Swedish Social Welfare and its Application to American Welfare Systems

Swedish Social Welfare and its Application to American Welfare Systems concerns itself with the issue of determining the origins of the modern Swedish social welfare system. Additionally, the causes behind the formation of the system are evaluated for their relevancy concerning the formation of the American welfare system. Multiple areas of study are considered, including racial impacts, economic factors, sociological impactors, and demographic variables

Properties of charmonium and bottomonium from lattice QCD with very fine lattices

Lattice methods are essential theoretical tools for performing calculations in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). To make theoretical predictions (or postdictions) of properties of hadrons, we must solve the theory of QCD which describes their constituent quarks — and conversely, to further our knowledge of quarks, which are fundamental constituents of matter, we must examine the properties of their hadronic bound states, since free quarks are not observed due to the phenomenon known as quark confinement. It is not possible to solve QCD analytically, and so we must turn to numerical methods such as lattice QCD. Despite being a well-established and mature formalism, lattice QCD has only really come into fruition over the last decade or so, developing in parallel with the advent of high-performance computing facilities. The available computing power is now sufficient to perform calculations on very fine lattices, with lattice spacings of about 0.06fm or less. These are beneficial for two reasons: firstly, they are closer to the continuum limit, meaning that continuum extrapolations are better controlled; and secondly, it is only on finer and finer lattices that we are able to accurately simulate heavier and heavier quarks, such as charm and bottom. We use very fine lattices from the MILC collaboration to determine multiple properties of heavyonium systems, in each case using the HISQ action for heavy valence quarks. Correlator fitting, and continuum and chiral extrapolations, are performed via Bayesian least-squares fitting methods. The first calculation simulates charmonium via charm quarks at their physical mass, as well as bottomonium, via multiple intermediate heavy quark masses and an extrapolation in this heavy mass. Notably, this is a fully relativistic method of calculating the bottom quark, and is complementary to effective-action methods such as NRQCD. We perform this calculation on gauge configurations with 2+1 flavours of quarks in the sea, and are able to accurately determine properties of the ground-state pseudoscalar and vector mesons in each system, including their decay constants, the hyperfine mass splitting, and the temporal moments of the vector correlators — which we also make use of to renormalise the vector current. To fully investigate some small anomalies in some of the vector results, we also repeat a subset of these calculations using a one-link instead of a local vector current. The second calculation represents an in-depth study of charmonium, including radial and orbital excitations as well as the ground states. We again simulate charm quarks at their physical mass, but this time on gauge configurations with 2+1+1 flavours of quarks in the sea, including those with light sea quarks at their physical masses. We also include a set of well-constructed smearing functions designed to increase the overlap of our correlators with the ground state, and therefore allow us to extract data on charmonium excited states more accurately. Specifically, we concentrate on conventional low-lying excited states in the charmonium system, and accurately extract various mass splittings in the spectrum (including the 1S hyperfine splitting, and the spin-averaged 2S − 1S splitting) as well as temporal moments of the vector correlator (which we again utilise in a renormalisation procedure), and decay constants of the ground-state pseudoscalar and vector. We also use the calculated mass splittings to accurately reconstruct a selected portion of the charmonium spectrum. This is the first time that we have used smeared operators with staggered quarks for this purpose, and so this calculation acts as a strong base upon which to build future work on excited states

BIONOMER PILOT PLANT

The purpose of this project is to develop a pilot-scale process for the bacterial production of methacrylic acid (MAA) and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) from biomass feedstocks and the subsequent purification steps. The pilot plant will also be located on site at a sugar cane refinery in Brazil where the feedstock should be inexpensive and readily available. Although these sugar cane refineries only operate for 9 months each year, molasses can be stored so that the pilot plant runs year-round. To obtain useful information about the feasibility and scalability of the process, 30 M kg/yr of each product will be produced. The products will be tested for purity and samples will be sent out to consumers to demonstrate the quality of the product. The MAA and MEK must be of the same purity generated by current commercial processes. The pilot plant will be designed in three major parts. The first part consists of the bacterial fermentors that are used to produce and scale up MAA and MEK production. Relatively little is currently known about the efficiency of production of MAA and MEK by E. coli and this part of the plant will provide critical data about conditions required for the bacteria as well as production rates. The second part of the plant consists of the MAA purification process. Many options will be considered for the purification steps, many of which will have to be modeled in ASPEN because MAA is usually not produced in the aqueous phase. The final section of the plant will be used for MEK purification. To reduce plant costs, the design will try to share equipment between the two purification processes. The main goal of the plant is to obtain data and demonstrate feasibility, not to demonstrate sustainable profitability. Estimates for total capital investment and show that the plant will not be profitable for the first five years of operation, but the valuable data gained from the operation will be used to design the larger, more efficient, full-scale plant. The total capital investment required for the plant is approximately $ 6.33 million. Returns generated from sales are minimal compared to the capital investment and operating costs. A full scale plant is expected to be profitable over time because of economies of scale and the price of inputs and outputs of the process

Autonomous Direct 3D Segmentation of Articular Knee Cartilage

The aim of the work presented here, is to speed up the entire evaluation process of articular knee cartilage and the associated medication developments for Osteoarthritis. To enable this, the development of an automated direct 3D segmentation is described that incorporates non-linear diffusion for efficient image denoising. Cartilage specific magnetic resonance imaging is used, which allows acquiring the entire cartilage volume as one 3D image. The segmentation itself is based on level sets for their accuracy, stability and topological flexibility. By using this kind of segmentation, it is hoped to improve the time efficiency and accuracy for quantitative and qualitative integrity evaluation of cartilage and to enable an earlier diagnosis and treatment of Osteoarthritis

