The association between retinal vein ophthalmodynamometric force change and optic disc excavation

Aim: Retinal vein ophthalmodynamometric force (ODF) is predictive of future optic disc excavation in glaucoma, but it is not known if variation in ODF affects prognosis. We aimed to assess whether a change in ODF provides additional prognostic information. Methods: 135 eyes of 75 patients with glaucoma or being glaucoma suspects had intraocular pressure (IOP), visual fields, stereo optic disc photography and ODF measured on an initial visit and a subsequent visit at mean 82 (SD 7.3) months later. Corneal thickness and blood pressure were recorded on the latter visit. When venous pulsation was spontaneous, the ODF was recorded as 0 g. Change in ODF was calculated. Flicker stereochronoscopy was used to determine the occurrence of optic disc excavation, which was modelled against the measured variables using multiple mixed effects logistic regression. Results: Change in ODF (p=0.046) was associated with increased excavation. Average IOP (p=0.66) and other variables were not associated. Odds ratio for increased optic disc excavation of 1.045 per gram ODF change (95% CI 1.001 to 1.090) was calculated. Conclusion: Change in retinal vein ODF may provide additional information to assist with glaucoma prognostication and implies a significant relationship between venous change and glaucoma patho-physiology

Aqueous Processes and Microbial Habitability of Gale Crater Sediments from the Blunts Point to the Glenn Torridon Clay Unit

A driving factor for sending the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity rover to Gale Crater was the orbital detection of clay minerals in the Glen Torridon (GT) clay unit. Clay mineral detections in GT suggested a past aqueous environment that was habitable, and could contain organic evidence of past microbiology. The mission of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument onboard Curiosity was to detect organic evidence of past microbiology and to detect volatile bearing mineralogy that can inform on whether past geochemical conditions would have supported microbiological activity. The objective of this work was to 1) evaluate the depositional/alteration conditions of Blunts Point (BP) to GT sediments 2) search for evidence of organics, and 3) evaluate microbial habitability in the BP, Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR), and GT sedimentary rock

Bundles over Nearly-Kahler Homogeneous Spaces in Heterotic String Theory

We construct heterotic vacua based on six-dimensional nearly-Kahler homogeneous manifolds and non-trivial vector bundles thereon. Our examples are based on three specific group coset spaces. It is shown how to construct line bundles over these spaces, compute their properties and build up vector bundles consistent with supersymmetry and anomaly cancelation. It turns out that the most interesting coset is $SU(3)/U(1)^2$. This space supports a large number of vector bundles which lead to consistent heterotic vacua, some of them with three chiral families.Comment: 32 pages, reference adde

Education policy as an act of white supremacy: whiteness, critical race theory and education reform

The paper presents an empirical analysis of education policy in England that is informed by recent developments in US critical theory. In particular, I draw on ‘whiteness studies’ and the application of Critical Race Theory (CRT). These perspectives offer a new and radical way of conceptualising the role of racism in education. Although the US literature has paid little or no regard to issues outside North America, I argue that a similar understanding of racism (as a multifaceted, deeply embedded, often taken-for-granted aspect of power relations) lies at the heart of recent attempts to understand institutional racism in the UK. Having set out the conceptual terrain in the first half of the paper, I then apply this approach to recent changes in the English education system to reveal the central role accorded the defence (and extension) of race inequity. Finally, the paper touches on the question of racism and intentionality: although race inequity may not be a planned and deliberate goal of education policy neither is it accidental. The patterning of racial advantage and inequity is structured in domination and its continuation represents a form of tacit intentionality on the part of white powerholders and policy makers. It is in this sense that education policy is an act of white supremacy. Following others in the CRT tradition, therefore, the paper’s analysis concludes that the most dangerous form of ‘white supremacy’ is not the obvious and extreme fascistic posturing of small neonazi groups, but rather the taken-for-granted routine privileging of white interests that goes unremarked in the political mainstream

Textural variations in Neogene pelagic carbonate ooze at DSDP Site 593, southern Tasman Sea, and their paleoceanographic implications

Changes in Neogene sediment texture in pelagic carbonate-rich oozes on the Challenger Plateau, southern Tasman Sea, are used to infer changes in depositional paleocurrent velocities. The most obvious record of textural change is in the mud:sand ratio. Increases in the sand content are inferred to indicate a general up-core trend towards increasing winnowing of sediments resulting from increasing flow velocity of Southern Component Intermediate Water (SCIW), the forerunner of Antarctic Intermediate Water. In particular, the intervals c. 19-14.5 Ma, c. 9.5-8 Ma, and after 5 Ma are suggested to be times of increased SCIW velocity and strong sediment winnowing. Within the mud fraction, the fine silt to coarse clay sizes from 15.6 to 2 µm make the greatest contribution to the sediments and are composed of nannofossil plates. During extreme winnowing events it is the fine silt to very coarse clay material (13-3 µm) within this range that is preferentially removed, suggesting the 10 µm cohesive silt boundary reported for siliciclastic sediments does not apply to calcitic skeletal grains. The winnowed sediment comprises coccolithophore placoliths and spheres, represented by a mode at 4-7 µm. Further support for seafloor winnowing is gained from the presence in Hole 593 of a condensed sedimentary section from c. 18 to 14 Ma where the sand content increases to c. 20% of the bulk sample. Associated with the condensed section is a 6 m thick orange unit representing sediments subjected to particularly oxygen-rich, late early to early middle Miocene SCIW. Together these are inferred to indicate increased SCIW velocity resulting in winnowed sediment associated with faster arrival of oxygen-rich surface water subducted to form SCIW. Glacial development of Antarctica has been recorded from many deep-sea sites, with extreme glacials providing the mechanism to increase watermass flow. Miocene glacial zones Mi1b-Mi6 are identified in an associated oxygen isotope record from Hole 593, and correspond with times of particularly invigorated paleocirculation, bottom winnowing, and sediment textural changes

