Taxation and regulation of smoking, drinking and gambling in the European Union

Smoking is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the European Union accounting for over half a million deaths each year. One in ten of all 11-year olds have been drunk twice or more times, possibly causing lasting physical and mental harm. Electronic gaming machines are the crack cocaine of gambling. Consumer sovereignty, on the other hand, indicates that people should be allowed to smoke as long as they do not harm others. There is sound medical evidence, furthermore, that a drink each day keeps the doctor away, while recreational gambling can be an enjoyable form of entertainment for many people. These and other salient facts about the harmful and positive effects of smoking, drinking and gambling provide the background for a dispassionate economic analysis of the taxation and regulation of these activities. The main message the studies convey is that it would be unrealistic to rely solely on duty levels and differentiation to curb abusive use. Duty levels do have a clear impact in restraining consumption by children and young adults - an important priority for policy. But complementary policies - including direct regulation and provision of information - also have a meaningful role to play in each of the markets for tobacco, alcohol and gambling.

The Educational Attainment of Looked After Children - Local Authority Pilot Projects : Final Research Report

The aim of the research was to identify interventions that appeared to make the most difference in terms of both the educational experience and outcomes of the looked after children and young people participating in the local authority pilot projects. Data on attendance, exclusions and attainment were collected for a population of more than 600 children and young people. The research also analysed qualitative data, based on interviews with project co-ordinators, professionals, children and young people, and their parents and carers

Spitzer Mid-Infrared Imaging of Nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies

We have observed 14 nearby (z<0.16) Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) with Spitzer at 3.6-24 microns. The underlying host galaxies are well-detected, in addition to the luminous nuclear cores. While the spatial resolution of Spitzer is poor, the great sensitivity of the data reveals the underlying galaxy merger remnant, and provides the first look at off-nuclear mid-infrared activity.Comment: To appear in the conference proceedings for Spitzer New Views of the Universe, held Nov. 2004 in Pasadena, C

A Simple Cellular Automaton Model for Influenza A Viral Infections

Viral kinetics have been extensively studied in the past through the use of spatially homogeneous ordinary differential equations describing the time evolution of the diseased state. However, spatial characteristics such as localized populations of dead cells might adversely affect the spread of infection, similar to the manner in which a counter-fire can stop a forest fire from spreading. In order to investigate the influence of spatial heterogeneities on viral spread, a simple 2-D cellular automaton (CA) model of a viral infection has been developed. In this initial phase of the investigation, the CA model is validated against clinical immunological data for uncomplicated influenza A infections. Our results will be shown and discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 18 EPS figures, uses document class ReTeX4, and packages amsmath and SIunit

Report of the direct infrared sensors panel

The direct infrared sensors panel considered a wide range of options for technologies relevant to the science goals of the Astrotech 21 mission set. Among the technologies assessed are: large format arrays; photon counting detectors; higher temperature 1 to 10 micro-m arrays; impurity band conduction (IBC) or blocked impurity band (BIB) detectors; readout electronics; and adapting the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and Hubble Space Telescope. Detailed development plans were presented for each of these technology areas

Terrestrial organic carbon storage in a British moorland

Accurate estimates for the size of terrestrial organic carbon (C) stores are needed to determine their importance in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The C stored in vegetation and soil components of a British moorland was evaluated in order to: (i) investigate the importance of these ecosystems for C storage and (ii) test the accuracy of the United Kingdom's terrestrial C inventory. The area of vegetation and soil types was determined using existing digitized maps and a Geographical Information System (GIS). The importance of evaluating C storage using 2D area projections, as opposed to true surface areas, was investigated and found to be largely insignificant. Vegetation C storage was estimated from published results of productivity studies at the site supplemented by field sampling to evaluate soil C storage. Vegetation was found to be much less important for C storage than soil, with peat soils, particularly Blanket bog, containing the greatest amounts of C. Whilst the total amount of C in vegetation was similar to the UK national C inventory's estimate for the same area, the national inventory estimate for soil C was over three times higher than the value derived in the current study. Because the UK's C inventory can be considered relatively accurate compared to many others, the results imply that current estimates for soil C storage, at national and global scales, should be treated with caution

