On the Use of a Magnetometer to Determine the Angular Motion of a Spinning Body in Regular Precession

Magnetometer for determination of angular motion of spinning body in regular precessio

A method for determining nodal arrival times at the moon from precessing near-earth parking orbits having various inclinations

Effect of precession of near-earth orbits on timing of inplane launching for nodal encounter with moo

Motivating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic: An online experiment. ESRI Working Paper No. 658 April 2020

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic will save lives. We tested communication strategies to promote social distancing via an online experiment (N = 500) commissioned by Ireland’s Department of Health. A control group saw a current informational poster. Two treatment groups saw similar posters with messages that highlighted: (i) the risk of transmission to identifiable persons vulnerable to COVID-19; (ii) the exponential nature of transmission. We then measured judgements of behaviours previously identified by focus groups as “marginal” (meaning that people were not sure whether they were advisable, such meeting others outdoors, or visiting parents). We recorded intention to undertake behaviours and stated acceptability of behaviours. Our hypotheses, that both treatments would increase participants’ caution about marginal behaviours, were preregistered (i.e. lodged with an international organisation for open science before data collection). Results confirmed the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can motivate social distancing. This has implications for communications strategies. The stud

Hamilton, Missouri: A Community Development Process Case Study

A Classical community development process approach was applied in a northwestern Missouri community. The article provides a case study of how the community revitalized itself to meet citizen needs. The development stages—policy formulation, recognition, intelligence, commitment and accomplishments—are discussed

An experiment for regulatory policy on broadband speed advertising. ESRI WP641, November 2019

Identifying whether hyperbolic advertising claims influence consumers is important for consumer protection, but differentiating mere “puffery” from misleading advertising is not straightforward. We conducted a pre-registered experiment to determine whether pseudo-technical advertising claims about broadband speed bias consumer choice. We tested whether these claims lead consumers to (i) make suboptimal choices and (ii) choose faster, more expensive broadband packages than they otherwise would. We also tested a potential policy response, consisting of consumer information on broadband speeds and how they are advertised. One-in-five consumers chose a provider advertising “lightning fast” broadband over another offering the same speed at a cheaper price. Puffery also led consumers to choose faster, more expensive packages than consumers who saw no such claims. The information intervention (i) decreased the proportion of suboptimal decisions, (ii) increased the likelihood that consumers switched package, and (iii) improved understanding of speed descriptions. The findings suggest that a relatively soft regulatory intervention may benefit broadband consumers

US and UK Routes to Employment: Strategies to Improve Integrated Service Delivery to People with Disabilities

In this report, the authors examine the experience of the United States and United Kingdom in developing effective strategies for providing integrated service delivery. The report examines what works and what doesn't work, and provides a roadmap to improving services for individuals with disabilities. While more research is needed, the report identifies 12 strategies to strengthen integrated service delivery systems, and to assist individuals with disabilities in gaining and maintaining productive employment. Implementing these strategies can benefit clients, who have the opportunity to realize their potential more fully; the taxpayer, who is paying less for disability assistance; and society at large, which gains the productive skill of talented individuals

Effects of physical activity on the link between PGC-1a and FNDC5 in muscle, circulating Ιrisin and UCP1 of white adipocytes in humans: A systematic review

Background: Exercise may activate a brown adipose-like phenotype in white adipose tissue. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the effects of physical activity on the link between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1a) and fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5) in muscle, circulating Irisin and uncoupling protein one (UCP1) of white adipocytes in humans. Methods: Two databases (PubMed 1966 to 08/2016 and EMBASE 1974 to 08/2016) were searched using an appropriate algorithm. We included articles that examined physical activity and/or exercise in humans that met the following criteria: a) PGC-1a in conjunction with FNDC5 measurements, and b) FNDC5 and/or circulating Irisin and/or UCP1 levels in white adipocytes. Results: We included 51 studies (12 randomised controlled trials) with 2474 participants. Out of the 51 studies, 16 examined PGC-1a and FNDC5 in response to exercise, and only four found increases in both PGC-1a and FNDC5 mRNA and one showed increased FNDC5 mRNA. In total, 22 out of 45 studies that examined circulating Irisin in response to exercise showed increased concentrations when ELISA techniques were used; two studies also revealed increased Irisin levels measured via mass spectrometry. Three studies showed a positive association of circulating Irisin with physical activity levels. One study found no exercise effects on UCP1 mRNA in white adipocytes. Conclusions: The effects of physical activity on the link between PGC-1a, FNDC5 mRNA in muscle and UCP1 in white human adipocytes has attracted little scientific attention. Current methods for Irisin identification lack precision and, therefore, the existing evidence does not allow for conclusions to be made regarding Irisin responses to physical activity. We found a contrast between standardised review methods and accuracy of the measurements used. This should be considered in future systematic reviews.PCD and ADF were supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme [FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES (FUEGO grant no. 612547), and FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES (U-GENE grant no. 319010)]. PS was supported by the Swedish Federal Government under the LUA/ALF agreement (grant no. ALFGBG-431481)

