Cultural identity and ethnic newspapers in Las Vegas

Research suggests cultural identity is a fluid process characterized by individuals’ unique cultural, ethnic, and racial needs. Media are now known to reinforce ethnic group identity, language, beliefs, and customs. What are these relationships for ethnic groups living in Southern Nevada? Do media provide opportunities for cultural pluralism or for cultural assimilation? First phase results, reported last year, found ethnic radio and television in Las Vegas assimilated into larger, Anglo media business models despite programming that reinforced some aspects of ethnic cultures. This year we present second-phase results, assessing the role played by ethnic newspapers in the region. Analysis is based on qualitative interviews with Las Vegas ethnic newspaper publishers and editors

Kentucky\u27s Coal Industry: Historical Trends and Future Opportunities

Coal has been produced in Kentucky since the late 18th century. In the early years, all mining was by underground methods, but surface mining became the dominant method during and after World War II. In recent years, surface-mine production in both fields has decreased while underground mining has increased. In the last half of this century, the traditional steam coal market for locomotives has virtually disappeared, leaving electric power generation and coking coal for the steel industry as the principal markets. More than half of all coal produced in the State has been produced in the last 25 years. Whether this level of production can be profitably sustained is questionable. More than 50 percent of the coal in eastern Kentucky is Jess than 28 in. thick, while more than 69 percent of the coal in western Kentucky is greater than 42 in. thick. Although eastern Kentucky\u27s resources are thinner, they have a lower sulfur content and higher calorific value than western Kentucky\u27s. Traditional resource estimates have overestimated the amount of coal that can actually be mined because they have not taken into account factors such as competing land uses and geologic and engineering constraints. KGS is participating in national programs to estimate coal availability and recoverability. Results of selected study areas suggest that as little as 50 percent of the original resource is available for mining, whereas only 20 percent is economically recoverable. It is uncertain yet whether these averages are indicative of all of Kentucky\u27s coal resources. Regional assessments of Kentucky\u27s most important coals, which incorporate coal availability methods, are under way. A number of regulatory and taxation issues will have an impact on the coal industry in Kentucky, but how much of an impact is uncertain. These issues include the Clean Air Act Amendments, liability for unreel aimed surface mines, regulatory flexibility to permit changes in postmine land use, and changes in the State\u27s workers\u27 compensation law. Advances in thin-seam and remote-mining technology will be crucial, particularly in eastern Kentucky, where most of the remaining coal occurs in thin seams. improvements in coal-preparation technology could make Kentucky\u27s higher sulfur coals more attractive. There may be potential for extraction of methane gas from coal beds, as an energy by-product. Detailed knowledge of the physical and chemical character of Kentucky\u27s coal beds will be vital in their development. Acquisition of this knowledge could be facilitated by cooperation among private industry, public agencies, and research institutes

Who is a compatible partner for a male mouse?

The complex issue of social housing of laboratory mice was addressed by studying the housing compatibility of male mice with castrated males, or with ovariectomized females, for a period of up to seven weeks. Sexually mature males were shown to be socially incompatible with castrated males of the same age but to be more compatible with same age or older ovariectomized females (results varied according to the mouse strains used). These ovariectomized females could also be repeatedly housed with different sets of younger male mice, even after being briefly separated and again re-paired. Our data suggest that ovariectomized females could be used to establish a long-term companion group fully compatible for male mice group housing

Research into the quality standard of homes delivered through change of use permitted development rights

The report provides the findings of independent research into the quality standard of homes delivered through certain national permitted development rights for the change of use. The research considers the quality of homes delivered in 11 case study areas in England in respect of size, amenity, location and design, drawing out the differences between homes delivered through permitted development compared with planning applications