The agronomy jigsaw: Finding the pieces that maximise water use efficiency

The Agronomy Jigsaw project is an initiative of the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) in collaboration with the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) and Precision Agronomics Australia (PAA). The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded the project under the water use efficiency initiative (DAW193). Improving water use efficiency (WUE) is the key to increasing crop production in dryland agriculture. In southern Western Australia (WA), water use efficiencies of wheat can vary from 8 to 22kg/mm/ha. The purpose of the Agronomy Jigsaw project is to understand this variation at paddock level: What are the main causes of this variability and how can we manage it to improve profitability?https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1268/thumbnail.jp

The area of horizons and the trapped region

This paper considers some fundamental questions concerning marginally trapped surfaces, or apparent horizons, in Cauchy data sets for the Einstein equation. An area estimate for outermost marginally trapped surfaces is proved. The proof makes use of an existence result for marginal surfaces, in the presence of barriers, curvature estimates, together with a novel surgery construction for marginal surfaces. These results are applied to characterize the boundary of the trapped region.Comment: 44 pages, v3: small changes in presentatio

Effect of Drinking Rate on the Retention of Water or Milk Following Exercise-Induced Dehydration

This study investigated the effect of drinking rate on fluid retention of milk and water following exercise-induced dehydration. In Part A, 12 male participants lost 1.9% ± 0.3% body mass through cycle exercise on four occasions. Following exercise, plain water or low-fat milk equal to the volume of sweat lost during exercise was provided. Beverages were ingested over 30 or 90 min, resulting in four beverage treatments: water 30 min, water 90 min, milk 30 min, and milk 90 min. In Part B, 12 participants (nine males and three females) lost 2.0% ± 0.3% body mass through cycle exercise on four occasions. Following exercise, plain water equal to the volume of sweat lost during exercise was provided. Water was ingested over 15 min (DR15), 45 min (DR45), or 90 min (DR90), with either DR15 or DR45 repeated. In both trials, nude body mass, urine volume, urine specific gravity and osmolality, plasma osmolality, and subjective ratings of gastrointestinal symptoms were obtained preexercise and every hour for 3 hr after the onset of drinking. In Part A, no effect of drinking rate was observed on the proportion of fluid retained, but milk retention was greater (p

Functionalized Double Strain-Promoted Stapled Peptides for Inhibiting the p53-MDM2 Interaction.

The Sondheimer dialkyne reagent has previously been employed in strain-promoted double-click cycloadditions with bis-azide peptides to generate stapled peptide inhibitors of protein-protein interactions. The substituted variants of the Sondheimer dialkyne can be used to generate functionalized stapled peptide inhibitors with improved biological properties; however, this remains a relatively underdeveloped field. Herein, we report the synthesis of new substituted variants of Sondheimer dialkyne and their application in the stapling of p53-based diazido peptides to generate potent stapled peptide-based inhibitors of the oncogenic p53-MDM2 interaction. The functionalized stapled peptide formed from a meta-fluoro-substituted Sondheimer dialkyne was found to be the most potent inhibitor. Furthermore, through experimental studies and density functional theory calculations, we investigated the impact of the substituent on the strain-promoted double-click reactivity of Sondheimer dialkyne

How achievable are COVID-19 clinical trial recruitment targets? A UK observational cohort study and trials registry analysis

Objectives: To analyse enrolment to interventional trials during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England and describe the barriers to successful recruitment in the circumstance of a further wave or future pandemics. Design: We analysed registered interventional COVID-19 trial data and concurrently did a prospective observational study of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who were being assessed for eligibility to one of the RECOVERY, C19-ACS or SIMPLE trials. Setting: Interventional COVID-19 trial data were analysed from the clinicaltrials.gov and International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number databases on 12 July 2020. The patient cohort was taken from five centres in a respiratory National Institute for Health Research network. Population and modelling data were taken from published reports from the UK government and Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit. Participants: 2082 consecutive admitted patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from 27 March 2020 were included. Main outcome measures: Proportions enrolled, and reasons for exclusion from the aforementioned trials. Comparisons of trial recruitment targets with estimated feasible recruitment numbers. Results: Analysis of trial registration data for COVID-19 treatment studies enrolling in England showed that by 12 July 2020, 29 142 participants were needed. In the observational study, 430 (20.7%) proceeded to randomisation. 82 (3.9%) declined participation, 699 (33.6%) were excluded on clinical grounds, 363 (17.4%) were medically fit for discharge and 153 (7.3%) were receiving palliative care. With 111 037 people hospitalised with COVID-19 in England by 12 July 2020, we determine that 22 985 people were potentially suitable for trial enrolment. We estimate a UK hospitalisation rate of 2.38%, and that another 1.25 million infections would be required to meet recruitment targets of ongoing trials. Conclusions: Feasible recruitment rates, study design and proliferation of trials can limit the number, and size, that will successfully complete recruitment. We consider that fewer, more appropriately designed trials, prioritising cooperation between centres would maximise productivity in a further wave

Texas Dual Language Program Cost Analysis

A report developed for the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Senate Education Committee, January 200