices designed to be installed in electrical outlet boxes and/or switch boxes, in emergency lighting equipment, in trip units in circuit breakers, or in sensors used for lighting control; ``(iii) glass used in plasma display panels or surface conduction electron emitter displays or for flat fluorescent lamps in liquid crystal displays, or in incandescent lamps; ``(iv) finishes of fine-pitch components other than connectors with a pitch of 0.65 millimeters or less with nickel-iron lead frames or copper-lead frames; ``(v) coatings not exceeding 0.5 percent by weight for tin babbitt alloy coated sleeve bearings; ``(vi) gateway hardware between lighting controls protocols and building management protocols; ``(vii) red ink used in exit signs not exceeding 0.005 milligrams per lens; ``(viii) fluorescent lamps; ``(ix) electrical connector coatings; or ``(x) lead-bronze bearing shells and bushes. ``(C) Cadmium and its compounds when used or contained in-- ``(i) electrical contacts, cadmium plating and switch contacts, including those used in thermal protectors in lighting ballasts, and luminaires containing such ballasts; or ``(ii) cadmium-copper alloys for wire conductors. ``(D) Hexavalent chromium when used or contained in electrical connectors, corrosion-prevention coatings for fasteners and metals in emergency lighting equipment or electromagnetic interference shielding, and noncurrent carrying electrical devices. ``(E) Mercury when used or contained in-- ``(i) straight fluorescent lamps for general purposes, but not exceeding 10 milligrams in halophosphate lamps, 5 milligrams in triphosphate lamps with a normal lifetime, and 8 milligrams in triphosphate lamps with a long lifetime; ``(ii) straight fluorescent lamps for special purposes; ``(iii) compact fluorescent lamps equal to or greater than 9 inches; ``(iv) compact fluorescent lamps less than 25 watts, not exceeding 5 milligrams per lamp; ``(v) compact fluorescent lamps equal to or greater than 25 watts, not exceeding 6 milligrams per lamp; ``(vi) high output/very high output linear fluorescent lamps greater than 32 millimeters in diameter; ``(vii) preheat linear fluorescent lamps; or ``(viii) luminaires when containing any mercury-added lamps identified under [subsection (f)(3)(E)(i)-(vii)]. ``(F) Any processing and/or use of a specified chemical substance in an electroindustry product other than those identified in this subsection as the Administrator may establish by rule.''. (b) Section 18 of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (15 U.S.C. 2617) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(c) Preemption.--(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no State or political subdivision of a State may, after the effective date of this Act, adopt or continue in effect any requirement that is designed to protect against a risk of injury to health or the environment-- ``(A) for any electroindustry product as defined in section 2605(f)(1) that is inconsistent with or more stringent than the national standards set forth in section 2605(f)(2); or ``(B) that is applicable to the processing and/or use of the specified chemical substances in any of the electroindustry products or electroindustry product categories set forth in section 2605(f)(3). ``(2) Upon application of a State or political subdivision of a State, the Administrator may, by rule, exempt from section 2605(f)(3), under such conditions as may be prescribed in such rule, a requirement of such State or political subdivision designed to protect against an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment associated with any of the uses of any chemical substance, mixture, or article containing such chemical substance or mixture specified in section 2605(f)(3) if-- ``(A) compliance with the requirement would not cause the processing, distribution in commerce, or use of the substance, mixture, or article to be in violation of the Act; and ``(B) the State or political subdivision requirement does not, through difficulties in manufacturing, marketing, distribution, or other factors, unduly burden interstate commerce, or does not lessen the reliability of an electrical grid or of any product or system which is the subject of any such requirement of a State or political subdivision of a State. ``(3) Compliance with the national standards set forth in section 2605(f)(2) may be demonstrated based on any appropriate method for a particular electroindustry product, including without limitation, certifications of compliance by product manufacturers or testing performed in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator under this subsection. The Administrator shall, within one year from the effective date of this Act, promulgate guidelines establishing test procedures for determining the concentration of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and/or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) contained in an electroindustry product.''. SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. For fiscal year 2009, there is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 for the Administrator to implement the provisions of this Act.

Environmental Design of Electrical Equipment Act (EDEE) Act - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to establish uniform national standards for the use of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in electroindustry products manufactured after July 1, 2010. Defines "electroindustry product" as any product or equipment that is used to facilitate the transmission, distribution, or control of electricity, or that uses electricity for arc welding, lighting, signaling protection and communication, medical imaging, or electrical motors and generators.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``One Health Act of 2016''. SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY ONE HEALTH PROGRAM. (a) In General.--The President, acting through the National Science and Technology Council, shall coordinate and support a national, interagency One Health Program to address infectious diseases in animals and the environment, and to help prevent the transmission of known and emerging infectious diseases between animal populations and human populations. (b) National One Health Framework.-- (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in cooperation with the National Science and Technology Council, shall develop and submit to Congress a One Health Framework (referred to in this section as the ``framework'') for coordinated Federal activities under the One Health Program. (2) Contents of framework.--The framework described in paragraph (1) shall describe existing efforts and contain recommendations for building upon and complementing the activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the United States Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, and other departments and agencies, as appropriate, and shall-- (A) identify and describe, as appropriate, activities of Federal agencies and departments under the One Health Program; (B) for the 10-year period beginning in the year the framework is submitted, establish Federal goals and priorities that most effectively advance-- (i) scientific understanding of the connections between human, animal, and environmental health; and (ii) workforce development to prevent and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks in animals and humans; (C) describe specific activities required to achieve the goals and priorities described in subparagraph (B), such as competitive research grant programs, training and support for scientists, engagement of nongovernmental entities, and participation in international collaborations and research efforts; (D) identify and expand partnerships among Federal agencies, States, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and private entities in order to develop new approaches for reducing hazards to human health from animal and environmental sources and to strengthen understanding of the value of an integrated approach under the One Health Program to addressing public health threats in a manner that prevents duplication; and (E) provide recommendations to Congress regarding additional action or legislation that may be required to assist in establishing the One Health Program. SEC. 3. NATIONAL ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE. (a) Establishment.--As part of the interagency One Health Program, in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the United States Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, and other departments and agencies, as appropriate, the President, acting through the One Health Program shall establish a One Health Initiative to coordinate and implement research and field activities of the Federal Government related to the role of animals and the environment in human health, as described in subsection (b). (b) Activities.--Under the One Health Initiative established under subsection (a), members of the One Health Program shall provide support for activities in furtherance of the goals and priorities under the One Health Framework described in section 2(b), including through-- (1) entering into cooperative agreements with, and awarding grants to, public or private entities, including States, nongovernmental entities, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and privately funded philanthropic organizations in order to cover all or part of the costs associated with establishing or strengthening efforts described in the One Health Initiative; and (2) awarding grants to States for the purpose of establishing One Health national centers of excellence, with preference given to States that match Federal grant funds with State funds or funds obtained through State partnerships with private entities, academic institutions, or nonprofit organizations. (c) One Health National Centers of Excellence.--Centers of excellence established under subsection (b)(2) shall carry out activities of the type described in the One Health Framework under section 2(b), including supporting One Health workforce training and bringing together the animal, environmental, and human health workforce to coordinate disease surveillance and prevention efforts. (d) Authorization of Appropriations.-- (1) In general.--To carry out the One Health Initiative under this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2016 through 2020. (2) Allocation of funds.--Of the amounts appropriated under paragraph (1), not less than 50 percent shall be allocated to supporting the national centers of excellence under subsection (b)(2). SEC. 4. LEVERAGING INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT. In carrying out section 2, the President shall direct representatives of the United States to appropriate international bodies, including the multilateral development banks, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health, to use the influence of the United States, consistent with the broad development goals of the United States, to advocate that each such body-- (1) commit to adopting approaches consistent with the One Health Initiative under section 3 to address animal and environmental sources of public health threats prior to their introduction into human populations, including increased coordination and collaboration between human, animal, and environmental health officials; (2) provide technical assistance to the regulatory authorities of governments to remove unnecessary barriers to investment in programs similar to the One Health Initiative programs under section 3; and (3) utilize clear, accountable, and metric-based targets, consistent with the Global Health Security Agenda, to measure the effectiveness of such initiatives.

One Health Act of 2016 This bill requires the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to coordinate and support a One Health Program to: (1) address infectious diseases in animals and the environment, and (2) help prevent the transmission of infectious diseases between animal populations and human populations. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in cooperation with the NSTC, must develop a framework for federal activities under the program. The framework must: describe the activities of federal agencies and departments under the program, establish goals and priorities for advancing scientific understanding and for workforce development and describe activities to achieve these goals and priorities, identify and expand partnerships among federal agencies and others to develop new approaches for reducing hazards to human health from animal and environmental sources and to promote an integrated approach to addressing public health threats in a manner that prevents duplication, and provide recommendations for additional action or legislation to assist in establishing the program. The program must establish an initiative to coordinate and implement federal research and field activities. Program members must support activities described in the framework, including by awarding grants to establish national centers of excellence to carry out those activities. The President must direct representatives of the United States to advocate that international bodies adopt approaches consistent with the initiative, provide technical assistance to governments to remove unnecessary barriers to investment in similar programs, and use certain targets to measure the effectiveness of such initiatives.

