The use of conversation mapping to frame key perceptual issues facing the general dental practice system in England

<b>Objective</b>: To demonstrate the use of a novel qualitative methodology namely conversation mapping, which can be used to capture differences in stakeholder perspectives and give a root definition of the problem in a complex policy area. The methodology is used in the context of the changes introduced in the English general dental practice system in April 2006, to investigate the key issues facing the system, as perceived by general dental practitioners (GDPs). <b>Basic research design</b>: From a broad trigger statement, three transformational statements were produced. Each participant recorded their contribution on a hard diagrammatic form as a ‘map’, with others responding with their own written comment, thus generating three conversation maps. Thematic analysis resulted in the generation of a preliminary model summarising key perceptual issues. <b>Results</b>: The five emergent themes identified were: financing, dentists’ wants/needs, the role of the public and patients, system goals and policy level decision making. Financing was identified as the core category to which all other categories were related. <b>Conclusions</b>: Conversation mapping, a methodology arising from a systems approach, can be used to develop a ‘rich picture’ of an oral health care system in order to define the core problem within this policy area. Findings suggest that GDPs identify the financing of the system as a fundamental source of problems within the general dental practice system. This appears to be at variance with the perception of policy makers, who report a more limited view, identifying the system of remuneration as the ‘heart of the problem’

RRS Charles Darwin Cruise 121, 20 Apr-4 May 2000. Ocean Engineering Division instrument trials cruise over the Goban Spur, Pendragon Escarpment and Porcupine Abyssal Plain

The objective of this cruise was to test a variety of oceanographic instruments under realistic field conditions. These instruments included:- USBL acoustic navigation system; Inverted acoustic navigation system; SHRIMP deep-towed camera system using fibre optic tow cable; Scatterometer profilerChirp profiler; CLAM cable monitoring system; Autoflux meteorological measuring system; UV nitrate sensor; Fibre optic pressure and temperature sensor string; SUMOSS hyperspectral spectrometer systemMost of these instruments require a water depth of several thousand metres for normal use and this dictated the choice of work area. The Porcupine Abyssal Plain is the nearest place to Southampton offering these conditions.All the instruments apart from SHRIMP and the scatterometer produced useful test results demonstrating the advantages of this type of cruise. Those instruments that were not successfully tested were handicapped by a lack of preparation that was aggravated by the cruise taking place earlier than initially requested

A Bantu 'Typhoid Mary'

No Abstract

Intercomparison of ambient acoustic spectra in inland and coastal waters

This paper compares the observed ambient sound levels at two very different sites, relating both to independent estimates of wind speed and rain rate. The spectra for wind-only conditions at the two sites show great differences, especially at low wind speed. The spectra associated with rain were sufficiently different from the wind-only spectra (either in terms of spectral slope or the intensity at 14.5 kHz) to support the development of a generic rather than site-specific rain detection algorithm

Photophysiological and photosynthetic complex changes during iron starvation in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Iron is an essential component in many protein complexes involved in photosynthesis, but environmental iron availability is often low as oxidized forms of iron are insoluble in water. To adjust to low environmental iron levels, cyanobacteria undergo numerous changes to balance their iron budget and mitigate the physiological effects of iron depletion. We investigated changes in key protein abundances and photophysiological parameters in the model cyanobacteria Synechococcus PCC 7942 and Synechocystis PCC 6803 over a 120 hour time course of iron deprivation. The iron stress induced protein (IsiA) accumulated to high levels within 48 h of the onset of iron deprivation, reaching a molar ratio of ~42 IsiA : Photosystem I in Synechococcus PCC 7942 and ~12 IsiA : Photosystem I in Synechocystis PCC 6803. Concomitantly the iron-rich complexes Cytochrome b6f and Photosystem I declined in abundance, leading to a decrease in the Photosystem I : Photosystem II ratio. Chlorophyll fluorescence analyses showed a drop in electron transport per Photosystem II in Synechococcus, but not in Synechocystis after iron depletion. We found no evidence that the accumulated IsiA contributes to light capture by Photosystem II complexes

