Collation of the results of the 2014 aggregate minerals survey for England and Wales

1.1 Aggregate Minerals (AM) surveys, normally undertaken at four-yearly intervals since 1973, provide an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of national and sub-national sales, inter-regional flows, transportation, consumption and permitted reserves of primary aggregates. The surveys are used to inform the development of minerals policy in respect to the production, movement and consumption of aggregates. The data are made publicly available. 1.2 This report is the collation of the data for primary aggregates for 2014, therefore there has been a five year period between this and the previous survey (AM2009). In addition to presenting information on regional and national sales, consumption, and permitted reserves of primary aggregates, the AM2014 report also presents data on the movement and consumption of primary aggregates by sub-region. Information is also presented on the quantity of aggregate minerals granted and refused planning permission and planning permission applications withdrawn between 2010 and 2014. In addition, information is presented on the quantity of aggregate minerals within planning permission applications submitted between 2010 and 2014 and were awaiting a decision at 31 December 2014. 1.3 The information is presented for England and Wales and for individual regions and was collected from aggregate producers by Mineral Planning Authorities (MPAs) using a standard form (Appendix F). It was subsequently collated at regional level by the relevant Aggregate Working Party Secretary (Appendix I) or the British Geological Survey (BGS)1 and at national level by the BGS on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Welsh Government. Similar information was published by the then Department of the Environment for 1973, 1977, 1985, 1989 and 1993, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for 1997, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for 2001 and the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Welsh Assembly Government for 2005 and 2009 (Appendix H). Comparisons of sales, consumption and permitted reserves for these years and 2014 are provided in Tables D1 to D3

Ælfric's Old English Admonition to a spiritual son : an edition

The anonymous Old English translation of the Admonitio ad Filium Spiritualem ascribed to St. Basil has hitherto been accessible only in the 1848/9 editions ofHW. Norman and the 1974 unpublished PhD dissertation ofL.E. Mueller. This edition takes into consideration the work of both editors, but pursues the relevant issues somethat further, beginning with the ascription of the work to iElfric. I use the single authoritative Hatton Ms 76A as the basis for my text; the critical introduction includes sections on the history of this manuscript and its two transcriptions, its possible relation to known Latin manuscripts of the text, and its orthography, punctuation and accent marks, and a full list of the annotations in the tremulous hand of the Worcester scribe. In considering the transmission of the text to iElfric, I include sections on St. Basil's status as a monastic legislator to explain the text's currency, the penitential tradition and the place of the Admonitio within the iElfiic canon. I conclude with analysis of the Old English text, its linguistic focus, style and structure, arguing that the Old English text may not be as incomplete as has previously been thought. To accompany my text I provide textual notes, a full commentary, which includes identification of the sources of some concepts not found in the Latin, and a Glossary. As Appendices I include a transcription of a part of Bodley Ms 800, the closest available version of iElfric's source, a provisional handlist of manuscripts in British libraries and elsewhere containing part or all of the Latin Admonitio, and a list of the accent marks on Hatton Ms 76A, ff 55-67v, together with a chart to show their line-distribution

Transition rates and nuclear structure changes in mirror nuclei 47Cr and 47V

Lifetime measurements in the mirror nuclei 47Cr and 47V were performed by means of the Doppler-shift attenuation method using the multidetector array EUROBALL, in conjunction with the ancillary detectors ISIS and the Neutron Wall. The determined transition strengths in the yrast cascades are well described by full pf shell model calculations.Comment: Latex2e, 11 pages, 3 figure

Birefringence of interferential mirrors at normal incidence Experimental and computational study

In this paper we present a review of the existing data on interferential mirror birefringence. We also report new measurements of two sets of mirrors that confirm that mirror phase retardation per reflection decreases when mirror reflectivity increases. We finally developed a computational code to calculate the expected phase retardation per reflection as a function of the total number of layers constituting the mirror. Different cases have been studied and we have compared computational results with the trend of the experimental data. Our study indicates that the origin of the mirror intrinsic birefringence can be ascribed to the reflecting layers close to the substrate.Comment: To be published in Applied Physics

A Systems Approach to Improving Tdap Immunization Within 5 Community-Based Family Practice Settings: Working Differently (and Better) by Transforming the Structure and Process of Care.

