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We present the first results of a multiyear program to map the orbits of M-dwarf multiples within 25 pc. The observations were conducted primarily during 2019-2020 using speckle interferometry at the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope in Chile, using the High-Resolution Camera mounted on the adaptive optics module (HRCam+SAM). The sample of nearby M dwarfs is drawn from three sources: multiples from the RECONS long-term astrometric monitoring program at the SMARTS 0.9 m; known multiples, for which these new observations will enable or improve orbit fits; and candidate multiples flagged by their astrometric fits in Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2). We surveyed 333 of our 338 M dwarfs via 830 speckle observations, detecting companions for 63% of the stars. Most notably, this includes new companions for 76% of the subset selected from Gaia DR2. In all, we report the first direct detections of 97 new stellar companions to the observed M dwarfs. Here we present the properties of those detections, the limits of each nondetection, and five orbits with periods 0.67-29 yr already observed as part of this program. Companions detected have projected separations of 0.″024-2.″0 (0.25-66 au) from their primaries and have ΔI ≲ 5.0 mag. This multiyear campaign will ultimately map complete orbits for nearby M dwarfs with periods up to 3 yr, and provide key epochs to stretch orbital determinations for binaries to 30 yr. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

This article analyses the economic size and resilience of five established definitions of the Blue Economy across two geographical locations: Scotland (UK) and Michigan (USA). The article analyses sector-level employment, labor productivity and Gross Value Added (GVA) data, and uses graphical representations to highlight the differences in conceptualizing the Blue Economy in ways that affect its weight and contribution to regional economies. Further, it analyses how each definition has fared in the post-2007/2011 crisis, assessing their resilience. This novel work tackles the emerging discourse around the Blue Economy by highlighting its regional character, and by problematizing the divergent definitions of the concept. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

The Internet contains large amounts of adult content. With only a few taps, or mis-taps, an under-aged user can be exposed to age-inappropriate content. Currently, this can be avoided by creating age-restricted profiles or restricting users to child-friendly applications (apps). However, these existing measures are time-consuming, laborious, and require a higher level of technical literacy than many parents can afford. We believe a better solution is to use a browser or an app that automatically detects the user's age then applies any appropriate content filters. For such a browser/app to be developed, we must learn that age estimation can indeed be performed with an acceptable rate of error. To that end, we created an Android app that collects biometric touchscreen data from elementary school, middle school, high school, and university students. Touch samples were collected from participants aged 5 to 61 on both smartphones and tablets. We focused exclusively on zoom-in and zoom-out touchscreen data samples. We made this decision because we found the zoom gesture to be rich with data and highly used among the most popular applications. Furthermore, we identify a niche within the current research landscape: no other machine learning experiments have leveraged the benefits of the zoom gesture for age estimation. We collected a total of 41,911 zoom data samples. From each zoom sample, 90 features were extracted. Those features were then used to train and test on six regressors and six classifiers to build a method that can accurately estimate the user's age from their touchscreen behavior. The regressors performed with the best mean absolute errors (MAEs) of 2.27 and 2.54 years for smartphones and tablets, respectively. The classifiers performed with the best accuracies of 90% and 91% for smartphones and tablets, respectively. Given these results, it is our belief that not only is touch-based age estimation viable, but developing a child-safe browser or a parental control app with this underlying technology is a worthwhile endeavor. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

The relative abundance and size distributions of juvenile winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, were compared in two areas; an anthropogenically altered marina basin and a natural intertidal flat habitat. Winter flounder were sampled from March through November 1990-95 with a 1.0 m beam trawl. No significant difference was observed in catch-per-unit-effort between areas but significant differences were found between seasons. Relative abundance (number of flounder/m2) increased from spring (0.007 marina and 0.011 intertidal flats) to summer (0.059 marina and 0.051 intertidal flats) and then declined slightly in the autumn (0.047 marina and 0.027 intertidal flats). Relative abundance was similar between areas from 1990-95 but differed between years. Length frequency distributions of winter flounder were similar between areas for all seasons but mean sizes were statistically different in summer. These results suggest that juvenile winter flounder are equally abundant in both natural intertidal habitats and marina basins, indicating that both could serve as nursery areas. However, more specific research is required to resolve the relative importance of marinas and the factors involved in utilization of each habitat.