exchange interaction is one of the most characteristic quantum effects in many - electron systems . in natural atoms and molecules , it leads to a singlet - triplet splitting of energy levels and is responsible for a binding of atoms into a molecule . in solids , it gives rise to a covalent bonding of elemental semiconductors and ferromagnetic properties of metals . in the absence of external fields , the exchange interaction in natural atomic systems is determined by the charges of nuclei and the number of electrons and is essentially fixed . man - made solid - state analogs of atomic systems , namely , quantum dots ( qd s ) , called also artificial atoms , and coupled qd s ( artificial molecules ) can be fabricated in various designed shapes and sizes . one can also change the depth and range of the potential confining the electrons . this gives us a unique opportunity of engineering the quantum states of electrons confined in the qd s and tuning the exchange interaction . the exchange interaction between electrons in qd s has been proposed as an effective mechanism for changing the electron spin , i.e. , for performing the quantum logic operations on spin qubits.@xcite this mechanism seems to be very promising in quantum information processing with the solid - state nanodevices . the investigation of the exchange interaction in the qd - based nanodevices allows us to elaborate the methods of controlling and tuning this interaction , which in turn leads to the controlled manipulation of the electron spin qubits.@xcite recently , the exchange - interaction induced spin swap operations in coupled qd s have been simulated by a direct solution of a time - dependent schrdinger equation.@xcite the coherent manipulation of spin qubits in lateral qd s has been studied experimentally by petta et al.,@xcite elzerman et al.,@xcite and hayashi et al.@xcite hatano et al.@xcite determined the tunnel and exchange couplings in laterally coupled vertical qd s . the quantum logic operations can also be performed in the nanowire double qds.@xcite the exchange energy is defined as @xmath5 where @xmath6 and @xmath7 are the lowest triplet and singlet energy levels , respectively . in physics of solid - state nanodevices , exchange energy ( [ exch ] ) plays a two - fold role : ( i ) it determines the strength of the exchange interaction ( heisenberg interaction ) , which can swap the spin qubits ; @xcite ( ii ) @xmath0 can be treated as the exchange splitting ( singlet - triplet splitting ) that allows us to distinguish the different spin states of the electron system.@xcite in both the cases , we should know how to tune @xmath0 by applying the external fields . in the coupled qd system , the exchange energy was calculated by several groups.@xcite the effect of an external magnetic field was investigated in papers.@xcite the magnetic field , applied perpendicular to the plane of the electron movement , lowers the energy of the triplet state , which decreases the exchange splitting . the asymmetry of the qd s gives rise to an enhancement of the exchange interaction.@xcite the size effects in the exchange coupling were studied in papers.@xcite the increasing size of the coupled - qd system leads to the decrease of the exchange energy.@xcite for the two identical elliptic qd s zhang et al.@xcite calculated the exchange energy as a function of aspect ratio @xmath8 , where @xmath9 is the extension of the qd in the @xmath10 direction . they obtained the increase of @xmath0 with increasing @xmath11 for @xmath12@xcite and the sharp variation of @xmath0 as a function of interdot detuning for @xmath13.@xcite the influence of an external electric field on the exchange energy was studied in papers@xcite for vertically coupled self - assembled qd s . burkard et al.@xcite assumed the harmonic confinement potential and calculated the exchange energy for the vertically coupled qd s using the heitler - london and hund - mulliken techniques . these results@xcite show the monotonic decrease of the exchange energy with the increasing in - plane electric field . pedersen et al.@xcite calculated the exchange energy for the harmonic double - dot confinement potential using the numerically exact approach and showed the failure of standard approximations ( i.e. , heitler - london , hund - mulliken , hubbard ) even for simple model systems . in the present paper , we have elaborated a numerical procedure that provides accurate results for the lowest - energy states of the two electrons in laterally coupled qd s . using this method , we have performed a systematic study of qd nanodevices with different geometry and confinement potential profile . in this study , we have applied the confinement potentials with a different softness , i.e. , we have taken into account a variable smoothness of the qd interface.@xcite we have investigated a large class of realistic potentials with the finite depth : from the soft gaussian potential to the hard rectangular - like potential.@xcite a high fidelity of quantum logic operations on spin qubits can be achieved if the exchange interaction is possibly strong . this leads to the problem of designing such a nanodevice , in which the exchange interaction is maximal . a possibility of tuning the exchange interaction with the help of external fields is another important issue of quantum computing in solid - state nanodevices . in the present paper , we focus on the electric - field induced tuning of the exchange interaction in laterally coupled qd s . we note that the electronic properties of the electrostatically gated qd s @xcite can be tuned by changing the voltages applied to the gates , which changes the potential confining the electrons in the nanodevice . this leads to another method of tuning the exchange interaction by changing the gate voltages . in the present paper , we have also investigated this method by studying the effect of the variable range and softness of the confinement potential on the exchange energy . in the gate - defined qds,@xcite the range and softness of the confinement potential are determined by the voltages applied to the gates.@xcite the present paper is organized as follows : in section 2 , we briefly describe the theoretical model and the computational method used in the calculations . section 3 contains the numerical results , section 4 discussion , and section 5 conclusions and summary . the details of the computational approach are presented in appendix . we study the system of two electrons confined in two laterally coupled qd s and subjected to a static homogeneous electric field . the lateral qd s are usually created in a quasi - two - dimensional electron gas by applying the suitably chosen voltages to the gates , which are placed on the surface of the nanodevice above the plane , in which the electrons move.@xcite therefore , we have assumed the two - dimensional ( 2d ) motion of the electrons . figure 1 displays ( a ) the geometry of the nanostructure and ( b ) the confinement potential profile in the @xmath14 direction . we assume that the potential energy of the electron in the single qd is described by the power - exponential function @xcite @xmath15^{p/2 } } \ ; , \label{conf1}\ ] ] where index @xmath16 labels the qd s ( @xmath17 and @xmath11 for the left and right qd , respectively ) , @xmath18 is the potential well depth ( @xmath19 ) , @xmath20 , @xmath21 is the position of the qd center , and @xmath22 ( @xmath23 ) is the range of the confinement potential in the @xmath14 ( @xmath24 ) direction , i.e. , it determines the extension of the qd in the corresponding direction . parameter @xmath25 ( @xmath26 ) describes the softness of the confinement potential at the qd boundaries , i.e. , the smoothness of the qd interfaces.@xcite for @xmath27 we deal with the soft gaussian potential , while for @xmath28 the potential can be treated as hard , in particular , for @xmath29 potential energy ( [ conf1 ] ) takes on the rectangular shape . form ( [ conf1 ] ) of the confinement potential energy allows us to model a large variety of qd s with a different shape , size , and interface smoothness . ( color online ) ( a ) schematic of the coupled qd s . solid ( green ) curves correspond to the extensions of the qd s . ( b ) profile of confinement potential energy @xmath30 plotted as a function of @xmath14 for @xmath31 with [ solid ( red ) curve ] and without [ dashed ( blue ) curve ] the external electric field . the vertical lines show the boundaries of the left ( @xmath32 ) and right ( @xmath11 ) electrode . the parameters of the nanodevice in panel ( b ) : @xmath33 nm , @xmath34 nm , @xmath35 nm , @xmath36 nm , @xmath37 , and @xmath38 mv . ] for the coupled qd s the confinement potential is the sum of single qd confinement potentials ( [ conf1 ] ) @xmath39 the @xmath14 axis is directed along the straight line connecting the centers of both the qd s [ cf . 1(a ) ] . here , we take on @xmath40 and @xmath41 . the qd s are separated by the potential barrier , i.e. , distance @xmath42 between the qd centers is larger than @xmath43 . we investigate the nanodevice , which consists of the coupled qd s placed between the left and right metal contacts [ cf . the electrodes are separated by a finite distance @xmath44 and a static external voltage @xmath45 is applied between them . in the semiconductor region , the electrodes generate the homogeneous electric field @xmath46 , where @xmath47 . in the present calculations , distance @xmath44 between the boundaries of electrodes is related to other geometric parameters as follows : @xmath48 . in electric field @xmath49 , each electron possesses additional potential energy @xmath50 given by @xmath51 in the present calculations , we measure the energy with respect to the electrochemical potential @xmath52 of the left contact , i.e. , we set @xmath53 . on the contrary to papers,@xcite in which the infinite range of electric field @xmath49 is assumed , we assume a more realistic space distribution of the electric field with the finite range . formula ( [ du ] ) gives the profile of the electron potential energy in the electric field created by external voltage @xmath45 , which in the real nanodevices is applied between the source and drain contacts separated by the finite distance . formulas ( [ conf1 ] ) , ( [ conf2 ] ) , and ( [ du ] ) set up a model of the nanodevice ( fig . 1 ) , which consists of the left ( @xmath32 ) and right ( @xmath11 ) metal electrodes , and the semiconductor material , in which both the qd s are embedded . the qd s are separated by the barrier potential region . the total potential energy of the single electron is given by @xmath54 in the effective mass approximation , the hamiltonian of the two - electron system in the coupled qd s reads @xmath55 where @xmath56 ( @xmath57 ) is the one - electron hamiltonian , @xmath58 is the electric permittivity of the vacuum , @xmath59 is the static relative electric permittivity of the semiconductor , @xmath60 is the electron - electron distance , and @xmath61 is the position vector of the @xmath62th electron . the one - electron hamiltonian has the form @xmath63 where @xmath64 is the electron effective band mass . we assume that the electron effective mass and the static electric permittivity do not change across the qd boundaries . this assumption is well satisfied for the gaas - based electrostatic qds.@xcite we solve the two - electron eigenvalue problem by a configuration interaction ( ci ) method , which is performed in few steps . first , we find one - electron orbital wave functions @xmath65 using the expansion in a multicenter gaussian basis ( see appendix ) . in the second step , we transform the one - electron orbitals @xmath65 into the discrete representation @xmath66 on the two - dimensional grid @xmath67 . more details of this method are given in appendix . augmenting the one - electron orbitals by the eigenfunctions @xmath68 of the @xmath69 component of the electron spin we obtain one - electron spin - orbitals @xmath70 , where @xmath71 is the set of orbital quantum numbers and @xmath72 is the spin quantum number . spin - orbitals @xmath70 are used to a construction of slater determinants . in the final step , we construct the two - electron wave function as a linear combination of @xmath73 slater determinants and solve the two - electron eigenvalue equation by the exact diagonalisation . all the potential energy matrix elements ( including the electron - electron interaction energy ) have been calculated with a high precision by the numerical quadrature subroutines . we have performed test calculations for @xmath73 = 64 , 81 , 100 , 144 , and 169 and obtained a good convergence for the lowest - energy levels . a good compromise between the numerical accuracy and computer time has been found for @xmath74 ; therefore , the majority of calculations has been performed with 81 slater determinants . finally , we calculate the lowest singlet ( @xmath7 ) and triplet ( @xmath6 ) energy levels , and exchange interaction energy @xmath0 [ eq . ( [ exch ] ) ] . in the calculations , we have used the material parameters of gaas , i.e. , @xmath75 and @xmath76 , where @xmath77 is the free electron rest mass , and fix the depth ( @xmath78 mev ) of the confinement potential . the present calculations have been performed for circular and elliptic qd s with aspect ratios@xcite @xmath79 , 1 , and 2 . the exchange energy has been calculated as a function of external electric field @xmath1 for different shapes , sizes , and geometric configurations of the coupled qd s . ( color online ) exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 and softness parameter @xmath25 for two coupled circular qd s with @xmath80 nm , @xmath81 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : schematic of the nanodevice . ] two lateral qd s form 16 geometric configurations that differ from each other by their relative size ( large / small qd ) , shape ( circular / elliptic qd ) , position with respect to the electrodes ( left / right qd ) , and orientation with respect to the electric field ( ellipse axis parallel / perpendicular to @xmath49 ) . in this paper , we present the results for the four most characteristic configurations ( cf . insets of figs . 2 - 5 ) . the preliminary results for the two circular qd s with the same radius have been presented in paper.@xcite figures 2 - 4 show the results for the nanodevices , in which the right qd is larger than the left one . we remind that the left ( right ) qd is located near the electrode with the higher ( lower ) potential energy of the electron ( cf . these results ( figs . 2 - 4 ) have been obtained for the left circular qd with fixed size , i.e. , @xmath80 nm , and for the different shapes and sizes of the right qd : circular ( fig . 2 ) , @xmath24-elongated elliptic ( fig . 3 ) , and @xmath14-elongated elliptic ( fig . 4 ) . we have found that in these nanodevices ( cf . the insets of figs . 2 - 4 ) the general electric - field dependence of the exchange energy is similar . in the low - field regime , the exchange energy takes on either small ( fig . 2 ) or zero ( figs . 3 and 4 ) values , at higher fields , increases with the electric field , and in the intermediate - field regime exhibits a cusp followed by a broad plateau region ( figs . 2 and 3 ) , in which @xmath2 takes on maximal values . at the sufficiently high electric field , the @xmath2 curve possesses the second cusp and rapidly falls down to zero . figures 2 - 4 also show another general property of the exchange energy : the maximal values @xmath82 , reached in the plateau region , increase with with decreasing @xmath25 , i.e. , with the increasing softness of the confinement potential . however , the detailed @xmath2 dependence is different for each of the nanodevice geometry considered . ( color online ) exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 and softness parameter @xmath25 for coupled circular and elliptic qd s with @xmath80 nm , @xmath83 nm , @xmath35 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : schematic of the nanodevice . ] ( color online ) exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 and softness parameter @xmath25 for coupled circular and elliptic qd s with @xmath80 nm , @xmath84 nm , @xmath85 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : schematic of the nanodevice . ] the details of the low - field exchange energy behaviour are different in the nanodevices with circular ( fig . 2 ) and elliptic ( figs . 3 - 5 ) qd s . for the circular qd s ( fig . 2 ) the exchange energy is non - zero in the absence of electric field . in the nanodevice shown in the inset of fig . 2 , the electrons in the singlet state occupy the right qd with a quite large probability already for @xmath86 . even the weak electric field causes that both the electrons become entirely localized in the right qd , i.e. , the double qd system starts to act as the single qd . if one of the qd s is elliptic ( figs . 3 - 5 ) , the exchange interaction vanishes in the low - field regime , i.e. , for @xmath87 , becomes non - zero at @xmath88 , and increases linearly with @xmath1 for @xmath89 . at @xmath90 the @xmath2 dependence exhibits the first cusp , above which @xmath2 is nearly constant ( cf . the plateau regions in figs . 2 and 3 ) or changes slowly with the electric field ( cf . fig . the exchange energy reaches maximal values @xmath82 for @xmath91 , exhibits the second cusp at @xmath92 , and rapidly vanishes for @xmath93 . for the nanodevice with the larger @xmath14-elongated qd ( fig . 4 ) the exchange energy shows the variable behaviour in the interval @xmath91 depending on the confinement potential softness . according to fig . 4 , @xmath0 decreases with increasing @xmath1 for @xmath27 , is nearly constant for @xmath94 , and increases with increasing @xmath1 for @xmath95 . in the nanodevices shown in the insets of figs . 3 and 4 , in the low - field regime , the electrons are localized in different qd s , i.e. , the overlap of the corresponding one - electron wave functions vanishes , which leads to the vanishing exchange interaction . if the electric field exceeds the critical value @xmath96 , the electrons in the singlet state are entirely localized in the right qd , while the electrons in the triplet state become more and more localized in the right qd . this leads to the increase of the exchange energy in the interval @xmath97 . the plateaus on the @xmath2 dependence ( figs . 2 - 4 ) result from the fact that both the electrons are localized in the right qd and this localization is almost unchanged in the interval @xmath91 . for the sufficiently strong electric field the exchange interaction is equal to zero since one of the electrons tunnels out of the qd system and is absorbed in the right electron reservoir . ( color online ) exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 and softness parameter @xmath25 for coupled circular and elliptic qd s with @xmath98 nm , @xmath99 nm , @xmath100 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : schematic of the nanodevice . ] figure 5 displays the results for the nanodevice with the left qd larger than the right one . for @xmath101 there is no exchange interaction . if the electric field @xmath1 exceeds @xmath96 , the exchange energy becomes non - zero and increases as a linear function of the electric field . after reaching the maximum at @xmath102 , the exchange energy exhibits the sharp cusp and falls down to zero . in the nanodevice shown in the inset of fig . 5 , the plateau region does not exist , which means that @xmath103 . the results of figs . 2 - 5 show that in the low- and intermediate - field regime the exchange energy is a linear function of the electric field and can be parametrized as follows : @xmath104 in the nanodevices depicted in the insets of figs . 3 - 5 , the linear parametrization ( [ linear ] ) is valid in the electric - field interval @xmath105 . parameter @xmath106 depends on the softness of the confinement potential and the geometry of the nanodevice . in general , @xmath106 increases with increasing @xmath25 and for the nanodevice shown in the inset of fig . 5 takes on the values from @xmath107 mev for @xmath27 to @xmath108 mev for @xmath109 . the results of figs . 3 - 5 show that parameter @xmath4 is independent of the confinement potential softness and the geometry of the nanodevice . it takes on nearly constant value @xmath110 [ mev/(kv / cm ) ] for all the nanodevices studied in the present work . the physical interpretation and possible applications of the linear dependence [ eq . ( [ linear ] ) ] will be discussed in section 4 . the results presented in figs . 2 - 5 can be explained if we consider the spatial localization of electrons . it is convenient to illustrate the distribution of the electrons in the coupled qd s with the help of the electron density @xmath111 defined as @xmath112 where @xmath113 is the two - electron wave function . ( color online ) electron density for the triplet state [ solid ( red ) curve ] and confinement - potential profile [ dashed ( blue ) curve ] as functions of @xmath14 coordinate for @xmath31 . the horizontal ( green ) lines correspond to the three lowest one - electron energy levels . dotted curves show the exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 ( cf . the vertical ( orange ) arrows show the electric field @xmath1 for which the plots of electron density and confinement potential are drawn . in panel ( d ) , the dotted ( red ) curve depicts the electron density of the electron just after the tunneling through the triangular barrier . the left qd has the circular shape with @xmath80 nm , and the right qd has the elliptic shape with @xmath83 nm and @xmath35 nm ( cf . inset of fig . all the plots are drawn for @xmath37 and @xmath36 nm . ] ( color online ) one - electron density for the triplet state [ solid ( red ) curve ] and confinement - potential profile [ dashed ( blue ) curve ] as functions of @xmath14 coordinate for @xmath31 . the horizontal ( green ) lines correspond to the three lowest one - electron energy levels . dotted curves display the exchange energy @xmath0 as a function of electric field @xmath1 ( cf . fig . 5 ) . the vertical ( orange ) arrows show the electric field for which the plots of probability density and confinement potential are drawn . in panel ( d ) , the dotted ( red ) curve depicts the probability density of the electron just after the tunneling through the triangular barrier . the left qd has the elliptic shape with @xmath98 nm and @xmath99 nm , the right qd has the circular shape with @xmath100 nm ( cf . inset of fig . 5 ) . all the plots are drawn for @xmath37 and @xmath36 nm . ] solid ( red ) curves in figs . 6 and 7 display the cross sections of the electron density @xmath114 by the plane @xmath31 for the triplet state . the corresponding profiles of the one - electron potential energy are plotted by dashed ( blue ) curves in figs . 6 and 7 . the horizontal ( green ) lines show the three lowest - energy levels @xmath115 of one - electron states , which mostly contribute to the two - electron triplet wave function . in figs . 6 and 7 , we have also presented the @xmath2 dependencies obtained for these nanodevices ( cf . figs . 3 and 5 for @xmath37 ) . the vertical ( orange ) arrows show the values of the electric field , for which the plots of @xmath116 , @xmath30 , and @xmath115 are drawn . figures 8 and 9 display the contours of the electron density on the @xmath117 plane for the singlet and triplet states for the same two nanodevices . the results presented in figs . 6 and 8 correspond to the nanodevice , in which the @xmath24 extension of the right qd is two times larger than that of the left qd . we see that the smaller values of @xmath118 in the larger ( right ) qd [ cf . 6(a , b ) ] are compensated by the larger spreading of the electrons in the @xmath24 direction ( cf . the right panel of fig . 8) . contours of electron density for singlet ( left panels ) and triplet ( right panels ) states on the @xmath117 plane for different values of the external electric field @xmath1 ( in kv / cm ) . the darker color corresponds to the larger electron density . thin solid curves correspond to the sizes of the qd s . the left qd has the circular shape with @xmath80 nm and the right qd has the elliptic shape with @xmath83 nm , @xmath35 nm ; the other parameters take on the values @xmath37 and @xmath36 nm . ] contours of electron density for singlet ( left panels ) and triplet ( right panels ) states on the @xmath117 plane for different values of the external electric field @xmath1 ( in kv / cm ) . the darker color corresponds to the larger electron density . thin solid curves correspond to the sizes of the qd s . the left qd has the elliptic shape with @xmath98 nm and @xmath99 nm , the right qd has the circular shape with @xmath100 nm ; the other parameters take on the values @xmath37 and @xmath36 nm . ] the results displayed in figs . 6 - 9 allow us to trace the changes of electron localization in the two - electron system confined in the two coupled qd s , which result from the action of the external electric field . in the absence of the electric field , the electrons are localized in the different qd s and there is no overlap between their wave functions [ cf . figs . 6(a ) and 7(a ) , and figs . 8 and 9 for @xmath86 ] . therefore , the exchange interaction between the electrons vanishes . if we apply the external electric field , the electrons start to tunnel through the potential barrier from the left to the right qd and interact via the exchange coupling [ figs . 6(b ) and 7(b ) ] . in this regime , the increasing electric field causes the fast linear increase of the exchange energy [ figs . 6(b ) and 7(b ) ] . we note that even in the low electric field regime the electron distribution considerably changes in the singlet state , but is only slightly distorted in the triplet state ( cf . figs . 8 and 9 for @xmath86 and @xmath120 ) . if the right qd is sufficiently large , the increasing electric field causes that both the electrons become localized in this qd in either spin state [ cf . fig . 6(c ) and fig . 8 for @xmath121 kv / cm ] . in the singlet state , the electrons are localized in the central region of the right qd , while in the triplet state , the electron density exhibits two maxima clearly separated in the @xmath24 direction ( cf . fig . 8 for @xmath121 kv / cm ) . in this field regime , the exchange energy reaches the largest values . the double occupancy of the right qd and the separation of the triplet electrons in the @xmath24-direction do not change in a rather broad range of the electric field , which leads to the broad plateau region ( fig . if the electric field exceeds the critical value @xmath122 , one of the electrons tunnels through the right triangular barrier out of the right qd and the exchange interaction rapidly falls down to zero [ cf . figs . 6 ( d ) and 8 for @xmath123 kv / cm and figs . 7(d ) and 9 for @xmath124 kv / cm ] . the dotted ( red ) curves in the right part of figs . 6(d ) and 7(d ) illustrate the electron density just after the tunneling . the tunneling electron is absorbed in the electron reservoir of the right electrode . let us note the corresponding changes of the one - electron energy levels ( cf . the horizontal lines in figs . 6 and 7 ) . for @xmath125 the one - electron energy levels lie below the right - electrode continuum energy edge , i.e. , electrochemical potential @xmath126 of the right electrode . this means that these electron states are bound . for @xmath92 the one - electron energy levels reach @xmath127 , i.e. , the electrons cease to be bound and form resonant states . therefore , in the strong - field regime , the electrons tunnel via these resonant states through the right triangular barrier [ figs . 6(d ) and 7(d ) ] to the right contact . the nanodevice with the left qd larger than the right one ( figs . 7 and 9 ) shows the similar electric - field behaviour to that obtained for the nanodevice with the left qd smaller than the right one ( figs . 6 and 8) in the regime of low and intermediate electric fields . we remind that in this regime the exchange energy is zero for @xmath101 and grows linearly with @xmath1 for @xmath97 . however , after reaching the maximum value @xmath82 for @xmath102 , the exchange energy rapidly falls down to zero , i.e. , the @xmath2 dependence becomes qualitatively different from that shown in figs . this behaviour results from the rapid change in electron localization that occurs at @xmath102 . for @xmath128 the electrons in the triplet state are localized in the different qd s [ cf . 7(b , c ) ] . for the triplet state , the increase of the electric field above @xmath129 does not generate the double occupancy of the right qd , like in the nanodevice shown in fig . 3 , but leads to the immediate tunneling of one of electrons to the right electron reservoir [ fig . 7(d ) ] . in the electric - field regime @xmath130 , the right qd in this nanodevice can not be occupied by the two electrons in the triplet state , which causes that the exchange interaction vanishes . 7(d ) shows that for the sufficiently strong electric field the energy of the first excited one - electron state exceeds the electrochemical potential of the right contact , i.e. , the resonant state is formed . in this case , we are dealing with the resonant tunneling via the first excited one - electron state . we note that this one - electron state yields the large contribution to the triplet two - electron wave function . we have also studied the dependence of the exchange energy on the softness of the confinement potential . figure 10 shows maximum exchange energy @xmath82 as a function of softness parameter @xmath25 . the maximal value @xmath82 is taken for @xmath131 kv / cm , i.e. , in the plateau region , for the nanodevice shown in the inset of fig . we see that @xmath82 decreases if @xmath25 increases , i.e. , if the confinement potential becomes more hard . this dependence can be approximated by the exponential function @xmath132 where @xmath133 mev , @xmath134 mev , and @xmath135 . the exponential parametrization [ eq . ( [ exp1 ] ) ] results from the fact that for the fixed confinement - potential ranges the effective quantum capacity of the qd s increases with increasing @xmath25 ( cf . inset of fig . 10 ) . if @xmath25 increases , the electrons localized in the right qd become more separated from each other , which leads to the exponential decrease of the overlap of electron wave functions , which in turn gives rise to the exponential decrease of the exchange energy . ( color online ) maximum exchange energy @xmath82 as a function of softness parameter @xmath25 for electric field @xmath131 kv / cm . dots show the results of numerical calculations and the solid curve shows the fitted exponential function [ eq . ( [ exp1 ] ) ] . the parameters of the nanodevice : @xmath80 nm , @xmath83 nm , @xmath35 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : total potential energy @xmath30 of the electron as a function of @xmath14 and @xmath25 for @xmath31 and for fixed @xmath1 = 0.7576 kv / cm .. ] ( color online ) maximum exchange energy @xmath82 as a function of size scaling factor @xmath136 for @xmath37 and for electric field @xmath1 = 0.7576 kv / cm . dots show the results of numerical calculations and the solid curve shows the fitted exponential function [ eq . ( [ exp2 ] ) ] . the initial sizes ( @xmath137 ) of the qd nanodevice are @xmath80 nm , @xmath83 nm , @xmath35 nm , and @xmath36 nm . inset : total potential energy @xmath30 of the electron as a function of @xmath14 and @xmath136 for @xmath31 and for fixed @xmath1 = 0.7576 kv / cm . ] for a possible experimental realization of the model nanodevices studied in the present paper it is interesting to find a direct dependence of the exchange energy on the size of the nanodevice . for this purpose we have calculated the maximum exchange energy when scaling all the linear dimensions of the coupled qd system . we consider the nanodevice displayed in the inset of fig . 3 , for which the exchange energy takes on the maximal values in the broad plateau region ( cf . fig . 3 for @xmath37 ) . we have defined the size scaling factor as @xmath138 , i.e. , @xmath136 is equal to the ratio of the actual linear dimension @xmath139 to its initial value @xmath140 . as the reference nanodevice with the initial values of the linear dimensions we take that with @xmath80 nm , @xmath83 nm , @xmath35 nm , and @xmath36 nm ( cf . fig . the calculations of @xmath82 have been performed for the set of nanodevices characterized by @xmath136 times enlarged confinement potential ranges , i.e. , @xmath141 , and @xmath142 and interdot distance @xmath143 . in the calculations , we fix the strength @xmath1 of the electric field , i.e. , we have to scale accordingly the interelectrode distance @xmath144 and the applied voltage @xmath145 . the numerical results are displayed in fig . 11 by the full ( red ) dots . in the interval @xmath146 these results can be parametrized by the exponential function @xmath147 where @xmath148 = 9.9040 mev , @xmath149 mev , and @xmath150 ( cf . solid curve in fig . the exponential dependence [ eq . ( [ exp2 ] ) ] is similar to that given by eq . ( [ exp1 ] ) and can also be interpreted as resulting from the size effect . if the total size of the nanodevice increases ( cf . inset of fig . 11 ) , the overlap between the one - electron wave function decreases exponentially with increasing @xmath136 . also the localization of electrons in the qd s becomes weaker if the total size of the nanodevice grows . we note that parametrization ( [ exp2 ] ) is valid for @xmath151 only . if the size of the nanodevice is sufficiently large , i.e. , the size scaling factor exceeds @xmath152 5 , the exchange energy rapidly falls down to zero . the disappearance of the exchange interaction in the large - size nanodevice results from the delocalization of electrons , which can be explained using the potential energy profiles ( cf . inset of fig . 11 ) . in order to keep the electric field constant when enlarging the nanodevice size @xmath136 times we have to apply the @xmath136 times higher voltage this leads to the lowering of electrochemical potential @xmath153 of the right contact . simultaneously , the energy of the electrons localized in the right qd grows with respect to @xmath127 . we have checked that for @xmath154 the first excited - state one - electron energy level exceeds the electrochemical potential of the right contact . moreover , the triangular barrier near the right contact becomes more and more penetrable for the electrons if the size of the nanodevice increases . in these conditions , one of the electron tunnels out of the right qd to the right reservoir and the exchange interaction vanishes the results of figs . 35 show that in the nanodevice , which consists of the elliptic qd the static homogeneous electric field applied in the coupled qd s region can switch on and off the exchange interaction . in the nanodevice , which consists of the two circular qd s ( fig . 2 ) , the exchange interaction is non - zero at @xmath86 and the electric field can only switch off the exchange interaction . this behaviour ( fig . 2 ) is similar to that observed in the single qd.@xcite in the nanodevices shown in the insets of figs . 2 - 4 , the exchange energy exhibits a plateau in a broad electric - field regime . this plateau ends up at critical electric field @xmath122 , above which the exchange energy rapidly vanishes . if the electric field exceeds @xmath122 , one of the triplet electrons tunnels from the right qd to the right contact and the triplet state ceases to be bound . therefore , in this field regime , we can not speak about the exchange interaction . the electrons in the singlet state become unbound if the electric field exceeds @xmath122 by an amount @xmath155 . we have found that @xmath156 , i.e. , @xmath155 is approximately equal to the width of the linear @xmath2 dependence [ eq . ( [ linear ] ) ] . the critical electric field @xmath122 increases with increasing @xmath25 ( cf . figs . 2 - 4 ) . simultaneously , the increasing @xmath25 leads to the decreasing maximum value of the exchange energy reached in the plateau region ( cf . figs . 2 and 3 ) . both these effects result from the increasing effective size of the qd s . for fixed parameters @xmath157 , and @xmath158 the effective size of the qd increases with increasing @xmath25 , i.e. , increasing hardness of the confinement potential ( cf . inset of fig . this leads to the decreasing overlap between the electron wave functions and the weaker electron localization , which in turn causes the decline of the exchange energy . moreover , if the effective size of the qd s is larger , we have to apply the stronger electric field in order to liberate one of the electrons from the right qd , which gives rise to the increase of @xmath122 . the critical electric field @xmath96 , below which @xmath159 and above which @xmath160 , decreases with increasing @xmath25 ( cf . figs . 2 - 5 ) . this dependence results from the decreasing effective thickness of the potential barrier separating both the qd s with increasing @xmath25 ( cf . inset of fig . 10 ) . if the barrier is thinner , the electrons tunnel through it with the larger probability and the right qd becomes doubly occupied at the lower electric field . in the low- and intermediate - field regime , the nanodevices with the laterally coupled qd s possess an important property : the exchange energy is a linear function of the electric field , i.e. , it can be conveniently tuned by applying the external voltage . in the nanodevice with the small right qd ( cf . 5 ) , the increasing electric field switches on the exchange interaction at @xmath161 , leads to the linear increase of @xmath0 in a broad regime of @xmath1 , and switches it off at @xmath102 . recently , the linear dependence of the exchange interaction energy on the electric field has been found in vertically coupled self - assembled qds.@xcite in the present paper , we have obtained this linear dependence for the laterally coupled qd s with different geometric configurations and different softness of the confinement potential ( cf . figs . 2 - 5 ) . electric - field regime @xmath162 of this linear dependence is considerably broader in the nanodevices that contain the small right qd ( fig . 5 ) than in the nanodevices with the large right qd ( figs . 2 - 4 ) . according to fig . 5 , @xmath162 extends to @xmath163 kv / cm . for comparison , in figs . 2 - 4 , @xmath164 0.2 kv / cm . the larger width of interval @xmath162 obtained for the nanodevice depicted in the inset of fig . 5 causes that the maximum value @xmath82 of the exchange energy is considerably larger than those for the nanodevices shown in figs . 2 - 4 . in the former case , @xmath82 reaches 6 mev . ( color online ) energy of singlet ( @xmath165 ) and triplet ( @xmath166 ) states and exchange energy @xmath0 ( dash - dotted curves ) as functions of electric field @xmath1 for two distances @xmath42 between the qd centers . inset shows the geometry of the nanodevice . subscripts @xmath167 and @xmath136 correspond to the weak ( @xmath168 nm ) and strong ( @xmath169 nm ) tunnel coupling , respectively . the other parameters of the qd s are the same as in fig . 3 with @xmath37 . for clarity the curves with label @xmath136 are shifted upwards by 5 mev . thin vertical lines show critical fields @xmath96 and @xmath129 for the weak tunnel coupling , the vertical arrow shows the cusp on the @xmath170 plot , which gives rise to the corresponding cusp on the @xmath2 plot for the strong tunnel coupling . labels ( 0 ) , ( 1 ) , and ( 2 ) denote the electric - field regimes @xmath171 , [ f_{c0},f_{c1}]$ ] , and @xmath172 $ ] , respectively , for the weak tunnel coupling . ] in order to get a more deep physical insight into the linear @xmath2 dependence , we have investigated the behaviour of the lowest singlet and triplet energy levels . we have found that in the regime @xmath173 the field dependence of these energy levels can be very accurately parametrized by the linear functions ( fig . 12 ) @xmath174 parameters @xmath175 , @xmath176 , @xmath177 , and @xmath178 take on different values in the different regimes of the electric field , i.e. , @xmath171 , [ f_{c0},f_{c1 } ] , [ f_{c1},f_{c2}]$ ] , that we label ( 0 ) , ( 1 ) , and ( 2 ) , respectively , but are independent of @xmath1 within each regime . in the low - field regime , i.e. , for @xmath87 , @xmath179 and @xmath180 , which leads to the zeroing of the exchange energy , i.e. , the singlet - triplet degeneracy . in the intermediate - field regime , i.e. , for @xmath97 , the singlet - triplet degeneracy is lifted . in this field regime , @xmath181 and @xmath182 . therefore , we obtain @xmath183 and @xmath184 , which leads to the linear @xmath2 dependence [ eq . ( [ linear ] ) ] . it is interesting that for the nanodevices shown in the insets of figs . 23 linear parametrization ( [ stlinear ] ) is also valid in the regime of rather strong electric fields , i.e. , for @xmath91 . the values of parameters @xmath185 and @xmath186 are different from those obtained for the lower fields , but are approximately constant within this field regime . in field regime ( 2 ) , @xmath187 and @xmath188 , which gives rise to the plateau of the exchange energy ( cf . figs . 24 ) with @xmath189 . we have also found another interesting feature of the linear parametrization ( [ linear ] ) . parameter @xmath190 that determines the rate of changes of the exchange energy with the electric field in the linear regime takes on almost the same values for all the nanodevices described by the parameters quoted in the captions of figs . parameter @xmath4 is independent of the softness of the confinement potential and the geometry of the nanodevice ( cf . figs . 2 - 5 ) . considering all the @xmath2 dependencies , displayed in figs . 2 - 5 , i.e. , studying several different nanodevices , we have found that @xmath191 [ mev/(kv / cm ) ] . in the lateral qd s , the linear @xmath2 dependence is a non - trivial property that can not be explained by the non - degenerate first order perturbation theory.@xcite this effect occurs in the intermediate - field regime , in which the electron wave functions are considerably distorted with respect to those for @xmath86 ( cf . figs . 6 - 9 ) . in particular , we note the rapid change of the singlet - state localization in the low- and intermediate - field regime ( figs . 8 and 9 ) . moreover , we have found that even for the same geometric configuration of the qd s and in the same electric - field regime , the linear @xmath2 dependence disappears if the tunnel coupling between the qd s is sufficiently strong . in order to show this effect , we have considered the two nanodevices with the geometric configuration shown in the insets of figs . 3 and 12 . 12 displays the results for the two nanodevices characterized by different separations @xmath42 between the qd centers and the same values of all other parameters . for @xmath168 nm , i.e. , for the weak interdot tunnel coupling , the singlet and triplet energies as well as the exchange energy are linear functions of the electric field . we also observe the cusp on the curve @xmath192 , which leads to the corresponding cusp on the curve @xmath2 . in the low electric - field regime and for the weak tunnel coupling , the exchange interaction vanishes due to the singlet - triplet degeneracy . for @xmath169 nm , i.e. , for the strong tunnel coupling , a completely different @xmath2 behaviour has been obtained . in this case , the singlet - state energy is a non - linear function of the electric field , which leads to the non - linear @xmath2 dependence . however , the triplet energy @xmath193 is a piece - wise linear function of @xmath1 with the cusp shown by the arrow in fig . 12 . in the low electric - field regime and for the strong tunnel coupling , the singlet - triplet degeneracy is lifted and the exchange interaction is non - zero even for @xmath86 . ( color online ) expectation value @xmath194 of the charge gravity center position as a function of electric field @xmath1 for the singlet ( subscript @xmath195 , curves with full circles and squares ) and triplet states ( subscript @xmath196 , curves with open circles and squares ) for @xmath169 nm ( subscript @xmath136 , red curves ) and @xmath168 nm ( subscript @xmath167 , blue curves ) . the nanodevice is the same as in fig . 12 . ] the linear / non - linear @xmath2 dependence can be further discussed if we consider the changes of the charge gravity center position , i.e. , @xmath197 . we have calculated the expectation value @xmath194 for the weak and strong interdot tunnel coupling using the field - dependent two - electron wave functions @xmath198 for the singlet and triplet states . according to eq . ( [ du ] ) , the value 2@xmath194 determines the electric - field contribution to the potential energy of two electrons . figure 13 shows that @xmath194 is a linear function of @xmath1 for the triplet states in both the cases of the weak and strong tunnel coupling and for the singlet state only in the case of the weak tunnel coupling . however , for the singlet state and the strong tunnel coupling the dependence of @xmath199 on the electric field is nonlinear . we also observe that the expectation values @xmath200 , @xmath201 , and @xmath202 exhibit jumps at certain values of the electric field . besides they are linear functions of @xmath1 . figure 13 shows that the charge gravity center position follows the electron distribution shown in fig . 8 for @xmath168 nm . at low electric fields , the center of charge gravity is localized near the center of the nanodevice , i.e. , at @xmath203 , for the triplet as well as the singlet states , which results from the single occupancy of both the qd s . the increasing electric field only slightly shifts @xmath194 to the right the single qd occupancy remains unchanged for the triplet state up to @xmath102 . however , for the singlet state the second electron tunnels to the right qd at @xmath161 , which leads to the jump of @xmath200 ( fig . 13 ) . for @xmath204 and the weak tunnel coupling the charge gravity center is approximately localized near the center of the right qd in both the spin states ( cf . the plots of @xmath200 and @xmath201 in fig . 13 ) . for the weak tunnel coupling , the localization of the electrons in the singlet state remains almost unchanged in the regime @xmath97 . for the strong tunnel coupling @xmath199 in the singlet state increases as a non - linear function of @xmath1 starting from a non - zero value for @xmath86 . in the triplet state , the jump of @xmath202 at @xmath102 originates from the rapid change of the localization from the single to double occupancy of the right qd . the results of fig . 13 can be translated into the energy dependencies displayed in fig . the linear @xmath2 dependence occurs if the interdot tunnel coupling is weak . then , in the triplet state , the single - electron occupancy of each qd occurs in electric - field regime @xmath205 $ ] . in the field regime @xmath206 $ ] , the right qd is doubly occupied by the singlet electrons . if the interdot separation is sufficiently large , the increasing electric field slowly shifts the center of the charge gravity towards the right qd . simultaneously , the electrons are compressed at the right potential barriers of qd s , which hampers this shift . the net shift is proportional to the electric field , which results in the linear dependencies @xmath207 and @xmath208 . if the interdot tunnel coupling is sufficiently strong , the electrons can tunnel through the barrier with a rather large probability , which results from the considerable overlap of the wave functions centered in both the qd s . therefore , for the strong tunnel coupling the increasing electric field leads to the non - linear increase of the exchange energy . the results of the present paper allow us to discuss the effect of external electric fields of different origin on the electronic properties of qd nanodevices . the electric fields can be created by the different electrodes , which surround the qd region . in a direct way , we have investigated the effect of the static homogeneous electric field , which is usually created by the source and drain electrodes . in an indirect way , we have also studied the effect of the gate electrodes . we are able to determine the effect of the gates , since the gate - controlled qd s ( electrostatic qd s ) @xcite are induced by the inhomogeneous electric field , which is created by the gates . therefore , the qd confinement potential , in particular , its shape , range , potential - well depth , and softness , are determined by the voltages applied to the gates . this means that studying the dependence of the electron states on these parameters of the confinement potential we are investigating the effect of the gates . in the present paper , we focus on the exchange interaction , which plays an important role in a manipulation with spin qubits.@xcite the exchange energy can be effectively tuned by changing the external electric field , i.e. , changing the voltages applied to the electrodes . by increasing the homogeneous electric field ( bias voltage ) we can switch on / off the exchange interaction . the critical values of the electric field , for which this on / off switching occurs , depend on the softness of the confinement potential , i.e. , can be changed by changing the gate voltages . we have found the existence of the plateau in the exchange energy versus electric field dependence . this plateau occurs if the qd , into which the electrons are pushed by the electric field , is larger than the other qd . in the plateau regime , the exchange energy take on is maximal values . therefore , the on / off switching the exchange interaction occurs between zero and maximum value . we have determined the critical electric fields and optimal nanodevice parameters , for which this switching is the most effective . we have shown that in the nanodevices with the weakly coupled lateral qd s at moderate electric fields the exchange energy is a linear function of the electric field . we have found that the parameter @xmath190 that determines the rate of changes of @xmath2 is nearly the same for different nanodevices . the constancy of @xmath4 suggests that this parameter is universal for a large class of nanodevices based on the laterally coupled qd s provided that the interdot tunnel coupling is weak . we have also demonstrated that for the sufficiently strong interdot tunnel coupling the @xmath2 dependence becomes non - linear . the numerical approach proposed ( see appendix ) is convenient for the calculations of few - electron states in qd s in the external electric field . among several advantages ( cf . appendix ) of this approach , we would like to underly the most important one . namely , this _ numerical _ procedure possesses the following _ physical _ property : in the low- and intermediate - field regime , it allows us to describe bound states of electrons in the electric field of finite range , which acts in the real nanodevices . let us mention that in the electric field of infinite range , usually assumed in the papers on this subject , @xcite we always deal with non - stationary states that for weak fields only can be treated as quasi - bound . having at disposal the nanodevices based on the gate - controlled lateral qd s , we can intentionally change the shape , range , and potential - well depth of the confinement potential by changing the voltages applied to the gates . the manipulation of electronic states in laterally coupled gate - controlled qd s , performed by changing the gate voltages , is very effective . therefore , the nanodevices based on the lateral qd s are very promising in quantum computing based on spin qubits . in the present paper , we have shown how to control and tune the exchange interaction by changing the external electric field . our results should be helpful in designing the nanodevices for the spin qubit processing with the help of the controlled exchange interaction . this paper has been supported in part by the polish ministry of science and high school education in the frame of grant no . n n202 173835 . we give a brief description of the numerical method proposed in the present paper in order to obtain the one - electron wave functions in the discrete representation that is convenient in the two - electron calculations . first , we set up the computational box for given geometric parameters of the qd nanodevice . usually , we take on its @xmath14 extension @xmath209 nm and @xmath24 extension @xmath210 nm . next , we solve the one - electron schrdinger equation by variational means . for this purpose we apply the multi - center gaussian basis defined inside the computational box @xmath211 \ ; , \label{gauss}\ ] ] where @xmath212 and @xmath213 are the variational parameters . ( color online ) ( a ) profile of electron potential energy @xmath30 as a function of @xmath14 for @xmath31 and @xmath214 kv / cm . symbols @xmath32 and @xmath11 denote the left and right electrode , respectively . vertical dashed lines correspond to the boundaries of the electrodes . ( b ) schematic of the computational box . thick ( red ) dots display the positions of the centers of gaussians and thin ( black ) dots show the grid points used in discrete representation ( [ discr ] ) . the nanodevice parameters used in the plots : @xmath80 nm , @xmath84 nm , @xmath35 nm , @xmath37 , and @xmath36 nm . ] the centers of gaussians @xmath215 , where @xmath216 and @xmath217 , form a grid within a large rectangle , which encompasses both the qd s . i.e. , the edges of the rectangle are longer than the double range of the confinement potential in each direction ( cf . fig . . gaussians ( [ gauss ] ) are chosen to cover the region of electron localization in the qd s and the region of the right electrode , to which the electrons are shifted . the variational wave function @xmath65 for one - electron state @xmath71 is taken on in the form of a linear combination of gaussians ( [ gauss ] ) @xmath218 where @xmath219 is the normalization constant . the values of @xmath220 and @xmath0 are chosen according to the actual size of the nanodevice and extend up to @xmath221 and @xmath222 . this means that we have at disposal 1650 basis elements ( [ gauss ] ) , which assures the high accuracy of one - electron solutions . the matrix elements of one - electron hamiltonian ( [ h1 ] ) are calculated in basis ( [ gauss ] ) as follows : the matrix elements of the kinetic energy are calculated analytically and the matrix elements of the potential energy are calculated by a numerical quadrature . solving the generalized eigenvalue problem of hamiltonian ( [ h1 ] ) in basis ( [ gauss ] ) we obtain linear parameters @xmath223 and energy eigenvalues @xmath115 for one - electron states @xmath224 . the values of non - linear variational parameters @xmath212 and @xmath213 are determined from the minimization of the ground - state energy @xmath225 . we have checked that @xmath212 and @xmath213 change only slightly when minimizing the excited - state energy levels ; therefore , we take @xmath212 and @xmath213 to be the same for each state @xmath71 . in the last step , we define the fine grid @xmath67 , where @xmath226 and @xmath227 , and find the discrete representation of the one - electron wave functions by setting the @xmath228 matrix @xmath229 the one - electron wave functions in representation ( [ discr ] ) are used to construct the slater determinants and next to perform the ci calculations . in the two - electron calculations , we have used @xmath230 one - electron states to construct up to @xmath231 slater determinants . the number of mesh points was @xmath232 . we would like to emphasize the following advantages of the present approach : ( i ) it allows us to solve the electron eigenproblem in the real nanodevice , in which the electric field has the finite range , i.e. , the voltage is applied between the electrodes separated by the finite distance . this numerical feature possesses an important physical consequence : if the electric field is not too strong , we are dealing with the well - defined stationary bound states . it is commonly assumed that the electric field possesses the infinite range , i.e. , instead of the form ( [ du ] ) the potential energy has the form @xmath233 for @xmath234 . in this case , the electron states are unbound for arbitrary @xmath1 . this assumption leads to serious problems in the physical interpretation and does not allow us to describe rigorously the real finite - size nanodevices . ( ii ) it can be applied to arbitrary confinement potential and inhomogeneous electric field . in particular , this approach can be easily extended to multiple coupled qd s with more than two qd s . ( iii ) the present approach can be extended to few - electron systems with more than two electrons and to three - dimensional ( 3d ) nanostructures .

