North Sea Catch Statistics, 1924-1981

This dataset comprises 8,842 records that have been extracted from the Sea Fisheries Statistical Tables – the official government record of fish landings at ports in England and Wales. The records concern the landings of British first class fishing vessels from Region IV (North Sea) during the period 1924-1981 (exclusive of 1939-1946)

A Forgotten Issue: Distributional Effects of Day Care Subsidies in Germany

In westlichen Industrienationen besteht heute im allgemeinen ein Konsens darüber, dass die Betreuung in Kindertageseinrichtungen öffentlich subventioniert werden sollte. Weniger Klarheit besteht jedoch über die verteilungspolitischen Effekte der öffentlichen Förderung von Kinderbetreuung. Eine solche Unkenntnis über die Verteilungseffekte der öffentlichen Förderung von Kinderbetreuung kann jedoch dazu führen, dass Einkommensgruppen öffentliche Mittel in Anspruch nehmen, die dieser Gelder nicht bedürfen. Wie in einigen anderen europäischen Staaten werden auch in Deutschland bestimmte Anbieter von Kindertageseinrichtungen öffentlich gefördert bzw. die Kommunen betreiben selbst Kindertageseinrichtungen. Damit kommen den Eltern, deren Kinder Kindertageseinrichtungen besuchen, indirekt öffentliche Gelder zu, gleichwohl sie über Elternbeiträge einen geringen Teil der Kosten selbst abdecken. In dieser Studie untersuchen wir die distributiven Effekte der Förderung von Kindertageseinrichtungen in Deutschland, indem wir Mikrodaten auf Haushaltsebene mit Informationen über die öffentlichen Ausgaben im Bereich von Kindertageseinrichtungen kombinieren. Ein wichtiges Ergebnis der Analyse ist, dass über die gegenwärtige "Anbieter-Förderung" nur sehr geringe Umverteilungswirkungen erzielt werden. Vorrangig kommen die Subventionen im Bereich der Kinderbetreuung mittleren Einkommensgruppen zugute, was dem politischen und gesellschaftlichen Ziel, im Kindertagesstättenbereich insbesondere Kinder aus unteren Einkommensgruppen zu fördern, widerspricht. In general child care subsidies are widely accepted as a means to create equal chances for mothers in the labour market as well as for children. Although there is a general consensus that the use of child care should be publicly supported, there is no consensus on how this should be done. Moreover, there is little knowledge on the distributional effects of child care subsidies. In order to assess whether public expenditures are targeted efficiently, it is, however, vital to know which social groups profit most from the public expenditures on children's day care and if tax-payers money is spent effectively. In Germany, as in other European countries, child care subsidies are mainly provided 'in-kind'. Local communities and NPOs provide child care slots for children, which are - except for a small fee - free of charge. In this study we estimate the distributional effects of state funded child day care in Germany using microdata of households and data on the expenditure of public funded child care. Major results are that child care subsidies only carry modest redistributional effects. In the first place, it is the middle income range that profits from the public provision of children's day care. This contradicts common public policy recommendations, which state that low income families should be the first target of child care subsidies.Child day care, child care subsidies, distributional effects, social policy

Measuring Time Use in Surveys: How Valid Are Time Use Questions in Surveys? Concordance of Survey and Experience Sampling Measures

Since it is still unclear to what extent time allocation retrospectively reported in questionnaires, reflects people's actual behavior, examining the accuracy of responses to time use survey questions is of crucial importance. We analyze the congruence of time use information assessed through retrospective questionnaires and through experience sampling methodology. The sample comprised 433 individuals ranging in age from 14 to 86 years. Participants completed standard survey questions on time allocation. In addition, a mobile-phone based experience sampling technology was used over a period of three weeks to obtain snapshots of, on average, 54 momentary activities in which participants participated while pursuing their normal daily routines. Experience sampling assessments were scheduled six times a day over at least nine days, including workdays, Saturdays, andSundays. Results indicate that the congruence between time allocation assessed with survey questions (i.e. in SOEP) and time allocation assessed with experience sampling methodology depends on the characteristics of the respective activities. Associations between standard survey questions and experience sampling methods are quite substantial for long-lasting and externally structured activities, such as paid work on workdays. Incontrast, associations between survey and experience sampling methods are somewhat weaker, though highly statistically significant, for less externally structured, short-term and infrequent activities, such as errands, housework, and leisure. These moderate and relatively small correlations may indicate either an error-prone estimation of the prevalence of shortterm and infrequent activities by experience sampling or respondents' overrating of sporadic and short activities in survey questions. We conclude that activities with a long duration, such as paid work, can be measured in a satisfactory manner using short survey questions. Futureresearch is necessary to elucidate which method (experience sampling method or survey questions) delivers more reliable and valid measures for shortterm and sporadic activities.Day Reconstruction Methods (DRM) should be included in this future methodological research.Survey methods, experience sampling method, validity, time use, market work, housework, leisure, German Socio-Economic Panel Study, MMAA, SOEP

