Some Pyrolitic Reactions of Salts of Organic Acids

As a result of a number of isotopic and non-isotopic pyrolyses of salts of carboxylic acids, a new theory for the mechanism of these thermal decompositions has been proposed. Pyrolyses were carried out of the acetates, and of equimolar mixtures of the acetates and formates, of the following metals: lithium, potassium, calcium, strontium, barium, sodium, manganese(ous), magnesium, zinc and lead. A number of equimolar mixtures were also prepared in which one of the salts was enriched in the carboxyl position with 1

Technology to Support Rural Health and Well-being

Publisher PD

Lay epidemiology and the interpretation of low-risk drinking guidelines by adults in the United Kingdom

Aims To explore how the concept of lay epidemiology can enhance understandings of how drinkers make sense of current UK drinking guidelines. Methods Qualitative study using 12 focus groups in four sites in northern England and four sites in central Scotland. Participants were 66 male and female drinkers, aged between 19 and 65 years, of different socio-economic backgrounds. Data were analysed thematically using a conceptual framework of lay epidemiology. Results Current drinking guidelines were perceived as having little relevance to participants' drinking behaviours and were generally disregarded. Daily guidelines were seen as irrelevant by drinkers whose drinking patterns comprised heavy weekend drinking. The amounts given in the guidelines were seen as unrealistic for those motivated to drink for intoxication, and participants measured alcohol intake in numbers of drinks or containers rather than units. Participants reported moderating their drinking, but this was out of a desire to fulfil work and family responsibilities, rather than concerns for their own health. The current Australian and Canadian guidelines were preferred to UK guidelines, as they were seen to address many of the above problems. Conclusions Drinking guidelines derived from, and framed within, solely epidemiological paradigms lack relevance for adult drinkers who monitor and moderate their alcohol intake according to their own knowledge and risk perceptions derived primarily from experience. Insights from lay epidemiology into how drinkers regulate and monitor their drinking should be used in the construction of drinking guidelines to enhance their credibility and efficacy

The management of systems of sheep production from forage resources

The International Hill Land Symposium was held at Oregon State University in April 1983.Management can be defined as the manipulation of pastures and animal populations, with the objective of making the most effective use of any given set of farm resources (land, buildings, labor) and variable costs. Efficiency is ultimately an economic concept. Systems of production will be profoundly influenced by the costs of the major inputs, the relative costs of alternative feeds and by the value of the product(s). Knowledge of the biology of the relevant animals, pastures and the interactions between them is fundamental to the development of principles upon which systems of forage utilization are founded. It is to these principles, and their implications for management systems that this paper is addressed

Time to fly: A comparison of marginal value theorem approximations in an agent-based model of foraging waterfowl

One of the fundamental decisions foragers face is how long an individual should remain in a given foraging location. Typical approaches to modeling this decision are based on the marginal value theorem. However, direct application of this theory would require omniscience regarding food availability. Even with complete knowledge of the environment, foraging with intraspecific competition requires resolution of simultaneous circular dependencies. In response to these issues in application, a number of approximating algorithms have been proposed, but it remains to be seen whether these algorithms are effective given a large number of foragers with realistic characteristics. We implemented several algorithms approximating marginal value foraging in a large-scale avian foraging model and compared the results. We found that a novel reinforcement-learning algorithm that includes cost of travel is the most effective algorithm that most closely approximates marginal value foraging theory and recreates depletion patterns observed in empirical studies