the effect of external electric field on the exchange interaction has been studied by an exact diagonalization method for two electrons in laterally coupled quantum dots ( qd s ) . we have performed a systematic study of several nanodevices that contain two gate - defined qd s with different shapes and sizes located between source and drain contacts . the confinement potential is modelled by two potential wells with a variable range and softness . in all the considered nanodevices , the overall dependence of exchange energy @xmath0 on electric field @xmath1 is similar , i.e. , for low fields @xmath0 increases with increasing @xmath1 , for intermediate fields @xmath0 reaches a maximum , and rapidly falls down to zero if @xmath1 exceeds a certain critical value . however , the @xmath2 dependence shows characteristic properties that depend on the nanodevice geometry . we have found that the low- and intermediate - field behaviour can be accurately parametrized by linear function @xmath3 , where @xmath4 is independent of the nanodevice geometry and softness of the confinement potential . we have shown that the linear @xmath2 dependence appears only if the tunnel coupling between the qd s is weak , i.e. , the interdot separation is sufficiently large . the @xmath2 dependence becomes non - linear for the strong interdot tunnel coupling . if the qd located near the contact , to which the higher voltage is applied , possesses the elliptic shape and is larger than the other qd , the @xmath2 dependence shows a plateau in a broad electric - field regime . the linearity and rapid jumps of @xmath2 as well as the existence of the plateau can be applied to tune the exchange interaction by changing the external electric field .

“His face was buried in the mattress of the stretcher,” lawyer Tim Edwards told NBC News Monday. “There was a strap over the back of his head so he couldn’t move his head. His hands and feet were hogtied so he couldn’t move those, either.” Goode was “intoxicated” after he and four friends took something in the parking lot before the concert began said Edwards, who declined to comment on what they may have used. “That’ll be determined by the toxicology screen,” he added. “Whatever was ingested, it was done by all five of them.” The chemical engineer “got paranoid” and left the concert site even before the gig began. He climbed out of his wife’s car and was “in a field running in circles,” Edwards said. “There was no one around him.” Cops saw him “running from the area acting strange and not cooperative,” Lt. Mark E. Little from the Southaven, Mississippi, Police Dept. said in a statement. “Officers attempted to detain the subject who began to resist and run from them again,” Little added. “On our initial investigation we learned that the subject had allegedly taken some LSD in a parking lot before a concert.” Little said officers were waiting on the results of an autopsy that was performed Monday morning which will include toxicology reports. Edwards said that Goode had asthma but "it was controlled" through his use of an inhaler. "If it played a part [in his death], we don’t know," the lawyer added. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video SOUTHAVEN, Miss. -- An investigation is underway to get more details into how a man died in the 3400 block of Goodman Road. Troy Goode is dead, and his family is trying to get to the bottom of what happened. Tim Edwards, with Ballin, Ballin & Fishman P.C, is the family's attorney. Edwards said Goode and his wife were leaving the Widespread Panic concert at Snowden Grove Amphitheater as it began. "He was under the influence and so the wife began to drive them home," Edwards told WREG. At some point on Goodman Road Edwards said Goode got out of the car and began running around. Southaven Police said they were called to a shopping complex on Goodman around 7:45 p.m. on Saturday. Police say they "attempted to detain the subject who began to resist and run from them again. He was eventually restrained by Officers and transferred to an awaiting ambulance to be transported to the hospital." "They showed up in force and subdued him," Edwards said. "They hogtied and put his face down on the stretcher." Edwards claimed a witness heard Goode scream that he could not breathe. "The police took him off and next thing that we know he was a Baptist Hospital," Edwards said. Police say they were told Goode may have taken LSD in the parking lot before the concert began. Goode's mother got the call that he died around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night. "The family as you might expect is grieving, and they are not irrational at all, but they want answers. They want to know why Troy died," Edwards explained. WREG started questioning Southaven Police about the events that took place before Goode's death, but a department spokesperson said they were not commenting or releasing any more information Sunday evening. Goode's body is being taken to Jackson, Mississippi for an autopsy. "I'm not in the position right now pointing fingers because I don't know the cause of death," Edwards said. Edwards believes there was someone shooting video of the incident that night and urges that person to come forward to help the family piece together what happened. Police are awaiting toxicology test results.