Resolving the kinematics of the discs around Galactic B[e] supergiants

B[e] supergiants are luminous evolved massive stars. The mass-loss during this phase creates a complex circumstellar environment with atomic, molecular, and dusty regions usually found in rings or disc-like structures. For a better comprehension of the mechanisms behind the formation of these rings, detailed knowledge about their structure and dynamics is essential. To address that, we obtained high-resolution optical and near-infrared (near-IR) spectra for eight selected Galactic B[e] supergiants, for which CO emission has been detected. Assuming Keplerian rotation for the disc, we combine the kinematics obtained from the CO bands in the near-IR with those obtained by fitting the forbidden emission [OI] λ5577, [O I] λλ6300,6363, and [Ca II] λλ7291,7323 lines in the optical to probe the disc structure. We find that the emission originates from multiple ring structures around all B[e] supergiants, with each one of them displaying a unique combination of rings regardless of whether the object is part of a binary system. The confirmed binaries display spectroscopic variations of their line intensities and profiles as well as photometric variability, whereas the ring structures around the single stars are stable.Fil: Maravelias, G.. Universidad de Valparaíso; Chile. Academia de la República de Checa; República ChecaFil: Kraus, Michaela. Academia de la República de Checa; República Checa. Universidad de Tartu; EstoniaFil: Cidale, Lydia Sonia. Universidad de Valparaíso; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; ArgentinaFil: Borges Fernades, M.. Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; BrasilFil: Arias, María Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; ArgentinaFil: Curé, Michel. Universidad de Valparaíso; ChileFil: Vasilopoulos, G.. Max-planck-institut Extraterrestrische Physik; Alemani

On the Notion of Complete Intersection outside the Setting of Skew Polynomial Rings

In recent work of T. Cassidy and the author, a notion of complete intersection was defined for (non-commutative) regular skew polynomial rings, defining it using both algebraic and geometric tools, where the commutative definition is a special case. In this article, we extend the definition to a larger class of algebras that contains regular graded skew Clifford algebras, the coordinate ring of quantum matrices and homogenizations of universal enveloping algebras. Regular algebras are often considered to be non-commutative analogues of polynomial rings, so the results herein support that viewpoint.Comment: This paper replaces the preprint "Defining the Notion of Complete Intersection for Regular Graded Skew Clifford Algebras", and also has a paragraph written correctly that is garbled by the publisher in the published version (paragraph after Example 3.8

A systematic review of randomised control trials examining the effects of mindfulness on stress and anxious symptomatology

Anxiety is a leading source of disability worldwide and current treatment methods are not beneficial for all individuals. There is evidence that meditation has mood-enhancing properties however the biological mechanisms are largely unknown. This systematic review investigates the effects of meditation on sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis activation measures. It focuses on studies collecting physiological parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol, and peripheral cytokine expression. Overall the 23 trials reviewed trials indicate that meditation practice increases parasympathetic nervous system activation, as well as decreases anxious symptomatology in diverse populations. Further research is required to confirm these preliminary findings and facilitate implementation in clinical settings

Seasonal and regional variations of long-term changes in upper-tropospheric jets from reanalyses

Long-term changes in upper-tropospheric jet latitude, altitude, and strength are assessed using five modern reanalyses: MERRA, MERRA-2, ERA-Interim, JRA-55, and NCEP CFSR. Changes are computed from jet locations evaluated daily at each longitude to analyze regional and seasonal variations. The changes in subtropical and polar (eddy driven) jets are evaluated separately. Good agreement among the reanalyses in many regions and seasons provides confidence in the robustness of the diagnosed trends. Jet shifts show strong regional and seasonal variations, resulting in changes that are not robust in zonal or annual means. Robust changes in the subtropical jet indicate tropical widening over Africa except during Northern Hemisphere (NH) spring, and tropical narrowing over the eastern Pacific in NH winter. The Southern Hemisphere (SH) polar jet shows a robust poleward shift, while the NH polar jet shifts equatorward in most regions/seasons. Both subtropical and polar jet altitudes typically increase; these changes are more robust in theNHthan in the SH. Subtropical jet wind speeds have generally increased in winter and decreased in summer, while polar jet wind speeds have weakened (strengthened) over Africa and eastern Asia (elsewhere) during winter in both hemispheres. The Asian monsoon has increased in area and appears to have shifted slightly westward toward Africa. Our results highlight the importance of understanding regional and seasonal variations when quantifying long-term changes in jet locations, the mechanisms for those changes, and their potential human impacts. Comparison of multiple reanalyses is a valuable tool for assessing the robustness of jet changes

Vesivirus 2117 capsids more closely resemble sapovirus and lagovirus particles than other known vesivirus structures

Vesivirus 2117 is an adventitious agent that in 2009, was identified as a contaminant of CHO cells propagated in bioreactors at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant belonging to Genzyme. The consequent interruption in supply of Fabrazyme and Cerezyme (drugs used to treat Fabry and Gaucher disease respectively), caused significant economic losses. Vesivirus 2117 is a member of the Caliciviridae; a family of small icosahedral viruses encoding a positive sense RNA genome. We have used cryo-electron microscopy and three dimensional image reconstruction to calculate a structure of vesivirus 2117 virus like particles as well as feline calicivirus and a chimeric sapovirus. We present a structural comparison of several members of the Caliciviridae, showing that the distal P domain of vesivirus 2117 is morphologically distinct from that seen in other known vesivirus structures. Furthermore, at intermediate resolutions we found a high level of structural similarity between vesivirus 2117 and Caliciviridae from other genera, such as sapovirus and rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus. Phylogenetic analysis confirms vesivirus 2117 as a vesivirus closely related to canine vesiviruses. We postulate that morphological differences in virion structure seen between vesivirus clades may reflect differences in receptor usage