Experimental field estimation of organic nitrogen formation in tree canopies

The content of organic N has been shown in many studies to increase during the passage of rain water through forest canopies. The source of this organic N is unknown, but generally assumed to come from canopy processing of wet or dry-deposited inorganic N. There have been very few experimental studies in the field to address the canopy formation or loss of organic N. We report two studies: a Scots pine canopy exposed to ammonia gas, and a Sitka spruce canopy exposed to ammonium and nitrate as wet deposition. In both cases, organic N deposition in throughfall was increased, but only represented a small fraction (<10%) of the additional inorganic N supplied, suggesting a limited capacity for net organic N production, similar in both conifer canopies under Scottish summertime conditions, of less than 1.6 mmol Nm2 mth1 (equivalent to 3 kg N ha1 y1)

On the corrosion and soiling effects on materials by air pollution in Athens, Greece

In the frame of the European project, entitled MULTI-ASSESS, specimens of structural metals, glass, stone and concrete materials were exposed to air pollution at a station, which was installed for this purpose on a building, located in the centre of Athens. The main purpose of this project was to determine the corrosion and soiling effects of air pollution on materials. A set of the specimens was exposed in a position that was sheltered from rain and partly from wind, and another set was exposed in unsheltered positions on the roof of the above said building. In addition, other specimens were exposed at different heights on the same building, in order to investigate for the first time the corrosion and soiling effects on various materials as a function of height. For the determination of these effects, chemical analysis of the specimens was performed and basic parameters as the weight change, the layer thickness and the optical properties were calculated. Finally, the results obtained are discussed and their plausible interpretation is attempted

Stochastic modelling of reaction-diffusion processes: algorithms for bimolecular reactions

Several stochastic simulation algorithms (SSAs) have been recently proposed for modelling reaction-diffusion processes in cellular and molecular biology. In this paper, two commonly used SSAs are studied. The first SSA is an on-lattice model described by the reaction-diffusion master equation. The second SSA is an off-lattice model based on the simulation of Brownian motion of individual molecules and their reactive collisions. In both cases, it is shown that the commonly used implementation of bimolecular reactions (i.e. the reactions of the form A + B -> C, or A + A -> C) might lead to incorrect results. Improvements of both SSAs are suggested which overcome the difficulties highlighted. In particular, a formula is presented for the smallest possible compartment size (lattice spacing) which can be correctly implemented in the first model. This implementation uses a new formula for the rate of bimolecular reactions per compartment (lattice site).Comment: 33 pages, submitted to Physical Biolog

Individual Exposure to NO2 in Relation to Spatial and Temporal Exposure Indices in Stockholm, Sweden: The INDEX Study

Epidemiology studies of health effects from air pollution, as well as impact assessments, typically rely on ambient monitoring data or modelled residential levels. The relationship between these and personal exposure is not clear. To investigate personal exposure to NO2 and its relationship with other exposure metrics and time-activity patterns in a randomly selected sample of healthy working adults (20–59 years) living and working in Stockholm. Personal exposure to NO2 was measured with diffusive samplers in sample of 247 individuals. The 7-day average personal exposure was 14.3 µg/m3 and 12.5 µg/m3 for the study population and the inhabitants of Stockholm County, respectively. The personal exposure was significantly lower than the urban background level (20.3 µg/m3). In the univariate analyses the most influential determinants of individual exposure were long-term high-resolution dispersion-modelled levels of NO2 outdoors at home and work, and concurrent NO2 levels measured at a rural location, difference between those measured at an urban background and rural location and difference between those measured in busy street and at an urban background location, explaining 20, 16, 1, 2 and 4% (R2) of the 7-day personal NO2 variation, respectively. A regression model including these variables explained 38% of the variation in personal NO2 exposure. We found a small improvement by adding time-activity variables to the latter model (R2 = 0.44). The results adds credibility primarily to long-term epidemiology studies that utilise long-term indices of NO2 exposure at home or work, but also indicates that such studies may still suffer from exposure misclassification and dilution of any true effects. In contrast, urban background levels of NO2 are poorly related to individual exposure