The measurement of low pay in the UK labour force survey

Consideration of the National Minimum Wage requires estimates of the distribution of hourly pay. The UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a key source of such estimates. The approach most frequently adopted by researchers has been to measure hourly earnings from several questions on pay and hours. The Office for National Statistics is now applying a new approach, based on an alternative more direct measurement introduced in March 1999. These two measures do not produce identical values and this paper investigates sources of discrepancies and concludes that the new variable is more accurate. The difficulty with using the new variable is that it is only available on a subset of respondents. An approach is developed in which missing values of the new variable are replaced by imputed values. The assumptions underlying this imputation approach and results of applying it to LFS data are presented. The relation to weighting approaches is also discussed

Hox-controlled reorganisation of intrasegmental patterning cues underlies Drosophila posterior spiracle organogenesis

10 páginas, 8 figuras. Material complementario del artículo esta disponible en http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/132/13/3093/DC1Hox proteins provide axial positional information and control segment morphology in development and evolution. Yet how they specify morphological traits that confer segment identity and how axial positional information interferes with intrasegmental patterning cues during organogenesis remain poorly understood. We have investigated the control of Drosophila posterior spiracle morphogenesis, a segment-specific structure that forms under Abdominal-B (AbdB) Hox control in the eighth abdominal segment (A8). We show that the Hedgehog (Hh), Wingless (Wg) and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (Egfr) pathways provide specific inputs for posterior spiracle morphogenesis and act in a genetic network made of multiple and rapidly evolving Hox/signalling interplays. A major function of AbdB during posterior spiracle organogenesis is to reset A8 intrasegmental patterning cues, first by reshaping wg and rhomboid expression patterns, then by reallocating the Hh signal and later by initiating de novo expression of the posterior compartment gene engrailed in anterior compartment cells. These changes in expression patterns confer axial specificity to otherwise reiteratively used segmental patterning cues, linking intrasegmental polarity and acquisition of segment identity.This work was supported by the `Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique' (CNRS), grants from `la Ligue Nationale Contre Le Cancer (équipe labellisée La Ligue)', `l'Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer' (ARC), The Royal Society, The Welcome Trust, the `Minesterio de education y ciencia (BFU 2004 0 96) and ARC and EMBO long term fellowships to S. Merabet.Peer reviewe

Routine gastric residual volume measurement to guide enteral feeding in mechanically ventilated infants and children : the GASTRIC feasibility study

Background The routine measurement of gastric residual volume to guide the initiation and delivery of enteral feeding, is widespread in paediatric intensive care and neonatal units, but has little underlying evidence to support it. Objective(s) To answer the question: Is it feasible to conduct a trial of not measuring gastric residual volume on clinical outcomes in mechanically ventilated infants and children in the UK? Design A mixed methods study involving five linked work packages in two parallel arms, neonatal units and paediatric intensive care units. 1. A survey of units to establish current UK practice. 2. qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals and caregivers of children admitted to either setting. 3. A modified two-round e-Delphi survey to investigate health care professionals’ opinions on trial design issues and to obtain consensus on outcomes. 4. National databases were examined to determine the potential eligible populations. 5. Two consensus meetings, of health care professionals and parents to review the data and agreed consensus on outcomes that had not reached consensus in the e-Delphi. Participants and setting Parents of children with experience of ventilation and tube feeding in both neonatal units and in paediatric intensive care units, and health care professionals working in neonatal units and paediatric intensive care units. Results Baseline surveys showed the practice of gastric residual volume measurement was very common: 96% PICUs and 65% in neonatal units. Ninety percent of parents both from neonatal units and paediatric intensive care units supported a future trial, whilst highlighting concerns around possible delays in detecting complications. Health care professionals also indicated a trial was feasible, with 84% of staff willing to participate in a trial. Concerns expressed by junior nurses about the intervention arm of not measuring gastric residual volumes were addressed by developing a simple flowchart and education package. The trial design survey and e-Delphi study gained consensus on trial 12 PICU and 9 neonatal unit outcome measures and identified acceptable inclusion and exclusion criteria. Given the differences in physiology, disease processes, environments, staffing and outcomes of interest, two different trials are required in the two settings. Database analyses subsequently showed trials were feasible in both settings in terms of patient numbers. Of 16222 children who met the inclusion criteria in PICU 12 629 stayed > 3 days. In neonatal units, 15 375 neonates <32 weeks age. Finally, the two consensus meetings demonstrated ‘buy in’ from the wider UK neonatal communities and paediatric intensive care units and enabled us to discuss and vote on the outcomes that did not achieve consensus in the e-Delphi study. Conclusions and future work Two separate UK trials (one in neonatal units and one in paediatric intensive care units) are feasible to conduct, but they cannot be combined due to differences in outcome measures and treatment protocols, reflecting the distinctness of the two specialties

