Recovered memories, satanic abuse, Dissociative Identity Disorder and false memories in the UK: a survey of Clinical Psychologists and Hypnotherapists

An online survey was conducted to examine psychological therapists’ experiences of, and beliefs about, cases of recovered memory, satanic / ritualistic abuse, Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder, and false memory. Chartered Clinical Psychologists (n=183) and Hypnotherapists (n=119) responded. In terms of their experiences, Chartered Clinical Psychologists reported seeing more cases of satanic / ritualistic abuse compared to Hypnotherapists who, in turn, reported encountering more cases of childhood sexual abuse recovered for the first time in therapy, and more cases of suspected false memory. Chartered Clinical Psychologists were more likely to rate the essential accuracy of reports of satanic / ritualistic abuse as higher than Hypnotherapists. Belief in the accuracy of satanic / ritualistic abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder reports correlated negatively with the belief that false memories were possible

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Peat in the mountains of New Guinea

Peatlands are common in montane areas above 1,000 m in New Guinea and become extensive above 3,000 m in the subalpine zone. In the montane mires, swamp forests and grass or sedge fens predominate on swampy valley bottoms. These mires may be 4–8 m in depth and up to 30,000 years in age. In Papua New Guinea (PNG) there is about 2,250 km2 of montane peatland, and Papua Province (the Indonesian western half of the island) probably contains much more. Above 3,000 m, peat soils form under blanket bog on slopes as well as on valley floors. Vegetation types include cushion bog, grass bog and sedge fen. Typical peat depths are 0.5‒1 m on slopes, but valley floors and hollows contain up to 10 m of peat. The estimated total extent of mountain peatland is 14,800 km2 with 5,965 km2 in PNG and about 8,800 km2 in Papua Province. The stratigraphy, age structure and vegetation histories of 45 peatland or organic limnic sites above 750 m have been investigated since 1965. These record major vegetation shifts at 28,000, 17,000‒14,000 and 9,000 years ago and a variable history of human disturbance from 14,000 years ago with extensive clearance by the mid-Holocene at some sites. While montane peatlands were important agricultural centres in the Holocene, the introduction of new dryland crops has resulted in the abandonment of some peatlands in the last few centuries. Despite several decades of research, detailed knowledge of the mountain peatlands is poor and this is an obstacle to scientific management

Peatland carbon stores and fluxes in the Snowy Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

Peatlands in the Snowy Mountains cover nearly 8000 ha and preserve 49 million m3 of peat, of which 27.1 million m3 is stored in Sphagnum shrublands and restiad moorlands and 21.9 million m3 is stored in sedge fen. The total carbon store is estimated to be about 3.55 Tg. Peat accumulation over the past 60 years indicates that the historical carbon accumulation rate is only 4950 Mg yr-1 for the entire peat estate. This equates to net carbon storage rates of 0.8–1.6 Mg ha-1 yr-1 which is similar to the rates of 0.2 to 2.3 Mg ha-1 yr-1 found in other temperate peatlands. Peat sections covering the last 3000 to 4000 years, however, retain a millennial-scale net long-term storage of 0.09 to 0.21 Mg ha-1 yr-1 totalling 2340 Mg yr-1. The lower storage value of the older peats is partly due to continuing slow peat decay but may also represent accelerated decay due to disturbance by a 100-year phase of stock grazing and intentional burning in the mountains. Some peatlands are recovering strongly since grazing was stopped but they are still vulnerable to hydrological changes caused by trampling by large mammals. Rates of carbon sequestration will be sensitive to climate change, as the peatlands are already stressed by these former land management practices and many are at their climatic limits. The active management of peatland hydrology and surface stabilisation is essential to peatland recovery and the conservation of these significant carbon stores

ADAPTIVE POWER SYSTEM STABILIZER BASED ON LINEAR QUADRATIC CONCEPT.

An adaptive power system stabilizer is described in this paper. The stabilizer algorithm consists of an explicit identifier using recursive least squares identification technique. Control is computed using the linear-quadratic control algorithm. Deterioration in the quality of identification immediately following a large disturbance and the possibility of loss of stability is countered by retaining the prefault parameters for a short period after the inception of a large disturbance. The parameter update is reinitiated after this period. The proposed technique was first tested by simulation. It was then implemented on a microcomputer. Simulation and real-time experimental results show that the adaptive stabilizer is very effective in damping out synchronous machine oscillations following system disturbances

DESIGN AND REAL-TIME TEST RESULTS OF A DIGITAL GOVERNOR

A generating unit digital governing system which is an integrated stage of a power station hierarchical control strategy is presented. A digital controller design technique in the time domain is also presented. This technique is systematic and provides the desired overall system response directly. The digital governing system is designed satisfying operational requirements and its performance is tested both by digital simulation and by practical implementation in the laboratory. The practical test results along with the simulation test results verify the success of the design