Individual differences in human annoyance response to noise

Individual variations in annoyance and in susceptibility to noise were studied to establish a finer definition of the ingredients of the human annoyance response. The study involved interactions among a heterogeneous sample of human subjects, various noise stimuli, and different physical environments of exposure. Significant differences in annoyance ratings among the six noise stimuli, all equated for peak sound pressure level, were found

The development of direct payments in the UK: implications for social justice

Direct payments have been heralded by the disability movement as an important means to achieving independent living and hence greater social justice for disabled people through enhanced recognition as well as financial redistribution. Drawing on data from the ESRC funded project Disabled People and Direct Payments: A UK Comparative Perspective, this paper presents an analysis of policy and official statistics on use of direct payments across the UK. It is argued that the potential of direct payments has only partly been realised as a result of very low and uneven uptake within and between different parts of the UK. This is accounted for in part by resistance from some Labour-controlled local authorities, which regard direct payments as a threat to public sector jobs. In addition, access to direct payments has been uneven across impairment groups. However, from a very low base there has been a rapid expansion in the use of direct payments over the past three years. The extent to which direct payments are able to facilitate the ultimate goal of independent living for disabled people requires careful monitoring

Widespread evidence for heterogeneous accretion of the terrestrial planets and planetisimals

The abundance and relative proportion of highly siderophile elements (HSEs) in Earth’s mantle deviate from those predicted by low-pressure equilibrium partitioning between metal and silicate during formation of the core. For many elements, high-pressure equilibration in a deep molten silicate layer (or ‘magma ocean’) may account for this discrepancy [1], but some highly siderophile element abundances demand the late addition, a ‘late veneer’, of extraterrestrial material (i.e. heterogeneous accretion) after core formation was complete [2]. Siderophile elements in smaller asteroidal bodies will not be affected by high-pressure metal-silicate equilibration and so, with highly efficient core formation [3] and if a ‘late veneer’ is absent, significant differences in the proportions of HSEs can be anticipated. Here we present new HSE abundance and 187Os/188Os isotope data for basaltic meteorites, the HEDs (howardites, eucrites and diogenites thought to sample the asteroid 4 Vesta), anomalous eucrites (considered to be from distinct Vesta-like parent bodies) angrites and aubrites (from unidentified parent bodies) and SNCs (thought to be from Mars). Our data, taken with those for lunar rocks [4], demonstrate that these igneous meteorites all formed from mantle sources that possessed chondritic (i.e. primitive solar system) elemental and isotope compositions, indicating that late accretion is not unique to Earth, but is a common feature of differentiated planets and asteroidal bodies. Variations in the total HSE abundance suggest that the proportion of ‘late veneer’ added is a simple consequence of the size of each body (cross-section and/or gravitational-attraction), and may account for the volatile element budget, and the oxidationstate of Earth, Mars, the Moon and Vesta

Surface spin flip probability of mesoscopic Ag wires

Spin relaxation in mesoscopic Ag wires in the diffusive transport regime is studied via nonlocal spin valve and Hanle effect measurements performed on permalloy/Ag lateral spin valves. The ratio between momentum and spin relaxation times is not constant at low temperatures. This can be explained with the Elliott-Yafet spin relaxation mechanism by considering the momentum surface relaxation time as being temperature dependent. We present a model to separately determine spin flip probabilities for phonon, impurity and surface scattering and find that the spin flip probability is highest for surface scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Identification of Trace Organic Components in the CR Chondrites by 4D TOFMS

This paper reports preliminary results of a 4D TOFMS study of CR chondrite organic material, highlighting the low-level organic species that may further reveal the complexity of parent body modification of interstellar precursors

A Comparison of Risk Exposure in Aquaculture and Agricultural Businesses

Agriculture and aquaculture have common features associated with their biological nature affecting risk exposure of the businesses. The aim of this paper is to compare risk exposure in salmon farming and agricultural enterprises in Norway by using an implicit error component model to examine the risk structure of yields, prices and economic returns at the farm level. Results indicate a higher farm-level year-to-year variability in yields, prices and economic returns in salmon farming than in agricultural enterprises. The variability in livestock enterprises was generally lower than for crop enterprises. Return on assets was highest in salmon farming with an average annual return of 9.2%. All of the agricultural farm types exhibited a negative average return on assets on average. Stochastic dominance tests of the distribution of economic returns from aquaculture and agricultural farm types showed salmon farming to be the most risk efficient alternative and salmon farming was most attractive from an investor’s perspective.Risk analysis, variability, Norway, Risk and Uncertainty,

Simulated trajectories error analysis program. Volume 1 - User's manual Final report

Input/output routines and computerized simulation for error analysi

Evidence of Vortex Jamming in Abrikosov Vortex Flux Flow Regime

We report on dynamics of non-local Abrikosov vortex flow in mesoscopic superconducting Nb channels. Magnetic field dependence of the non-local voltage induced by the flux flow shows that vortices form ordered vortex chains. Voltage asymmetry (rectification) with respect to the direction of vortex flow is evidence that vortex jamming strongly moderates vortex dynamics in mesoscopic geometries. The findings can be applied to superconducting devices exploiting vortex dynamics and vortex manipulation, including superconducting wires with engineered pinning centers.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The Generalized Spectral Kurtosis Estimator

Due to its conceptual simplicity and its proven effectiveness in real-time detection and removal of radio frequency interference (RFI) from radio astronomy data, the Spectral Kurtosis (SK) estimator is likely to become a standard tool of a new generation of radio telescopes. However, the SK estimator in its original form must be developed from instantaneous power spectral density (PSD) estimates, and hence cannot be employed as an RFI excision tool downstream of the data pipeline in existing instruments where any time averaging is performed. In this letter, we develop a generalized estimator with wider applicability for both instantaneous and averaged spectral data, which extends its practical use to a much larger pool of radio instruments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS Letters accepte