OBJECTIVES: We examined how family medicine clinic physicians and staff worked in collaborative teams to implement an automated clinical reminder to improve tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) booster vaccine administration and documentation. METHODS: A clinical reminder was developed at 5 University of Michigan family medicine clinics to identify patients 11 to 64 years old who were in need of the Tdap booster vaccine. Quality improvement cycles were used to improve clinic care processes. Immunization rates from 2008 to 2011 were compared with rates at 4 primary care control clinics. RESULTS: Vaccination rates among eligible patients increased from 15.5% to 47.3% within the family medicine clinics and from 14.1% to 30.2% within the control clinics. After adjustment for covariates, family medicine patients had a higher probability of vaccination than control patients during each measurement period (0.17 vs 0.15 at baseline, 0.53 vs 0.22 during year 1, and 0.50 vs 0.30 during year 2). CONCLUSIONS: Automated clinical reminders, when designed and implemented via a consensus-based framework that addresses the process of care, can dramatically improve provision of preventive health care

Why do plasmids manipulate the expression of bacterial phenotypes?

Conjugative plasmids play an important role in bacterial evolution by transferring niche-adaptive traits between lineages, thus driving adaptation and genome diversification. It is increasingly clear, however, that in addition to this evolutionary role, plasmids also manipulate the expression of a broad range of bacterial phenotypes. In this review, we argue that the effects that plasmids have on the expression of bacterial phenotypes may often represent plasmid adaptations, rather than mere deleterious side effects. We begin by summarizing findings from untargeted omics analyses, which give a picture of the global effects of plasmid acquisition on host cells. Thereafter, because many plasmids are capable of both vertical and horizontal transmission, we distinguish plasmid-mediated phenotypic effects into two main classes based upon their potential fitness benefit to plasmids: (i) those that promote the competitiveness of the host cell in a given niche and thereby increase plasmid vertical transmission, and (ii) those that promote plasmid conjugation and thereby increase plasmid horizontal transmission. Far from being mere vehicles for gene exchange, we propose that plasmids often act as sophisticated genetic parasites capable of manipulating their bacterial hosts for their own benefit

Constraining the period of the ringed secondary companion to the young star J1407 with photographic plates

Context. The 16 Myr old star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 (V1400 Cen) underwent a series of complex eclipses in May 2007, interpreted as the transit of a giant Hill sphere filling debris ring system around a secondary companion, J1407b. No other eclipses have since been detected, although other measurements have constrained but not uniquely determined the orbital period of J1407b. Finding another eclipse towards J1407 will help determine the orbital period of the system, the geometry of the proposed ring system and enable planning of further observations to characterize the material within these putative rings. Aims. We carry out a search for other eclipses in photometric data of J1407 with the aim of constraining the orbital period of J1407b. Methods. We present photometry from archival photographic plates from the Harvard DASCH survey, and Bamberg and Sonneberg Observatories, in order to place additional constraints on the orbital period of J1407b by searching for other dimming and eclipse events. Using a visual inspection of all 387 plates and a period-folding algorithm we performed a search for other eclipses in these data sets. Results. We find no other deep eclipses in the data spanning from 1890 to 1990, nor in recent time-series photometry from 2012-2018. Conclusions. We rule out a large fraction of putative orbital periods for J1407b from 5 to 20 years. These limits are still marginally consistent with a large Hill sphere filling ring system surrounding a brown dwarf companion in a bound elliptical orbit about J1407. Issues with the stability of any rings combined with the lack of detection of another eclipse, suggests that J1407b may not be bound to J1407.Comment: 8 pages, 3 tables, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. LaTeX files of the paper, scripts for the figures, and a minimal working FPA can be found under https://github.com/robinmentel/Constraining-Period

Time-reversal violating rotation of polarization plane of light in gas placed in electric field

Rotation of polarization plane of light in gas placed in electric field is considered. Different factors causing this phenomenon are investigated. Angle of polarization plane rotation for transition 6S_{1/2} - 7S_{1/2} in cesium (lambda=539 nm) is estimated. The possibility to observe this effect experimentally is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, Late

Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales

Nature provides a wide range of benefits to people. There is increasing consensus about the importance of incorporating these ecosystem services into resource management decisions, but quantifying the levels and values of these services has proven difficult. We use a spatially explicit modeling tool, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), to predict changes in ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and commodity production levels. We apply InVEST to stakeholder-defined scenarios of land-use/land-cover change in the Willamette Basin, Oregon. We found that scenarios that received high scores for a variety of ecosystem services also had high scores for biodiversity, suggesting there is little tradeoff between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Scenarios involving more development had higher commodity production values, but lower levels of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. However, including payments for carbon sequestration alleviates this tradeoff. Quantifying ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner, and analyzing tradeoffs between them, can help to make natural resource decisions more effective, efficient, and defensible. © The Ecological Society of America