2,611 research outputs found
Outlines: An Original Composition for Concert Band
If one attempted to study the history of jazz through the study of music playable by and available to the average high school band, he might conclude that jazz was a frivolous medium which died in the late 1940\u27s. Outlines was composed in the hope that future high school musicians will develop a more balanced view of music trends in the last half of the century
Stability of Ampelometric Characteristics of Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Syrah' and 'Sauvignon blanc' Leaves: Impact of Within-vineyard Variability and Pruning Method/Bud Load
Historically, grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) leaf characterisation has been a driving force in the identification of cultivars. In this study, ampelometric (foliometric) analysis was done on leaf samples collected from hand-pruned, mechanically pruned and minimally pruned ‘Sauvignon blanc’ and ‘Syrah’ vines to estimate the impact of within-vineyard variability and a change in bud load on the stability of leaf properties. The results showed that within-vineyard variability of ampelometric characteristics was high within a cultivar, irrespective of bud load. In terms of the O.I.V. coding system, zero to four class differences were observed between minimum and maximum values of each characteristic. The value of variability of each characteristic was different between the three levels of bud load and the two cultivars. With respect to bud load, the number of shoots per vine had a significant effect on the characteristics of the leaf laminae. Single leaf area and lengths of veins changed significantly for both cultivars, irrespective of treatment, while angle between veins proved to be a stable characteristic. A large number of biometric data can be recorded on a single leaf; the data measured on several leaves, however, are not necessarily unique for a specific cultivar. The leaf characteristics analysed in this study can be divided into two groups according to the response to a change in bud load, i.e. stable (angles between the veins, depths of sinuses) and variable (length of the veins, length of the petiole, single leaf area). The variable characteristics are not recommended to be used in cultivar identification, unless the pruning method/bud load is known
Search for variable gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane in the Fermi data
High-energy gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane above ~100 MeV is
composed of three main contributions: diffuse emission from cosmic ray
interactions in the interstellar medium, emission from extended sources, such
as supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae, and emission from isolated
compact source populations. The diffuse emission and emission from the extended
sources provide the dominant contribution to the flux almost everywhere in the
inner Galaxy, preventing the detection of isolated compact sources. In spite of
this difficulty, compact sources in the Galactic plane can be singled out based
on the variability properties of their gamma-ray emission. Our aim is to find
sources in the Fermi data that show long-term variability. We performed a
systematic study of the emission variability from the Galactic plane, by
constructing the variability maps. We find that emission from several
directions along the Galactic plane is significantly variable on a time scale
of months. These directions include, in addition to known variable Galactic
sources and background blazars, the Galactic ridge region at positive Galactic
longitudes and several regions containing young pulsars. We argue that
variability on the time scale of months may be common to pulsars, originating
from the inner parts of pulsar wind nebulae, similarly to what is observed in
the Crab pulsar.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
Reforming the public health system in England
The abolition of Public Health England (PHE) during the COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the future of the public health system in the UK, particularly in England. The two new bodies established in haste to replace PHE prompt reflection on the executive agency's fate and the need to identify any lessons to ensure that a public health system is put in place that is fit for purpose. The UK COVID-19 Inquiry provides an opportunity to make recommendations, but it will need to act quickly to avoid recommendations being ignored. Two areas of concern are highlighted in this Viewpoint: the respective remits of the new bodies and their governance arrangements. Both issues demand urgent attention if the new structures are to succeed and avoid a similar fate to that which befell PHE. But underlying these concerns is a much larger challenge arising from the UK's broken political system. The political system in the UK suffers from several systemic weaknesses, including departmentalism, poor implementation, an inability or unwillingness of those in power to listen to the truth, and chronic short-termism at the expense of long-term planning. Overhauling the UK's dysfunctional political system is a prerequisite for successfully improving the public health system
Origin of dwarf irregular galaxies with outer early-type structures
Recent observations have reported that some gas-rich dwarf irregular (dIrr)
galaxies appear to have spherical distributions in the outer underlying old and
intermediate-age stellar populations (e.g., NGC 6822). These observations imply
that some dIrr's have two distinct (or ``two-component'') structures, i.e.,
inner disky and outer spherical ones, though the number fraction of dIrr's with
such structures remains observationally unclear. We discuss how such two
distinct structures are formed during dIrr formation based on observations and
simulations. Our numerical simulations show that the remnants of mergers
between two gas-rich dIrr's with initially extended gas disks can have both
extended spheroids composed of older stellar populations and disks composed
mostly of gas and young stars. The simulated remnants with two distinct
structures can be still identified as dIrr's owing to the presence of
star-forming regions. The structural properties of outer spherical structures
in dIrr's formed from dIrr-dIrr merging depend on initial conditions of
merging, which suggests that outer structures in dIrr's can be diverse. We also
discuss other possible physical mechanisms for the formation of outer spherical
structures composed of older stars in dIrr's.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures (two color), ApJL in pres
2-(Pyridin-2-yl)-1,3-oxathiane
The title compound, C9H11NOS, exhibits a unique structural motif, with free rotation of the aliphatic oxathiane ring about the C—C bond connecting this moiety to the aromatic pyridine ring. The structure elucidation was undertaken due to its potential as a bidentate ligand for organometallic complexes. The oxathiane ring adopts the expected chair conformation, with the S atom in proximity to the N atom on the pyridine ring. The corresponding S—C—C—N torsion angle is 69.07 (14)°. In the crystal, molecules aggregate as centrosymmetric pairs connected by pairs of C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds
Public health by organizational fix?
In August 2020 the UK government announced without warning the abolition of Public Health England (PHE), the principal UK agency for the promotion and protection of public health. We undertook a research programme seeking to understand the factors surrounding this decision. While the underlying issues are complex two competing interpretations have emerged: an 'official' explanation, which highlights the failure of PHE to scale up its testing capacity in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic as the fundamental reason for closing it down and a 'sceptical' interpretation, which ascribes the decision to blame-avoidance behaviour on the part of leading government figures. This paper reviews crucial claims in these two competing explanations exploring the arguments for and against each proposition. It concludes that neither is adequate and that the inability adequately to address the problem of testing (which triggered the decision to close PHE) lies deeper in the absence of the norms of responsible government in UK politics and the state. However our findings do provide some guidance to the two new organizations established to replace PHE to maximize their impact on public health. We hope that this information will contribute to the independent national COVID inquiry
BT-Nurse : computer generation of natural language shift summaries from complex heterogeneous medical data
Objective: To determine if a computer system can automatically generate a useful natural
language nursing shift summary solely from an electronic patient record system, in a neonatal
intensive care unit (NICU).
Design: A system was built which automatically generates NICU shift summaries, using datato-
text technology. The system was tested for two months in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
NICU.
Measurements: Nurses were asked to rate the understandability, accuracy, and helpfulness of
the computer-generated summaries; they were also asked for free-text comments about the
summaries.
Results: The nurses found the majority of the summaries to be understandable, accurate, and
helpful (p < .001 for all measures). However, nurses also pointed out many deficiencies,
especially with regard to extra content they wanted to see in the computer-generated
summaries.
Conclusions: Natural language NICU shift summaries can be automatically generated from an
electronic patient record. However our proof-of-concept software needs considerable
additional development work.peer-reviewe
- …