Review of \u3ci\u3eKansas Politics and Government: The Clash of Political Cultures\u3c/i\u3e. By H. Edward Flentje and Joseph A. Aistrup.

Prior to the publication of Kansas Politics and Government, there was no essential book on Kansas politics, policy-making, and institutions. Now there is. It\u27s as simple as that. Anyone who wants to understand the Sunflower State\u27s politics should start here. Most prosaically, this is one more in the Nebraska Press\u27s ambitious series of single-state studies. But Ed Flentje and Joe Aistrup (disclaimer: I write a column for Kansas papers in rotation with them and two other political scientists) have done more than cover the breadth of the state\u27s politics. In their emphasis on political cultures, they provide an effective way to think about Kansas politics and government over almost 150 years of statehood

To establish the views of residential care workers and what they perceive to be the key factors that hold back some of the young people in their care in the achievement of their educational goals? A qualitative study

The aims of this dissertation was to investigate the views and experiences of residential care workers and establish what factors they believe help and hinder educational achievement of young people in their care. National and local policy on children in care is based mainly on children in care quantitative research. It is important that qualitative research is undertaken on the subject and the views of residential care workers are sought so that people who support young people with their education can be educated about what helps and hinders educational achievement of young people in care. The disparity between the achievements of looked after children and their peers remains unacceptably wide. There is evidence in some children’s homes that insufficient priority is given to education, for example some young people are not attending school regularly. (Ofsted 2008-2009) For these reasons and more it is significant that more focus should be on those who provide the day to day care for looked after children, this is why it is vital to gain an insight into the perspectives of residential care workers to establish what factors influence the educational outcomes of children in care. Six residential care workers were interviewed using semi structured interviews. Participants were asked for their views on what hinders and helps educational achievement and what they believe can support children in residential care. These data were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Participants shared their experiences and identified areas where young people struggle the most, also reflecting on the positive aspects in terms of support. There was a mixture of experiences and both positive and negative attitudes. The study demonstrates that some children in residential care do not always achieve their educational goals. This is because of a number of factors that impact on their lives; these include early childhood loss or trauma. However in ascertaining the views of the care workers this has offered an insight into how young people can be supported so they are enabled to reach their full potential. The study also contributes to the knowledge of what works well in helping young people in care to reach their educational goals. It is an ongoing process of engaging the young people with positive activities and to promote educational learning. It appears that the care staff interviewed was able to reflect on their experiences and on this process. Hopefully the findings can contribute to research already undertaken on this subject and help inform other professionals on how they can contribute to supporting young people in care in their educational journey and good practice for this group

Geographic and Depth Distributions of Decapod Shrimps (Caridea: Oplophoridae) from the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico with Notes on Ontogeny and Reproductive Seasonality

This thesis presents the first description of the geographic and depth distributions of pelagic decapod shrimps in the area located around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, based on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NRDA (National Resource Damage Assessment) trawl samples collected from April – June, 2011. This information is important in ecosystem models investigating trophic effects of the spill because pelagic decapod shrimp are consumed by a variety of organisms occupying higher trophic levels. One of the most abundant and diverse groups of decapods is the Family Oplophoridae. Their roles in pelagic food webs in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and other deep-sea ecosystems makes them ideal candidates for study; however, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on their distribution and reproductive biology. In the northeastern GOM, all previous studies have been conducted at Standard Station in the eastern Gulf (27°N, 86°W) (Hopkins and Lancraft, 1984; Hopkins et al., 1989; Hopkins and Gartner, 1992; Hopkins et al., 1994). The current study is unique because 1) it provides data from regions of the Gulf where oplophorids have never been studied, 2) allows for comparisons of distributions and abundances of oplophorid species in both the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones by using a continuous data set, and 3) compares assemblages from two distinct bathymetric environments in the northeastern GOM: continental slope (200-1000 m bottom depth) and offshore (\u3e1000 m). As the study site also encompasses the region most strongly impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, these data represent the first quantification of any component of the decapod crustacean assemblage in this location after the oil spill, and will be used for comparison with data obtained during future DEEPEND Consortium (Deep Pelagic Nekton Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico) cruises to monitor changes, or lack thereof, in the assemblage after exposure to Deepwater Horizon oil and dispersants in the water column