– Another death in police custody has a Tennessee family scrambling for answers. Family attorney Tim Edwards tells NBC News that Troy Goode, 30, "ingested" something outside a Widespread Panic concert in Southaven, Miss., on Saturday and "got paranoid." The Memphis man, father to a 15-month-old child, reportedly left his wife's car at some point during the ride home, reports WREG, and was spotted "in a field running in circle," Edwards says. Officers say they responded to a parking lot to find Goode "running from the area acting strange and not cooperative," according to a rep, who says they believed Goode was suffering from an LSD overdose. Goode, an asthmatic, ran from officers and resisted arrest before he was taken into custody, the rep says. A lawyer who witnessed the arrest tells the Clarion-Ledger Goode "looked to me like he was struggling or convulsing or both. He appeared to be in distress." The lawyer's son began filming the scene as Goode was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. A woman can be heard telling him to record the event "just in case he dies." "His face was buried in the mattress of the stretcher," Edwards says, repeating witness statements heard in the video. "There was a strap over the back of his head so he couldn't move his head. His hands and feet were hogtied so he couldn't move those, either." He adds a witness heard Goode tell officers he couldn't breathe. Goode, a chemical engineer, died two hours later at a hospital. Police say they are waiting on autopsy and toxicology reports before releasing a cause of death.

artificial insemination in conjunction with ovarian stimulation is usually offered to infertile couples when the woman has patent fallopian tubes prior to other assisted reproductive methods . ovarian stimulation may correct subtle problems of ovulation , increase the number of oocytes available for fertilization , and enhance the accuracy of timing of insemination . after artificial insemination , a higher number of motile spermatozoa with normal forms are deposited close to the site of fertilization . moreover , sperm preparation removes leukocytes and dead spermatozoa from the semen sample ; they generate free oxygen radicals and reduce the functional capacity of intact spermatozoa . the iui technique is based on the intrauterine injection of 0.20.5 ml of sperms suspension without flushing the tubes . double iui has been shown to increase the pregnancy rate when compared to single iui [ 4 , 5 ] . fallopian tube sperm perfusion ( fsp ) is another simple noninvasive method of delivering sperm to fallopian tubes . it is based on pressure injection of 3 up to 5 ml of sperm suspension with the attempt of sealing the cervix to prevent sperm reflux [ 6 , 7 ] . there is firm evidence that fsp gives rise to higher pregnancy rates than standard iui in couples with subfertility and therefore should be advised in these couples [ 8 , 9 ] as shown by cantineau et al . . however , unlike double iui explored i , the efficacy of double fsp has not been yet explored . the objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of fsp either by single - sperm perfusion or double - sperm perfusion in patients with nontubal subfertility undergoing ovarian stimulation . patients with non - tubal subfertility attending the infertility unit at the department of obstetrics and gynecology mansoura university hospital were invited to participate in the patients had to fulfill the following inclusion criteria ( 1 ) age of women < 35 years , ( 2 ) duration of infertility > 2 years , ( 3 ) normal hysteroscopy and laparoscopic finding with regular uterine cavity and patent tubes , and ( 4 ) normal semen parameters according to the who standard positive postcoital test . every patient was extensively counseled and gave informed consent prior to participating in the study . all patients underwent ovarian stimulation with standard protocols were for ovarian stimulation with merional ( ibsa ) starting on cycle day 3 baseline , and transvaginal scanning was performed , and when no ovarian cyst 150 iu of fsh was titrated according to ovarian response and monitored , and by transvaginal scanning when the follicle was > 18 mm in diameter and when there were not more than 3 follicles > 16 mm in diameter , 10000 i choriomon ( ibsa ) was given intramuscular in the first treatment cycle , and patients were randomized on day of hcg administration according to computer - generated randomization list , to undergo single or double fsp . the same insemination method was performed in subsequent cycles if they did not become pregnant in the first one ; a maximum of three cycles was performed ; single fsp was performed 36 hours after hcg administration , whereas double fsp was performed 18 and 42 hours after hcg semen was collected by masturbation after 4 days of ejaculatory abstinence and was allowed to liquefy at 37c for 20 minutes before processing semen was prepared by classical swim - up technique using ham and then centrifuged at 1500 rpm for 10 minutes . the supernatant was discarded , and the pellet was resuspended in 0.5 ml of the medium , then 1 ml of the medium was gently layered over the specimen . the tube was inclinated at angle 45 and incubated for 60 minutes at 37c . it was then returned to the upright position , and the upper most 0.5 ml was removed and resuspended in 4.5 ml of ham 's f10 . the total number of motile spermatozoa in the inseminate i was assessed ; fallopian tube sperm perfusion was performed using pediatric foley 's catheter . the luteal phase was supported by the furthest doses of 200 mg daily progesterone ( prontogest ) . a transvaginal ultrasound was arranged to confirm the intrauterine pregnancy and to determine the number of gestational sacs after a positive pregnancy test . only clinical ongoing pregnancies were considered in this study ; clinical pregnancy is diagnosed by presence of fatal heart beat on ultrasound examination or products of conception of abortions . continuous data were expressed as mean sd , and statistical significance between the two groups was determined using the student 's t - test ; categorical data were compared using the fishers exact or chi - square test where appropriate differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05 ; statistics were done using spss software program version 9 . there were no differences between the two groups with regard to the age of women , duration of infertility , and body mass index ( bmi ) ( table 1 ) . as regards stimulation characteristics , the fsh total dose , the duration of fsh administration , and the number of follicles > 16 mm were comparable for the two groups . there was no significant difference in the mean inseminated motile sperm count between the two groups ( table 2 ) . there were 10 clinical pregnancies in the single fsp - group of which 8 were ongoing . in the double fsp group , the differences between the two groups , both in pregnancy per cycles and patients , were statistically significant . no significant differences were found in the prevalence of multiple pregnancies or abortions between the two groups . repeated insemination during the previously periovulatory period may improve the chance of pregnancy by increasing the number of spermatozoa inseminated enhancing the fertilizing capacity of spermatozoa to fertilize oocytes that are released over a period of at least several hours . silverberg et al . first reported a dramatic increase in the pregnancy rate per cycles after double iui when compared to single iui ( 54.2% versus 8.7% ) in patients having ovulatory dysfunction , unexplained infertility , or mixed factors . . found similar pregnancy rates after single and double iui , whereas better results for double iui were found by ragni et al . . therefore , it is still controversial whether double iui achieves better pregnancy rate than single iui ; on the other hand , unlike double iui , the efficacy of double fsp compared with single fsp has not been investigated yet . thus , the present study aimed to investigate that issue with patients with nontubal subfertility . the volume of inseminate used in single and double ranges was from 0.2 to 0.5 ml . a large inseminate volume ( 35 ml ) has been employed during fsp . but part of the inseminate is flushed through the fallopian tubes towards the pouch of douglas , maintaining a larger number of spermatozoa in the tubes . reflux of the inseminate is prevented by an allis clamp on the cervix , cervical double nut bivalve speculum , intrauterine injector with inflatable balloon or pediatric foley 's catheter [ 15 , 16 ] . in the present study , we simply used the pediatric foley 's catheter balloon system in single and double fsp which were easily performed in all patients and with no case of inseminate reflux observed . in most of the previous studies , fsp was compared with standard iui , and different results were obtained ; in some studies , the pregnancy rate was significantly higher than iui [ 6 , 7 , 10 , 14 ] . however , despite these controversial results , a recent cochrane meta - analysis and systemic review has that in patients with non - tubal fertility , fsp proved to give rise to higher pregnancy rates than iui and therefore should be advised in these patients [ 8 , 9 ] . in the previous studies , the pregnancy rate per cycle achieved in couples with unexplained infertility after ovarian stimulation when fsp was used has been reported to be in the range of 8.640% [ 6 , 7 , 10 , 14 ] . the results reported in this study concerning single fsp group were comparable . in this group , the pregnancy rate per cycle was 14.7% and was 30.3% per patient . the variation in the results among the different studies may be attributed to the different stimulation protocols or the types of catheters used for insemination . regarding double fsp , our results indicated that both clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates per cycle ( 29.2 and 24.6 , resp . ) were significantly higher than those with single fsp ( 14.7% and 11.7% , resp . ) . pregnancy rate per patient was also significantly higher in the double fsp group . based on medline search of studies published in the last 15 years as well as thorough review of the references cited in these identified published series and of the literature , our study is the first to evaluate the efficacy of doubles in the treatment of nontubalfertility , and accordingly no similar studies were found for comparison ; however , the same principle of totally injecting large inseminate volume , used in our study by double fsp , has been recently evaluated by another method called intrauterine tuboperitoneal insemination , in which 10 ml of the inseminate was used . this method was found to give significantly higher pregnancy rates than single fsp ( 29.4 versus 17.6 ) . the better results of double fsp may be explained by that repeated insemination achieves the presence of at the site of higher concentration of motile spermarzoa around the oocytes . at the site of fertilization as well as in the pouch of dougals furthermore , repeated insemination under pressure may be necessary for achievement of perfusion spill in normal tubes or tubes with minimal adhesions . this pressure is also necessary , in midfollicular phase , and before ovulation , the endometrial glandular lumen of the fallopian tube is narrowed by some quantities of gland by partial tubal luminal obstruction due to the presence of tubal ostium membranes . this has shown to be useful procedure in patients with subfertility and may be attempted in such patients before moving on towards much more expensive methods of assisted reproductive techniques . the results of this study indicated that there is a significant improvement of pregnancy rates in patients with non - tubal subfertility when treated with double fsp after controlled ovarian stimulation in comparison with single fsp . double fsp method is simple , easy to perform , inexpensive , and convenient for the patients . trails of this method are useful before the adoption of other expensive assisted reproductive techniques . however , its efficacy regarding other factors as endometriosis or abnormal semen parameter remains to be investigated .

objective . to evaluate the efficacy of double fallopian tube sperm perfusion in comparison with single - sperm perfusion in patients with nontubal subfertility undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation . study design . sixty - six patients undergoing standard ovarian stimulation regimen were randomized to receive either single - sperm perfusion group 1 ( n = 33 ) or double - sperm perfusion group 2 ( n = 33 ) . the same insemination method was performed in subsequent cycles if the patient does not become pregnant in the first one . a maximum of three cycles was performed . fallopian tube sperm perfusion was carried out with pediatric foleys catheter , which prevents reflux of sperm suspension . semen was prepared by a classical swim - up technique . results . a total of 133 cycles performed 68 single fsp cycles and 65 fsp cycles . there were group , 19 clinical pregnancies ( 29.2% per cycle ) of which 16 ongoing pregnancies ( 24.6% per cycle ) were obtained . these differences were statistically significant . the prevalence of multiple pregnancies , abortions , and ectopic pregnancies was similar in both groups . conclusion . the results of this study indicate that there is a significant improvement of pregnancy rates in patients with nontubal subfertility when treated with double - sperm perfusion after controlled ovarian stimulation in comparison with single - sperm perfusion . double - sperm perfusion is simple , easy to perform , inexpensive , and convenient for the patients with nontubal subfertility before adoption of other methods of assisted reproduction .

measurements such as the boomerang and maxima cosmic microwave background radiation power spectra @xcite and type ia supernovae data @xcite suggest that dark matter makes up the bulk of the matter content in the universe . the agreement between expectations from big bang nucleosynthesis @xcite and the primordial abundance of the lightest elements @xcite strongly constrains the total baryonic content to be a small value , implying that the majority of the dark matter must be non - baryonic . the results of other diverse astrophysical measurements based on the sunyaev - zeldovich effect @xcite , strong gravitational lensing @xcite and galactic flows @xcite lend powerful support to this picture . although the nature of dark matter remains unknown , its gravitational effect is pronounced : much of the dynamics of spiral galaxies can not be understood without there being a massive dark matter halo @xcite . two categories of particle cold dark matter ( cdm ) candidates have survived experimental and theoretical scrutiny over time : the lightest supersymmetric particle @xcite and the axion @xcite . neutrinos and other forms of hot dark matter are thought to contribute insignificantly to closure density and , in any case , can not explain structure formation . galaxy formation requires cdm , i.e. , dark matter which is already non - relativistic at the time of decoupling . recently , experiments have begun with the sensitivity either to detect or exclude possible cdm halo candidates . in this paper we present upper limits on the local axion halo density derived from a search for cold dark matter axions . the axion is the pseudo nambu - goldstone boson @xcite associated with a new spontaneously broken global u@xmath5(1 ) symmetry invented to suppress strong cp - violation @xcite . there is some model dependence in assigning u@xmath5(1 ) charges to particles : in the ksvz scheme @xcite the axion only couples to quarks at tree level , while in the gut - inspired dfsz model @xcite it couples to both quarks and leptons . the axion acquires a mass that scales inversely with the ( unknown ) energy scale f@xmath3 at which the u@xmath5(1 ) symmetry breaking occurs . initially f@xmath3 was presumed to be the electroweak energy scale , but such massive axions were quickly ruled out in , e.g. , beam dump experiments @xcite . subsequently , it was proposed that axions possess such small couplings to matter and radiation that for all practical purposes they would remain forever `` invisible '' . shortly thereafter , an experiment was proposed that could make even very light axions detectable @xcite . the u.s . axion search experiment is predicated on this approach whereby the axion converts into a single photon via the inverse primakoff effect . we use a resonant cavity permeated by a strong static magnetic field , where the large number density of virtual photons from the field enhances axion decay . the allowed axion mass is constrained to 10@xmath6 to 10@xmath7 ev . axions with a mass less than a few ev would have cooled the core of supernova 1987a to such an extent that the distribution of neutrino arrival times would be inconsistent with observation @xcite . even heavier axions have been ruled out by a variety of astrophysical and terrestrial searches @xcite . conversely , if the axion mass is less than some value they would have been overproduced in the early universe . this lower mass limit has been calculated for various axion production mechanisms under different early - universe scenarios , e.g. , `` vacuum realignment '' @xcite , `` string decay '' @xcite and `` wall decay '' @xcite . the vacuum misalignment mechanism provides a lower mass limit of @xmath8 10@xmath7 ev which we adopt for our search strategy ; the other mechanisms produce a value that is in fairly close agreement . common to all of these mechanisms is the misalignment of the axion field with respect to the cp - conserving ( minimum energy ) direction when the axion mass turns on during the qcd phase transition . axions produced in this way are very cold . their typical momentum was of order the inverse of the horizon scale at the qcd phase transition ( @xmath9 ev ) when the temperature was of order 1 gev . the cosmological energy density in these cold axions is of order : @xcite @xmath10 hence , if @xmath11 is of order a few @xmath2ev , the mass range where we search , axions contribute significantly to the energy density of the universe . studies of large scale structure formation support the view that the dominant fraction of matter is in the form of cdm . since cdm necessarily contributes to galactic halos by falling into the gravitational wells of galaxies ( halo axions in our galaxy possess a virial velocity @xmath8 10@xmath12c ) , there is excellent motivation to search for axions as constituents of our galactic halo . there is a substantial body of evidence that our own galaxy is surrounded by a massive dark halo , though its exact properties are not well - constrained @xcite . of particular interest to this paper is the local dark matter halo density , whose value depends on the degree of halo flattening as well as the core radii of the various dark matter components . to derive a reliable mass density , one can turn to parameterizations of the density distribution , rejecting distributions which fail to match observational constraints , such as reproducing the local rotation speed of 200 - 240 kmsec@xmath13 @xcite . a key element of this approach is the use of microlensing data to estimate the fraction of local dark matter that is in the form of compact objects . employing this methodology , one arrives at a halo density of 9.2@xmath14@xmath1510@xmath16gm/@xmath17 . if massive compact halo objects ( machos ) comprise a negligible fraction of the local halo density , then the above number is likely an underestimate . the local halo density may also be enhanced because of our proximity to a possible dark matter caustic @xcite . our experimental analysis directly constrains the local density of the axionic component of the halo , and as such is independent of astronomical observations and assumptions . the interaction between axions and photons can be written as @xmath18 where @xmath19 is the relevant coupling , @xmath20 the axion field and @xmath21 and @xmath22 the electric and magnetic fields , respectively . since @xmath23 is very small in the mass range of interest , the spontaneous decay lifetime of an axion to two real photons is vastly greater than the age of the universe . in our experiment , located at lawrence livermore national laboratory , a high-@xmath24 resonant cavity and superconducting magnet stimulate axion conversion into a single real photon . resonant conversion occurs when the cavity resonant frequency equals the axion rest mass . because this mass is , a priori , unknown , resonant frequencies are changed by moving either ceramic or metallic tuning rods from the wall to the center of the cavity . for a resonant cavity with a loaded quality factor @xmath25 , the axion - to - photon conversion power is @xmath26 where @xmath27 is the cavity volume , @xmath28 the magnetic field strength , @xmath29 the mode - dependent cavity form factor , @xmath30 the reduced coupling constant ( equal to @xmath31 ) , @xmath32 the axion halo density and min@xmath33 the smaller of either the cavity or axion quality factors . typical values for the first four parameters are 0.2 @xmath34 , 7.5 @xmath35 , 0.6 and 0.97 , respectively . the copper cavity has a loaded ( critically coupled ) @xmath25 @xmath8 10@xmath36 , whereas @xmath37 , the ratio of the energy to the energy dispersion of the axion , is a factor of ten or so larger over the present frequency range . the total power that results from eq . [ pa ] is of order @xmath8 @xmath38 w ; our cavity and amplifiers are cooled to a few degrees kelvin to minimize thermal noise . [ fig1 ] is a schematic of the axion receiver chain . a microwave signal centered at the cavity resonant frequency and approximately 30 khz wide is coupled out of the cavity by an electric field probe and subsequently mixed down ( in two stages ) to near audio frequencies . at any given frequency 10@xmath39 spectra are averaged by fast - fourier - transform ( fft ) hardware , with each spectrum sampled for 8 ms . the corresponding nyquist resolution of 125 hz is well matched to the width ( @xmath8 750 hz ) of axions thermalized by interactions with the galactic gravitational potential . the dicke radiometer equation @xcite dictates the integration time necessary to achieve a specified signal - to - noise ratio ( snr ) @xmath40 where @xmath41 is the axion power from eq . [ pa ] ( times a factor which accounts for the external coupling ) , @xmath42 is the noise temperature , @xmath43 is the integration time and @xmath44 is the axion bandwidth ( defined as @xmath45 ) . since the desired snr is not attained in a single pass over a given frequency interval , data in a single frequency bin are the result of combined data from numerous overlapping spectra . the snr for this multiple - pass data in the interval 550 @xmath1 f @xmath1 810 mhz is shown in fig . a second data set was formed by co - adding six neighboring bins into single 750 hz bins suitable for the virialized axion signal . to determine the number of candidate peaks that must be rescanned to obtain an overall confidence limit of @xmath4690% , artificial peaks are injected into the data via software . as the cut threshold is lowered , the number of candidate peaks increases rapidly . a typical cut threshold of 2.3 @xmath47 ( 6-bin ) applied to our data yields numerous candidates which are rescanned to a snr commensurate with the original data . these data are subsequently added to the original data and from these combined data sets a reduced set of candidates is generated and scanned at the corresponding frequencies . a final round of data - combining produces a persistent - candidate list . candidates above a threshold of 3.5 @xmath47 in these data are manually inspected . a detailed description of the experiment and analyses may be found in @xcite . we have examined these data for candidates in each of 2.08@xmath1510@xmath48 125 hz and 750 hz bins in the region 550 @xmath1 f @xmath1 810 mhz . a total of 13712 , 1369 and 34 candidates survived each stage of 6-bin data cuts , respectively . all 34 persistent candidates have been identified with strong external radio peaks . to derive an upper limit on the axion contribution to the local halo density , we fix the axion - to - photon coupling @xmath23 at the ksvz level and invert eq . [ pa ] to calculate @xmath32 as a function power deposited in the cavity and axion mass . the absence of a persistent signal in these data over this range permits us to impose the limits shown in fig . [ fig3 ] , where we plot the excluded axion dark matter halo densities for both ksvz ( lower curve ) and dfsz ( upper curve ) axions as a function of axion mass and frequency over the interval 550 @xmath1 f @xmath1 810 mhz . the small variations in these density limits represent effective integration times somewhat longer or shorter than that prescribed by eq . the nominal excluded mass density lies near 0.45 gev/@xmath4 for ksvz axions and 3.0 gev/@xmath4 for dfsz axions . the former is comparable to the best estimate of the local dark matter halo density . there is abundant evidence that our own galaxy , like other spiral galaxies , contains a vast dark matter halo . observation can neither differentiate the various candidates , nor well constrain other parameters that describe the halo , e.g. , the local dark matter density . since 1995 we have been using a single resonant cavity to search for axions which may constitute the local dark matter halo over the frequency interval 550 @xmath1 f @xmath1 810 mhz . the lack of a persistent signal allows us to exclude the axion from contributing more than 0.45 gev/@xmath4 to the halo dark matter mass density over the mass range of 2.3@xmath4910@xmath7 @xmath1 @xmath11 @xmath1 3.4@xmath5010@xmath7 ev , should axions couple only to hadrons according to the ksvz prescription , with 90% confidence . this restriction is relaxed to around 3.0 gev/@xmath4 in the dfsz model , also with 90% confidence . it should be noted that other ksvz- and dfsz - like implementations exist . some of these models ( including some dfsz - like models ) give rise to coupling constants that are larger than the benchmark ksvz @xmath23 used in this paper @xcite . these , too , are ruled out by our results over the mass range quoted above . this work was supported by the u.s . department of energy under contract nos . de - fc02 - 94er40818 , w-7405- eng-48 , de - fg02 - 97er41029 , de - ac02 - 76ch0300 , de - fg02 - 90er40560 , de - ac-03 - 76sf00098 , and the national science foundation under award no .