The re-regulation of broadcasting: Or the mill owners’ triumph

Discusses the driving forces behind the Communications Bill 2001 of Great Britain. Terms of the bill; Arguments concerning the re-regulation

Moment Closure - A Brief Review

Moment closure methods appear in myriad scientific disciplines in the modelling of complex systems. The goal is to achieve a closed form of a large, usually even infinite, set of coupled differential (or difference) equations. Each equation describes the evolution of one "moment", a suitable coarse-grained quantity computable from the full state space. If the system is too large for analytical and/or numerical methods, then one aims to reduce it by finding a moment closure relation expressing "higher-order moments" in terms of "lower-order moments". In this brief review, we focus on highlighting how moment closure methods occur in different contexts. We also conjecture via a geometric explanation why it has been difficult to rigorously justify many moment closure approximations although they work very well in practice.Comment: short survey paper (max 20 pages) for a broad audience in mathematics, physics, chemistry and quantitative biolog

The effects of the spontaneous presence of a spouse/partner and others on cardiovascular reactions to an acute psychological challenge

The presence of supportive others has been associated with attenuated cardiovascular reactivity in the laboratory. The effects of the presence of a spouse and others in a more naturalistic setting have received little attention. Blood pressure and heart rate reactions to mental stress were recorded at home in 1028 married/partnered individuals. For 112 participants, their spouse/partner was present; for 78, at least one other person was present. Women tested with a spouse/partner present showed lower magnitude systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity than those tested without. Individuals tested with at least one nonspousal other present also displayed attenuated reactivity. This extends the results of laboratory studies and indicates that the spontaneous presence of others is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular reactivity in an everyday environment; spouse/partner presence would appear to be especially effective for women.\ud \u

Development of a regional-scale pollen emission and transport modeling framework for investigating the impact of climate change on allergic airway disease

Exposure to bioaerosol allergens such as pollen can cause exacerbations of allergenic airway disease (AAD) in sensitive populations, and thus cause serious public health problems. Assessing these health impacts by linking the airborne pollen levels, concentrations of respirable allergenic material, and human allergenic response under current and future climate conditions is a key step toward developing preventive and adaptive actions. To that end, a regional-scale pollen emission and transport modeling framework was developed that treats allergenic pollens as non-reactive tracers within the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting Community Multiscale Air Quality (WRF/CMAQ) modeling system. The <b>S</b>imulator of the <b>T</b>iming <b>a</b>nd <b>M</b>agnitude of <b>P</b>ollen <b>S</b>eason (STaMPS) model was used to generate a daily pollen pool that can then be emitted into the atmosphere by wind. The STaMPS is driven by species-specific meteorological (temperature and/or precipitation) threshold conditions and is designed to be flexible with respect to its representation of vegetation species and plant functional types (PFTs). The hourly pollen emission flux was parameterized by considering the pollen pool, friction velocity, and wind threshold values. The dry deposition velocity of each species of pollen was estimated based on pollen grain size and density. An evaluation of the pollen modeling framework was conducted for southern California (USA) for the period from March to June 2010. This period coincided with observations by the University of Southern California's Children's Health Study (CHS), which included O₃, PM_2.5, and pollen count, as well as measurements of exhaled nitric oxide in study participants. Two nesting domains with horizontal resolutions of 12 and 4 km were constructed, and six representative allergenic pollen genera were included: birch tree, walnut tree, mulberry tree, olive tree, oak tree, and brome grasses. Under the current parameterization scheme, the modeling framework tends to underestimate walnut and peak oak pollen concentrations, and tends to overestimate grass pollen concentrations. The model shows reasonable agreement with observed birch, olive, and mulberry tree pollen concentrations. Sensitivity studies suggest that the estimation of the pollen pool is a major source of uncertainty for simulated pollen concentrations. Achieving agreement between emission modeling and observed pattern of pollen releases is the key for successful pollen concentration simulations

Do trees in UK-relevant river catchments influence fluvial flood peaks?: a systematic review

This report describes a systematic review of the evidence in support of the primary question “Do trees in UK-relevant river catchments influence fluvial flood peaks?