Организация и проведение аварийно-спасательных работ при ДТП с участием общественного транспорта

В статье описывается организация и проведение АСР при ДТП с участием общественного транспорта, рассматриваются действия спасателей в различных вариантах происшествия, описываются последовательность, и способы выполнения работ. Тhe article describes the organization and conduct of ASR in an accident involving public transport, examines the actions of rescuers in various versions of the incident, and describes the sequence and methods of performing the work

Search for R-parity Violating Decays of Supersymmetric Particles in e+e- Collisions at LEP

A search, in e^+e^- collisions, for chargino, neutralino, scalar lepton and scalar quark pair-production is performed, without assuming R-parity conservation in decays, in the case that only one of the coupling constants lambda_ijk or lambda''_ijk is non-negligible. No signal is found in data up to a centre-of-mass energy of 208GeV. Limits on the production cross sections and on the masses of supersymmetric particles are derived

Measurement of the Topological Branching Fractions of the tau lepton at LEP

Using data collected with the L3 detector at LEP from 1992 to 1995 on the Z peak, we determine the branching fractions of the tau lepton into one, three and five charged particles to be: B(tau->(1-prong)) = 85.274 +- 0.105 +- 0.073 %, B(tau->(3-prong)) = 14.556 +- 0.105 +- 0.076 %, B(tau->(5-prong)) = 0.170 +- 0.022 +- 0.026 %. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The accuracy of these measurements alone is similar to that of the current world average

CMS Forward-Backward MSGC milestone

The CMS MF1 milestone was set in order to evaluate system aspects of the CMS forward-backward MSGC tracker, to check the design and feasibility of mass production and to set up assembly and test procedures. We describe the construction and the experience gained with the operation of a system of 38 MSGC detectors assembled in six multi-substrate detector modules corresponding to the geometry of the forward-backward MSGC tracker in CMS. These modules were equipped with MSGCs mounted side by side, forming a continuous detector surface of about 0.2 m2. Different designs were tried for these modules. The problems encountered are presented with the proposed solutions. Operation conditions for the 38 MSGCs are reported from an exposure to a muon beam at the CERN SPS. Gain uniformity along the wedge-shaped strip pattern and across the detector modules are shown together with the detection efficiency, the spatial resolution, alignment and edge studies

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Reception Test of Petals for the End Cap TEC+ of the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker

The silicon strip tracker of the CMS experiment has been completed and was inserted into the CMS detector in late 2007. The largest sub system of the tracker are its end caps, comprising two large end caps (TEC) each containing 3200 silicon strip modules. To ease construction, the end caps feature a modular design: groups of about 20 silicon modules are placed on sub-assemblies called petals and these self-contained elements are then mounted onto the TEC support structures. Each end cap consists of 144 such petals, which were built and fully qualified by several institutes across Europe. Fro

Integration of the End Cap TEC+ of the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker

The silicon strip tracker of the CMS experiment has been completed and inserted into the CMS detector in late 2007. The largest sub-system of the tracker is its end cap system, comprising two large end caps (TEC) each containing 3200 silicon strip modules. To ease construction, the end caps feature a modular design: groups of about 20 silicon modules are placed on sub-assemblies called petals and these self-contained elements are then mounted into the TEC support structures. Each end cap consists of 144 petals, and the insertion of these petals into the end cap structure is referred to as TEC integration. The two end caps were integrated independently in Aachen (TEC+) and at CERN (TEC--). This note deals with the integration of TEC+, describing procedures for end cap integration and for quality control during testing of integrated sections of the end cap and presenting results from the testing