most of the mass of the milky way galaxy is contributed by its halo , presumably in the form of non - interacting cold dark matter . the axion is a compelling cold dark matter candidate . we report results from a search which probes the local galactic halo axion density using the sikivie rf cavity technique . candidates over the frequency range 550@xmath0 @xmath1 f @xmath1@xmath0 810 mhz ( 2.3@xmath0 @xmath2ev @xmath1@xmath0 m@xmath3 @xmath1 3.4 @xmath2ev ) were investigated . the absence of a signal suggests that ksvz axions contribute no more than 0.45 gev/@xmath4 of mass density to the local dark matter halo over this mass range .

qcd at finite baryon - number density and temperature was present in the early universe and is produced in relativistic heavy - ion colliders . qcd at finite baryon - number density and zero temperature describes nuclear matter , such as is found in neutron stars . because qcd at a finite chemical potential @xmath3 for quark number has a complex determinant , standard simulation methods , based on importance sampling , fail . at small @xmath3 , in the neighbourhood of the finite temperature transition , various approaches have been devised to circumvent these problems . these methods include reweighting @xcite , analytic continuation @xcite and series expansions @xcite . we adopt a simpler approach and simulate with at a finite isospin chemical potential @xmath0 @xcite . this corresponds to simulating with finite quark - number chemical potential @xmath4 using only the magnitude of the fermion determinant and ignoring its phase . for @xmath3 sufficiently small , this phase is well enough behaved on the sizes of lattice needed for the simulations , that one might expect that the position and nature of the transitions at finite @xmath3 and those at finite @xmath0 should be the same . for 3 flavours of quarks , at zero chemical potentials , there is a critical mass @xmath5 such that the finite temperature transition is first order for @xmath6 , second order in the 3-d ising model universality class at @xmath7 and becomes a crossover for @xmath8 @xcite ( see also @xcite ) . here it was expected that , as @xmath9 or @xmath10 was increased , @xmath5 would also increase , providing a critical endpoint at some small chemical potential . we are performing simulations with @xmath11 close to @xmath5 on @xmath12 and @xmath13 lattices . what we find is that the fourth order binder cumulants , which are used to determine the nature of the transition , are very sensitive to the updating increment @xmath1 used in the hybrid molecular - dynamics ( r algorithm ) simulations @xcite when this dependence is taken into account , @xmath14 compared with previous estimates of @xmath15 . in addition we have determined that the binder cumulants have very little @xmath0 dependence . thus , as yet , we have obtained no evidence for a critical endpoint . both these observations are in agreement with the new results of de forcrand and philipsen @xcite . in section 2 we describe our simulations and presents our results . discussions and conclusions are presented in section 3 . the staggered quark action for lattice qcd at finite @xmath0 is @xmath16\chi + i\lambda\epsilon\bar{\chi}\tau_2\chi\right\}.\ ] ] which yields a real positive fermion determinant . we simulate this theory with 3 flavours of light dynamical quarks on @xmath12 and @xmath13 lattices using hybrid molecular - dynamics ( r algorithm ) methods , in the viscinity of the finite temperature transition . since we are interested in small @xmath0 ( @xmath17 ) we set @xmath18 . we run at several quark masses in the range @xmath19 , that is , close to the critical mass . the position of the transition is determined by the minimum of the fourth - order binder cumulant @xcite for the chiral condensate , defined by @xmath20 where the overline indicates an average over the lattice . 5 noisy estimators of @xmath21 are made at the end of each trajectory , which yields an unbiased estimator for @xmath22 . we have checked that this method for determining the position of the transition produces an estimate which is consistent with the position of the maximum of the corresponding susceptibility . this measurement is obtained by simulating at typically 4 values of @xmath23 in the neighbourhood of the transition for a given mass , @xmath0 ( and @xmath1 ) , and continuing to the minimum using ferrenberg - swendsen reweighting @xcite . these simulations are usually 160,000 length-@xmath24 trajectories long for each @xmath25 . because @xmath26 depends strongly on the updating increment @xmath1 , we have performed simulations for several different @xmath1s in the range @xmath27 for each @xmath28 . figure [ fig : b4 m ] shows the binder cumulants as functions of mass for the various @xmath1 values used , for our @xmath29 runs . as we can see , the @xmath1 dependence is considerable . at the critical mass , @xmath26 should take the ising value ( @xmath30 ) . if we estimate this from our @xmath31 simulations we would conclude that @xmath32 . if on the other hand we use our @xmath33 runs we predict @xmath34 . thus we conclude that @xmath14 . figure [ fig : b4mu ] shows the @xmath0 dependence of @xmath26 for @xmath35 over the range @xmath36 ( @xmath37 ) , also on a @xmath13 lattice . what we see is that , for larger @xmath1 values , @xmath26 appears to decrease with increasing @xmath0 , which would lead us to the erroneous conclusion that there was a critical endpoint where @xmath26 passes through the ising value for some @xmath38 . as @xmath39 , this falloff becomes less pronounced , and there is even the possibility that @xmath26 increases with increasing @xmath0 . thus we find no evidence for a critical endpoint . in figure [ fig : m035mu0 ] , we plot the values of @xmath26 at @xmath35 and @xmath40 against @xmath41 . from this it is clear that , at the smallest @xmath1s , @xmath26 is close to its @xmath42 value . as we go to larger @xmath1 , @xmath26 decreases making the transition appear more abrupt , i.e. less like a crossover and more like a first - order transition . also included in this figure are the chiral susceptibilities , showing their strong @xmath1 dependence . these increase with increasing @xmath1 , again making the transition appear more abrupt . the transition @xmath43 , @xmath44 and hence the transition temperature decrease slowly as @xmath0 is increased . our best fit to our measurements of the @xmath0 dependence of @xmath44 at @xmath35 from our @xmath33 runs gives @xmath45 this is in reasonable agreement with the estimate at finite @xmath3 of de forcrand and philipsen @xcite , if we make the suggested replacement @xmath46 . we are performing simulations of 3-flavour lattice qcd , using the hybrid molecular - dynamics ( r ) algorithm , at small isospin chemical potential , close to the finite temperature transition from hadronic / nuclear matter to a quark - gluon plasma . the quark mass is chosen to be close to the critical value for zero chemical potentials . the @xmath43 and hence temperature of this transition decrease slowly with increasing @xmath0 , in a manner consistent with the decrease with increasing @xmath3 , provided one identifies @xmath47 . the nature of the transition is determined using binder cumulants for the chiral condensate . we find that the these cumulants depend strongly on the updating increment @xmath1 , decreasing with increasing @xmath1 . this can be understood from the fact that the shift in effective @xmath43 at finite @xmath1 is much larger below the transition than above it . hence a small change in @xmath43 , which takes the system through the transition , produces a much larger change in the effective @xmath43 . this in turn induces a larger change in observables , which makes the transition appear more abrupt , which is reflected in a smaller value for @xmath26 . when this dependence is taken into account , the critical mass is found to be some 20% below previously published values . this is in agreement with the new results obtained by de forcrand and philipsen using rhmc ( exact ) simulations @xcite . when we apply the finite @xmath1 corrections to our measurements of the binder cumulants at finite @xmath0 , we find that they show little dependence on @xmath0 . so far , we find no evidence for the predicted critical endpoint . this too is in agreement with the work of de forcrand and philipsen , whose new predictions of the nature of the transition at finite @xmath3 obtained from continuations from imaginary @xmath3 also show a weak dependence of @xmath26 on @xmath3 @xcite . in fact , their predictions suggest that @xmath26 might actually increase with @xmath3 as was suggested by some of our early results . we are continuing our simulations at a quark mass of @xmath48 which is closer to the newly determined critical mass , and at @xmath49 which appears to be just below the critical value . we too are converting to the new rhmc algorithm @xcite , which is exact . that is , it produces results which do not have any finite @xmath1 errors . if no critical endpoint is found , it will indicate that the critical endpoint , if it exists , is unrelated to that found at zero chemical potentials , as the mass is varied . we intend to use simulations at finite @xmath0 as a platform for reweighting ( by the fermion phase factor ) to finite @xmath3 . this has been found to be a better choice than reweighting from zero @xmath3 . presumably this is because the position of the finite temperature phase transition is the same ( or at least close ) for the 2 theories . in this respect it has similarities with the method of reweighting from shifted @xmath43 values , used by fodor and katz . here we expect that new methods for simulating fermions will give us at least stochastic estimators for ( the phase of ) the fermion determinant , removing the burden of exact determinant calculations , which are too expensive . we thank p. de forcrand and o. philipsen for helpful discussions . these simulations are being run on the jazz cluster at argonne s lcrc , the tungsten and cobalt clusters at ncsa , and the jacquard cluster at nersc . some of the small lattice runs were done on linux pcs in the hep division at argonne . z. fodor and s. d. katz , phys . b * 534 * ( 2002 ) 87 [ arxiv : hep - 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we simulate 3-flavour lattice qcd at finite temperature and isospin chemical potential @xmath0 . in particular we study the nature of the finite temperature transition for quark masses close to the critical mass at which this transition for zero chemical potentials changes from a first order transition to a crossover . we find that the binder cumulants , used to determine the position of this transition , have very strong @xmath1 dependence . this leads us to an estimate of the critical mass which is about @xmath2 below previous estimates . in addition , when this @xmath1 dependence is taken into account , we find that the binder cumulants show very little dependence on @xmath0 . from this we conclude that we do not as yet see any evidence for the expected critical endpoint . we have argued previously that the position and nature of the finite temperature transition for small @xmath0 should be the same as that for small quark - number chemical potential @xmath3 .

