Countering Communist and Nasserite Propaganda: the Foreign Office Information Research Department in the Middle East and Africa, 1954-1963

This thesis considers the role of the Information Research Department (IRD) in countering Arab nationalist and Communist propaganda directed at British interests in the Middle East and Africa between 1954 and 1963. It argues that the 1956 Suez Crisis and its fallout was the catalyst that drove a significant expansion of IRD's remit and responsibility. From 1956 the department – which up to this point had had a purely anti-Communist function – was given the responsibility of countering the increasing flow of Arab nationalist propaganda emerging from Egypt. The same year, the Communist powers mounted a renewed and concerted effort to culturally and ideologically penetrate Africa. IRD, who to this point had been excluded from directly operating in Africa, began counter-Communist work in the face of stiff Colonial Office resistance. Analysis of IRD in the Middle East has rarely considered events beyond the immediate aftermath of Suez. IRD's work in Africa is almost wholly unexplored. It is a central contention of this thesis that the two regions cannot be viewed in isolation post-Suez. Egypt's standing was buoyed by the propaganda capital of victory over Suez, and Nasser's position as the figurehead of Arab nationalism was assured. In seeking the removal of colonial influence from the Middle East and Africa, Arab propaganda – particularly the Voice of the Arabs programme of Cairo Radio – ties the regions together. Communist and African nationalist propagandists were drawn to Cairo in the wake of the Suez Crisis. The former, building relationships through aid, sought to leverage Cairo's expanding influence to their own advantage. The latter sought facilities and support for their own propaganda efforts. After Suez, IRD sought to manage Egyptian propaganda whilst avoiding direct confrontation, seeking to normalise relations. In Africa, the department sought to build an infrastructure for information work aimed at influencing future leaders, their efforts constrained by the timetable of British decolonisation. In both regions, through developing relationships with local agencies and the BBC, and from initiatives such as the Transmission 'X' news commentary service, IRD continued to address Arab nationalist and Communist propaganda with a flexibility and responsiveness not recognised in the current literature on IRD

Intensive HST, RXTE and ASCA Monitoring of NGC 3516: Evidence Against Thermal Reprocessing

During 1998 April 13-16, NGC 3516 was monitored almost continuously with HST for 10.3 hr in the UV and 2.8 d in the optical, and simultaneous RXTE and ASCA monitoring covered the same period. The X-rays were strongly variable with the soft (0.5-2 keV) showing stronger variations (~65% peak-to-peak) than the hard (2-10 keV; ~50% peak-to-peak). The optical continuum showed much smaller but highly significant variations: a slow ~2.5% rise followed by a faster ~3.5% decline. The short UV observation did not show significant variability. The soft and hard X-ray light curves were strongly correlated with no significant lag. Likewise, the optical continuum bands (3590 and 5510 A) were also strongly correlated with no measurable lag above limits of <0.15 d. However no significant correlation or simple relationship could be found for the optical and X-ray light curves. These results appear difficult to reconcile with previous reports of correlations between X-ray and optical variations and of measurable lags within the optical band for some other Seyfert 1s. These results also present serious problems for "reprocessing" models in which the X-ray source heats a stratified accretion disk which then reemits in the optical/ultraviolet: the synchronous variations within the optical would suggest that the emitting region is <0.3 lt-d across, while the lack of correlation between X-ray and optical variations would indicate, in the context of this model, that any reprocessing region must be >1 lt-d in size. It may be possible to resolve this conflict by invoking anisotropic emission or special geometry, but the most natural explanation appears to be that the bulk of the optical luminosity is generated by some other mechanism than reprocessing.Comment: 23 pages including 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Global mapping of infectious disease

The primary aim of this review was to evaluate the state of knowledge of the geographical distribution of all infectious diseases of clinical significance to humans. A systematic review was conducted to enumerate cartographic progress, with respect to the data available for mapping and the methods currently applied. The results helped define the minimum information requirements for mapping infectious disease occurrence, and a quantitative framework for assessing the mapping opportunities for all infectious diseases. This revealed that of 355 infectious diseases identified, 174 (49%) have a strong rationale for mapping and of these only 7 (4%) had been comprehensively mapped. A variety of ambitions, such as the quantification of the global burden of infectious disease, international biosurveillance, assessing the likelihood of infectious disease outbreaks and exploring the propensity for infectious disease evolution and emergence, are limited by these omissions. An overview of the factors hindering progress in disease cartography is provided. It is argued that rapid improvement in the landscape of infectious diseases mapping can be made by embracing non-conventional data sources, automation of geo-positioning and mapping procedures enabled by machine learning and information technology, respectively, in addition to harnessing labour of the volunteer ‘cognitive surplus’ through crowdsourcing

Temperature and Field Dependence of the Energy Gap of MgB2/Pb planar junction

We have constructed MgB2/Pb planar junctions for both temperature and field dependence studies. Our results show that the small gap is a true bulk property of MgB2 superconductor, not due to surface effects. The temperature dependence of the energy gap manifests a nearly BCS-like behavior. Analysis of the effect of magnetic field on junctions suggests that the energy gap of MgB2 depends non-linearly on the magnetic field. Moreover, MgB2 has an upper critical field of 15 T, in agreement with some reported Hc2 from transport measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Rotation of planet-harbouring stars