Fiction, Facts, and Truth: The Personal Lives of Political Figures

In the wealth of research on politics and politicians over the past fifty or so years, little attention has been accorded the relationships between the personal and the public sides of politicians' lives. Given the difficulties of collecting data, this absence is unsurprising. But that does not mean the personal-political linkage is unimportant, and one way to address this subject may be to draw upon political fiction, both to gain insights and to suggest avenues of inquiry. And within political fiction, the best source, at least for American politics, likely includes the works of veteran novelist Ward Just

Benthic oxygen exchange in a live coralline algal bed and an adjacent sandy habitat: an eddy covariance study

Coralline algal (maerl) beds are widespread, slow-growing, structurally complex perennial habitats that support high biodiversity, yet are significantly understudied compared to seagrass beds or kelp forests. We present the first eddy covariance (EC) study on a live maerl bed, assessing the community benthic gross primary productivity (GPP), respiration (R), and net ecosystem metabolism (NEM) derived from diel EC time series collected during 5 seasonal measurement campaigns in temperate Loch Sween, Scotland. Measurements were also carried out at an adjacent (~20 m distant) permeable sandy habitat. The O2 exchange rate was highly dynamic, driven by light availability and the ambient tidally-driven flow velocity. Linear relationships between the EC O2 fluxes and available light indicate that the benthic phototrophic communities were lightlimited. Compensation irradiance (Ec) varied seasonally and was typically ~1.8-fold lower at the maerl bed compared to the sand. Substantial GPP was evident at both sites; however, the maerl bed and the sand habitat were net heterotrophic during each sampling campaign. Additional inputs of ~4 and ~7 mol m-2 yr-1 of carbon at the maerl bed and sand site, respectively, were required to sustain the benthic O2 demand. Thus, the 2 benthic habitats efficiently entrap organic carbon and are sinks of organic material in the coastal zone. Parallel deployment of 0.1 m2 benthic chambers during nighttime revealed O2 uptake rates that varied by up to ~8-fold between replicate chambers (from -0.4 to -3.0 mmol O2 m-2 h-1; n = 4). However, despite extensive O2 flux variability on meter horizontal scales, mean rates of O2 uptake as resolved in parallel by chambers and EC were typically within 20% of one another

Electronic structure and the glass transition in pnictide and chalcogenide semiconductor alloys. Part II: The intrinsic electronic midgap states

We propose a structural model that treats in a unified fashion both the atomic motions and electronic excitations in quenched melts of pnictide and chalcogenide semiconductors. In Part I (submitted to J. Chem. Phys.), we argued these quenched melts represent aperiodic $pp\sigma$-networks that are highly stable and, at the same time, structurally degenerate. These networks are characterized by a continuous range of coordination. Here we present a systematic way to classify these types of coordination in terms of discrete coordination defects in a parent structure defined on a simple cubic lattice. We identify the lowest energy coordination defects with the intrinsic midgap electronic states in semiconductor glasses, which were argued earlier to cause many of the unique optoelectronic anomalies in these materials. In addition, these coordination defects are mobile and correspond to the transition state configurations during the activated transport above the glass transition. The presence of the coordination defects may account for the puzzling discrepancy between the kinetic and thermodynamic fragility in chalcogenides. Finally, the proposed model recovers as limiting cases several popular types of bonding patterns proposed earlier, including: valence-alternation pairs, hypervalent configurations, and homopolar bonds in heteropolar compounds.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, revised version, final version to appear in J. Chem. Phy

Frictional Wage Dispersion in Search Models: A Quantitative Assessment

We propose a new measure of frictional wage dispersion: the mean-min wage ratio. For a large class of search models, we show that this measure is independent of the wage-offer distribution but depends on statistics of labor-market turnover and on preferences. Under plausible preference parameterizations, observed magnitudes for worker flows imply that in the basic search model, and in most of its extensions, frictional wage dispersion is very small. Notable exceptions are some of the most recent models of on-the-job search. Our new measure allows us to rationalize the diverse empirical findings in the large literature estimating structural search models. (JEL D81, D83, J31, J41, J64)

Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer risks in relation to occupational history and asbestos lung burden.