a _ prime _ number @xmath1 is any integer @xmath13 whose divisors are only @xmath14 and itself . a _ composite _ number is any integer that is not a prime number or the _ unit _ number , @xmath14 . one of the first mathematicians to study the primes was eratosthenes , to whom is attributed an algorithm to find all primes less than or equal to a certain value . the sieve of eratosthenes starts by marking all multiples of @xmath15 as composite , then proceeding to multiples of @xmath16 , @xmath17 , @xmath18 and so on up to @xmath19 . for example , after all even numbers up to ( and including ) @xmath20 have been marked as composite , we have : @xmath21 next , we mark composite all multiples of @xmath16 not already marked : @xmath22 next , we continue to multiples of @xmath17 and proceed as before , continuing until multiples of @xmath23 : @xmath24 the remaining values form the set @xmath25 , which are the prime numbers less than or equal to @xmath20 ; i.e. the set of numbers less than or equal to @xmath20 whose divisors are only @xmath14 and itself . ( fundamental theorem of arithmetic ) every integer has a unique prime factorization . in other words , every integer can we expressed in a unique way as an infinite product of powers of primes : @xmath26 where @xmath27 primes , and a finite number of @xmath28 are positive integers with the rest being zero . for example , we can write @xmath29 . ( euclid s theorem ) there are infinitely many prime numbers . there are many well - known proofs of euclid s theorem . euler s proof is as follows : + let @xmath1 denote prime numbers and @xmath30 denote the set of all prime numbers . then , @xmath31 however , by , we know that every integer can be written uniquely as a product of primes . thus , we can rewrite our equation as : @xmath32 we then recognize the right hand side of as the harmonic series . because of the divergence of the harmonic series , we know our product must be infinite as well . since each term of our product is a finite number , there must be an infinite number of terms for the product to be infinite . euler also proved a stronger version of the divergence of the harmonic series , in which he shows the sum of reciprocals of primes also diverges @xcite . we will use this fact in a later proof . @xmath33 the sieve of eratosthenes is effective because of the simplicity of identifying multiples of a number . for example , it is easy to identify all numbers of the form @xmath34 ( which is the set @xmath35 for @xmath36 ) as multiples of @xmath16 , and subsequently mark them as composite ( with the exception of the first element ) . however , what happens if we change the starting value of the set , while keeping the distance between elements the same ? we call a sequence of numbers with constant difference between terms an _ arithmetic progression_. for example , consider all numbers of the form @xmath37 and @xmath38 , which represent the sets @xmath39 and @xmath40 respectively . both sets of numbers are arithmetic progressions with a difference of @xmath16 . the reader might then inquire : * between @xmath37 and @xmath38 , which arithmetic progression contains more primes up to a value @xmath19 ? in other words , if we consider the count of primes in each progression as a race , which team is in the lead at a given @xmath19 ? * can we extend euclid s theorem to primes in arithmetic progressions ? in other words , do arithmetic progressions contain infinitely many primes ? * what is the distribution of primes in these progressions ? to answer these questions , we must first introduce a few tools to give our analysis some sophistication . an integer @xmath41 _ divides _ another integer @xmath42 if there exists another integer @xmath43 , such that @xmath44 . we denote that @xmath45 divides @xmath42 with @xmath46 . pick two integers @xmath45 and @xmath42 . an integer @xmath43 such that @xmath47 and @xmath48 is said to be a _ common divisor _ of @xmath45 and @xmath42 . if there exists another integer @xmath49 that also divides @xmath45 and @xmath42 , we say that @xmath50 is the _ greatest common divisor _ of @xmath45 and @xmath42 . we denote this by @xmath51 . let @xmath45 and @xmath42 be integers . the euclidean algorithm allows us to compute the greatest common divisor of @xmath45 and @xmath42 ; i.e. it allows us to find the largest number that divides both @xmath45 and @xmath42 , leaving no remainder . the algorithm is as follows : @xmath52 then @xmath53 . for example , to find @xmath54 , we apply the euclidean algorithm as follows : @xmath55 @xmath45 and @xmath42 are said to be _ relatively prime _ , or _ if @xmath56 . two prime numbers , @xmath1 and @xmath0 , will always be coprime to each other . a composite number , @xmath45 , will be coprime to prime number , @xmath1 , if and only if @xmath45 is not a multiple of @xmath1 . _ euler s totient function _ , denoted @xmath57 , counts the number of _ totatives _ of @xmath58 , i.e. the number of ( positive ) integers up to @xmath58 that are coprime to @xmath58 . for example , @xmath59 . in this example , the numbers @xmath14 , @xmath16 , @xmath18 , and @xmath60 , are the totatives of @xmath61 . for a prime number @xmath1 , @xmath62 since all integers @xmath63 are also coprime to @xmath1 . we say that @xmath45 is _ congruent _ to @xmath64 _ modulo _ @xmath42 if @xmath65 . we write this relation as @xmath66 in other words , we say that @xmath67 ( mod @xmath42 ) if @xmath64 is the remainder when @xmath45 is divided by @xmath42 . for example , when @xmath60 is divided by @xmath18 , the remainder is @xmath15 . in other words , @xmath68 ( mod @xmath18 ) . this concept allows us to conveniently refer to arithmetic progressions by their congruences modulo @xmath45 . for instance , we can refer to the progression @xmath69 as the set of all integers congruent to @xmath16 ( mod @xmath3 ) . furthermore , we can refer to all primes in the progression @xmath69 as the set of primes congruent to @xmath16 ( mod @xmath3 ) . let @xmath70 denote the set of all integers . the modulo operation allows us to define a quotient ring , @xmath71 , which is the ring of integers modulo @xmath58 . for example , the set of all integers modulo @xmath72 repeats as @xmath73 . the unique elements of this set are @xmath74 , which is the ring @xmath75 . we say that an element @xmath76 in @xmath71 is a _ unit _ in the ring if there exists a multiplicative element @xmath77 , such that @xmath78 . we denote the group of units as @xmath79 . the group @xmath79 has @xmath57 elements , which are the totatives of @xmath58 . for example , for the ring @xmath75 , the group of units , @xmath80 is given by the totatives of 6 : \{1,5}. we notice that @xmath14 and @xmath17 are both units in @xmath75 since @xmath81 and @xmath82 . thus for a prime number @xmath1 , the group @xmath83 has @xmath84 elements . let @xmath85 denote the number of primes up to @xmath19 . + gauss s prime number theorem ( pnt ) , which hadamard and valle - poussin proved independently in 1896 , states that @xmath85 behaves asymptotically to @xmath86 here is actually the natural log of @xmath19 , but we wish to use the same notation as in our references ] put another way : @xmath87 thus for an arbitrarily large value of @xmath19 , one can expect @xmath85 to be close to @xmath86 , with some error term . one might next wonder about approximating the count of primes within an arithmetic progression . one way of intuitively approaching this problem is by viewing the set of all positive integers as a union of arithmetic progressions . for example , if we consider the arithmetic progressions with a difference of @xmath16 between elements in each set , we have the three progressions : @xmath88 combining these three sets will yield the set of all positive integers . since each element in the third set is a multiple of @xmath16 , and thus a composite number , we can ignore this set and only consider the first two . we can then expect the primes to be split approximately equally between @xmath38 and @xmath37 . similarly , for a difference of @xmath3 between elements in each set , primes would be split approximately evenly between @xmath89 and @xmath69 . thus applying our intuition to , we arrive at : [ dirichletsthm ] ( dirichlet s theorem on arithmetic progressions ) if @xmath90 , there are infinitely many primes congruent to @xmath42 modulo @xmath45 . in addition , for progressions of the form @xmath91 , the primes will be split among @xmath92 different progressions . in other words , the proportion of primes in a progression with increment @xmath45 is @xmath93 . @xmath94 for example , the progression @xmath95 holds one - fourth of primes ( @xmath96 ) , and we write : @xmath97 the complete proof of dirichlet s theorem is quite lengthy , but excellently shown by pete l. clark @xcite and austin tran @xcite . here , we only briefly introduce important concepts from analytic number theory and highlight crucial points of the proof as shown by clark and tran . for readers not familiar with analytic number theory , this section may be particularly difficult . nevertheless , we encourage the reader on . a _ dirichlet character _ modulo @xmath45 is a function @xmath98 on the units of @xmath99 that has the following properties : * @xmath98 is periodic modulo @xmath45 , i.e. @xmath100 for @xmath101 . * @xmath98 is multiplicative , i.e. @xmath102 . * @xmath103 . * @xmath104 if and only if @xmath105 . we say that a character is _ principal _ if its value is @xmath14 for all arguments coprime to its modulus , and @xmath106 otherwise . we denote the principal character modulo @xmath45 as @xmath107 . note that the principal character still depends on @xmath45 . consider the dirichlet characters modulo 3 . we have @xmath103 and @xmath108 by properties stated above . using the multiplicativity and periodicity of @xmath98 we note that @xmath109 . this implies that @xmath110 . if @xmath111 , then @xmath112 is a principal character by definition . on the other hand , we use @xmath113 to denote the character for when @xmath114 . we note that @xmath113 also satisfies all necessary properties to be a dirichlet character , but is not a principal character . let @xmath115 denote the set of all dirichlet characters modulo @xmath45 . @xmath115 is a group with multiplication and an identity element given by the principal character @xmath107 modulo @xmath45 . in addition , the following orthogonality relation holds ( orthogonality of characters ) : @xmath116 ( a proof of the orthogonality of characters is nicely shown by a. tran in @xcite ) . the values of a character @xmath98 are either @xmath106 or the @xmath117 roots of unity . recall that if @xmath104 , then @xmath105 . if order of the group is @xmath92 , then @xmath118 is principal , so @xmath119 . thus , @xmath120 for @xmath121 . a _ dirichlet l - series _ is a function of the form : @xmath122 where @xmath123 is a complex variable with re(@xmath123)@xmath124 . [ prpn : euler product ] the dirichlet l - function can be also expressed as an euler product as follows ( a proof can be found in @xcite ) : @xmath125 we introduce an intermediate theorem necessary for the proof of theorem [ dirichletsthm ] : [ prop : nonvanishing ] _ dirichlet s non - vanishing theorem _ states that @xmath126 if @xmath98 is not a principal character . here , we will only highlight crucial sections of the proof of dirichlet s non - vanishing theorem ( as shown by j.p . serre ) . a more complete proof of theorem [ prop : nonvanishing ] can be found in @xcite . let @xmath45 be a fixed integer @xmath127 . if @xmath128 , we denote the image of @xmath1 in @xmath129 by @xmath130 . in addition , we use @xmath131 to denote the order of @xmath1 in @xmath129 ; i.e. @xmath131 is the smallest integer @xmath132 such that @xmath133 . we let @xmath134 . this is the order of the quotient of @xmath129 by the subgroup @xmath135 generated by @xmath1 . [ lemma1 ] for @xmath136 , we have the identity : @xmath137 for the derivation of lemma [ lemma1 ] , we let @xmath138 denote the set of @xmath139 roots of unity . we then have the identity : @xmath140 for all @xmath141 , there exists @xmath142 characters @xmath143 such that @xmath144 . this fact , together with , brings us to lemma [ lemma1 ] . we now define a function @xmath145 as follows : @xmath146 we continue by replacing each @xmath147 in the product by its product expansion as in , and then applying lemma [ lemma1 ] with @xmath148 . [ prpn : zeta expansion ] we can then represent the product expansion of @xmath145 as follows : @xmath149 we note that this is a dirichlet series with positive integral coefficients converging in the half plane @xmath150 . we now wish to show ( a ) that @xmath145 has a simple pole at @xmath151 and ( b ) that @xmath152 for all @xmath153 . the fact that @xmath154 has a simple pole at @xmath151 implies the same for @xmath145 . thus , showing ( b ) would imply ( a ) . suppose for contradiction that @xmath155 for @xmath153 . then @xmath145 would be holomorphic at @xmath151 , and also for all @xmath123 with @xmath156 . since by proposition [ prpn : zeta expansion ] , @xmath145 is a dirichlet series with positive coefficients , the series would converge for all @xmath123 in that domain . however , this can not be true . we show this by expanding the @xmath157 factor of @xmath145 as follows : @xmath158 we then ignore crossterms with negative contribution to arrive at an upper bound : @xmath159 multiplying over @xmath1 , it follows that @xmath145 has all its coefficients greater than the series : @xmath160 evaluating equation at @xmath161 , we finish the proof of theorem [ prop : nonvanishing ] by arriving at the following divergent series : @xmath162 we now proceed with the proof of dirichlet s theorem . _ proof of theorem 1_. let @xmath115 denote the group of dirichlet characters modulo @xmath45 . we then fix @xmath163 as stated in dirichlet s theorem . in addition , we let @xmath164 denote the set of prime numbers @xmath165 . our goal is to show that @xmath164 is an infinite set . we wish to consider a function similar to the one in . we define : @xmath166 in particular , we wish to show that the function @xmath167 approaches @xmath168 as @xmath123 approaches @xmath14 . this would imply infinitely many elements in @xmath164 . we also define @xmath169 to be the characteristic function of the congruence class @xmath170 . in other words : @xmath171 note that @xmath169 is periodic modulo @xmath45 and is @xmath106 when @xmath172 . using this characteristic function , we wish to express @xmath167 as a sum over all primes : @xmath173 [ lemma : theta ] for all @xmath174 , we have : @xmath175 _ proof of lemma [ lemma : theta]_. using the multiplicative property of the dirichlet character : @xmath176 by our orthogonality relation , the summation term becomes @xmath92 if @xmath177 ( i.e. if @xmath178 ) and zero otherwise . the result is exactly @xmath169 . applying lemma [ lemma : theta ] to , we arrive at : @xmath179 we recognize the second summation term as reminiscent of the dirichlet series we defined earlier . we will come back to this equation later . consider the convergent taylor series expansion of @xmath180 for @xmath181 @xmath182 in addition , consider the euler product representation of our dirichlet series in . applying logarithms , we get : @xmath183 combining and , we have : @xmath184 the right side of is absolutely convergent for re(@xmath123 ) @xmath185 , and is therefore an analytic function on that half plane . we now denote the right hand side of as @xmath186 . in the half plane with re(@xmath123)@xmath124 , @xmath187 . the proof of lemma 2 is shown in @xcite . we now split @xmath186 into two parts . the first part will be for the sums when @xmath188 , and the second part will be for the sums when @xmath189 . we denote these as @xmath190 and @xmath191 respectively . symbolically , @xmath192 @xmath193 we now note that we can write @xmath167 from as : @xmath194 @xmath191 is bounded when @xmath151 ( recall , that we wish to show that @xmath195 as @xmath196 ) . this can be shown by comparing @xmath191 to the well - known basel problem : @xmath197 since we know that @xmath198 is bounded , we can ignore it as it will not help us in showing that @xmath167 diverges as @xmath196 . we now wish to split our summation from into an expression with only principal characters , and a sum over non - principal characters . recall that a principal character @xmath199 for @xmath200 , and 0 otherwise . @xmath201 @xmath202 @xmath203 we know that @xmath45 will have a finite number of prime divisors . this fact , together with equation , tells us that the first term in is unbounded . all that remains is to show that the second summation in is bounded as @xmath196 . doing so will show that the primes ( mod @xmath45 ) will fall into one of the @xmath92 congruence classes as claimed in theorem [ dirichletsthm ] . to do this , we must use dirichlet s non - vanishing theorem ( theorem [ prop : nonvanishing ] ) . recall that @xmath152 if @xmath98 is not a principal character . thus : @xmath204 since logarithms of an analytic function differ only by multiples of @xmath205 , @xmath206 always remains bounded as @xmath196 . as a result , the contribution to @xmath167 from non - principal dirichlet characters remains bounded , while the contribution from principal characters is unbounded . @xmath167 itself is then unbounded as @xmath196 . in conclusion , we have : @xmath207 thus , there must be infinitely many elements in @xmath164 , i.e. there are infinitely many primes congruent to @xmath42 modulo @xmath45 for @xmath105 . as quite thoroughly shown by a. granville and g. martin in their paper , prime number races @xcite , when we `` race '' progressions , some progressions hold the lead for an overwhelming majority of the time . for example , in the mod @xmath3 race of @xmath89 against @xmath69 , the bias is as much as @xmath208 in favor of the @xmath69 team ! this bias , first observed by chebyshev in 1853 , is attributed to primes in the @xmath89 progression being _ quadratic residues _ modulo @xmath3 . as noted by terry tao @xcite : ... chebyshev bias asserts , roughly speaking , that a randomly selected prime @xmath1 of a large magnitude @xmath19 will typically ( though not always ) be slightly more likely to be a quadratic non - residue modulo @xmath0 than a quadratic residue , but the bias is small ( the difference in probabilities is only about @xmath209 for typical choices of @xmath19 ) let @xmath1 be an odd prime number . ] . we say that a number @xmath45 is a _ quadratic residue _ ( qr ) modulo @xmath1 if there exists an element @xmath19 in the set of totatives of @xmath1 , such that @xmath210 ( mod @xmath1 ) . ( note : @xmath1 does not necessarily need to be prime for the definition of quadratic residues . however , as we will see later , the modulus must be prime for our legendre symbol model to work . thus , we restrict our study to only prime moduli ) . for example , let us consider the set of totatives of @xmath18 , which is the set \{1,2,3,4,5,6 } : 7 ) & conclusion & + 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + 2 & 4 & 4 & 4 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + 3 & 9 & 2 & 2 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + 4 & 16 & 2 & 2 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + 5 & 25 & 4 & 4 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + 6 & 36 & 1 & 1 is a qr ( mod 7 ) & + in this example , @xmath14 is a quadratic residue since both @xmath211 and @xmath212 are congruent to @xmath14 ( mod 7 ) . in addition , @xmath3 is a quadratic residue since @xmath213 and @xmath214 are congruent to @xmath3 ( mod 7 ) , and @xmath15 is a quadratic residue since @xmath215 and @xmath216 are congruent to @xmath15 ( mod 7 ) . note the symmetry of quadratic residues when ordered by @xmath19 . we now might like a convenient notation to quantify the notion of quadratic residues . the legendre symbol separates an integer @xmath45 into three classes , depending on its residue modulo an odd prime @xmath1 . @xmath217 note : the legendre symbol is only defined for @xmath1 being an odd prime number . if @xmath45 is a prime number @xmath218 , the legendre symbol will never be @xmath106 ( since two different prime numbers will be coprime ) we know by theorem [ dirichletsthm ] that the residues of @xmath219 are then equally distributed among congruence classes in @xmath220 . continuing with our definition , we introduce several properties of the legendre symbol : * the legendre symbol is periodic on its top argument modulo @xmath1 . in other words , if @xmath221 , then @xmath222 * the legendre symbol is multiplicative on its top argument , i.e. @xmath223 * the product of two squares is a square . the product of two nonsquares is a square . the product of a square and a nonsquare is a nonsquare . this can be expressed as follows : @xmath224 * the legendre symbol can also be defined equivalently using euler s criterion as : @xmath225 [ prpn : quadratic reciprocity ] ( law of quadratic reciprocity ) for @xmath1 and @xmath0 odd prime numbers : @xmath226 the law of quadratic reciprocity @xcite has several supplements for different values of @xmath45 . here , we only introduce the first two supplements without proof . for @xmath19 in the set of totatives of @xmath1 : 1 . @xmath227 is solvable if and only if @xmath228 . @xmath229 is solvable if and only if @xmath230 . these supplements can be expressed equivalently as follows : 1 . @xmath231 2 . @xmath232 continuing with our example for @xmath45 in @xmath233 , we have : @xmath16 & @xmath3 & @xmath17 & @xmath72 + @xmath234 & @xmath14 & @xmath14 & @xmath235 & @xmath14 & @xmath235 & @xmath235 + in general , chebyshev s bias suggests that , in a race between @xmath236 and @xmath237 , the progression in which @xmath238 is a nonquadratic residue ( mod @xmath239 ) will likely contain more primes up to @xmath19 . for instance , when racing @xmath14 ( mod @xmath16 ) against @xmath15 ( mod @xmath16 ) , we observe that @xmath15 ( mod @xmath16 ) almost always has more primes up to @xmath19 . indeed , @xmath14 is a quadratic residue ( mod @xmath16 ) , and @xmath15 is a nonquadratic residue ( mod @xmath16 ) . @xmath19 & primes in @xmath37 up to @xmath19 + @xmath240 & 1 & 2 & + @xmath241 & 11 & 13 & + @xmath242 & 80 & 87 & + @xmath243 & 611 & 617 & + @xmath244 & 4784 & 4807 & + @xmath245 & 39231 & 39266 & + despite the apparent domination by the @xmath15 ( mod @xmath16 ) team , a theorem from j.e . littlewood ( 1914 ) asserts that there are infinitely many values of @xmath19 for which the @xmath14 ( mod @xmath16 ) team is in the lead ( of course , this theorem applies to races in other moduli as well ) . in fact , the first value for which this occurs is at @xmath246 ( discovered by bays and hudson in 1976 ) . in 1962 , knapowski and turn conjectured that if we randomly pick an arbitrarily large value of @xmath19 , then there will `` almost certainly '' be more primes of the form @xmath37 than @xmath38 up to @xmath19 . however , the knapowski - turn conjecture was later disproved by kaczorowski and sarnak , each working independently . in fact if we let @xmath247 denote the number of values of @xmath248 for which there are more primes of the form @xmath37 , the proportion @xmath249 does not tend to any limit as @xmath250 , but instead fluctuates . this opens the question of : what happens if we go out far enough ? will the race be unbiased if we set @xmath251 sufficiently far away from @xmath106 ? that is , is chebyshev s bias only apparent for `` small '' values of x ? in 1994 , while working with the mod @xmath3 race , rubinstein and sarnak introduced the logarithmic measure to find the percentage of time a certain team is in the lead @xcite . instead of counting 1 for each @xmath248 where there are more primes of the form @xmath69 than of the form @xmath89 , rubinstein and sarnak count @xmath252 . instead of @xmath247 , the sum is then approximately @xmath253 . they then scale this with the exact value of @xmath253 to find the approximate proportion of time the @xmath69 team is in the lead : @xmath254 where @xmath19 in the summation is only over values where there are more primes of the form @xmath69 than of the form @xmath89 . for the mod @xmath16 race , we have : @xmath255 using the logarithmic measure , we see that the @xmath37 team is in the lead 99.9% of the time ! a _ gaussian integer _ is a complex number whose real and imaginary parts are both integers . the gaussian integers form an integral domain , which we denote with @xmath256 $ ] . in other words , for @xmath257 , we have : @xmath258 = \{a+bi | a , b \in \mathbb{z}\}.