The rotation rate of a star has important implications for the detectability, characterisation and stability of any planets that may be orbiting it. This chapter gives a brief overview of stellar rotation before describing the methods used to measure the rotation periods of planet host stars, the factors affecting the evolution of a star's rotation rate, stellar age estimates based on rotation, and an overview of the observed trends in the rotation properties of stars with planets.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures: Invited review to appear in 'Handbook of Exoplanets', Springer Reference Works, edited by Hans J. Deeg and Juan Antonio Belmont

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect in Exoplanet Research

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect occurs during a planet's transit. It provides the main means of measuring the sky-projected spin-orbit angle between a planet's orbital plane, and its host star's equatorial plane. Observing the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect is now a near routine procedure. It is an important element in the orbital characterisation of transiting exoplanets. Measurements of the spin-orbit angle have revealed a surprising diversity, far from the placid, Kantian and Laplacian ideals, whereby planets form, and remain, on orbital planes coincident with their star's equator. This chapter will review a short history of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, how it is modelled, and will summarise the current state of the field before describing other uses for a spectroscopic transit, and alternative methods of measuring the spin-orbit angle.Comment: Review to appear as a chapter in the "Handbook of Exoplanets", ed. H. Deeg & J.A. Belmont

Design and characterization of the BVX: An 8-channel CMOS preamplifier-shaper for silicon strips

This paper presents the design and characterization of an 8channel preamplifier-shaper intended for use with silicon strip detectors ranging in capacitance from 1 to 20pF. The nominal peaking time of the circuit is 200ns with an adjustment range of {plus_minus}50ns. The circuit has a pitch (width) of 84{mu}channel with a power dissipation of 1.2mW/channel and has been fabricated in 2{mu}m p-well CMOS. The 0pF noise is 330e with a noise slope of 64e/pF. The design approach is presented as well as both test bench and strip detector measurements

Failure to Detect the Novel Retrovirus XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

BACKGROUND:In October 2009 it was reported that 68 of 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in the US were infected with a novel gamma retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV), a virus previously linked to prostate cancer. This finding, if confirmed, would have a profound effect on the understanding and treatment of an incapacitating disease affecting millions worldwide. We have investigated CFS sufferers in the UK to determine if they are carriers of XMRV. METHODOLOGY:Patients in our CFS cohort had undergone medical screening to exclude detectable organic illness and met the CDC criteria for CFS. DNA extracted from blood samples of 186 CFS patients were screened for XMRV provirus and for the closely related murine leukaemia virus by nested PCR using specific oligonucleotide primers. To control for the integrity of the DNA, the cellular beta-globin gene was amplified. Negative controls (water) and a positive control (XMRV infectious molecular clone DNA) were included. While the beta-globin gene was amplified in all 186 samples, neither XMRV nor MLV sequences were detected. CONCLUSION:XMRV or MLV sequences were not amplified from DNA originating from CFS patients in the UK. Although we found no evidence that XMRV is associated with CFS in the UK, this may be a result of population differences between North America and Europe regarding the general prevalence of XMRV infection, and might also explain the fact that two US groups found XMRV in prostate cancer tissue, while two European studies did not

CHEOPS and TESS view of the ultra-short period super-Earth TOI-561 b

Ultra-short period planets (USPs) are a unique class of super-Earths with an orbital period of less than a day and hence subject to intense radiation from their host star. While most of them are consistent with bare rocks, some show evidence of a heavyweight envelope, which could be a water layer or a secondary metal-rich atmosphere sustained by an outgassing surface. Much remains to be learned about the nature of USPs. The prime goal of the present work is to study the bulk planetary properties and atmosphere of TOI-561b, through the study of its transits and occultations. We obtained ultra-precise transit photometry of TOI-561b with CHEOPS and performed a joint analysis of this data with four TESS sectors. Our analysis of TOI-561b transit photometry put strong constraints on its properties, especially on its radius, Rp=1.42 +/- 0.02 R_Earth (at ~2% error). The internal structure modelling of the planet shows that the observations are consistent with negligible H/He atmosphere, however requiring other lighter materials, in addition to pure iron core and silicate mantle to explain the observed density. We find that this can be explained by the inclusion of a water layer in our model. We searched for variability in the measured Rp/R* over time to trace changes in the structure of the planetary envelope but none found within the data precision. In addition to the transit event, we tentatively detect occultation signal in the TESS data with an eclipse depth of ~27 +/- 11 ppm. Using the models of outgassed atmospheres from the literature we find that the thermal emission from the planet can mostly explain the observation. Based on this, we predict that NIR/MIR observations with JWST should be able to detect silicate species in the atmosphere of the planet. This could also reveal important clues about the planetary interior and help disentangle planet formation and evolution models.Comment: 17 pages, 10 + 3 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A (abstract abbreviated