BACKGROUND: We have conducted a population-based study of pleural mesothelioma patients with occupational histories and measured asbestos lung burdens in occupationally exposed workers and in the general population. The relationship between lung burden and risk, particularly at environmental exposure levels, will enable future mesothelioma rates in people born after 1965 who never installed asbestos to be predicted from their asbestos lung burdens. METHODS: Following personal interview asbestos fibres longer than 5 µm were counted by transmission electron microscopy in lung samples obtained from 133 patients with mesothelioma and 262 patients with lung cancer. ORs for mesothelioma were converted to lifetime risks. RESULTS: Lifetime mesothelioma risk is approximately 0.02% per 1000 amphibole fibres per gram of dry lung tissue over a more than 100-fold range, from 1 to 4 in the most heavily exposed building workers to less than 1 in 500 in most of the population. The asbestos fibres counted were amosite (75%), crocidolite (18%), other amphiboles (5%) and chrysotile (2%). CONCLUSIONS: The approximate linearity of the dose-response together with lung burden measurements in younger people will provide reasonably reliable predictions of future mesothelioma rates in those born since 1965 whose risks cannot yet be seen in national rates. Burdens in those born more recently will indicate the continuing occupational and environmental hazards under current asbestos control regulations. Our results confirm the major contribution of amosite to UK mesothelioma incidence and the substantial contribution of non-occupational exposure, particularly in women

Assessment of the feasibility of an ultra-low power, wireless digital patch for the continuous ambulatory monitoring of vital signs.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vital signs are usually recorded at 4–8 h intervals in hospital patients, and deterioration between measurements can have serious consequences. The primary study objective was to assess agreement between a new ultra-low power, wireless and wearable surveillance system for continuous ambulatory monitoring of vital signs and a widely used clinical vital signs monitor. The secondary objective was to examine the system's ability to automatically identify and reject invalid physiological data. SETTING: Single hospital centre. PARTICIPANTS: Heart and respiratory rate were recorded over 2 h in 20 patients undergoing elective surgery and a second group of 41 patients with comorbid conditions, in the general ward. OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures were limits of agreement and bias. The secondary outcome measure was proportion of data rejected. RESULTS: The digital patch provided reliable heart rate values in the majority of patients (about 80%) with normal sinus rhythm, and in the presence of abnormal ECG recordings (excluding aperiodic arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation). The mean difference between systems was less than ±1 bpm in all patient groups studied. Although respiratory data were more frequently rejected as invalid because of the high sensitivity of impedance pneumography to motion artefacts, valid rates were reported for 50% of recordings with a mean difference of less than ±1 brpm compared with the bedside monitor. Correlation between systems was statistically significant (p<0.0001) for heart and respiratory rate, apart from respiratory rate in patients with atrial fibrillation (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Overall agreement between digital patch and clinical monitor was satisfactory, as was the efficacy of the system for automatic rejection of invalid data. Wireless monitoring technologies, such as the one tested, may offer clinical value when implemented as part of wider hospital systems that integrate and support existing clinical protocols and workflows

Is Hot IT a False Economy? An Analysis of Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency as Temperatures Rise

As demand for digital services grows, there is need to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of data centers. The largest energy consumer in any data center is the IT, followed by the systems dedicated to cooling. Aiming to improve efficiency, and driven by metrics like PUE, there is a trend towards running data centers hotter to reduce the cooling energy. There is little research investigating the effect this will have on the IT beyond failure rates. To ensure overall efficiency is improving, we must view the data center as a system of systems, taking a holistic view rather than focusing on individual sub-systems. In this paper we use industry standard benchmarks and a wind-tunnel to profile typical enterprise IT. We analyze the effect of environmental conditions on IT efficiency, showing minor increases in temperature or pressure impact the efficiency of servers. Using an idealized, simulated data center case study we show that the interaction between cooling systems, server behaviour and local climate are non-trivial and increasing temperatures has potential to worsen efficiency