Venture Capitalists' Evaluations of Start-up Teams: Trade-offs, Knock-out Criteria, and the Impact of VC Experience

The start-up team plays a key role in venture capitalists' evaluations of venture proposals. Our findings go beyond existing research, first by providing a detailed exploration of VCs' team evaluation criteria, and second by investigating the moderator variable of VC experience. Our results reveal utility trade-offs between team characteristics and thus provide answers to questions such as "What strength does it take to compensate for a weakness in characteristic A?" Moreover, our analysis reveals that novice VCs tend to focus on the qualifications of individual team members, while experienced VCs focus more on team cohesion. Data was obtained in a conjoint experiment with 51 professionals in VC firms and analyzed using discrete choice econometric models. (author's abstract

Performance analysis of AlGaAs/GaAs tunnel junctions for ultra-high concentration photovoltaics

An n(++)-GaAs/p(++)-AlGaAs tunnel junction with a peak current density of 10 100Acm(-2) is developed. This device is a tunnel junction for multijunction solar cells, grown lattice-matched on standard GaAs or Ge substrates, with the highest peak current density ever reported. The voltage drop for a current density equivalent to the operation of the multijunction solar cell up to 10 000 suns is below 5 mV. Trap-assisted tunnelling is proposed to be behind this performance, which cannot be justified by simple band-to-band tunnelling. The metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy growth conditions, which are in the limits of the transport-limited regime, and the heavy tellurium doping levels are the proposed origins of the defects enabling trap-assisted tunnelling. The hypothesis of trap-assisted tunnelling is supported by the observed annealing behaviour of the tunnel junctions, which cannot be explained in terms of dopant diffusion or passivation. For the integration of these tunnel junctions into a triple-junction solar cell, AlGaAs barrier layers are introduced to suppress the formation of parasitic junctions, but this is found to significantly degrade the performance of the tunnel junctions. However, the annealed tunnel junctions with barrier layers still exhibit a peak current density higher than 2500Acm(-2) and a voltage drop at 10 000 suns of around 20 mV, which are excellent properties for tunnel junctions and mean they can serve as low-loss interconnections in multijunction solar cells working at ultra-high concentrations

Prolyl 4-hydroxlase activity is essential for development and cuticle formation in the human infective parasitic nematode Brugia malayi

Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (C-P4H) are required for formation of extracellular matrices in higher eukaryotes. These enzymes convert proline residues within the repeat regions of collagen polypeptides to 4-hydroxyproline, a modification essential for the stability of the triple helix. C-P4Hs are most often oligomeric complexes, with enzymatic activity contributed by the α subunits, and the β subunits formed by protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). Here we characterise this enzyme class in the important human parasitic nematode Brugia malayi. All potential C-P4H subunits were identified by detailed bioinformatic analysis of sequence databases, function was investigated both by RNAi in the parasite and heterologous expression in Caenorhabditis elegans, while biochemical activity and complex formation were examined via co-expression in insect cells. Simultaneous RNAi of two B. malayi C-P4H α subunit-like genes resulted in a striking, highly penetrant body morphology phenotype in parasite larvae. This was replicated by single RNAi of a B. malayi C-P4H β subunit-like PDI. Surprisingly however, the B. malayi proteins were not capable of rescuing a C. elegans α subunit mutant, whereas the human enzymes could. In contrast, the B. malayi PDI did functionally complement the lethal phenotype of a C. elegans β subunit mutant. Comparison of recombinant and parasite derived material indicates that enzymatic activity may be dependent on a non-reducible, inter-subunit cross-link, present only in the parasite. We therefore demonstrate that C-P4H activity is essential for development of B. malayi and uncover a novel parasite-specific feature of these collagen biosynthetic enzymes that may be exploited in future parasite control