\ ] ] the units of @xmath256 $ ] are @xmath259 and @xmath260 . in addition , we say that two elements , @xmath261 and @xmath247 are _ associated _ if @xmath262 for @xmath76 being a unit in @xmath256 $ ] . because of the four units , gaussian primes ( along with their complex conjugates ) have an eightfold symmetry in the complex plane ( figure [ gaussianprimes ] ) . for convenience , we often write `` primes '' in place of `` primes unique up to associated elements . '' we say that an element in @xmath256 $ ] is a _ gaussian prime _ if it is irreducible , i.e. if its only divisors are itself and a unit in @xmath256 $ ] . one might initially believe that the primes in @xmath70 are also irreducible elements in @xmath256 $ ] . however , this is not the case . in fact , there is a surprising connection between primes in mod @xmath3 arithmetic progressions in @xmath70 and the gaussian primes . to understand this connection , we must first introduce the concept of norm . the _ norm _ function takes a gaussian integer @xmath10 and maps it to a strictly positive real value . we denote the norm of a gaussian integer as @xmath263 . in other words , the norm function takes a gaussian integer and multiplies it by its complex conjugate . one can geometrically understand the norm as the squared distance from the origin . let @xmath264 . the norm function is multiplicative ; i.e. for @xmath265 elements in @xmath256 $ ] , @xmath266 we also note that the norm of any unit is 1 . for example , if @xmath267 , then @xmath268 . in addition , we note that if an integer can be written as a sum of two squares , we can reduce it to two elements with smaller norms . for example , we note that @xmath269 . thus , if a prime @xmath1 ( in @xmath70 ) can be written as a sum of squares , we know it is not a prime element in @xmath256 $ ] . [ prpn : odd primes congruent to 1 mod 4 ] if an odd prime @xmath1 is a sum of squares , it is congruent to @xmath270 and not a prime element in @xmath256 $ ] . suppose @xmath271 . since @xmath1 is odd , exactly one of @xmath45 or @xmath42 must be odd , and the other even . for the proof , we let @xmath45 be odd . let @xmath272 and let @xmath273 . then we have : @xmath274 thus if @xmath228 , @xmath1 represents the _ norm _ of two primes in @xmath256 $ ] . for example , @xmath275 and @xmath276 , where @xmath277 and @xmath278 . we note that @xmath279 . ( here , we also note that counting primes in one quadrant is the same as counting primes unique up to associated elements ) . if an odd prime @xmath1 is congruent to @xmath280 , then @xmath1 is a prime element in @xmath256 $ ] . for the proof , suppose for contradiction that we can factor @xmath1 into @xmath281 . using the multiplicative property of the norm function , we have : @xmath282 since @xmath1 is prime , @xmath283 can only be either @xmath284 or @xmath285 . since we do not want a unit as a factor , we let @xmath286 and @xmath287 . however , by proposition [ prpn : odd primes congruent to 1 mod 4 ] , we know that a solution would imply that @xmath1 is a sum of squares ; i.e. @xmath228 . thus , @xmath288 can not be factorized ; i.e. @xmath1 is a gaussian prime . we now have enough information to classify a gaussian prime into one of three general cases . let @xmath76 be a unit in @xmath256 $ ] . then : * since @xmath289 * @xmath290 * @xmath288 , width=340 ] thus , we can see that primes in @xmath70 with quadratic residue ( modulo @xmath3 ) are not primes in @xmath256 $ ] . instead , they represent the norms of two separate gaussian primes . we can use this to derive an equation for the exact count of gaussian primes ( unique up to associated elements ) within a certain norm . let @xmath291 represent the count of gaussian primes up to norm x , then : @xmath292 the extra count is to include the gaussian prime at @xmath293 , which has norm @xmath15 . in addition , we can extend our prime number theorem in the rational integers to a prime number theorem in the gaussian integers by a modification of dirichlet s theorem . moreover , we note the infinitude of gaussian primes by their intimate connection with dirichlet s theorem for primes in mod @xmath3 progressions . @xmath294 the first term represents the approximation of primes congruent to @xmath14 ( mod @xmath3 ) , which are the norms of two primes in @xmath256 $ ] . the second term represents the approximation of primes congruent to @xmath16 ( mod @xmath3 ) , which have a norm of @xmath283 for @xmath295 . more precisely , we have : @xmath296 the following code can be used in sage to generate plots of gaussian primes within a specified norm to @xmath297 : https://youtu.be/jrbcmxglvju ] : .... def gi_of_norm(max_norm ) : gaussian_primes = { } gaussian_integers = { } gaussian_integers[0 ] = [ ( 0,0 ) ] for x in range(1 , ceil(sqrt(max_norm ) ) ) : for y in range(0 , ceil(sqrt(max_norm - x^2 ) ) ) : n = x^2 + y^2 if gaussian_integers.has_key(n ) : gaussian_integers[n].append((x , y ) ) else : gaussian_integers[n ] = [ ( x , y ) ] if(y = = 0 and is_prime(x ) and x%4==3 ) : have_prime = true elif is_prime(n ) and n%4==1 or n==2 : have_prime = true else : have_prime = false if have_prime : if gaussian_primes.has_key(n ) : gaussian_primes[n].append((x , y ) ) else : gaussian_primes[n ] = [ ( x , y ) ] return gaussian_primes , gaussian_integers def all_gaussian_primes_up_to_norm(n ) : gips = gi_of_norm(n)[0 ] return flatten([uniq([(x , y ) , ( -y , x ) , ( y ,- x ) , ( -x ,- y ) ] ) for x , y in flatten(gips.values ( ) , max_level=1 ) ] , max_level=1 ) n=10609 + 1 # # # declare norm here ( in place of 10609 ) p = scatter_plot(all_gaussian_primes_up_to_norm(n ) , markersize = rr(1000)/(n/50 ) ) p.show(aspect_ratio=1 , figsize=13 , svg = false , axes = false ) .... one phenomenon we wished to study in detail was chebyshev s bias , specifically in regards to a randomly selected prime being more likely to have nonquadratic residue modulo some other prime . we approached this by first attempting to model the bias as a `` random '' walk using legendre symbol values as steps . let @xmath0 and @xmath1 be two randomly selected prime numbers . then , according to chebyshev s bias , @xmath298 has a slightly less than half probability of being a quadratic residue ( i.e. returning a @xmath14 ) . if we fix @xmath1 and let @xmath0 iterate through all primes , we get a sequence of @xmath14s and @xmath299s ( with the exception of when @xmath300 , in which case we have @xmath106 ) . if modeling as a random walk , the summation of our sequence should not wander far from @xmath301 , where @xmath302 denotes the index of the prime number @xmath0 . indeed , this is the case with all observed values of @xmath1 up to the final value of @xmath0 ( we tested for primes @xmath303 and for @xmath0 iterating over primes @xmath304 ) . however , there is a noticeable bias in the summation . most of the time , the summation of legendre symbol values is negative , supporting the claim that there are slightly more nonquadratic residues . , width=377 ] we wished to model the average behavior of our legendre symbol walks . to do this , we recorded the ratio of quadratic residues in each of our walks for @xmath1 fixed as we increase the range of primes over which @xmath0 iterates . for example , when @xmath1 = 97 and @xmath0 iterates over all primes less than @xmath305 , the ratio is @xmath306 . when we allow @xmath0 to iterate over all primes less than @xmath307 , the ratio of quadratic residues increases to @xmath308 . we then plotted the average ratio for @xmath309 values of @xmath1 ( @xmath310 all primes @xmath311 ) . in addition , we plotted the within-@xmath1 standard deviation of our ratio for each range of @xmath0 iterated . since most primes have nonquadratic residue modulo another prime , the average ratio seems to converge to 0.50 from below as we increase the @xmath0-range . , where @xmath19 is the range over which @xmath0 iterates . vertical bars represent @xmath14 standard deviation , width=377 ] we repeated our experiments with @xmath312 for @xmath1 fixed and @xmath0 varying and arrived at similar results . for @xmath228 , we know from quadratic reciprocity that @xmath313 , so the contribution is the same ( see theorem 10 in @xcite ) . for @xmath288 , @xmath314 . however , chebyshev s bias still exists ( i.e. there are slightly fewer + 1s than -1s ) . as a result , the average behavior is similar . our next experiment in the rational primes was to examine the ratio of consecutive quadratic or nonquadratic residues for primes @xmath0 modulo a fixed prime @xmath1 . i.e. we wished to model the behavior of the ratio of @xmath315s or @xmath316s . since the probability of @xmath317 being is quadratic residue is very slightly less than 0.5 , we should expect expect our average ratio to converge to @xmath318 from below , where @xmath58 denotes the length of the consecutive chain . for example , for the ratio of three consecutive quadratic or nonquadratic residues , we expect to obtain approximately : @xmath319 . ( the first term in the summation represents the probability of @xmath16 consecutive quadratic residues , and the second term represents the probability of @xmath16 consecutive nonquadratic residues ) . however , in a very recent paper ( march , 2016 ) , r. lemke oliver and k. soundararajan @xcite , note that there is a much stronger bias in the residue of consecutive primes than expected . we set out to model this ( stronger ) bias with our legendre symbol walk . we repeated our average ratio experiment as in section [ legendre symbol races ] . however , we instead searched for @xmath15 , @xmath16 , and @xmath3 consecutive residues having the same sign . we notice that the average ratios converge to their expected values quite slowly , supporting r. lemke oliver and k. soundararajan s recent discovery . we repeated our legendre symbol walk with fixed @xmath1 , but for @xmath0 varying only over primes congruent to @xmath14 ( mod @xmath3 ) , and again with primes congruent to @xmath16 ( mod @xmath3 ) . we observed chebyshev s bias in both cases ( on average ) . however , when @xmath0 varied over primes congruent to @xmath14 ( mod @xmath3 ) , we noticed a much stronger bias . for example , if we consider the walks for @xmath1=97 , the walk for @xmath320 seems to lie mostly below the @xmath302-axis . on the other hand , the walk for @xmath321 seems to lie mostly above the @xmath302-axis . , @xmath322 ( mod @xmath3 ) , @xmath323 ( mod @xmath3 ) . iteration range for @xmath0 in all plots is @xmath307,title="fig : " ] , @xmath322 ( mod @xmath3 ) , @xmath323 ( mod @xmath3 ) . iteration range for @xmath0 in all plots is @xmath307,title="fig : " ] , @xmath322 ( mod @xmath3 ) , @xmath323 ( mod @xmath3 ) . iteration range for @xmath0 in all plots is @xmath307,title="fig : " ] . [ fig:97walks ] we wished to check if this pattern exists on average . for @xmath324 ( mod @xmath3 ) , the average converges to @xmath325 more slowly than the average for @xmath326 ( mod @xmath3 ) . it seems that only allowing @xmath0 to iterate over primes with nonquadratic residue ( mod @xmath3 ) removes , or at least diminishes , some part of chebyshev s bias . we noticed a similar , but less distinct ( see section [ bias in consecutive primes ] and [ link : unexpected_bias[7 ] ] ) , pattern while testing for consecutive residues being the same . + left : @xmath322 ( mod @xmath3 ) . + right:@xmath323 ( mod @xmath3),title="fig : " ] + left : @xmath322 ( mod @xmath3 ) . + right:@xmath323 ( mod @xmath3),title="fig : " ] . [ fig : quadnonquadratios ] the following simple code can be used in sage to generate a plot for legendre symbol walks of @xmath298 : .... # declares maximum q - iteration range maxn=10 ^ 7 # p must be an odd prime for legendre_symbol(q , p ) to be defined p = 97 primes = prime_range(3 , maxn ) pm4={1 : [ ] , 3 : [ ] } pm4[1 ] = [ q for q in primes if q % 4 = = 1 ] pm4[3 ] = [ q for q in primes if q % 4 = = 3 ] # replace " 3 " with " 1 " to model walk with quadratic residues ( mod 4 ) lqp = [ legendre_symbol(q , p ) for q in pm4[3 ] ] print " legendre symbol walk for p= { } and q iterating over primes less than { } " .format(p , maxn ) sum_lqp = timeseries(lqp).sums ( ) # replace " 3 " with " 1 " to model walk with quadratic residues ( mod 4 ) sum_lqp.plot()+plot([sqrt(x),-sqrt(x)],(x,0,len(pm4[3 ] ) ) ) .... chebyshev s bias in the rational primes has been well - documented . however , there has been comparatively less experimental research on such a bias in the gaussian primes . in this section , we extend our model of legendre symbol walks to the gaussian primes to see if a similar bias occurs . to do this , we must first introduce a way to map a gaussian integer to its residue in the rational integers modulo a gaussian prime . [ prpn : isomorphism ] a map that sends a gaussian prime @xmath10 to a residue @xmath64 ( mod @xmath327 ) , where @xmath328 , is an isomorphism of rings between @xmath256/\pi\mathbb{z}[i]$ ] and @xmath329 , where @xmath330 . in particular , if @xmath327 is an irreducible element in @xmath256 $ ] , then the residue class ring @xmath256/\pi\mathbb{z}[i]$ ] is a finite field with @xmath331 elements . a rigorous proof of proposition [ prpn : isomorphism ] can be found in @xcite as theorem 12 . we first start with a `` soft '' proof as motivation for calculating a residue before showing a more rigorous proof . for two primes @xmath1 and @xmath0 , the euclidean algorithm shows that the @xmath332 . this fact allows us to easily calculate the residue of @xmath317 . let @xmath1 and @xmath0 be prime numbers with @xmath333 . let n and r be integers : @xmath334 where @xmath64 is a element from @xmath335 ; i.e. @xmath64 is an element from the set of totatives of @xmath1 . we can extend this algorithm to the gaussian primes . let @xmath10 and @xmath328 denote gaussian primes with @xmath336 . we can then write : @xmath337 we then group the real and imaginary terms : @xmath338 use the imaginary component to solve for @xmath339 , then solve for @xmath45 : @xmath340 rearrange , multiply both sides by @xmath239 , and solve for @xmath64 : @xmath341 where @xmath64 is an element from @xmath342 since @xmath343 . the idea is to use this residue to calculate the value of a _ gaussian legendre symbol _ @xmath344 $ ] with the hope of observing a bias as in the rationals . first , we must lay the groundwork by introducing several concepts . ( a comprehensive reference by nancy buck regarding gaussian legendre symbols , which includes the full proofs for the following propositions , can be found in @xcite . since many of the proofs are quite lengthy , we will only highlight sections relevant for our model ) . for @xmath345 $ ] , let @xmath327 be a gaussian prime @xmath346 and such that @xmath347 and @xmath348 are not divisible by @xmath327 . the _ gaussian legendre symbol _ has the following properties * @xmath349 = \left[\dfrac{l}{\pi}\right]$ ] for @xmath350 * @xmath349 \cdot \left[\dfrac{l}{\pi}\right ] = \left[\dfrac{kl}{\pi}\right]$ ] for @xmath351 , the second point can be equivalently expressed as : @xmath352 \pmod \pi\ ] ] in addition , we have an analog of euler s criterion in the gaussian legendre symbols : @xmath353 \equiv k^{(p-1)/2}\ ] ] [ thm : gls ] every gaussian legendre symbol can be expressed in terms of a legendre symbol in the rational integers . in particular , we have the following two equations for @xmath349 $ ] . let @xmath354 , @xmath328 , and @xmath355 . then : @xmath356 & = \left(\dfrac{a^2 + b^2}{\alpha}\right ) ; \quad & & \pi \equiv 3 & \pmod 4\\ \label{eq : with imaginary part } \left[\frac{a+bi}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] & = \left(\frac{a\alpha + b\beta}{p}\right ) ; \quad & & n(\pi ) \equiv 1 & \pmod 4 \end{aligned}\ ] ] recall that if @xmath327 is a prime element in @xmath256 $ ] , a zero imaginary part implies that @xmath357 . for the proof of equation , we must show that there exists an element @xmath358 $ ] such that @xmath359 has a solution . we set @xmath360 so that @xmath361 . then we have the following two congruences by grouping real and imaginary terms : @xmath362 we then square each congruence and add them together to get : @xmath363 it then suffices to check that there exists @xmath364 and @xmath365 $ ] such that both congruences have simultaneous solutions for the cases @xmath366 and @xmath367 ( shown in @xcite ) . doing so shows that @xmath368=1 $ ] if and only if @xmath369 . in other words , we arrive at equation : @xmath368=\left(\dfrac{a^2+b^2}{\alpha}\right)$ ] . we now wish to consider the more interesting case when @xmath370 ; i.e. when @xmath371 for @xmath372 and @xmath373 . let @xmath239 be odd and @xmath374 be even . let @xmath354 with @xmath375 and @xmath376 . as above , we wish to determine if @xmath377 has a solution for @xmath358 $ ] . recall that @xmath330 is a prime congruent to @xmath270 . by proposition [ prpn : isomorphism ] , we know the set of congruence class representatives modulo @xmath327 is @xmath378 . this allows us to only consider @xmath379 when determining if @xmath377 has a solution . we start by writing our congruence as an equivalence . the congruence @xmath377 is solvable if and only if there exists @xmath380 such that : @xmath381 we then group the real and imaginary terms into separate equations : @xmath382 then we multiply the real part by @xmath239 and the imaginary part by @xmath374 and add : @xmath383 converting back to a congruence statement modulo @xmath1 , we arrive at the following result : @xmath384 @xmath385 all that remains is to show that @xmath386 . to do this , we use the law of quadratic reciprocity as described in proposition [ prpn : quadratic reciprocity ] : @xmath387 since @xmath228 , @xmath388 . thus , @xmath389 . in addition , recall that @xmath390 , so @xmath391 . thus , we can write @xmath392 . it is then clear that regardless of the value of @xmath393 , we have @xmath394 . in conclusion , we arrive at equation : @xmath395 = \left(\dfrac{a\alpha + b\beta}{p}\right ) = \left(\dfrac{r}{p}\right)\ ] ] * the experiment . * while implementing our random walk model on sage , we decided to fix @xmath371 and let @xmath10 iterate over gaussian primes in the first quadrant sorted by increasing norm . in the case of @xmath396 , the sorting is obvious . however , when @xmath397 , there are exactly two ( distinct ) gaussian primes with norm @xmath0 ( we have @xmath10 and @xmath398 , where @xmath399 ) . when this is the case , we sort by the size of the real component . ( for example , when @xmath400 and @xmath401 , we find the residue of @xmath402 first and then proceed to find the residue of @xmath403 ) . when viewed individually , the resulting plots resemble the legendre symbol walks in section [ legendre symbol races ] . however , we observe an interesting phenomenon when comparing walks that have the same @xmath404 where @xmath11 and @xmath12 are fixed with @xmath10 iterating . we noticed for some @xmath1 , the plots for @xmath11 and @xmath12 have strong positive correlation . for other @xmath1 , the plots for @xmath11 and @xmath12 have strong negative correlation . + ( strong positive correlation ) + left : @xmath405 $ ] . right : @xmath406$],title="fig : " ] + ( strong positive correlation ) + left : @xmath405 $ ] . right : @xmath406$],title="fig : " ] . [ fig:97gaussianwalks ] + ( strong negative correlation ) + left : @xmath407 $ ] . right : @xmath408$],title="fig : " ] + ( strong negative correlation ) + left : @xmath407 $ ] . right : @xmath408$],title="fig : " ] . [ fig:29gaussianwalks ] before we attempt to ( partially ) explain this phenomenon , we must first introduce additional theory . the following @xmath16 properties hold for the gaussian legendre symbol @xmath409 & = \left(-1\right)^{\frac{p-1}{4 } } \\ \label{eq : thm4 2 } \left[\dfrac{1+i}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] & = \left(-1\right)^{\frac{(\alpha+\beta)^2 - 1}{8 } } \\ \label{eq : thm4 3 } \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] & = \left[\dfrac{\alpha+\beta i}{a+bi}\right ] \end{aligned}\ ] ] the proof of equation is as follows : from euler s criterion in the gaussian legendre symbols , we know that @xmath410 \pmod{\alpha+\beta i}$ ] . we note that @xmath411 can be rewritten as follows : @xmath412 thus , we have the congruence : @xmath413\ ] ] for a proof by contradiction , we assume that the left side @xmath414 the right side . then let @xmath415 . converting the congruence to an equivalence , we get : @xmath416 we then take norms of both sides and simplify : @xmath417 this implies that @xmath418 , which can not be true since @xmath228 . therefore , we arrive at equation : @xmath419 = \left(-1\right)^{\frac{p-1}{4}}.\ ] ] for the proof of equation , we must consider two cases : when @xmath420 and when @xmath421 . case 1 : let @xmath420 , so @xmath422 and @xmath423 . recall our relations between the gaussian legendre symbols and the legendre symbols in the rational integers as shown in theorem [ thm : gls ] . from equation , we have : @xmath424 = \left(\dfrac{1 + 1}{\alpha}\right ) = \left(\dfrac{2}{\alpha}\right)\ ] ] recall our second supplement of quadratic reciprocity in the rational integers . we can then express this as : @xmath425 case 2 : let @xmath426 , so @xmath390 and @xmath288 . by equation , we have : @xmath427 = \left(\dfrac{\alpha+\beta}{p}\right).\ ] ] since our model only uses prime elements in the first quadrant , we assume that @xmath428 ( the full proof without this assumption can be found in @xcite ) . we continue by using the law of quadratic reciprocity : @xmath429 since @xmath228 , then @xmath430 is always even . thus , @xmath431 is even . so @xmath432 . next , we multiply @xmath1 by @xmath15 and apply a clever series of manipulations . we note that : @xmath433 let @xmath434 . then there exists a solution to the congruence @xmath435 . then we have : @xmath436 which implies that @xmath437 $ ] . using the second supplement to quadratic reciprocity , we have : @xmath427 = \left(\dfrac{2}{\alpha+\beta}\right ) = \mathlarger{(-1)}^{\frac{(\alpha+\beta)^2 - 1}{8}}.\ ] ] for the proof of equation , we must consider three cases : 1 . @xmath438 2 . @xmath439 and @xmath426 3 . @xmath440 and @xmath441 . case 1 : let @xmath442 . then by equation : @xmath443 & = \left[\dfrac{a^2}{\alpha}\right ] & = 1\\ \left[\dfrac{\alpha}{a}\right ] & = \left[\dfrac{\alpha^2}{a}\right ] & = 1\end{aligned}\ ] ] it is then clear that @xmath444 = \left[\dfrac{\alpha}{a}\right ] = 1 $ ] . case 2 : assume @xmath439 and @xmath426 . then : @xmath445 = \left(\dfrac{a\alpha}{p}\right ) = \left(\dfrac{a}{p}\right)\left(\dfrac{\alpha}{p}\right ) = \left(\dfrac{a}{p}\right)\ ] ] ( recall we have already shown in theorem [ thm : gls ] that @xmath446 . then we have : @xmath447 = \left(\dfrac{\alpha^2+\beta^2}{a}\right ) = \left(\dfrac{p}{a}\right)\ ] ] from quadratic reciprocity , we know that @xmath448 since @xmath449 , we then see that @xmath450 . thus , we have : @xmath445 = \left[\dfrac{\alpha+\beta i}{a}\right].\ ] ] case 3 : assume both @xmath42 and @xmath374 are nonzero . since @xmath10 and @xmath451 are distinct odd gaussian primes , we have : @xmath452 & = \left[\dfrac{a\alpha+b\beta}{p}\right ] \\ \left[\dfrac{\alpha+\beta i}{a+ bi}\right ] & = \left[\dfrac{a\alpha+b\beta}{q}\right]\end{aligned}\ ] ] where @xmath390 and @xmath453 . since we are working in the first quadrant , we assume that @xmath454 . we then wish to perform another manipulation ( the idea is similar to the proof of equation ) . in particular , we wish to show that a certain congruence is solvable ( mod @xmath455 ) . we note that : @xmath456 we then set @xmath457 . thus we have the congruence : @xmath458 to finish the proof , we show : @xmath459 which implies that @xmath460 . since we know that @xmath1 and @xmath0 are primes in @xmath70 that are congruent to @xmath270 , by quadratic reciprocity , we can equivalently write this as : @xmath461 . by applying equation of theorem [ thm : gls ] , we then see that @xmath462 = \left[\dfrac{\alpha+\beta i}{a+bi}\right]$ ] . we now attempt to explain the strong ( @xmath6 ) correlations we observed between gaussian legendre symbol walks with @xmath11 and @xmath12 fixed , where @xmath463 and for @xmath10 iterating over gaussian primes in the first quadrant . we first wish to establish a relationship between @xmath462 $ ] and @xmath464 $ ] . this will allow us to find their combined contribution . ( recall the iteration order is one of @xmath462 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] or @xmath464 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] , based on the size of the real part ) . to find the conditions such that @xmath462 = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] we set : @xmath465\cdot \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \\ & = \left[\dfrac{ab + a^2i + b^2i - ab}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \\ & = \left[\dfrac{i}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]\cdot \left[\dfrac{a^2+b^2}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \\ & = \mathlarger{(-1)}^{(p-1)/4}\left[\dfrac{q}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \\ & = \mathlarger{(-1)}^{(p-1)/4}\left(\dfrac{q}{p}\right ) \left(\dfrac{\alpha}{p}\right ) \\ & = \mathlarger{(-1)}^{(p-1)/4}\left(\dfrac{q}{p}\right ) { \addtocounter{equation}{1}\tag{\theequation}}\label{eq : ab - ba relation}\end{aligned}\ ] ] thus , @xmath462 = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] if @xmath466 is even and @xmath467 , or if @xmath466 is odd and @xmath468 . the conditions for the equivalence of @xmath469 = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]$ ] are similar . case 1 : let @xmath470 and @xmath471 , where @xmath472 . let @xmath466 be an even integer . suppose @xmath467 . then by our equivalence relations , we have : @xmath395 = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \text{and } \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right ] = \left[\dfrac{b+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]\ ] ] thus , whether the iteration order is @xmath462 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] or @xmath464 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] , the combined contribution is one of @xmath473 . the same is true with @xmath474 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\beta + \alpha i}\right]$ ] or @xmath475 \rightarrow \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]$ ] . we now consider the case when @xmath466 is still an even integer , but @xmath476 . then by our equivalence relations , we have : @xmath395 \not = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \text{and } \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta + \alpha i}\right ] \not = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]\ ] ] thus , for any norm - sorted iteration order , the combined contribution will be 0 . case 2 : now we let @xmath466 be an odd integer . suppose @xmath467 . from our equivalence relations , we know that : @xmath395 \not = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \text{and } \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta + \alpha i}\right ] \not = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]\ ] ] then for any norm - sorted iteration order , the combined contribution from @xmath10 and @xmath477 will be zero for both walks of @xmath12 and @xmath12 . now we consider the case when @xmath466 is still odd , but @xmath476 . in this case , @xmath462 = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right]$ ] . thus , for any norm - sorted iteration order , the combined contribution will be one of @xmath478 . if we can establish the conditions for equivalence between @xmath462 $ ] and @xmath469 $ ] we will be able to fully explain the strong positive and negative correlations observed . ( note : it still remains to show what happens when @xmath10 iterates over gaussian primes @xmath479 . however , since prime elements of this form are much more sparse by equation , we can ignore them for the purposes of our explanation ) . unfortunately , we found it quite difficult to rigorously prove the equivalence conditions ( in particular , because the legendre ( more precisely , jacobi ) symbol @xmath480 is not defined for @xmath374 an even integer ) , so we leave it as a conjecture . the equivalence between @xmath462 $ ] and @xmath469 $ ] depends only on the value of the legendre symbol @xmath481 . in particular , @xmath462 = \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]$ ] if @xmath467 , and @xmath462 \not= \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right]$ ] if @xmath482 . we will use the following shorthand notation for clarity and convenience : @xmath483 \quad \pi_{1b } = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\alpha+\beta i}\right ] \\ \pi_{2a } & = \left[\dfrac{a+bi}{\beta+\alpha i}\right ] \quad \pi_{2b } = \left[\dfrac{b+ai}{\beta+\alpha i}\right ] \\ \pi_1 & = \pi_{1a } + \pi_{1b } \quad \quad \pi_2 = \pi_{2a } + \pi_{2b}\end{aligned}\ ] ] to summarize , we have shown ( conjectured ) the following relations : @xmath484 we can now explain the strong ( @xmath6 ) correlations between plots for @xmath11 and @xmath12 fixed . consider the case when @xmath466 is even and @xmath467 . if @xmath485 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , then by equation , @xmath486 ( resp . @xmath235 ) . using equation , @xmath487 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , and by equation , @xmath488 ( resp . @xmath235 ) . thus , when @xmath466 is even and @xmath467 , the walks for @xmath489 and @xmath490 move exactly together with combined contribution one of @xmath478 . consider the case when @xmath466 is even and @xmath468 . if @xmath485 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , then by equation , @xmath491 ( resp . @xmath14 ) . using equation , @xmath492 ( resp . @xmath14 ) , and by equation , @xmath488 ( resp . @xmath235 ) . then @xmath11 and @xmath12 do not move together , but the combined contribution for that particular q is @xmath106 , so there is little movement and the correlation remains close to @xmath493 . consider the case when @xmath466 is odd and @xmath467 . if @xmath485 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , then by equation , @xmath491 ( resp . @xmath14 ) . using equation , @xmath487 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , and by equation , @xmath494 ( resp . @xmath14 ) . thus , when @xmath466 is odd and @xmath467 , the walks move together , but with a combined contribution of @xmath106 for that particular @xmath0 . consider the case when @xmath466 is odd and @xmath468 . if @xmath485 ( resp . @xmath235 ) , then by equation , @xmath486 ( resp . @xmath235 ) . using equation , @xmath492 ( resp . @xmath14 ) , and by equation , @xmath494 ( resp . @xmath14 ) . then @xmath11 and @xmath12 move exactly _ opposite _ to each other , causing the correlation to remain close to @xmath235 . if one performs a legendre symbol race in the rational primes , the sorting is obvious . however , if one extends the model to the gaussian primes , the sorting is less clear . in this project , we only used one sorting order ( by norm and then by size of real part ) . in addition , we only considered primes in the first quadrant . perhaps future projects can model gaussian legendre symbol walks with different sorting orders , iterating over different combinations of quadrants , and up to greater norm values . moreover , we mostly ignored the contribution of gaussian primes of the form @xmath495 since they are much less numerous . although it was not rigorously discussed , it seems that primes of this form contribute to a bias toward nonquadratic residues when comparing plots with odd @xmath466 ( i.e. the plots with negative correlation ) . it would be interesting to quantify their effect on the correlation between the plots of @xmath11 and @xmath12 . in addition , we noted in section [ mod4 races ] that a legendre symbol walk over rational primes @xmath496 seems to reduce some of chebyshev s bias . it would be interesting to see an explanation for this phenomenon as well ( perhaps there is an interesting connection to the gaussian primes ) . we hope that we outlined enough theory for an inquisitive reader to begin asking their own questions about the fascinating gaussian primes . i would like to extend a special thank you to dr . stephan ehlen for his guidance and teaching throughout the past year and through the duration of this project . i would also like to thank dr . henri darmon of mcgill university , le centre de recherches mathmatiques , and linstitut des sciences mathmatiques for providing me with funding and the opportunity to research this topic .