On-the-fly doppler broadening of unresolved resonance region cross sections via probability band interpolation

In this work we present a scheme for computing temperature-dependent unresolved resonance region cross sections in Monte Carlo neutron transport simulations. This approach relies on the generation of equiprobable cross section magnitude bands on an energy-temperature mesh. The bands are then interpolated in energy and temperature to obtain a cross section value. This is in contrast to the typical procedure of pre-generating probability tables at all temperatures present in the simulation. As part of this work, a flexible probability table generation capability is integrated into the continuous-energy neutron transport code OpenMC [1]. Both single-level and multi-level Breit-Wigner formalisms are supported, as is modeling of the resonance structure of competitive reactions. A user-specified cross section band tolerance is enabled with batch statistics. Probability tables are generated for all 268 ENDF/B-VII.1 [2] isotopes that have an unresolved resonance region evaluation. Integral benchmark simulations of the Big Ten critical assembly show that, for a system that is sensitive to the unresolved resonance region, a temperature interval of ∼200 K around 293.6 K is sufficient to reproduce the keff value that is obtained with probability tables generated exactly at room temperature. A finer mesh of < 50 K is required to reproduce some cross section values at the common target relative difference of 0.1

Thermal Analysis for Orbiter and ISS Plume Impingement on International Space Station

The NASA Reaction Control System (RCS) Plume Model (RPM) is an exhaust plume flow field and impingement heating code that has been updated and applied to components of the International Space Station (ISS). The objective of this study was to use this code to determine if plume environments from either Orbiter PRCS jets or ISS reboost and Attitude Control System (ACS) jets cause thermal issues on ISS component surfaces. This impingement analysis becomes increasingly important as the ISS is being assembled with its first permanent crew scheduled to arrive by the end of fall 2000. By early summer 2001 , the ISS will have a number of major components installed such as the Unity (Node 1), Destiny (Lab Module), Zarya (Functional Cargo Block), and Zvezda (Service Module) along with the P6 solar arrays and radiators and the Z-1 truss. Plume heating to these components has been analyzed with the RPM code as well as additional components for missions beyond Flight 6A such as the Propulsion Module (PM), Mobile Servicing System, Space Station Remote Manipulator System, Node 2, and the Cupola. For the past several years NASA/JSC has been developing the methodology to predict plume heating on ISS components. The RPM code is a modified source flow code with capabilities for scarfed nozzles and intersecting plumes that was developed for the 44 Orbiter RCS jets. This code has been validated by comparison with Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX) heat flux and pressure data and with CFD and Method of Characteristics solutions. Previous analyses of plume heating predictions to the ISS using RPM have been reported, but did not consider thermal analysis for the components nor jet-firing histories as the Orbiter approaches the ISS docking ports. The RPM code has since been modified to analyze surface temperatures with a lumped mass approach and also uses jet-firing histories to produce pulsed heating rates. In addition, RPM was modified to include plume heating from ISS jets to ISS components where the jet coordinates are specified, together with the engine cant angle. These latter studies have been focused on the PM with plumes from its reboost and ACS jets impinging on various ISS components and also focused on the Japanese H2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) with the plumes from its reboost engines impinging on the Cupola window. This paper will present plume heating and surface temperature results on a number of ISS components with and without jet-firing histories, evaluate post-flight data, and describe any potential thermal issue

Probabilistic Fluorescence-Based Synapse Detection

Brain function results from communication between neurons connected by complex synaptic networks. Synapses are themselves highly complex and diverse signaling machines, containing protein products of hundreds of different genes, some in hundreds of copies, arranged in precise lattice at each individual synapse. Synapses are fundamental not only to synaptic network function but also to network development, adaptation, and memory. In addition, abnormalities of synapse numbers or molecular components are implicated in most mental and neurological disorders. Despite their obvious importance, mammalian synapse populations have so far resisted detailed quantitative study. In human brains and most animal nervous systems, synapses are very small and very densely packed: there are approximately 1 billion synapses per cubic millimeter of human cortex. This volumetric density poses very substantial challenges to proteometric analysis at the critical level of the individual synapse. The present work describes new probabilistic image analysis methods for single-synapse analysis of synapse populations in both animal and human brains.Comment: Current awaiting peer revie