The mineral resources of the English Channel and Thames Estuary

This report accompanies the Marine mineral resource map the marine sand and gravel resources of the English Channel and Thames Estuary (Bide et al, 2012). It has been published as part of the research project Mineral Resource Assessment of the UK Continental Shelf commissioned by The Crown Estate. The map is one of a series that covers the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Knowledge of mineral resources is essential for effective and sustainable planning decisions. The marine mineral resource maps provide a comprehensive, relevant and accessible information base. This information will allow all stakeholders (planners, industry and members of the public) to visualise the distribution of offshore minerals to a common standard and at a common scale, an important requirement of an integrated marine planning system. The maps will also facilitate the conservation (safeguarding) of non-renewable mineral resources for future generations in accordance with the principles of sustainable development

Control of typhoid fever by vaccination

No Abstract

Report of the SNOMS Project 2006 to 2012, SNOMS SWIRE NOCS Ocean Monitoring System. Part 1: Narrative description

The ocean plays a major role in controlling the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are a threat to the stability of the earth’s climate. A better understanding of the controlling role of the ocean will improve predictions of likely future changes in climate and the impact of the uptake of CO2 itself on marine eco-systems caused by the associated acidification of the ocean waters. The SNOMS Project (SWIRE NOCS Ocean Monitoring System) is a ground breaking joint research project supported by the Swire Group Trust, the Swire Educational Trust, the China Navigation Company (CNCo) and the Natural Environment Research Council. It collects high quality data on concentrations of CO2 in the surface layer of the ocean. It contributes to the international effort to better quantify (and understand the driving processes controlling) the exchanges of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. In 2006 and 2007 a system that could be used on a commercial ship to provide data over periods of several months with only limited maintenance by the ships crew was designed and assembled by NOCS. The system was fitted to the CNCo ship the MV Pacific Celebes in May 2007. The onboard system was supported by web pages that monitored the progress of the ship and the functioning of the data collection system. To support the flow of data from the ship to the archiving of the data at the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC in the USA) data processing procedures were developed for the quality control and systematic handling of the data. Data from samples of seawater collected by the ships crew and analysed in NOC (730 samples) have been used to confirm the consistency of the data from the automated measurement system on the ship. To examine the data collected between 2007 and 2012 the movements of the ship are divided into 16 voyages. Initially The Celebes traded on a route circum-navigating the globe via the Panama and Suez Canals. In 2009 the route shifted to one between Australia and New Zealand to USA and Canada. Analysis of the data is an on going process. It has demonstrated that the system produces reliable data. Data are capable of improving existing estimates of seasonal variability. The work has improved knowledge of gas exchange processes. Data from the crew-collected-samples are helping improve our ability to estimate alkalinity in different areas. This helps with the study of ocean acidification. Data from the 9 round trips in the Pacific are currently being examined along with data made available by the NOAA-PMEL laboratory forming time series from 2004 to 2012. The data from the Pacific route are of considerable interest. One reason is that the data monitors variations in the fluxes of CO2 associated with the current that flows westwards along the equator. This is one of the major natural sources of CO2 from the ocean into the atmosphere

Two loop correction to interference in gg → ZZ

We present results for the production of a pair of on-shell Z bosons via gluon-gluon fusion. This process occurs both through the production and decay of the Higgs boson, and through continuum production where the Z boson couples to a loop of massless quarks or to a massive quark. We calculate the interference of the two processes and its contribution to the cross section up to and including order O(αs3). The two-loop contributions to the amplitude are all known analytically, except for the continuum production through loops of top quarks of mass m. The latter contribution is important for the invariant mass of the two Z bosons, (as measured by the mass of their leptonic decay products, m4l), in a regime where m4l ≥ 2m because of the contributions of longitudinal bosons. We examine all the contributions to the virtual amplitude involving top quarks, as expansions about the heavy top quark limit combined with a conformal mapping and Padé approximants. Comparison with the analytic results, where known, allows us to assess the validity of the heavy quark expansion, and it extensions. We give results for the NLO corrections to this interference, including both real and virtual radiation

Next-to-leading order predictions for WW + 1 jet distributions at the LHC

We present numerical results for the production of a $W^+W^-$ pair in association with a jet at the LHC in QCD at next-to-leading order (NLO). We include effects of the decay of the massive vector bosons into leptons with spin correlations and contributions from the third generation of massive quarks. The calculation is performed using a semi-numerical method for the virtual corrections, and is implemented in MCFM. In addition to its importance {\it per se} as a test of the Standard Model, this process is an important background to searches for the Higgs boson and to many new physics searches. As an example, we study the impact of NLO corrections to $W^+W^-+$ jet production on the search for a Higgs boson at the LHC.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures; v3 published versio