Volt-ampere characteristics of cylindrical and spherical Langmuir probes for various potential models Scientific report

Volt-ampere characteristics of cylindrical and spherical Langmuir probes for various potential model

Previously unpublished Odonata records from Sarawak, Borneo : part 2, Kubah National Park

Records of Odonata from Kubah National Park, near Kuching in west Sarawak, are presented. Eighty-five species are known from the national park. Notable records include Drepanosticta drusilla, Rhinocypha species cf spinifer, Bornagriolestes species, Anaciaeschna species and Macromidia genialis erratica

Behavior of Traveling-Wave Tubes Near Circuit Cutoff

A theory is developed which explains the operation of a traveling wave tube when operated near the cutoff frequency of the slow wave circuit, including the effect of two circuit waves instead of the usual one. The theory is normalized in a manner analogous to that used in more conventional analyses, making a relatively small number of curves applicable to a large number of cases. The relationship between this theory and the three-wave theory usually used in traveling-wave tube analysis is shown, and they are in agreement when the system is operated far from the cutoff frequency. Numerical results are given for a range of parameters which might be useful in traveling wave tube design, and an excellent agreement with published experimental results is shown

The Transition to Agriculture: Climate Reversals, Population Density, and Technical Change

Until about 13,000 years ago all humans obtained their food through hunting and gathering, but thereafter people in some parts of the world began a transition to agriculture. Recent data strongly implicate climate change as the driving force behind the agricultural transition in southwest Asia. We propose a model of this process in which population and technology respond endogenously to climate. The key idea is that after a lengthy period of favorable environmental conditions during which regional population grew significantly, an abrupt climate reversal forced people to take refuge at a few ecologically favored sites. The resulting spike in local population density reduced the marginal product of labor in foraging and made agriculture attractive. Once agriculture was initiated, rapid technological progress through artificial selection on plant characteristics led to domesticated varieties. Farming became a permanent part of the regional economy when this productivity growth was combined with climate recoveryorigins of agriculture, foraging, hunting and gathering, climate change, population density, technical change, domestication, archaeology, anthropology, economic prehistory

Evolutionary Expansions and Neofunctionalization of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors in Cnidaria

Reef ecosystems are composed of a variety of organisms, transient species of fish and invertebrates, microscopic bacteria and viruses, and structural organisms that build the living foundation, coral. Sessile cnidarians, corals and anemones, interpret dynamic environments of organisms and abiotic factors through a molecular interface. Recognition of foreign molecules occurs through innate immunity via receptors identifying conserved molecular patterns. Similarly, chemosensory receptors monitor the environment through specific ligands. Chemosensory receptors include ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), transmembrane ion channels involved in chemical sensing and neural signal transduction. Recently, an iGluR homolog was implicated in cnidarian immunological resistance to recurrent infections of bacterial pathogens. I postulate that iGluRs in cnidarians may act as danger-sensing and/or pathogen recognition receptors adjacent to immune defense and nervous system signaling. In Chapter One, I explain the exploration of diversity and divergence within cnidarian iGluRs, complimented with predicted functions in the context of correlated response to biological and environmental signals, setting the groundwork for functional characterization. In Chapter Two, I characterized the divergence of cnidarian iGluRs in comparison to other metazoans through maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses, which revealed greater evolutionary expansion of cnidarian iGluR lineages, including a Cnidaria-specific class. Gene expression differentiation implies select iGluRs respond transcriptionally to bacterial challenge, supporting the hypothesis that cnidarian iGluRs respond to pathogen signals. In Chapter Three, I investigated a putative endogenous rhythm to iGluR expression, as chemosensory receptors may have the capacity to anticipate daily environmental fluctuations. While a circadian rhythm does not appear to be a primary contributor to biological rhythms in iGluR gene expression, symbiosis and diurnal fluctuations are implicated factors. In Chapter Four, I chromogenically localized Exaiptasia pallidaiGluR expression to the epidermis and concentrated within sensory tentacles, alongside cnidocytes. Expression of iGluRs in proximity of sensory cells is consistent with the putative function of iGluRs in cnidarian neural signaling. In the final chapter, I synthesized my research in its entirety; highlighting that cnidarian iGluRs expansions indicate cnidarian-specific neofunctionalization towards functions of chemosensory cnidarian-environmental signaling. New hypotheses and future research are presented to continue the study of iGluRs as chemosensory receptors within the cnidarian nervous system