in this report , we first outline underlying theory and some motivations for our research . in the second section , we present our findings in the rational prime numbers . we found evidence that chebyshev s bias , if modeled as a legendre symbol @xmath2 walk , may be somewhat reduced by only allowing @xmath0 to iterate over primes with nonquadratic residue ( mod @xmath3 ) . in the final section , we extend our legendre symbol walks to the gaussian primes and present our main findings . let @xmath4 and @xmath5 . we observed strong ( @xmath6 ) correlations between gaussian legendre symbol walks for @xmath7 $ ] and @xmath8 $ ] where @xmath9 and @xmath10 iterates over gaussian primes in the first quadrant . we attempt an explanation of why , for some norms , the plots for @xmath11 and @xmath12 have strong positive correlation , while , for other norms , the plots have strong negative correlation . we hope to have written in a way that makes our observations accessible to readers without prior formal training in number theory .

oral and dental hygiene are considered so critical to the fulfillment and promotion of health that it has been one of the key areas of medical focus in the 21st century ( 2 ) . dental caries is still the most common chronic childhood disease , five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever . nearly 20% of 24-year - old children have clinically detectable caries , and by age 17 , nearly 80% of young people have one or more teeth with caries ( 3 ) . high prevalence of dental caries has been reported in many similar countries in asia . iran , like other developing countries , is on the edge of rise in caries prevalence ( 4 ) . the majority of studies within the last 10 years on primary schoolchildren in iran have shown that caries prevalence in pupils is 3585% ( 48 ) . dental caries is a complex disease governed by a large number of factors ( 9 ) . it is very important to prevent dental caries , but this is not likely to occur unless the available scientific knowledge about changing the etiological factors of the disease is applied ( 10 ) . the approach to primary prevention should be based on common risk factors ( 1 ) . caries - active children had significantly more behavioral problems than caries - free children ( 11 ) . with respect to the home environment , some studies have verified the influence of family on the oral health outcomes of children , and contend that their families play a central role in promoting their oral health ( 12 , 13 ) . since children are the most susceptible groups to tooth decay and have the highest rate of incidence , determining dental caries indices and its influencing factors is one of the foremost aims of various research studies in different countries . in addition , statistical modeling plays an important role in understanding caries risk factors ( 14 ) . some researchers have reported that caries rate is not generally approximated by a normal distribution and common analyses such as t - test and linear regression are not appropriate ( 14 , 15 ) . categorizing of dental caries indices and use of ordinal logistic regression is a method to solve this problem ( 16 ) . this study evaluated the effects of family structure and behavioral and eyesight problems on caries severity by using an ordinal logistic model in 9-year - old schoolchildren living in kerman , the largest and most important city in the southeast of iran , in 2012 . this research was carried out on 845 schoolchildren aged 9 years in kerman , iran , in 2012 . in iran , dental examination was carried out by school nurses to detect dental caries in accordance with who criteria ( 17 ) . nineteen schools were considered as clusters selected by random selection and all the schoolchildren in these schools were included in this study as samples . in this research , the dmft / dmft was calculated as sum of total decayed ( d / d ) , missing ( m / m ) and filled ( f / f ) teeth for primary and permanent teeth . then the children were categorized into three groups on the basis of who caries severity classification ( 2 ) . low caries level was defined as dmft / dmft2.6 , moderate caries level as dmft / dmft of 2.74.4 and high caries level as dmft / dmft>4.4 . the family structure of pupils studied here included consanguineous relationship between parents ( yes / no ) , living with parents ( with both of them / with one or none of them ) , birth rank ( one , two and three or more ) and parents education ( high school degree or lower / university ) . the effect of eyesight problems ( yes / no ) such as blurred vision and wearing glasses , behavioral problems ( yes / no ) such as stress and nail biting , gender ( boy / girl ) and bmi ( underweight , normal , at risk of overweight , and overweight ) were also investigated in the study . each pupil s bmi ( body mass index ) was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters ( kg / m ) . standardized percentile curves of bmi in iran were used . according to these curves underweight condition is defined as under the 5th percentile curve , normal as between the 5th and 85th percentile , at risk of being overweight as higher than the 85th and lower than the 95th percentile and overweight as higher or equal to the 95th percentile ( 18 ) . to evaluate the examiner s ( i.e. , school nurses ) reliability in carrying out dental examinations , three school nurses and twenty pupils from their schools the dental examinations were carried out on all twenty pupils by each of these school nurses . the fleiss ' kappa ( 19 ) , for evaluating agreements between three school nurses for caries severity , was found to be 0.87 , indicating a high level of agreement between them . in addition , to assure the validity of the nurses findings , a dentist conducted dental examinations on the same twenty pupils . cohen 's kappa ( k ) ( 19 ) , between the dentist and each school nurse was high ( k = 0.89 for examiner 1 , k = 0.90 for examiner 2 and k = 0.81 for examiner 3 ) , indicating that the results of examinations by school nurses were valid . frequencies and percentages of caries severity were reported according to the variables of this study . in univariate analysis , the cochran armitage test was used to investigate the relationship between caries severity and the variables of this study . in addition , the multiple ordinal logistic regression was used because the caries severity , this study s dependent variable , was an ordinal variable ( 16 ) . the adjusted odds ratios ( aor ) of being in a higher caries severity category and its 95% confidence interval were reported in relation to the multiple ordinal logistic model . to evaluate the examiner s ( i.e. , school nurses ) reliability in carrying out dental examinations , three school nurses and twenty pupils from their schools were randomly selected . the dental examinations were carried out on all twenty pupils by each of these school nurses . the fleiss ' kappa ( 19 ) , for evaluating agreements between three school nurses for caries severity , was found to be 0.87 , indicating a high level of agreement between them . in addition , to assure the validity of the nurses findings , a dentist conducted dental examinations on the same twenty pupils . then the results were compared with those of school nurses . cohen 's kappa ( k ) ( 19 ) , between the dentist and each school nurse was high ( k = 0.89 for examiner 1 , k = 0.90 for examiner 2 and k = 0.81 for examiner 3 ) , indicating that the results of examinations by school nurses were valid . frequencies and percentages of caries severity were reported according to the variables of this study . in univariate analysis , the cochran armitage test was used to investigate the relationship between caries severity and the variables of this study . in addition , the multiple ordinal logistic regression was used because the caries severity , this study s dependent variable , was an ordinal variable ( 16 ) . the adjusted odds ratios ( aor ) of being in a higher caries severity category and its 95% confidence interval were reported in relation to the multiple ordinal logistic model . a total of 27.6% of pupils had a birth rank of 3 or more , 4.3% of them had one behavioral problem and 10.5% of them had eyesight problems . the weight ( bmi ) of 69.6% of pupils was normal , 22.6% of their mothers and 28.9% of their fathers had a university degree . the caries prevalence ( low , moderate and high ) according to the variables of the study is presented in table 1 . in univariate analysis , it was found that the relationship between gender and caries severity was significant ( p<0.0001 ) , i.e. 38.7% of girls were in the high caries severity category versus only 25.5% of boys . in addition , the overweight pupils had the least caries severity than others ( p<0.0001 ) . approximately 42% of pupils with any behavioral problems were in high caries severity category but only 32.5% of other pupils were in this category . table 1 shows that the family structure ( parent s education , birth rank , living with parents , consanguineous relationship between parents ) had no significant effect on dental caries ( p>0.05 ) . caries severity prevalence according to the variables in 9-year - old pupils in iran low caries level was defined as dmft / dmft<2.6 , moderate caries level as dmft / dmft of 2.74.4 and high caries level as dmft / dmft>4.4 cochran armitage test number ( row percentage ) table 2 shows the results of fitting multiple ordinal logistic regression to caries severity . other factors , which are not presented in table 2 , were not significant ( p>0.05 ) . it was shown that the odds of being in a higher caries severity category in pupils that had eyesight problems was 0.58 ( 95% ci : 0.370.90 ) times lower than others ( p=0.01 ) . in addition , the odds of being in a higher caries severity category in overweight pupils was 0.46 ( 95% ci : 0.310.71 ) times lower than those with normal weight ( p<0.0001 ) . both of these recent results indicated that obesity and eyesight problems were factors affecting dental caries . in addition , girls ( or=1.6 , 95% ci : 1.222.06 ) and pupils with behavioral problems ( or=2.37 , 95% ci : 1.294.38 ) had higher caries severity . therefore , gender and behavioral problems in the present study were risk factors for dental caries . multiple ordinal logistic regression analysis for adjusted effective factors on caries severity the adjusted odds ratio of being in a higher caries severity category dental caries ( decay ) is the primary cause of severe pain , anxiety and sleep loss and is a major health problem , particularly for disadvantaged populations ( 20 ) . it is very important to prevent dental caries , but this is unlikely to happen unless the risk factors are known and steps are proactively taken to ensure the children s optimum dental health . therefore , in this study , an attempt was made to find some of the risk factors and identify those children at greatest risk of dental caries . in this research , the odds of being in a high caries severity category in pupils with behavioral problems , including stress or nail biting , was greater than in others . therefore , preventive programs , especially in schools , are necessary in order to avoid a further increase in behavioral problems . the results of a study by williamson et al . in the united states showed that caries - active children had significantly more behavioral problems compared to caries - free children ( 11 ) . these findings imply that pupils with behavioral problems need more attention to dental care . in the present study , the percentage of high caries severity in pupils with eyesight problems was less than others . therefore , eyesight problems had an inverse effect on oral conditions . perhaps that is why pupils who wear glasses or have blurred vision tend to pay more attention to hygiene , a critical component to dental care . in a study on 593 schoolchildren , bhavasar and damle reported the lowest rate of caries among pupils that had an eyesight problem ( 21 ) , consistent with the results of this study . in greeley s study , no significant relationship was found between dental caries and eyesight problems ( 22 ) . these findings indicate that more research should be carried out to better understand these causal factors . in the present study , the odds of being in a higher caries severity category for girls were higher than that for boys . huew et al . in a study on 791 schoolchildren in libya , showed that dental caries was more prevalent amongst girls ( 23 ) . in a study on 5116 pupils 512 years of age in greece , gatou et al . reported that gender preserved its predictive value on caries experience , i.e. girls had higher odds of caries experience than boys ( or=1.31 ) ( 24 ) . in addition , the results of this study are consistent with those of some other studies in iran and other countries ( 2527 ) . the results of this study were expected since permanent dentition erupts 210 months earlier in girls than in boys ( 28 , 29 ) . this study showed that an increase in bmi is associated with a decrease in dental caries severity . pupils with low bmi were at a higher risk of being in a higher caries severity than others . sadeghi et al . in isfahan , iran , reported that caries prevalence in pupils with low bmi was higher than others ( 7 ) . in a study by mohammadi et al . in kerman , iran , pupils in primary schools underwent dental examination and bmi was evaluated ( 30 ) . the authors reported that obese pupils had less caries severity than others . also , the results of this study are consistent with those of some studies in other countries ( 3 , 3133 ) . the nature of the hypothesized protective effect of weight on dental caries is still obscure . low bmi may be associated with eating habits that have a negative impact on dental health ; however , further longitudinal studies are necessary . living with one or none of the parents , had no significant effect on caries severity in our study . as minority of participants are living with 1 or none of their parents , in other words most of the pupils are living with both of their parents , therefore further detailed studies are needed to make any conclusion about the relation between the effect of this factor on caries severity . in addition , in the present study , consanguineous relationship between the parents , parents education and birth rank , had no significant effect on caries severity in the subjects . therefore , the family structure in this study was not an effective factor in dental caries . one of the limitations of the present study included its cross - sectional nature , which limits the ability to identify causative factors . in addition , no information was available about nutritional factors and brushing habits of the subjects , which should be considered in future studies . the findings of this study indicated that pupils with behavioral problems and female pupils were at a greater risk for severe caries than others . in addition , overweight pupils and those with eyesight problems , such as blurred vision and wearing glasses , had less caries severity than others . family structure in this study was not an effective factor in dental caries . ethical issues ( including plagiarism , informed consent , misconduct , data fabrication and/or falsification , double publication and/or submission , redundancy , etc ) have been completely observed by the authors .

background : dental caries is one of the most preventable yet prevalent chronic diseases worldwide . our objective was to evaluate the effect of family structure and behavioral and eyesight problems as they relate to caries severity in schoolchildren.methods:this research was carried out on 845 primary schoolchildren aged 9 yr in kerman , iran , in 2012 . ten variables , including health records , family structure information and a dmft / dmft index , were collected . children were categorized into three groups based on the who caries severity classification . low caries level was defined as dmft / dmft<2.6 , moderate as dmft / dmft of 2.74.4 and high as dmft / dmft>4.4 . the cochran armitage test and ordinal logistic regression were employed for data analysis.results:almost half of pupils had moderate or high caries severity . the odds of being in a higher caries severity category in pupils with behavioral problems ( or=2.37 , 95% ci : 1.294.38 ) and girls ( or=1.6 , 95% ci : 1.222.06 ) were higher than in other categories . in addition , pupils with eyesight problems ( or=0.58 , 95% ci : 0.370.90 ) and overweight pupils ( or=0.46 , 95% ci : 0.310.71 ) had lower caries severity than others . the effects of parents education , birth rank , living with parents and consanguineous relationship between parents were not significant on caries severity ( p>0.05).conclusions : female pupils with behavioral problems were at a higher risk of caries severity than other pupils . these pupils need to be educated and coached on proper dental care . in addition , overweight pupils and those with eyesight problems had less caries severity than others . family structure in this study did not have an effect on the severity of dental caries .

A community in Washington state came together to scrub messages of hate from a black neighbor's property after vandals spray-painted racial slurs on his home and vehicle while he and his family were on vacation. Friends and neighbors in the town of Tenino spent their Saturday washing the hateful messages clean before Marvin Phillips and his family saw them. Phillips told ABC News today that he and his family were away on a weekend camping trip when he got a call from the police department notifying him that his property had been vandalized. He called his friend Misty Dell, who told her friend Heidi Russell, who posted about it on Facebook. The next day, Saturday, about 50 community members gathered to clean the graffiti before the Phillips family saw them. The vandals "spray-painted on it 'KKK' and the N-word," said Dell, a family friend whose son plays football with Phillips' son, "on their home and on their truck." "Marvin had called me and told me what had happened, so I didn't know what to do," she said. "So I called our head coach's wife, and she was able to manpower it. We all got together Saturday morning." "We tried using several different things to get the writing off, and it wasn't working, so we all pitched in and got paint and repainted the house," Dell said, "And his truck, we all scrubbed it, and it came off," adding that they replaced a few parts where the graffiti could not be removed. Phillips said he was amazed by how many people came to help "not only from our town but from the two adjacent towns." He said that when he learned his house and truck had been vandalized, "I was absolutely offended and upset and wondering why." "I'm 58 years old, so this isn't the first time I've seen or heard something like this," he said. But he said he was concerned for his five children, who range in age from 6 months old to 10 years old. "I didn't want to have to explain to my kids what the N-word was or what the KKK was all about right now. I didn't want my kids to look at their friends differently," he said. "My daughter is a cheerleader and Girl Scout, and I didn't want her to look at her peers differently." Phillips, a military veteran, said his family has been living in Tenino for a little over a year. "We're the only colored people in our neighborhood," he said, adding that until this point, he had never experienced any animosity from the community. Phillips said he was very thankful to his neighbors for their kindness. "They did a fantastic job. They poured out their spirit and their love. It was unreal. I was overwhelmed," he said. "I don't even know who to thank," he said, adding that many community members helped out in some way. "There is a local restaurant here that brought us dinner that night. There is an organization that came over and gave us 100 bucks to take the kids to this wet and wild place because we had to end our vacation." Phillips said he feels no anger toward the people that did this to his home. "Actually, I'm praying for them," he said. "I thank God for the people that came out and helped me. I wish I knew them all," he said. "I wish I could throw a barbecue or something out front to show my love and thanks for all the people that came out." Don Moody, the police chief for Tenino, told ABC News today that one of his officers responded to an incident and "found a bunch of derogatory racial slurs spray-painted on a home and vehicle" while the homeowner was out of town. "He is a very well-liked gentleman in the community," Moody added, saying that community members took it on themselves to clean off the hateful messages. He said that the officer who responded to the incident went back on Saturday to help pitch in with the cleaning and painting. Moody said that police have yet to identify any suspects but that the act is uncommon in the community. "It is something that no one in this community accepts, and they didn't want it to be there, and they felt it was important to get it cleaned up for this gentleman before he got back," he said. ||||| Someone spray painted racial slurs and other hurtful messages on a Tenino family's home while they were on vacation, friends said. (KOMO) TENINO, Wash. -- Tenino police are investigating a possible hate crime after someone spray painted racial slurs and other hateful messages on a family’s home while they were on vacation. Friends of the family believe whoever was responsible for the vandalism likely struck sometime early Friday morning. 3 sides of the home were covered with spray paint along with a truck parked nearby. As soon as the community heard about what happened, they did something remarkable. Dozens of volunteers spent hours Saturday scrubbing the spray paint off from the family's truck. They also added primer and a fresh coat of green paint to the outside of their home. "It’s too cruddy of a world to have this kind of stuff happen in your own community and not do something about it," said Mike Vanderhoof, who works for Thurston County Fire District 12. "Main thing is we wanted to make sure the family didn’t see this. Nobody see this kind of junk in their life. Nobody needs that kind of hate speech." "This is a town. We’re a family. And to know that this could happen to somebody here is just devastating. They don’t deserve it," said family friend Misty Dell. By the time homeowner Marvin Phillips and his family arrived back in their RV Saturday afternoon, their home and his truck looked like they had never been touched. "I’m shocked. I really am. I’m grateful," said Phillips. "But as Matt’s wife said when I pulled up, it’s not nothing I wouldn’t have done myself." The letters and words the vandals left behind on his home are messages he's heard before during in his lifetime, Phillips said. But knowing his kids don’t have to see them thanks to the community's generosity means the world, he added. "I was more concerned about them," Phillips said. "And I didn’t know what the town had did until today." Tenino's mayor told KOMO News he believes what happened to the Phillips family was an isolated incident, but police are taking the matter seriously and have launched an investigation. So far, there have been no arrests in the case, he said.

– If the goal of whoever scrawled racist graffiti on the home and truck of Marvin Phillips on Friday night was to make the Tenino, Wash., family feel unwelcome, it backfired spectacularly: Dozens of community members got together to scrub away the graffiti—which included "KKK" and the n-word—and repaint everything before the family could get back from a camping trip, ABC News reports. "I want the racist cowards to know that we WILL NOT stand for this in our small town," the Tenino Beavers Youth Football & Cheer wrote in a Facebook post calling for volunteers. Around 50 turned up, including Wayne Fournier, mayor of the town of 1,700. The family got back just as the crew was finishing up. "It's too cruddy of a world to have this kind of stuff happen in your own community and not do something about it," a local firefighter tells KOMO News. "Main thing is we wanted to make sure the family didn't see this. Nobody [needs] this kind of junk in their life." Phillips, a military veteran, says the racist graffiti is the first animosity he has encountered since moving to the town a year ago. "I'm 58 years old, so this isn't the first time I've seen or heard something like this," he tells ABC, but he's glad his five children, ranging in age from 6 months old to 10 years, didn't have to see it. He says he's overwhelmed by the kindness—and is praying for the vandals.