Three new Jaltomata species from the department of Ancash, Peru, are described and illustrated. The three species are distinguished from others in the genus by features of the flowers, hairs, and leaves. Fruits of Jaltomata cajacayensis S. Leiva and Mione are gathered for consumption. Jaltomata lomana Mione and S. Leiva is known only from a single fog-dependent plant community, a lomas formation. Jaltomata yungayensis Mione and S. Leiva is widely distributed at high elevations.

Little is known about the life history of mayflies that inhabit temporary ponds. The purpose of this study was to observe and quantify life histories attributes of Siphlonurus typicus, which is known to reside in temporary ponds. Weekly samples of nymphs were taken from two temporary ponds in eastern Connecticut from March to June, 1999. Individuals were graded into 11 maturity classes, based on developmental characteristics, as a means of predicting population maturity rates. Head capsule widths (HCWs) were used to determine if growth occurred between maturity classes. Degree days were found to be an excellent predictor for population maturity (r2 = 0.963, p < 0.0001). Nymphs that hatched earlier in the year had larger HCWs than nymphs that hatched later in the year, possibly because of different temperature regimes. The University of Connecticut Forest pond (UCF) population matured faster than the Merrow Meadows pond (MER) population, but both sexes of the UCF population tended to be smaller than their counter parts from the MER population. Sex ratios were female bias for the UCF population (1.35:1), but were not different for the MER population. Adult emergence and mating occurred from 27 May to 21 June. There was a positive relationship between number of eggs per female and female body length. Oviposition at both sites occurred directly on the ponds, pond inlets, and outlets, indicating that pond populations were the result of local migrants as well as permanent residents. Temperature was a determining factor of maturity and fecundity for Siphlonurus typicus.

We prove two art gallery theorems in which the guards must guard one another in addition to the gallery. A set G of points (the guards) in a simple closed polygon (the art gallery) is a guarded guard set provided (i) every point in the polygon is visible to some point in G; and (ii) every point in G is visible to some other point in G. We prove that a polygon with n sides always has a guarded guard set of cardinality ⌊(3n-1)/7⌋ and that this bound is sharp (n5); our result corrects an erroneous formula in the literature. We also use a coloring argument to give an entirely new proof that the corresponding sharp function for orthogonal polygons is ⌊n/3⌋ for n≤6; this result was originally established by induction by Hernández-Peñalver. © 2003 Elsevier B.V.

Caring is a concept that has been studied in numerous helping professions but has yet to be researched from a counseling perspective. In this qualitative research study, 13 master’s-level counseling interns were interviewed to better understand their perceptions of caring in the counseling relationship. Results suggest that these interns perceive that supporting desired outcomes, a personal capacity for caring, maintaining therapeutic conditions, mutuality in the counseling relationship, and a dynamic flow of communication are important attributes of the counseling relationship when caring is present The findings suggest further research that explores the concept of caring in the counseling relationship may be warranted. © 2002 American Counseling Association.

Determining the relative efficacy of various intervention programs for auditory processing disorders (APD) is a major goal in the field of rehabilitative audiology. Currently, because of their widespread availability, the most commonly used measuring tools to assess the central auditory system have been behaviorally based. Such measures do have notable disadvantages in that they may be influenced by a number of extraneous variables that may impede, or at least influence, efficacy measures. Electrophysiologic measures offer unique advantages not available from the behavioral measures. A significant amount of research has been completed offering compelling evidence relative to the clinical utility of a number of these electrophysiologic measures, including the maximum length sequences-auditory brainstem response, the middle latency response, the obligatory long latency responses, and the MMN and P3 event-related potentials. This article will review the current research related to electrophyiologic measures and present a rationale for including them in the management program.

The present paper examines how followers of 'Abd al-Rahcombining dot belowmān b. 'Amr al-Awzā'ī and Sufyān al-Thawrī tried to create boundaries between the nascent madhhabs that claimed them as eponyms. In the absence of significant differences in legal method, students turned to the two shaykhs' responses to the 'Abbāsid revolution to draw distinctions between them. The Arabic biographical sources contain stories of their responses to the revolution that reveal a dialogue between followers of the two shaykhs about the relative merits of their choices. The changing interpretations of their attitudes toward the 'Abbāsid regime and the exaggeration evident in the anecdotes examined have significant implications for our reading of medieval Arabic biographical sources.

Amid all enthusiasm regarding the rise of the Digital Age, industrial espionage remains the dark side of the post-industrial revolution. The Federal Industrial Espionage Act of 1996 aimed at leveling the field regarding widespread cheating and stealing of intellectual properties by competitors in the marketplace. In this paper we aim at defining various forms of industrial espionage in the light of the ongoing information technology revolution. © Emerald Backfiles 2007.

The decision about whether to co-brand is based on two conditions: the opportunities for creating a competitive advantage, and the operational benefits that will result. When these conditions are favorable, a firm must pick the right co-branding partner, using such criteria as (a) compatibility between brands, (b) market volatility, (c) investment requirements and arrangements, and (d) the prospective partner's commitment to the agreement. The firm and its chosen partner then enter the phase of courtship and potential conflict, which involves planning, negotiation, and conflict avoidance and management. Finally, they must create an exit strategy, in case the co-branding arrangement fails to live up to its promise.

Background: There is an increasing recognition that the communication problems one observes in persons with aphasia extend beyond verbal deficits and that the myriad of symptoms observed are not solely due to a faulty linguistic system. Rather, there exists a coalition of causal elements resulting in a wide range of communicative deficits. There is some preliminary evidence suggesting that communicative success of clients with aphasia may depend on the integrity of executive function skills. Executive functions are called into play when an individual is involved in a complex, novel activity. They allow us to plan, sequence, organise, and monitor goal-directed activities in a flexible manner as demanded by situational and environmental changes. When linguistic skills are impaired, individuals need to rely on other cognitive skills in order to communicate. Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore executive functioning ability in persons with aphasia. Methods & procedures: A total of 15 individuals with aphasia and 12 healthy control subjects participated in this study. Three dimensions of performance were examined (accuracy, speed, and efficiency) in the context of neuropsychological tests designed to examine cognitive flexibility and goal-directed planning (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Porteus Maze Test, Tower of London, and Tower of Hanoi). Outcomes & results: Results indicated that the two groups performed with similar levels of accuracy on two of the four tests. However, significant differences were found on all speed and efficiency variables, suggesting decreased executive functioning skills in the group of individuals with aphasia. Conclusions: It is important to consider executive functioning ability in clients with aphasia and attempt to determine the influence of executive function skill on communicative performance. Understanding the cognitive abilities as well as the linguistic abilities of these clients may ultimately help clinicians determine which patients are better candidates for intervention as well as which treatment approaches would be most efficient and beneficial.

This study examined script knowledge in 20 subjects who sustained a stroke (10 with left hemisphere brain damage and aphasia and 10 with right hemisphere brain damage) and 10 neurologically normal subjects. Script knowledge was examined via performance on three tasks: procedural sequencing, procedure production, and procedural discourse. Neurologically normal subjects performed all tasks accurately, and all subjects in the stroke group completed at least one of the three tasks for each script accurately, suggesting that script knowledge was preserved in this mildly brain-damaged population. However, significant differences were obtained between the neurologically normal and stroke groups when overall performance was examined. These findings suggest that additional cognitive processes influence task performance. Implications of these findings are discussed.

(Matrix Presented) Treatment of aniline with n-butyllithium and then trimethyltin chloride gave the tin amide (PhNH-SnMe3) in situ. Without isolation of the tin amide reaction with bromine and workup with aqueous fluoride ion gave p-bromoaniline in 76% yield, with no dibromoaniline or o-bromoaniline. Application of this sequence to 11 different aromatic amines gave selective bromination in 36-91% yields, without formation of dibromides. This constitutes a good general method for the regioselective bromination of aromatic amines.

We report dramatic improvement in electrical properties of 4H-SiC/SiO2 interface by depositing an ultra-thin layer of silicon nitride on 4H-SiC prior to formation of silicon oxide and annealing. AC conductance measurements reveal interface-trap density equal to or below 1 × 1012/cm2- eV at energies near the conduction band edge. XPS spectra confirm the presence of N at the interface and suggest possible bonding between N and C. © (2002) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease can usually be successfully managed with conservative medical treatment. Anti-reflux surgery is a safe alternative when treatment fails or patients desire a more definitive treatment option. Through a case study approach, this article describes the indications for surgery, the essentials of the authors’ multi-disciplinary approach to care and the components of a well-designed education plan for a patient undergoing laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. Although most patients do well after surgery, diligent nursing care is required before and after surgery to prevent or manage complications and ensure patients have a rapid recovery and successful outcome. © 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.