The Spearfish Formation in the Williston Basin of western North Dakota

The Spearfish Formation of the Black Hills has been traced into the Williston Basin of western North Dakota. In the basin, the formation can be divided into three members. In ascending order these are: (1) a lower gray shale and red siltstone unit herein named the Belfield Member, (2) a middle salt unit, the Pine Salt Member, and (3) an upper red siltstone and fine grained sandstone unit, the Saude Member. Type sections for all three members are herein established. Isopachous maps and stratigraphic cross sections have been prepared to delireate the thickness and distribution of each of the units in western North Dakota. The Belfield Member and the Pine Salt Member are considered to Be Permian in age and are correlated with the Permian part of the type Spearfish Formation the outcrop sections north of the Black Hills. The Saude Member is predominantly Triassic in age although its upper part in extreme northern North Dakota and Canada may contain the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. The Saude in North Dakota is probably non-marine in origin and was deposited in a different depositional environment than its equivalent south of the Cedar Creek Anticline. South of the anticline the upper part of the Saude has been removed by erosion and a sharp angular unconformity separates the Saude from over lying Jurassic sediments. A persistent anhydrite bed in the lower part of the Saude in southwestern North Dakota is correlated with the top of the Goose Egg Formation in eastern Wyoming and Montana

Using FOI data to assess the state of Health Visiting Services in England before and during COVID-19

Background: The first 1001 Days have been recognised as a critical window of opportunity and recent policy developments (e.g. Early Years Healthy Development Review) have identified the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) as central for achieving this. Health Visitors (nurses or midwives who have received further training as Specialist Community Public Health Nurses) are responsible for leading the HCP. However, there is substantial variation in the delivery of Health Visiting services across the country. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused further disruption, with many health visitors redeployed from their current roles to the frontline. However, the exact state of the Health Visiting services before and after the pandemic is not precisely known. Our aim is to evaluate the state of health visiting services prior to COVID-19 and the exact scale and variation in redeployment of health visiting staff during the first COVID-19 wave. / Methods: Primary data collection via Freedom-of-Information (FOI) requests in 151 UpperTier Local Authorities (UTLA) in England. Primary outcomes are the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) health visiting staff employed in health visiting teams on 1 February 2020, and the maximum number of FTE health visiting staff who were redeployed during the first COVID-19 wave. We show graphical visualizations of the state of the health visiting workforce in England via maps, and we study the determinants of workforce size, composition, caseload, and redeployment via regression analysis. We also provide an analysis of job postings for health visiting roles collected on the ‘DWP - Find a Job’ website. / Findings: Health visiting was under severe strain before the COVID-19 pandemic. The mean caseload was 409 children per full-time equivalent (FTE) caseload holding health visiting staff on 1 February 2020, higher than the recommended maximum of 250 children per FTE health visitor. During the first COVID-19 wave, health visiting staff were redeployed out of their roles supporting young children and families. 66% of local authorities redeployed at least one FTE member of staff in health visiting teams. Redeployment of health visitors ranged from 0% to 63%, and of clinical skill mix staff supporting health visitors from 0% to 100%. Health visiting staff were redeployed from 19 March 2020, as England went into its first national lockdown, for an average duration of over 2 months. Redeployment was still in place until September 2020, and in 73% of local authorities that redeployed staff, it continued past June 3 2020 (the date of the supposed restoration of health visiting services by NHS England). There was also a large decline in job postings for health visiting roles at the start of the pandemic, suggesting that the posts lost due to redeployment were not replaced. / Interpretation: The findings show extensive and unequal redeployment of health visiting staff during the first COVID-19 wave across English local authorities. This happened on top of a state of high pressures on health visiting teams prior to the pandemic, with staff responsible for worryingly high caseloads. This situation threatens the universality of the Healthy Child Programme, and calls for appropriate policy responses to avoid the possible worsening of inequalities in maternal well-being and child health and development. / Funding: European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 819752 DEVORHBIOSHIP – ERC-2018-COG, PI G. Conti) and Leverhulme Trust (via the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics to G. Conti)

The impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting Services in England: FOI Evidence for the First Wave

In this brief we present new evidence based on primary data collected through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from the providers of health visiting services in England on the state of these services before the pandemic and on the redeployment of staff (both health visitors and clinical skill mix staff not defined as health visitors) in health visiting teams between March 19 and September 1 2020

An Examination of Conflicting Findings Between Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism: A Meta Analysis

This study, which applied meta-analytic procedures, found a significant negative relationship between certain facets of job satisfaction and absenteeism. Findings suggest that sampling errors, scale inadequacies, and the use of different measures of job satisfaction and absence are the reasons for inconsistencies in previous empirical research that examined the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism